While economic and environmental aspects of civil engineering have attracted the greatest attention among contemporary academy, its social side has frequently been set aside. However, the social ...impact that infrastructures have is huge and its analysis and understanding are fundamental. At the same time, social aspects such as culture or human behaviour can have significant effects during the different stages of the lifecycle of infrastructures. Therefore, a better understanding of the connections between civil engineering and society can help to better adapt infrastructures to their contexts, as well as minimise their negative impacts; as a result, this understanding can bring about infrastructures that are more socially sustainable. The scarce studies that have assessed the connection between society and civil engineering have considered this relationship as unidirectional. The real scenario is not so simple. The analysis of this relationship needs to be interdisciplinary, and it is in this context that this paper addresses the analysis of infrastructures and of social sciences from a sociotechnical point of view. We draw on the interrelationships found to propose a conceptual framework with the main objective of providing both practitioners and academics with tools to carry out more sustainable and context-adapted decisions. We classify the fields of civil engineering and social sciences into several different subfields, namely six for infrastructures (transport, water, energy, environment, urban planning and buildings) and twelve for social sciences (culture and history, behaviour and mind, communication and interaction, socioeconomics, juridical sciences, life and health, politics, social problems, social groups, ethics and philosophy, arts and education and innovation). Afterwards, we review the existing literature at the intersection between the various categories. We conclude proposing a framework that can support decisions and actions made at different levels and working areas. The framework includes guidelines for a more holistic consideration of the interaction between infrastructures and society in key activities whereby an improved understanding of the effect of this relationship is often required. The guidelines provide a description of different key areas and can be applied to a wide variety of actions ranging from the development of university curricula to the social impact assessment of projects.
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•The dual relationship between civil engineering and social sciences is studied.•Politics and vulnerability are the most studied social areas in civil engineering.•Transport is the most studied civil engineering area from a social perspective.•Infrastructure projects should consider social aspects during all their lifecycles.•A framework and future research directions are proposed.
Inequality and its analysis have received increasing attention in the literature over the last decades, which has led to the development of a large number of inequality measurement methodologies. In ...the analysis of inequality, results rely heavily on the choice of a measurement methodology and, very often, different methodologies do not lead to the same rankings. Therefore, in the assessment of inequality, the choice of an appropriate measure is crucial. Important as this choice may be, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there exists no research on the development of a systematic and unified framework for the selection of an adequate inequality measure depending on the context. In consideration of the foregoing, this paper provides a framework with practical guidelines for researchers and practitioners to facilitate the task of choosing the most appropriate inequality measure for their specific needs. The proposed guidelines are based on seven main properties of inequality indexes and are preceded by a comprehensive review of the different methods developed so far, focusing specifically on the advantages and drawbacks of each. Besides, they are accompanied by an empirical application of the different methodologies reviewed in order to better illustrate the various properties of the different inequality measures.
Over the last few years, several policies and new technological solutions have targeted the construction sector with the aim of reducing the sector's impacts on the environment. Among the different ...technological advances proposed, the reuse of materials in construction has been reported as a promising solution for an increase in sustainability and circularity. In particular, a type of cities' undergrounds assets for which materials' reuse is being explored are trenches for protecting services (i.e., water and gas transport pipelines, and optic fibre and other telecommunications services). Nonetheless, the economic and environmental benefits and impact of this type of system is still insufficiently quantified. In this research study, the economic and environmental impacts of four scenarios of trenches were assessed by using Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The four alternatives analysed consisted of: (1) the classical solution; (2) the classical solution with the reuse of soil; (3) the control low-strength material, and (4) the eco-trench. The results allowed concluding that in the eco-trench system, for which all material is reused, the environmental and economic impacts could be reduced by more than 80% and 50%, respectively. A parametric study for which the dimensions of the trenches were varied, permitted to reinforce these results and to quantify the impact's change along with the width and depth of the trench. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive view of the high-impact potential of reusing material for the construction of trenches in cities. The outcomes allow also remarking that the eco-trench system could be an attractive and advantageous solution for urban infrastructure stakeholders, both from an economic and environmental perspective.
•Trenches following circular economy principles yield between 30 and 63% lower costs.•In general, the surface finish (e.g., milling) contributes the most to higher costs.•Circular trenches present lower impacts (up to 97,4% less) in all impact categories.•Material reuse and not using asphalt contributed the most to decrease impacts.
The first, and probably the most determining, decision that engineering teams need to make when facing the structural design of any infrastructure is the choice of both an appropriate material and ...the suitable structural typology for its components. Each component is required to satisfy technical and functional aspects imposed by standards and stakeholder. Currently, the aspects that are most frequently considered in decision-making processes are economic. Nevertheless, environmental and social criteria are also required if one aims at making sustainability-based decisions. In this regard, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, very few tools or studies exist that can support decision-makers. The few that do exist, are rather limited, either because they fail to incorporate many relevant factors in the sustainability assessment of a project or because they only evaluate environmental and social impacts of a project as a whole. Although a global assessment is useful to gain a holistic understanding of impacts of a project and to compare them to other projects, it does not necessarily help engineering teams understand the impact of fundamental decisions made when designing individual structural components.
Therefore, the aim of the present research paper is to develop a new method for the sustainability analysis of building structural components which has been specifically oriented to beams and girders. This is done by means of the Integrated Value Model for the Evaluation of Sustainability method, which is known by its Spanish acronym, MIVES (Modelo Integrado de Valor para una Evaluación Sostenible). This method draws on multi-attribute utility theory and that allows building an integrated value model as an approach for multi-criteria decision-making. The developed model has been applied to assess the sustainability of different alternatives of beams and trusts to support the non-accessible roof of a sports hall in Vila-seca, Spain. Different material types and structural typologies are analysed. The findings show that the most sustainable alternatives are timber and reinforced concrete trusses, which are actually two options that are seldom used in practice.
•A model to evaluate the sustainability of structural elements is developed.•MIVES is proved to be an adequate sustainability assessment tool in these cases.•Girders and trusses made of timber, concrete and steel are analysed.•Timber and concrete trusses achieve the highest global sustainability indexes.
Apart from the importance of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) in and of themselves, the potential contribution that they can make to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is ...huge. Even though some STEM fields have already incorporated SSH elements in their research and education, there are still other disciplines that have not yet approach the intersection between them and SSH. Among these is civil engineering (CE), which has traditionally been set as purely technological and has lacked the inclusion of SSH elements in it. Nonetheless, it is indispensable that engineers have knowledge in SSH to allow them to make decisions more perceptively, realistically and critically. Ultimately, this social understanding can lead them to design and plan solutions that are more socially sustainable. However, there are still no clear guidelines on how to include aspects from social sciences and humanities at the higher education level. This article analyses perceptions, the real status and possible barriers for the incorporation of SSH in the studies of CE. Besides, it analyses and discusses the different methodologies in which engineering students can be introduced to these topics. A triangulation method that combined the use of qualitative and quantitative data was used. Surveys to students, researchers, professors and practitioners were carried out (n=583). Besides, accreditation criteria and CE syllabuses of 100 faculties were reviewed. The analyses showed a dissent between individual perceptions, collective reality and legislative frameworks. Even though the survey responses showed a common agreement concerning the inclusion of SSH, only a minority of CE schools have introduced SSH in their curricula. Besides, accrediting bodies have not yet introduced this as a specific requirement in their criteria. The barriers detected in the incorporation of SSH in CE curricula were: (1) resistance to change, (2) external influences on the curricula, (3) lack of guidelines, (4) misconceptions on what SSH in relation to CE involves. It is necessary to gradually incorporate both hard social skills and soft skills from the beginning of the degree courses and to do so in a transversal way in most of the subjects if professionals and researchers that are capable of designing socially sustainable activities are needed.
The central feature of the CMS Link alignment system is a network of Amorphous Silicon Position Detectors distributed throughout the muon spectrometer that are connected by multiple laser lines. The ...data collected during the years from 2008 to 2015 is presented confirming an outstanding performance of the photo sensors during more than seven years of operation. Details of the photo sensor readout of the laser signals are presented. The mechanical motions of the CMS detector are monitored using these photosensors and good agreement with distance sensors is obtained.
Currently, poverty and inequality are crucial social issues around the world. They demand objective evaluations with the purpose of defining policies and prioritizing actions. Most of the times the ...most important problem lies on the fact that individuals under poverty circumstances or belonging to vulnerable collectives cannot escape these conditions by themselves and need external assistance or interventions. Another added difficulty is that both poverty and inequality can be studied from different angles and require a multidimensional approach whose definition is not straightforward. There exists a vicious cycle defined by a collection of determinants or events that lead to a phenomenon in which various disadvantages work circularly so that it is impossible for individuals or households to break the cycle. In this context, setting the background in which these vicious cycles arise can be helpful in order to conduct in-depth studies as a first step to establishing possible solutions. Even though many researchers have proposed alternative schemes for the poverty's vicious circle, none has been introduced for inequality. In this contribution, a meaningful and integrated cycle is defined for inequality at two different levels: first of all, at an individual level; secondly, at a collective level in which a certain group is made vulnerable. This cycle includes similar parameter as those comprised in the poverty cycle such as income, access to education and access to healthcare. However, it additionally places emphasis on other aspects such as participation in politics and access to leadership positions. Besides, a conceptual and analytical framework is built, whose objective is to describe ways in which infrastructure, innovation and industry can help interrupt the continuation of the cycle. This model integrates a collection of different measures that is to be potentially helpful for policy makers. Additionally, the frame accounts for not only the fight of current existing cycles, but also of future generations ones, hence considering sustainability dimensions.
Magnet Cycles and Stability Periods of the CMS Experiment are studied with the Alignment Link System data recorded along the 2008–2013 years of operation. The motions of the mechanical structures due ...to the magnetic field forces are studied and the mechanical stability of the detector during the physics data taking periods is verified.
A study of the photo-response behaviour of carbon-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon photo-detectors over 2800h of continuous illumination with white light is presented. Both direct and inverse ...Staebler–Wronski effects are observed in the data.
Performance test of the CMS link alignment system Arce, P; Calvo, E; Figueroa, C.F ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
10/2002, Letnik:
492, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A first global test of the CMS Alignment System was performed at the I4 hall of the CERN ISR tunnel. Positions of the network, reproducing a set of points in the CMS detector monitored by the Link ...System, were reconstructed and compared to survey measurements. Spatial and angular reconstruction precisions reached in the present experimental set-up are already close to the CMS requirements.
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