How could construction supply chain benefit from RFID/GPS integration: a knowledge management perspective

Construction materials and equipment are essential building blocks of every construction project and may account for 50-60 per cent of the total cost of construction. The rate of their utilization, on the other hand, is the element that most directly relates to a project progress. A growing concern in the industry that inadequate efficiency hinders its success could thus be accommodated by turning construction into a logistic process. Although mostly limited, recent attempts and studies show that Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) applications have significant potentials in construction. However, the aim of this research is to show that the technology itself should not only be used for automation and tracking to overcome the supply chain complexity but also as a tool to generate, record and exchange process-related knowledge among the supply chain stakeholders. This would enable all involved parties to identify and understand consequences of any forthcoming difficulties and react accordingly before they cause major disruptions in the construction process. In order to achieve this aim the study focuses on a number of methods. First of all it develops a generic understanding of how RFID technology has been used in logistic processes in industrial supply chain management. Secondly, it investigates recent applications of RFID as an information and communication technology support facility in construction logistics for the management of construction supply chain. Based on these the study develops an improved concept of a construction logistics architecture that explicitly relies on integrating RFID with the Global Positioning System (GPS). The developed conceptual model architecture shows that categorisation provided through RFID and traceability as a result of RFID/GPS integration could be used as a tool to identify, record and share potential problems and thus vastly improve knowledge management processes within the entire supply chain. The findings thus clearly show a need for future research in this area.

Intelligent wireless web services: context-aware computing in construction-logistics supply chain

The construction industry has incurred a considerable amount of waste as a result of poor logistics supply chain network management. Therefore, managing logistics in the construction industry is critical. An effective logistic system ensures delivery of the right products and services to the right players at the right time while minimising costs and rewarding all sectors based on value added to the supply chain. This paper reports on an on-going research study on the concept of context-aware services delivery in the construction project supply chain logistics. As part of the emerging wireless technologies, an Intelligent Wireless Web (IWW) using context-aware computing capability represents the next generation ICT application to construction-logistics management. This intelligent system has the potential of serving and improving the construction logistics through access to context-specific data, information and services. Existing mobile communication deployments in the construction industry rely on static modes of information delivery and do not take into account the worker’s changing context and dynamic project conditions. The major problems in these applications are lack of context-specificity in the distribution of information, services and other project resources, and lack of cohesion with the existing desktop based ICT infrastructure. The research works focus on identifying the context dimension such as user context, environmental context and project context, selection of technologies to capture context-parameters such wireless sensors and RFID, selection of supporting technologies such as wireless communication, Semantic Web, Web Services, agents, etc. The process of integration of Context-Aware Computing and Web-Services to facilitate the creation of intelligent collaboration environment for managing construction logistics will take into account all the necessary critical parameters such as storage, transportation, distribution, assembly, etc. within off and on-site project.

Towards the prediction of essential genes by integration of network topology, cellular localization and biological process information

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Perceptual Information Integration: Hypothetical Role of Astrocytes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Astrocytes and human cognition: Modeling information integration and modulation of neuronal activity

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Séptima Conferencia Regional sobre la Integración de la Mujer en el Desarrollo Económico y Social de América Latina y el Caribe: folleto informativo = Seventh Session of the Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social Development of Latin America and the Caribbean: background information

Incluye Bibliografía

Computerization of maritime ports, e-commerce platforms and logistics communities

In the past few years there has been a clear trend of attaching increasing importance to "inforstructures", or the capacity of ports to process the information that accompanies foreign trade flows, so that the processing becomes a facilitating factor for trade, rather than an obstacle.This led to development of the concept of a port community system, which is a computerized system that interconnects all the members of a logistics community, making the exchange of documentation as effective as possible, reducing the volume of data to be re-entered in different systems and ultimately improving the whole process of monitoring an operation until its completion. Computerization of communications between all the actors at the ports facilitates integration of the community, while it also assists interaction between ports, thus forming logistics corridors.

Logistics observatories and regional integration indicators: the Mesoamerica project

This FAL Bulletin analyses the development of logistics observatories and the construction of regional integration indicators in Latin America and the Caribbean. To this end, it examines experiences, in the region and worldwide, in relation to the construction of indicators and presents a set of policy recommendations for proper implementation. The Mesoamerica Project is used as a case study to construct a set of indicators for logistics infrastructures.

Logistics and mobility policies for sustainable development and regional integration: conceptual framework and regional experiences

This FAL Bulletin summarizes the main findings and proposals contained in the document “Políticas de logística y movilidad para el desarrollo sostenible y la integración regional”, recently published by the Natural Resources and Infrastructure Division (NRID), ECLAC. It contains a proposal for a paradigm shift in the formulation of national logistics and mobility policies, with common guidelines for Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Cognitive binding in schizophrenia: weakened integration of temporal intersensory information

Cognitive functioning is based on binding processes, by which different features and elements of neurocognition are integrated and coordinated. Binding is an essential ingredient of, for instance, Gestalt perception. We have implemented a paradigm of causality perception based on the work of Albert Michotte, in which 2 identical discs move from opposite sides of a monitor, steadily toward, and then past one another. Their coincidence generates an ambiguous percept of either "streaming" or "bouncing," which the subjects (34 schizophrenia spectrum patients and 34 controls with mean age 27.9 y) were instructed to report. The latter perception is a marker of the binding processes underlying perceived causality (type I binding). In addition to this visual task, acoustic stimuli were presented at different times during the task (150 ms before and after visual coincidence), which can modulate perceived causality. This modulation by intersensory and temporally delayed stimuli is viewed as a different type of binding (type II). We show here, using a mixed-effects hierarchical analysis, that type II binding distinguishes schizophrenia spectrum patients from healthy controls, whereas type I binding does not. Type I binding may even be excessive in some patients, especially those with positive symptoms; Type II binding, however, was generally attenuated in patients. The present findings point to ways in which the disconnection (or Gestalt) hypothesis of schizophrenia can be refined, suggesting more specific markers of neurocognitive functioning and potential targets of treatment.