155 research outputs found
Impartial scientific advice for citizen participation in decision making processes
Get PDFThe Chemistry Shop of Groningen University has a history of more than 25 years of opening scientific research to civil society. It gives (mostly free) advice to the non-profit side of civil society, such as citizen and neighbourhood groups, workers associations, patients groups, environmental organisations, et cetera. In many of our cases there is some kind of dispute between citizens, and companies or local authorities. Often, all parties refuse to talk because of mistrust and not understanding each other’s motives. In this paper I will describe the role that we play in these disputes. There are different stages in which our science communication has an influence. This ranges from advise on scientific reports that are used by other parties, to doing additional research, andparticipation in the discussion with stakeholders. I will describe a number of cases, mostly focusing on the issue of ‘odour pollution'.In our work, we maintain our impartiality as scientists, and integrate other knowledge domains such as law and health. Sometimes we can achieve absolutely nothing for our client group, sometimes we achieve more than they hoped for. In general, our scientific support allows the citizens to discuss on an equal level with the other parties, because they can better handle the scientific and technical details of the issue. In many cases, our involvement benefits all actors involved, since in the end trust is restored. Therefore, the science shop is a good practice to involve citizens in the political decision making process, especially in local and regional issues. The citizens get the information and supportthat they need to participate (empowerment). By the way, for a scientist, communicating science with ‘real people’ in real troublesome situations is also very rewarding.<br/
Oriënterende studie naar de ontwikkelingsmogelijkheden van de pSi/BP foto elektrochemische cel
No full textImproving the Performance of Construction by the Acquisition, Organization and Use of Knowledge: A Theory and Method for Cognitive Engineering, Construction and Lifecycle Management
No full textCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Ontevredenheid in de Nederlandse bouw: Een onderzoek naar het sociale interactieproces tussen partijen
No full textCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Fair competition: How to apply the ‘Economically Most Advantageous Tender’ (EMAT) award mechanism in the Dutch construction industry
No full textThe research presented in the thesis contains a part of the ongoing effort to improve the situation of the Dutch construction sector. For at least the last decade, a number of measures known as integrated contracting has been heralded as the solution for many problems in the Dutch construction industry. One of the main reasons for integrated contracting is to stimulate suppliers adopting innovative solutions. The innovative solutions can lead to bids with a lower price, more value or both. However, not all possibilities of the integrated contracting philosophy are utilised, due to the dominance of the lowest price award mechanism. Effective integrated contracting calls for the application of the Economically Most Advantageous Tender (EMAT) award mechanism, which increases the chance for bids with a better value price ratio. However, the application of the EMAT award mechanism is not widespread, because it is perceived as more complicated than the traditional lowest price award mechanism. The main barrier for the implementation of EMAT is the lack of information on how to formulate suitable EMAT award mechanisms, leading to the main question of this research: Which EMAT award mechanisms are suitable for the Dutch construction industry? The research takes an empirical approach in order answer this question. First, suitability requirements are formulated. Then, information is collected on EMAT award mechanisms that are applied in the procurement practice. The matching of the two leads to an overview of suitable EMAT award mechanism elements that are then combined into a decision tree. Several EMAT types were encountered during this investigation. In order to analyse these different types, the value price model is developed. The value price model is a graphical representation of a procurement situation. Two preference systems are distinguished namely a system that bases preference on the highest value price ratio and a system that bases preference on the highest difference between value and price. The introduction of several constraints in the value price model defines the procurement space. Furthermore, the strategies of ‘price minimisation’, ‘value maximisation’ and ‘value price optimisation’ can be represented in the model. Based on this model, the concept of ‘bidding freedom’ is introduced. The bidding freedom is the share of the theoretically maximum possible added value compared to the price of the theoretical most expensive competitive bid. Several requirements determine whether an EMAT award mechanism is suitable or not. Legal requirements are ‘non-discrimination’, ‘proportionality’ and ‘transparency’. Practical requirements are ‘sufficient bidding freedom’, ‘simplicity and elegance’ and the safeguarding of traditional project management requirements. The properties of twenty-four EMAT award mechanisms that were applied in practice are presented. Four main types are distinguished; the point system (six cases), the price correction system (eleven cases), the ratio system (two cases) and the value maximisation system (one case). Several developments are identified. The average “bidding freedom” is about 30% for cases from the civil sector and about 20% for the commercial sector, amounting to a combined bidding freedom of about 25%. In the civil sector, the most used award criterion is a process quality criterion, i.e. ‘quality of the project management plan’. Most used award criterion in the commercial sector is ‘functionality of the built object’, which is a product quality criterion. The ‘value minus price’ system and the ‘value price ratio’ system are both considered suitable. The design contest system should be discouraged. There is a preference for the price correction system over the point system when one chooses for a ‘value minus price’ system. Elements that should not be applied are weighed prices, discrete price-point relationships, discrete performance-money relationships, comparative score determination and price dependant value determination. Most striking observations were 1) the sudden appearance of ratio systems at the end of 2007, 2) the conclusion that procurement practice applies EMAT elements or systems that should be discouraged, and 3) the observation that the choice between procurement profit and profitability is not clear. Based on this research, procurers are recommended to use the developed EMAT award mechanism decision tree and to use the value price model to present results. Furthermore it will be rewarding for them to keep the EMAT award mechanism as simple as possible and to take eventual budgetary consequences of EMAT into account. Also, procurers are recommended to use curved performance-money relationships when appropriate and to manage knowledge. Finally, it is recommended that in the phases preceding the award phase enough design freedom is left, in order to keep awarding based on EMAT useful. Traditional construction companies operating in markets with integrated contracts are recommended to develop themselves towards integrated suppliers in order to remain competitive. Recommended topics for further investigation are the influence of the application of EMAT on the success of projects and on the reliability of bids. Furthermore it can be worthwhile to investigate whether the award criteria can also be used in other phases of the construction lifecycle. Finally the possibilities of streamlining and objectifying the award phase by the use of advanced ICT applications are interesting topics for further investigation. The policy of several Dutch governmental agencies to apply integrated contracting promises a bright future for the EMAT award mechanism.Design & ConstructionCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Evolutionary, Unconscious Design Support for the Architectural, Engineering and Construction Industry
No full textThe Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is a complex system in which carpenters, structural designers, architects, modellers, cost estimators, planners, politicians and many others act apart together in project-specific virtual enterprises. There is a large amount of actors, an overwhelming number of ongoing processes, distributed, decentralised organisations and a variety of projects. This complicates efficient communication and supply chain integration which, according to yearly estimates, leads to a waste of between 10% and 50%. Inspired by mass production industries such as the car and ship industries, researchers introduced techniques such as Systems Engineering (SE), Building Information ModellingCopied from Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) (BIM), product modelling and object libraries in the AEC industry. It is being expected that these techniques will significantly reduce the waste if all actors in the supply chain conform to them. However, the past 20 years have shown that attempts to impose such unifying techniques on the AEC system only partially rendered the expected results. Perhaps the premises that the AEC industry is comparable to a mass production industry and that it is possible to create widely accepted standards that enable full chain integration, should be revisited. An alternative premise is that the AEC industry has the characteristics of a Complex Adaptable System (CAS). Under the pressure of design code changes, new contract forms, economical crises, new technologies, competition and such, it bends, adapts, survives and continues to produce infrastructure and buildings. Nature and the Internet are comparable examples of CAS. For example, the Internet hosts many actors, there are many processes going on, it is distributed, decentralised and it hosts a rich variety of applications / standards. Despite of major distortionsFor example, when Egypt forced providers to cut off the internet, new or alternative services like Speak to Tweet, Tor and SailMail quickly appeared. and waste due to redundant storage, spam, hacking and such, this chaotic system remains fast and reliable, and continues to produce a wealth of information. An important feature of the Internet is that it allows users to search for information, copy it and respond to it (e.g. with ratings and comments). Structural designers often lack such features for design-related information within their own enterprises. Therefore a relevant addition is to allow structural designers for lavishly and effortlessly finding, copying, publishing, comparing and improving historical products in order to mobilise enterprise knowledge and to allow for products to evolve. If products are copied often and if they are rated well, then they rise in rankingMuch like apps in a smartphone market. and become eligible to be certified. The certified products are the pieces of information that people are capable of managing and overseeing: the enterprise Conscious. Finding solutions to new problems (i.e. finding products, either from historical cases or from certified products) is the art of designers' Unconscious. Within this socio-evolutionary system, ambient intelligence forms an active mind and products evolve. Introducing a new socio-evolutionary standard at this point would violate the CAS principle that new imposed standards are unlikely to remain unchanged. Enterprises rather should create competing socio-evolutionary systems together with humanoid interfaces. The systems that best succeed at maximising a) product evolution and b) providing design assistancee.g. by comparing new problems with historical problems and their solutions, or by communicating in natural language, will survive. Thus, both products and their host environments are socio-evolutionary systems. In order to gather evidence for the above theory, various prototypes were designed, of which a simple finite element analysis tool "FrameDesign" (Section [sec:FrameDesign-and-CloudConstruct]) was the most noteworthy. With this tool, structural designers can create, calculate and share frame structures in the cloud, after which fellow structural designers are able to copy and improve them. The tool keeps track of this product evolution and visualises it to the structural designers. To date, there were ~50k active users (~160k total downloads), and ~23% of the structures they shared were evolving. The prototypes demonstrate only a small portion of the theory, and it is currently impossible to relate their use to a reduced waste rate in the AEC industry. However, future researchers are encouraged to create similar frameworks and to test them on a larger scale. Perhaps, such frameworks that allow for socio-evolving products will lead to reduced waste due to \u95 efficient use of the corporate mind (case based reasoning) \u95 emergence of more and better certified products that lead to more repetition (evolution) \u95 use of existing standards (humanoid communication) In a future scenario, with having a statistically sufficient amount of (enterprise-specific) evolving products, the win-win socio-evolutionary system (Leviathan) may provide design support in the form of human-like heuristics. Sufficiently rich heuristic design support systems, combined with natural interfaces (such as voice and vision interaction) for effortless communication with humans, may form one or more useful virtual design assistants. These assistants may conglomerate in virtual enterprises (which is common to the AEC industry). This is a field of science that is known as artificial social intelligence.Structural EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Applying the supply-driven integrated design upon a Modular Façade company
No full textConstruction management and engineeringStructural EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Buckling of anisotropic cylindrical shells subjected to combined axial compression, normal pressure, bending and shear loading
No full textAerospace Engineerin
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