Search results for: construction change

Authors: Shashank. S. Bagane, H. N. Rajendra Prasad

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Building Information Modeling (BIM) has currently developed into a potent solution. The consistent development of BIM technology in the sphere of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry has enhanced the effectiveness of construction and decision making. However, aggrandized global warming and energy crisis has impacted on building energy analysis. It is now becoming an important factor to be considered in the AEC industry. Amalgamating energy analysis in the planning and design phase of a structure has become a necessity. In the current construction industry, estimating energy usage and reducing its footprint is of high priority. The construction industry is giving more prominence to sustainability alongside energy efficiency. This demand is compelling the designers, planners, and engineers to inspect the sustainable performance throughout the building's life cycle. The current study primarily focuses on energy consumption, space arrangement, and spatial geometry of a residential building. Most commonly residential structures in India are constructed considering Vastu Shastra. Vastu designs are intended to integrate architecture with nature and utilizing geometric patterns, symmetry, and directional alignments. In the current study, a residential brick masonry structure is considered for BIM analysis, Architectural model of the structure will be created using Revit software, later the orientation and spatial arrangement will be finalized based on Vastu principles. Furthermore, the structure will be investigated for the impact of building orientation and spatial arrangements on energy using Green Building Studio software. Based on the BIM analysis of the structure, energy consumption of subsequent building orientations will be understood. A well-orientated building having good spatial arrangement can save a considerable amount of energy throughout its life cycle and reduces the need for heating and lighting which will prove to diminish energy usage and improve the energy efficiency of the residential building.

Keywords: building information modeling, energy impact, spatial geometry, vastu

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Authors: Chen Wang, Qiuxiao Chen

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With the advent of the information age and the era of big data, urban planning research is no longer satisfied with the analysis and application of traditional data. Because of the limitations of traditional urban commercial center system research, big data provides new opportunities for urban research. Therefore, based on the quantitative evaluation method of big data, the commercial center system of the main city of Hangzhou is analyzed and evaluated, and the scale and hierarchical structure characteristics of the urban commercial center system are studied. In order to make up for the shortcomings of the existing POI extraction method, it proposes a POI extraction method based on adaptive adjustment of search window, which can accurately and efficiently extract the POI data of commercial business in the main city of Hangzhou. Through the visualization and nuclear density analysis of the extracted Point of Interest (POI) data, the current situation of the commercial center system in the main city of Hangzhou is evaluated. Then it compares with the commercial center system structure of 'Hangzhou City Master Plan (2001-2020)', analyzes the problems existing in the planned urban commercial center system, and provides corresponding suggestions and optimization strategy for the optimization of the planning of Hangzhou commercial center system. Then get the following conclusions: The status quo of the commercial center system in the main city of Hangzhou presents a first-level main center, a two-level main center, three third-level sub-centers, and multiple community-level business centers. Generally speaking, the construction of the main center in the commercial center system is basically up to standard, and there is still a big gap in the construction of the sub-center and the regional-level commercial center, further construction is needed. Therefore, it proposes an optimized hierarchical functional system, organizes commercial centers in an orderly manner; strengthens the central radiation to drive surrounding areas; implements the construction guidance of the center, effectively promotes the development of group formation and further improves the commercial center system structure of the main city of Hangzhou.

Keywords: business center system, business format, main city of Hangzhou, POI extraction method

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Authors: Einat Waizbard, Emilio Ferrer, Meghan Miller, Brianna Heath, Derek S. Andrews, Sally J. Rogers, Christine Wu Nordahl, Marjorie Solomon, David G. Amaral

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Background: Autism symptoms are comprised of social-communication deficits and restricted/repetitive behaviors (RRB). The severity of these symptoms can change during childhood, with differences between boys and girls. From the literature, it was found that young autistic girls show a stronger tendency to decrease and a weaker tendency to increase their overall autism symptom severity levels compared to young autistic boys. It is not clear, however, which symptoms are driving these sex differences across childhood. In the current study, we evaluated the trajectories of independent autism symptoms across childhood and compared the patterns of change in such symptoms between boys and girls. Method: The study included 183 children diagnosed with autism (55 girls) evaluated three times across childhood, at ages 3, 6 and 11. We analyzed 22 independent items from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scheudule-2 (ADOS-2), the gold-standard assessment tool for autism symptoms, each item representing a specific autism symptom. First, we used latent growth curve models to estimate the trajectories for the 22 ADOS-2 items for each child in the study. Second, we extracted the factor scores representing the individual slopes for each ADOS-2 item (i.e., slope representing that child’s change in that specific item). Third, we used factor analysis to identify common patterns of change among the ADOS-2 items, separately for boys and girls, i.e., which autism symptoms tend to change together and which change independently across childhood. Results: The best-emerging patterns for both boys and girls identified four common factors: three factors representative of changes in social-communication symptoms and one factor describing changes in RRB. Boys and girls showed the same pattern of change in RRB, with four items (e.g., speech abnormalities) changing together across childhood and three items (e.g., mannerisms) changing independently of other items. For social-communication deficits in boys, three factors were identified: the first factor included six items representing initiating and engaging in social-communication (e.g., quality of social overtures, conversation), the second factor included five items describing responsive social-communication (e.g., response to name) and the third factor included three items related to different aspects of social-communication (e.g., level of language). Girls’ social-communications deficits also loaded onto three factors: the first factor included five items (e.g., unusual eye contact), the second factor included six items (e.g., quality of social response), and the third factor included four items (e.g., showing). Some items showed similar patterns of change for both sexes (e.g., responsive joint attention), while other items showed differences (e.g., shared enjoyment). Conclusions: Girls and boys had different patterns of change in autism symptom severity across childhood. For RRB, both sexes showed similar patterns. For social-communication symptoms, however, there were both similarities and differences between boys and girls in the way symptoms changed over time. The strongest patterns of change were identified for initiating and engaging in social communication for boys and responsive social communication for girls.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, autism symptom severity, symptom trajectories, sex differences

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Authors: Maharjan Shree Kumar

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Climate change impacts are observed in all livelihood sectors primarily in agriculture and forestry. Multiple factors have influenced the climate vulnerabilities and adaptations in agricultural at the household level. This study focused on the factors affecting adaptation in agriculture in Madi and Deukhuri valleys of Central and Western Nepal. The systematic random sampling technique was applied to select 154 households in Madi and 150 households in Deukhuri. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the socio-economic factors that either influence or restrain the farmers’ adaptation to climate change at the household level by applying the linear probability model. Based on the analysis, it is revealed that crop diversity, education, training and total land holding (acre) were positively significant for adaptation choices the study sites. Rest of the variables were not significant though indicated positive as expected except age, occupation, ethnicity, family size, and access to credit.

Keywords: adaptation, agriculture, climate, factors, Nepal

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Authors: Razia Sultana

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The chapter investigates the roles of local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in climate change adaptation through grassroots innovation in urban slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The section highlights green infrastructure as an innovative process to mitigate the challenges emanating from climate change at the bottom of the pyramid. The research draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 11 NGOs and 2 CBOs working in various slums in Dhaka. The study explores the activities of local agencies relating to urban green infrastructure (UGI) and its possible mitigation of a range of climate change impacts: thermal discomfort, heat stress, flooding and the urban heat island. The main argument of the chapter is unlike the Global North stakeholders’ activities relating to UGI in cities of the Global South have not been expanded on a large scale. Moreover, UGI as a risk management strategy is underutilised in the developing countries. The study finds that, in the context of Bangladesh, climate change adaptation through green infrastructure in cities is still nascent for local NGOs and CBOs. Mostly their activities are limited to addressing the basic needs of slum communities such as water and sanitation. Hence urban slum dwellers have been one of the most vulnerable groups in that they are deprived of the city’s basic ecological services. NGOs are utilizing UGI in an innovative way despite various problems in slums. For instance, land scarcity and land insecurity in slums are two key areas where UGI faces resistance. There are limited instances of NGOs using local and indigenous techniques to encourage slum dwellers to adopt UGI for creating sustainable environments. It is in this context that the paper is an attempt to showcase some of the grassroots innovation that NGOs are currently adopting in slums. Also, some challenges and opportunities are discussed to address UGI as a strategy for climate change adaptation in slums.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, green infrastructure, Dhaka, slums, NGOs

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Authors: Alluri Swaroopa, L. V. N. Prasad

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Alone with fast urbanization in world, traffic control problem became a big issue in urban construction. Having an efficient and reliable traffic control system is crucial to macro-traffic control. Traffic signal is used to manage conflicting requirement by allocating different sets of mutually compatible traffic movement during distinct time interval. Many approaches have been made proposed to solve this discrete stochastic problem. Recognizing the need to minimize right-of-way impacts while efficiently handling the anticipated high traffic volumes, the proposed alternative system gives effective design. This model allows for increased traffic capacity and reduces delays by eliminating a step in maneuvering through the freeway interchange. The concept proposed in this paper involves construction of bridges and ramps at intersection of four roads to control the vehicular congestion and to prevent traffic breakdown.

Keywords: bridges, junctions, ramps, urban traffic control

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Authors: Shiva Kumar G.

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The present study is to know the level of noises emanated from vehicles in intersections located in urban areas using Sound Level Meter and the possibility of reducing noise levels through traffic flow optimization. The main objective is to study traffic noise level of the Intersections located at on-going metro construction activities and which are away from metro construction activities. To compare traffic noise level between stop phase, go phase and drive phase at the Intersections. To study the effect of traffic noise level of directional movement of traffic and variation in noise level during day and night times. The range of Noise level observed at intersections is between 60 to 105 decibel. The noise level of stop and drive phases were minimum and almost same where go phase had maximum noise level. By comparing noise level of directional movement of traffic, it has been noticed that Vijayanagar intersection has no significant difference in their noise level and all other intersection has a significant difference in their noise level. By comparing noise level of stop, go and drive phase it has been noticed that there was a significant difference in noise level during peak hours compared to off-peak hour. By comparing noise level between Metro and Non-Metro construction activity intersections it has been noticed that there was a significant difference in noise level. By comparing noise level during day and night times, significant differences in noise level were observed at all intersections.

Keywords: noise, metro and non-metro intersections, traffic flow optimization, stop-go and drive phase

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Authors: Yasser Abo El-Magd, Wael Fawzy Mohamed

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Due to the great development in construction and building field, there are many projects and huge works appeared which consume many construction materials. Accordingly, that causes difficulty in handling traditional transportation means (ordinary cranes) due to their limited capacity; there is an urgent need to use high capacity cranes such as tower cranes. However, with regard to their high expense, we have to take into consideration selecting what type of cranes to be utilized which has been discussed by many researchers. In this research, a proposed technique was created to select the suitable type of crane and the best place for crane erection, in addition to minimum radius for requested crane in order to minimize cost. To fulfill that target, a computer program is designed to numerate these problems, demonstrating an example explaining how to apply program and the result donated the best place.

Keywords: tower crane, jib length, operating time, location, feasible area

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Authors: Tran Duong Nguyen, Marwan Shagar, Qinghao Zeng, Aras Maqsoodi, Pardis Pishdad, Eunhwa Yang

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Construction supply chain management (CSCM) involves the collaboration of many disciplines and actors, which generates vast amounts of data. However, inefficient, fragmented, and non-standardized data storage often hinders this data exchange. The industry has adopted building information modeling (BIM) -a digital representation of a facility's physical and functional characteristics to improve collaboration, enhance transmission security, and provide a common data exchange platform. Still, the volume and complexity of data require tailored information categorization, aligning with stakeholders' preferences and demands. To address this, artificial intelligence (AI) can be integrated to handle this data’s magnitude and complexities. This research aims to develop an integrated and efficient approach for data exchange in CSCM by utilizing AI. The paper covers five main objectives: (1) Investigate existing framework and BIM adoption; (2) Identify challenges in data exchange; (3) Propose an integrated framework; (4) Enhance data transmission security; and (5) Develop data exchange in CSCM. The proposed framework demonstrates how integrating BIM and other technologies, such as cloud computing, blockchain, and AI applications, can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of data exchange in CSCM.

Keywords: construction supply chain management, BIM, data exchange, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Arfan Fadli, Marini Kristina Situmeang, Mukhammad Fatkhullah, Siti Hazar Sitorus

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Merantau is one of the traditions that has been done by the Minangkabau tribe since the 15th century where it is based on socio-economic factors. In fact, that is not only limited to economic factors alone but more how to develop themselves through the experience to get the skills or education. The lack of jobs opportunity in the hometown causes the community, especially for young men to seek livelihoods in other areas. Unemployment impacts on the economy of the community that led to change in the pattern of employment from farmers to traders or new businesses in areas outside of their homeland. This is also worsened because many young people are not interested in becoming a farmer and working on the land in their village. In this context, merantau is considered to be an alternative to fulfilling livelihoods, and therefore this study examines how the merantau tradition constructed by the Minangkabau community, West Sumatera Province. The research method is done by literature review by collecting information related to the social construction of merantau tradition from various scientific publications. The results show how merantau becomes a solution of economic problems for Minangkabau society. Merantau which has now become an institutionalized tradition for the Minangkabau community where the culture of merantau occurred like a chain that can raise the people from the condition of poverty. When there are people who have successfully in merantau, they tend to bring other relatives who have not found a job to be able to trade with them. In the place of merantau, they will be disciplined to learn how to trade. Eventually, they will have new skills to trade and even make their own business. The tradition of bringing relatives to the rantau to be empowered is a unique side of merantau because it is influenced by the Matrilinear kinship system. The matrilineal kinship system in Minangkabau is the largest in the world where helping relatives are considered to be of the highest value. This system also places men as high positions where men should be encouraged to go abroad for financial success and to help their relatives in their hometown. The success of this tradition (to uplift and resolve the poverty and manpower issues) is demonstrated by the tradition of Minangkabau communities that have been successful in the area of Rantau that send money to their relatives in their homes (remittance). Merantau tradition can also be an alternative in reducing unemployment especially for young people where it is demonstrated by the culture of helping relatives to get work outside of their homeland.

Keywords: matrilineal kinship system, merantau, minangkabau community, reducing unemployment

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Authors: Ayse Pekrioglu Balkis, Sawash Mecid

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Due to continued growth and rapid development of road construction in worldwide, road sub-layers consist of soil layers, therefore, identification and recognition of type of soil and soil behavior in different condition help to us to select soil according to specification and engineering characteristic, also if necessary sometimes stabilize the soil and treat undesirable properties of soils by adding materials such as bitumen, lime, cement, etc. If the soil beneath the road is not done according to the standards and construction will need more construction time. In this case, a large part of soil should be removed, transported and sometimes deposited. Then purchased sand and gravel is transported to the site and full depth filled and compacted. Stabilization by cement or other treats gives an opportunity to use the existing soil as a base material instead of removing it and purchasing and transporting better fill materials. Classification of soil according to AASHTOO system and USCS help engineers to anticipate soil behavior and select best treatment method. In this study soil classification and the relation between soil classification and stabilization method is discussed, cement stabilization with different percentages have been selected for soil treatment based on NCHRP. There are different parameters to define the strength of soil. In this study, CBR will be used to define the strength of soil. Cement by percentages, 0%, 3%, 7% and 10% added to soil for evaluation effect of added cement to CBR of treated soil. Implementation of stabilization process by different cement content help engineers to select an economic cement amount for the stabilization process according to project specification and characteristics. Stabilization process in optimum moisture content (OMC) and mixing rate effect on the strength of soil in the laboratory and field construction operation have been performed to see the improvement rate in strength and plasticity. Cement stabilization is quicker than a universal method such as removing and changing field soils. Cement addition increases CBR values of different soil types by the range of 22-69%.

Keywords: California Bearing Ratio, cement stabilization, clayey soil, mechanical properties

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Authors: Ali Alahmari

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Urban drainage in Saudi Arabia is an increasingly challenging issue due to factors such as climate change and rapid urban expansion. The existing infrastructure, based on traditional drainage systems, is not always able to cope with the increased precipitation, sometimes leading to rainwater runoff and floods causing disturbances and damage to property. Therefore, there is a need to find new ways of managing drainage, such as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). The research has highlighted the main driving forces behind the need for change, revealed by the participants, to the need to adopt new ideas and approaches for urban drainage. However, while moving towards this, certain factors that may hinder the aim of using the experiences of other countries and taking advantage of innovative solutions. The research illustrates an initial conceptual model for these factors emerging from the analysis. It identifies some of the fundamental issues affecting the resistance to change towards the adoption of the concept of sustainability in Saudi Arabia, with Riyadh city as a case study. This was by using a qualitative approach, whereby, through two phases of fieldwork during 2013 and 2014, twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with a number of representative officials and professionals from key government departments and organisations related to urban drainage management. Grounded Theory approach was followed to analyse the qualitative data obtained. Resistance to change was classified to: firstly: individual inertia (e.g. familiarity with the conventional solutions and approaches, lack of awareness, and considering sustainability as a marginal matter in urban planning). This resulted in not paying the desired attention, and impact on planning and setting priorities for development. Secondly: institutionalised inertia (e.g. lack of technical and design specifications for other unconventional drainage solutions, lack of consideration by decision makers in other disciplines such as contributions from environmental and geographical studies, and routine work and bureaucracy). This contributes to the weakness of decision-making, weakness in the role of research, and a lack of human resources. It seems that attitudes towards change may have reduced the ability to move forward towards sustainable development, in addition to contributing towards difficulties in some aspects of the decision-making process. Thus, the chapter provides insights into the current situation in Saudi Arabia and contributes to understanding the decisions that are made regarding change.

Keywords: climate change, new knowledge and approaches, resistance to change, Saudi Arabia, SUDS, urban drainage, urban expansion

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Authors: Benyan Jiang, Dawei Xia, Yong Li

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Compact city construction is considered as an effective measure to reduce carbon emission in city lives. Toyama City started its compact city strategy in 2000 and was selected as a Japanese Environmental Model City in 2008 for its achievement. This paper takes Toyama as a study case, aiming to find how city polices affected people’s life styles and reduced carbon emission. The main materials used in this study are first-hand documents, like urban planning materials, government annual report and statistic data from transportation association. It is found that the main measures taken by Toyama City include the construction of light rail transit, increasing the frequency of buses, building park and ride parking lots. In addition to hardware facilities, it also offers flexible policies like passengers' coupons for the senior citizens and free use of parking lots by buying shopping vouchers. Besides, Toyama City encourages citizens to live within 500 meters of public transportation. People who buy an apartment near public transportation will receive 500,000 Japanese Yen. These measures have proven to their effects. Compared with 2005, in 2014, the transportation sector reduced emissions of 2.35 million tons of CO₂, 13.6%. This aspect is related to the increase in the number of cars in public transport and also related to fuel improvement.

Keywords: Toyama, compact city, public transportation, CO₂ reduction

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Authors: Zhuoyuan Wang, Benson T. H. Lim, Imriyas Kamardeen

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Effective service quality management has long been touted as a means of improving project and organisational performance. Particularly, in construction projects, main contractors are often seen as a broker between clients and subcontractors, and their service quality is thus associated with the overall project affinity and outcomes. While a considerable amount of research has focused on the aspect of clients-main contractors, very little research has been done to explore the effect of contractors’ service quality on subcontractors’ behaviours and so project outcomes. In addressing this gap, this study surveyed 97 subcontractors in the Chinese Construction industry and data was analysed using the Partial Least Square (PLS) Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique. The overall findings reveal that subcontractors categorised main contractors’ service quality into three dimensions: assurance; responsiveness; reliability and empathy. Of these, it is found that main contractors’ ‘assurance’ and ‘responsiveness’ positively influence subcontractors’ intention to engage in contractual behaviours. The results further show that the subcontractors’ intention to engage in organizational citizenship behaviours is associated with how flexible and committed the main contractors are in reliability and empathy. Collectively, both subcontractors’ contractual and organizational citizenship behaviours positively influence the overall project outcomes. In conclusion, the findings inform contractors different strategies towards managing and gaining subcontractors’ behaviour commitment in a socially connected, yet complex and uncertain, business environment.

Keywords: construction firms, organisational citizenship behaviour, service quality, social exchange theory

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Authors: A. T. Asutosh, J. Woo, M. Kouhirostami, M. Sam, A. Khantawang, C. Cuales, W. Ryor, C. Kibert

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Climate change and global warming vortex have grown to alarming proportions. Therefore, the need for a shift in the conceptualization of energy production is paramount. Energy practices have been created in the current situation. Fossil fuels continue their prominence, at the expense of renewable sources. Despite this abundance, a large percentage of the world population still has no access to electricity but there have been encouraging signs in global movement from nonrenewable to renewable energy but means to reverse climate change have been elusive. Worldwide, organizations have put tremendous effort into innovation. Conferences and exhibitions act as a platform that allows a broad exchange of information regarding trends in the renewable energy field. The Solar Power International (SPI) conference and exhibition is a gathering of concerned activists, and probably the largest convention of its kind. This study investigates current development in the renewable energy field, analyzing means by which industry is being applied to the issue. In reviewing the 2019 SPI conference, it was found innovations in recycling and assessing the environmental impacts of the solar products that need critical attention. There is a huge movement in the electrical storage but there exists a large gap in the development of security systems. This research will focus on solar energy, but impacts will be relevant to the entire renewable energy market.

Keywords: climate change, renewable energy, solar, trends, research, solar power international, SPI

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Authors: Ameen Alahdal

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This paper investigates copular constructions in Raimi Yemeni Arabic (RYA). The aim of the paper is actually twofold. First it explores the types of copular constructions in Raimi Yemeni Arabic, a variety of Arabic that has not attracted a lot of attention. In this connection, the paper shows that RYA manifests ‘bare’, verbal and pronominal/PRON copular constructions, just like other varieties of Arabic and indeed other Semitic languages like Hebrew. The sentences below from RYA represent the three constructions, respectively. (1) a. nada Hilwah Nada pretty.3sf ‘Nada is pretty’ b. kan al-banat hina was the-girls here ‘The girls were here c. ali hu-l mudiir Ali he-the manager ‘Ali is the manager’ Interestingly, in addition to these common types of copular constructions, RYA seems to exhibit dual copula sentences, a construction that features both a pronominal copula and a verbal copula. Such a construction is attested neither in Standard Arabic nor in other modern varieties of Arabic such as Lebanese, Moroccan, Egyptian, Jordanian. Remarkably, dual copular sentences do not appear even in other dialects of Yemeni Arabic such as Sanaani, Adeni and Tehami. (2) is an example. (2) maha kan-ih mudarrisah maha was-she teacher.3sf ‘Maha was a teacehr’ Second, the paper considers the cartography of subject positions in copular constructions proposed by Shlonsky and Rizzi (2018). Different copular constructions seem to involve different subject positions (which might eventually correlate with different interpretations – not our concern in this paper). Here, it is argued that in a bare copular sentence, as in (1a), RYA might exploit two criterial subject positions (in Rizzi’s sense), in addition to the canonical Spec,TP position. Under mainstream minimalist assumption, a copular sentence is analyzed as a PredP. Thus, in addition to the PredP-related thematic subject position, a criterial subject position is posited outside of PredP. (3) below represents the cartography of subject positions in a bare copular construction. (3) [……..DP subj PredP DP Pred DP/AP/PP ] In PRON sentences, as exemplified in (1c), another two subject positions are postulated high in the clause, particularly above PolP. (4) illustrates the hierarchy of the subject positions in a PRON copular construction. The subject resides in Spec,SUBJ2P. (4) …DP SUBJ2 …DP SUBJ1 … Pol … DP subj PredP Another related phenomenon in RYA which sets it apart from other languages like Hebrew is that of negative bare copular construction. This construction involves a PRON, which is not found in its affirmative counterpart. PRON, however, is hosted neither by SUBJ20 nor by SUBJ10. Rather, PRON occurs below Neg0 (Pol0 in the hierarchy). This situation raises interesting issues for the hierarchy of subjects in copular constructions as well as to the syntax of the left periphery in general. With regard to what causes the subject to move, there are different potential triggers. For instance, movement of the subject at the base, i.e., out of PredP is triggered by a labeling failure. Other movements of the subject can be driven by a formal feature like EPP, or a criterial feature like [subj].

Keywords: Yemeni Arabic, copular constructions, cartography of subjects, labeling, criterial positions

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Authors: Jaroslav Kusnir

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In her short story collection, Sabrina & Corina, Kali Fajardo-Anstine depicts mostly Latina characters of indigenous background living and travelling in the American West and the Southwest. In all the stories, place and the environment plays an important role in the construction of cultural identity of these characters that is influenced by their indigenous background, a specificity of the American West, its culture and environment, as well as a contemporary (modern) American culture, position of women and gender roles in a Latino community in the USA. This paper will analyze Fajardo-Anstine´s depiction of a specificity of place, especially of the American West and its role in a construction of Latino/a cultural identity in a modern American society as manifested especially in Fajardo-Anstine´s stories Any Further West and Sabrina & Corina. At the same time, the paper will point out Fajardo-Anstine´s construction of cultural identity of female characters and their gender roles in both Latino and a contemporary American societies. The research results show that the formation of Latina cultural identity is closely connected with both place, that is the American West and the Soutwest as well as with Latina and contemporary American cultures.

Keywords: American culture, american west, cultural identity, female identity, latina identity, place

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Authors: Y. Kim, H. Lee, M. Park, B. Lee

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Planning is understood as the determination of what has to be performed, how, in which sequence, when, what resources are needed, and their cost within the organization before execution. In most construction project, it is evident that the inherent nature of planning is dynamic, and initial planning is subject to be changed due to various uncertain conditions of construction project. Planners take a continuous revision process during the course of a project and until the very end of project. However, current practice lacks reliable, systematic tool for setting variance thresholds to determine when and what corrective actions to be taken. Rather it is heavily dependent on the level of experience and knowledge of the planner. Thus, this paper introduces a machine learning approach to evaluate project control threshold reliability incorporating project-specific data and presents a method to automate the process. The results have shown that the model improves the efficiency and accuracy of the monitoring process as an early warning.

Keywords: machine learning, project control, project progress monitoring, schedule

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Authors: Shahrad Ebrahimzadeh

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Nowadays, the main efforts of the researchers aim to constantly evolve new, optimized and efficient construction materials and methods related to reinforced concrete beams. Due to the fewer applied materials and offering a higher structural efficiency compared to solid concrete beams with the same concrete area, hollow reinforced concrete beams (HRCB) internally reinforced with steel rebars have been employed extensively for bridge structural members and high-rise buildings. Many experimental studies have been conducted to investigate the behavior of hollow beams subjected to bending loading and found that the structural performance of HRCBs is critically affected by many design parameters. While the proper design of the HRCBs demonstrated comparable behavior to solid sections, inappropriate design leads beams to be extremely prone to brittle failure. Another potential issue that needs to be further investigated is the replacement of steel bars with suitable materials due to their susceptibility to corrosion. Hence, to develop a reliable construction system, the application of GFRP bars as a non-corroding material has been utilized. Furthermore, this study aims to critically review the different design parameters that affect the flexural performance of the HRCBs and recognize the gaps of knowledge in the better design and more effective use of this construction system.

Keywords: design parameters, experimental investigations, hollow reinforced concrete beams, steel, GFRP, flexural strength

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Authors: M. D. Levi, Netanel Shpigel, Sergey Sigalov, Gregory Salitra, Leonid Daikhin, Doron Aurbach

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We have developed an in-situ method for tracking ions adsorption into composite nanoporous carbon electrodes based on quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM). In these first papers QCM was used as a simple gravimetric probe of compositional changes in carbon porous composite electrodes during their charging since variation of the electrode potential did not change significantly width of the resonance. In contrast, when we passed from nanoporous carbons to a composite Li-ion battery material such as LiFePO4 olivine, the change in the resonance width was comparable with change of the resonance frequency (polymeric binder PVdF was shown to be completely rigid when used in aqueous solutions). We have provided a quantitative hydrodynamic admittance model of ion-insertion processes into electrode host accompanied by intercalation-induced dimensional changes of electrode particles, and hence the entire electrode coating. The change in electrode deformation and the related porosity modify hydrodynamic solid-liquid interactions tracked by QCM with dissipation monitoring. Using admittance modeling, we are able to evaluate the changes of effective thickness and permeability/porosity of composite electrode caused by applied potential and as a function of cycle number. This unique non-destructive technique may have great advantage in early diagnostics of cycling life durability of batteries and supercapacitors.

Keywords: Li-ion batteries, particles deformations, QCM-D, viscoelasticity

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Authors: R. S. Yadav, J. Havlica, I. Kuřitka, Z. Kozakova, J. Masilko, L. Kalina, M. Hajdúchová, V. Enev, J. Wasserbauer

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Nickel spinel ferrite NiFe2O4 nanoparticles with different particle size at different annealing temperature were synthesized using the starch-assisted sol-gel auto-combustion method. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by conventional powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer. The XRD patterns confirmed the formation of NiFe2O4 spinel ferrite nanoparticles. Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed that particles are of spherical morphology with particle size 5-20 nm at lower annealing temperature. An infrared spectroscopy study showed the presence of two principal absorption bands in the frequency range around 525 cm-1 (ν1) and around 340 cm-1 (ν2); which indicate the presence of tetrahedral and octahedral group complexes, respectively, within the spinel ferrite nanoparticles. Raman spectroscopy study also indicated the change in octahedral and tetrahedral site related Raman modes in nickel ferrite nanoparticles with change of particle size. This change in magnetic behavior with change of particle size of NiFe2O4 nanoparticles was observed.

Keywords: nickel ferrite, nanoparticles, magnetic property, NiFe2O4

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Authors: Elisabeth Maidl

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The interdependence of climate change and natural hazard goes along with large uncertainties regarding future risks. Regional stakeholders, experts in natural hazards management and scientists have specific knowledge, resp. mental models on such risks. This diversity of views makes it difficult to find common and broadly accepted prevention measures. If the specific knowledge of these types of actors is shared in an interactive knowledge production process, this enables a broader and common understanding of complex risks and allows to agree on long-term solution strategies. Previous studies on mental models confirm that actors with specific vulnerabilities perceive different aspects of a topic and accordingly prefer different measures. In bringing these perspectives together, there is the potential to reduce uncertainty and to close blind spots in solution finding. However, studies that examine the mental models of regional actors on future concrete mass movement risks are lacking so far. The project tests and evaluates the feasibility of knowledge co-creation for the anticipatory prevention of climate change-induced mass movement risks in the Alps. As a key element, mental models of the three included groups of actors are compared. Being integrated into the research program Climate Change Impacts on Alpine Mass Movements (CCAMM2), this project is carried out in two Swiss mountain regions. The project is structured in four phases: 1) the preparatory phase, in which the participants are identified, 2) the baseline phase, in which qualitative interviews and a quantitative pre-survey are conducted with actors 3) the knowledge-co-creation phase, in which actors have a moderated exchange meeting, and a participatory modelling workshop on specific risks in the region, and 4) finally a public information event. Results show that participants' mental models are based on the place of origin, profession, believes, values, which results in narratives on climate change and hazard risks. Further, the more intensively participants interact with each other, the more likely is that they change their views. This provides empirical evidence on how changes in opinions and mindsets can be induced and fostered.

Keywords: climate change, knowledge-co-creation, participatory process, natural hazard risks

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Authors: Estefanya Vazquez-Casaubon, Veroline Cauberghe, Dieneke Van de Sompel, Hayley Pearce

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Working together to reduce the anthropogenic impact should be a collective action, including effort within the household. In the matter, children are considered to have an important role in influencing the household to reduce the environmental impact through reversed socialization where children motivate and increase the concern of the parents towards environmental protection. Previous studies reveal that communication between parents and kids is key for effective reversed socialization. However, multiple barriers have been identified in the literature, such as the acceptance of the influence from the kids, the properties of the communication, among other factors. Based on the previous evidence, the present study aims to assess barriers and facilitators of communication at the household level that have an impact on reversed socialization. More precisely, the study examines how parents’ climate change coping strategy (problem-focused, meaning-focused, disregarding) influences the valence and the type of the communication related to climate change, and eventually the extent to which they report their beliefs and behaviours to be influenced by the pro-environmental perspectives of their children; i.e. reversed socialization. Via an online survey, 723 Belgian parents self-reported on communication about environmental protection and risk within their household (such as the frequency of exchange about topics related to climate change sourced from school, the household rules, imparting knowledge to the children, and outer factors like media or peer pressure, the emotional valence of the communication), their perceived socialization, and personal factors (coping mechanisms towards climate change). The results, using structural equation modelling, revealed that parents applying a problem-solving coping strategy related to climate change, appear to communicate more often in a positive than in a negative manner. Parents with a disregarding coping style towards climate change appear to communicate less often in a positive way within the household. Parents that cope via meaning-making of climate change showed to communicate less often in either a positive or negative way. Moreover, the perceived valence of the communication (positive or negative) influenced the frequency and type of household communication. Positive emotions increased the frequency of the communication overall. However, the direct effect of neither of the coping mechanisms on the reversed socialization was significant. High frequency of communication about the media, environmental views of the household members among other external topics had a positive impact on the perceived socialization, followed by discussions school-related; while parental instructing had a negative impact on the perceived socialization. Moreover, the frequency of communication was strongly affected by the perceived valence of the communication (positive or negative). The results go in line with previous evidence that a higher frequency of communication facilitates reversed socialization. Hence the results outstand how the coping mechanisms of the parents can be either a facilitator when they cope via problem-solving, while parents that disregard might avert frequent communication about climate change at the household.

Keywords: communication, parents’ coping mechanisms, environmental protection, household, perceived socialization

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Authors: Matan Cohen, Maxim Shoshany

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Climatic, topographic and geological diversity, together with frequent disturbance and recovery cycles, produce highly complex spatial patterns of trees, shrubs, dwarf shrubs and bare ground patches. Assessment of spatial and temporal variations of these life-forms patterns under climate change is of high ecological priority. Here we report on one of the first attempts to discriminate between images of three Mediterranean life-forms patterns at three densities. The development of an extensive database of orthophoto images representing these 9 pattern categories was instrumental for training and testing pre-trained and newly-trained DL models utilizing DenseNet architecture. Both models demonstrated the advantages of using Deep Learning approaches over existing spectral and spatial (pattern or texture) algorithmic methods in differentiation 9 life-form spatial mixtures categories.

Keywords: texture classification, deep learning, desert fringe ecosystems, climate change

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Authors: Pattaka Sa-Ngimnet

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That the University as we have known it is no longer serving the needs of the vast majority of students and potential students has been a topic of much discussion. Institutions of higher education, in this age of global culture, are in a process of metamorphosis. Technology is being used to allow more students, older students, working students and disabled students, who cannot attend conventional classes, to have greater access to higher education through the internet. But change must come about only after much evaluation and experimentation or education will simply become a commodity as, in some cases, it already has. This paper will be concerned with the meaning and methods of change and evaluation as they are applied to institutions of higher education. Organization’s generally have different goals and different approaches in order to be successful. However, the means of reaching those goals requires rational and effective planning. Any plans for successful change in any institution must take into account both effectiveness and efficiency and the differences between them. “Effectiveness” refers to an adequate means of achieving an objective. “Efficiency” refers to the ability to achieve an objective without waste of time or resources (The Free Dictionary). So an effective means may not be efficient and an efficient means may not be effective. The goal is to reach a synthesis of effectiveness and efficiency that will maximize both to the extent each is limited by the other. This focus of this paper then is to determine how an educational institution can become either successful or oppressive depending on the kinds of planning, evaluating and changes that operate by and on the administration. If the plan is concerned only with efficiency, the institution can easily become oppressive and lose sight of its purpose of educating students. If it is overly concentrated on effectiveness, the students may receive a superior education in the short run but the institution will face operating difficulties. In becoming only goal oriented, institutions also face problems. Simply stated, if the institution reaches its goals, the stake holders may become satisfied and fail to change and keep up with the needs of the times. So goals should be seen only as benchmarks in a process of becoming even better in providing quality education. Constant and consistent evaluation is the key to making all these factors come together in a successful process of planning, testing and changing the plans as needed. The focus of the evaluation has to be considered. Evaluations must take into account progress and needs of students, methods and skills of instructors, resources available from the institution and the styles and objectives of administrators. Thus the role of evaluation is pivotal in providing for the maximum of both effective and efficient change in higher education institutions.

Keywords: change, effectiveness, efficiency, education

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Authors: Ezeabasili Chibuike Patrick

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The complex situation of construction industries in Nigeria and the risk of failures involved includes cost overrun, time overrun, Corruption, Government influence, Subcontractor challenges, Political influence and Instability, Cultural differences, Human resources deficiencies, cash flow Challenges, foreign exchange issues, inadequate design, Safety, low productivity, late payment, Quality control issues, project management issues, Environmental issues, Force majeure Competition amongst others has made the industry prone to risk and failures. Good project management remains effective in improving decision-making, which minimizes these risk events. This study was done to address these project risks and good decision-making to avert them. A mixed-method approach to research was used to do this study. Data collected by questionnaires and interviews on thirty-two (32) construction professionals was used in analyses to aid the knowledge and management of risks that were identified. The study revealed that there is no good risk management expertise in Nigeria. Also, that the economic/political situation and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has added to the risk and poor management strategies. The contingency theory and cost has therefore surfaced to be the most strategic management method used to reduce these risk issues and they seem to be very effective.

Keywords: strategies, risk management, contingency theory, Nigeria

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Authors: Claudeline D. Cellan

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Development is multifaceted, and efforts to hasten growth in all these facets have been gaining traction in recent years. Thus, producing a composite index that is reflective of these multidimensional impacts captures the interests of policymakers. The problem lies in going through a mixture of theoretical, methodological and empirical decisions and complexities which, when done carelessly, can lead to inconsistent and unreliable results. This study looks into index computation from a different and less complex perspective. Borrowing the idea of archetypes or ‘pure types’, archetypal analysis looks for points in the convex hull of the multivariate data set that captures as much information in the data as possible. The archetypes or 'pure types' are estimated such that they are convex combinations of all the observations, which in turn are convex combinations of the archetypes. This ensures that the archetypes are realistically observable, therefore achievable. In the sense of composite indices, we look for the best among these archetypes and use this as a benchmark for index computation. Its straightforward and simplistic approach does away with aggregation and substitutability problems which are commonly encountered in index computation. As an example of the application of archetypal analysis in index construction, the country data for the Human Development Index (HDI 2017) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is used. The goal of this exercise is not to replicate the result of the UNDP-computed HDI, but to illustrate the usability of archetypal analysis in index construction. Here best is defined in the context of life, education and gross national income sub-indices. Results show that the HDI from the archetypal analysis has a linear relationship with the UNDP-computed HDI.

Keywords: archetypes, composite index, convex combination, development

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Authors: Hameda Suwaed

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In today's world, knowledge and information are increasing in a way that no one can learn everything about every subject and the jobs that students will get after graduation may not yet exist. Therefore, teaching them just facts without teaching them how to use the facts in real life, how to work in a team and how to think critically is no longer enough. In Libya, a country characterized by using traditional methods of teaching, how can English language teachers train students to use such skills? And what type of activities and adaptations to classroom teaching methods will be necessary to do this? Using action research and classroom research gathered data, this study adjusts Heath's (2010) model of change that includes giving students clear directions, sufficient motivation and supportive environment. These steps were applied by encouraging students to participate actively in the classroom by using group work and variety of activities to train them how to find, interpret and use information. The findings of the study showed that following the suggested model can broaden students' perspectives on studying in their environment starting with their classroom and ending with their country. In conclusion, although this was a small scale study, the students' participation in the classroom shows that they gained self confidence in using practices such as group work, critical thinking, time management, creativity and how to present their ideas and accepting different opinions. What was remarkable is that most students were aware that is what we need in Libya nowadays.

Keywords: change, classroom practice, skills, Libya, group work

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Authors: Kyung Hoon Park, Hyung Jun Kim, Jong Wook Song

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Super-tall building, large-scale and multi-purpose underground spaces reflect changes in construction trend. As current laws and codes such as Fire Services Act and construction codes are not enough to secure the fire safety of those structures and spaces, it is required to provide systemic supplement for performance-based design to establish or revise laws and technical standards to cope with the changes flexibly. In this study, the performance-based design standards of structures designed in Korea are compared with specification based design standards in an attempt to find the ways to establish fire safety standards for structures in Korea.

Keywords: performance based design, specification based design, fire safety design, life safety

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Authors: Mohammad Zafar-ul Islam, Shaily Menon, Xingong Li, A. Townsend Peterson

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In addition to the mounting empirical data on direct implications of climate change for natural and human systems, evidence is increasing for other, indirect climate change phenomena such as sea-level rise. Rising sea levels and associated marine intrusion into terrestrial environments are predicted to be among the most serious eventual consequences of climate change. The many complex and interacting factors affecting sea levels create considerable uncertainty in sea-level rise projections: conservative estimates are on the order of 0.5-1.0 m globally, while other estimates are much higher, approaching 6 m. Marine intrusion associated with 1– 6 m sea-level rise will impact species and habitats in coastal ecosystems severely. Examining areas most vulnerable to such impacts may allow design of appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies. We present an overview of potential effects of 1 and 6 m sea level rise for coastal conservation areas in the Indian Subcontinent. In particular, we examine the projected magnitude of areal losses in relevant biogeographic zones, ecoregions, protected areas (PAs), and Important Bird Areas (IBAs). In addition, we provide a more detailed and quantitative analysis of likely effects of marine intrusion on 22 coastal PAs and IBAs that provide critical habitat for birds in the form of breeding areas, migratory stopover sites, and overwintering habitats. Several coastal PAs and IBAs are predicted to experience higher than 50% losses to marine intrusion. We explore consequences of such inundation levels on species and habitat in these areas.

Keywords: sea-level change, coastal inundation, marine intrusion, biogeographic zones, ecoregions, protected areas, important bird areas, adaptation, mitigation

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