Abstract The 21st century is witnessing a fast-paced digital revolution. A significant trend is that cyber and physical environments are being unprecedentedly entangled with the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT has been widely immersed into various domains in the industry. Among those areas where IoT would make significant impacts are building construction, operation, and management by facilitating high-class services, providing efficient functionalities, and moving towards sustainable development goals. So far, IoT itself has entered an ambiguous phase for industrial utilization, and there are limited number of studies focusing on the application of IoT in the building industry. Given the promising future impact of IoT technologies on buildings, and the increasing interests in interdisciplinary research among academics, this paper investigates the state-of-the-art projects and adoptions of IoT for the development of smart buildings within both academia and industry contexts. The wide-ranging IoT concepts are provided, covering the necessary breadth as well as relevant topic depth that directly relates to smart buildings. Current enabling technologies of IoT, especially those applied to buildings and related areas are summarized, which encompasses three different layers based on the conventional IoT architecture. Afterwards, several recent applications of IoT technologies on buildings towards the critical goals of smart buildings are selected and presented. Finally, the priorities and challenges of successful and seamless IoT integration for smart buildings are discussed. Besides, this paper discusses the future research questions to advance the implementation of IoT technologies in both building construction and operation phases. The paper argues that a mature adoption of IoT technologies in the building industry is not yet realized and, therefore, calls for more attention from researchers in the relevant fields from the application perspective.
Abstract A large number of iron ore tailings produced by the iron ore beneficiation industry have become a major challenge for industry owners and local government dealing with waste due to their environmental pollution, health issues and land scarcity. The best way to solve the problems of iron ore tailings is to develop large-scale utilization technologies that can consume large amounts of this waste. This paper specifically points out three directions for the use of iron ore tailings in construction and building materials, namely production of cementitious materials, preparation of bricks as well as preparation of concrete. Current research status and progress on the cementitious activity of iron ore tailings and these three directions are reviewed, and the future scope of research in this area is suggested. It is believed that iron ore tailings are consumed in large quantities, which not only solves their disposal related difficulties but also saves natural materials for these construction and building materials. From the economic point of view, it also provides economic advantages by not only producing low-cost construction and building materials, but also reducing the disposal cost of iron ore tailings.
With the expansion of urbanization, the scientific and reasonable evaluation of the efficiency of urban water supply systems is crucial for advancing the water supply industry toward high-quality development. The water supply industry faces challenges such as water shortages, stricter water quality standards, and the need for improved service quality. To comprehensively assess the effectiveness of urban water supply systems, developing and refining an indicator system that accurately reflects their efficiency is essential. This paper explores the evaluation system for the performance and efficiency of water supply systems in China over the past decade. It combines the current development status of the water supply industry and constructs an efficiency evaluation indicator system for urban water supply systems from five dimensions: operational efficiency, supply quality, safety management, service efficiency, and comprehensive benefits. Through a systematic analysis and screening of various indicator types, the system includes 31 evaluation indicators identified based on the principles of comprehensiveness, representativeness, and scientificity. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to assign weights to the indicators, ensuring the scientific and rational nature of the evaluation results. Evaluation scores classify water supply system efficiency into four levels: excellent, good, qualified, and unqualified. A demonstration application of the water supply system efficiency evaluation was conducted in four typical enterprises, and data was collected and analyzed. The results showed that the evaluation grades were excellent, good, excellent, and good, respectively. These efficiency evaluation results generally align with feedback from on-site research experts, verifying the feasibility of the assessment method and its ability to accurately reflect the operational status of water supply companies, while also highlighting each company′s shortcomings. The evaluation results enable water supply companies to identify shortcomings and implement corresponding improvement measures, thereby enhancing overall effectiveness. Evaluating water supply system effectiveness is crucial for improving quality and efficiency in water supply companies, promoting high-quality construction, and ensuring the sustainable development of the urban water supply industry. This study provides an important reference and guidance for the development of the urban water supply industry through scientific evaluation and improvement measures.
Renewable energy sources, Environmental protection
Abstract Agriculture functions as the cornerstone of national development, and the Yellow River Basin (YRB) plays a crucial role in China’s economy. This study examines agricultural production efficiency (APE) across nine YRB provinces from 2000–2022 by integrating static and dynamic analyses through the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model and the Malmquist productivity index. By contrasting a three-stage DEA-Malmquist model that incorporates random managerial inefficiency with one that excludes it, we identify technological progress as the key driver of APE growth in the YRB, though with marked regional disparities. The study further systematically investigates determinants influencing APE, including environmental factors, and proposes evidence-based strategies to optimize agricultural productivity in the region. The findings highlight technological advancement as the dominant force behind total factor productivity growth, while environmental variables exert substantial influence on APE outcomes. Recommendations include promoting targeted efficiency improvements, fostering technological innovation, optimizing resource allocation, and strengthening policy coordination to achieve sustainable and efficient agricultural development in the YRB.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social Sciences
The industrial Internet plays a vital role in promoting the digital transformation of enterprises, especially in the core application field of the power industry. Evaluating the maturity of the industrial Internet of power enterprises and finding the weak points in the construction of the industrial Internet are of great significance for the digital transformation of power enterprises. Firstly, this paper reviews the existing literature and analyzes the evaluation situation of industrial Internet maturity. Research has found that there is relatively little research on the maturity evaluation of the industrial Internet for the power industry, and existing maturity models have difficulty meeting industry-specific needs. Therefore, it is very important and necessary to build a maturity evaluation model of the industrial Internet suitable for the power industry. Subsequently, based on the specific characteristics of the power industry, while referring to the authoritative literature and industry standards, this paper constructs a three-level index system covering key elements such as equipment networking, information network infrastructure construction, supply chain management, and intelligent production and simultaneously expounds the quantitative collection methods and scoring principles of indices. Then, introducing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine subjective weights and the Entropy Weight Method (EWM) to quantify the objective weights of indices, a maturity evaluation method that combines subjective judgment and objective data support is formed. Later, the calculation method for the comprehensive score of indices and the criteria for classifying maturity levels are explained. Finally, a specific power enterprise is selected as a case study, and the evaluation results are analyzed to verify the feasibility of the evaluation method.
Anastasiia Bielohrad, Artem Pryymachenko, Tikholaz E.
Introduction. The post-war reconstruction of Ukraine is one of the most important stages in the restoration of a state that has suffered significant destruction and losses. Reconstruction requires a comprehensive approach to the problem of destroyed infrastructure and housing stock, in addition to financial investments. The solutions needed today are construction and production of building materials based on the principles of sustainable development. The best European practices and experience should be incorporated.
Problems. The European integration of the construction materials industry has been in the process of implementation in the form of Regulation (EU) no. 305/2011 [1], and from January 1, 2023, the Law of Ukraine "On placing construction products on the market" [2], implementing the provisions of Regulation (EU) no. 305/2011 [1]. At the same time, the previous national standards - the State Standards of Ukraine - are still in force in parallel with the newly introduced European standards. This makes it difficult for manufacturers, customers, construction companies and designers to use the regulatory documentation. This situation fully applies to producing concrete and cement used in general construction.
Objective. To review the current Ukrainian standards that regulate the selection of the required type of concrete mixtures by designers and manufacturers of concrete mixtures cement to meet the durability requirements of concrete structures.
Based on transcendental probability theory, the probability density functions of two non-Gaussian scalar sums of wind effects are derived from the relationship between the probability density of the sum of random variables and the joint probability density function of sub-random variables by Hermite polynomial transformation. The extreme values of the two non-Gaussian wind effects are derived from the probability density function of the two components of the scalar sum, and then the equation of the combined coefficients of the two uncorrelated non-Gaussian wind effects is derived. Based on the POD decomposition of the covariance matrix of the fluctuating non-Gaussian wind effect after variance normalization, the combined extremum equations for the positive and negative correlation of the two non-Gaussian wind effect components are derived, respectively. The extreme value combination equations of the multi-component non-Gaussian fluctuating wind effect are derived from the two-component combination, and the influence coefficients of the non-Gaussian extreme value are verified by the extreme value probability transformation method. The wind load characteristics and the combination of wind load effect components of low-rise buildings under different eave heights and roof slopes are investigated by using the test data of low-rise buildings in NIST database.
This study is aimed at analysing the requirements for compressive strength values of rocks used in the universally understood construction industry as stone materials. The compressive strength value obtained in laboratory tests may prove significantly different from the actual compressive strength of a given rock, depending on its application. According to PN-EN 1342:2013, lower expected value must be declared for paving block stone, normalised value for wall components, as per PN-EN 1996-1-1:2023 and PN-EN 771-6:2015, while with respect to stone for hydrotechnical works – structural integrity acc. to PN-EN 13383-1:2003. Despite testing samples in the same manner, e.g. acc. to PN-EN 1926:2007, all these parameters differ with the declared value and, in many cases, significantly differ from the most frequently used average compressive strength value. The analysis involved the results of compressive strength tests performed as per PN-EN 1926:2007, for samples of sandstone, granite, and limestone. The tests were performed for the aforementioned rocks in the air-dry condition, after saturation, and after the frost resistance test. On average, for all rock types, the lower expected value vs. average value was lower: in the air-dry condition by 25%, after saturation by 29%, and after frost resistance test by 37%. Furthermore, in most analysed cases, lower expected value did not exceed minimum compressive strength value. Normalised value in the air-dry condition was by approximately 15% lower than the average value, while after saturation totalled from 10% to 25%, depending on rock type.
Focussing on two different use cases-Quality Control methods in industrial contexts and Neural Network algorithms for healthcare diagnostics-this research investigates the inclusion of Fully Homomorphic Encryption into real-world applications in the healthcare sector. We evaluate the performance, resource requirements, and viability of deploying FHE in these settings through extensive testing and analysis, highlighting the progress made in FHE tooling and the obstacles still facing addressing the gap between conceptual research and practical applications. We start our research by describing the specific case study and trust model were working with. Choosing the two FHE frameworks most appropriate for industry development, we assess the resources and performance requirements for implementing each of the two FHE frameworks in the first scenario, Quality Control algorithms. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate the effectiveness and resource consumption of the two use cases-complex NN models and simple QC algorithms-when implemented in an FHE setting.
Marta Sidorkiewicz, Karolina Królikowska, Berenika Dyczek
et al.
This study examines the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing sustainability and efficiency within the wine industry. It focuses on AI-driven intelligent management in viticulture, wine production, and enotourism. As the wine industry faces environmental and economic challenges, AI offers innovative solutions to optimize resource use, reduce environmental impact, and improve customer engagement. Understanding AI's potential in sustainable winemaking is crucial for fostering responsible and efficient industry practices. The research is based on a questionnaire survey conducted among Polish winemakers, combined with a comprehensive analysis of AI methods applicable to viticulture, production, and tourism. Key AI technologies, including predictive analytics, machine learning, and computer vision, are explored. The findings indicate that AI enhances vineyard monitoring, optimizes irrigation, and streamlines production processes, contributing to sustainable resource management. In enotourism, AI-powered chatbots, recommendation systems, and virtual tastings personalize consumer experiences. The study highlights AI's impact on economic, environmental, and social sustainability, supporting local wine enterprises and cultural heritage. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Sustainable Development, AI-Driven Management, Viticulture, Wine Production, Enotourism, Wine Enterprises, Local Communities
Theofanis P. Raptis, Andrea Passarella, Marco Conti
Wireless edge networks in smart industrial environments increasingly operate using advanced sensors and autonomous machines interacting with each other and generating huge amounts of data. Those huge amounts of data are bound to make data management (e.g., for processing, storing, computing) a big challenge. Current data management approaches, relying primarily on centralized data storage, might not be able to cope with the scalability and real time requirements of Industry 4.0 environments, while distributed solutions are increasingly being explored. In this paper, we introduce the problem of distributed data access in multi-hop wireless industrial edge deployments, whereby a set of consumer nodes needs to access data stored in a set of data cache nodes, satisfying the industrial data access delay requirements and at the same time maximizing the network lifetime. We prove that the introduced problem is computationally intractable and, after formulating the objective function, we design a two-step algorithm in order to address it. We use an open testbed with real devices for conducting an experimental investigation on the performance of the algorithm. Then, we provide two online improvements, so that the data distribution can dynamically change before the first node in the network runs out of energy. We compare the performance of the methods via simulations for different numbers of network nodes and data consumers, and we show significant lifetime prolongation and increased energy efficiency when employing the method which is using only decentralized low-power wireless communication instead of the method which is using also centralized local area wireless communication.
A. Siddika, Md. Abdullah Al Mamun, W. Ferdous
et al.
Automatic construction systems have become the focus of the construction industry and research projects worldwide. Numerous technologies involving 3D printing (3DP) of concrete elements have been developed, and their application in construction projects has been growing. The 3DP in concrete construction is increasing due to its freedom in geometry, rapidness, formwork-less printing, low waste generation, eco-friendliness, cost-saving nature, and safety. Development of 3DP is not only limited to the earth but also gaining attention for building habitats in space. This study aims to present the technical, socio-economical, and environmental aspects related to 3DP of concrete structures for a systematic summation of the technology, guidelines, applications, challenges, and prospects of future research and market in the construction industry. This comprehensive review shows that challenges involved in 3D concrete printing should be analyzed further by researchers to enhance mechanical performance, durability, and sustainability and establish appropriate standard guidelines for printing structures.
The construction industry is one of the largest users of natural resources and can, thus, lead to significant environmental issues. Therefore, there is elevated interest worldwide in developing sustainable construction materials and techniques that can reduce these associated environmental impacts. In this context, one substantial area of focus is the incorporation of textile waste in construction materials, such as concrete. Textile waste is generated in large quantities from the production stage through to the consumption and end-of-life disposal periods. Hence, it is prudent to devise effective ways of recycling this waste, which can, in turn, reduce the environmental implications of textile production and cut down the quantity of waste sent to landfills. Furthermore, fibers obtained from recycled textile waste can be used to reinforce concrete, thus replacing the need for synthetic fibers. This review focuses on the use and effects of incorporating polymer fibers from recycled textile waste in concrete and the use of textile polymer fiber in the construction of various structures, and challenges in the use of recycled fibers in concrete and the parameters affecting the resultant strength of concrete structures, such as stress transfer, crack control, bond strength, and spalling, etc., are discussed.
In the context of the rapid development of the construction industry and the growing attention to sustainability, modular construction is a promising method that deserves the attention of researchers. The aim of the study is to reveal the environmental aspects of modular construction, make a comparative analysis with traditional methods and highlight the prospects for the development of this technology. The article uses a comprehensive methodological approach, including the analysis of the life cycle of the building, comparative analysis of materials and methods of modular and traditional construction. The result of the study is that modular construction contributes to the reduction of the overall environmental load by reducing energy costs, emissions and efficient use of resources. Which leads to the following conclusion: modular construction represents a significant potential for sustainable development in the construction industry. The results of the study can serve as a basis for the development of strategies for the implementation of this technology taking into account environmental performance. The scientific novelty lies in exploring the environmental benefits of modular construction in more detail, providing relevant data and analysis, which makes the work an important contribution to the field of sustainable construction and stimulates further research in this area.
Some physical and mechanical properties of laminated timbers used in wooden construction and furniture industry were examined. Polyurethane (PU) glue was used in the production of laminates with 5 layers. The surface layers in each laminated timber (Glulam) were from the same wood type, and the core layers were from willow wood. The laminated timbers whose outer layers were made of willow (Salix alba L.), yellow pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), and ash (Fraxinus L.) wood had an air-dry density value of 0.60 g/cm3 in laminated timber with the highest ash wood surface. The pressure resistance parallel to the fibers was determined in the surface layer ash wood with 48.6 N/mm2. It was found that the static bending resistance was 91.1 N/mm2 in laminated timber with a surface layer of ash wood, and the modulus of elasticity value in bending was 10040 N/mm2 in laminated timber with the highest ash wood surface. Thus, it has been seen in the study that improvements in physical and mechanical properties were achieved, especially as a result of combining willow wood (having fast growth potential and low density) with high-density wood types. According to the results of the study, it is recommended to carry out the necessary studies to increase the physical and mechanical properties of low-density wood types by laminating them with high-density wood types.
This article examines sustainability accounting (SA) in a French international construction company, viewing it through the frame of being a wicked problem. Sustainability accounting literature often assumes that reporting is a matter of institutional will. It presumes that the necessary key performance indicators (KPIs) already exist, and environmental impact can be measured with confidence. Accuracy, balance, clarity, comparability, reliability, stakeholder inclusiveness, and timeliness are all assumed to be realizable. However, the ethnographic research presented here reveals a very different picture. None of the key criteria were met. The necessary measurement tools were fallible, key definitions were controversial, and making a convincing instrumental or technical choice between relative and absolute accountability was impossible. The failures of sustainability accounting are not attributed to corporate unwillingness or greenwashing. Instead, they are a result of an inability to recognize measurement as a wicked problem. While the wicked problem as a concept is well explained in the literature, ethnographic applications are rare. Therefore, this study makes an additional contribution by demonstrating how the wicked problem concept can be used to frame real-life issues. In conclusion, we ask the question: Has the sustainability accounting literature misrepresented the challenges, ignored the pragmatics of having to deal with wicked problems, and thus failed to be sufficiently accountable itself?