Preface

This book celebrates the outcome of the collective and extensive efforts of contributing authors, technical editors, editorial staff, copy and format editors, and printers for the past two years. We are happy to present the results of the latest and cutting edge research by scholars from many parts of the globe in this book. The contributing papers are presented in a single volume of the conference proceedings after rigorous double and independent peer reviews. The extensive peer reviews are an ISEC Society trademark of excellence since its inception in 2001.

This year, ISEC-08 is hosted by Western Sydney University, Parramatta, New South Wales Australia. The main theme of ISEC-08 is ‘Implementing Innovative Ideas in Structural Engineering and Project Management’. The goal of the conference is to provide a platform to scholars, researchers and practitioners across all continents and countries to present and disseminate the latest innovative ideas, research results, and findings during the conference and in the conference proceedings.

The proceedings present research-based papers related to innovative ideas in infrastructure engineering, sustainability, and construction project management. The book offers papers from the various civil engineering and construction areas including structures, materials, construction safety, housing, education and professional ethics, cost and project management, asset and facilitates management, risk analysis and disaster management, procurement, and quality, among others.

The conference is supported by the University of New South Wales, Institution of Civil Engineers, American Concrete Institute, Chartered Institute of Building, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, Japan Concrete Institute, Architectural Institute of Japan, and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

On behalf of the organizing committee, we wish to thank all authors for their research papers and contributions to this conference. Many thanks to the members of the International Technical Committee and other reviewers who offered their time and technical expertise during the review process. We wish to thank the University of Western Sydney at Parramatta for providing the facilities and infrastructure that made the organization of this conference possible.

Dr. Swapan Saha, Western Sydney University, Sydney Australia
Dr. Y. X. Zhang, University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia
Dr. Siamak Yazdani, North Dakota State University, USA
Dr. Amarjit Singh, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
Editors