Kim, Yong-Woo; Azari-N, Rahman; Yi, June-Seong; Bae, Jinwoo. (2013). Environmental Impacts Comparison between On-site vs. Prefabricated Just-in-Time (Prefab-JIT) Rebar Supply in Construction Projects. Journal Of Civil Engineering And Management, 19(5), 647 – 655.
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Abstract
In the on-site rebar delivery system, as the common method of rebar supply in the construction industry, reinforced steel bars are delivered in large batches from supplier's facilities through contractor's warehouse to the construction site. Rebars are then fabricated on-site and installed after assembly. In the new delivery system, called prefabrication Just-In-Time (prefab-JIT) system, the off-site cut and bend along with frequent rebar delivery to the site are applied in order to improve the process and increase its efficiency. The main objective of this paper is to assess and compare the environmental impacts resulting from the air emissions associated with the two rebar delivery systems in a case study construction project. Environmental impact categories of interest include global warming, acidification, eutrophication, and smog formation. A process-based cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment methodology is applied to perform the analysis. The results show that the prefab-JIT rebar delivery system causes less contribution to all mentioned environmental impact categories compared with a traditional on-site delivery system.
Keywords
Environmental Impact Analysis; Comparative Studies; Microfabrication; Construction Industry; Reinforcing Bars; Contractors; Product Life Cycle; Environmental Impacts; Life Cycle; On-site Rebar Delivery System; Prefab-jit; Bars; Contracts; Global Warming; Just-in-time; Prefabricated Construction; Product Life Cycle Management; Project Management; Rebar; Steel; Warehousing; Waste Reduction; Smog Formation; Eutrophication; Acidification; Air Emissions; Prefab-jit System; Construction Site; Contractors Warehouse; Reinforced Steel Bars; Construction Projects; Prefabricated Just-in-time Rebar Supply; Environmental Impacts Comparison; Process-based Cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment Methodology; Energy; Products; Wood
Chi, Nai-wen; Lin, Ken-yu; Hsieh, Shang-hsien. (2014). Using Ontology-based Text Classification To Assist Job Hazard Analysis. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 28(4), 381 – 394.
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Abstract
The dangers of the construction industry due to the risk of fatal hazards, such as falling from extreme heights, being struck by heavy equipment or materials, and the possibility of electrocution, are well known. The concept of Job Hazard Analysis is commonly used to mitigate and control these occupational hazards. This technique analyzes the major tasks in a construction activity, identifies all potential task-related hazards, and suggests safe approaches to reduce or avoid each of these hazards. In this paper, the authors explore the possibility of leveraging existing construction safety resources to assist JHA, aiming to reduce the level of human effort required. Specifically, the authors apply ontology-based text classification (TC) to match safe approaches identified in existing resources with unsafe scenarios. These safe approaches can serve as initial references and enrich the solution space when performing JHA. Various document modification strategies are applied to existing resources in order to achieve superior TC effectiveness. The end result of this research is a construction safety domain ontology and its underlying knowledge base. A user scenario is also discussed to demonstrate how the ontology supports JHA in practice. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Construction Industry; Health Hazards; Human Factors; Occupational Safety; Ontologies (artificial Intelligence); Pattern Classification; Text Analysis; Ontology-based Text Classification; Job Hazard Analysis; Fatal Hazards; Task-related Hazard; Construction Safety Resource; Jha; Construction Safety Domain Ontology; Construction; Information; Construction Safety; Information Retrieval; Knowledge Management; Ontology; Text Classification
Hoofnagle, Chris Jay; Whittington, Jan. (2014). Free: Accounting for the Costs of the Internet’s Most Popular Price. UCLA Law Review, 61(3), 606 – 670.
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Abstract
Offers of free services abound on the Internet. But the focus on the price rather than on the cost of free services has led consumers into a position of vulnerability. For example, even though internet users typically exchange personal information for the opportunity to use these purportedly free services, one court has found that users of free services are not consumers for purposes of California consumer protection law. This holding reflects the common misconception that the costs of free online transactions are negligible when in fact true costs may be quite significant. To elucidate the true costs of these allegedly free services, we apply a transaction cost economics (TCE) approach. Unlike orthodox economic theory, TCE provides a framework for analyzing exchanges in which the price of the product seems to be zero. Under a TCE analysis, we argue that information-intensive companies misuse the term free to promote products and services that involve numerous nonpecuniary costs. In so doing, firms generate contractual hazards for consumers, ignore consumer preferences for privacy, and mislead consumers by creating the impression that a given transaction will be free. While psychological research and behavioral economics may support an outright ban of free offers because of their biasing effects, TCE suggests reforming governance structures to place the business risks associated with free transactions more firmly in the hands of businesses. We suggest alterations to governance structures such as the Federal Trade Commission's Guide Concerning Use of the Word Free (FTC Guide) to curb the incentives of firms to raise transaction costs for consumers. The FTC Guide provides support for two of the consumer protection measures we propose: first, a requirement that free service providers clearly disclose that such providers seek users' personal information in exchange for those services, and, second, the establishment of a regular price before providers can market a service as free. We further argue that the recognition of users of free services as consumers for purposes of consumer protection law would better align incentives and ensure users access to legal redress against some of the most popular services on the Internet. Lastly, we suggest the adoption of alternative governance structures designed to reduce the cost of transacting by curbing the collection of personal information from consumers of free services and by enhancing the rights of consumers to govern the dispersal of personal information from free online services to third parties.
Keywords
Free Internet Service Providers; Internet Usage Monitoring; Transaction Cost Theory Of The Firm; Internet Privacy -- Law & Legislation; Law; United States. Federal Trade Commission; Vertical Integration; Privacy
Wang, X.; Liu, C.; Kostyniuk, L.; Shen, Q.; Bao, S. (2014). The Influence of Street Environments on Fuel Efficiency: Insights from Naturalistic Driving. International Journal Of Environmental Science And Technology, 11(8), 2291 – 2306.
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Abstract
Fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector are a result of a three-legged stool: fuel types, vehicle fuel efficiency, and vehicle miles travelled (VMT). While there is a substantial body of literature that examines the connection between the built environment and total VMT, few studies have focused on the impacts of the street environment on fuel consumption rate. Our research applied structural equation modeling to examine how driving behaviors and fuel efficiency respond to different street environments. We used a rich naturalistic driving dataset that recorded detailed driving patterns of 108 drivers randomly selected from the Southeast Michigan region. The results show that, some features of compact streets such as lower speed limit, higher intersection density, and higher employment density are associated with lower driving speed, more speed changes, and lower fuel efficiency; however, other features such as higher population density and higher density of pedestrian-scale retails improve fuel efficiency. The aim of our study is to gain further understanding of energy and environmental outcomes of the urban areas and the roadway infrastructure we plan, design, and build and to better inform policy decisions concerned with sustainable transportation.
Keywords
Travel; Consumption; Emissions; Cities; Energy; Street Environments; Fuel Efficiency; Structural Equation Modeling; Naturalistic Driving
Jiao, J.; Moudon, A. V.; Kim, S. Y.; Hurvitz, P. M.; Drewnowski, A. (2015). Health Implications of Adults’ Eating at and Living Near Fast Food or Quick Service Restaurants. Nutrition & Diabetes, 5.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: This paper examined whether the reported health impacts of frequent eating at a fast food or quick service restaurant on health were related to having such a restaurant near home. METHODS: Logistic regressions estimated associations between frequent fast food or quick service restaurant use and health status, being overweight or obese, having a cardiovascular disease or diabetes, as binary health outcomes. In all, 2001 participants in the 2008-2009 Seattle Obesity Study survey were included in the analyses. RESULTS: Results showed eating >= 2 times a week at a fast food or quick service restaurant was associated with perceived poor health status, overweight and obese. However, living close to such restaurants was not related to negative health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Frequent eating at a fast food or quick service restaurant was associated with perceived poor health status and higher body mass index, but living close to such facilities was not.
Keywords
Body-mass Index; Socioeconomic-status; Built Environment; Obesity; Association; Consumption; Weight; Proximity; Outlets; Establishments
Azari, Rahman; Kim, Yong-Woo. (2016). Integration Evaluation Framework for Integrated Design Teams of Green Buildings: Development and Validation. Journal Of Management In Engineering, 32(3).
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Abstract
Integrated design (ID) process encourages integration of team members in the design phase of green building projects through intense collaborative processes and free exchange of information. Although integration in general and ID in particular have been well theorized by construction management research community, there exists no systematic mechanism in the field to help owners, architects, and managers of green project teams assess the level of integration in their projects' ID team environment in a practical manner. The key objective of the present article is therefore to use a qualitative-quantitative methodology to propose and validate an integration evaluation framework for green project teams and to statistically test the association between integration level and project success. The framework can be used by green project teams for comparison, benchmarking, or educational purposes and for integration evaluation and improvement in ID team environments. This research also provides empirical evidence to anecdotes suggesting positive link between team integration and project success in green projects.
Keywords
Architecture; Benchmark Testing; Buildings (structures); Construction Industry; Education; Information Management; Process Design; Project Management; Statistical Testing; Team Working; Integration Evaluation Framework; Integrated Design Process; Team Members; Green Building Project; Construction Management Research Community; Architect; Id Team Environment; Benchmarking; Educational Purpose; Information Exchange; Construction; Delivery; Evaluation; Integration; Integrated Design; Green Buildings; Validation; Context; Input; Process; And Product (cipp)
Estiri, Hossein. (2016). Differences in Residential Energy Use between US City and Suburban Households. Regional Studies, 50(11), 1919 – 1930.
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Abstract
This paper applies path analysis to household-level data from the US residential sector to study differences in energy consumption between self-identified city and suburban households. Results show that, on average, suburban households consume more energy in residential buildings than their city-dweller counterparts. This variation in energy consumption is due to differences in: (1) characteristics of the household and the housing unit, independently, and (2) interactions between the household and housing characteristics in the city and suburban households. Findings of this study provide new insights into how regional policies can be implemented differently in suburbs and cities to reduce energy consumption.
Keywords
Urban Form; Electricity Consumption; Land-use; Impact; Sector; Sprawl; Determinants; Appliance; Mobility; Density; Energy Use; Residential Sector; City-dwellers; Suburbanites; Households; Path Analysis; Suburban Areas; Cities; Housing; Energy Consumption; Comparative Analysis; Data Processing; Residential Energy; Suburbs; Residential Buildings; Residential Areas; Energy Policy; Regional Analysis; Regional Studies; United States--us
Mugerauer, Robert. (2016). Anthropotechnology: Sloterdijk on Environmental Design and the Foamworlds of Co-Isolation. Architecture And Culture, 4(2), 227 – 248.
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Abstract
The paper has two primary goals. The first is to reexamine the dynamics of cultural change by applying the innovative interpretations of German theorist and cultural historian Peter Sloterdijk, who contends that the ways we traditionally have made and understood our built environment are grossly inadequate in our contemporary media-saturated, war-weary, biotechnological world. The second is to show how such a reinterpretation of space, architecture, and culture could help us to learn to design better and act by way of an anthropotechnology (Sloterdijk's word) that is simultaneously developmental and threatening - that might enable us to find an orientation in a world of complexity, and thus more positively shape our lives and future world. Sloterdijk's intriguing concepts - spheres of immunization (bubbles, globes, foams), co-isolation, dyads, tensegrity - hold great promise for the next pulse of architectural, planning, and construction theory.
Keywords
Peter Sloterdijk; Anthropotechnology; Spheres Of Immunization (bubbles, Globes, Foams); Co-isolation; Housing
Sun, Feiyang; Mansury, Yuri S. (2016). Economic Impact of High-Speed Rail on Household Income in China. Transportation Research Record, 2581, 71 – 78.
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Abstract
Although developed only in the past 20 years, Chinese high-speed rail (HSR) has overtaken many of its forerunners in its unprecedented scale. However, such a scale raises questions about its implications for regional economic development. Previous studies have discussed the impact of HSR at the regional and city levels, but few have addressed its impact on the individual level, which is crucial for understanding the distribution of the impact. To fill the gap, this study focused on the economic impact of recent HSR development between 2009 and 2012 on Chinese household income and discussed its significance, magnitude, and distribution. The survey data from the China Family Panel Survey were used and a difference-in-differences approach was implemented. Two key explanatory variables, weighted average travel time and probability of living proximate to HSR stations, were included in the models to examine the direct and spillover impacts of HSR. The study shows that these impacts both contribute to the HSR impact but affect urban and rural regions and production sectors differently. In particular, the spillover effect or the agglomeration effect contributes the most and favors more urbanized regions with stronger service sectors. As a consequence, although HSR plays a positive role in stimulating the regional economy, it may further widen the gap between developed regions and underdeveloped regions. From the analyses, it is concluded that HSR projects need more comprehensive studies of the full spectrum of its impact to ensure both economic growth and regional balance and coordination.
Cowling, Krycia; Lindberg, Ruth; Dannenberg, Andrew L.; Neff, Roni A.; Pollack, Keshia M. (2017). Review of Health Impact Assessments Informing Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition Policies, Programs, and Projects in the United States. Journal Of Agriculture Food Systems And Community Development, 7(3), 139 – 157.
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Abstract
Policies, programs, and projects related to agriculture, food, and nutrition can significantly affect public health. Health impact assessment (HIA) is one tool that can be used to improve awareness of the health effects of decisions outside the health sector, and increasing the use of HIA for agriculture, food, and nutrition decisions presents an opportunity to improve public health. This study identifies and reviews all HIAs completed in the United States on agriculture, food, and nutrition topics. Studies were identified from HIA databases, an Internet search, and expert consultation. Key characteristics were extracted from each study: type of decision assessed, location, level of jurisdiction, lead organization, methods of analysis, and recommendations. Twenty-five eligible HIAs that were conducted between 2007 and 2016 address topics such as regulations on land use for agriculture; food and beverage taxes; and developing grocery stores in food deserts. These HIAs have predominantly supported policy, as opposed to program or project, decisions. Four case studies are presented to illustrate in detail the HIA process and the mechanisms through which HIA findings affected policy decisions. Among other influences, these four HIAs affected the language of legislation and provided guidance for federal regulations. These examples demonstrate several findings: appropriate timing is critical for findings to have an influence; diverse stakeholder involvement generates support for recommendations; and the clear communication of feasible recommendations is highly important. There is substantial scope to increase the use of HIA in the agriculture, food, and nutrition sectors. Challenges include the paucity of monitoring and evaluation of HIAs' effects on health outcomes, and the limited funding available to conduct HIAs. Opportunities include integrating HIAs and community food assessments, and more widely sharing HIA findings to inform related decisions in different jurisdictions and to increase support for additional HIAs that address the food system.
Keywords
Environments; Obesity; Health Impact Assessment; Policy; Food; Nutrition; Agriculture