Brian W. Mar

Dead is dead — An alternative strategy for urban water management

Abstract An alternative to carrying capacity concepts to enhance urban environmental quality is suggested. Concentrating people in areas to densities greater than permitted by carrying capacity limits is defined as a “dead-is-dead” strategy since higher densities do not necessarily cause further degradation of environmental quality. Concentration of population should reduce the total area subjected to human impacts and stimulates earlier attention to environmental quality stresses.

System requirements for water resource systems

While there is a long history of using systems analysis in water resources management, there is little application of systems engineering to develop and implement the management solutions. A summary of the history of water resources management and system concepts is presented, and the potential of better management using systems engineering is formulated. The FRAT systems engineering process of defining functions and requirements prior to seeking solutions and implementation provides a bridge between the existing systems analysis practices and the proposed systems engineering improvements.

Expert systems software for civil engineering applications

Abstract Expert systems offer a new and valuable approach to the problem of modelling civil engineering systems. This paper examines the advantages that expert systems offer over more conventional forms of computer programming and describes the components of such systems. It also suggests areas of application for which expert systems are likely to be successful and discusses the process of knowledge acquisition. The paper reviews seven expert systems shells in detail and provides criteria for their evaluation. The capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of each shell are described and conclusions provided as to the appropriate selection of each.

Workstations for systems engineers

System engineering currently accounts for more than 10% of the engineering effort on large complex system development efforts and this percentage has been increasing as more cost overruns and more system failures are experienced. As the complexity of many programs has increased, the costs of traditional system engineering practices have grown geometrically. The only way that the benefits of system engineering can be kept ahead of the cost of providing system engineering is to automate many of the tedious tasks that are performed. This paper examines the types of system engineering activities that can be automated with an engineering workstation and examines the arguments that are encountered when an organization considers the introduction of such workstations.