@inproceedings{WilsonDamodaranOlphert2004, author = {Wilson, Ian E. and Damodaran, Leela and Olphert, Wendy}, title = {ICT Adoption in the Construction Sector: Education and Training Issues}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.201}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-2013}, year = {2004}, abstract = {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.}, subject = {Forschung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{HassanShelbournCarter2004, author = {Hassan, Tarek and Shelbourn, Mark and Carter, Chris}, title = {Collaboration in Construction: Legal and Contractual Issues in ICT Applications}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.2007}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-2005}, year = {2004}, abstract = {The construction industry is a project-based business bringing together many different organisations to complete a desired goal. The strategic use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has enabled this goal to be completed more effectively. Two issues require addressing, the technology itself and the implementation factors of the technology. Such implementation factors should consider, among other factors, the legal and contractual issues associated with the use of ICT, training requirements and its effects on the organisational culture. To date the legal and contractual issues have not been extensively covered, and it is recognised that the technologies have not been properly covered by any recognised legal and contractual practices. This in turn is threatening to inhibit the growth and prosperity of the use of the technology on construction projects. This paper discusses these legal and contractual issues and describes methods and tools that can be used to enable the growth of technology to be used in a legal and contractually valid environment.}, subject = {Forschung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{ZarliStorerKazi2004, author = {Zarli, Alain and Storer, Graham and Kazi, Abdul Samad (Sami)}, title = {Building a Better Future: Major Results from the ICCI Cluster Project}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.199}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1994}, year = {2004}, abstract = {To support research in the building sector and in order to help it move towards a new digital economy, the European Commission under the 5th Framework initiative, especially the IST programme, funded various RTD projects. The opportunity to bring these IST projects together was acknowledged so that stronger links can be created under a clustering umbrella and that, moreover, links of those projects with their RTD environment could be facilitated. This has been the objective of work carried out within the ICCI (IST-2001-33022) Cluster project. This paper introduces the main aims and objectives of the project, and then presents its principal outcomes. In a second part, it synthesises the underlying concepts, technology and tools that will make ICT-based Construction a reality in a near future, and gives recommended actions for the industry, the EC and the Construction ICT R\&D in Europe, giving some benefit of this project experience to the three communities.}, subject = {Forschung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MelhemCheng2004, author = {Melhem, Hani and Cheng, Yousheng}, title = {Numeric Prediction Algorithms for Bridge Corrosion}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.198}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1982}, year = {2004}, abstract = {The research reported in this article was conducted to mainly explore the two common numeric prediction techniques, the model tree and the regression tree, when used in conjunction with bagging as a wrapper method. Bagging is used to improve the prediction accuracy of these two algorithms, and results are compared with the ones obtained earlier by the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm. From the conducted experiments, both the bagged regression tree and bagged model tree produce better results than not only their corresponding regression tree and model tree alone, but also the KNN with optimal value of k equal to 7. In addition, the bagged model tree yields the lowest prediction errors and a highest correlation coefficient of 0.81. It is demonstrated that it is feasible to use the bagged model tree for engineering applications in prediction problems such as estimating the remaining service life of bridge decks.}, subject = {Hochschulbildung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{HaapalainenNaaranojaLonka2004, author = {Haapalainen, P{\"a}ivi and Naaranoja, Marja and Lonka, Heikki}, title = {How to Prevent Project Knowledge Management Failures in Construction - IT Enabled Communication Perspective}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.1970}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1977}, year = {2004}, abstract = {This article discusses how the failures of construction projects could be prevented. The focus is on using IT tools in communication. The article is based on the findings of the PROLABproject. The project seeks to find solutions for how the information can effectively be used in project management, specially in construction projects, what kind of procedures help the management of the knowledge and how the obstacles for efficient ways of administrating the information can be removed. These obstacles can be either related to use of new technology or to organization culture. The paper discusses e-mail as a medium of communication with the media richness framework (Fulk \& Boyd 1991) based on the interviews done with the participants of construction projects. We found out that the emails were used in both rich way and not so rich way. Obstacles of rich use of IT communication were partly technical and partly psychological. Technology acceptance model (TAM) is used to study the actual use of emails in communication. Obstacles of the use of emails were mostly individual differences like the skills to use the system or external variables like they did not have proper software to open the attachments. Also people talked about information overload. Emails often push too much information. Keywords: IT tools, Communication, Knowledge management, Construction}, subject = {Hochschulbildung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FloodIssaAbuShdid2004, author = {Flood, Ian and Issa, Raja and Abu-Shdid, Caesar}, title = {Developments in Hyper Real-Time Simulation of Transient Heat-Flow in Buildings}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.196}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1961}, year = {2004}, abstract = {This paper reports on the latest results in the development of a new approach for simulating the thermal behavior of buildings that overcomes the limitations of conventional heat-transfer simulation methods such as FDM and FEM. The proposed technique uses a coarse-grain approach to model development whereby each element represents a complete building component such as a wall, internal space, or floor. The thermal behavior of each coarse-grain element is captured using empirical modeling techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs). The main advantages of the approach compared to conventional simulation methods are: (a) simplified model construction for the end-user; (b) simplified model reconfiguration; (c) significantly faster simulation runs (orders of magnitude faster for two and three-dimensional models); and (d) potentially more accurate results. The paper demonstrates the viability of the approach through a number of experiments with a model of a composite wall. The approach is shown to be able to sustain highly accurate longterm simulation runs, if the coarse-grain modeling elements are implemented as ANNs. In contrast, an implementation of the coarse-grain elements using a linear model is shown to function inaccurately and erratically. The paper concludes with an identification of on-going work and future areas for development of the technique.}, subject = {Hochschulbildung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FruchterSaxenaBreidenthal2004, author = {Fruchter, Renate and Saxena, Kushagra and Breidenthal, Matt}, title = {Collaborative Exploration of Rich Content in Support of Knowledge Re-use}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.195}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1952}, year = {2004}, abstract = {A/E/C Team members, while collaborating on building projects, rely on past experiences and content through the use of project design archives (whether in paper or digital format). This leads to underutilization of potential knowledge, as decision-making of data, information, and knowledge reuse is limited by access to these archives, due to sheer size and inconvenient presentation. This paper presents an integrated solution that leverages two technologies CoMem (Corporate Memory) and iRoom (interactive Room) developed at Stanford. This addresses critical limitations, i.e., content, context, visualization and interactivity, constraining the process of collaborative exploration towards knowledge reuse and decision-making.}, subject = {Hochschulbildung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SoibelmanO'BrienElvin2004, author = {Soibelman, Lucio and O'Brien, William and Elvin, George}, title = {Collaborative Design Processes: A Class on Concurrent Collaboration in Multidisciplinary Design}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.194}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1948}, year = {2004}, abstract = {The rise of concurrent engineering in construction demands early team formation and constant communication throughout the project life cycle, but educational models in architecture, engineering and construction have been slow to adjust to this shift in project organization. Most students in these fields spend the majority of their college years working on individual projects that do not build teamwork or communication skills. Collaborative Design Processes (CDP) is a capstone design course where students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Florida learn methods of collaborative design enhanced by the use of information technology. Students work in multidisciplinary teams to collaborate from remote locations via the Internet on the design of a facility. An innovation of this course compared to previous efforts is that students also develop process designs for the integration of technology into the work of multidisciplinary design teams. The course thus combines both active and reflective learning about collaborative design and methods. The course is designed to provide students the experience, tools, and methods needed to improve design processes and better integrate the use of technology into AEC industry work practices. This paper describes the goals, outcomes and significance of this new, interdisciplinary course for distributed AEC education. Differences from existing efforts and lessons learned to promote collaborative practices are discussed. Principal conclusions are that the course presents effective pedagogy to promote collaborative design methods, but faces challenges in both technology and in traditional intra-disciplinary training of students.}, subject = {Hochschulbildung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{FruchterDemianSaxena2004, author = {Fruchter, Renate and Demian, Peter and Saxena, Kushagra}, title = {Discovery of Re-usable Architecture/Engineering Construction Knowledge Trough Exploration of a Corporate Memory : Chance Discovery of Reusable AEC Knowledge from a Corporate Memory}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.193}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1932}, year = {2004}, abstract = {Re-using knowledge in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms can lead to greater competitive advantage, improved designs, and more effective management of constructed facilities. This paper discusses the importance of exploration and discovery of reusable knowledge from a corporate archive as opposed to simple search and retrieval. We describe and illustrate through a scenario of use an exploration framework and prototype, CoMemTM that formalizes the added value of exploration in the process of knowledge reuse. We discuss two exploration activities: (i) Breadth- Only overview exploration that assist a user to rapidly localize pockets of re-usable knowledge from the large corporate archive and (ii) Iterative breadth-depth exploration that enables a user to identify those re-usable components of the Corporate Memory that may yield design issues that were not originally considered.}, subject = {Hochschulbildung}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LauLaw2004, author = {Lau, Gloria and Law, Kincho}, title = {An Information Infrastructure for Comparing Accessibility Regulations and Related Information from Multiple Sources}, doi = {10.25643/bauhaus-universitaet.192}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20111215-1922}, year = {2004}, abstract = {This paper describes a research project that addresses the difficulties in dealing with regulatory documents such as national and regional codes. These documents tend to be voluminous, heavily cross-referenced, possibly ambiguous and even conflicting at times. There are often multiple documents that need to be consulted and satisfied; however it is a difficult task to locate all of the relevant provisions. In addition, sections dealing with the same or similar conceptual ideas sometimes lay down conflicting requirements. We propose a framework for regulation representation, analysis and comparison with emphasis on the extraction of similarities between provisions. We focus on accessibility regulations, whose intent is to provide the same or equivalent access to a building and its facilities for disabled persons. An XML regulatory repository is developed to extract structural as well as non-structural features from government regulations to help user understanding and computational analysis. A similarity analysis is performed between different sources of regulations. In order to achieve a better comparison between provisions, we employ a combination of feature matching and structural analysis. Results are shown on comparisons between American and European codes, as well as on the domain of electronic-rulemaking.}, subject = {Hochschulbildung}, language = {en} }