Engineering Commons^™

The State Of Bim-Based Quantity Take-Off Implementation Among Commercial General Contractors, Morgan Christian Tagg

Theses and Dissertations

Building Information Modeling (BIM) plays an important role in today's construction industry. Models are tools that help stakeholders communicate, visualize building geometry, perform trade coordination and clash detection among others. A less popular aspect of BIM that shows high potential is the quantity take-off (QTO) feature. Yet, its implementation among commercial general contractors (GC) has not received as much attention. The purpose of this study was to identify how the BIM QTO features were being implemented among commercial general contractors, what challenges they faced and how they worked to overcome those challenges. Through a three-step process including semi structured interviews …

Design Of Telescopic Beams Based On Parametric Studies Using Fea And Statistical Optimization, Neha Arieckal Jacob

Philosophy Dissertations

This dissertation describes an investigation on the behavior of the overlap area in telescopic cantilevers under tip loads. The main aim of this research is to address the question of ‘how the overlap region of a telescopic beam behaves under a tip load’ and to develop a new generic approach to the design of telescopic beams based on parametric studies using FEA and statistical optimization. Experimental investigations and exploratory analyses were carried out to study the behavior of RHS (Rectangular Hollow Section) rings and RHS pieces. Based on these observations, theoretical explanations were developed and a methodology for the design …

Sourcevote: Fusing Multi-Valued Data Via Inter-Source Agreements, Xiu Susie Fang, Quan Z. Sheng, Xianzhi Wang, Mahmoud Barhamgi, Lina Yao, Anne H.H. Ngu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Data fusion is a fundamental research problem of identifying true values of data items of interest from conflicting multi-sourced data. Although considerable research efforts have been conducted on this topic, existing approaches generally assume every data item has exactly one true value, which fails to reflect the real world where data items with multiple true values widely exist. In this paper, we propose a novel approach,SourceVote, to estimate value veracity for multi-valued data items. SourceVote models the endorsement relations among sources by quantifying their two-sided inter-source agreements. In particular, two graphs are constructed to model inter-source relations. Then two aspects …

An Analysis Of Rumor And Counter-Rumor Messages In Social Media, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Alton Y. K. Chua, Hanyu Shi, Wenju Wei, Haiyan Wang, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Social media platforms are one of the fastest ways to disseminate information but they have also been used as a means to spread rumors. If left unchecked, rumors have serious consequences. Counter-rumors, messages used to refute rumors, are an important means of rumor curtailment. The objective of this paper is to examine the types of rumor and counter-rumor messages generated in Twitter in response to the falsely reported death of a politician, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s first Prime Minister. Our content analysis of 4321Twitter tweets about Lee’s death revealed six categories of rumor messages, four categories ofcounter-rumor messages …

Selective Value Coupling Learning For Detecting Outliers In High-Dimensional Categorical Data, Guansong Pang, Hongzuo Xu, Cao Longbing, Wentao Zhao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper introduces a novel framework, namely SelectVC and its instance POP, for learning selective value couplings (i.e., interactions between the full value set and a set of outlying values) to identify outliers in high-dimensional categorical data. Existing outlier detection methods work on a full data space or feature subspaces that are identified independently from subsequent outlier scoring. As a result, they are significantly challenged by overwhelming irrelevant features in high-dimensional data due to the noise brought by the irrelevant features and its huge search space. In contrast, SelectVC works on a clean and condensed data space spanned by selective …

Sagittal Subtalar And Talocrural Joint Assessment During Ambulation With Controlled Ankle Movement (Cam) Boots, Ben Mchenry, Emily L. Exten, Janelle A. Cross, Karen M. Kruger, Brian Law, Jessica M. Fritz, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background: The purpose of the current study was to determine sagittal plane talocrural and subtalar kinematic differences between barefoot and controlled ankle movement (CAM) boot walking. This study used fluoroscopic images to determine talar motion relative to tibia and calcaneal motion relative to talus.

Methods: Fourteen male subjects (mean age 24.1 ± 3.5 years) screened for normal gait were tested. A fluoroscopy unit was used to collect images at 200 Hz during stance. Sagittal motion of the talocrural and subtalar joints were analyzed barefoot and within short and tall CAM boots.

Results: Barefoot talocrural mean maximum plantar and dorsiflexion were …

Polyethylene Oxide—Fullerene Nanocomposites, Nasar Ali, Dorina M. Chipara, Karen Lozano, James R. Hinthorne, Mircea Chipara

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Polyethylene oxide – fullerene nanocomposites have been prepared by using the solution path with water as solvent (only for the polymer). The dispersion of C60 within the polymer solution was achieved by high power sonication. The study aims to a better understanding on the effect of C60 nanoparticles on the macromolecular chains. Raman Wide Angle X Ray spectroscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, and Thermogravimetric Analysis were used to inspect the interactions between the nanofiller and macromolecular chains. The experimental results revealed a completely different behavior of fullerene dispersed within polymeric matrices than using carbon nanotubes or nanofibers as nanofiller. …

Experimental Study Of Low Salinity Water Flooding And Fracturing Effects In Low Permeability Carbonate Reservoir, Benny Arianto Harahap

Theses

In past decades, there were numerous research works demonstrated that salinity alteration of injected water could enhance the oil recovery. Low salinity water (LSW) injection is a type of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method, which attracts the industrial, and researchers because of its simplicity to use the implications,

Environment-friendly nature, and less cost. In addition to, hydraulic fracturing, also known as hydraulic stimulation, is another EOR method that improves hydrocarbon flow by creating fractures in the Low Permeability Formation (LPF) that connects the reservoir and wellbore. Fractures will increase the permeability of reservoir and give the flow path for hydrocarbon …

Apparatus And Method For Controlling Dc-Ac Power Conversion, Patrick L. Chapman, Brian T. Kuhn, Robert S. Balog, Jonathan W. Kimball, Philip T. Krein, Alexander Gray, T. Esram

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An apparatus and method for controlling the delivery of power from a DC source to an AC grid includes an inverter configured to deliver power from the unipolar input source to the AC grid and an inverter controller. The inverter includes an input converter, an active filter, and an output converter. The inverter controller includes an input converter controller, an active filter controller and an output converter controller. The input converter controller is configured to control a current delivered by the input converter to a galvanically isolated unipolar bus of the inverter. The output converter is configured to control the …

Implementation And Performance Analysis Of Long Term Evolution Using Software Defined Radio, Kedar Bhusal

Electrical Engineering Theses

The overwhelming changes in the field of communication brought about need for high data rates, which led to the development of a system known as Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE made good use of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (OFDMA) in its downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (SCFDMA) in its uplink transmission because of their robust performance. These multiple access techniques are the major focus of study in this thesis, with their implementation in the LTE system.

GNU Radio is a software Defined Radio (SDR) platform. It comprises of C++ signal processing libraries. For user simplicity, it …

The Effect Of Chemical Composition Of Blast-Furnace Slag On Compressive Strength And Durability Properties Of Mortar Specimens, William J. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to make structures more sustainable and durable, supplementary cementitious materials are often used to replace cement. Ground granulated blast furnace slag, for instance, is an industrial by-product of iron refinement and is frequently used in concrete mixture design to not only reduce cost, but also increase later-age strength as well as durability. However, published literature indicates that slags with a high alumina content may have a detrimental effect when concrete is exposed to a sulfate environment. ASTM standard C989 does not suggest any information or guidelines regarding using slags with an alumina content between 11-18%. Therefore, the …

Early Warning System For Shallow Landslides Using Rainfall Threshold And Slope Stability Analysis, Shruti Naidu, K. S. Sajinkumar, Thomas Oommen, V.J. Anuja, Rinu Samuel, C. Muraleedharan

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

A combined cluster and regression analysis were performed for the first time to identify rainfall threshold that triggers landslide events in Amboori, Kerala, India. Amboori is a tropical area that is highly vulnerable to landslides. The 2, 3, and 5-day antecedent rainfall data versus daily rainfall was clustered to identify a cluster of critical events that could potentially trigger landslides. Further, the cluster of critical events was utilized for regression analysis to develop the threshold equations. The 5-day antecedent (x-variable) vs. daily rainfall (y-variable) provided the best fit to the data with a threshold equation of …

Webinar: Transportation Benefits Of Parking Cash-Out, Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits, And Parking Surtaxes, Allen Greenberg, James Choe, Sonika Sethi, Colleen Stoll

TREC Webinar Series

The vast majority of employers provide their employees free parking at work, which encourages employees to drive alone. Multiple strategies exist to level the playing field between travel modes and allow employees to select the travel option most beneficial to them without suffering a financial penalty. The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration sponsored a study to understand the effect parking cash out, pre-tax commuter benefits, and parking surtaxes can have on congestion, emissions, and other driving-related externalities. The study is part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to increase awareness of solutions to address the transportation issues affecting communities …

Usu Students Flourish In Society Of Women Engineers | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Utah State University’s student section of the Society of Women Engineers has expanded significantly since it first started in 1976.

Time-Of-Flight And Energy Loss Analysis On The Unm Fission Fragment Spectrometer, Shelby Fellows

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

The University of New Mexico spectrometer experimental work has been used to provide an event-by-event fission product measurement to aid in filling in the gaps in existing fission product yield data, as part of the Los Alamos National Lab Spectrometer for Ion Detection in Fission Research project (SPIDER) collaboration. This thesis examines the time-of-flight (TOF) component of the spectrometer towards improving the resolution of the system. Different thicknesses of TOF conversion foils were examined with alpha particles and fission fragments: 20, 55, and 100 µg/cm² carbon foils. For the thinnest carbon foil studied, a timing resolution of 160 ps …

Predicting Dry‐Season Flows With A Monthly Rainfall–Runoff Model: Performance For Gauged And Ungauged Catchments, Perrine Hamel, Andrew John Guswa, Jake Sahl, Lu Zhang

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Hydrologic models are useful to understand the effects of climate and land‐use changes on dry‐season flows. In practice, there is often a trade‐off between simplicity and accuracy, especially when resources for catchment management are scarce. Here, we evaluated the performance of a monthly rainfall–runoff model (dynamic water balance model, DWBM) for dry‐season flow prediction under climate and land‐use change. Using different methods with decreasing amounts of catchment information to set the four model parameters, we predicted dry‐season flow for 89 Australian catchments and verified model performance with an independent dataset of 641 catchments in the United States. For the Australian …

Distributed Manufacturing Of Flexible Products: Technical Feasibility And Economic Viability, Aubrey Woern, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

Distributed manufacturing even at the household level is now well established with the combined use of open source designs and self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3-D printers. Previous work has shown substantial economic consumer benefits for producing their own polymer products. Now flexible filaments are available at roughly 3-times the cost of more conventional 3-D printing materials. To provide some insight into the potential for flexible filament to be both technically feasible and economically viable for distributed digital manufacturing at the consumer level this study investigates 20 common flexible household products. The 3-D printed products were quantified by print time, electrical …

Investigation Of Ternary Binder Based Systems In Terms Of Calorimetry, Shrinkage And In-Situ Xrd, Anxhelina Qorllari, Elsa Qoku, Thomas A. Bier, Teuta Dilo

UBT International Conference

Ternary binders are defined in this study as compositions of Calcium Aluminate Cement (CAC), Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Calcium Sulfate (CS̅). Several mixtures were studied, calorimetric and shrinkage technique has been used to follow the hydration during 24 hours. The XRD technique is used as support in the analysis of the hydration products. The results have shown that the initial amount of ��� and �� play a key role in the hydration of ��/���/�� mixtures and especially affect the formation of ettringite. The mechanism of reactions (hydration kinetic) and the reactions speed (acceleration or retardation) depends by the aggregates …

Reducing The Porosity And Sealing Cracks By Using Crystalline Admixture In Conventional Concrete, Visar Krelani, Liberato Ferrara

UBT International Conference

There is a continuous increase of quality on civil engineering materials in developed countries and parallel increase of need for new constructions in developing countries. Professional community should propose solutions for the durability that can resist in different severe environments. The most important factor that can affect concrete durability is represented by the pore distribution. Transport properties can take place through the porous network inside the cementitious composites and the aggregates interface, permitting the ingress of aggressive agents damaging concrete function intrinsically as a material and the wellfunctioning of the entire structure. The use of a crystalline admixture during the …

Using Of Proper Pavement Material For The Intersections With Slow-Moving Traffic, Bekim Selimi

UBT International Conference

Use of proper pavement material for some of intersections need special attention by road designers. At Camp Bondsteel-Kosovo on 2002 were built four road intersections using the concrete as pavement material. Heavy and slow-moving trucks that are turning or accelerating exposed these intersections to some of the highest stress level. After some years this intresections start deteriorating on their surface due to friction. The concrete pavements did not survive this period of usage and after eight years were removed and replaced with asphalt pavements. After more than seven years, the asphalt has shown minor distress but is still in good …

Developing A New Total Sediment Transport Formula, Davut Okeu, Sokol Xhafa, Sevdije Govori, Majlinda Daci

UBT International Conference

Sediment transport is one of the most powerful factor on river hydrology. It has vital importance for water engineering projects. There are many sediment transport formulas in the literature but most of them are derived from small data sets of natural rivers or experimental designs. Each formulation has its own restrictions, which depends on the original dataset of that study. None of them have gained universal acceptance. As a result, investigation towards the development of more accurate and simpler formulae is still necessary and should be continued.

The aim of this study is to derive a new total sediment load …

Heritage Under Pressure The Case Of The “Bypass” In Gjirokastra World Heritage Site Albania, Kreshnik Merxhani, Valmira Bozgo

UBT International Conference

The following article is an account presenting a professional movement opposing a planned and approved project for the construction of a new road known as the “Bypass”, which endangered the Historic Center of Gjirokastra. The project, consisted in the construction of a new road, with the initial aim of diverting automobile traffic from the Bazaar, turning it into a pedestrian zone. However after a few procedural problems were noted, it became clear that the project itself was not fulfilling its original aim, and further more posed a threat to the historical center. During the only public consultation session held for …

The Influence Of The Radius Of The Curve And The Lateral Slope On The Safety Of The Vehicle, Baxhuku Visar, Koca Odisea, Çekiçi Visar

UBT International Conference

The movement of the vehicle in a curve related to the construction of the road is expressed through the influence of the radius of the curve and the transversal inclination of the road. Two of these quantities are fixed quantities ever since the projection and then construction phase of the road. During the vehicle’s movement in the curve, their influence is shown through the critical slide velocity. This critical velocity is defined from the influence of the centrifugal force. For smaller values under critical velocity, this influence is expressed through the safety of the movement or the comfort of the …

Negative Impacts (Sbs) In Residential Buildings Case Studies From Kosovo, Muhamet Ahmeti, Mimoza Sylejmani

UBT International Conference

This paper presents the negative impacts on residential buildings in Kosovo, - as well as the main factors of the occurrence of sick building syndrome (SBS) in residential buildings in the case of Kosovo. It also examines the impact of different materials on this phenomenon and how many constructions in Kosovo are protected from this phenomenon.

For the assessment of the impact of materials on health and the environment, it is necessary to consider all the phases. Starting from the phase of construction, selection of materials, application from the beginning of the use of the building, including all the materials …

The Effect Of Particles Pm10 And Pm2.5 In Dust Emission Of Urban Infrastructure From Thermal Power Plant Technology Kosovo, Afrim Syla

UBT International Conference

Airborne particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 microns (referred to as PM10) is one of the six criteria pollutants used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as indicator of air quality. During the last decade, the health effects of urban aerosols have become a major concern for the society.

The main environmental problems in Kosovo include all issues related to water supply and sanitation system, air quality, solid waste management and urban infrastructure. The major problem remains high pollutions, energy losses and low collection efficiency. The awareness of environmental issues among the general public is poor. Air quality …

Seismic Actions Induced By Cladding Panels On Precast Concrete Frame Structures, Bruno Del Lago, Francesco Foti, Luca Martinelli

UBT International Conference

The strong earthquakes occurred in Southern Europe in the last decade pointed out a poor seismic performance of the connection system of the cladding of precast industrial structures. The cladding of these buildings usually consists of sandwich concrete panels of remarkable mass, connected to the frame structure with mechanical devices. The estimation of the out-of-plane seismic action on these connections is a key step for their correct proportioning. However, the formulation currently provided in the Eurocode 8 for the estimation of the seismic action on non-structural elements was calibrated with different objectives. Furthermore, given there is no in-plane structure-panel interaction, …

Capacity Design For R/C Structures According To En 1998-1:2004, Xhemshir Mulliqi

UBT International Conference

Capacity Design is a design process in which it is decided which objects within a structural system will be permitted to yield (ductile components) and which objects will remain elastic (brittle components). Material nonlinearity need only be modeled for ductile components, while components which will not yield need only consider elastic stiffness properties. In this design philosophy the capacity design approach that is currently used in practice demands strong column/weak beam frames or wall equivalent dual frames, with beam sway mechanisms, trying to involve plastic hinging at all beam ends.This paper aims to present Capacity design procedure for reinforced concrete …

P.M. 2.5 And Air Pollution In Prishtina, Rushiti Bardh, Futko Annea, Zeka Blin, Musliu Afete

UBT International Conference

High concentration of fine particles, the primary concern of worsening air pollution in Prishtina is believed to be fast paced economic and infrastructural growth in the capital of Kosova. This study is mainly focused on measuring the fluctuations of one constituent of air pollution, P.M. 2.5 (which are particles ranging from 2.5 to 10 micro-meters suspended into the environment). The measurements were done in Prishtina, mainly in the parts more frequented by people. Exposed to mixed combustion emission from roads with traffic, construction areas, and/or burning trash are a case of peculiar concern to people near those places. However, due …

Optimal Design Of Grillage Structures With Steel Crossed Beams Using Genetic Algorithms, Ersilio Tushaj, Niko Lako, Fatjon Saliu

UBT International Conference

The optimal problem in the structural design is an important issue in the engineering design. Various authors have analyzed the optimization of steel structures using algorithmic approaches. These techniques are generally grouped in deterministic or meta-heuristic techniques. From the introduction of structural optimization in the 1960’ up to now, various methods have been proposed. A genetic algorithm, is built and applied in this study using MatLab soft R2017a to a crossed beams system. The structural analysis is done with the direct stiffness method with constraints verification based on EuroCode 3:2005 criteria. Results are reported in the study.

Beam- Column Joints For R/C Structures According To En 1998-1:2004, Xhemshir Mulliqi

UBT International Conference

Joints are crucial zones for the transfer internal forces effectively between the connecting elements like beams and columns .The behaviour of reinforced concrete moment resisting frame structures in recent earthquakes all over the world has highlighted the consequences of poor performance of beam column joints. The basic requirement of design is that the joint must be stronger than the adjoining hinging members, usually the beams or columns. This paper aims to present design approach for Beam- Column joints for reinforced concrete (R/C) structures according to the EN 1998-1:2004.