Monitoring Progress in Citywide Sanitation

For over 10 years, citywide sanitation plans have been developed, and now, citywide inclusive sanitation is being piloted globally, yet no tools exist to monitor changes in sanitation at a citywide level. This paper explores the use of Shit Flow Diagram Graphics (SFDGs) and City Service Delivery Assessments (CSDAs) to monitor changes in sanitation at a citywide level. This was done by documenting the changes in sanitation from 2015 to 2019 in Tiruchirappalli, India, and developing SFDGs and CSDAs for those years. The changes in the SFDGs and CSDAs were then compared with the documented changes. The SFDGs captured all changes in service delivery that affected >1% of the population, and all of the interventions in the enabling environment change in terms of appropriateness, acknowledgment, or implementation were captured by the CSDAs. Therefore, units of both tools were assessed to be appropriate for monitoring purposes. Using these tools to monitor change was complex and tedious, and this was improved by the development of Trend Graphs and Citywide CSDAs. This paper highlights the potential of Trend Graphs and Citywide CSDAs to monitor sanitation at a citywide level. Additionally, this is the first paper to attempt to monitor changes in sanitation holistically at a citywide level.

Implementation of Visualization and Modeling Technologies for Transportation Construction

State departments of transportation (DOTs) increasingly use visualization and modeling technologies for delivering transportation projects across the United States. Advanced and innovative technologies have the ability to improve various construction processes and tasks while making the construction process more efficient and productive. Visualization and modeling technologies, which include building information modeling for infrastructure, light detection and ranging, virtual reality, and augmented reality, are becoming more commonplace in transportation construction. Yet, the use of these technologies varies among state DOTs. The intent of this study is to investigate the use of visualization and modeling technologies for transportation construction. This study employed a triangulation research methodology including an extensive literature review, survey questionnaire of DOTs, and seven case studies. Results of the study show that 92% of state DOTs use visualization and modeling technologies for construction. Then, 81% of DOTs use visualization and modeling technologies for constructability reviews, 38% use them for documentation of as-builts and simulating bridge and structure construction, and 35% use them for quality management, inspections, and monitoring progress of work. The main barriers to using visualization and modeling technologies include legal concerns with using digital models as contract documents, incompatibilities in software and hardware between the DOTs and contracted parties, and the appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities required to use visualization and modeling technologies for construction. The findings from this study provides valuable information for state DOTs to approach their implementation and use of visualization and modeling technologies for transportation construction delivery.

Evaluasi Penerapan Manajemen Waktu Pada Proyek Pembangunan Ciputra School of Business Makassar

Dunia konstruksi masih banyak ditemukan proyek yang pelaksanaannya tidak sesuai waktu yang ditentukan. Oleh karena itu perlu dilakukan evaluasi penerapan manajemen waktu pada proyek konstruksi gedung Ciputra School of Business yang mengalami keterlambatan pada beberapa sub bagian pekerjaan. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu metode analisis deskriptif. Dari hasil penelitian dapat diketahui bahwa dalam pelaksanaan proyek kurva-S digunakan sebagai time schedule dalam melakukan monitoring progress dan penjadwalan pekerjaan, kontraktor perlu melakukan pekerjaan secara paralel dengan metode percepatan fast tracking dan memberlakukan lembur agar target mingguan dan bulanan terpenuhi. Dari hasil analisis dapat disimpulkan bahwa pengendalian menggunakan kurva-S dimana baseline dilakukan pertiga bulan selama 1 tahun waktu pelaksanaan menunjukkan besaran deviasi progress pekerjaan pada tahap pertama 1.085%, tahap kedua 1.324%, tahap ketiga -8,971%, dan tahap keempat -5,639%

Prosodic entrainment in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Entrainment is the tendency of people to behave similarly during an interaction. It occurs on different levels of behaviour, including speech, and has been associated with pro-social behaviour and increased rapport. This review paper outlines the current understanding of linguistic entrainment, particularly at the speech level, in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a disorder that is associated with social difficulties and unusual prosody. Aberrant entrainment patterns in individuals with ASD could thus contribute to both their perceived unusual prosody and their social difficulties. Studying the relationship between speech entrainment and ASD holds great potential for applied benefits in utilizing this knowledge for pre-screening or diagnosis, monitoring progress longitudinally, and intervention practices. Our findings suggest that research on entrainment in ASD is sparse and exploratory, and the ecological validity of experimental paradigms varies. Moreover, there is little consistency in methodology and results vary between studies, which highlights the need for standardized methods in entrainment research. A promising way to standardize methods, facilitate their use, and extend them to everyday clinical practice, is by implementing automatic methods for speech analysis and adhering to open-science principles.