What do I (an ISE professional) need to be able to do-understand

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Computer Applications
Lecture 1 Some reflections on Computer
Applications in Infra-structure Engineering
ISE Areas Storm water, infrastructure security,
asset management, communications, financial
management Infrastructure management,
construction law, construction estimating, bridge
maintenance, Pavement management, GIS,
transportation planning and safety, project
management
What do I (an ISE professional) need to be able
to do-understand
Need to understand the computer tools available
to help me do my job better Need to understand
how various tools can be integrated to effect a
solution Need to have some basic skills in
programming to take advantage of everyday
software (excel) And communication devices (e.g.,
the web)
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Key Terms
Hardware--Devices that can be programmed to
perform a function or a set of functions
Software The Instructions That make the
hardware run Could be a set of English like
statements (a program) that are
translated (compiled) into machine code to
flip switches on and off or it could be
hardwired into the devise
From Wikipedia
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software
Computer software (or simply software) is the
programs that enable a computer to perform a
specific task, as opposed to the physical
components of the system (hardware). This
includes application software such as a word
processor, which enables a user to perform a
task, and system software such as an operating
system, which enables other software to run
properly, by interfacing with hardware and with
other software.
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List Three pieces of Hardware that have had a
significant impact on societywith at least
ONE Having a significant infrastructure
application
Do the same for software
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For examples go to web page
http//www.ce.umn.edu/voller/ise_5113/ise2005/web
page.html
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How do computer (hardware and software) make out
tasks as infrastructure engineers easier?
Where are some of the downsidesopportunitiesemer
ging technologies--ISSUES ?
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Voller has 4
1. Outsourcing
http//www.offshorexperts.com/index.cfm/fa/buyer.s
ervice/c/1100/s/182
http//www.outsource2india.com/eso/construction/co
nstruction.asp
Put
outsourcing "civil engineering"
Into google
Are there task that are repetitive-expensive-mind
numbing ? Tasks that every ISE professional
does-- but infrequently?
Exercise look at web pagestalk in groupsthink
of at least one of your job functions that could
be outsourced
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2. Automation of Knowledge
Ingrained and supervised
Fixed
The Traditional route to wisdom
fact1
When fact1, fact2 and 3 are combined we see Build
a better bridge
fact2
Wisdom an assimilation and integration of
knowledge --like a library Wisdom knows where
to look
fact3
Information a connection of facts to Reach a
conclusion-- like a sentence
Data like words
Knowledgea collection or ordering of of
informationlike a book
In NEW paradigm Do the web search tools Act as
a surrogate for wisdom?
Knowledge is much more fluid How well is it
supervised
fact1
Two questions How do you use web search tools in
your ISE Job?
fact2
fact3
How do you know if the information is good ?
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3. Reliability of data storage
What is the best kind of storage medium?
what is the reliability of various forms of data
storage
1000s of years
10s of years
years
Years-micro-seconds
100s of years
Very slow to instant- aneous
Access Time
Slow to fast
Fast to supper fast
Slow
???
How much
1-10MB
????
.1-10 of GB
1-100GB
Very Little
Think of three ISE task that require data storage
Score of a scale of 1-10 the requirements for
reliability, speed of access and amount of data
that needs to be stored
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ISE Areas Storm water, infrastructure security,
asset management, communications, financial
management Infrastructure management,
construction law, construction estimating, bridge
maintenance, Pavement management, GIS,
transportation planning and safety, project
management

• Identify and list at least three pieces of ISE
  software
• --provide a brief description, find a web
  page for each piece,
• --find an image that can be downloaded.
• Do the same for hardware
• Put your data-storage information into a table
  format

ISE Application Access speed Storage Size Reliability Suggested Media


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4. Distributed Sensor Networks
distributed sensor system can be used in a
variety of ISE apps
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What are the problems
The Human Windowback to the data-information-know
ledge paradigm
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ISE Areas Storm water, infrastructure security,
asset management, communications, financial
management Infrastructure management,
construction law, construction estimating, bridge
maintenance, Pavement management, GIS,
transportation planning and safety, project
management
Main Exercise
Look on the WWW examples of critical computer
technologies in ISE for at least 3 of the
following areas 1) implementation of green and
sustainable processes (green), 2) applications of
advanced graphical information systems (GIS), 2)
uses of smart structures (Smart), 4) sensor
technologies (Sensor), and 5) deployment of
networks of infrastructure systems and built
environment (Network)
Make a list 1. Area, web sites, examples 2. 3.
Choose one example to use in building an html a
web page in out next class (9/11) With the
objective of informing fellow t ISE professionals
of key emerging technologies
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Google Search Terms distributed sensors
civil infrastructure
ITS
structural health monitoring
"distributed sensors" "storm water"
SCADA water distribution
Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition
SCADA ----
Some web-sites
http//www.wtec.org/seo/
http//www.sensornet.co.uk/
http//radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/03/24.html
http//www.fig.net/nottingham/proc/ts_06_5_brownjo
hn_etal.pdf look at the figures
http//shm.sagepub.com/ free copy of a journal
http//lecs.cs.ucla.edu/nithya/publications/EPAWh
itePaper.pdf
http//content.wonderware.com/NR/rdonlyres/83A979A
D-A805-41A3-BC4F-D021C692F6D1/591/scada_water_4pg_
rev5_final.pdf