In recent years, many researchers have investigated automated progress tracking for construction projects. These efforts range from 2D photo-feature extraction to 3D laser scanners and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. A multi-sensor data fusion model that utilizes multiple sources of information would provide a better alternative than a single-source model for tracking project progress. However, many existing fusion models are based on data fusion at the sensor and object levels and are therefore incapable of capturing critical information regarding a number of activities and processes on a construction site, particularly those related to non-structural trades such as welding, inspection, and installation activities. In this research, a workflow based data fusion framework is developed for construction progress, quality and productivity assessment. The developed model is based on tracking construction activities as well as objects, in contrast to the existing sensor-based models that are focussed on tracking objects. Data sources include high frequency automated technologies including 3D imaging and ultra-wide band (UWB) positioning. Foreman reports, schedule information, and other data sources are included as well. Data fusion and management process workflow implementation via a distributed computing network and archiving using a cloud-based architecture are both illustrated. Validation was achieved using a detailed laboratory experimental program as well as an extensive field implementation project. The field implementation was conducted using five months of data acquired on the University of Waterloo Engineering VI construction project, yielding promising results. The data fusion processes of this research provide more accurate and more reliable progress and earned value estimates for construction project activities, while the developed data management processes enable the secure sharing and management of construction research data with the construction industry stakeholders as well as with researchers from other institutions.

Accurate and frequent construction progress tracking provides critical input data for project systems such as cost and schedule control as well as billing. Unfortunately, conventional progress tracking is labor intensive, sometimes subject to negotiation, and often driven by arcane rules. Attempts to improve progress tracking have recently focused mainly on automation, using technologies such as 3D imaging, Global Positioning System (GPS), Ultra Wide Band (UWB) indoor locating, hand-held computers, voice recognition, wireless networks, and other technologies in various combinations. Three dimensional (3D) imaging technologies, such as 3D laser scanners (LADARs) and photogrammetry have shown great potential for saving time and cost for recording project 3D status and thus to support some categories of progress tracking. Although laser scanners in particular and 3D imaging in general are being investigated and used in multiple applications in the construction industry, their full potential has not yet been achieved. The reason may be that commercial software packages are still too complicated and time consuming for processing scanned data. Methods have however been developed for the automated, efficient and effective recognition of project 3D BIM objects in site laser scans. This thesis presents a novel system that combines 3D object recognition technology with schedule information into a combined 4D object based construction progress tracking system. The performance of the system is investigated on a comprehensive field database acquired during the construction of a steel reinforced concrete structure, Engineering V Building at the University of Waterloo. It demonstrates a degree of accuracy that meets or exceeds typical manual performance. However, the earned value tracking is the most commonly used method in the industry. That is why the object based automated progress tracking system is further explored, and combined with earned value theory into an earned value based automated progress tracking system. Nevertheless, both of these systems are focused on permanent structure objects only, not secondary or temporary. In the last part of the thesis, several approaches are proposed for concrete construction secondary and temporary object tracking. It is concluded that accurate tracking of structural building project progress is possible by combining a-priori 4D project models with 3D object recognition using the algorithms developed and presented in this thesis.

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

Based on the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Paris X, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-198) and index.

Thèse (Ph. D.)--Université Laval, 2004. / Bibliogr.: f. [127-151]. Publié aussi en version électronique.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-03-04Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:09:59Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 aureliosobrinho_c_me_mar.pdf: 825009 bytes, checksum: ccea3b22b435749f881b2db81c396a93 (MD5) / As discussões acerca do desenvolvimento econômico das nações, da degradação e preservação ambiental já não são novas. Desde 1972 na Conferência de Estocolmo a relação desenvolvimento/meio ambiente está na pauta da Organização das Nações Unidas, bem como de seus países membros. Dentro desse contexto, o conceito de Desenvolvimento Sustentável aparece em 1987 a bordo do Relatório Brundtland, como a proposta que teria o papel de sanar todos os efeitos colaterais do desenvolvimento econômico ao meio ambiente. As discussões acerca do desenvolvimento sustentável, presentes em nosso trabalho, tenta desmistificar um pouco da aura que tal conceito possui, já que vários setores da sociedade (mídia, empresários, governos, cientistas) abraçaram a causa da proteção ambiental visando o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, mas não elaboraram as devidas críticas sobre os reais atores da degradação ambiental. A partir da definição do conceito, utilizamos idéias-chave como progresso e desenvolvimento bem como de necessidades humanas para estabelecermos uma conexão lógica entre o sistema econômico no qual nossa sociedade está inserida, e a degradação ambiental, tendo em vista que a sociedade de caráter industrial na qual vivemos criou uma lógica de geração de necessidades e consumo no qual somente estas podem fazer com que haja desenvolvimento econômico perpétuo no atual modelo. / The discussions about the nation’s economic development, the environment degradation and preservation are not new. Since 1972, at the Stockholm Conference, the relation development/environment is under discussion at United Nations (UN), also at their member countries. In that context, the concept sustainable development appears in 1987 at the Brundtland Report as the proposal that will heal all the environment damages caused by the economic development. Our questions about the sustainable development wants to disprove the myth that it is the solution to the ecological disasters, because several sectors of society (as media, businessmen, government, scientists) are committed to the green cause without considering the real agents of the environment degradation. Therefore, considering the definition of sustainable development from the Brundtland Report, we use key ideas like progress, development and human needs to establish a logic connection between the economic system of our society and the environmental degradation. We are based on the perception that our industry society created a logic of generate needs focusing on consumption, in a way that only these needs can make the economic development exist.

Submitted by Alexandre Giacomoni Viana Pereira (agiacomoni@hotmail.com) on 2014-02-06T19:01:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Consolidação bancária brasileira e a performance dos bancos pequenos - submetido.pdf: 1078091 bytes, checksum: 461ada1b51836c1a4ba87bee55dded75 (MD5) / Rejected by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Alexandre, Falta ficha catalográfica e resumo em inglês. Deve está de acordo com as Normas. Att. Suzi 3799-7876 on 2014-02-07T18:55:54Z (GMT) / Submitted by Alexandre Giacomoni Viana Pereira (agiacomoni@hotmail.com) on 2014-02-18T21:54:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Consolidação bancária brasileira e a performance dos bancos pequenos - submetido.pdf: 917239 bytes, checksum: 3c11b717b2ce25c9c4ca0f8d22fb5d80 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2014-02-19T13:30:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Consolidação bancária brasileira e a performance dos bancos pequenos - submetido.pdf: 917239 bytes, checksum: 3c11b717b2ce25c9c4ca0f8d22fb5d80 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-02-19T13:37:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Consolidação bancária brasileira e a performance dos bancos pequenos - submetido.pdf: 917239 bytes, checksum: 3c11b717b2ce25c9c4ca0f8d22fb5d80 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-01-21 / A indústria bancária brasileira foi transformada nas últimas décadas em meio a um fenômeno conhecido como consolidação, que marca uma concentração do mercado em poucas instituições. O objetivo do trabalho é testar empiricamente quais as causas desse processo no Brasil. As duas hipóteses testadas foram formuladas por Berger, Dick et al. (2007): a hipótese da eficiência indica que avanços tecnológicos melhoram a competitividade dos grandes em relação aos pequenos. Deste modo, os resultados dos pequenos são sacrificados por esse fator. Por outro lado, a hipótese da arrogância afirma que os administradores realizam fusões e aquisições pelos maiores bônus dos grandes conglomerados, mas as deseconomias de escala são superiores aos ganhos competitivos da tecnologia e, com o tempo, os pequenos passam a competir em vantagem. Modelos de dados em painel foram utilizados para testar se houve pressões competitivas durante o processo de consolidação. A conclusão foi de que a hipótese da eficiência explica melhor empiricamente o fenômeno brasileiro, assim como o norte-americano. A pressão para diminuição de receitas financeiras foi o fator determinante para que os bancos pequenos sofressem efeitos deletérios com o aumento do peso dos grandes na indústria. / A phenomenon known as consolidation transformed the Brazilian banking industry in the last decades and resulted in a concentration of the market in few institutions. The main objective of this dissertation is to test empirically the causes of this process. The two hypothesis were described by Berger, Dick et al. (2007). Under the efficiency hypothesis, technological progress improved the competitiveness of the large players, relative to the small, which had its profitability sacrificed. On the other hand, hubris hypothesis states that managers engaged in mergers and acquisitions as a way to earn personal advantages even though the large banks’ performances were affected by scale diseconomies. Panel data models were utilized to test if competitive pressure were important factors in the consolidation process. The conclusion was that the efficiency hypothesis was empirically dominant in the Brazilian market, as well as the findings in the United States. The pressure to reduce financial revenues was the main element that lead to the deleterious effects on the small banks as the large expanded its dominance in the industry.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:12:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2689.pdf: 396174 bytes, checksum: f888e41cbed32175e9911dd9f3b9ef3e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-27 / The project of enlightenment (Aufklärung) was to disenchant the world, replacing the myths and the imagination by the knowledge. This process is essential for the human being can achieve the autonomy. But instead of conducting the individual to autonomy, as it was thought in the Illuminist project, the enlightenment disembogued into a process of semi-formation that causes the loss of identity and cancellation of the individual, approaching humanity to a totalitarian system. As Adorno and Horkheimer said at the preface of the Dialectic of Enlightenment: "Not harbour any doubt - and so our petitio principii lies - that the freedom in society is inseparable from thinking enlightenment." The progress of rational enlightenment over its development process is gradually creating serious obstacles to the construction of autonomy, or even denying this possibility, when giving priority only to the technical and scientific aspects of the reason (instrumental reason). This is due in large part to the action of the cultural industry, officer semi-formation. The intention of this work, which has its theoretical foundation in the philosophy of Critical theory, especially in the thought of Theodor Adorno, is to search in culture and art the elements that could annul the semi-formation, and help in the construction of identity and autonomy of individuals, rescuing the potential and emancipating of the enlightenment. / O projeto do esclarecimento (Aufklärung) era desencantar o mundo, substituir os mitos e a imaginação pelo saber. Esse processo é fundamental para que o ser humano possa atingir a autonomia. Porém o esclarecimento ao invés de conduzir o indivíduo à autonomia, como era imaginado no projeto iluminista, desembocou num processo de semiformação que provoca a perda da identidade e a anulação do indivíduo, aproximando a humanidade cada vez mais de um sistema totalitário. Como afirmaram Adorno e Horkheimer logo no prefácio da Dialética do esclarecimento: Não alimentamos dúvida nenhuma e nisso reside nossa petitio principii de que a liberdade na sociedade é inseparável do pensamento esclarecedor. O progresso do esclarecimento racional longo de seu processo de desenvolvimento vem gradativamente criando sérios obstáculos à construção da autonomia, ou até mesmo negando essa possibilidade, ao priorizar somente os aspectos técnicos e científicos da razão (razão instrumental). Isso se deve em grande parte à ação da indústria cultural, principal agente da semiformação. A proposta apresentada por este trabalho, que tem sua fundamentação teórica na filosofia da Teoria crítica, especialmente no pensamento de Theodor Adorno, é buscar na cultura e na arte elementos que possam anular a semiformação e que auxiliem na construção da identidade e autonomia dos indivíduos, resgatando o potencial e emancipador do esclarecimento.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:54:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:09:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 12431.pdf: 23287148 bytes, checksum: ca5f3b291fb81099ce731e9a131ce645 (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Escola Politecnica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - POLI/USP