19 research outputs found
A review of the concepts and definitions of the various forms of relational contracting
No full textConstruction project teams are unique entities, created through a complex integration of factors, with\ud
inter-disciplinary players, varying roles, responsibilities, goals and objectives (Goodman and Chinowsky,\ud
1996). Collaboration and teamwork are therefore crucial since sharing up-to-date information between\ud
participants leads to minimising errors, reduction of time delays and breaking the widespread rework\ud
cycle, which allows a sustainable relationship between participants to evolve. Benefits of collaborative,\ud
rather than adversarial, working relationships within construction organisations are well documented\ud
(Walker and Hampson, 2003).\ud
\ud
Successful sustainable relationships rely on relational forms of exchange characterised by high levels of\ud
trust. However, it was shown in the past that the construction industry has a stronger preference for\ud
distrust rather than the full benefits of cooperation (Wood and McDermott, 1999). There is a need for\ud
culture change to bring about increased cooperation between parties on a long-term basis. With relational\ud
contracting, based on the sustainable relationship and trust, a win-win situation can be created for both the\ud
client and contractor. The development of trust between organisations is seen as a function of the length\ud
of the relationship between them (Bresnen and Marshall, 2000a). It is also believed that the construction\ud
industry is one which requires lots of trust between participants due to the high uncertainty in the\ud
industry.\ud
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This paper aims to look at the how traditional procurement methods are changing and moving towards\ud
sustainable procurement forms through the relational contracting approach. A critical review on first and\ud
second generation partnering will be presented, followed by a discussion of how change in procurement\ud
culture, towards sustainable business relationships, can be investigated
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Learning across business sectors: Aspects of human resource management in aerospace and construction
No full textDevelopment and implementation of a fuzzy system for bid tender evaluation on microcomputers
No full textDevelopment and implementation of a fuzzy system for bid tender evaluation on microcomputers
No full textFeature engineering for microstructure-property mapping in organic photovoltaics
No full textLinking the highly complex morphology of organic photovoltaic (OPV) thin films to their charge transport properties is critical for achieving high performance material system that serves as a cost-efficient approach for energy harvesting. In this paper, a novel unsupervised feature engineering framework is developed and used to establish reduced-order structure-property linkages for OPV films. This framework takes advantage of digital image processing algorithms to identify the salient material features of OPVs undergoing the charge transport phenomenon. These material states are then used to obtain a low-dimensional representation of OPV microstructures via 2-point spatial correlations and principal component analysis. It is found that in addition to the material PC scores, two distance-based metrics are required to complete the microstructure quantification of complex OPVs. A localized version of the Gaussian process (laGP) is then used to link the material PC scores as well as the two distance-based metrics to the short-circuit current of OPVs. It is demonstrated that the unsupervised feature engineering framework presented in this paper in conjunction with the laGP can lead to high-fidelity and accurate data-driven structure-property linkages for OPV films.This is a pre-print of the article Hashemi, Sepideh, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Stephen Casey, Ji Su, and Surya R. Kalidindi. "Feature engineering for microstructure-property mapping in organic photovoltaics." arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.01897v1. (2021). Copyright 2021 The Author(s). CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Posted with permission
Uma Abordagem semântica para a especificação de qualidade de serviço em redes de computadores
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação, Florianópolis, 2010Nesta dissertação é abordado o tema da especificação de Qualidade de Serviço (QoS) em serviços de rede. Em operações relacionadas ao gerenciamento de QoS, sempre é necessário especificar os parâmetros de qualidade sendo negociados. Atualmente não existem padrões que descrevem formalmente como deve ser feita a especificação de QoS. Enquanto trabalhos propõem o uso de uma lista fixa de parâmetros de qualidade, soluções que oferecem listas extensíveis de parâmetros são mais adequadas para lidar com a heterogeneidade de aplicações, serviços de rede, e arquiteturas de QoS adotadas pelos provedores. Inspirada na Web Semântica e em problemas similares enfrentados por Serviços Web, esta dissertação propõe o uso de ontologias como uma maneira formal e extensível de especificação de serviços de rede. Uma modelagem para especificação, chamada NetQoSOnt, é proposta, exemplificada, e validada através de um protótipo. Esta modelagem tem o objetivo de ser utilizada como base para sistemas de QoS, permitindo a especificação formal de parâmetros de qualidade. Os resultados da implementação do protótipo demonstram a viabilidade da utilização de NetQoSOnt em sistemas automatizados de gerenciamento de QoS
Machine Learning and Data Mining in Materials Science
No full textThis eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contac
Influence of institutional arrangements on on-site recycling and reuse practices of C&D waste
No full textConstruction and demolition activities generate a large quantity of C&D waste. It is estimated that almost 70% of the buildings that are expected to stand in India by 2030 are yet to be built. Hence, C&D waste generation is expected to grow larger in the coming years and managing it would play a vital role in the conservation of natural resources. However, a major portion of C&D waste in India is generally dumped in landfills or unauthorised places causing considerable ecological damage. In the recent years, there is a considerable amount of heterogeneity in the C&D waste being generated in India. The practice of on-site waste sorting has been reported to enhance resource reuse and recycling efficiency in the literature. Several barriers to on-site waste sorting such as lack of site space, lack of management effort, increased labour and cost, interference with other site activities, market for recyclables and negative stakeholders’ attitudes have also been reported. Anecdotal evidences suggest that appropriate regulations might lead to changes in the stakeholders’ practices. However, a good understanding of stakeholders’ decision making is essential to design the kind of incentives to facilitate the transition in the behaviour towards on-site waste recycling and reuse. As a part of this paper, redevelopment projects in two different cities having different institutional arrangements have been studied. In case A, the waste generator is mandated to dispose C&D waste generated in authorised places but a specific incentive to perform on-site sorting, recycling and reuse is absent. In case B, there is a strict regulation mandating the contractor to enhance resource reuse and recycling on-site. Interviews of top management and project managers were conducted to identify the management practices and to understand their rationale behind decision-making regarding managing waste on-site. Top management commitment was found to be crucial in bringing changes in the practices adopted by respective organisation as observed in both case studies. Refusal to give building approvals or commencement certificates by the Government authorities without an elaborate waste management plan for enhanced reuse and recycling has also been found to be effective in bringing about a change towards on-site waste sorting and recycling. Several other insights gathered regarding on-site reuse practices and implications for designing appropriate incentives have been discussed
