Real world engineering design projects require the cooperation of multidisciplinary design teams using sophisticated and powerful engineering tools. The individuals or the individual groups of the multidisciplinary design teams work in parallel and independently often for quite a long time with di erent tools located on various sites. In order to ensure the coordination of design activities in the different groups or the cooperation among the di erent tools, it is necessary to develop an e cient design environment. This paper discusses a distributed architecture for integrating such engineering tools in an open design environment, organized as a population of asynchronous cognitive agents. Before introducing the general architecture and the communication protocol, issues about an agent architecture and inter-agent communications are discussed. A prototype of such an environment with a number of independent agents located in several workstations is then presented and demonstrated on an example of a small mechanical design.

Real world engineering design projects require the cooperation of multidisciplinary design teams using sophisticated and powerful engineering tools. The individuals or the individual groups of the multidisciplinary design teams work in parallel and independently with the different engineering tools which are located on the different sites for often a long time. In order to ensure the coordination of the design activities of the different groups or the cooperation among the different engineering tools, it is necessary to develop an efficient distributed intelligent design environment. This paper discusses a distributed axchitecturc for integrating such engineering tools in an open design environment organized as a population of asynchronous cognitive agents. Before introducing the general architecture and the communicat.ion protocol, issues about the agent axchitecture azLd the inter-agent communication axe discussed. A prototype of such an environment with seven independent agents located in the different workstations and microcomputers is presented and an example of a sin',all mechanical design is used for demonstrating such an environment.

http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca W a t e r e n t r y f u n c t i o n o f a h a r d b o a r d s i d i n gc l a d w o o d s t u d w a l l N R C C -4 9 4 4 9 S a h a l , N . ; L a c a s s e , M . A . A version of this document is published in / Une version de ce document se trouve dans:

Abstract: The present paper describes a parallel approach to maintenance management used in bridge structures but adapted to the maintenance of building facades. The maintenance of several components of a concrete panel façade system is considered in ...

Physiochemical techniques and tests to determine mechanical properties were used to characterize and evaluate the performance and durability of selected elastomeric membrane systems. The influence of concrete quality, surface preparation, variation in chemical composition of the products and sensitivity to environmental conditions on the performance of the membranes was determined. Results show that although the membranes restrict the ingress of moisture and chlorides into the concrete deck, improper surface preparation or membrane installation can result in pin holes and blisters which allow the permeation of chloride ions. The effects of high and low ambient temperatures and some chemicals encountered in the parking garage environment significantly affect the performance of a membrane. Crown

An Investigation of climate loads on building façades for selected locations in the US N R C C -5 0 0 3 0 C o r n i c k , S . M . ; L a c a s s e , M . A . F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 A version of this document is published in / Une version de ce document se trouve dans:

Assessing the effectiveness of wall-window interface details to manage rainwater -selected results from window installation to a wall sheathed in extruded polystyrene N R C C -5 0 0 3 1 L a c a s s e , M . A . ; M a n n i n g , M . M . ; G a n a p a t h y , G . ; R o u s s e a u , M . Z . ; C o r n i c k , S . M . ; B i b e e , D . ; S h u l e r , D . ; H o f f e e , A . F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 0 A version of this document is published in / Une version de ce document se trouve dans:

Laboratory tests of water penetration through wall-window interfaces based on U.S. residential window installation practice N R C C -5 0 0 3 3 L a c a s s e , M . A . ; R o u s s e a u , M . Z . ; C o r n i c k , S . M . ; M a n n i n g , M . M . ; G a n a p a t h y , G . ; N i c h o l l s , M . ; W i l l i a m s , M . F . F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 0 A version of this document is published in / Une version de ce document se trouve dans:

Lignin is a renewable, non-toxic, commercially available and low costing resource which has the potential of being utilized as a basic raw material for the chemical industry. In spite of many years of development effort however, this potential has not been fully realized. One of the many reasons for the difficulties encountered in the production of useful polymeric products is the fact that the technical processes by which lignin is obtained, alter its macromolecular structure in such a fashion as to reduce its reactivity. Recent developments of the macromolecular uses in lignin-polymer material systems have shown an increased awareness of the inherent limitations and potential of the structure of lignin. In this paper, the present state of knowledge regarding the chemical structure of lignin is briefly described, and some more current areas of application are reviewed; lignin graft copolymers, lignin-thermosetting polymer systems and lignin-elastomer systems.

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Abstract: Driving rain is one of the significant agents of premature deterioration of wall assemblies. Driving rain deposited on the cladding may penetrate through imperfectly designed, defectively installed and inadequately maintained interface details at wall ...