Digitally Enabled Organizations- Leveraging New Age Technologies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yogesh Chandra Srivastava ◽  
Abhishek Srivastava ◽  
Consuelo Granata
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Digital Twin ◽  
Common Path ◽  
Free Construction ◽  
Planning Project ◽  
Iot Devices ◽  
And Function

Abstract When inadequate information appears via a long-winded channel, project leaders usually struggle to make timely decisions. There is frequently a lack of visibility, contractual and organizational fragmentation, and genuine facts being segregated and concealed due to an optimism bias. Despite the finest planning and estimation efforts, projects frequently exceed their budgets or experience delays of more than 30%. The paper outlines the importance of data and of data use to improve the performance in projects planning and delivery. The data value and hierarchy are reviewed in the context of the construction industry and the importance of a smooth digitalization process for ensuring acceptance and adoption is discussed. The concept of ‘digital construction blocks’TM and Lean thinking is introduced to address the problem of complexity which is commonly recognized as the main cause of cost overruns, time delays, and poor quality and safety for the construction industry. To capture the footprint of how the asset was built, the authors propose the Digital Twin of Execution adding dynamism to the commonly discussed Digital Twin of Asset, which is more static when the asset has already been constructed. The project is organized into digital blocks, allowing all project functions and disciplines to focus on a common path of construction, allowing for an earlier start of a constraint-free construction and, as a result, de-risking and compressing the total execution schedule. Data from existing systems and technologies is unlocked and placed in automated processes, allowing thousands of documents, activities, and fast-moving events to be collected in digital blocks of construction. The digital block is connected throughout project stages and taken across all aspects of the project, including plot plans, activity plans, drawings, 3D, materials, and so on, resolving the project's disarray caused by manual and analogue procedures. The entire planning, project setup, and execution process is aided by GIS, which provides visibility at various levels of magnification via an interactive geo spatial map superimposed with plot plans, timetables, and work packages. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can be used to forecast the probability of danger in various field operations. It's done by using IoT devices implanted in employees’ PPE and in the environment to process data collected on the system. Digital Control Tower can provide a smart dashboard that not only displays the KPIs but also helps the user prioritize his next steps. It may provide an overall view of the project's progress and KPIs, as well as get to the root of a problem in a specific installation area, raise red flags and alerts, and function as a user's assistant by predicting errors early on.

scholarly journals Investigating Rework: Insights from the Malaysian Construction Industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Boon Hui Yap ◽  
Shi Min Tan
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Project Performance ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Delivery Performance ◽  
Communication Design ◽  
Design Changes

Construction practitioners recognise that rework is undesirable due to the detrimental effects. While rework literature has examined rework causation factors in construction projects, the problem continues to plague the industry resulting in poor delivery performance. To better understand this phenomenon and given the scarcity of Malaysian-based rework study, a questionnaire survey involving 130 Malaysian construction practitioners (consultants, contractors and clients) were undertaken to obtain feedback about nature, implications, causes and solutions for rework. Data were analysed using descriptive statistical techniques to prioritise the variables studied. From the analyses, rework is a causal factor for delays and cost overruns, higher wastage and productivity inhibitor. The findings revealed the leading causes of rework are poor quality management, improper planning, lack of communication, design changes and poor subcontractor management. Some practical rework minimisation approaches are also suggested to better manage and prevent rework towards enhanced project performance.

Parasite defense mechanisms in bees: behavior, immunity, antimicrobials, and symbionts

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison E. Fowler ◽  
Rebecca E. Irwin ◽  
Lynn S. Adler
Keyword(s):  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Immune Priming ◽  
Social Bees ◽  
Bee Health ◽  
Landscape Scales ◽  
And Function ◽  
Solitary Species

Parasites are linked to the decline of some bee populations; thus, understanding defense mechanisms has important implications for bee health. Recent advances have improved our understanding of factors mediating bee health ranging from molecular to landscape scales, but often as disparate literatures. Here, we bring together these fields and summarize our current understanding of bee defense mechanisms including immunity, immunization, and transgenerational immune priming in social and solitary species. Additionally, the characterization of microbial diversity and function in some bee taxa has shed light on the importance of microbes for bee health, but we lack information that links microbial communities to parasite infection in most bee species. Studies are beginning to identify how bee defense mechanisms are affected by stressors such as poor-quality diets and pesticides, but further research on this topic is needed. We discuss how integrating research on host traits, microbial partners, and nutrition, as well as improving our knowledge base on wild and semi-social bees, will help inform future research, conservation efforts, and management.

scholarly journals The Interplay between Mitochondrial Morphology and Myomitokines in Aging Sarcopenia

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Vanina Romanello
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dysfunction ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 ◽  
Mitochondrial Morphology ◽  
Mass Force ◽  
Major Mechanism ◽  
Muscle Aging ◽  
And Function

Sarcopenia is a chronic disease characterized by the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, force, and function during aging. It is an emerging public problem associated with poor quality of life, disability, frailty, and high mortality. A decline in mitochondria quality control pathways constitutes a major mechanism driving aging sarcopenia, causing abnormal organelle accumulation over a lifetime. The resulting mitochondrial dysfunction in sarcopenic muscles feedbacks systemically by releasing the myomitokines fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and growth and differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), influencing the whole-body homeostasis and dictating healthy or unhealthy aging. This review describes the principal pathways controlling mitochondrial quality, many of which are potential therapeutic targets against muscle aging, and the connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and the myomitokines FGF21 and GDF15 in the pathogenesis of aging sarcopenia.

Digital twin application in the construction industry: A literature review

2021 ◽  
pp. 102726
Author(s):  
De-Graft Joe Opoku ◽  
Srinath Perera ◽  
Robert Osei-Kyei ◽  
Maria Rashidi
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Digital Twin

scholarly journals Blockchain Processing Technique Based on Multiple Hash Chains for Minimizing Integrity Errors of IoT Data in Cloud Environments

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4679
Author(s):  
Yoon-Su Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Distributed Processing ◽  
Data Integrity ◽  
Processing Technique ◽  
Code Length ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Secure Storage ◽  
Hash Code ◽  
Linkage Information ◽  
Cloud Environments ◽  
Iot Devices

As IoT (Internet of Things) devices are diversified in the fields of use (manufacturing, health, medical, energy, home, automobile, transportation, etc.), it is becoming important to analyze and process data sent and received from IoT devices connected to the Internet. Data collected from IoT devices is highly dependent on secure storage in databases located in cloud environments. However, storing directly in a database located in a cloud environment makes it not only difficult to directly control IoT data, but also does not guarantee the integrity of IoT data due to a number of hazards (error and error handling, security attacks, etc.) that can arise from natural disasters and management neglect. In this paper, we propose an optimized hash processing technique that enables hierarchical distributed processing with an n-bit-size blockchain to minimize the loss of data generated from IoT devices deployed in distributed cloud environments. The proposed technique minimizes IoT data integrity errors as well as strengthening the role of intermediate media acting as gateways by interactively authenticating blockchains of n bits into n + 1 and n − 1 layers to normally validate IoT data sent and received from IoT data integrity errors. In particular, the proposed technique ensures the reliability of IoT information by validating hash values of IoT data in the process of storing index information of IoT data distributed in different locations in a blockchain in order to maintain the integrity of the data. Furthermore, the proposed technique ensures the linkage of IoT data by allowing minimal errors in the collected IoT data while simultaneously grouping their linkage information, thus optimizing the load balance after hash processing. In performance evaluation, the proposed technique reduced IoT data processing time by an average of 2.54 times. Blockchain generation time improved on average by 17.3% when linking IoT data. The asymmetric storage efficiency of IoT data according to hash code length is improved by 6.9% on average over existing techniques. Asymmetric storage speed according to the hash code length of the IoT data block was shown to be 10.3% faster on average than existing techniques. Integrity accuracy of IoT data is improved by 18.3% on average over existing techniques.

Quality of Design Documentation in the Construction Industry: A Review Using Meta-Synthesis Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (06) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Dodzi Kwasi Agbaxode ◽  
Sitsabo Dlamini ◽  
Ehsan Saghatforoush
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Improve Design ◽  
Documentation Quality ◽  
Design Documentation ◽  
Quality Design ◽  
Synthesis Approach

A meta-synthesis approach was used to identify, synthesize, and categorize appropriately factors in the literature that contribute to design documentation quality. The categories include factors on quality attributes, quality indicators, and quality-influencing factors. Findings indicate that the quality of design documentation in practice is unsatisfactory, therefore, there is a need for collaboration between the owner, designers, and end-users to improve design documentation quality. The results offer pragmatic data on design documentation quality in the construction industry between the years 1992 and 2019. However, further research on the significant impacts of poor-quality design documentation on construction projects is recommended.

Survey on DDoS Attacks and Defense Mechanisms in Cloud and Fog Computing

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepali Chaudhary ◽  
Kriti Bhushan ◽  
B.B. Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Fog Computing ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Cloud Environment ◽  
Security Issue ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Ddos Attack ◽  
Iot Devices

This article describes how cloud computing has emerged as a strong competitor against traditional IT platforms by offering low-cost and “pay-as-you-go” computing potential and on-demand provisioning of services. Governments, as well as organizations, have migrated their entire or most of the IT infrastructure to the cloud. With the emergence of IoT devices and big data, the amount of data forwarded to the cloud has increased to a huge extent. Therefore, the paradigm of cloud computing is no longer sufficient. Furthermore, with the growth of demand for IoT solutions in organizations, it has become essential to process data quickly, substantially and on-site. Hence, Fog computing is introduced to overcome these drawbacks of cloud computing by bringing intelligence to the edge of the network using smart devices. One major security issue related to the cloud is the DDoS attack. This article discusses in detail about the DDoS attack, cloud computing, fog computing, how DDoS affect cloud environment and how fog computing can be used in a cloud environment to solve a variety of problems.

scholarly journals Lean Construction Implementation in the Saudi Arabian Construction Industry

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamil Ghazi Sarhan ◽  
Bo Xia ◽  
Sabrina Fawzia ◽  
Azharul Karim
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Lean Construction ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Current State ◽  
Level Of Use ◽  
Aided Design ◽  
Lean Methods

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has witnessed a huge increase in construction during the last two decades. However, many projects experienced time delays, cost overruns and the generation of massive amounts of waste. To address these challenges, lean construction has been introduced into the Saudi construction industry; however, it is still in its infancy. This study therefore investigates the current state of lean construction implementation in the construction industry in the KSA. The objectives are to identify: the types of construction waste, level of use of tools that support the implementation of lean construction, stages of application of lean methods, and the benefits of lean construction. To achieve these objectives, a structured questionnaire survey of 282 construction professionals was carried out. After the analysis of the collected data using mean score and Anova test, the following conclusions were made.  In the construction industry in the KSA, waiting is the most common type of waste, while Computer Aided Design (CAD) is the conventional tool supporting the implementation of lean construction. Furthermore, the data suggests that lean construction is most commonly used in the construction stage of projects while customer satisfaction is the main benefit derived from lean construction practices. This study concludes that the level of implementation of lean construction in the KSA construction industry is increasing. The results will help benchmark the current state of lean construction implementation, which will enable the construction industry to identify strategies to implement lean construction in Saudi Arabia in accordance with their needs and project goals, to achieve better productivity.

scholarly journals A Containerized Approach for Allocating Distributed Stream Queries to Fog Nodes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Hasibi ◽  
Saeed Sedighian Kashi
Keyword(s):  
Fog Computing ◽  
Stream Processing ◽  
Stream Data ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Stream Query Processing ◽  
Tremendous Amount ◽  
Stream Processing Engines ◽  
Iot Devices ◽  
Distributed Stream Processing

Fog computing brings cloud capabilities closer to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. IoT devices generate a tremendous amount of stream data towards the cloud via hierarchical fog nodes. To process data streams, many Stream Processing Engines (SPEs) have been developed. Without the fog layer, the stream query processing executes on the cloud, which forwards much traffic toward the cloud. When a hierarchical fog layer is available, a complex query can be divided into simple queries to run on fog nodes by using distributed stream processing. In this paper, we propose an approach to assign stream queries to fog nodes using container technology. We name this approach Stream Queries Placement in Fog (SQPF). Our goal is to minimize end-to-end delay to achieve a better quality of service. At first, in the emulation step, we make docker container instances from SPEs and evaluate their processing delay and throughput under different resource configurations and queries with varying input rates. Then in the placement step, we assign queries among fog nodes by using a genetic algorithm. The practical approach used in SQPF achieves a near-the-best assignment based on the lowest application deadline in real scenarios, and evaluation results are evidence of this goal.

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