Toward the Digital Construction Virtual Enterprise

The paper presents an overview of the methodology and findings of the ongoing OSMOS project.1 OSMOS aims to highlight and go some way to meeting the needs of the industry by providing a set of tools, models, APIs and techniques to support the construction “Virtual Enterprise” (VE). Key to the OSMOS approach is that the tools will allow companies (especially SMEs) to partake in a projectbased VE quickly and at a low entry-level. Through a combination of IDEF0 and UML modelling, within an iterative and incremental project methodology, the OSMOS consortium has elaborated a generic process model for the set-up and structuring of the construction Virtual Enterprise, which has formed the basis for the technical implementation of the tools and API. The tools, once designed, built, and made available for testing, have been evaluated within construction based case scenarios by endusers, and subsequently refined and re-tested. The resultant solution being offered through the OSMOS approach will involve some potential process changes within the companies wishing to take part in the VE, and the project aims to provide a proposed migration path to this end

Responses to supplementation by dairy cows given low pasture allowances in different seasons 2. Milk production

Two factorial experiments were designed to determine the effects of stage of lactation, and season of the year, on cow responses to supplementary feeding. These experiments were conducted over consecutive years with 128 high genetic merit multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows in early, mid and late lactation in spring, summer, autumn and winter. At each stage of lactation, and in each season of the year, cows were offered a restricted pasture allowance (25 to 35 kg dry matter (DM) per cow per day), either unsupplemented (control) or with supplement at 50 MJ metabolizable energy (ME) per cow per day in experiment 1 and 80 MJ ME per cow per day in experiment 2. The two supplements given in both years were rolled maize grain (MG) and a mixture of foods formulated to nutritionally balance the diet (BR). In experiment 2, another treatment, of a generous pasture allowance (60 to 75 kg DM per cow per day) (AP), was imposed on an additional group of early lactation cows during each season. Direct milk solids (MS) (milk fat plus milk protein) responses in experiment 1 to MG were 169, 279, 195 and 251 g MS per cow per day in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively, while those to BR were 107, 250, 192, 289 g MS per cow per day. In experiment 2, however, milk solids responses to both supplements during spring were slightly below the control treatment, with values similar to those in experiment 1 in summer and autumn for cows on the BR but not the MG supplement. Milk solids responses to supplementary foods were largest during seasons of the year when the quantity and quality of pasture on offer resulted in the lowest milk solids yield from unsupplemented cows. When carry-over effects of feeding MG and BR on milk solids production were detected, they were only about half the magnitude of the direct effects. Serum urea concentrations were higher in control cows than those offered MG with a similar effect for BR in all but summer in experiment 1, while serum glucose concentrations were highest in winter and lowest in summer. The most important factor influencing milk solids responses was the relative food deficit (RFD) represented by the decline in milk solids yield of the respective control groups after,changing from a generous pasture allowance to restricted allowance when the feeding treatments were imposed. Total milk solids responses (direct and carry-over) to supplements were greatest when severe food restrictions, relative to the cows' current food demand, resulted in large reductions in milk solids yield of the control groups. The RFD was the best predictor of milk solids response to supplementary foods. Therefore, it is likely that cows are most responsive to supplementary foods during or immediately after the imposition of a severe food restriction

Quantifying Implications of Deposit Aging from Crude Refinery Preheat Train Data

Heat exchanger fouling has been studied for some time in the petroleum industry. As understanding of fouling dynamics and mitigation methods improves, refinery fouling mitigation strategies are changing. The implications of deposit aging in refinery units have not been addressed in detail: aging refers to where the deposit undergoes physical and chemical conversion over time. In the 2009 Heat Exchanger Fouling and Cleaning conference, Wilson et al. [Ageing: Looking back and looking forward] presented a simple framework illustrating how deposit aging impacts heat exchanger thermal and hydraulic performance. This paper presents insights into deposit aging gained from analysis of refinery monitoring data. Two case studies are presented: (i) one from the Preem refinery in Sweden where stream temperature, flow and gauge pressure measurements indicated a higher deposit thermal conductivity in exchangers located in the hotter section of the preheat train. (ii) US refinery stream temperature, flow and plant cleaning log data, showing an increased resistance to cleaning when deposits are exposed to high temperature for a prolonged period. The use of deposit aging analysis to improve exchanger operation is discussed.I am a co-author on this paper. The work reported was undertaken for a Swedish company by another company, HTRI.I advised on the results

Responses to supplementation by dairy cows given low pasture allowances in different seasons 1. Pasture intake and substitution

Two factorial experiments were designed to determine the effects of stage of lactation, and season of the year, on cow responses to supplementary feeding. These experiments were conducted over consecutive years with 128 high genetic merit multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows in early, mid and late lactation in spring, summer, autumn and winter. At each stage of lactation, and in each season of the year, cows were offered a restricted pasture allowance (25 to 35 kg dry matter (DM) per cow per day), either unsupplemented (control) or supplemented with 50 MJ metabolizable energy (ME) per cow per day in experiment 1 and 80 MJ ME per cow per day in experiment 2. Two different supplements were offered, namely, rolled maize grain (MG) and a mixture of foods (BR) formulated to nutritionally balance the diet. In experiment 2, a fourth treatment consisting solely of a generous pasture allowance (60 to 75 kg DM per cow per day, AP) was introduced. Offering MG and BR increased DM intake (DMI). At the restricted pasture allowance, increasing total ME allowance (MEA) by offering supplementary foods increased ME intake (MEI) by 0.68 (s.e. 0.047) MJ per extra MJ ME offered. This highly significant (P < 0.001) linear relationship was consistent across seasons, and did not diminish at higher MEA. In experiment 2, cows in early lactation had lower substitution rates than mid and late lactation cows irrespective of season. Substitution rate was higher when higher pasture allowance or quality of pasture on offer enabled the unsupplemented cows to achieve higher DMI from pasture than at other times of the year. These results suggest that one of the key factors determining the intake response to supplementary foods is pasture allowance. Within spring calving dairying systems, the largest increases in total DMI per kg of supplement offered is likely when offering supplements to early lactation cows grazing restricted allowances of high quality pasture

Enhancing the Competitiveness of the European Construction Industry in the Digital Economy

Funding bodies in general, and the European Commission in particular, have for over a decade funded project centred Research and Technology Development (RTD) efforts. While these have traditionally operated in isolation with little co-operation and cross-fertilization of results, a crucial requirement has emerged, following the latest advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), to have a more concerted and co-ordinated action aiming at a better integration, standardisation, dissemination and exploitation of the results from these projects across the European regions and countries. This has been clearly identified as a key requirement within the European Information Society and Technology (IST) Programme. In that respect, based on the promising results and achievements realized by the leading Construction IT community in Europe, a cluster project involving six IST funded projects has been set-up in order to achieve a better integration of research results in the area. This project, ICCI (IST-2001-33022), is targeting a specific sector: the Construction industry, and is addressing a wide spectrum of issues ranging from ICT implementation and deployment to organizational, social, and legal aspects. The paper gives (1) a background description of the context in which ICCI operates, (2) its aims and objectives, (3) the research results achieved to date by its partners within their respective IST project, and (4) a road map identifying areas of collaboration and expected impacts in the European Construction digital economy

Divergent evolution of protein conformational dynamics in dihydrofolate reductase.

Molecular evolution is driven by mutations, which may affect the fitness of an organism and are then subject to natural selection or genetic drift. Analysis of primary protein sequences and tertiary structures has yielded valuable insights into the evolution of protein function, but little is known about the evolution of functional mechanisms, protein dynamics and conformational plasticity essential for activity. We characterized the atomic-level motions across divergent members of the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) family. Despite structural similarity, Escherichia coli and human DHFRs use different dynamic mechanisms to perform the same function, and human DHFR cannot complement DHFR-deficient E. coli cells. Identification of the primary-sequence determinants of flexibility in DHFRs from several species allowed us to propose a likely scenario for the evolution of functionally important DHFR dynamics following a pattern of divergent evolution that is tuned by cellular environment

ICT Adoption in the Construction Sector: Education and Training Issues

Organisational and human issues have been highlighted, among other issues (ICT infrastructures, legal and contractual, etc.), as key elements in enhancing the competitiveness of the construction sector. More specifically, the importance of human resources has been recognised, especially training and professional development, in order to cultivate a stable workforce. The paper provides a review of the key training needs for the construction sector with particular reference to the uptake and exploitation of new technologies and working practices, presents an action plan to address learning and training needs, and proposes an eight-stage iterative learning and training methodology. The results will be of particular interest to managers in stakeholder organisations of all sizes throughout the sector, plus academic and research bodies intending to continue construction ICT research

Probing Bottom-up Processing with Multistable Images

The selection of fixation targets involves a combination of top-down and bottom-up processing. The role of bottom-up processing can be enhanced by using multistable stimuli because their constantly changing appearance seems to depend predominantly on stimulusdriven factors. We used this approach to investigate whether visual processing models based on V1 need to be extended to incorporate specific computations attributed to V4. Eye movements of 8 subjects were recorded during free viewing of the Marroquin pattern in which illusory circles appear and disappear. Fixations were concentrated on features arranged in concentric rings within the pattern. Comparison with simulated fixation data demonstrated that the saliency of these features can be predicted with appropriate weighting of lateral connections in existing V1 models

Field-based monitoring of instream leaky barrier backwater and storage during storm events

Engineered leaky barriers are increasingly used as natural flood management methods providing ecosystem and water quality benefits in addition to flood attenuation, complementing hard engineering flood defences. Field-based monitoring of a natural flood management site, Wilde Brook in the Corvedale catchment, England (UK) studied the rainfall-runoff relationship for a 5.36 km reach with 105 leaky barriers over two years. Paired pressure transducers were placed upstream and downstream of three channel spanning leaky barriers, allowing evaluation of upstream backwater rise relative to rainfall intensity, storm magnitude, and frequency. By increasing backwater rise, the leaky barriers caused overbank flows, resulting in a reduction in the cross-sectional area velocity after the event. The incidence of overbank flow depended on the local stream cross-sectional profile, barrier properties, location in the reach, and storm magnitude. Barrier operational flow conditions were classified into five modes according to relative bank inundation and barrier submergence extent. The backwater rise magnitude depended on barrier physical properties and evolution over time through cycles of accretion and build-up of brash and leafy material in the barrier, in addition to local bedload sediment transport dynamics, where instances of scour around the barriers were observed. Backwater rise and net volume hydrographs showed rapid filling up behind the barriers on the rising limb and slower water release on the falling limb. For a ∼4 yr return period storm event, results indicated that one leaky barrier increased storage volume by up to 102 m3, which translates to an overall net volume increase of ∼10,700 m3 for the full reach. These new findings provide quantitative evidence of leaky barrier backwater and storage performance, and leaky barrier design recommendations for storms up to a 4 yr return period. This evidence can be used to develop and validate flood modelling generalised approaches for smaller, more frequent storms, and work towards the development of an approach for modelling leaky barriers for larger storm magnitudes