Contech (Canada)

Integration of BIM and Automation in High-Rise Building Construction R. Heikkilä, M. Malaska, P. Törmänen, C. Keyack Pages 1171-1176 (2013 Proceedings of the 30th ISARC, Montréal, Canada, ISBN 978-1-62993-294-1, ISSN 2413-5844) Abstract: In this paper the utilisation of building information models (BIM) and construction automation on building sites is discussed. A lot of research has been carried out to develop new applications for using BIM to assist construction site planning, different operations and logistics. The methods of production control and management on site utilize BIM together with machine control and navigation systems. In Finland machine control systems and the automation of construction equipment is widely used in infrastructure construction. Recently similar methods have been introduced also in building construction. This paper describes some latest Finnish examples where BIM-software is used for the planning, execution and control of building construction operations. University of Oulu has studied methods and technologies to capitalize BIM-models. The research has been mainly in infrastructure construction but the activities have recently been extended to building construction. In this paper a BIM-based tower crane operation and control system is discussed as a case study. The aim of this study was to highlight the potential areas were automation can increase the crane productivity and improve site operations and logistics. The construction site managers and tower crane operators interviewed in this study were experienced in using BIM-models on site. Keywords: BIM, construction automation, robotics, tower crane, crane control DOI: https://doi.org/10.22260/ISARC2013/0129 Download fulltext Download BibTex Download Endnote (RIS) TeX Import to Mendeley

We evaluated a year-long treatment regime testing synthetic, 10-component, honey bee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), brood pheromone (SuperBoost; Contech Enterprises Inc., Delta, BC, Canada) on the productivity and vigor of package bee colonies in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Fifty-eight newlyestablished 1.3-kg (3-lb) colonies treated three times with SuperBoost at 5-wk intervals starting 30 April 2009 were compared with 52 untreated control colonies. Treated colonies produced 84.3% more honey than untreated control colonies. By 8 September 2009, SuperBoost-treated colonies had 35.4% more adults than untreated colonies. By 28 September, net survival of treated and control colonies was 72.4 and 67.3%, respectively. On 5 October, treated and control colonies were divided into two additional groups, making up four cohorts: SuperBoost-treated colonies treated again during fall and spring build-up feeding with pollen substitute diet (BeePro, Mann Lake Ltd., Hackensack, MN; TIT); controls that remained untreated throughout the year (CCC); colonies treated with SuperBoost in spring-summer 2009 but not treated thereafter (TCC); and original control colonies treated with SuperBoost during the fall and spring build-up feeding periods (CTT). There was no difference among cohorts in consumption of BeePro during fall feeding, but TTT colonies (including daughter colonies split off from parent colonies) consumed 50.8% more diet than CCC colonies during spring build-up feeding. By 21 April, the normalized percentages of the original number of colonies remaining (dead colonies partially offset by splits) were as follows: CCC, 31.4%; CTT, 43.8%; TCC, 53.59%; and TTT, 80.0%. The net benefit of placing 100 newly established package bee colonies on a year-long six-treatment regime with SuperBoost would be US$6,202 (US$62.02 per colony). We conclude that treatment with SuperBoost enhanced the productivity and survival of package bee colonies and hypothesize that similar results could be achieved with established colonies.

Abstract A choice feeding bioassay was used to investigate the effects of artificial diet components on the repellency of larval oral secretions from western spruce budworm, Choristoneura occidentalis Freeman, to conspecific larvae. Oral secretions from insects fed on agar supplemented with linseed oil were as repellent as secretions from insects fed on complete artificial diet. Secretions from insects fed on agar alone, agar and casein, or agar and wheat germ were not significantly more repellent than distilled water; neither was linseed oil alone. Linseed oil consists of glycerides of several fatty acids, which are likely metabolized quickly in the insect gut; repellency of oral secretions could be due to any of the related fatty acids or metabolites.

SummarySuperBoost® is a proprietary commercial product comprising the non-volatile 10-component honey bee brood pheromone, stabilized with an antioxidant, and delivered to a colony in a controlled release device. The pheromone (180 mg) is contained in a plastic pouch with a pheromone-permeable polyethylene release membrane and a pheromone-impermeable Mylar backing. The pouch is mounted in a solid plastic holder. A 12-replicate, 70-day, single-blind experiment was set up on 4 February 2009 at Abbotsford BC, Canada, to test the utility of SuperBoost for enhancing spring build-up of overwintered honey bee colonies. Colonies were randomly assigned as untreated controls or to be treated with freshly-loaded SuperBoost devices. Devices were replaced once (after 37 days). Supplementary pollen substitute (Bee Pro®) was fed to bees ad libitum. Measurements of BeePro consumption were made on nine occasions. On days 16 and 70 the area of brood comb and numbers of adult bees were determined. When colonies were divided (split), the numbers of daughter colonies were recorded. Two colonies treated with SuperBoost died during the experiment, as did one control colony. SuperBoost devices released 0.37 and 0.54 mg per day of pheromone over the two exposure periods, as determined gravimetrically. By Day 70, treated colonies had consumed 50% more BeePro than control colonies. Treated colonies had significantly more brood comb area (2.4 times) and adults (2.0 times) than control colonies. By day 96, six of the 10 surviving SuperBoost treated colonies had produced nine daughter colonies, a significantly higher proportion than the two of 11 control colonies, which produced four splits. We suggest that SuperBoost has substantial potential for enhancing the spring build-up of overwintered colonies.

In spite of intensive research on plant natural products and insect-plant chemical interactions over the past three decades, only two new types of botanical insecticides have been commercialized with any success in the past 15 years, those based on neem seed extracts (azadirachtin), and those based on plant essential oils. Certain plant essential oils, obtained through steam distillation and rich in mono- and sesquiterpenes and related phenols, are widely used in the flavouring and fragrance industries and in aromatherapy. Some aromatic plants have traditionally been used for stored product protection, but the potential for development of pesticides from plant essential oils for use in a wide range of pest management applications has only recently been realized. Many plant essential oils and their major terpenoid constituents are neurotoxic to insects and mites and behaviourally active at sublethal concentrations. Most plant essential oils are complex mixtures. In our laboratory we have demonstrated that individual constituents of oils rarely account for a major share of the respective oil’s toxicity. Further, our results suggest synergy among constituents, including among those that appear non-toxic in isolation. Repellent effects may be particularly useful in applications against public health and domestic pests, but may be useful in specific agricultural applications as well. In all of these applications, there is a premium on human and animal safety that takes priority over absolute efficacy. In agriculture, the main market niche for essential oil-based pesticides is in organic food production, at least in developed countries, where there are fewer competing pest management products. There is also scope for mixing these oils with conventional insecticides and for enhancing their efficacy with natural synergists. Some examples of field efficacy against agricultural pests are discussed.

The superiority of the host monoterpene myrcene as a synergist for trans-verbenol and exo-brevicomin, aggregation pheromone components of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), suggests that the ancestral host of the mountain pine beetle is a pine rich in myrcene. A field trapping experiment in British Columbia testing reconstituted bole oleoresin of whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis Engelmann, composed of mainly myrcene (20.7%), terpinolene (6.8%), and 3-carene (61.9%) showed it to be a better pheromone synergist than reconstituted bole oleoresin of lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta variety latifolia Engelmann, which contained only 2.7, 1.0, and 6.0%, respectively, of the above-mentioned three compounds. In the same experiment myrcene alone was the best synergist. In subsequent experiments, testing myrcene, terpinolene and 3-carene alone and in all possible binary and ternary combinations, a 50:50 blend of myrcene and terpinolene released at the same rate as either compound alone generally resulted in trap catches approximately 3 times higher than with myrcene as a synergist. This result held as long as the terpinolene was free of contaminants, and the traps were in the open, well away from potential interference of semiochemicals emitted by newly attacked trees. 3-Carene seemed to be inert or slightly inhibitory. No single monoterpene tested alone or in binary or ternary combination in the absence of pheromones was attractive. There was no effect of doubling or tripling the release rate of myrcene or terpinolene. In five of nine experiments, adding terpinolene to myrcene caused a significant increase in the percentage of female mountain pine beetles captured. Among host pines, the presence of highly synergistic monoterpenes at various levels in combination with other monoterpenes that are apparently either inert or inhibitory could account for different degrees of pheromone synergism, and thus host preference. The highly synergistic effect of combining myrcene plus terpinolene with the mountain pine beetle aggregation pheromone components opens up the potential for suppression of populations through semiochemical-based mass trapping.

A novel process named Controlled Diffusion Solidification (CDS) has been developed to circumvent problems that are typically associated with casting wrought aluminum alloy compositions into near net shaped components. The process involves bringing two precursor alloys of precisely controlled composition, temperature, and quantity into intimate contact, and then casting the resultant alloy using a conventional casting process to yield a component of predetermined composition with a microstructure that is similar to that of semi-solid processed alloys. Describing the many interactions that occur during solidification of aluminum alloys in a consistent manner is virtually impossible without the use of computational tools that are based on thermodynamic models. In this paper, we describe how the CALPHAD method, which allows calculating all the necessary data from thermodynamic model parameters, was used along with theoretical calculations and empirical rules to allow describing the Gibbs free energy of each phase in the alloy system and yield quantitative data that guided the development and optimization of the CDS method.