Abstract The challenges of sustainable construction, industrial growth and importance of resource efficiency are clearly recognised by the UK government and are now at the forefront of strategy and policy. A critical component of the government’s sustainability strategies concerns way in which construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is managed. In this study a mixed method approach was adopted to investigate current practices of C&DW management and circular construction (re-use, recycle and recovery of materials) concept awareness in the UK. Relevant stakeholders from the construction industry (contracting, demolition and C&DW organisations) were selected and their views solicited on arguments about circular construction to help establish common visions and further encourage sustainable behaviour across the sector. The study revealed that legislation by the government on the re-use and recycling threshold for every new project can substantially improve circularity within the built environment. More specifically, focus should be on smart dismantling of buildings and ways of optimising cost effective processes. This will enable fair competition between stakeholders and eventually lead to investments in innovative approaches for resource recovery from C&DW. Further incentives and appreciations from government should also be given to stakeholders who are innovating and setting benchmarks in circular construction. This can lead to harmonised technological and non-technological solutions, closed-loop material processes and a circular economy.
In recent years, green energy management systems (smart grid, smart buildings, and so on) have received huge research and industrial attention with the explosive development of smart cities. By introducing Internet of Things (IoT) technology, smart cities are able to achieve exquisite energy management by ubiquitous monitoring and reliable communications. However, long-term energy efficiency has become an important issue when using an IoT-based network structure. In this article, we focus on designing an IoT-based energy management system based on edge computing infrastructure with deep reinforcement learning. First, an overview of IoT-based energy management in smart cities is described. Then the framework and software model of an IoT-based system with edge computing are proposed. After that, we present an efficient energy scheduling scheme with deep reinforcement learning for the proposed framework. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a global emergency and also has raised issues with waste management practices. This study emphasized the challenges of increased waste disposal during the COVID-19 crisis and its response practices. Data obtained from the scientific research papers, publications from the governments and multilateral organizations, and media reports were used to quantify the effect of the pandemic towards waste generation. A huge increase in the amount of used personal protective equipments (facemasks, gloves, and other protective stuffs) and wide distribution of infectious wastes from hospitals, health care facilities, and quarantined households was found. The amount of food and plastic waste also increased during the pandemic. These factors caused waste treatment facilities to be overwhelmed, forcing emergency treatment and disposals (e.g., co-disposal in a municipal solid waste incinerator, cement kilns, industrial furnaces, and deep burial) to ramp up processing capacity. This paper discussed the ways the operation of those facilities must be improved to cope with the challenge of handling medical waste, as well as working around the restrictions imposed due to COVID-19. The study also highlights the need for short, mid, and longer-term responses towards waste management during the pandemic. Furthermore, the practices discussed in this paper may provide an option for alternative approaches and development of sustainable strategies for mitigating similar pandemics in the future.
Rural areas are exposed to severe environmental pollution issues fed by industrial and agricultural activities combined with poor waste and sanitation management practices, struggling to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with Agenda 2030. Rural communities are examined through a “dual approach” as both contributors and receivers of plastic pollution leakage into the natural environment (through the air–water–soil–biota nexus). Despite the emerging trend of plastic pollution research, in this paper, we identify few studies investigating rural communities. Therefore, proxy analysis of peer-reviewed literature is required to outline the significant gaps related to plastic pollution and plastic waste management issues in rural regions. This work focuses on key stages such as (i) plastic pollution effects on rural communities, (ii) plastic pollution generated by rural communities, (iii) the development of a rural waste management sector in low- and middle-income countries in line with the SDGs, and (iv) circular economy opportunities to reduce plastic pollution in rural areas. We conclude that rural communities must be involved in both future plastic pollution and circular economy research to help decision makers reduce environmental and public health threats, and to catalyze circular initiatives in rural areas around the world, including less developed communities.
Hossein Khodaei, Mahdi Hajiali, Ayda Darvishan
et al.
Abstract In addition to economic issue, an emission issue should also be considered in the operation of an industrial consumer in order to reduce greenhouse gases like NO2, SO2 and CO2 to the atmosphere. Also, multi-carrier energy hub system can be used to supply heat and power demand by an industrial consumer. Therefore, this paper proposes a conflict bi-objective model for cost-emission based operation of industrial consumer in the presence of peak load management. Compromise programming is proposed to solve the proposed bi-objective model in order to obtain the Pareto solutions. Furthermore, fuzzy decision making approach is provided to select the trade-off solution from the Pareto solutions. Finally, peak load management is employed to flat the load profile in order to reduce the operation cost and emission. The proposed model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program which is solved by using CPLEX solver in the GAMS optimization software. Two case studies have been used and obtained results are compared to validate the performance of proposed model.
Abstract A strategy supporting the development towards a circular economy is industrial symbiosis (IS). It is a form of collaborative supply chain management aiming to make industry more sustainable and achieve collective benefits based on utilization of waste, by-products, and excess utilities between economically independent industries. Based on an extensive analysis of published studies on existing IS collaborations and interviews with central stakeholders of a comprehensive IS, this paper investigates IS from a supply chain collaboration perspective. A theoretical framework is built and used to discuss how industrial symbiosis pursues sustainability and to identify the main collaboration aspects and performance impacts. This framework is then used in the analysis of selected published cases. Based on this, we derive propositions on the organizational and operational requirements for collaboration in the context of IS networks, related to the supply chain integration and coordination practices. As IS has only received little attention in the operations and supply chain management community, our propositions directly lead to future research directions. Furthermore, the analysis in this paper provides directions to increase the feasibility and resource efficiency of IS networks and can hence be used by stakeholders involved in these networks.
Past few years have witnessed the compelling applications of the blockchain technique in our daily life ranging from the financial market to health care. Considering the integration of the blockchain technique and the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain may act as a distributed ledger for beneficially establishing a decentralized autonomous trading platform for industrial IoT (IIoT) networks. However, the power and computation constraints prevent IoT devices from directly participating in this proof-of-work process. As a remedy, in this treatise, the cloud computing service is introduced into the blockchain platform for the sake of assisting to offload computational task from the IIoT network itself. In addition, we study the resource management and pricing problem between the cloud provider and miners. More explicitly, we model the interaction between the cloud provider and miners as a Stackelberg game, where the leader, i.e., cloud provider, makes the price first, and then miners act as the followers. Moreover, in order to find the Nash equilibrium of the proposed Stackelberg game, a multiagent reinforcement learning algorithm is conceived for searching the near-optimal policy. Finally, extensive simulations are conducted to evaluate our proposed algorithm in comparison to some state-of-the-art schemes.
Inés Pérez-Gonzalo, Florentino Alvarez-Antolin, Alejandro González-Pociño
et al.
This study investigates the mechanical, tribological, and electrochemical behaviour of a novel precipitation-hardenable martensitic alloy produced by selective laser melting (SLM). The alloy was specifically engineered with an optimised composition, free from cobalt and molybdenum, and featuring reduced nickel content (7 wt.%) and 8 wt.% chromium. It has been developed as a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to conventional maraging steels, while maintaining high mechanical strength and a refined microstructure tailored to the steep thermal gradients inherent to the SLM process. Several ageing heat treatments were assessed to evaluate their influence on microstructure, hardness, tensile strength, retained austenite content, dislocation density, as well as wear behaviour (pin-on-disc test) and corrosion resistance (polarisation curves in 3.5%NaCl). The results indicate that ageing at 540 °C for 2 h offers an optimal combination of hardness (550–560 HV), tensile strength (~1700 MPa), microstructural stability, and wear resistance, with a 90% improvement compared to the as-built condition. In contrast, ageing at 600 °C for 1 h enhances ductility and corrosion resistance (Rp = 462.2 kΩ; Ecorr = –111.8 mV), at the expense of a higher fraction of reverted austenite (~34%) and reduced hardness (450 HV). This study demonstrates that the mechanical, surface, and electrochemical performance of this novel SLM-produced alloy can be effectively tailored through controlled thermal treatments, offering promising opportunities for demanding applications requiring a customised balance of strength, durability, and corrosion behaviour.
Ayda Mussa Yousif Abdulrahman, Rafiduraida binti Abdul Rahman
This research aims to investigate the current operational status of the Ajman Police, focusing on identifying elements and issues that affect operational excellence. Using change management models, including Kotter's 8 Step Model and the ADKAR Model, the paper critically examines the hierarchical structure of the Ajman Police, its specialist groups, and their performance indicators. The problem statement highlights the negative impact of traditional and rigid organizational structures on innovation, responsiveness, and the limitations of implementing effective public safety measures, prevention, and community policing. The research design adopted is a qualitative methodology, and a sample of senior police officers was interviewed to record their views on the issues of operation and preparedness to change. In conducting the study, Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants. Results indicate that the Ajman Police has already ventured into technological advancements and civil policing. However, there are still gaps in continuous development, innovation, and the implementation of modern change management practices. The research proposes a culturally, operationally, and technologically oriented framework for change management, specifically tailored to the context of the Ajman Police. The study makes a significant research contribution to both the practice and theory fields by providing a guideline for a change management roadmap for the Ajman Police and other similar agencies, ensuring operational excellence in fast-changing environments.
Management information systems, Economic history and conditions