SEMA: A Site Equipment Management Assistant for Construction Management

Meng-Han Tsai,Cheng-Hsuan Yang,Chen-Hsuan Wang,I-Tung Yang,Shih-Chung Kang 대한토목학회 2022 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.26 No.3

Collecting construction equipment information such as the site equipment enter and exit date-time, driver's name, type, and quantity is essential in construction management. Most construction projects use paper to record the equipment access history. However, manual recording is always labour-intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, this research aims to develop an assistant system, Site Equipment Management Assistant (SEMA), to automate the site equipment management processes. With the introduction of image recognition and multiple objects tracking technologies, the proposed system can extract equipment-related information from raw videos. SEMA is designed as a chatbot system that contains three major modules: data acquisition, information extraction, and information delivery. A deep learning-based model was first trained to automatically recognize and track construction equipment passing by the site monitor. Information such as equipment entering and exiting date-time, type, and quantity would be extracted and stored in a database. A chatbot interface was developed for users to obtain data from the database through an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. A system evaluation and usability test were conducted. The results showed that the system could effectively improve the construction equipment management process. SEMA can save 60.7% of users' operation time on obtaining related information.

Four-Stage Framework for Implementing a Chatbot System in Disaster Emergency Operation Data Management: A Flood Disaster Management Case Study

Meng-Han Tsai,Cheng-Hsuan Yang,James Yichu Chen,Shih-Chung Kang 대한토목학회 2021 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.25 No.2

This research proposes a four-stage consultant framework for applying a chatbot as a data management system. With the advancement of computational power and data storage technology, the increasing amount of data makes the issue of data management difficult to address. Management of a massive amount of data by utilizing chatbots to play the roles of a data manager and a data provider has been extensively studied. Although a chatbot system has been proven to increase the overall efficiency of data management, implementing a chatbot system in a government department remains a challenge, especially in a field with highly complex data. This research presents the authors’ experience of applying a chatbot system in a department of the government of Taiwan for disaster response operations. A four-stage consulting framework comprising 1) existing workflow review, 2) usability evaluation, 3) system improvement, and 4) management plan (EUSM) was thus proposed. After a two-year field test, the authors found that the framework could help the department in clarifying their working process, increase the overall efficiency of the chatbot system, and identify the major issues of introducing the chatbot system.

A Correlation between the Severity of Lung Lesions on Radiographs and Clinical Findings in Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Yung-Liang Wan,Pei-Kwei Tsay,Yun-Chung Cheung,Ping-Cherng Chiang,Chun-Hua Wang,Ying-Huang Tsai,Han-Ping Kuo,Kuo-Chien Tsao,Tzou-Yien Lin 대한영상의학회 2007 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.8 No.6

Objective: The purpose of this study was to quantify lesions on chest radiographs in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and analyze the severity of the lesions with clinical parameters. Materials and Methods: Two experienced radiologists reviewed chest radiographs of 28 patients with SARS. Each lung was divided into upper, middle, and lower zones. A SARS-related lesion in each zone was scored using a four-point scale: zero to three. The mean and maximal radiographic scores were analyzed statistically to determine if the scorings were related to the laboratory data and clinical course. Results: Forward stepwise multiple linear regression showed that the mean radiographic score correlated most significantly with the number of hospitalized days (p < 0.001). The second most significant factor was the absolute lymphocyte count (p < 0.001) and the third most significant factor was the number of days of intubation (p = 0.025). The maximal radiographic score correlated best with the percentage of lymphocytes in a leukocyte count (p < 0.001), while the second most significant factor was the number of hospitalized days (p < 0.001) and the third most significant factor was the absolute lymphocyte count (p = 0.013). The mean radiographic scores of the patients who died, with comorbidities and without a comorbidity were 11.1, 6.3 and 2.9, respectively (p = 0.032). The corresponding value for maximal radiographic scores were 17.7, 9.7 and 6.0, respectively (p = 0.033). Conclusion: The severity of abnormalities quantified on chest radiographs in patients with SARS correlates with the clinical parameters.

Spatial-temporal interrelationships of safety risks with dynamic partition analysis: a mechanical installation case

Pin-Chao Liao,Zhonghua Guo,Chung-Han Tsai,Jiawei Ding 대한토목학회 2018 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.22 No.5

Inspection is the most critical phase of controlling and mitigating safety risks. However, current safety inspection practices areheavily experience-driven without considering generic interrelationships of safety risks. In this study, we performed a partitionanalysis based on risk interrelationships using inspection data with the goal of discovering distribution patterns of safety risks. Ourresults exhibit consistent chronological connections between risk attributes, including spatial and temporal characteristics. Themechanics of safety risk interrelationships were further investigated. In terms of the spatial aspects, ongoing unsafe conditions wereobserved in multiple locations. Spatial resource limitations and the interfaces at various locations were found to be key contributorsto risk interrelationships. In terms of temporal aspects, a high similarity of work at different times and ongoing unsafe conditionswere considered as key contributors. Practical Application: By understanding the spatial–temporal interrelationships of the riskcharacteristics, managers can develop improved strategies for devising inspection routes, which will thereby improve inspectionefficacy.

A review of rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developments and applications in civil engineering

Peter Liu,Albert Y. Chen,Yin-Nan Huang,Jen-Yu Han,Jihn-Sung Lai,Tzong-Hann Wu,Ming-Chang Wen,Meng-Han Tsai,Shih-Chung Kang 국제구조공학회 2014 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.13 No.6

Civil engineers always face the challenge of uncertainty in planning, building, and maintaininginfrastructure. These works rely heavily on a variety of surveying and monitoring techniques. Unmannedaerial vehicles (UAVs) are an effective approach to obtain information from an additional view, andpotentially bring significant benefits to civil engineering. This paper gives an overview of the state of UAVdevelopments and their possible applications in civil engineering. The paper begins with an introduction toUAV hardware, software, and control methodologies. It also reviews the latest developments in technologiesrelated to UAVs, such as control theories, navigation methods, and image processing. Finally, the paperconcludes with a summary of the potential applications of UAV to seismic risk assessment, transportation,disaster response, construction management, surveying and mapping, and flood monitoring and assessment.

A review of rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developments and applications in civil engineering

Liu, Peter,Chen, Albert Y.,Huang, Yin-Nan,Han, Jen-Yu,Lai, Jihn-Sung,Kang, Shih-Chung,Wu, Tzong-Hann,Wen, Ming-Chang,Tsai, Meng-Han Techno-Press 2014 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.13 No.6

Civil engineers always face the challenge of uncertainty in planning, building, and maintaining infrastructure. These works rely heavily on a variety of surveying and monitoring techniques. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an effective approach to obtain information from an additional view, and potentially bring significant benefits to civil engineering. This paper gives an overview of the state of UAV developments and their possible applications in civil engineering. The paper begins with an introduction to UAV hardware, software, and control methodologies. It also reviews the latest developments in technologies related to UAVs, such as control theories, navigation methods, and image processing. Finally, the paper concludes with a summary of the potential applications of UAV to seismic risk assessment, transportation, disaster response, construction management, surveying and mapping, and flood monitoring and assessment.

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor nintedanib activates SHP-1 and induces apoptosis in triple-negative breast cancer cells

Chun-Yu Liu,Tzu-Ting Huang,Pei-Yi Chu,Chun-Teng Huang,Chia-Han Lee,Wan-Lun Wang,Ka-Yi Lau,Wen-Chun Tsai,Tzu-I Chao,Jung-Chen Su,Ming-Huang Chen,Chung-Wai Shiau,Ling-Ming Tseng,Kuen-Feng Chen 생화학분자생물학회 2017 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.49 No.-

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains difficult to treat and urgently needs new therapeutic options. Nintedanib, a multikinase inhibitor, has exhibited efficacy in early clinical trials for HER2-negative breast cancer. In this study, we examined a new molecular mechanism of nintedanib in TNBC. The results demonstrated that nintedanib enhanced TNBC cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by a reduction of p-STAT3 and its downstream proteins. STAT3 overexpression suppressed nintedanib-mediated apoptosis and further increased the activity of purified SHP-1 protein. Moreover, treatment with either a specific inhibitor of SHP-1 or SHP-1-targeted siRNA reduced the apoptotic effects of nintedanib, which validates the role of SHP-1 in nintedanib-mediated apoptosis. Furthermore, nintedanib-induced apoptosis was attenuated in TNBC cells expressing SHP-1 mutants with constantly open conformations, suggesting that the autoinhibitory mechanism of SHP-1 attenuated the effects of nintedanib. Importantly, nintedanib significantly inhibited tumor growth via the SHP-1/p-STAT3 pathway. Clinically, SHP-1 levels were downregulated, whereas p-STAT3 was upregulated in tumor tissues, and SHP-1 transcripts were associated with improved disease-free survival in TNBC patients. Our findings revealed that nintedanib induces TNBC apoptosis by acting as a SHP-1 agonist, suggesting that targeting STAT3 by enhancing SHP-1 expression could be a viable therapeutic strategy against TNBC.