Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted from vehicle exhaust are associated with negative health impacts and are a precursor to ozone. Self-cleaning, air-purifying concrete pavement is a rapidly emerging technology that can degrade pollutants such as NOx through heterogeneous photocatalysis. Although this technology has the potential to support environmentally friendly road infrastructure, a number of design and operational parameters may affect its effectiveness and thus need to be evaluated. The goal of this study was to measure the NOx reduction efficiencies from photocatalytic pavements under various environmental conditions common to highways. To achieve this goal, the objectives were to: (a) evaluate the influence of photocatalytic layer design and operating parameters on the efficiency of photocatalytic concrete pavement; (b) measure the impact of mixed pollutants on NOx reduction efficiency; and (c) measure the impact of roadway contaminants on NOx reduction. To achieve the first objective, the effects of relative humidity level, pollutants flow rate, and photocatalytic layer design parameters, including titanium dioxide (TiO2) percent content and aggregate sizes, were investigated. The environmental efficiency of the samples to remove NOx from the atmosphere was measured using a newly developed laboratory setup. The photocatalytic layer designs without fines achieved the highest photodegradation rates. In addition, the increase from 3% to 5% TiO2 resulted in minimal improvement to the NOx removal efficiency. To achieve the second objective, NOx reduction efficiencies were measured for various NO2/NOx ratios at various flow rates and humidity levels. Increasing the flow rate and NO2/NOx ratio negatively affects the effectiveness of the photocatalytic process. The highest photodegradation rate was observed at 25% relative humidity, which balances the availability of hydroxyl radicals at the surface with NOx contact with the photocatalytic surface. To achieve the third objective, three common roadway contaminants were tested - dirt, de-icing salt, and motor oil - at two contrasting coverage levels. The contaminants had a strong, negative impact on the photocatalytic NOx removal efficiency. The impact of contaminants coverage was largely dependent on the soilure type, with oil having the largest negative impact. An increase in the flow rate and air relative humidity also resulted in lower NOx efficiencies.

Traditional two-dimensional (2D) delivery systems in the construction industry can hinder the way information is communicated between owners, architects, and contractors. This hindrance exists in all phases of a project, from design and construction to the operation and maintenance of the completed facility. Building Information Management (BIM) is an emerging information technology that promotes a collaborative process for the Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Facilities Management (AECFM) industry; it can aid the exchange of information and provide improved project data accessibility to all stakeholders of a construction project. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), in conjunction with the facility management (FM) chiefs of the other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, is committed to adopting the standards and technologies used in the private sector that promote efficient and effective business and construction management practices. The AECFM industry shift to BIM is resonating to the public sector and implementation plans to accommodate the shift are being developed by many public agencies at all levels of government. NAVFAC recognizes the need to develop and adopt BIM technologies in order to keep pace with private sector advances and has drafted a BIM Road Map document (NAVFAC, 2009) to provide BIM implementation guidance to the NAVFAC organizations responsible for providing and maintaining facilities and infrastructure to Supported Commanders. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the NAVFAC BIM Road Map, analyze BIM tools and processes currently used in the construction industry, and provide recommendations for best practices and improvements to the NAVFAC BIM Road Map. The methodologies used in this research includes three phases: Phase 1- evaluate the current NAVFAC BIM Road Map, Phase 2: Case Study and Phase 3: Develop recommendations to improve BIM Road Map. The outcome of this research effort will be a set of recommendations that ensure that all parties are clearly aware of the opportunities and responsibilities associated with incorporation of BIM into the organizational workflow for naval construction projects.

The construction industry records the highest number of work-related injuries and fatalities in the United States according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers exposure to risk may be affected by implementing Lean concepts. This study describes the effects on workers safety environment after a Kaizen event, a Lean tool, conducted in three workstations within a modular home manufacturer: base-framing, sheet-rock hanging, and painting. The effects of Lean on safety hazards at each of the three workstations were determined by conducting a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) before and after each Kaizen. Based on the JSAs a risk assessment tool (questionnaire) was developed to determine the workers exposure to risk before and after each Kaizen. This study also focused on determining the reliability of the risk assessment tool. Twelve students with prior knowledge of safety and four certified safety experts completed the questionnaire by rating probability and severity of a list of hazards potentially present in each workstation. According to students there was a significant reduction in risk values for base-framing station and sheet-rock hanging station. Whereas, according to safety experts significant reduction in risk values was confined to base-framing station. Based on the reliability analysis the risk assessment tool was reliable in measuring risk at each of the three work station as per safety experts, and as per students the reliability was confined to only sheet-rock hanging station. As per the reliability analysis the finding of safety experts should be supported. The safety experts supported the finding that Lean showed significant reduction in risk values in base-framing station. Thus, it could be concluded from the study that Kaizen could occasionally reduce or eliminate specific safety hazards.

Personally observed variability among construction education internship programs prompted this investigation. The schools of construction that form the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) encourage its members to provide curricula that produces qualified professionals for the construction industry. There is agreement within ASC that a practical component along with classroom curriculum is needed for construction students?? education (Senior, 1997). Although construction programs have different ways of accomplishing this experiential component, most do have some sort of internship or cooperative program (Chapin, et al., 2003). Construction internships vary greatly from one program to the next ?? in length, supervision, academic deliverables, and whether credit is earned. No common set of internship field experience standards or best-practices guidelines have been developed for construction education. This study was divided into three subproblems. Subproblem One describes the status of construction internship programs currently administered in selected American undergraduate universities. Subproblem Two identifies elements that students, companies and schools perceive to support valuable, satisfying internship experiences. And, Subproblem Three incorporates findings from Subproblems One and Two to identify common elements to provide a structure for construction internship programs, in order to develop a set of guidelines for construction education internship programs. Three constituencies were surveyed: 1) university undergraduate construction programs, 2) construction companies, and 3) students of the respective construction programs. The school survey utilized ASC membership rosters to survey 91 schools, with 56 participating (62%). The company survey randomly sampled 200 of the Top 400 U.S. Construction Companies listed in Engineering News Record??s ENR Sourcebook 2003, with 75 participating (37.5%). The student survey had 31 students from eleven schools in nine different states voluntarily participate. Univariate analyses on only one variable at a time served to describe the survey population, and by extension, the population from which the sample was selected. The data were analyzed utilizing frequency percentages and summary averages including mode and mean. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that a set of ??best-practices?? guidelines were needed for construction education internship programs. A set of best practices guidelines for developing construction education internship programs are provided.

This research investigated whether 4D construction model effectively helps project participants on construction sites in detecting time-space conflicts in the schedule. Previous researchers on construction space management typically modeled space requirements for equipment and paths for material and focused primarily on static or dynamic layout planning. Some researchers regarded time-space conflicts as an essential aspect of construction space management. They demonstrated the use of 4D modules in time-space conflict analysis. Although these 4D prototypes have been successful in tackling time-space conflict analysis, they have been validated with only post-hoc analysis of construction projects. Also, various currently commercially available 4D visualization softwares do not take into account the workspace required during the construction of a component unless space is modeled as a separate component into the CAD application. Therefore, without modeling space as a component in the 3D model it is necessary to assess whether 4D visualization can be effectively used on construction sites to detect time-space conflicts in the schedule. In order to fulfill the research goal an experiment was conducted. A 4D construction model of an ongoing project was developed. Project participants were introduced to two different graphic representations of the schedule; namely, an overlay drawing - the conventional method used on site to detect conflicts and the 4D construction model. Analysis of the results compared the performance of the participants in detecting time-space conflicts in the schedule using the two methods. The experiment produced empirical evidence that a 4D construction model may be effective on construction sites in detecting time-space conflicts in the schedule.

Construction industry has been like a locomotive in leading Taiwan¡¦s industrial growth and influencing the development of Taiwan¡¦s economy. In facing current fierce competition and external environment, organizations not only have to strive for sustaining the business but also ensure the construction quality, project management and after-sales services for maintaining the corporate image and becoming a source of future profit. How to continuously improve the effectiveness and quality of each individual construction project has been an eventual goal to achieve Public constructions engineering have been the major business contributing to most of the civil engineering and construction companies. Once the firm wins the bidding case, quite many processes will be kicked off including material previewing, procurement, on construction and final acceptance. These processes are inherent with risks causing the obstacle in monthly payment of the engineering project fee. Government law of public procurement has been exercising for many years and creating process visibility to a certain extent with least bribery case. This research report is to elaborate the situations of citing and interpreting these Government laws of public procurement and general rules of the civil law to ensure the activities in the whole project life cycle are law-abiding. The private firms need be cautious of every detail and written notifications are compulsory to protect not only the company¡¦s own benefits but also the in-charge personnel or unit in the government agency in reciprocal. This research studies include respective bidding scenario of ¡§the-Lowest-price-gain bidding¡¨ and ¡§bidding by panel review decision¡¨ bases on cases of T-city. This report is to provide a project management framework of public construction case and personal suggestions for the existing firms or new comers from a stand point of contractors¡¦ point of view. Key words: Construction industry, public construction engineering, government law of public procurement, the-Lowest-price-gain bidding, bidding by panel review decision.

Abstract Due to the depression of domestic construction market in Taiwan in recent years and with foreign participants entering the market (such as HSR and KRT), the survival ability of many domestic companies have decreased tremendasly. Facing the rapid change of the industry and the economy, companies must have a clear set of strategies for business continuity. Most importantly, diversification is a very sinificant aspect for survival. According to the Statistics of Construction and Planning Administration, MOI in 2008, there are 9644 domestic contruction companies in Taiwan of which 760 are located in Kaohsiung. This statistic clearly presents the intensity of the competition and the challenges each company faces. Hence, the topic of exploring the blue ocean strategy becomes an important issue matter to focus. With perspectives of Resources-based View (RBV), an engineering construction company has been chosen as a case study in this thesis to investicate ways how a professional construction company can build different long-term strategies for surviving difficult circumstances. As part of this research, a six hour in-depth interview has been conducted with the CEO and two senior managers of the company. After the interview and based on some analysis, a conclusion has derived as below: First, a construction company¡¦s sustanability and core competency are structured based on the following 3 aspects: professional integrity, senses of quality and humanized management. Second, the company should implement an open system for evolution by exploring and participating other opportunity. Third, the company should re-determine its position (including its competitiveness) through building up a professional evaluation team. Finally, the company should align with its outside resources and transform into a ¡§construction projects broker.¡¨ Keywords¡G Construction Industry Strategy of Trasnform

<p>This project has been undertaken by Alejandro Unda García and Carlos Muñoz Alonso for Veprox AB (www.veprox.se), a Swedish engineering company, in collaboration with the School of Technology and Society at the University of Skövde (www.his.se). This thesis represents the final project for the Bachelor Degree Exam in Mechanical Engineering during the academic year 2009-2010.</p><p>To achieve this project, we were helped and supported by Peter Höglund, Veprox AB Office Manager; Tomas Walander, Supervisor and M. Sc. student and Karl Mauritsson, Examiner and Lecturer, both belonging to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the School of Technology and Society of the University of Skövde.</p><p>This project is aimed to study, design and analyze a large transportable vacuum insulated cryogenic vessel that will be attached to a truck in order to keep, maintain and transport by road liquid methane at a temperature of -162 °C.</p><p>Considerations such as different pressure loads, dimensions, materials as well as their mechanical properties, constraints, masses, insulation systems and weather-environmental conditions (Northern Europe) are made in the mechanical analysis. Furthermore, calculations and dimensions satisfy the requirements given by the Swedish Standards Institute (S.I.S) following the standards <em>SS-EN 13530-1: Cryogenic vessels - Large transportable vacuum insulated vessel; Part 1: Fundamental requirements and SS-EN 13530-2: Cryogenic vessels - Large transportable vacuum insulated vessel; Part 2: Design, fabrication, inspection and testing. </em></p><p><p>The CAD software <em>Pro/Engineer Wildfire 4.0</em> is used to visualize the models for the chosen designs. In addition, the finite element module Pro/Mechanica is used to obtain results of mechanical analyses in order to determine if the stresses are within margins.</p></p>

No description available.

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Den här rapporten är ett arbete utfört åt IDAB WAMAC International AB. Företaget är verksamt inom branschen för packsalsutrustning och är beläget i Eksjö.</p><p>Arbetet har gått ut på att ta fram konstruktionsprinciper för en ny strömtillriktare som ska klara av en produktionshastigt på 90 000tidningar/timma. En strömtillriktare är en enhet som sitter på, eller är integrerad i, en transportbana för tidningar och har till uppgift att centrera tidningsströmmen på banan efter olika moment i produktionen. De strömtillriktare som finns på marknaden i dag motsvarar inte fullt de krav och förväntningar som tryckerierna har med tanke på hur tidningen ska centreras och då helst när produktionshastigheten är hög.</p><p>Det finns två typer av strömtillriktare, oscillerande bladjogger och bandjogger. Den oscillerande bladjoggern fungerar på det sättet att den med hjälp av två blad knuffar tidningen så att den centreras på banan. Bladen utför då en oscillerande rörelse med hjälp av en excenter. Bandjoggern centrerar tidningen på det sättet att den har vertikala band som är kilformade mot varandra, dessa band vibrerar och centrerar då tidningen.</p><p>För att få reda på mer om vilka konkurrenterna är och vilka strömtillriktare de har genomfördes en konkurrentanalys. När denna analys var genomförd, med hjälp av bland annat branschorganisationen IFRA: s hemsida, så återfanns sex stycken huvudkonkurrenter. För att få reda på mer fördelar och brister med deras joggrar vände vi oss till olika tryckerier som dagligen använder sådan utrustning. Svaren som erhölls från tryckerierna var väldigt knapphändiga så analyser fick göras med hjälp av bilder och information som fanns på Internet samt patent och registreringsverket.</p><p>För att kunna utvärdera och motivera valen av joggerfunktion, studeras några av de grundläggande orsakerna till variation av slutresultatet som friktionen mellan tidningen och transportbandet och rörelsemängdens variation med produktionshastigheten.</p><p>IDAB WAMAC International AB:s SA-112 har ett bra resultat på centreringsarbetet vid en produktionshastighet på 40 000- 50 000tidninger/timma detta har fått vara en referens vid uträkning av styrande mekaniska delar. Detta ger klara motiveringar för valet av bandjogger framför bladjogger</p><p>I det resultat som har framkommit syns det tydligt att mycket arbete har lagts ner på att få tidningen så styv som möjligt, däremot har det varit svårt att dimensionera de axlar som ska utföra den oscillerande rörelsen på banden, då erfarenheten inom området har varit dålig och det har saknats referensexempel på hur de vertikala banden svarar på de stötar som det får.</p><p>En stor skillnad mellan den befintliga joggern (SA-112) och den vars konstruktionsprinciper som beskrivs i rapporten är att den tidigare är en enhet som byggs på en befintlig transportbana medan den senare har sin transportbana integrerad för bästa effekt av centreringsarbetet.</p>