The Dictionary of Construction Terms offers clear and concise explanations of the most commonly encountered legal and technical terms, phrases and abbreviations used throughout the construction industry. It will save valuable time when searching for an authoritative explanation of a frequently used term and will become a practical reference for construction lawyers, practitioners and students, as well as those in related industries including planning, property and insurance. Why you should buy this book: There is no other all-inclusive collection of legal and technical terms available at present Convenient source of information for lawyers, practitioners and students Includes a list of common technical acronyms (ie. DPC, DPM, FFL) Lists acronyms of common institutions such as the ICE, JCT and ACE Examples of definitions: Modular construction A modern construction method whereby the building is constructed using prefabricated or pre-assembled building sections or modules. The three-dimensional building sections are typically fabricated and assembled in an enclosed factory environment and then delivered to site, ready for installation. Modular construction is aimed at minimising construction time by standardising design components, providing consistent quality and allowing site preparation and building activities to commence concurrently with the construction of the factory-made modules. Snagging The process of formally inspecting the construction works to identify any incomplete works or defects in completed works. A snagging list (or ‘punch list’) is a schedule of defects resulting from this inspection. These items typically need to be rectified prior to the issuing of a completion certificate or handing-over of the works although in some cases a completion certificate will be issued with a snagging list attached.

The denotational and expressive needs in cognitive informatics, computational intelligence, software engineering, and knowledge engineering have led to the development of new forms of mathematics collectively known as denotational mathematics. Denotational mathematics is a category of mathematical structures that formalize rigorous expressions and long-chain inferences of system compositions and behaviors with abstract concepts, complex relations, and dynamic processes. Typical paradigms of denotational mathematics are concept algebra, system algebra, Real-Time Process Algebra (RTPA), Visual Semantic Algebra (VSA), fuzzy logic, and rough sets. A wide range of applications of denotational mathematics have been identified in many modern science and engineering disciplines that deal with complex and intricate mathematical entities and structures beyond numbers, Boolean variables, and traditional sets. This issue of Springer’s Transactions on Computational Science on Denotational Mathematics for Computational Intelligence presents a snapshot of current research on denotational mathematics and its engineering applications. The volume includes selected and extended papers from two international conferences, namely IEEE ICCI 2006 (on Cognitive Informatics) and RSKT 2006 (on Rough Sets and Knowledge Technology), as well as new contributions. The following four important areas in denotational mathem- ics and its applications are covered: Foundations and applications of denotational mathematics, focusing on: a) c- temporary denotational mathematics for computational intelligence; b) deno- tional mathematical laws of software; c) a comparative study of STOPA and RTPA; and d) a denotational mathematical model of abstract games.