Characterization of 582 natural and synthetic terminators and quantification of their design constraints

In China, large hydraulic engineering projects have made a great contribution to social economic development; at the same time, they also lead to social risks that affect social stability. The pluralism of stakeholders in large hydraulic engineering projects and the complex interrelationship among stakeholders are the important factors affecting social stability risk. Previous studies of social stability risk have mainly focused on risk identification and risk assessment, without considering the relationships among stakeholders and their linkages of risks. For large hydraulic engineering projects, this paper investigated the relevant risk factors and their interrelationships through a literature review and interviews that represented stakeholder perspectives. The key social stability risk factors were identified based on social network analysis. A multi-channel project financial system, a perfect interest compensation mechanism, an efficient prevention mechanism of group events, and a complete project schedule control system were proposed to mitigate the social stability risks. This study combined stakeholder management with risk management by using social network analysis, providing reference for the social stability risk management of large engineering projects in China.

The development of China’s new urbanization has driven the rapid increase in large complex engineering projects, which have the characteristics of large‐scale investment, long‐term construction, and wide social influence, easily causing benefit conflicts among relevant stakeholders, and breaking out social stability risks. In the previous research, the risks of large complex engineering projects mainly concentrated on the assessment of economic risk, schedule risk, etc. However, there were few studies on social risks, and they did not consider how the risks spread on the complex networks based on the social connections such as interpersonal relationship. From the subject of social stability risk diffusion of large complex engineering projects, this paper constructs a related risk diffusion model based on the SIR model to analyze risk diffusion mechanism. Through NetLogo simulation platform, the model is placed under a small‐world network environment that is closest to the topology structure of real social interpersonal relationship network for simulation research, aiming to find out key factors of social stability risk intervention for large complex engineering projects, which greatly contributes to the social stability risk management of large complex engineering projects.

Construction of a huge number of large scale engineering projects boosts Chinese economy, but at the same time, it exerts great impacts on the ecological environment.This paper put the ecological impacts of large scale engineering projects as the research object.By elaborating on large scale engineering projects' impacts on land, water, climate, geology and energy resources, it presents a reasonable evaluation system should address various ecological issues including the conservation and rational use of materials, conservation and intensive use of land, energy saving projects, prevention of geological disasters, protection of natural ecosystem and promotion of resource-environment-economy-social harmonious development in projects.Based on the ecological impact assessment needs, using scientific principles, this paper gives the index system for major ecological impact assessment of the Large Scale Engineering Projects in order to provide a reference.

Understanding the Impacts of Indirect Stakeholder Relationships Stakeholder Value Network Analysis and Its Application to Large Engineering Projects

The application of nested-game theory in the public participation mechanism in the decision-making of large engineering projects

No aspect of macroengineering makes sense unless it is understood as part of a cultural landscape symbol system, as an element of the cultural messages seen throughout the human landscape. Investment in large projects is based not only on economic calculations, it is also investment in a message. As high cost productions of large corporate or state entities, megaengineering projects carry rhetorical content that is almost always about elaborating and sustaining the authority and power of those actors. The archetypal suite of historic landscape symbols of power and authority is the 2200 year old Hellenistic “Seven Wonders of the World” list. The Wonders are manifestations of a set of cultural landscape tropes still recognizable today in the political messages contained within large scale engineering projects. The Seven Wonders are landscapes of authority, demonstrating elements recognized by Hellenistic society as projecting and reinforcing political power. Engineering landscape symbol systems continue to evolve as the modern world is changed by globalization, geopolitical conflict, economic disruption, and environmental degradation, but the root meanings of large scale alterations of the landscape are still to be found on this short list of landscapes chosen as an allegory for the conquests of Alexander.

A critical element in the shaping of large engineering projects (LEPs) is associated with the multi-type and networked relationships between LEPs and their stakeholders in both market and nonmarket environments. In this paper, we advance a multidisciplinary network approach, namely Stakeholder Value Network (SVN), as a lens to examine, understand, model, and manage the stakeholder relationships in LEPs. The SVN approach brings together knowledge from three domains: engineering systems, organizational sociology, and strategic management. Specifically, we put the focus of this paper on exploring the underlying connections between stakeholders and issues; extending the methodological framework of “Stakeholder-based SVN” to “Issue-based SVN”; as well as testing three propositions about the strategic implications of Issue-based SVN and demonstrating the benefits of the integration of stakeholders and issues, through a retrospective case study of a large real-world engineering project, Project Phoenix.

It is the common issue for all of countries that lots of safety risk accidents happen in large scale engineering projects.To save cost, generally, no enough resource is booked, or not very qualified resource is selected, which is one of the import safety risk factors in large scale engineering projects.But less scientific strategies are available to balance between safety risk values and safety risk investment.In the large scale engineer safety risk management filed, currently most of methods are qualitative, so it is a hot and difficult topic that constructs a quantitative model for practical problems, especially based on optimal control theory.In this paper, we will take both advantages of maximum principle and dynamic programming to solve the large scale engineering project safety risk issues caused by resource numbers and resource quality.Firstly, by maximum principle, establishes safety risk model considering resource numbers, and give iterative steps of the gradient descent method for numerical solution; Secondly, by dynamic programming, establishes safety risk economic model which takes into account the quality of resource; In the end, both the models are validated in one practical equipment case by combining the advantages of each algorithms .

There were many phases, hiberarchies, activities and partners in the schedule of construction engineering projects, especially the large-scale construction engineering projects, and the activities were complicated, the processes were very difficult, which has high impact on information communication between each partners, accordingly, the schedule would be out of controlling, the cost would be increased, and even the quality would be not satisfied with the owner. On the basical theory of Lean Construction and multistage plans of construction engineering project, Integration and Management System of Schedule in Large Complex Construction Engineering Projects (IMSSLCCEP) was proposed. It was studied from the data flow,hiberarchy and functional model. Finally,the cases of applying of IMSSLCCEP were studied, which educed that IMSSLCCEP was an effective way for large complex construction engineering schedule management from whole angle.

Assembly of synthetic genetic circuits is central to synthetic biology. Yeast S. cerevisiae, in particular, has proven to be an ideal chassis for synthetic genome assemblies by exploiting its efficient homologous recombination. However, this property of efficient homologous recombination poses a problem for multigene assemblies in yeast, since repeated usage of standard parts, such as transcriptional terminators, can lead to rearrangements of the repeats in assembled DNA constructs in vivo. To address this issue in developing a library of orthogonal genetic components for yeast, we designed a set of short synthetic terminators based on a consensus sequence with random linkers to avoid repetitive sequences. We constructed a series of expression vectors with these synthetic terminators for efficient assembly of synthetic genes using Gateway recombination reactions. We also constructed two BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) vectors for assembling multiple transcription units with the synthetic terminators in vitro and their integration in the yeast genome. The tandem array of synthetic genes integrated in the genome by this method is highly stable because there are few homologous segments in the synthetic constructs. Using this system of assembly and genomic integration of transcription units, we tested the synthetic terminators and their influence on the proximal transcription units. Although all the synthetic terminators have the common consensus with the identical length, they showed different activities and impacts on the neighboring transcription units.

Grasping project complexity in large engineering projects: The TOE (Technical, Organizational and Environmental) framework

Construction sites for large civil engineering projects consist of very different workflows, depending on the size and type of the project (e.g., highway construction). Managing and coordinating such complex projects is a difficult task. Lack of proper digital and reliable data makes the near permanent physical presence of a project manager necessary. But even on site, they have to rely on manual and slow reporting ad hoc information gathering processes. In this article, we report our experience in using Smart Construction, an Internet of Things cloud-based platform for large civil engineering projects. The platform allows project managers to remotely manage multiple construction sites in different locations at the same time and promptly intervene to adapt their operation according to real-time data analytics results. We performed two experiments on real construction sites to collect real world data by using the platform under realistic conditions.We discuss the challenges that we encountered and the results of the performed data analysis.

For the successful realization of large engineering and construction projects (LECPs), a systemic organizational learning framework for institutional cooperation is critical. Due to the long project life-cycle of LECPs, this is particularly important for this kind of project. The objective of this paper is to analyze to what extent the conformity assessment of LECPs, carried out under Engineering, Procurement and Construction management (EPCm) services, can be used as a tool for organizational learning and cooperation between typical stakeholders (project owners, engineering contractors, EPC contractors; subcontractors and certification bodies). The research, from which this paper emanates, was based on a case study concerning LECPs in an oil and gas company in Brazil. Based on its results, we suggest that the proposed organizational learning framework, supported by the conformity assessment rationale, constitutes an important management tool that can be disseminated in other organizational contexts where conformity assessments of LECPs take place.

Network theory-based analysis of risk interactions in large engineering projects

The book is based on an international research project that analyzed sixty LEPs, among them the Boston Harbor cleanup; the first phase of subway construction in Ankara, Turkey; a hydro dam on the Caroni River in Venezuela; and the construction of offshore oil platforms west of Flor, Norway. As the number, complexity, and scope of large engineering projects (LEPs) increase worldwide, the huge stakes may endanger the survival of corporations and threaten the stability of countries that approach these projects unprepared. According to the authors, the "front-end" engineering of institutional arrangements and strategic systems is a far greater determinant of an LEP's success than are the more tangible aspects of project engineering and management. The book is based on an international research project that analyzed sixty LEPs, among them the Boston Harbor cleanup; the first phase of subway construction in Ankara, Turkey; a hydro dam on the Caroni River in Venezuela; and the construction of offshore oil platforms west of Flor, Norway. The authors use the research results to develop an experience-based theoretical framework that will allow managers to understand and respond to the complexity and uncertainty inherent in all LEPs. In addition to managers and scholars of large-scale projects, the book will be of interest to those studying the relationship between institutions and strategy, risk management, and corporate governance in general. Contributors Bjorn Andersen, Richard Brealey, Ian Cooper, Serghei Floricel, Michel Habib, Brian Hobbs, Donald R. Lessard, Pascale Michaud, Roger Miller, Xavier Olleros