ADVANCED ENGINEERING INFORMATICS

Editors
Professor I.F.C. SMITH Applied Computing and Mechanics (IMAC), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Ian.Smith@ep.ch Professor T. TOMIYAMA Intelligent Mechanical Systems, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands; T.Tomiyama@tudelft.nl

Associate Editors
William OBrien Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C-1752, Austin, Texas 78712-0273, US Chun-Hsien (C.H.) Chen School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore, Singapore

Editorial Board
B. Akinci Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Porter Hall 123F, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA Nizar Bel Hadj Ali Department of Civil Engineering. nieurs de Gabe ` s (ENIG), Ecole Nationale dInge ` s, Tunisia Gabe C.J. Anumba Department of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 104 Engineering Unit A University Park, PA 16802, USA `s J.-P. Barthe Department of Computer Science, de Technologie de Compie ` gne, France Universite de ric Bosche Fre Heriot-Watt University School of the Built Environment Institute for Building and Urban Design EH14 4AS, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK D. Braha Management Department, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, MA 02747 2300, USA I. Brilakis Assistant Professor, Building Construction Program, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, SEB 328, 790 Atlantic Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0355, USA I. Flood Rinker School College of Design, Construction, and Planning, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA K. Fujita Design and Integration Division, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan J.H. Garrett, Jr Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Ashok Goel Associate Professor, Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA D.E. Grierson Department of Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada W. Huhnt t Berlin, Technische Universita r Bauingenieurwesen, Institut fu Fachgebiet Bauinformatik, Sekr. TIB-1 B 8, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, D-13355 Berlin, Germany Y. Jin University of Southern California, Denney Research Building, Suite 101, 1042 W. 36th Place, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1111, USA L. Joskowicz Institute of Computer Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel V.R. Kamat Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Room 2340 G. G. Brown Building, 2350 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Y. Kitamura The Institute of Scientic and Industrial Research, Osaka University, 8-1, Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan P. Kripakaran College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Harrison Building, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QF, UK V. Kryssanov Department of Information & Communication Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Noji Higashi 1-chome, 1-1 Kusatsu, 525-8577 Shiga-ken, Japan B. Kumar School of Built and Natural Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK J. Kunz (Emeritus Editor) Stanford University, Center for Integrated Faculty Engineering, Building 550, Stanford, CA 94305-4200, USA Ghang Lee Assistant Professor, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Yonsei University, 262 Seongsanno, Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul 120-749, Korea M.H. Lee Department of Computer Science, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK Yongsheng Ma Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering 4-9, Mechanical Engineering Building, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G8, Canada Y. Raq Senior Lecturer, University of Plymouth, School of Marine Science & Engineering, Reynolds Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA B. Raphael Assistant Professor, Department of Building, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117566 W.C. Regli Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA Y. Rezgui Prof of Engineering Informatics, BRE Chair in Building Systems and Informatics, School of Engineering Cardiff University, Queens Buildings, The Parade, CARDIFF, CF24 3AA Wales, UK U. Rueppel Technische Universitaet Darmstadt, Institute of Numerical Methods and Informatics in Civil Engineering, Petersenstrasse 13, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany, Building L5 01, Room 227 Dirk Schaefer The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Atlanta, GA 30322-0405, USA R. Scherer t Dresden, Technische Universita r Bauinformatik, Institut fu 01062 Dresden, Germany O. Shai Mechanical Engineering School, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 699978, Israel K. Shea Product Development, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstrasse 15, D-85748 Garching, Germany W. Shen National Research Council of Canada, Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute, 1200 Montreal Road, Bldg. M-58, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada Mohsin K. Siddiqui Assistant Professor, Construction Engineering and Management, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), KFUPM Box 1032, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia L. Soibelman Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 118N Porter Hall, Pittsburgh, PA - 15213-3890, USA Walid Tizani Dept of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK Amy Trappey Distinguished University Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 300 Y. Umeda Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Yamada-oka 2-1, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan Jozsef Vancza MTA SZTAKI, Deputy Head, Engineering and Management Intelligence Laboratory, Computer and Automation Research Unit, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary D. Xue Dept of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada Wei Yan Professor, Logistics Engineering School, Shanghai Maritime University, 550 Sea-port Avenue, Shanghai 201306, P. R. China M. Yoshioka Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University Kita 14 Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0814, Japan