Discussion on Cost Budgeting and Cost Control Strategies for Prefabricated Construction Projects

In the process of China’s national economic development,the construction industry is a very important component and has a direct impact on the level of China’s economic construction.Nowadays,the development speed of the prefabricated construction industry is constantly accelerating.To effectively ensure the economic benefits of engineering projects,it is necessary to comprehensively strengthen cost budgeting and cost control.This article analyzes the cost budget of prefabricated construction projects,introduces the application advantages of prefabricated construction,and proposes specific cost budgeting and cost control measures,hoping to provide some reference for relevant researchers.

Condition-based Maintenance Optimization for Gamma Deteriorating Systems under Performance-based Contracting

With the further development of service-oriented,performance-based contracting(PBC)has been widely adopted in industry and manufacturing.However,maintenance optimization problems under PBC have not received enough attention.To further extend the scope of PBC’s application in the field of maintenance optimization,we investigate the condition-based maintenance(CBM)optimization for gamma deteriorating systems under PBC.Considering the repairable single-component system subject to the gamma degradation process,this paper proposes a CBM optimization model to maximize the profit and improve system performance at a relatively low cost under PBC.In the proposed CBM model,the first inspection interval has been considered in order to reduce the inspection frequency and the cost rate.Then,a particle swarm algorithm(PSO)and related solution procedure are presented to solve the multiple decision variables in our proposed model.In the end,a numerical example is provided so as to demonstrate the superiority of the presented model.By comparing the proposed policy with the conventional ones,the superiority of our proposed policy is proved,which can bring more profits to providers and improve performance.Sensitivity analysis is conducted in order to research the effect of corrective maintenance cost and time required for corrective maintenance on optimization policy.A comparative study is given to illustrate the necessity of distinguishing the first inspection interval or not.

Pumping-induced Well Hydraulics and Groundwater Budget in a Leaky Aquifer System with Vertical Heterogeneity in Aquitard Hydraulic Properties

In groundwater hydrology,aquitard heterogeneity is often less considered compared to aquifers,despite its significant impact on groundwater hydraulics and groundwater resources evaluation.A semi-analytical solution is derived for pumping-induced well hydraulics and groundwater budget with consideration of vertical heterogeneity in aquitard hydraulic conductivity(K)and specific storage(S_(s)).The proposed new solution is innovative in its partitioning of the aquitard into multiple homogeneous sub-layers to enable consideration of various forms of vertically heterogeneous K or S_(s).Two scenarios of analytical investigations are explored:one is the presence of aquitard interlayers with distinct K or S_(s) values,a common field-scale occurrence;another is an exponentially depth-decaying aquitard S_(s),a regional-scale phenomenon supported by statistical analysis.Analytical investigations reveal that a low-K interlayer can significantly increase aquifer drawdown and enhance aquifer/aquitard depletion;a high-S_(s) interlayer can noticeably reduce aquifer drawdown and increase aquitard depletion.Locations of low-K or high-S_(s) interlayers also significantly impact well hydraulics and groundwater budget.In the context of an exponentially depth-decaying aquitard S_(s),a larger decay exponent can enhance aquifer drawdown.When using current models with a vertically homogeneous aquitard,half the sum of the geometric and harmonic means of exponentially depth-decaying aquitard S_(s) should be used to calculate aquitard depletion and unconfined aquifer leakage.

Optimization Analysis of Comprehensive Budget Management from the Perspective of Digital Restructuring:Taking a Water Company as an Example

This article takes water enterprises as the research object,exploring the organic combination of comprehensive budget management under the trend of digitalization and digital technology in the new era,as well as the process of management system reform.Introduce the current status of its budget management work,comprehensively analyze the architecture and operation mode of the current comprehensive budget management system of water enterprises,and evaluate and analyze the overall situation and shortcomings of its budget management system based on financial data such as budget formulation and execution.From the perspective of digital restructuring and upgrading of comprehensive budget management work,corresponding countermeasures are proposed to make up for the shortcomings and suggestions for the future development of the enterprise’s comprehensive budget.

Discussion on Construction Project Cost Budget Settlement Review

Construction project cost control involves many complex contents,forming a large amount of data information.If the processing method is unreasonable,it will likely affect the cost control efficiency.Therefore,in the current construction project management,the review of project cost budget settlement is the focus to solve the cost management problems of construction projects and promote the development of the construction industry.This article mainly analyzes the influencing factors and current situation of construction project cost budget settlement review,and based on this,it explores the project cost budget settlement review strategy to promote the healthy development of construction project cost work.

Link Budget and Enhanced Communication Distance for Ambient Internet of Things

Backscatter communications will play an important role in connecting everything for beyond 5G(B5G)and 6G systems.One open challenge for backscatter communications is that the signals suffer a round-trip path loss so that the communication distance is short.In this paper,we first calculate the communication distance upper bounds for both uplink and downlink by measuring the tag sensitivity and reflection coefficient.It is found that the activation voltage of the envelope detection diode of the downlink tag is the main factor limiting the back-scatter communication distance.Based on this analysis,we then propose to implement a low-noise amplifier(LNA)module before the envelope detection at the tag to enhance the incident signal strength.Our experimental results on the hardware platform show that our method can increase the downlink communication range by nearly 20 m.

Analysis of Hospital Budget Management Control Based on Smart Hospital

Hospitals are crucial healthcare facilities where patients seek treatment,and effective budget management within hospitals significantly impacts their operational efficiency and financial performance.In the age of information technology and advanced healthcare solutions,the emergence of smart hospitals represents a new trend in the medical industry’s evolution.Leveraging modern information technology can enhance the development of hospital IT systems and drive budget management toward greater intelligence.This paper begins by analyzing the influence of smart hospitals on hospital budget control.It then examines the current state of budget management control within smart hospitals.Finally,it proposes several strategies for budget management control in smart hospitals,aiming to provide guidance for relevant stakeholders.

Performance-based methodology for assessing seismic vulnerability and capacity of buildings

This paper presents a performance-based methodology for the assessment of seismic vulnerability and capacity of buildings. The vulnerability assessment methodology is based on the HAZUS methodology and the improved capacity- demand-diagram method. The spectral displacement (Sd) of performance points on a capacity curve is used to estimate the damage level of a building. The relationship between Sd and peak ground acceleration (PGA) is established, and then a new vulnerability function is expressed in terms of PGA. Furthermore, the expected value of the seismic capacity index (SCev) is provided to estimate the seismic capacity of buildings based on the probability distribution of damage levels and the corresponding seismic capacity index. The results indicate that the proposed vulnerability methodology is able to assess seismic damage of a large number of building stock directly and quickly following an earthquake. The SCev provides an effective index to measure the seismic capacity of buildings and illustrate the relationship between the seismic capacity of buildings and seismic action. The estimated result is compared with damage surveys of the cities of Dujiangyan and Jiangyou in the M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, revealing that the methodology is acceptable for seismic risk assessment and decision making. The primary reasons for discrepancies between the estimated results and the damage surveys are discussed.

Performance-based seismic design of nonstructural building components:The next frontier of earthquake engineering

With the development and implementation of performance-based earthquake engineering,harmonization of performance levels between structural and nonstructural components becomes vital. Even if the structural components of a building achieve a continuous or immediate occupancy performance level after a seismic event,failure of architectural,mechanical or electrical components can lower the performance level of the entire building system. This reduction in performance caused by the vulnerability of nonstructural components has been observed during recent earthquakes worldwide. Moreover,nonstructural damage has limited the functionality of critical facilities,such as hospitals,following major seismic events. The investment in nonstructural components and building contents is far greater than that of structural components and framing. Therefore,it is not surprising that in many past earthquakes,losses from damage to nonstructural components have exceeded losses from structural damage. Furthermore,the failure of nonstructural components can become a safety hazard or can hamper the safe movement of occupants evacuating buildings,or of rescue workers entering buildings. In comparison to structural components and systems,there is relatively limited information on the seismic design of nonstructural components. Basic research work in this area has been sparse,and the available codes and guidelines are usually,for the most part,based on past experiences,engineering judgment and intuition,rather than on objective experimental and analytical results. Often,design engineers are forced to start almost from square one after each earthquake event: to observe what went wrong and to try to prevent repetitions. This is a consequence of the empirical nature of current seismic regulations and guidelines for nonstructural components. This review paper summarizes current knowledge on the seismic design and analysis of nonstructural building components,identifying major knowledge gaps that will need to be filled by future research. Furthermore,considering recent trends in earthquake engineering,the paper explores how performance-based seismic design might be conceived for nonstructural components,drawing on recent developments made in the field of seismic design and hinting at the specific considerations required for nonstructural components.

Local communities' participation in decision-making processes through planning and budgeting in African countries

Community participation and community based management are topical themes in current policy and discussion revolving around decision-making processes especially those dealing with natural resources management.This review shows that while governments have accepted the need to either cede or devolve control and management of natural resources to the local communities,the communities are not part and parcel of the planning and budgeting which are crucial in decisionmaking.Communities were seen to be more involved in the implementation of natural resource management programs but lacked ownership of the projects.This causes lack of commitment to the programs and at times hostile reaction from the communities.The communities are always at the receiving end when it pertains to losses in the exchange.Community participation was shown to be effective when the local population is involved not as co-operating users but as natural resource managers or owner managers.

A case study of performance-based pavement maintenance and rehabilitation needs assessment in Pennsylvania

This paper presents the theory,method,and application of performance-based pavement needs assessment at a state level,using the Pennsylvania Interstate System as an example.First,a general framework is presented for the pavement asset management and a general optimization model is established for the pavement maintenance and rehabilitation needs assessment.Also,the bundling of pavement segments for the project implementation is discussed.Using the examples of Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan and Long Range Transportation Plan for Pennsylvania Interstate System,the application of performance-based pavement needs assessment is demonstrated.It is shown that unconstrained analysis can help decision-makers investigate the real maintenance and rehabilitation needs;financially-constrained analysis can help decision-makers select projects for implementation and examine the corresponding future pavement conditions.Trade-off analysis can help decision-makers investigate the outcomes of different investment levels on pavement maintenance and rehabilitation and make the final decision on the investment level.The proposed case study provides a good example of performance-based pavement needs assessment for developing countries.

The Flemish Performance-based Research Funding System: A Unique Variant of the Norwegian Model

The BOF-key is the performance-based research funding system that is used in Flanders, Belgium. In this paper we describe the historical background of the system, its current design and organization, as well as its effects on the Flemish higher education landscape. The BOFkey in its current form relies on three bibliometric parameters: publications in Web of Science, citations in Web of Science, and publications in a comprehensive regional database for SSH publications. Taken together, the BOF-key forms a unique variant of the Norwegian model: while the system to a large extent relies on a commercial database, it avoids the problem of inadequate coverage of the SSH. Because the bibliometric parameters of the BOF-key are reused in other funding allocation schemes, their overall importance to the Flemish universities is substantial.

Optimization for performance-based design under seismic demands, including social costs

Performance-based design in earthquake engineering is a structural optimization problem that has, as the objective, the determination of design parameters for the minimization of total costs, while at the same time satisfying minimum reliability levels for the specifi ed performance criteria. Total costs include those for construction and structural damage repairs, those associated with non-structural components and the social costs of economic losses, injuries and fatalities. This paper presents a general framework to approach this problem, using a numerical optimization strategy and incorporating the use of neural networks for the evaluation of dynamic responses and the reliability levels achieved for a given set of design parameters. The strategy is applied to an example of a three-story offi ce building. The results show the importance of considering the social costs, and the optimum failure probabilities when minimum reliability constraints are not taken into account.

Redesigning the Model of Book Evaluation in the Polish Performance-based Research Funding System

Purpose: This study aims to present the key systemic changes in the Polish book evaluation model to focus on the publisher list, as inspired by the Norwegian Model. Design/methodology/approach: In this study we reconstruct the framework of the 2010 and 2018 models of book evaluation in Poland within the performance-based research funding system. Findings: For almost 20 years the book evaluation system in Poland has been based on the verification of various technical criteria(e.g. length of the book). The new 2018 model is based on the principle of prestige inheritance(a book is worth as much as its publisher is) and is inspired by the publisher list used in the Norwegian Model. In this paper, we argue that this solution may be a more balanced policy instrument than the previous 2010 model in which neither the quality of the publisher nor the quality of the book played any role in the evaluation.Research limitations: We work from the framework of the 2018 model of book evaluation specified in the law on higher education and science from 20 July 2018, as implementation acts are not available yet. Practical implications: This study may provide a valuable point of reference on how structural reforms in the research evaluation model were implemented on a country level. The results of this study may be interesting to policy makers, stakeholders and researchers focused on science policy. Originality/value: This is the very first study that presents the new framework of the Polish research evaluation model and policy instruments for scholarly book evaluation. We describe what motivated policy makers to change the book evaluation model, and what arguments were explicitly raised to argue for the new solution.

Performance-based seismic financial risk assessment of reinforced concrete frame structures

Engineering facilities subjected to natural hazards(such as winds and earthquakes) will result in risk when any designed system(i.e.capacity) will not be able to meet the performance required(i.e.demand).Risk might be expressed either as a likelihood of damage or potential financial loss.Engineers tend to make use of the former(i.e.damage).Nevertheless,other non-technical stakeholders cannot get useful information from damage.However,if financial risk is expressed on the basis of probable monetary loss,it will be easily understood by all.Therefore,it is necessary to develop methodologies which communicate the system capacity and demand to financial risk,Incremental dynamic analysis(IDA) was applied in a performance-based earthquake engineering context to do hazard analysis,structural analysis,damage analysis and loss analysis of a reinforced concrete(RC) frame structure.And the financial implications of risk were expressed by expected annual loss(EAL).The quantitative risk analysis proposed is applicable to any engineering facilities and any natural hazards.It is shown that the results from the IDA can be used to assess the overall financial risk exposure to earthquake hazard for a given constructed facility.The computational IDA-EAL method will enable engineers to take into account the long-term financial implications in addition to the construction cost.Consequently,it will help stakeholders make decisions.

Household behavior in practicing mental budgeting based on the theory of planned behavior

Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior(TPB)suggests that planned behavior is determined by behavioral intention.Despite extensive literature based on TPB,household mental budgeting behavior explained by TPB is underexplored.The current study empirically tested TPB factors in light of mental budgeting behavior.The hypothesized model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling(PLS-SEM).PLS-SEM was employed using a Likert-scaled questionnaire administered to 275 households.The results indicate that mental budgeting attitude and mental budgeting past behavior strongly predict mental budgeting intention,and mental budgeting intention predicts mental budgeting behavior.Further,mental budgeting intention partially mediates the relationship between mental budgeting attitude and mental budgeting behavior,and mental budgeting past behavior and mental budgeting behavior.This study contributes to the academic interest in theoretical progress in household behavior.

Performance-based global reliability assessment of a high-rise frame-core tube structure subjected to multi-dimensional stochastic earthquakes

When evaluating the seismic safety and reliability of complex engineering structures,it is a critical problem to reasonably consider the randomness and multi-dimensional nature of ground motions.To this end,a proposed modeling strategy of multi-dimensional stochastic earthquakes is addressed in this study.This improved seismic model has several merits that enable it to better provide seismic analyses of structures.Specifically,at first,the ground motion model is compatible with the design response spectrum.Secondly,the evolutionary power spectrum involved in the model and the design response spectrum are constructed accordingly with sufficient consideration of the correlation between different seismic components.Thirdly,the random function-based dimension-reduction representation is applied,by which seismic modeling is established,with three elementary random variables.Numerical simulations of multi-dimensional stochastic ground motions in a specific design scenario indicate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling strategy.Moreover,the multi-dimensional seismic response and the global reliability of a high-rise frame-core tube structure is discussed in detail to further illustrate the engineering applicability of the proposed method.The analytical investigations demonstrate that the suggested stochastic model of multi-dimensional ground motion is available for accurate seismic response analysis and dynamic reliability assessment of complex engineering structures for performance-based seismic resistance design.

Performance-based concept on seismic evaluation of existing bridges

Conventional seismic evaluation of existing bridges explores the ability of a bridge to survive under significant earthquake excitations. This approach has several major drawbacks, such as only a single structural performance of near collapse is considered, and the simplified approach of adopting strength-based concept to indirectly estimate the nonlinear behavior of a structure lacks accuracy. As a result, performance-based concepts that include a wider variety of structural performance states of a given bridge excited by different levels of earthquake intensity is needed by the engineering community. This paper introduces an improved process for the seismic evaluation of existing bridges. The relationship between the overall structural performance and earthquakes with varying levels of peak ground acceleration （PGA） can successfully be linked. A universal perspective on the seismic evaluation of bridges over their entire life-cycle can be easily obtained to investigate multiple performance objectives. The accuracy of the proposed method, based on pushover analysis, is proven in a case study that compares the results from the proposed procedure with additional nonlinear time history analyses.

Peak displacement patterns for the performance-based seismic design of steel eccentrically braced frames

Performance-based seismic design(PBSD) aims to assess structures at different damage states. Since damage can be directly associated to displacements, seismic design with consideration of displacement seems to be logical. In this study, simple formulae to estimate the peak floor displacement patterns of eccentrically braced frames(EBFs) at different performance levels subjected to earthquake ground motions are proposed. These formulae are applicable in a PBSD and especially in direct displacement-based design(DDBD). Parametric study is conducted on a group of 30 EBFs under a set of 15 far field and near field accelerograms which they scaled to different amplitudes to adapt various performance levels. The results of thousands of nonlinear dynamic analyses of EBFs have been post-processed by nonlinear regression analysis in order to recognize the major parameters that influence the peak displacement pattern of these frames. Results show that suggested displacement patterns have relatively good agreement with those acquired by an exact nonlinear dynamic analysis.

A Novel Approach for Groundwater Budgeting Using GIS in a Part of Pondicherry Region, India

The over extraction of groundwater from the coastal aquifers, result in reduction of groundwater resource and lowering of water level. In general, the depletion of groundwater level enhances the landward migration of saltwater wedge. Pondicherry is one such region with recent alluvium as the major formation. Since the study area forms a part of the coastal aquifer system this behaves as a fragile ecosystem. The present study has been attempted to calculate the extraction of water and to estimate the amount of recharge into this alluvial aquifer by using groundwater level variations. The monthly water level fluctuation was observed during the study period (2000-2002) in eighteen locations. The maximum rise in groundwater level observed during 2000 was considered as the initial water level for the study and the subsequent decline in water level (draw down) was monitored monthly until the rising trend was noted. This indicates the fall in water level due to extraction. Later keeping the deepest draw down as the initial value increasing water level trend was studied until there was a notice of decline in groundwater level. This indicates as the rise in water level due to recharge. This method of observation carried out at a single location was adopted for all eighteen locations. The spatial representation of these data for eighteen locations were carried out by using GIS and the area occupied by different groundwater level contours were calculated and the amount of water withdrawn/re- charged was estimated. The maximum recharge was noted in the central and the northern part of the study area when compared to the other regions. Similarly, the maximum discharge was noted in the northern and the southern part of the study area during the study period.