Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Inspection Routing and Scheduling for Engineering Management

Technological advancements in unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have revolutionized various industries,enabling the widespread adoption of UAV-based solutions.In engineering management,UAV-based inspection has emerged as a highly efficient method for identifying hidden risks in high-risk construction environments,surpassing traditional inspection techniques.Building on this foundation,this paper delves into the optimization of UAV inspection routing and scheduling,addressing the complexity introduced by factors such as no-fly zones,monitoring-interval time windows,and multiple monitoring rounds.To tackle this challenging problem,we propose a mixed-integer linear programming(MILP)model that optimizes inspection task assignments,monitoring sequence schedules,and charging decisions.The comprehensive consideration of these factors differentiates our problem from conventional vehicle routing problem(VRP),leading to a mathematically intractable model for commercial solvers in the case of large-scale instances.To overcome this limitation,we design a tailored variable neighborhood search(VNS)metaheuristic,customizing the algorithm to efficiently solve our model.Extensive numerical experiments are conducted to validate the efficacy of our proposed algorithm,demonstrating its scalability for both large-scale and real-scale instances.Sensitivity experiments and a case study based on an actual engineering project are also conducted,providing valuable insights for engineering managers to enhance inspection work efficiency.

A Discussion on Innovative Methods for Green Engineering Management in Construction Engineering

With the rapid development of society,the construction industry has made significant progress.However,as environmental issues intensify,many construction projects contribute to pollution.In this context,applying green project management methods in construction can enhance energy conservation and environmental protection,reduce energy consumption and costs,and minimize environmental damage,promoting balanced development between the environment and the economy.Therefore,integrating green construction concepts into current construction projects is essential.Based on project requirements and construction activities,effective green project management strategies should be developed to improve management standards and promote more efficient green construction.This paper analyzes green project management in construction engineering and offers recommendations for reference.

Multi-factors decision-making entropy method and its application in engineering management

In order to meet the strict requirements for information in engineering management, the positive interval （0, 1 ] in Shannon information entropy is extended to the real number interval [ - 1, 1 ]. The information theory and the decision theory are combined effectively, and the deficiencies that the traditional Bayes decision-making methods only consider a single factor are made up for. The multi-factors engineering decision-making methods are proposed, and some critical problems are solved in the practical engineering management decision-making process.

Dialectical thinking in engineering management

Modem engineering management activities have all become more complex, being far beyond the economic and technological areas, due to their growing grand scales, increasingly complex structures and integrated systems. Therefore, we need focus our attention on engineering management activities by resorting to dialectical thinking and take full account of them based on the height of the new era. This paper described and analyzed engineering management activities from the following 5 aspects ： the cyclic promotion between engineering management theory and engineering management practice, the in-depth integration of engineering management concepts with engineering management methods, the coordinated harmonization of engineering management system with engineering management details, the mutual promotion between engineering management standardization and engineering management innovation, the common enhancement between engineering management team and engineering management system.

Visualization aided system of hydropower engineering management

For the purpose of realizing the information visualization of hydropower engineering management, we construeted three kinds of graphics models sorted by hierarchy for system modelling, employed the construction simulation system to simulate the real-time construction behaviours, introduced the graphics rendering system to organize and update the virtual scene, and designed the interaction system to respond to the user-initiated and simulation-initiated events. So, the real-time, interactive visualization aided system of hydropower engineering management is developed. Eventually, the effectiveness and capabilities of the system are showed through the application examples in China.

ChatGPT, AI-generated content, and engineering management

This study explores the integration of ChatGPT and AI-generated content (AIGC) in engineering management. It assesses the impact of AIGC services on engineering management processes, mapping out the potential development of AIGC in various engineering functions. The study categorizes AIGC services within the domain of engineering management and conceptualizes an AIGC-aided engineering lifecycle. It also identifies key challenges and emerging trends associated with AIGC. The challenges highlighted are ethical considerations, reliability, and robustness in engineering management. The emerging trends are centered on AIGC-aided optimization design, AIGC-aided engineering consulting, and AIGC-aided green engineering initiatives.

Digital Twins for Engineering Asset Management:Synthesis,Analytical Framework,and Future Directions

Effective engineering asset management(EAM)is critical to economic development and improving livability in society,but its complexity often impedes optimal asset functionalities.Digital twins(DTs)could revolutionize the EAM paradigm by bidirectionally linking the physical and digital worlds in real time.There is great industrial and academic interest in DTs for EAM.However,previous review studies have predominately focused on technical aspects using limited life-cycle perspectives,failing to holistically synthesize DTs for EAM from the managerial point of view.Based on a systematic literature review,we introduce an analytical framework for describing DTs for EAM,which encompasses three levels:DT 1.0 for technical EAM,DT 2.0 for technical-human EAM,and DT 3.0 for technical-environmental EAM.Using this framework,we identify what is known,what is unknown,and future directions at each level.DT 1.0 addresses issues of asset quality,progress,and cost management,generating technical value.It lacks multi-objective self-adaptive EAM,however,and suffers from high application cost.It is imperative to enable closed-loop EAM in order to provide various functional services with affordable DT 1.0.DT 2.0 accommodates issues of human-machine symbiosis,safety,and flexibility management,generating managerial value beyond the technical performance improvement of engineering assets.However,DT 2.0 currently lacks the automation and security of human-machine interactions and the managerial value related to humans is not prominent enough.Future research needs to align technical and managerial value with highly automated and secure DT 2.0.DT 3.0 covers issues of participatory governance,organization management,sustainable development,and resilience enhancement,generating macro social value.Yet it suffers from organizational fragmentation and can only address limited social governance issues.Numerous research opportunities exist to coordinate different stakeholders.Similarly,future research opportunities exist to develop DT 3.0 in a more open and complex system.

Construction Project Management and Construction Quality Control Strategy

With the gradual acceleration of the urbanization process,the construction industry has been developing rapidly.As the key link to ensure the quality and safety of the project,construction management and construction quality control are of great significance to enhance the competitiveness of construction enterprises and realize sustainable development.In this paper,the effective strategy of construction management and the effective strategy of construction quality control will be discussed in depth,aiming at providing useful management and quality control strategies for construction enterprises.

Construction engineering management culture shift: Is the lowest tender offer dead?

The procurement of public construction projects must walk a fine line between the corruption of state officials and collusion of contractors. The method of awarding projects to the lowest responsible tenderer was originally implemented to guard against corruption of state officials. However, an investigation of the construction industry in the Canadian province of Quebec showed that lowest-tender-offer procurement gave rise to collusion of companies tendering for the contracts. Alternatively, bestvalue procurement has been used for decades, but here problems arise owing to the necessity of subjective judging of measures other than price to compare bids, giving rise to time-and money-consuming protests. The paper proposes a compelling argument that the construction engineering management(CEM) culture should refocus its efforts on enhancing project cost certainty rather than merely searching for means to design a project in a manner that produces the lowest initial cost, and awards the construction to the lowest tender offer that focuses on cost savings during the project development and delivery process. The difference in the two approaches is subtle but extremely important. To make the transition, the engineering management tools must be advanced to the next level.This means that all project control tools for managing cost,schedule, and technical scope must be transformed from working in the deterministic mode to the stochastic mode,thus making the probability of completing the projectwithin or below its official budget the primary decision criterion. To do so, CEMs must accept that there is a benefit in paying more for an alternative that increases cost certainty for the entire project. The authors of this paper hope that it will provide the grist for a more general dialog across all industry sectors where engineering management is practiced.

Intelligent data analytics is here to change engineering management

A great deal of scientific research in the world aims at discovering the facts about the world so that we understand it better and find solutions to problems. Data enabling technology plays an important role in modern scientific discovery and technologic advancement. The importance of good information was long recognized by prominent leaders such as Sun Tzu and Napoleon. Factual data enables managers to measure, to understand their businesses, and to directly translate that knowledge into improved decision making and performance. This position paper argues that data analytics is ready to change engineering management in the following areas: 1) by making relevant historical data available to the manager at the time when it's needed; 2) by filtering out actionable intelligence from the ocean of data; and 3) by integrating useful data from multiple sources to support quantitative decision-making. Considering the unique need for engineering management, the paper proposes researchable topics in the two broad areas of data acquisition and data analytics. The purpose of the paper is to provoke discussion from peers and to encourage research activity.

Research and practice on system engineering management of a mobile payment project

The popularization of the mobile internet has given rise to demand for flexible and convenient payment methods. For China, it is necessary to keep pace with or even lead the trend of innovation and development in the age of mobile payment. From the perspective of systems engineering, this paper introduces research and implementation of China Union Pay's mobile payment project. The general requirements and core engineering problems of the mobile payment project are summarized based on analyses of the characteristics and engineering difficulties of this project. Integration of innovative technologies is introduced to resolve the contradiction between ease-of-use and security. A rapid iterative development process is adopted to improve the product release efficiency as well as the users' experience. The launch of the mobile payment project also opens the window to coordinating and upgrading the whole payment industry chains.

Practice of Unconventional Gas Development and Engineering Management Innovation in China

This article analyses the recent progressive increase in resource quantity and production quantity of unconventional natural gas in China, describes its natural properties and the concepts, strategies and approaches of its development, summarizes the special techniques, management concepts and development modes formed in the process of its development, and puts forward proposals to accelerate the development of unconventional natural gas of China. The technically recoverable reserve of unconventional natural gas is 1.7 times that of conventional natural gas and its output in 2012 accounted for 41.8% of the total output in China. Chinese tight gas development has gained success, coal-bed methane development and shale gas production pilots have made important progresses. As the key feature of unconventional natural gas is 'low grade', for the effective scale development, developers must build up the engineering concept of low-grade resources development, adhere to the low cost strategy, take the development route of 'a step backward and then a step forward', apply such ideas and methods of engineering management as low cost dualistic integrative innovation, full control network management, economic limit theory, integrated operation and 'four orientations' engineering management, establish a 'two lows' engineering management system, and take reference of the successful development mode of the tight gas in Sulige and the coal-bed methane in the Qinshui basin. In order to achieve the objective of rapid development of nonconventional natural gas in China and to accelerate the development pace, the government should continue toincrease support, to speed up the reform of natural gas price adjustment, to set up national comprehensive development and utilization demonstration areas, to input in sustainable technological research and to promote engineering management innovation.

Research on Knowledge Sharing and Transfer in Remanufacturing Engineering Management Based on SECI Model

In this paper, an application mode and method of knowledge management in remanufacturing engineering management is established based on Nonaka's SECI model. The relationships between knowledge transfer,knowledge sharing and remanufacturing engineering management are highlighted. It is noticeable that a great deal of knowledge transfer and sharing activities, which can improve the performance of remanufacturing engineering management constantly, are involved in remanufacturing engineering.

Development of Engineering Management Education in China

Engineering management(EM) is a new interdisciplinary field accompanying China's economic and social development. To have a systemic research of the present situation and future orientation on China's EM education, this paper compares the connotation of engineering and engineering management based on the gap of their differences at home and abroad, with gained causes between them. Then, this paper analyzes the training system of 35 authenticated universities with the program of engineering management, which had received the certification from the Engineering Management Assessment Committee for Higher Education Institutions under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China by 2014. With a web survey of the present condition of engineering management education at these universities,the paper discusses the disciplinary attribution of engineering management. Through the above research, this paper concludes with three suggestions for the long-term development of engineering management education in China.

Discussion on Problem-Based Engineering Management System

The paper puts forward the idea of problembased engineering management, expounds its connotation and guiding ideology and moreover, substantially demonstrates its practical significance in the engineering management system for the maintenance of Chinese military aircraft engines.

Innovation and practice of petroleum engineering synergetic management for the development of difficult-to-produce reserves

Due to engineering technology and development costs,a considerable amount of proven oil and gas resources in China are difficult to develop,becoming reserves difficult to produce.Based on the successful development of some domestic oil and gas reserves difficult to recover,this article summarizes the"four in one"petroleum engineering synergetic management model to promote the effective development of these reserves.This model draws on the essence of management theories,such as system theory,cybernetics and synergetic theory,and proposes the development idea of value creating and sharing for this type of reserves.By adopting the new management method of mechanism synergy,speciality synergy,process synergy and industrial chain synergy,this model effectively overcomes the decentralization of management responsibility,different management objectives,great risks of engineering and technological innovation,and the large number of uncertain factors in project construction,and can stimulate the vitality and power of active coordination of project participants,to effectively realize the synergetic innovation of engineering technology and synergetic cost reduction of the whole chain,reduction of the balanced oil price of the project,and dispersion of the project investment risk.By adopting this model,a large proportion of difficult-to-produce reserves have been liberated,realizing the effective utilization of the difficult-to-produce oil and gas resources,and making the reserves an important supplement to ensure national energy security.

Inheritance and Innovation of Engineering Management Informatization

In the life-cycle of large projects, the operational phase lasts the longest, costs the most and substantially benefits the project. During the whole phase, energy, material and human resources may cost a lot. Effective control of such costs is one of the main targets of engineering management informatization. How to lower the organization collaboration cost in project management and how to support effective collaboration among different areas, organizations and departments in the ways of technology and management are major goals in engineering management informatization. In the phase of project operation, project owners, partners and customers are the stakeholders of engineering management informatization. Through the case of airport management informatization, inherited and innovation of engineering management informatization will be discussed. It is illustrated that airport informatization is the innovation of business model and technology applications through the analysis and study on cases of airport informatization.

Challenges to Engineering Management in the Big Data Era

This paper presents a review of the challenges to engineering management in the Big Data Era as well as the Big Data applications. First, it outlines the definitions of big data, data science and intelligent knowledge and the history of big data. Second, the paper reviews the academic activities about big data in China. Then, it elaborates a number of challenging big data problems, including transforming semi-structured and non-structured data into"structured format" and explores the relationship of data heterogeneity, knowledge heterogeneity and decision heterogeneity. Furthermore, the paper reports various real-life applications of big data, such as financial and petroleum engineering and internet business.

Special issue: Advances and prospect of engineering management

As an important part of engineering domain,construction engineering and management focuses on studying the planning,execution and maintenance of civil and infrastructure projects.This special issue is composed based on a collection of research papers contributed by a group of leading experts,dedicating to providing a state-of-the-art development in construction management research.