Building information modeling in the Australian architecture engineering and construction industry

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a modern approach to the design, documentation, delivery, and life cycle management of buildings through the use of project information databases coupled with object-based parametric modeling. BIM has the potential to revolutionize the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry in terms of the positive impact it may have on information flows, working relationships between project participants from different disciplines and the resulting benefits it may achieve through improvements to conventional methods. This chapter reviews the development of BIM, the extent to which BIM has been implemented in Australia, and the factors which have affected the up-take of BIM. More specifically, the objectives of this chapter are to investigate the adoption of BIM in the Australian AEC industry and factors that contribute towards the uptake (or non uptake) of BIM. These objectives are met by a review of the related literature in the first instance, followed by the presentation of the results of a 2007 postal questionnaire survey and telephone interviews of a random sample of professionals in the Australian AEC industry. The responses suggest that less than 25 percent of the sample had been involved in BIM – rather less than might be expected from reading the literature. Also, of those who have been involved with BIM, there has been very little interdisciplinary collaboration. The main barriers impeding the implementation of BIM widely across the Australian AEC industry are also identified. These were found to be primarily a lack of BIM expertise, lack of awareness and resistance to change. The benefits experienced as a result of using BIM are also discussed. These include improved design consistency, better coordination, cost savings, higher quality work, greater productivity and increased speed of delivery. In terms of conclusion, some suggestions are made concerning the underlying practical reasons for the slow up-take of BIM and the successes for those early adopters. Prospects for future improvement are discussed and proposals are also made for a large scale worldwide comparative study covering industry-wide participants

Modeling heat and mass transfer process during convection drying of fruit

Fruit drying is a process of removing moisture to preserve fruits by preventing microbial spoilage. It increases shelf life, reduce weight and volume thus minimize packing, storage, and transportation cost and enable storage of food under ambient environment. But, it is a complex process which involves combination of heat and mass transfer and physical property change and shrinkage of the material. In this background, the aim of this paper to develop a mathematical model to simulate coupled heat and mass transfer during convective drying of fruit. This model can be used predict the temperature and moisture distribution inside the fruits during drying. Two models were developed considering shrinkage dependent and temperature dependent moisture diffusivity and the results were compared. The governing equations of heat and mass transfer are solved and a parametric study has been done with Comsol Multiphysics 4.3. The predicted results were validated with experimental data.

A Matlab toolbox for parametric identification of radiation-force models of ships and offshore structures

This article describes a Matlab toolbox for parametric identification of fluid-memory models associated with the radiation forces ships and offshore structures. Radiation forces are a key component of force-to-motion models used in simulators, motion control designs, and also for initial performance evaluation of wave-energy converters. The software described provides tools for preparing non-parmatric data and for identification with automatic model-order detection. The identification problem is considered in the frequency domain.

Non-formal techniques for requirements elicitation, modeling, and early assessment for services

Designing systems for multiple stakeholders requires frequent collaboration with multiple stakeholders from the start. In many cases at least some stakeholders lack a professional habit of formal modeling. We report observations from two case studies of stakeholder-involvement in early design where non-formal techniques supported strong collaboration resulting in deep understanding of requirements and of the feasibility of solutions.

Satisfaction with emergency department service among non-English-speaking background patients

Objective: The present study aims to investigate non-English-speaking background (NESB) patients’ satisfaction with hospital ED service and compare it with that of English-speaking background (ESB) patients. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the ED of an adult tertiary referral hospital in Queensland, Australia. Patients assigned an Australasian Triage Scale score of 3, 4 or 5 were surveyed in the ED, before and after their ED service. Pearson χ2- test and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the differences between the ESB and NESB groups in terms of patient-reported satisfaction. Results: In total, 828 patients participated in the present study. Although the overall satisfaction with the service was high – 95.1% (ESB) and 90.5% (NESB) – the NESB patients who did not use an interpreter were less satisfied with their ED service than the ESB patients (odds ratio 0.5, 95% confidence interval 0.3–0.8, P = 0.013). The promptness of service received the lowest satisfaction rates (ESB 85.4% [82.4–88.0], NESB 74.5% [68.5– 79.7], P < 0.001), whereas courtesy and friendliness received the highest satisfaction rates (ESB 98.8 [97.6–99.4], NESB 97.0 [93.9–98.5], P = 0.063). All participants reported the promptness of service (33.5%), quality and professional care (18.5%) and communication (17.6%) as the most important elements of ED service. Conclusion: The NESB patients were significantly less satisfied than the ESB patients with the ED service. Use of an interpreter improved the NESB patients’ level of satisfaction. Further research is required to examine what NESB patients’ expectations of ED service are.

Understanding Uncertainties in Non-Linear Population Trajectories: A Bayesian Semi-Parametric Hierarchical Approach to Large-Scale Surveys of Coral Cover

Recently, attempts to improve decision making in species management have focussed on uncertainties associated with modelling temporal fluctuations in populations. Reducing model uncertainty is challenging; while larger samples improve estimation of species trajectories and reduce statistical errors, they typically amplify variability in observed trajectories. In particular, traditional modelling approaches aimed at estimating population trajectories usually do not account well for nonlinearities and uncertainties associated with multi-scale observations characteristic of large spatio-temporal surveys. We present a Bayesian semi-parametric hierarchical model for simultaneously quantifying uncertainties associated with model structure and parameters, and scale-specific variability over time. We estimate uncertainty across a four-tiered spatial hierarchy of coral cover from the Great Barrier Reef. Coral variability is well described; however, our results show that, in the absence of additional model specifications, conclusions regarding coral trajectories become highly uncertain when considering multiple reefs, suggesting that management should focus more at the scale of individual reefs. The approach presented facilitates the description and estimation of population trajectories and associated uncertainties when variability cannot be attributed to specific causes and origins. We argue that our model can unlock value contained in large-scale datasets, provide guidance for understanding sources of uncertainty, and support better informed decision making