| Robert Amor's Publications in 2018 |
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Dimyadi, J., Solihin, W. and Amor, R. (2018) Using IFC to Support Enclosure Fire Dynamics Simulation, Proceedings of EG-ICE, Lausanne, Switzerland, 10-13 June, Book 2, pp. 339-360. |
Abstract: One objective of the performance-based design (PBD) of fire safety in buildings is to ensure occupants have an adequate time to escape the effects of the fire unharmed. A commonly accepted threshold of the safe evacuation time is the time it takes for the fire to compromise the escape routes rendering them untenable. This is a complex computational problem that often requires simulations to solve given the geometry of the building, plausible fire scenarios, thermophysical properties of building materials and furnishing, as well as the environmental conditions. Conventionally, the input data preparation for such simulations is time consuming and error-prone as it involves tedious manual measurement and data transcription from paper-based drawings and specification documents. The recent uptake of ISO-based building information modelling (BIM) among building designers means that such information should become more readily available. However, sharing information from such a highly complex data model as BIM with downstream applications such as fire dynamics simulations can be challenging due to the lack of a practical method for querying spatial data. This paper explores two methods of sharing BIM information with an industry standard enclosure fire dynamics simulation tool. The paper further describes potential future work in using the simulation output to help auditing a given scenario against a set of compliance criteria. A four-storey sample building model is presented in the paper to illustrate both approaches.
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Dimyadi, J., Clifton, C. and Amor, R. (2018) BIM-based Compliant Design of Composite Structures Under Severe Fire Conditions, Proceedings of ICCCBE 2018, Tampere, Finland, 5-7 June, pp. 927-934. |
Abstract: Since the early nineties, there have been major studies carried out to learn the behaviour and performance of composite structures exposed to fire. It is essential that structural members maintain their integrity and load bearing capacity under elevated temperature for an adequate duration to allow building occupants to escape and for any firefighting and rescue operation to take place safely. The recently published joint Australia/New Zealand Standard 2327:2017 incorporates a major section on the design and analysis of two-way composite steel-concrete floor systems for fire resistance. The input parameters required for the calculations include the building geometry and fenestration, design loading, and details of structural members. Conventionally, collating the data is a laborious, inefficient, and error-prone data gathering process that is undertaken manually from drawings and other paperbased documentation prior to the actual analysis. The uptake of ISO standard BIM (Building Information Modelling) has gained a rapid momentum in the industry in recent years. This means more and more architectural and engineering design information will become accessible for sharing with downstream design and analysis applications. This paper investigates what type of information is available from BIM that can be transferred to dedicated software tools for the analysis of composite structures. Additionally, the paper describes the potential application of an open standard legal knowledge model for sharing design parameters prescribed by normative standards. A worked example has been selected to illustrate the data exchange requirements and highlight challenges.
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Dimyadi, J. and Amor, R. (2018) BIM-based Compliance Audit Requirements for Building Consent Processing, Proceedings of EC-PPM 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, 12-14 September, pp. 465-471. |
Abstract: The progressive uptake of ISO-standard BIM (Building Information Modelling) in the Architecture, Engineer-ing, Construction, and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) industry in recent years has started to make common building information accessible to all project stakeholders and processes. Building Consent Authorities (BCA) are exploring how to take advantage of the benefits provided by BIM for automating some of the laborious and repetitive compliance auditing tasks that are part of the core consenting process. This paper describes a proof-of-concept project undertaken in conjunction with a BCA in New Zealand to identify requirements for implementing and to assess the industry's readiness for the BIM-based consenting process. An automated compliance audit tool, ACABIM, was used in the project. The findings of the project suggests that there is a clear indication of productivity, efficiency and analytical benefits gain. The main outcome of the project is a document specifying the minimum data requirements for BIM-based consent submission.
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Sampson, H., Kelly, D., Wuensche, B.C. and Amor, R. (2018) A Hand Gesture Set for Navigating and Interacting with 3D Virtual Environments, Proceedings of IVCNZ, Auckland, New Zealand, 19-21 November, pp. 1-6. |
Abstract: Recent advances in consumer-level VR technologies have increased interest in using hand gestures to interact more intuitively with computers. Unfortunately, there are still few accepted norms for gestures that map to functions, and identifying suitable hand gestures for a given use case is difficult. In this paper we review research on how to define a good gesture. Based on this we develop and evaluate a hand gesture set for controlling and navigating interactive virtual environments, such as games or simulations. A user study shows that the resulting gesture set is intuitive, easy to perform and remember, and overall likeable. The lowest scores were received for gestures for changing the users's location.
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Chen, X., Hosking, J., Grundy, J. and Amor, R. (2018) DCTracVis: a system retrieving and visualizing traceability links between source code and documentation, Automated Software Engineering Journal, 25(4), DOI: 10.1007/s10515-018-0243-8, pp. 703-741. |
Abstract: It is well recognized that traceability links between software artifacts provide crucial support in comprehension, efficient development, and effective management of a software system. However, automated traceability systems to date have been faced with two major open research challenges: how to extract traceability links with both high precision and high recall, and how to efficiently visualize links for complex systems because of scalability and visual clutter issues. To overcome the two challenges, we designed and developed a traceability system, DCTracVis. This system employs an approach that combines three supporting techniques, regular expressions, key phrases, and clustering, with information retrieval (IR) models to improve the performance of automated traceability recovery between documents and source code. This combination approach takes advantage of the strengths of the three techniques to ameliorate limitations of IR models. Our experimental results show that our approach improves the performance of IR models, increases the precision of retrieved links, and recovers more correct links than IR alone. After having retrieved high-quality traceability links, DCTracVis then utilizes a new approach that combines treemap and hierarchical tree techniques to reduce visual clutter and to allow the visualization of the global structure of traces and a detailed overview of each trace, while still being highly scalable and interactive. Usability evaluation results showthat our approach can effectively and efficiently help software developers comprehend, browse, and maintain large numbers of links.
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Feng, Z., Gonzalez, V., Amor, R., Lovreglio, R. and Cabrera, G. (2018) Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Games for Evacuation Training and Research: A Systematic Literature Review, Computers and Education, 127, pp. 252-266. |
Abstract: An appropriate and safe behavior for exiting a facility is key to reducing injuries and increasing survival when facing an emergency evacuation in a building. Knowledge on the best evacuation practice is commonly delivered by traditional training approaches such as videos, posters, or evacuation drills, but they may become ineffective in terms of knowledge acquisition and retention. Serious games (SGs) are an innovative approach devoted to training and educating people in a gaming environment. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to immersive virtual reality (IVR)-based SGs for evacuation knowledge delivery and behavior assessment because they are highly engaging and promote greater cognitive learning. This paper aims to understand the development and implementation of IVR SGs in the context of building evacuation training and research, applied to various indoor emergencies such as fire and earthquake. Thus, a conceptual framework for effective design and implementation through the systematic literature review method was developed. As a result, this framework integrates critical aspects and provides connections between them, including pedagogical and behavioral impacts, gaming environment development, and outcome and participation experience measures.
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Dimyadi, J., Bookman, S., Harvey, D. and Amor, R. (2018) Maintainable Process Model Driven Online Legal Experts Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Law, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-018-9231-3, pp. 1-19. |
Abstract: Legal expert systems are computer applications that can mimic the consultation process of a legal expert to provide advice specific to a given scenario. The core of these systems is the experts' knowledge captured in a sophisticated and often complex logic or rule base. Such complex systems rely on both knowledge engineers or system programmers and domain experts to maintain and update in response to changes in law or circumstances. This paper describes a pragmatic approach using process modelling techniques that enables a complex legal expert system to be maintained and updated dynamically by a domain expert such as a legal practitioner with little computing knowledge. The approach is illustrated using a case study on the design of an online expert system that allows a user to navigate through complex legal options in the domain of International Family Law.
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Lovreglio, R., Gonzalez, V., Feng, Z., Amor, R., Spearpoint, M., Thomas, J., Trotter, M. and Sacks, R. (2018) Prototyping Virtual Reality Serious Games for Building Earthquake Preparedness: The Auckland City Hospital Case Study, Advanced Engineering Informatics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2018.08.018, 38, pp. 670-682. |
Abstract: Enhancing evacuee safety is a key factor in reducing the number of injuries and deaths that result from earthquakes. One way this can be achieved is by training occupants. Virtual Reality (VR) and Serious Games (SGs), represent novel techniques that may overcome the limitations of traditional training approaches. VR and SGs have been examined in the fire emergency context; however, their application to earthquake preparedness has not yet been extensively examined. We provide a theoretical discussion of the advantages and limitations of using VR SGs to investigate how building occupants behave during earthquake evacuations and to train building occupants to cope with such emergencies. We explore key design components for developing a VR SG framework: (a) what features constitute an earthquake event; (b) which building types can be selected and represented within the VR environment; (c) how damage to the building can be determined and represented; (d) how non-player characters (NPC) can be designed; and (e) what level of interaction there can be between NPC and the human participants. We illustrate the above by presenting the Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand as a case study, and propose a possible VR SG training tool to enhance earthquake preparedness in public buildings.
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Amor, R. and Dimyadi, J. (ed.)(2018) Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality, Auckland, New Zealand, 22-23 November, ISBN 978-0-473-45402-9, 583pp. |