Drawing the hoarding line: balancing the spatial requirements of customer and contractor in occupied refurbishment of railway stations

In planning an occupied refurbishment the spatial needs of the contractor and of theongoing business have to be balanced. For the refurbishment of railway stations, aparticular concern to retailers and train operators is the disruptive effect ofconstruction works upon pedestrian movement. RaCMIT (Refurbishment andCustomer Movement Integration Tool) is a research project aimed at investigatingthis problem through concentration on decision criteria/processes of the client andmodels/observations of pedestrian movement. The objective of the research is todevelop a decision protocol and decision support tools, which assist both the clientand the construction planner in addressing these problems and which allows overalloptimisation of project value to the client?s business. The practice of spatial decisionmakingin station refurbishment projects has been investigated in two case studies.This paper concentrates on one case study where pedestrian movement was observedbefore and during the refurbishment. Research observations as well as currentliterature suggest that a) for overall decision-making, opportunities may be lost(under current practice) for minimising joint project cost/revenue (or other)disruption and b) for spatial decision-making, temporary station configuration duringconstruction may be a significant variable. In planning an occupied refurbishment the spatial needs of the contractor and of theongoing business have to be balanced. For the refurbishment of railway stations, aparticular concern to retailers and train operators is the disruptive effect ofconstruction works upon pedestrian movement. RaCMIT (Refurbishment andCustomer Movement Integration Tool) is a research project aimed at investigatingthis problem through concentration on decision criteria/processes of the client andmodels/observations of pedestrian movement. The objective of the research is todevelop a decision protocol and decision support tools, which assist both the clientand the construction planner in addressing these problems and which allows overalloptimisation of project value to the client?s business. The practice of spatial decisionmakingin station refurbishment projects has been investigated in two case studies.This paper concentrates on one case study where pedestrian movement was observedbefore and during the refurbishment. Research observations as well as currentliterature suggest that a) for overall decision-making, opportunities may be lost(under current practice) for minimising joint project cost/revenue (or other)disruption and b) for spatial decision-making, temporary station configuration duringconstruction may be a significant variable

Student Service to the High School Forensics Community: Insights Gained from Hosting the Annual Singletary Speech and Debate Tournament

Kelsey Bruce discusses student engagement at Linfield College with regard to hosting the annual Singletary Speech and Debate Tournament.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/inauguration2019_students/1002/thumbnail.jp

MPPT Control for Solar Splash Photovoltaic Array

This thesis demonstrates the ability to model and simulate the operation of Maximum Power Point Tracking, MPPT. Moreover, the MPPT technology is contextualized within the confines of the Solar Splash competition to provide the foundation for future model development and simulation for optimal competition performance. MatLab Simulink was used to model the solar panel\u27s operation. A MPPT algorithm was written using the perturb and observe method and was implemented in the model using a buck DC to DC converter. The performance of the model with hardware in the loop using Typhoon and dSPACE, which demonstrated how the actual hardware would operate in real time. The results showed that in Simulink, an idealized environment, the MPPT operates as expected. However, hardware simulation revealed inaccuracies of MPPT at lower irradiance values. For all cases, the driving force for changes in power is the value of irradiance

Fluorescent Visualization of In Vitro Mitochondrial DNA Transcription

Mitochondria are important organelles within eukaryotic cells especially for their role in metabolism and ATP production by the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway. In human cells there are approximately 80 protein subunits that make up the OXPHOS pathway, thirteen of which are encoded by the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). Mitochondria house all the transcription and translation machinery (i.e., mitochondrial RNA polymerase, mitochondrial ribosome, tRNAs, etc.) required to produce those thirteen mtDNA encoded subunits. In vitro mitochondrial transcription is a method that utilizes recombinantly purified proteins and linear mitochondrial DNA templates to investigate transcription regulation of the organelle. To visualize the products of in vitro transcription, it is still common practice to utilize radioactive nucleotides or staining with ethidium bromide. These conditions can be undesirable due to safety hazards, expense, interference with electrophoresis, and time demands. As an alternative, fluorescent dyes have been developed for DNA and RNA tagging. This work establishes a procedure for post-staining of T7 RNA polymerase in vitro transcription products run via denaturing gel electrophoresis and stained with Gel Red and SYBR Gold dyes. Our current studies focus on applying this procedure to the in vitro mitochondrial transcription assay

In the Eye of the Storm: A Special Report About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Response to the 2005 Gulf States Disasters

Describes the foundation's early decision-making, immediate response, and long-term commitment to rebuilding in the hurricane-affected areas. Highlights staff and grantee activities, as well as lessons learned about the grantmaking process and strategy

Space, society and construction refurbishment

Researchers in the Space Syntax group at UCL have shown distinct sets of patterns relating spatial configurations and observed movement within the built environment. They have also demonstrated how patterns of control and exclusion are implied by spatial organisation. Analytical tools have been developed to measure the extent of these patterns and so enable comparative analysis of different spaces. Axial analysis subjects grids of spaces to modelling through long lines of sight to create axial maps whose properties have been found to be associated with both pedestrian and vehicular movement, in particular, low levels of wayfinding complexity. Visibility Graph Analysis uses areas of visibility from individual points as a basis for mapping the inter-relationship of spaces and associated movement and space use by pedestrians within and between buildings. Such tools have wide application. An example is presented through the examination of the problem of phased construction refurbishment in a combined railway and retailing environment and the effect of such works in reshaping the spatial characteristics of an ongoing business which depends upon public access. Previous research findings are confirmed and demonstrate the usefulness of Space Syntax analysis in predicting the effect of spatial disruption in a commercial environment. © 2006 RICS, The Bartlett School, UCL and the contributors First published

Balancing operating revenues and occupied refurbishment costs 1: problems of defining project success factors and selecting site planning methods

In planning the refurbishment of railway stations the spatial needs of the contractor and of the ongoing business stakeholders have to be balanced. A particular concern is the disruptive effect of construction works upon pedestrian movement. RaCMIT (Refurbishment and Customer Movement Integration Tool) was a research project aimed at addressing this problem. The objective of the research was to develop a decision protocol facilitating optimisation of overall project value to the client's business. This paper (the first of two) presents a framework for considering public disruption in occupied refurbishment using two case studies in large railway stations as examples. It briefly describes new tools which (combined with existing techniques) assist decision making in the management of disruption. It links strategic with sitebased decision making and suggests how public disruption may be treated as a variable to be jointly optimised along with traditional criteria such as time, cost and quality. Research observations as well as current literature suggest that for overall decision-making, opportunities may be lost (under current practice) for minimising joint project cost/revenue disruption, and, for spatio-temporal site decision-making, effective and efficient tools now exist to model both sides of the construction site boundary

The right place at the right time: assisting spatio-temporal planning in construction

21st - 24th October 2003 This paper describes research carried out for requirements capture in the development of a computer-based decision support tool (VIRCON) for space-time scheduling and visualisation of construction tasks. The focus was on pre-tender work and involved interviews with construction planners. Both space-time scheduling and visualisation of tasks are largely informal/intuitive processes for planners. They form an important part of the planner\'s risk identification function. Planners tend to opt for a robust spatio-temporal schedule rather than an optimal one. They require decision support tools that are quick and easy to use rather than highly sophisticated. The research highlights the extent to which construction planning is a communicative and co-operative activity in addition to a complex problem-solving one. Questions arise about the cost to the client of non-involvement by the construction planner at the design stage, the costs of short pre-tender periods, inadequate design data and sub-optimal construction periods specified in tender documents