A 4D automatic simulation tool for construction resource planning: A case study

Purpose Traditional construction planning relies upon the critical path method (CPM) and bar charts. Both of these methods suffer from visualization and timing issues that could be addressed by 4D technology specifically geared to meet the needs of the construction industry. This paper proposed a new construction planning approach based on simulation by using a game engine. Design/methodology/approach A 4D automatic simulation tool was developed and a case study was carried out. The proposed tool was used to simulate and optimize the plans for the installation of a temporary platform for piling in a civil construction project in Hong Kong. The tool simulated the result of the construction process with three variables: 1) equipment, 2) site layout and 3) schedule. Through this, the construction team was able to repeatedly simulate a range of options. Findings The results indicate that the proposed approach can provide a user-friendly 4D simulation platform for the construction industry. The simulation can also identify the solution being sought by the construction team. The paper also identifies directions for further development of the 4D technology as an aid in construction planning and decision-making. Research limitations/implications The tests on the tool are limited to a single case study and further research is needed to test the use of game engines for construction planning in different construction projects to verify its effectiveness. Future research could also explore the use of alternative game engines and compare their performance and results. Originality/value The authors proposed the use of game engine to simulate the construction process based on resources, working space and construction schedule. The developed tool can be used by end-users without simulation experience.

Planning, policy and you

The policy environment for regional natural resource management (NRM) has shifted considerably since it was first introduced in the early 2000s. This workshop will explore the impact of current policy on NRM planning and action through presentations and workshop discussion. To set the scene for the workshop discussion presentations will consider: 1) the impact of evolving national and state NRM policy in Australia; 2) how Australian NRM compares to other countries; 3) governance risks to NRM delivery; and 4) regional responses to NRM delivery. During the workshop element, participants from across regions will share their experiences and explore implications of current policy on the business of regional NRM.

A study of governance arrangements for land use and natural resource management planning in Cape York Peninsula

Complex intersecting social, economic and environmental dilemmas in Australia's Cape York Peninsula present a number of challenges for planners seeking to develop and implement land use and natural resource management (NRM) plans. There have been five different attempts at land use and NRM planning in Cape York Peninsula over the last 20 years. These processes have (to greater or lesser extents) failed to deliver community-owned and government-supported plans to guide development and/or the management of the region's natural resources. The region is remote, sparsely populated, and home to a significant Indigenous population. Much of the contestation within the region surrounds the access, use and ownership of the region's internationally valuable natural resources. This paper reviews, from the literature, the relevancy and applicability of criteria for best practice planning and governance. A range of identified best practice governance and planning principles are applied to assess the governance arrangements for planning in the Peninsula. The paper finds that decision-making arrangements for land use and NRM planning in the Peninsula are still in their infancy and are inadequate to support effective outcomes. The paper concludes that broader attention to best practice principles in governance for planning is needed to improve planning outcomes.

Peer mentoring for radiotherapy planning skills development: A pilot study

Introduction: This study aimed to determine the potential role and guidelines for implementation of skill-based peer mentoring for radiotherapy planning education. Methods: After four weekly mentoring sessions, both Year 3 mentors (n=9) and Year 2 mentees (n=9) were invited to complete a short online questionnaire relating to the impact of the initiative. The tool contained a mixture of Likert-style questions concerning student enjoyment and perceived usefulness of the initiative as well as more qualitative open questions that gathered perceptions of the peer mentoring process, implementation methods and potential future scope. Results: Several key discussion themes related to benefits to each stakeholder group, challenges arising, improvements and potential future directions. There were high levels of enjoyment and perceived value of the mentoring from both sides with 100% of the 18 respondents enjoying the experience. The informal format encouraged further learning, while mentors reported acquisition of valuable skills and gains in knowledge. Conclusions: Peer mentoring has a valuable and enjoyable role to play in radiotherapy planning training and helps consolidate theoretical understanding for experienced students. An informal approach allows for students to adopt the most appropriate mentoring model for their needs while providing them with a free space to engender additional discussion.

A framework for freeway incident modeling and traffic re-routing

This paper proposes an analytical Incident Traffic Management framework for freeway incident modeling and traffic re-routing. The proposed framework incorporates an econometric incident duration model and a traffic re-routing optimization module. The incident duration model is used to estimate the expected duration of the incident and thus determine the planning horizon for the re-routing module. The re-routing module is a CTM-based Single Destination System Optimal Dynamic Traffic Assignment model that generates optimal real-time strategies of re-routing freeway traffic to its adjacent arterial network during incidents. The proposed framework has been applied to a case study network including a freeway and its adjacent arterial network in South East Queensland, Australia. The results from different scenarios of freeway demand and incident blockage extent have been analyzed and advantages of the proposed framework are demonstrated.

Planning for pandemics: Lessons from the past decade

It is now 10 years since the disease we now know as SARS-severe acute respiratory syndrome-caused more than 700 deaths around the world and made more than 8,000 people ill. More recently, in 2009 the global community experienced the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century-the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. This paper analyses the major developments in international public health law relating to infectious diseases in the period since SARS and considers their implications for pandemic planning.

TrainYarn: Probing perceptions of social space in urban commuter trains

We studied the ways that urban commuter train passengers experience their journeys. We present the design process and in-situ evaluation of TrainYarn, a mobile app prototype designed to facilitate social interaction between co-located urban train passengers. Through the deployment of the prototype, we sought to probe perceptions of social space with a view to positively impact the assessment of public transport. Our results support that our target users saw value in the use of TrainYarn, perceiving it as emancipatory, in alignment with their communicative needs, and having the ability to transform their perceptions of social space. To further inform future research and practice, we put forward a series of design recommendations.

LiDAR Augmented Optimal Path Planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during Remote Sensing at Low Altitude and Network Sensor Data Acquisition

This technical report describes a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) augmented optimal path planning at low level flight methodology for remote sensing and sampling Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The UAV is used to perform remote air sampling and data acquisition from a network of sensors on the ground. The data that contains information on the terrain is in the form of a 3D point clouds maps is processed by the algorithms to find an optimal path. The results show that the method and algorithm are able to use the LiDAR data to avoid obstacles when planning a path from a start to a target point. The report compares the performance of the method as the resolution of the LIDAR map is increased and when a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is included. From a practical point of view, the optimal path plan is loaded and works seemingly with the UAV ground station and also shows the UAV ground station software augmented with more accurate LIDAR data.

A queuing approach for inventory planning with batch ordering in multi-echelon supply chains

This paper presents stylized models for conducting performance analysis of the manufacturing supply chain network (SCN) in a stochastic setting for batch ordering. We use queueing models to capture the behavior of SCN. The analysis is clubbed with an inventory optimization model, which can be used for designing inventory policies . In the first case, we model one manufacturer with one warehouse, which supplies to various retailers. We determine the optimal inventory level at the warehouse that minimizes total expected cost of carrying inventory, back order cost associated with serving orders in the backlog queue, and ordering cost. In the second model we impose service level constraint in terms of fill rate (probability an order is filled from stock at warehouse), assuming that customers do not balk from the system. We present several numerical examples to illustrate the model and to illustrate its various features. In the third case, we extend the model to a three-echelon inventory model which explicitly considers the logistics process.

Singularity-free path planning for the Stewart platform manipulator

This paper addresses the problem of singularity-free path planning for the six-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator known as the Stewart platform manipulator. Unlike serial manipulators, the Stewart platform possesses singular configurations within the workspace where the manipulator is uncontrollable. An algorithm has been developed to construct continuous paths within the workspace of the manipulator by avoiding singularities and ill-conditioning. Given two end-poses of the manipulator, the algorithm finds out safe (well-conditioned) via points and plans a continuous path from the initial pose to the final one. When the two end-poses belong to different branches and no singularity-free path is possible, the algorithm indicates the impossibility of a valid path. A numerical example has also been presented as illustration of the path planning strategy.

The ultimate edge: The case for planning media for sustaining space communities

Governments and intergovernmental organisations have long recognised that space communities – the ultimate ‘settlements at the edge’ – will exist one day and have based their first plans for these on another region ‘at the edge’, the Antarctic. United States President Eisenhower proposed to the United Nations in 1960 that the principles of the Antarctic Treaty be applied to outer space and celestial bodies (State Department, n.d.). Three years later the UN adopted the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space and in 1967 that became the Outer Space Treaty. According to the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, ‘the Treaty was opened for signature by the three depository Governments (the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967’ (Office for Outer Space Affairs, n.d). The status of the treaty (at time of writing) was 89 signatories and 102 parties (Office for Disarmament Affairs, n.d.). Other related instruments include the Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention and the Moon Agreement (Office for Outer Space Affairs, n.d.-a). Jumping to the present, a newsagency reported in July 2014 (Reuters, 2014) that the British Government had shortlisted eight aerodromes in its search for a potential base for the UK’s first spaceplane flights which Ministers want to happen by 2018 (UK Space Agency, 2014). The United States already has a spaceport, in New Mexico (Cokley, Rankin, Heinrich, & McAuliffe, 2013)...

An automated emergency landing system for fixed-wing aircraft: Planning and control

A number of hurdles must be overcome in order to integrate unmanned aircraft into civilian airspace for routine operations. The ability of the aircraft to land safely in an emergency is essential to reduce the risk to people, infrastructure and aircraft. To date, few field-demonstrated systems have been presented that show online re-planning and repeatability from failure to touchdown. This paper presents the development of the Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) component of an Automated Emergency Landing System (AELS) intended to address this gap, suited to a variety of fixed-wing aircraft. Field-tested on both a fixed-wing UAV and Cessna 172R during repeated emergency landing experiments, a trochoid-based path planner computes feasible trajectories and a simplified control system executes the required manoeuvres to guide the aircraft towards touchdown on a predefined landing site. This is achieved in zero-thrust conditions with engine forced to idle to simulate failure. During an autonomous landing, the controller uses airspeed, inertial and GPS data to track motion and maintains essential flight parameters to guarantee flyability, while the planner monitors glide ratio and re-plans to ensure approach at correct altitude. Simulations show reliability of the system in a variety of wind conditions and its repeated ability to land within the boundary of a predefined landing site. Results from field-tests for the two aircraft demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed GNC system in live operation. Results show that the system is capable of guiding the aircraft to close proximity of a predefined keyhole in nearly 100% of cases.

Planning, development and management of sustainable cities: A commentary from the guest editors

Cities are the most dramatic manifestations of human activities on the surface of the earth. These human-dominated organisms—i.e., cities—degrade natural habitats, simplify species composition, disrupt hydrological systems, and modify energy flow and nutrient cycling. Today, these consequential impacts of human activities, originated from population increase, rapid urbanization, high private motor vehicle dependency, deregulated industrialization and mass livestock production, are increasing exponentially and causing great deal of environmental, social, and economic challenges both at global and local scales. In such a situation, establishment of sustainable cities, through sustainable urban development practices, is seen as a potential panacea to combat these challenges responsibly, effectively, and efficiently. This paper offers a critical review of the key literature on the issues relating to planning, development and management of sustainable cities, introduces the contributions from the Special Issue, and speculates on the prospective research directions to place necessary mechanisms to secure a sustainable urban future for all.

Population health planning and health promotion: Opportunities and challenges to improve social determinants

Complex social factors and health issues challenge equitable health outcomes for many people, in particular those living in marginalised communities. Primary health care promises solutions through population health and health promotion approaches to improve social conditions (determinants) affecting health with emphasis on change at systems levels. Yet short-term efficiency focus policy decisions without long-term planning can undermine the effectiveness of primary health care. The workshop goal is to explore opportunities and share ideas about population health planning in Primary Health Networks and other community health care settings, so as to draw out opportunities, challenges and forward thinking health planning and health promotion strategies.