Characterization of Group Behavior of Corruption in Construction Projects Based on Contagion Mechanism.

With the rapid development of construction projects, more and more engineering corruption problems have emerged. Therefore, this paper proposes a SEIR (susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered) based corruption model to better understand the propagation process of corruption cases in construction projects. In this model, the data samples are collected from the 2018 Engineering Corruption Case Judgment Document, the propagation parameters are obtained through actual case analysis with the help of complex networks, the change process and key influencing factors of actual nodes in engineering corruption cases are simulated by Python. The study results indicate that the personnel conforms to the "4-9 transmission law," in which the early stage is a period of high incidence of corruption cases. The network of corruption cases is somewhat vulnerable, and its spread is about minus 8 times the change in crackdown rate and 10 times the change in infection rate. The variation range of the susceptible population S and the removed person R in the propagation simulation curve can predict the relationship between corruption infection rate and crackdown rate, which can provide theoretical guidance for preventing the occurrence of corruption.

Study on overburden failure law and surrounding rock deformation control technology of mining through fault.

In the mining process of working face, the additional stress generated by the fault changes the law of roadway deformation and failure as well as the law of overburden failure. Aiming at the influence of the fault in the mining process of working face, this study introduced the geological strength index (GSI) to analyze the stress distribution in the elastic-plastic zone of the surrounding rock of the roadway. And similar experiments under different engineering backgrounds were combined to study the characteristics of overburden movement and stress evolution. Based on the conclusions obtained, the roadway support scheme was designed. This study shows that, compared with ordinary mining, through-the-fault mining causes slippage and dislocation of the fault, the load of the overburden is transferred to both sides of the fault, and the stress near the fault accumulates abnormally. The "three zones" characteristics of the overburden movement disappear, the subsidence pattern is changed from "trapezoid" to "inverted triangle", and the influence distance of the advanced mining stress on the working face is extended from 20m to 30m. The instability range of roadway surrounding rock is exponentially correlated with the rupture degree of the surrounding rock. Through the introduction of GSI, the critical instability range of roadway surrounding rock is deduced to be 2.32m. According to the conclusion, the bolt length and roadway reinforced support length are redesigned. Engineering application shows that the deformation rate of the roadway within 60 days is controlled below 0.1~0.5mm/d, the deformation amount is controlled within 150mm, and the roadway deformation is controlled, which generally meets the requirements of use. The research results provide guidance and reference for similar roadway support.

A multi-year science research or engineering experience in high school gives women confidence to continue in the STEM pipeline or seek advancement in other fields: A 20-year longitudinal study.

There remains a large gender imbalance in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce deriving from a leaky pipeline where women start losing interest and confidence in science and engineering as early as primary school. To address this disparity, the Science Research & Engineering Program (SREP) at Hathaway Brown School was established in 1998 to engage and expose their all-female high school students to STEM fields through an internship-like multi-year research experience at partnering institutions. We compare data from existing Hathaway Brown School SREP alumnae records from 1998-2018 (n = 495) to Non-SREP students and national datasets (National Center for Educational Statistics, National Science Foundation, and US Census data) to assess how SREP participation may influence persistence in the STEM pipeline and whether SREP alumnae attribute differences in these outcomes to the confidence and skill sets they learned from the SREP experience. The results reveal that women who participate in the SREP are more likely to pursue a major in a STEM field and continue on to a STEM occupation compared to non-SREP students, national female averages, and national subsets. Participants attribute their outcomes to an increase in confidence, establishment of technical and professional skills, and other traits strengthened through the SREP experience. These data suggest that implementing similar experiential programs for women in science and engineering at the high school stage could be a promising way to combat the remaining gender gap in STEM fields.

A new stress field intensity model and its application in component high cycle fatigue research.

Fatigue limit load is one of the most important and concerned factors in designing and manufacturing critical mechanical parts such as the crankshafts. Usually, this governing parameter is obtained by experiment, which is expensive, time-consuming and only feasible in analyzing the case of simple structure. Still, there's a big obstacle to clear to get the fatigue limit load of a sophisticated structure effectively and efficiently. This paper applied the stress field intensity theory to make quick component fatigue limit load predictions. First, the field diameter of a given crankshaft was determined based on its limit stress state and a stress distribution fitting approach. Then, this parameter was used to predict the high-cycle bending fatigue limit load of a new crankshaft composed of the same material. Finally, a corresponding experimental verification was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of the predictions. The results indicated that the original stress field intensity model may not be suitable due to the errors in the predictions, which can be attributed to the structural features. The new model proposed in this paper can provide higher accuracy in quick fatigue load prediction, making it superior to the traditional model in engineering application.

Sex and gender analysis improves science and engineering.

The goal of sex and gender analysis is to promote rigorous, reproducible and responsible science. Incorporating sex and gender analysis into experimental design has enabled advancements across many disciplines, such as improved treatment of heart disease and insights into the societal impact of algorithmic bias. Here we discuss the potential for sex and gender analysis to foster scientific discovery, improve experimental efficiency and enable social equality. We provide a roadmap for sex and gender analysis across scientific disciplines and call on researchers, funding agencies, peer-reviewed journals and universities to coordinate efforts to implement robust methods of sex and gender analysis.

Temporal Limits on What Engineers Can Plan.

My question is: How far into the future is it possible for engineers as such to plan? For example, the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository was to have been designed to store nuclear waste safely for between ten thousand and one million years. Is that the sort of planning engineers as such can do? The planning engineers do would not be philosophically interesting were it not in general so often successful, much more successful than the gambles of ordinary life. So, how is such planning possible-and what are its limits. Is one million years beyond the limits of what engineers, as such, can plan? Is a thousand years? Is a hundred years? Is there an nth generation for what engineers can plan? The answer I consider here is that engineers can plan only as far into the future as they can reasonably expect engineers to be present. That is only a few generations at most.

Computational modeling of fatigue crack propagation in butt welded joints subjected to axial load.

This article addresses the study of crack behavior elicited on axial fatigue in specimens joined by butt weld made of steel ASTM A36 by using fracture mechanics and simulation software of finite elements (Ansys APDL, Franc3D). The computational model was initially to define the geometry model by using CAD software. Specimens with Weld Reinforcement of 2 mm and 3mm were simulated. Subsequently, the type of element for the mesh, the information inclusion concerning material mechanical properties and load conditions were selected. By using Franc3D software, the crack propagation phenomenon is analyzed, and its growth parameters have been established. In this way, it is possible to calculate the magnitude of stress intensity factor (SIF) along the crack front. It is concluded that the stress located in the weld toe is maximized proportionately to the size of the weld reinforcement due to the concentration effect of geometric stress. In addition, it is observed that the propagation rate obtained from Paris law has a similar behavior for the studied weld reinforcements; the latter as there were short cracks.

Engineering judgment and road safety.

Decisions that highway and traffic engineers make significantly affect the safety of road users. The documents that guide highway and traffic engineering practice suggest that many of these decisions be made by 'engineering judgment'. One would like this judgment to be informed by evidence-based anticipation of their likely safety consequences and by a professional ability to balance safety against mobility and other dimensions of 'utility'. I show that these desiderata are largely unfulfilled. The many implications of this finding are discussed.

Benchmarking of several material constitutive models for tribology, wear, and other mechanical deformation simulations of Ti6Al4V.

Use of an alpha-beta (multiphase HCP-BCC) titanium alloy, Ti6Al4V, is ubiquitous in a wide range of engineering applications. The previous decade of finite element analysis research on various titanium alloys for numerous biomedical applications especially in the field of orthopedics has led to the development of more than half a dozen material constitutive models, with no comparison available between them. Part of this problem stems from the complexity of developing a vectorised user-defined material subroutine (VUMAT) and the different conditions (strain rate, temperature and composition of material) in which these models are experimentally informed. This paper examines the extant literature to review these models and provides quantitative benchmarking against the tabulated material model and a power law model of Ti6Al4V taking the test case of a uniaxial tensile and cutting simulation.

Safety, security, and serviceability in road engineering.

Road engineers have special responsibilities to design and maintain roads that are safe, secure, and serviceable. This paper explores some of the challenges such responsibilities pose, especially from the vantage point of non-engineers whose lives are deeply affected by the work of road engineers. It also supports the thesis that road engineers need to be prepared to consult and work with professionals in other fields than engineering in order to fulfill their responsibilities well.

Multi-institutional study of GRE scores as predictors of STEM PhD degree completion: GRE gets a low mark.

The process of selecting students likely to complete science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) doctoral programs has not changed greatly over the last few decades and still relies heavily on Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores in most U.S. universities. It has been long debated whether the GRE is an appropriate selection tool and whether overreliance on GRE scores may compromise admission of students historically underrepresented in STEM. Despite many concerns about the test, there are few studies examining the efficacy of the GRE in predicting PhD completion and even fewer examining this question in STEM fields. For the present study, we took advantage of a long-lived collaboration among institutions in the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) to gather comparable data on GRE scores and PhD completion for 1805 U.S./Permanent Resident STEM doctoral students in four state flagship institutions. We found that GRE Verbal (GRE V) and GRE Quantitative (GRE Q) scores were similar for women who completed STEM PhD degrees and those who left programs. Remarkably, GRE scores were significantly higher for men who left than counterparts who completed STEM PhD degrees. In fact, men in the lower quartiles of GRE V or Q scores finished degrees more often than those in the highest quartile. This pattern held for each of the four institutions in the study and for the cohort of male engineering students across institutions. GRE scores also failed to predict time to degree or to identify students who would leave during the first year of their programs. Our results suggests that GRE scores are not an effective tool for identifying students who will be successful in completing STEM doctoral programs. Considering the high cost of attrition from PhD programs and its impact on future leadership for the U.S. STEM workforce, we suggest that it is time to develop more effective and inclusive admissions strategies.

Comparative study of resilience engineering in solid waste treatment plants: A case study in two European cities.

BACKGROUND: Municipal solid waste treatment plants are industrial facilities with important occupational health and safety issues. Hence, a risk assessment system would be very useful to help workers to cope successfully with complexity when they are under pressure situations, such as loss of control or failures of the system safety. In recent years, Resilience Engineering has come up as a new proactive approach to improve and keep safety the complex systems. To evaluate Resilience Engineering the methods at our disposal are mostly qualitative, which are complex and difficult to compare due to their external validity. OBJECTIVE: The present research proposes a method for the quantitative assessment of Resilience Engineering in the municipal solid waste treatment sector. METHODS: The study was carried out as part of an EU SAFERA project in two European cities. The data were obtained from a survey of a sample of 328 workers of treatment plants. RESULTS: The results indicated that priority must be given to improving top-level commitment, culture, preparedness and learning culture, while awareness and opacity emerges as positive results. Significant differences can be seen in the Resilience Engineering evaluation for different posts. CONCLUSION: These findings allow practitioners and management with a view to implementing appropriate corrective measures to achieve high Resilience Engineering in the plant.

Risk Analysis of Earth-Rock Dam Failures Based on Fuzzy Event Tree Method.

Earth-rock dams make up a large proportion of the dams in China, and their failures can induce great risks. In this paper, the risks associated with earth-rock dam failure are analyzed from two aspects: the probability of a dam failure and the resulting life loss. An event tree analysis method based on fuzzy set theory is proposed to calculate the dam failure probability. The life loss associated with dam failure is summarized and refined to be suitable for Chinese dams from previous studies. The proposed method and model are applied to one reservoir dam in Jiangxi province. Both engineering and non-engineering measures are proposed to reduce the risk. The risk analysis of the dam failure has essential significance for reducing dam failure probability and improving dam risk management level.

A Pragmatic Approach to Ethical Decision-Making in Engineering Practice: Characteristics, Evaluation Criteria, and Implications for Instruction and Assessment.

This paper begins by reviewing dominant themes in current teaching of professional ethics in engineering education. In contrast to more traditional approaches that simulate ethical practice by using ethical theories to reason through micro-level ethical dilemmas, this paper proposes a pragmatic approach to ethics that places more emphasis on the practical plausibility of ethical decision-making. In addition to the quality of ethical justification, the value of a moral action also depends on its effectiveness in solving an ethical dilemma, cultivating healthy working relationships, negotiating existing organizational cultures, and achieving contextual plausibility in everyday professional practice. This paper uses a cross-cultural ethics scenario to further elaborate how a pragmatic approach can help us rethink ethical reasoning, as well as ethics instruction and assessment. This paper is expected to be of interest to educators eager to improve the ability of engineers and other professional students to effectively and appropriately deal with the kinds of everyday ethical issues they will likely face in their careers.

Proposing an Evidence-Based Strategy for Software Requirements Engineering.

This paper discusses an evidence-based approach to software requirements engineering. The approach is called evidence-based, since it uses publications on the specific problem as a surrogate for stakeholder interests, to formulate risks and testing experiences. This complements the idea that agile software development models are more relevant, in which requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams. The strategy is exemplified and applied to the development of a Software Requirements list used to develop software systems for patient registries.

Structural integrity of engineering composite materials: a cracking good yarn.

Predicting precisely where a crack will develop in a material under stress and exactly when in time catastrophic fracture of the component will occur is one the oldest unsolved mysteries in the design and building of large-scale engineering structures. Where human life depends upon engineering ingenuity, the burden of testing to prove a 'fracture safe design' is immense. Fitness considerations for long-life implementation of large composite structures include understanding phenomena such as impact, fatigue, creep and stress corrosion cracking that affect reliability, life expectancy and durability of structure. Structural integrity analysis treats the design, the materials used, and figures out how best components and parts can be joined, and takes service duty into account. However, there are conflicting aims in the complete design process of designing simultaneously for high efficiency and safety assurance throughout an economically viable lifetime with an acceptable level of risk. This article is part of the themed issue 'Multiscale modelling of the structural integrity of composite materials'.

Professional Ethics of Software Engineers: An Ethical Framework.

The purpose of this article is to propose an ethical framework for software engineers that connects software developers' ethical responsibilities directly to their professional standards. The implementation of such an ethical framework can overcome the traditional dichotomy between professional skills and ethical skills, which plagues the engineering professions, by proposing an approach to the fundamental tasks of the practitioner, i.e., software development, in which the professional standards are intrinsically connected to the ethical responsibilities. In so doing, the ethical framework improves the practitioner's professionalism and ethics. We call this approach Ethical-Driven Software Development (EDSD), as an approach to software development. EDSD manifests the advantages of an ethical framework as an alternative to the all too familiar approach in professional ethics that advocates "stand-alone codes of ethics". We believe that one outcome of this synergy between professional and ethical skills is simply better engineers. Moreover, since there are often different software solutions, which the engineer can provide to an issue at stake, the ethical framework provides a guiding principle, within the process of software development, that helps the engineer evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different software solutions. It does not and cannot affect the end-product in and of-itself. However, it can and should, make the software engineer more conscious and aware of the ethical ramifications of certain engineering decisions within the process.