Search Results (6)

The high incidence of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in the period of 2015–2016 in Brazil may have affected linear height growth velocity (GV) in children exposed in utero to ZIKV. This study describes the growth velocity and nutritional status based on the World Organization (WHO) standards of children exposed to ZIKV during pregnancy and followed up in a tertiary unit, a reference for tropical and infectious diseases in the Amazon. Seventy-one children born between March 2016 and June 2018 were monitored for anthropometric indices: z-score for body mass index (BMI/A); weight (W/A); height (H/A) and head circumference (HC/A); and growth velocity. The mean age at the last assessment was 21.1 months (SD ± 8.93). Four children had congenital microcephaly and severe neurological impairment. The other 67 were non-microcephalic children (60 normocephalic and 7 macrocephalic); of these; 24.2% (16 children) had neurological alterations, and 28.8% (19 children) had altered neuropsychomotor development. Seventeen (24.2%) children had inadequate GV (low growth velocity). The frequencies of low growth among microcephalic and non-microcephalic patients are 25% (1 of 4 children) and 23.9% (16 of 67 children); respectively. Most children had normal BMI/A values during follow-up. Microcephalic patients showed low H/A and HC/A throughout the follow-up, with a significant reduction in the HC/A z-score. Non-microcephalic individuals are within the regular ranges for H/A; HC/A; and W/A, except for the H/A score for boys. This study showed low growth velocity in children with and without microcephaly, highlighting the need for continuous evaluation of all children born to mothers exposed to ZIKV during pregnancy. Full article

Intervention projects for historical buildings depend on the quality of multidisciplinary data sets; their collection, structure, and semantics. Building information model (BIM) based workflows for historical buildings accumulate some of the data sets in a shared information model that contains the building’s geometry assemblies with associated attributes (such as material). A BIM model of any building can be a source of data for different engineering assessments, for example, solar and wind exposure and seismic vulnerability, but for historic buildings it is particularly important for interventions like conservation, rehabilitation, and improvements such as refurbishment and retrofitting. When the BIM model is abstracted to a semantic model, enabling the use of semantic technologies such as reasoning and querying, semantic links can be established to other historical contexts. The semantic technologies help historic building experts to aggregate data into meaningful form. Ontologies provide them with an accurate knowledge representation of the concepts, relationships, and rules related to the historic building. In the paper, we are proposing an improved workflow for the transformation of a heritage BIM model to a semantic model. In the BIM part the workflow demonstrates how the fully parametric modelling of historical building components is relevant, for example, in terms of reusability and adaptation to a different context. In the semantic model part, ontology reuse, reasoning, and querying mechanisms are applied to validate the usability of the proposed workflow. The presented work will improve knowledge-sharing and reuse among stakeholders involved in historic building projects. Full article

The duplication of semantic data modelled in different disciplines poses interoperability challenges. Information models that benefit from the application of standards that enable data reusability and prevent redundancy and misuse should be compatible, particularly when different systems are used in the same domain-specific area, as in the case of public transportation. Transportation information models, leading and providing reliable and robust public transport services, can nowadays be enriched with information found in building information models devoted to transportation infrastructure. Therefore, in the present paper, a mapping between the standards and technical specifications that support each modelling approach is explored, analysed, and aligned to maximise the best out of the current common practices used. The information from the Industry Foundation Classes IFC specification-based models complements the conceptual and physical transportation models, where Transmodel and NeTEx are well-established, with accurate (as-built) detailed characteristics of the transportation infrastructure (stop places, quays, entrances, access spaces and equipment as ramps, staircases, and escalators). The extraction of topological information stored in IFC models allows for navigation-network extraction, information about spaces, and passages between spaces. A specific public transport case study focused on a train station is detailed to better corroborate and illustrate the advantages and uses of compatible and complementing modelling approaches. As building-information-modelling awareness and use is growing, the validated mapping approach can benefit from the future application of automation procedures. Full article

The intelligent management of built cultural heritage, including heritage buildings, requires common semantics in the form of standardized ontologies to achieve semantic interoperability. Foundational ontologies should be reused when building new ontologies, as they provide high-level terms; however, candidate foundational ontologies should be evaluated for quality and pitfalls. Simple metrics (e.g., number of concepts) are easy to obtain with existing tools. Complex metrics such as quality of ontology structure, functional adequacy, transferability, reliability, compatibility, maintainability, and operability, are defined in recent ontology evaluation frameworks; however, these do not evaluate interoperability features. The paper proposes an improved framework for an automated ontology evaluation based on the OQuaRE framework. Our approach improved some of the metrics of the OQuaRE framework and introduced three metrics for assessing the interoperability of the ontology in question (Externes, Composability, and Aggregability). In the experimental section, the framework is validated in an evaluation of cultural heritage information ontology (CIDOC CRM—ISO 12217:2014) with the use of new software for ontology evaluation. The detailed results reveal that the ontology is minimally acceptable and that the improved evaluation framework efficiently integrated interoperability metrics. Recommendations for the improvement of the cultural heritage information ontology are described in the Discussion and Conclusions section. Full article

Mechanical Engineering (ME) includes the design, manufacturing, assembly, and maintenance of mechanical subsystems for Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Owner-Operator (AECO) projects. The intense adoption of information and communication technology in the AECO started with building product modelling, which was originally pioneered in the ME domain (i.e., automotive industry). The complexity and limited openness of product models paved the way for Building Information Modelling (BIM). Today, BIM workflows require an exchange of interoperable architecture, structure, and MEP/HVAC models and their seamless integration into a shared BIM model. Many specialized ME systems exist (i.e., medical gases and vacuum) for which BIM is not mature enough and where the role of BIM has not yet been studied. Therefore, a comprehensive cross-disciplinary analysis on the mutual influence of the BIM and the ME domain is needed for researchers and professionals. It identifies research fields and trends at the intersection of BIM and ME and analyzes their scope, limitations, and requirements for future extensions of BIM for better integration with ME. The analysis is based on an extensive literature search considering the interdisciplinary nature of ME. The initial collection of papers has undergone a rigorous bibliometric analysis that used a text mining approach for validation. Results show the field “Industry 4.0” as the most prosperous BIM influencing research field, followed by “Energy optimisation” and “Environmental Product Declaration”, while identifying “Geometric optimisation” and “Reinforced material” as the trendiest. Finally, conclusions on the impact of BIM on ME were drawn and 11 research opportunities were identified. This paper provides directions for studies where research is focused on the integration of ME systems in BIM workflows and on the extension of BIM capability to model future ME systems. Full article

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a design and management methodology strongly used in the Industry of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC). It allows the creation of a 3D model through parametric modelling in a workflow that updates data, geometry and semantics using the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. The purpose of this paper is to develop and apply a BIM method for road infrastructures. The creation of the BIM 3D models was carried out using different visual programming software and BIM tools, designing the spatial and parametric representation of the roadway. This way, it has been possible to discover the advantages of using procedural modelling to design road infrastructure through software that are usually used in the mechanical and architectural field. Finally, the interoperability of the software to extract and exchange information between these BIM tools was assessed. Full article