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DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
IN This Issue FROM THE MANAGING
DIRECTOR’S DESK
EDITOR’S NOTE
MILESTONES
LEADERSHIP TIPS FROM THE
RUNAWAY GENERAL
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN
CONSTRUCTION SAFETY
STOP GLORIFICATION OF
‘BUSY’
HEALTH BENEFITS OF CLAY
POT COOKING
APPENDIX
Cover page photo: Architect’s impression of the completed Airaa School, Bangalore
THE ISSUE OF DIMENSIONS IS FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
During the ‘Employee contribution
recognition’ event held on the 13th of
this month, there was a general
request made to all the employees to
come over to the stage and express
their opinion or talk about anything
that they wish to.
As was very well expected, very few
employees came over and expressed
themselves. We had to literally goad
them to talk.
It is quite intriguing as to how an
individual hesitates and shies away
from talking, when called to talk from
the stage to an audience. But, the
same person will forever chat with his
friends sitting around him on the
opposite side of the stage as a part of
the general audience.
It is necessary for all us to get over the
stage fear and talk in public. One
day or the other, you will have to get
over the fear and learn to talk on
stage. For, it is essential for someone
who will have to take more
responsibilities and go up the ladder
to learn to talk on stage.
There are many books and YouTube
videos from which you can practice
and learn.
Please start practicing immediately. It
will help.
During the Employee Recognition day
-13th Apr 2019, I had spoken on the
need for everyone to share everything
about themselves with everyone, so
that we know what the hidden talents
are of each one of us. For example,
we know from ‘Know your Colleague’
that Mounika is experienced as a
compere during her college days and
Chetan N (from Manjushree site,
Baddi) can direct any small video or
even a movie if required, since he has
done a course in Directing of Movies.
My observation was that when a lady
was asked to share details about
family, her hobbies etc. she was very
forthcoming while that was not true
when men were asked to (with
exceptions, of course).
It was heartening to overhear Kannan
from Fomra site, Chennai asking his
staff, after hearing this talk, to share
about themselves for the coming
issues.
Sreekumar, SIC of Ekya school had a
theory to offer about this. He felt that it
was because Engineers (Civil
Engineers in particular) are exposed to
the site work mostly and do not have
a chance to attend get-togethers
functions etc. where they have a
chance to express themselves.
FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR’S DESK Editor’s Note
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 2
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
Birthdays in the month of May
ANAND RAO T, Jayabheri
Properties, 2 May
PARTHEEBAN S,
Aquarelle, 3 May
SUBBAREDDY T, SRM
University, 4th May
ARUL HEPSILY S, Fomra,
5th May
ALAGARSAMY P, Godrej
Alpine, 6 May
SADASHIV R L, HO, 7 May
CHETAN N, Manjushree,
Baddi, 8 May
RAVI H S, Parsons, 9 May
MANIKANT SHET, ADPL,
9th May
NARESH KUMAR K,
Rajapushpa Summit, 10 May
MUNIRAJ M, The
Fairway,10 May
VARAPRASAD RSN, SRM
University, 10 May
SHAIKH GHOUSE,
Jayabheri Properties, 10 May
CHETHAN T C, PES
University, 10th May
PRITHIVIRAJ R,
Himmatsingka, 11 May
SHANTHKUMAR S, HO, 16
May
ASHA NAIDU K, HO, 18 May
PERUMAL S, SRM
University, 19 May
Syed Irshad, Jayabheri
Summit, 23 May
JAYANTH K R, SHRF –
Udupi, 25 May
KADIYALA RAMARAO,
Ramky One Galaxia, 25th May
KUMAR B M V, Jayabheri
Properties, 26 May
MADHUSUDHAN N, Head
Office, 28th May
PUSHPARAJ A, Serene
Windchime, B’lore, 29 May
MILESTONES
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 3
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
News from the Sites:
Prabhat V at the fast progressing PES
University site
ANP and Asha Naidu with the Client and
Architect at NIE Site, Mysore
Bhoomi Pooja
Bhoomi Pooja for the New Project at
Bangalore - Serene Windchimes, on
the 10th April
B R Sreevatsa & Pushparaj A attended the
Puja
Vinay of Viraj Projects Pvt. Ltd at the puja
Bhoomi Pooja for the New Project at
Bangalore - Science Gallery at IVRI
Campus, Bellary road was conducted
on 10th April
Vyas V S, Veeranna V attended the Puja
Vyas V S being felicitated
Celebrations:
The complete Nemmadi Team
ANP & Vani Prakash with Nemmadi team
Uday Prakash cutting the Chocolate cake
Nemmadi has been awarded the
Inspection work at Phoenix Kessaku,
one of the most reputed Apartments
in Bangalore, to celebrate which,
Uday Prakash invited the entire
Nemmadi Team, A N Prakash and
Vani Prakash for lunch.
A N Prakash sharing the cake with Vani
Prakash
Functions:
V S Vyas’ son Nitin’s Upanayana
ceremony was held at Sri Rama
Mandali, Jayanagar on the 26th April.
Many of the ANPCPMC & Nemmadi
staff joined for lunch on the occasion.
Wishing Nitin after the ceremony
ANPCPMC/Nemmadi with Vyas & Family
At the start of Lunch
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 4
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Employee Recognition Function The Employee Recognition Function was
held on the 13th April at Hotel Pai Viceroy
ANP welcoming the gathering
A view of the gathering
Audience enjoying ANP’s talk
Uday Prakash on Nemmadi
Self- Introduction by the Staff
B L Suresh
Vani Prakash
R N Prasad
R Vignesh
Mahendra S Godbole
Speakers at the Function
Lakshmanappa G H
Chetan N
Thejesha M M
Natarajan R
Ajay Deshpande
Venkataramana Sampathy
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 5
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
Asha Naidu K
Ravi H S
Shanthkumar S
Vijayamahantesh G Muttagi
Swastika P
Roy Zacharias
B L Suresh
Santosh
R Suresha
Ameen Yakoob
Naveen Kumar N
Mary A
Divya K
5 years of service at ANPCPMC
Vijayamahantesh G Muttagi
Prathap N
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 6
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Thiagarajan S
Nagaraju G
Mahammad Faruq
Ramesh YBV
Khaja Hussain S
Sanjay Kumar N
Akthar Saifudeen
Pushparaj A
Ambika Jadhav
Asha Naidu K
Partheeban S
Sree Kumar K G
Chetan N
Swastika Pradhan
Prasad B R
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 7
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10 years of service at ANPCPMC
Murali M
Shivaramu B
Venkataramana Sampathy
Naveen Kumar N
Kannan A
Rajesh A
Veeranna V
Prasanna Kumar M
Somashekar B N
Thejesha M M
Divya K
Shanthkumar S
Natarajan R
Ajay Deshpande
Ravi H S
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 8
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
15 years of service at ANPCPMC
Muniyappa G
Lakshmanappa G H
Yogesh Kumar M
Prasad R N
Chandrashekar M
Arogya Mary J
25 years of service at ANPCPMC
Suresh B L
Lijesh Kumar P, Special Mention
Shivanand K S
P Valli
Nagamma R
Lunch & Post-lunch session
Vani Prakash, Swastika, Varsha
B L Suresh & Vamsi Anand
Achyut sings a Bhavageethe
Ambika – Vote of Thanks
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
Top to Bottom - Services Group, ANP with Vani & Uday, The complete group, Ladies with ANP, Nemmadi Team
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 10
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Know Your Colleague
Nagaraju G,
The Complete Man
Does anyone remember the
Raymond’s advertisement on ‘The
Complete Man’? For those who
have forgotten, the Complete
Man is the man for all occasions.
He remembers birthdays
(particularly the wife’s) and
anniversaries, takes full care of the
needs of the family, and gives
individual attention to the wife as
well as each of the children. The
key words are ‘He loses to win!’
That complete man is Nagaraju
who is presently with ANPCPMC as
SIC of Myscapes, Hyderabad.
Nagaraju G
So who is the lucky woman to
have the Complete Man in her
life? It is Tulsi Ratnam who has
done an MBA and working in the
HR department of a company in
Hyderabad.
Nagaraju being the Site-in-Charge
of a prestigious project and wife
Tulsi being in the HR department,
both have to be in time for work. If
the children are late, then the
parents will be called to school
which they cannot always afford
to go. It requires hectic activity in
the morning to ensure that all are
in time and that is where
Nagaraju’s culinary talents help in
everyone getting their breakfast
and lunch packed.
Before leaving for work, Nagaraju
has to get daughter Rishika who is
studying in the fifth standard and
son Shreyank studying in the first
standard ready with school bag
and lunch box and ensure that
they be in time for the school bus.
Nagaraju is a believer in all round
development of one’s personality
and encourages the children to
take up physical activities.
The children have also lived up to
Nagaraju’s expectation by Rishika
winning medals in Karate &
athletics and Shreyank in athletics.
Rishika with medals she has won in
athletics and Karate
Shreyank is an upcoming athlete
Having completed his studies in
Civil Engineering from SMV
Polytechnic, Tanaku, and has
since then worked for 19 years of
which 9 years have been with
ANPCPMC.
As a Student – Nagaraju is on the
extreme left
Nagaraju’s dream and aim is to
become an ideal Engineer in all
ways – Technically and in the
managerial aspects so that he is a
useful member of the society and
specifically to the organization he
is working in.
Since being a complete man
includes relaxing when time
permits, it is by watching movies.
Bahubali and Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s True Lies are his
favorites.
Nagaraju also a cricket fan, with
Tendulkar being his idol, both
because of his batting as well as
the fact that he has come up
without a Godfather. This is how
Nagaraju consider he himself has
come up - by his own abilities.
It is easy to do what others have
done, but difficult to do anything
for the first time, which is what
Nagaraju always dreams to do.
Nagaraju with wife and children
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 12
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LEADERSHIP TIPS FROM THE RUNAWAY
GENERAL
By Thejesha MM
General Stanley McChrystal is widely
admired for his hunger to know the truth,
his courage to find it and his humility to
listen to those around him. Even as the
commanding officer of all U S and
coalition forces in Afghanistan he stationed
himself forward and frequently went on
patrols with his troops to experience their
challenges firsthand.
Excerpts (on leadership) from McChrystal's memoir, My Share of the Task:
1. Leadership is the single biggest
reason for success or failure.
So, after a lifetime, what had I learned
about leadership? Probably not
enough. But I saw enough for me to
believe it was the single biggest
reason organizations succeeded or
failed. It dwarfed numbers,
technology, ideology, and historical
forces in determining the outcome of
events. I used to tell junior leaders that
the nine otherwise identical
parachute infantry battalions of the
82nd Airborne Division ranged widely
in effectiveness, the disparity almost
entirely a function of leadership.
“Switch just two people— the
battalion commander and command
sergeant major—from the best
battalion with those of the worst, and
within ninety days the relative
effectiveness of the battalions will
have switched as well,” I’d say. I still
believe I was correct.
2. Leadership is difficult to measure.
Yet leadership is difficult to measure
and often difficult even to adequately
describe. I lack the academic bona
fides to provide a scholarly analysis of
leadership and human behavior. So I’ll
simply relate what, after a lifetime of
being led and learning to lead, I’ve
concluded.
Leadership is the art of influencing
others. It differs from giving a simple
order or managing in that it shapes
the longer-term attitudes and
behavior of individuals and groups.
George Washington’s tattered army
persisted to ultimate victory. Those
troops displayed the kind of effort that
can never be ordered— only evoked.
Effective leaders stir an intangible but
very real desire inside people. That
drive can be reflected in
extraordinary courage, selfless
sacrifice, and commitment.
3. Leadership is neither good nor evil.
We like to equate leaders with values
we admire, but the two can be
separate and distinct. Self-serving or
evil intent motivated some of the most
effective leaders I saw, like Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi. In the end,
leadership is a skill that can be used
like any other, but with far greater
effect.
4. Leaders take us to where we’d
otherwise not go.
Although Englishmen rushing into the
breach behind Henry V is a familiar
image, leaders whose personal
example or patient persuasion causes
dramatic changes in otherwise inertia-
bound organizations or societies are
far more significant. The teacher who
awakens and encourages in students
a sense of possibility and responsibility
is, to me, the ultimate leader.
5. Success is rarely the work of a
single leader.
… leaders work best in partnership
with other leaders. In Iraq in 2004, I
received specific direction to track
Zarqawi and bring him to justice. But it
was the collaboration of leaders
below me, inside TF 714, that built the
teams, relentlessly hunted, and
ultimately destroyed his lethal
network.
6. Leaders are empathetic.
The best leaders I’ve seen have an
uncanny ability to understand,
empathize, and communicate with
those they lead. They need not agree
or share the same background or
status in society as their followers, but
they understand their hopes, fears,
and passions.
Great leaders intuitively sense, or
simply ask, how people feel and what
resonates with them. At their worst,
demigods like Adolf Hitler manipulate
the passions of frustrated populations
into misguided forces. But empathy
can be remarkably positive when a
Nelson Mandela reshapes and
redirects the energy of a movement
away from violence and into
constructive nation-building.
7. Leadership is not popularity.
For soldiers, the choice between
popularity and effectiveness is
ultimately no choice at all. Soldiers
want to win; their survival depends
upon it. They will accept, and even
take pride in, the quirks and
shortcomings of a leader if they
believe he or she can produce
success.
8. The best leaders are genuine.
I found soldiers would tolerate my
being less of a leader than I hoped to
be, but they would not forgive me
being less than I claimed to be. Simple
honesty matters.
9. Leaders can be found at any rank
and at any age.
I often found myself led by soldiers
many levels junior to me, and I was
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the better for it. Deferring to the
expertise and skills of the leader best
suited to any given situation requires
enough self-confidence to subjugate
one’s ego, but it signals a strong
respect for the people with whom one
serves.
10. Charisma is not leadership.
Personal gifts like intellect or charisma
help. But neither are required nor
enough to be a leader.
Physical appearance, poise, and
outward self-confidence can be
confused with leadership—for a time. I
saw many new lieutenants arrive to
battalions and fail to live up to the
expectations their handsome, broad-
shouldered look generated.
Conversely, I saw others overcome
the initial doubts created by small
stature or a squeaky voice. It took
time and enough interaction with
followers, but performance usually
became more important than the
advantages of innate traits.
Later in my career, I encountered
some figures who had learned to
leverage superficial gifts so effectively
that they appeared to be better
leaders than they were. It took me
some time and interaction —often
under the pressure of difficult
situations—before I could determine
whether they possessed those
bedrock skills and qualities that
infantry platoons would seek to find
and assess in young sergeants and
lieutenants. Modern media
exacerbate the challenge of sorting
reality from orchestrated perception.
11. Leaders walk a fine line between
self-confidence and humility.
Soldiers want leaders who are sure of
their ability to lead the team to
success but humble enough to
recognize their limitations. I learned
that it was better to admit ignorance
or fear than to display false
knowledge or bravado.
And candidly admitting doubts or
difficulties is key to building
confidence in your honesty. But
expressing doubts and confidence is
a delicate balance. When things look
their worst, followers look to the leader
for reassurance that they can and will
succeed.
12. People are born; leaders are
made.
I was born the son of a leader with a
clear path to a profession of
leadership. But whatever leadership I
later possessed, I learned from others. I
grew up in a household of overt
values, many of which hardened in
me only as I matured.
Although history fascinated me, and
mentors surrounded me, the overall
direction and key decisions of my life
and career were rarely impacted by
specific advice, or even a particularly
relevant example I’d read or seen. I
rarely wondered what would Nelson,
Buford, Grant, or my father have
done?
But as I grew, I was increasingly aware
of the guideposts and guardrails that
leaders had set for me, often through
their examples. The question became
what kind of leader have I decided to
be? Over time, decisions came easily
against that standard, even when the
consequences were grave.
13. Leaders are people, and people
constantly change.
Even well into my career I was still
figuring out what kind of leader I
wanted to be. For many years I found
myself bouncing between competing
models of a hard-bitten taskmaster
and a nurturing father figure—
sometimes alternating within a
relatively short time span. That could
be tough on the people I led, and a
bit unfair. They looked for and
deserved steady, consistent
leadership.
When I failed to provide that, I gave
conflicting messages that produced
uncertainty and reduced the
effectiveness of the team we were
trying to create.
As I got older, the swings between
leadership styles were less
pronounced and frequent as I
learned the value of consistency. But
even at the end I still wasn’t the
leader I believed I should be.
14. Leaders are human.
They get tired, angry, and jealous and
carry the same range of emotions
and frailties common to mankind.
Most leaders periodically display
them. The leaders I most admired
were totally human but constantly
strove to be the best humans they
could be.
15. Leaders make mistakes, and they
are often costly.
The first reflex is normally to deny the
failure to themselves; the second is to
hide it from others, because most
leaders covet a reputation for
infallibility. But it’s a fool’s dream and is
inherently dishonest.
16. Leadership is a choice.
Rank, authority, and even
responsibility can be inherited or
assigned, whether or not an individual
desires or deserves them. Even the
mantle of leadership occasionally falls
to people who haven’t sought it. But
actually leading is different.
A leader decides to accept
responsibility for others in a way that
assumes stewardship of their hopes,
their dreams, and sometimes their
very lives. It can be a crushing burden,
but I found it an indescribable honor.
In the end, “there are few secrets to
leadership.” It is mostly just hard work.
More than anything else it requires
self-discipline. Colorful, charismatic
characters often fascinate people,
even soldiers. But over time,
effectiveness is what counts. Those
who lead most successfully do so
while looking out for their followers’
welfare.
Self-discipline manifests itself in
countless ways. In a leader I see it as
doing those things that should be
done, even when they are
unpleasant, inconvenient, or
dangerous; and refraining from those
that shouldn’t, even when they are
pleasant, easy, or safe.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN
CONSTRUCTION SAFETY
In any scenario, from
smart cities to smart transportation,
construction safety is of paramount
importance. Wang Changxin, CEO of
Beijing-based Yunlu Technology,
explains how Yunlu provides solutions
to analyze monitored data from the
entire construction lifecycle to
discover potential construction
problems and minimize quality and
safety incidents.
Construction safety matters
In many countries, infrastructure
disaster-prevention mechanisms and
prediction methods are now
incorporated into key future plans.
Infrastructure disasters often involve
both natural and human factors.
Natural disasters can be predicted
through environmental monitoring
such as meteorology, hydrology, and
geological disaster predictions.
Disasters caused by human error, on
the other hand, can be avoided
through regulations, design, and
online monitoring systems.
Yunlu Technology has worked with
Huawei Cloud to build a world-
leading structural health monitoring
(SHM) big data IoT platform using new
technologies that covers the entire
construction lifecycle and improves
construction safety. By analyzing data
from the O&M stage, it’s possible to
control the usage and development
trends formed during the O&M stage
and provide data to support the
departments that make maintenance
decisions. Construction period
monitoring and the analysis of O&M
test data can provide a useful
reference for the design stage.
Structural health monitoring (SHM)
and medical health monitoring are
somewhat similar. Both involve
collecting data and analyzing it to
make conclusions about diagnosis
and treatment. SHM has been
developing for over 20 years. In most
of the cases, traditional sensors are still
employed and, with the level of data
compiled and collected, it’s
impossible to precisely or effectively
analyze the data.
Multiple disciplines
This is an industry that combines
multiple disciplines and domains. First,
you need technological support that
includes sensors, networks, cloud
platforms, system integration, and
computational mechanics. It also
requires technical expertise in
domains like architecture, bridges,
and water conservation. You also
have to perform big data analysis and
AI-based data mining based on data
modelling. Then you need to obtain
valid structural damage identification,
structural stiffness matrix calibration
and reanalysis, and perform structural
lifespan predictions.
Yunlu + Huawei Cloud EI
The system developed by Yunlu
Technology and Huawei, Huawei
Cloud EI rapidly discovers potential
safety hazards through analysis and
identification, issues early warnings of
possible structural dangers, and
provides data support for construction
and O&M departments.
We’ve deployed over 50 Huawei
Cloud platform development
modules. All the services run on
Huawei cloud services. We leverage
middleware, including data storage
services, as well as various platforms,
such as ModelArts’ machine learning,
deep learning, and image recognition
platforms.
More specifically, Yunlu Technology
has developed five use cases that
utilize Huawei Cloud EI.
Use case 1: Data collection
The first use case is data collection.
For example, fiber-optic sensors can
be used to transmit data to a
collection device, which then
connects to an on-site host, and the
data is then transmitted to the cloud.
However, this deployment model is
complex and expensive.
With the increasing interconnectivity
of everything, we’ve adopted
Huawei’s IoT modules to make it more
convenient to access the system. We
also use Huawei’s edge computing
modules for prompt data processing.
Moreover, by leveraging Huawei’s
edge devices we can access data
from a variety of sensors to achieve
multiple functions using one device.
With edge, device, and cloud
synergy, overall equipment costs have
been reduced by over 70 percent
and the system response is twice as
fast. And thanks to Huawei’s edge
computing module, we have cut
invalid data transmission by two-thirds
and increased valid data by over 50
percent.
Use case 2: Ensuring data consistency
The second use case is ensuring data
consistency. Numerous departments
participate in the data collection
process. You also have a very
complicated personnel situation and
a very long construction lifecycle as
well as frequent changes.
Ensuring the consistency of data and
objects is a common challenge and
problem. We leverage the Huawei
blockchain platform to distribute all
blueprints and contracts through the
blockchain. This ensures that data and
content from various stakeholders,
including owners, planners, designers,
construction, and O&M, is unified.
Use case 3: Structural health
prediction
The third use case is structural health
prediction. What we wanted to
achieve here is to get prompt
information about a construction
project. If a building has a defect, we
want to quickly replace the defective
part to prevent an accident.
So we need to make effective
predictions about the lifespan and
health of construction, as capacity
changes over time.
Using measurements of environmental
loads, such as wind and temperature,
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as well as a structure’s true response,
we’re able to calibrate the stiffness
matrix. In this process, we can
calibrate the overall matrix of the
system, or design parameters, such as
density, elastic modulus, and
constraints, to arrive at the structure’s
true current capacity.
We can then make accurate
forecasts of a building’s structural
response using predictable factors
such as wind speed, wind pressure,
and temperature. With the help of
Huawei Cloud’s machine learning
engineers, we’ve achieved a
prediction accuracy of close to 90
percent.
Use case 4: Automatic site inspection
The fourth use case is automatic site
inspection against construction
specifications. With the
industrialization of buildings, there are
now many new forms of construction,
including what are known as
industrialized residential structures.
These are precast buildings – the
concrete is not cast on site; instead,
the components are transported to
the site for on-site assembly.
Residential industrialization is already a
relatively mature industry and is
common in many developed nations.
China predicts that precast buildings
will make up more than 20 percent of
all new buildings by 2020 and over 50
percent by 2025. The prefabricated
construction industry is set for rapid
development, and while there are
vast market opportunities, there will
invariably be some technical
problems that need an urgent
solution.
For example, ensuring the strength of
floors in the connection process
requires all the grouting holes to be
filled. In the past, this required people
to inspect on-site photographs, which
was very inefficient. Now we use
Huawei Cloud’s ModelArts deep
learning image recognition module to
identify photographs of grouting holes
and determine which are filled, which
are not, and which are for threading
pipes. Typically, you can upload 100
on-site images and achieve an
effective identification rate of close to
80 percent. This solution has made the
inspection department over 50
percent faster and reduced
construction errors by 30 percent.
Use case 5: Structural damage
identification
The fifth use case is structural damage
identification. Sports stadiums, for
example, are impacted by fatigue,
corrosion, and ageing over time. And
inevitably some damage occurs.
Locating and defining the state of the
damage is a crucial task.
However, sensors are only installed in
parts of the structure. This is because
the sensor layout must not impact the
original structural properties of the
building. Moreover, installing many
sensors isn’t cost effective. As a result,
we have to place as few sensors as
possible, while trying to obtain a true
picture of the building’s performance.
This requires us to perform mechanical
back analysis and damage
identification from the data.
In the past, this identification process
would mostly be applied to a few
beams or boards. But by harnessing
Huawei Cloud ModelArts, we can
now identify more complex damage.
Using Huawei Cloud’s EI platform, we
have made mechanical simulations
100 times faster, and are able to
implement an identification solution
that supports real results from data,
covers the whole structure, and
includes monitoring and prediction.
In the future, we want to expand to
low-energy, low-cost IoT applications
to improve O&M management
efficiency and lower costs. We’re also
seeking to develop a structural health
monitoring platform to eliminate
security risks at an early stage to
support the development of smart
cities and smart transportation. And
we hope to build a big data platform
in the construction health monitoring
field to promote the development of
the entire industry chain.
At the heart of our collaboration with
Huawei Cloud EI, we plan to achieve
a safer, better life for all.
End of article by: Wang Changxin, CEO of
Beijing-based Yunlu Technology
Let us also look at how Microsoft
has advanced in field of AI.
Andrea Carl
At the International VDI Conference –
Smart Construction Equipment
2017 (held at Munich, Germany),
Andrea Carl, Director, Commercial
Communications, Microsoft spoke on
how AI is able to increase the safety
on construction sites.
Object and facial recognition could
be used to keep an eye out for health
and safety violations in your
workplace, the set-up
combines Azure, Cognitive
Services and commodity cameras,
running more than 27 million
recognitions every second.
For example, suppose a jackhammer
is required by someone. The AI’s
object recognition capabilities allows
to instantly respond with a message
indicating that a jackhammer was
available on the site.
The platform is also able to monitor
which employees are certified to use
the piece of equipment, and who
handled it most recently, by scanning
faces as different people pick up the
item.
In the eventuality that an employee
without the proper authorization picks
up a particular piece of equipment, a
violation notification will be distributed
to the appropriate personnel,
moreover the system can even make
sure that items on the site are being
stored safely, by referring to tagged
locations that are set up for individual
tools.
Click on the video link below to listen
to the talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-j2QEGcEu8
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 16
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
STOP GLORIFICATION OF ‘BUSY’
Suhas N M, Nemmadi,
HO
We’re all just so “busy” these days.
Desperately “trying to keep our heads
above water.” "Overloaded"
When we say "busy," we're really trying
to say something else—although what
exactly that might be depends on the
harried soul that's complaining:
I'm busy = I'm important.
Being busy gives people a sense
they're needed and important. It's
also a sign that you are self-imposing
these measures of self-worth by
looking at quantity instead of quality
of activity. But, Busyness does not
equal productivity…..
I'm busy = I'm giving you an excuse.
Saying that you're busy is a handy
way to outsource your responsibility to
your irresponsibility. Since you're
always distracted, you don't have to
do anything for anybody.
I'm busy = I'm winning.
To say that “I’m busier than you are”
means I’m more important, or that my
time is more valuable, or that I am
“winning” at some never ending rat
race. What you’re trying to say with
these responses is: I’m busier, more in-
demand, more successful.
Busyness is not a virtue, it's an error in
perspective. It's easy to think that
quantity of activities is quality. It allows
us to avoid meaningful interactions,
commitments, common courtesy, etc.
The crush of busyness defines
management life today. Executives
are at their desks early and leave late.
In between they bounce from
meeting to meeting. Evenings are
spent catching up on email. Time for
them means not having enough of it.
Sometimes time can be a wonderful
excuse for not doing something but in
reality the urgency of time becomes a
curse; it prevents from doing two
critical things: one, making time for
others; and two, making time for
ourselves. I am not talking about work
life balance; I am referring to the
imbalance that two much busyness
imposes on work itself.
Not all managers ricochet from
meeting to meeting. Good ones have
found ways to carve out blocks of
time from their schedules the way that
sculptors shape stone. And once that
time is carved it becomes like
sculpture permanent. That is it stays
open except in cases of extreme
emergency. This becomes the time
when managers do their real work –
meeting with direct reports and
reflecting on their performance.
From these folks I have learned a few
rules that I can share.
Value your time. Regard time as an
asset that like money must be
managed well. If it is squandered it
may be the same as making a poor
investment. And it is because you
have wasted it. Prioritizing tasks can
help you focus on what is important
and what can be eliminated if they
do not add value to the enterprise.
Delegate meetings to others. This is a
terrific way to groom people for more
responsibility. Give them authority to
speak for you at meetings. When
doing so make certain they find ways
to manage their time effectively, too –
in part by delegating to others.
Use free time to reflect. If you want to
reflect, then you have to schedule it.
Make time for selves by keeping one
free afternoon a week or every other
week.
Managing your time very often is not
easy because you may not be in
control of your schedule. Events
happen. Customers need assistance.
Things go wrong. The manager must
respond. But day-to-day – unless you
are a first responder for fire, safety or
health – your schedule is not so
chaotic. You can take control if you
choose to do so.
When we were young we thought
busy people were more important
than everyone else. Otherwise, why
would they be so busy? We had busy
bosses, busy parents, and we
assumed they must have meaningful
things to do. It seemed an easy way
to see who mattered and who didn’t.
The busy must matter more, and the
lazy mattered less.
This is the cult of busy. That simply by
always seeming to have something to
do, we all assume a person is
important or successful. It explains the
behavior of many people at work. By
appearing busy, others bother them
less, and simultaneously believe
they’re doing well at their job. It’s
quite a trick.
We now know the opposite to be true.
Or the near opposite. Here’s why:
Time is the singular measure
of life. It’s one of the few
things you cannot get more
of. Knowing how to use it well
is possibly the most important
skill you can have.
The person who gets a job
done in one hour will seem
less busy than the one who
can only do it in five. How
busy a person seems is not
necessarily indicative of the
quality of their results.
Someone who is better at
something might very well
seem less busy, because they
are more effective. Results
matter more than the time
spent to achieve them.
Being in demand can have
good and bad
causes. Someone with a line
of people waiting to talk to
them outside their office door
at work seems busy, and
therefore seems important.
But somehow the clerk
running the slowest
supermarket checkout line in
the universe isn’t praised in
the same way; it means
they’re ineffective. People
who are at the center of
everything aren’t necessarily
good at what they do
(although they might be). The
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 17
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
bar of being busy falls far well
below the bar of being good.
The compulsion to save time
may lead nowhere. If you’re
always cutting corners to save
time, when exactly are you
using the time you’ve saved?
There is this illusion some day
in the future you get back all
the time you’ve squirreled
away in one big chunk. But
time does not work this way. It
could be that most of our
time savings goes straight into
watching television. That’s
where all the time savings we
think we get actually goes.
The phrase “I don’t have time
for…” should never be
said. We all get the same
amount of time every day. If
you can’t do something it’s
not about the quantity of
time. It’s really about how
important the task is to you. If
you were having a heart
attack, you’d magically find
time to go to the hospital.
That time would come from
something else you’d
planned to do, but now
seems less important. This is
how time works all the time.
What people really mean
when they say “I don’t have
time” is this thing is not
important enough to earn my
time. It’s a polite way to tell
people that they, or their
request, is not important to
you.
This means people who are always
busy are time poor. They have a time
shortage. They have time debt. They
are either trying to do too much, or
they aren’t doing what they’re doing
very well. They are failing to
either a) be effective with their
time b) don’t know what they’re trying
to effect, so they scramble away at
trying to optimize for everything,
which leads to optimizing nothing.
On the other hand, people who truly
have control over time have some in
their pocket to give to someone in
need. They have a sense of priorities
that drive their use of time and can
shift away from the specific ordinary
work that’s easy to justify, in favor of
the more ethereal, deeper things that
are harder to justify. They protect their
time from trivia and idiocy. These
people are time rich. They provide
themselves with a surplus of time. They
might seem to idle, or to relax, more
often than the rest, but that may be a
sign of their mastery not their
incompetence.
We should deliberately try not to fill
our calendar and choose not to say
Yes to everything. To do so would
make us too busy, and perhaps, less
effective at what our goals are. We
should always want to have some
margin of time in reserve, time we are
free to spend in any way we choose,
including doing almost nothing at all.
We free to take detours, open to
serendipity. Some of the best thinkers
throughout history had some of their
best thoughts while going for walks,
playing cards with friends, little things
that generally would not be
considered the hallmarks of busy
people. It’s the ability to pause, to
reflect, and relax, to let the mind
wander, that’s perhaps the true sign
of time mastery, for when the mind
returns it’s often sharper and more
efficient, but most important perhaps,
happier than it was before.
There must have been times in our life
when we believed all our happiness
revolved around how busy we were. If
I was busy, I was using time wisely. If I
was busy, I was proving to myself that I
was valuable. If I was busy, I was
creating the possibility of a better life
in the future. Any threat to my
productivity was a threat to my sense
of hope.
Being busy didn’t make us feel happy,
but it creates the illusion that we are
somehow building a foundation for
that feeling someday, somewhere,
when we could finally slow down and
be free.
Most of us are fiercely defensive of our
busyness. We have processes to
streamline, goals to accomplish,
promotions to earn, debt to eliminate,
exercise regimes to master, dreams to
chase—and hopefully along the way,
people to help and inspire.
We multitask, even when it means not
truly being present in an activity we
enjoy, and maybe even feel guilty for
blocks of unplanned time in our
schedules. We look for productivity
hacks and apps, join forums to discuss
ways to get more things done; and
when we do aim to simplify our lives,
even that undertaking involves a
lengthy to-do list.
Idleness is not just a vacation, an
indulgence or a vice; it is as
indispensable to the brain as vitamin
D is to the body, and deprived of it we
suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring
as rickets. The space and quiet that
idleness provides is a necessary
condition for standing back from life
and seeing it whole, for making
unexpected connections and waiting
for the wild summer lightning strikes of
inspiration — it is, paradoxically,
necessary to getting any work done.
“Idle dreaming is often of the essence
of what we do,” wrote Thomas
Pynchon in his essay on sloth.
Archimedes’ “Eureka” in the bath,
Newton’s apple, Jekyll & Hyde and
the benzene ring: history is full of
stories of inspirations that come in idle
moments and dreams. It almost
makes you wonder whether loafers,
goldbricks and no-accounts aren’t
responsible for more of the world’s
great ideas, inventions and
masterpieces than the hardworking.
Thanks for ideas/inputs to:
Kristin Tucker, Baltimore, Maryland Area
Scott Berkun, who is the author of seven popular
books on creativity, leadership, philosophy and
speaking.
John Baldoni, an internationally recognized
executive coach/author.
Lori Deschene, founder of Tiny Buddha. She’s also
the author of Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude
Journal and other books.
Tim Kreider, an essayist and cartoonist. His most
recent book is We Learn Nothing (Simon &
Schuster).
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 18
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
By Mary A
The oldest clay pots demonstrably
used to cook plants have been
identified in Libya.
Dated to more than 10,000 years ago,
the unglazed pots are almost certainly
the work of hunter-gatherers rather
than settled farmers, say the
archaeologists.
1. Foremost health benefits of clay pot
cooking come from its ability to
circulate steam throughout cooking.
This provides plenty of moisture and
means that you can cook with less oil
and fat.
2. Since Clay is alkaline in nature and
when food is cooked it neutralizes the
PH balance of food and hence acts
as a natural detox. You will be
surprised to know that mud contains
all the possible vitamins; even Vitamin
B12.
3. Slow cooking process retains all the
nutrients of the food that we cook
and hence the food is much tastier.
4. Reheating the food always leads to
loss of nutrition but if you cook in a
clay pot it retains the temperature for
a longer time and no worries for
reheating. Hence there is no need to
transfer it to a casserole.
Seasoning a Clay Pot
If you season your pot properly, it will
become durable and likely last for a
long time. Without proper seasoning,
however, there’s a high risk of the pot
cracking.
There are a couple of different
methods of seasoning. Immerse the
new Clay pot in a big vessel full of
water for 48 hours, and then scrub off
the mud inside the clay pot using a
scrubber. Let it dry for few hours. Your
pot is ready to be used.
Cleaning the Clay Pot
Because clay is porous, you cannot
clean it using soap or normal
dishwashing detergent. The soap will
soak into the clay and end up
leaching into the next meal you cook
in the pot. Instead, you need to clean
a clay pot using hot water and a stiff
brush. Baking soda can be used to
remove the odors especially if you
have cooked with onion and garlic.
For stubborn stains, take rock salt in a
scrub pad and scrub it nicely. Fill the
pot with hot water and wait for half
hour. Discard the water and wash it
again
Temperature Control
For stovetop cooking start on low heat
and gradually increase the
temperature, usually staying at
medium heat or lower. Sudden rise or
fall of the temperature may lead to
cracking.
Do not place a hot clay pot on a cold
or cool surface, as it will crack. So
when taking a hot pot out of the
oven, always place on a wood/ heat
resistant trivet or a towel.
For oven cooking, the oven does not
need to be preheated. Instead, place
the clay pot in a cold oven and allow
the temperature to rise slowly.
Benefits of Using Clay Pots in Cooking
According to Ayurveda Specialist Dr.
Surya Bhagwati, "cooking in a clay pot
not only has a variety of health
benefits but also makes for an easier
cooking process and in the end, a
more flavorful and nutritious dish. Due
to its numerous health benefits,
Ayurveda suggests cooking in a clay
pot. Cooking in a clay pot is much
better than cooking in a normal
utensil, not just for its various health
benefits, but also makes it much
simpler to cook and improves the
quality of the food at the end. The
porosity and natural insulation
properties of clay causes heat and
moisture to circulate throughout clay
pots. This makes cooking in a clay pot
a much slower process but has added
benefit of preventing amateur cooks
from burning their dishes. More
importantly, this causes the moisture
and nutrient loss while cooking in clay
pots to be much lower compared to
cooking in metal or enamel lined
utensils."
Alkaline Nature
Clay is alkaline in nature and it
interacts with the acidity in the food,
thereby neutralising the pH balance
and eventually making food healthier
and a lot tastier. It is believed to
provide the required minerals
including calcium, magnesium, iron,
phosphorus and sulphur that benefits
our health.
Lesser Usage of Oil
Due to its heat resistance and slow
cooking, the food retains all its oils and
moisture; therefore, you wouldn't
require extra oil and fat for providing
moisture to your food.
Ensures Flavourful Food
Due to slow cooking and porous
nature of clay pots, the moisture and
aroma tends to stay in the pot without
losing any nutrient, hence making
it flavoursome. It also has an earthy
flavour added to it, which we bet you
may not get in any other utensil.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF CLAY
POT COOKING
DIMENSIONS VOL.11, ISSUE 4, APR 2019 19
A Journal of A N Prakash Construction Pro ject Management Consul tants Pvt . L td
APPENDIX
Question of the Month
In the article: ‘LEADERSHIP TIPS FROM
THE RUNAWAY GENERAL’, why was the
General nicknamed so, and what do
we learn from it? Please send your
reply by 15th May.
Question of last Month was:
What does the Chimpanzee Alpha
Male do to the baby chimpanzees to
keep himself in the good books of
their mothers?
The correct and only answer was sent
by Swastika P from HO:
Only during campaigning the male
chimpanzees would tickle the babies
to impress their mothers.
The TED talk was about how Empathy
was an important required for an
Alpha Male to maintain his position.
Do other animals too show Empathy?
Here are three instances:
Elephants Gathered To Mourn A
Conservationist’s Death
Conservationist Lawrence Anthony
developed a reputation as “the
elephant whisperer.” He had the
ability to calm down African
elephants. He worked in the Thula
Thula Reserve, where he spent his time
trying to calm down elephants that
were unhappy about having been
relocated there. The elephants
wanted to leave, but he managed to
keep them in place, knowing that
they would be killed if they left the
protected area.
Years later, Anthony died of a heart
attack. He had not been in the
reserve or seen the elephants for 1.5
years when it happened. The
elephants, somehow sensing that
Anthony had passed, left the reserve
and traveled for 12 hours to his home
to pay their respects. Just as an
elephant will mourn the dead of its
own species, they came out for
Anthony.
In total, two full herds of elephants
came in a procession to his home,
with each one coming separately. This
massive group of gigantic elephants
waited on Anthony’s property for two
days to mourn his death before they
headed back home.
A Pride of Lions Saved a Girl In
Ethiopia
In 2005, a 12-year-old girl near Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, was dragged out
into the wild and beaten bloody by
seven men. This was supposed to
convince her to marry one of them—
which seems like a weird method but
is shockingly common there.
According to the United Nations, 70
percent of marriages in that area start
with a young girl being abducted,
dragged out into the middle of
nowhere, raped, and then forced to
marry someone.
All that would have happened to this
girl, too, if it wasn’t for a group of lions.
When the girl started crying, a nearby
pride of lions heard her and rushed to
her rescue. The animals pounced on
the men and chased them away,
saving her before she could be raped
and forced into a life of servitude.
That’s not all, though. If they’d just
attacked the men, it could easily
have just been a random lion attack.
But they stayed with the girl. The lions
waited with the bruised child for
about 12 hours—protecting her in
case the men came back—until her
family found her. And when they did,
the lions walked back into the jungle,
leaving her safe.
Macaques Refuse Food If Others Get
Hurt
Another experiment was done on
macaques. The macaques were
given a chain and taught that they
would be fed if they pulled the chain.
The catch, however, was that every
time they pulled the chain, another
macaque would be shocked. If the
macaques didn’t pull the chain, they
weren’t fed at all.
Even though it meant risking
starvation, 87 percent of the
macaques refused to pull the chain if
they knew that it would hurt another
macaque. In one case, a macaque
went a full two weeks without eating
rather than deal with the guilt of
hurting another animal.
It’s pretty impressive but even more
significant when you compare that to
another study. Because another
group of scientists did a similar
experiment on a different animal—
humans. They paid people to pull a
lever that they claimed would shock
another person with electricity. That
other person was an actor who
pretended to be in incredible pain
every time they pulled the lever.
In the experiment with humans, a full
87 percent of the people pulled the
lever all the way to a space marked
“Danger! Severe Shock!” even while
hearing their victim scream in pain. It
was all to get a few bucks which they
could have earned with a few hours
of work.
Editorial team
Roy Zacharias, Editor
Editorial Board: R Suresha, Divya K
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