Standards

Electrical power utilities use a methodology to smartly limit exposure to potential arc-flash hazards at the electrical-service-entrance gear. In modern industries and residential facilities, service voltages are low but pose a threat to individuals’ safety, especially in industrial facilities where the low voltage is higher than residential voltages. This research proposes a standards development and implementation method for an artificial intelligence (AI)-based framework to plan arc-flash hazard labeling by calculating fault currents at the service entrance using field conditions and design considerations. One case study of a residential home operating at 440 V, three-phase, 100 A, and another study of a manufacturing facility with a 480 V, three-phase, 1200 A system were used as the basis for determining the data collection. Nonetheless, the need for personal protective equipment when working on energized electrical gear is hampered by the level of arc-flash hazard; the foreman often works on energized gear to limit outage time for the end customer. Therefore, this research model, derived from types of facilities prone to failure points, can be implemented in the real world to increase the safety of electricians in facilities serving healthcare and data centers of national importance. Life safety will be limited to about 37% of fatalities reported in 2023 due to electrical hazards alone, using standards frameworks for arc-flash safety as proposed in this paper. Full article

Germany’s global competitiveness, historically rooted in its high-quality education system, is threatened by a severe investment backlog in its public-school infrastructure. While national estimates of this deficit are substantial, the literature lacks a granular empirical analysis at the municipal level, where fiscal responsibility for these assets primarily lies. This study provides an exploratory municipal level analysis of school infrastructure investment gaps using evidence from n = 30 large municipalities in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), Germany. Using a mixed methods approach, we conduct a cross-sectional analysis integrating demographic, fiscal, and real estate data and introduce a composite “Need Score” to identify high need municipalities. The analysis identifies associations between investment backlogs and selected demographic, fiscal, and institutional indicators and evaluates the financial feasibility—but not the causal necessity—of private capital participation in educational infrastructure. Our findings reveal a profound structural underfunding, with planned municipal investments covering less than 10% of the estimated backlog. The backlog is weakly correlated with GDP growth but not significantly predicted by other common socio-economic indicators, highlighting the limitations of macro-level diagnostics. Conversely, a higher share of private school enrolment is significantly associated with a lower public investment backlog (r = −0.51, p < 0.05). A detailed financial case study demonstrates that investments in educational real estate can deliver stable, positive returns (IRR of 4.5–19.8%), under specific contractual assumptions. The paper concludes by discussing the conditions under which private capital may constitute a viable component of educational infrastructure provision within appropriate governance frameworks. Full article

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are referred to as a roadmap to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all people and the planet as a whole by 2030. Attaining these goals requires a multifaceted approach that integrates social development, economic growth, and environmental protection. The construction industry plays a crucial role in all three areas. This paper provides an overview of the SDGs and outlines the specific ways in which the construction industry can contribute to achieving all 17 goals. The progress made by India in achieving the SDGs over time is examined by analyzing the SDG index, SDG dashboard, and trends. India is ranked 99th out of 167 in the SDG index in 2025. From this position, to achieve the SDGs within the timeframe, India has to make rapid progress and has to focus on multiple fronts, including its construction sector. Despite some progress in the right direction, the Indian construction industry still faces significant challenges in fully aligning with the SDGs. For instance, India’s green building footprint is around 954 million m², compared to China’s 8.5 billion m², despite comparable population sizes. Persistent challenges include the unavailability of sufficient skilled manpower, scarcity of advanced construction equipment, highly uneven demand across geographical regions, lack of enforcement, over-reliance on fossil fuels, gender inequality, and inadequate research funding, among others. This paper provides an in-depth examination of the obstacles hindering the efforts of the Indian construction sector to meet the SDGs and explores the necessary course corrections to address these challenges. Full article

Standard 16000-8 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 16000-8) specifies the assessment of ventilation performance using age-of-air concepts and tracer gas techniques. Since its publication in 2007, ventilation systems and assessment practices have evolved considerably, driven by increased use of mixed-mode and decentralized ventilation and advances in modeling and measurement technologies. This review examines how ISO 16000-8 can be modernized to harmonize with adjacent ventilation and indoor air quality standards while remaining applicable to contemporary systems and emerging approaches. A structured literature search of Web of Science and Google Scholar identified 76 studies (2007–2026) that engage with ISO 16000-8, age-of-air metrics, or tracer gas-based assessment. The literature was synthesized qualitatively using the framework of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), classifying studies into performance assessment, measurement–simulation convergence, and standardization discourse. The synthesis shows that while the conceptual foundations of ISO 16000-8 remain valid, assumptions of homogeneous mixing and steady-state conditions are often violated in real buildings, leading to inconsistent application of age-of-air indicators. Field and laboratory studies under point-source conditions demonstrate reduced ventilation effectiveness of 0.73–0.82 in classrooms and 0.5–1.4 in various indoor environments, instead of ≈1 for perfect mixing. Spatial heterogeneity is also observed in mixed-mode systems, with an efficiency around 0.5. In decentralized and façade-integrated systems, air exchange effectiveness deviates from theoretical expectations, indicating inhomogeneous air renewal and short-circuiting. Field measurements show configuration-dependent discrepancies in air exchange rates (e.g., carbon dioxide vs. perfluorocarbon tracer methods under varying door positions), while wind induces time-varying infiltration. Collectively, the literature demonstrates systematic violations of well-mixed and steady-state assumptions underpinning ISO 16000-8. Fragmentation between ventilation performance standards and indoor air quality regulation limits practical uptake. Emerging experimental, numerical, and data-driven methods complement ISO 16000-8, provided applicability domains and uncertainties are addressed. The review concludes that ISO 16000-8 should be modernized toward a harmonized, performance-based framework integrating diverse ventilation systems and assessment technologies. Full article

This study investigated injury severity in 18,528 police-reported vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes involving elderly pedestrians in legally classified local areas of South Korea during 2012–2021. Injury severity was coded into four ordered categories: fatal, serious, minor, and reported injury. To stabilize scenario extraction from a categorical crash database, an integrated screening workflow was applied, including near-zero-variance filtering, redundancy control among overlapping roadway encodings, representative-variable selection within redundant groups, and chi-square association checks. Classification and regression tree (CART) modeling was then used to identify rule-based combinations of environmental, roadway, driver, pedestrian, and vehicle factors associated with elevated severity, while tree complexity was controlled through cost-complexity pruning and 10-fold cross-validation. A scenario-based sensitivity analysis was further conducted to evaluate counterfactual shifts in severity distributions under targeted control of key conditions within representative high-risk scenarios. The results showed that severe outcomes were concentrated in stacked-risk combinations rather than in single factors alone. A dominant pathway involved nighttime conditions combined with maneuver-related driving contexts and speeding-related violations. High-fatality scenarios persisted even when speed-related predictors were excluded, underscoring the roles of nighttime exposure, visibility limitations, conflict-prone roadway settings, heavy-vehicle involvement, and pedestrian exposure behaviors. The proposed framework translates administrative crash records into concise, operationally interpretable scenarios and intervention-relevant evidence for local-area safety. Full article

Scientific publishing is currently constrained by an unstructured narrative bottleneck paradigm, which increasingly diverges from the scale, complexity, and computational nature of modern research. Despite rapid advancements in data generation and analysis, scientific knowledge is predominantly disseminated as static narrative artifacts, thereby limiting reproducibility, machine accessibility, and cumulative integration. This study explores how scientific communication can be restructured to facilitate scalable validation and reliable knowledge accumulation. We propose the Object-Oriented Scientific Information paradigm, wherein scientific contributions are represented as executable, machine-interpretable objects that integrate structured data, reproducible methodologies, and formally encoded semantic claims. To operationalize this paradigm, we delineate the architecture of an Autonomous Knowledge Engine, a modular neuro-symbolic system that combines domain-specialized Mixture-of-Experts routing, formal verification of claims, and an information-theoretic filter based on marginal information gain. This architecture enables continuous validation, redundancy control, and the integration of scientific contributions within an active knowledge graph. The analysis demonstrates that Object-Oriented Scientific Information (OOSI) and Autonomous Knowledge Engine (AKE) fundamentally differ from existing document-based, executable, and semantic publishing models by shifting epistemic control from narrative evaluation to computational verification. We conclude that transitioning toward a computable scientific record is essential for sustaining reliable and self-correcting science in the context of accelerating knowledge production. Full article

Statistical inference in experimental neuroscience is routinely detached from the experimental record: analytic choices are reported in prose summaries that do not expose the code, assumptions, or decision pathways that produced the results. This detachment limits reproducibility and impairs peer review. Here, we describe the Companion Statistical Report (CSR), a structured, versioned document format designed to accompany empirical neuroscience manuscripts as peer-reviewed as a peer-reviewed resource. The CSR integrates data provenance, preprocessing decisions, exploratory analyses, model specifications, assumption diagnostics, inference with effect sizes, and sensitivity analyses into a single executable document, authored in Quarto 1.8 and supporting both R and Python workflows. We provide an open template hosted at on GitHub that implements this format with institutional branding, parameterization, and version tracking. The template was developed by the Bertrand Russell Research Excellence Group (NEC) at the School of Medicine, Rio de Janeiro State University. By making analytic choices auditable and reproducible by design, CSRs are designed to reduce the gap between what neuroscience experiments measure and what published statistics claim, offering a tractable and immediately implementable step toward greater transparency. Full article

Occupational Health and Safety systems, as well as physical Ergonomics, serve a common goal, which is to eliminate safety-related injuries within production systems. The analysis of potential hazards that could compromise the safety of operations’ employees assists in preventing a high rate of safety-related injuries. Safer processes result in a high output rate and, hence, a profitable business. Focusing on the accuracy of problem solving and failure prediction analysis on new processes could potentially result in zero safety-related injuries, good-quality products, cost reduction, and the elimination of delays within the processes. This research seeks to add more knowledge to the fields of Occupational Health and Safety systems and Total Productive Maintenance by combining lean manufacturing troubleshooting models with Ergonomic analysis, as well as Hazard Identification Risk Analysis, to predict future kaizen projects for businesses. The proposed upgrade to the problem-solving model was developed by evaluating and reviewing the impact of Ergonomic analysis on different production systems. It was found that Ergonomic analysis provides solutions for a more comfortable working environment; hence, the existing troubleshooting model was combined with an Ergonomic exercise. The proposed model is more beneficial to production systems. It could potentially result in zero safety-related injuries, high-quality products, more accurate problem analysis, and more innovation by enabling kaizen projects. The proposed model was applied in the electronics industry, where it resulted in drastic improvements. The old method, which was causing fatigue, was eliminated, and a new machine was designed and prototyped. The new machine assisted the company in this case study in reducing delays, eliminating defects, and reducing costs. Furthermore, the proposed troubleshooting model evaluated an impactful kaizen project, which was the introduction of new technologies that will eliminate the power-up stage. Full article

This study analyzes the implementation of Business Intelligence (BI) in logistics process management through a case study of a transportation company in Maranhão, Brazil. Using a qualitative documentary approach, the research examines operational data extracted from the company’s logistics management system and visualized through Microsoft Power BI dashboards. The results demonstrate that the BI implementation improved operational visibility by enabling real-time cargo monitoring, delivery deadline tracking, and route prioritization. These features enhanced managerial decision-making by allowing logistics managers to identify delays, monitor delivery status, and optimize route planning more efficiently. The dashboards also facilitated communication between departments by providing a centralized visualization of operational indicators. Although quantitative performance metrics prior to implementation were not available, qualitative evidence from system reports and managerial validation indicates significant improvements in logistics monitoring and decision support. Beyond organizational benefits, the study highlights how the adoption of digital analytics tools in logistics can contribute to greater operational resilience and supply chain efficiency in regional economic contexts. The findings provide practical insights into the role of business intelligence in supporting logistics management and improving operational coordination in emerging economies. Full article

Generative artificial intelligence (AI)-based large language models (LLMs) are increasingly being used in medical writing to improve efficiency and broaden access to knowledge. However, concerns have emerged regarding the accuracy of the citations they generate. This review discusses the issue of citation inaccuracies in AI-assisted medical writing and its implications for scientific reliability and accountability in academic medicine. Published literature describing citation errors in AI-generated content, particularly in medical and academic contexts, was examined to understand the nature and persistence of this problem and to consider potential safeguards. Reports consistently describe citation inaccuracies, including fabricated references, incorrect bibliographic details, and incomplete source information such as missing authors, journal titles, publication years, or digital object identifiers. Although these tools continue to evolve, such errors remain reported and highlight limitations in their reliability. While LLMs offer clear benefits in supporting medical writing, their outputs require careful verification. As developers continue to address these challenges, responsible use will depend on continued human oversight, improved transparency, greater user awareness, and institutional and policy-level guidance to ensure accurate and trustworthy use of generative AI in medical writing. Full article

Hygienic design of food processing equipment is essential for maintaining food safety by minimizing contamination risks and ensuring that equipment can be cleaned and sanitized effectively. This comprehensive cross-industry review summarizes currently available standards and guidelines for the hygienic design of food processing equipment and discusses how their qualitative requirements can be translated into practical assessment tools, such as checklists or risk-based approaches to prioritize nonconformities. Differences between wet and low-moisture operations, as well as the particular challenges of packaging and end-of-line equipment, are summarized to illustrate that practical implementation of hygienic design principles must be adapted to sector-specific hazards, processing conditions and cleaning strategies. Outbreaks and product recalls linked to equipment that is difficult to clean or poorly designed are included to show how design limitations can contribute to persistent contamination and food safety incidents. Full article

Sustainable development, with its three pillars (environmental, social, and governance, ESG), is crucial for human well-being. Climate change is occurring faster than expected. In 2015, 193 countries signed the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, which must be achieved by 2030 along with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle, the Check phase is crucial—sustainability reporting (SR) is essential. This article provides an overview of existing SR standards (SRSs) and their future development but does not conduct a systematic review of the relevant scientific literature on the application of SRSs. The information review methodology shows that SRSs are already well-developed in large companies. The different standards are described, including voluntary ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, the mandatory European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). National SRSs are often aligned with the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards. Besides the corporate SRSs, public SRSs covering governmental and non-governmental institutions, universities, and associations are described. Public SRSs should be adapted to the needs of public institutions. Finally, the SRSs for individuals and communities is discussed to cover these important parts of humanity. The social and governance sustainability reports could be extended with annual personal or community Carbon or Ecological Footprint reports. Full article

In the context of strategies for the promotion of a sustainable wine industry, the utilization of production regulations under the European Geographical Indications system is seldom contemplated. Furthermore, when such texts are considered, the focus is typically on rules for viticulture or winemaking, rather than on articles governing the boundaries of a PDO or PGI. The present study examines the manner in which regulatory innovation, when viewed from a strictly geographical perspective, can promote the sustainable growth of the sparkling wine districts of Franciacorta and Oltrepò Pavese, which are located in the Italian Lombardy region. Through a comparative analysis of Franciacorta and Oltrepò Pavese, we explore how regulatory frameworks, land-use constraints, and production capacities interact to shape environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Franciacorta’s premium positioning and global reputation are constrained by its limited geographic area, making expansion environmentally and socially challenging. In contrast, Oltrepò Pavese has substantial production potential, particularly for Pinot Noir-based classic-method sparkling wines but suffers from a fragmented identity and weak market recognition. Benchmarking the Prosecco PDO evolution, we propose a sustainability-oriented growth model integrating multiple territories under harmonized rules, termed “Grande Franciacorta”. This framework would enable controlled growth, reduce land pressure in high-density areas, enhance regional competitiveness, and support long-term ecological stewardship. This study outlines managerial implications for producers, emphasizing multi-tier product architectures, dynamic capabilities, and coordinated governance mechanisms. Policy recommendations highlight the need for regulatory frameworks that embed sustainability criteria, optimize land use, and consolidate regional reputation to ensure the long-term viability of high-quality sparkling wine production. Full article

Medical deserts have become an increasingly prominent expression of unequal access to healthcare, yet the literature addressing this phenomenon remains fragmented, with heterogeneous definitions, indicators, and analytical approaches. This narrative review aims to systematize existing evidence by developing and applying a multidimensional typology based on four analytical axes: medical specialty, geography, population vulnerability to threats, and systemic barriers. A narrative review of English-language studies retrieved from Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar was conducted and interpreted through this framework. The analysis shows that medical deserts are described across a wide range of clinical fields and territorial contexts, with research concentrating primarily on specialty- and geography-based dimensions. In contrast, population vulnerability and systemic barriers are addressed less consistently and are often treated implicitly rather than as core analytical dimensions. Vulnerable groups and structural determinants of access, including organizational, regulatory, and digital factors, remain underexplored despite their growing relevance. By organizing fragmented evidence into a coherent multidimensional framework, this review clarifies how medical deserts emerge as systemic phenomena and highlights the need for integrated policy responses that move beyond workforce redistribution to address social vulnerability and health system design. Full article

Large outcrops of ophiolites from exposed land surfaces can potentially impact the geochemistry of much greater areas through transport and weathering. Derived soil and sediments contain significant concentrations of heavy metals, including chromium and nickel. In the context of environmental risk analysis, there is a necessity to obtain more information about the distribution of Cr and Ni in serpentine rocks and their derived associated geological matrices, and about how easily Cr could be released and then oxidized in the environment, causing pollution of groundwater. The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of Cr and Ni in the geochemical fractions containing Fe and Mn and the role of Fe and Mn oxides (crystalline and non-crystalline) in redox processes leading to the formation of Cr(VI) during serpentine soil weathering. Through the combination of chemical selective sequential extraction (SSE) and X-ray diffraction, solid samples belonging to ophiolitic rocks and their derived soils and sediments in southern Tuscany were investigated. The applied SSE method followed the established extraction scheme commonly used in sequential selective extraction procedures. The extraction was accomplished in seven successive steps, using appropriate reagents to destroy the binding agents between the target metal and the specific soil fraction to release the heavy metals selectively from their structural context. The results indicated significant differences in the availability and mobility of Cr and Ni in soils, with Cr concentrations ranging from 200 to 950 μg/g and Ni from 274 to 665 μg/g in reactive fractions. Cr is tightly bound to well-crystallized Fe-oxides and primary rock-derived phases, whereas Ni is substantially more mobile, being mainly controlled by Mn-oxides and amorphous Fe-oxides. Weakly acidic solutions or systems with high redox potential increase Cr and Ni mobility in the environment due to Fe/Mn hydroxides produced by the weathering of serpentinites. An ORP higher than 1000 mV leads to the formation of Cr(VI) by oxidation of Cr(III), increasing the mobility of Cr in groundwater and the hazard for human health. The analytical activity carried out in this research can be used to identify the potential risk of Cr(VI) release in groundwater from serpentine and derived geomaterials. Full article

With globalization rising, much scholarship has presented “a race to the bottom” regarding standards posing serious environmental concerns. This paper considers the debate of globalization leading to a “race to the bottom” or, contrastingly, a “race to the top.” With the growth of information technology and communication, the paper explores existing frameworks to advance green computing in the globalized context. Given a notable void in policy-driven frameworks in the current green computing literature, the paper proposes a comprehensive five-component policy framework to advance green computing, relying on norms and mandates for success. The framework includes the following: 1. Public policy involvement to drive private corporate sustainability. 2. Investment in green technology via government intervention. 3. Industrywide organizations promoting sustainable computing. 4. Proper disposal of computing equipment. 5. Comprehensive industry standards. Ultimately, this framework passionately advocates for the advancement of green computing and encourages further empirical research and evaluation of its respective elements. Full article

Retrofitting the UK building stock is a key priority due to the importance of achieving sustainability goals, preferably before 2050. This goal will not be achieved without reducing energy consumption and making houses more comfortable, healthier, and cheaper to heat. One of the key challenges of building retrofit is skill shortage. The retrofit industry will need a number of professionals under the roles of retrofit assessors, coordinators, and designers. However, the existing university programmes do not directly produce retrofit professionals. Most construction-related university programmes do not emphasise or introduce retrofits. To address this skill shortage, this paper proposes a master’s programme in retrofit, which is directly aimed at producing retrofit professionals. Two specialisations are recommended under the master’s programme, namely architectural design and project management, with accreditations from relevant professional bodies. The objective is to produce a market-ready graduate who can be directly employed as a retrofit assessor, coordinator, or designer. Ten syllabuses related to retrofit professional courses were analysed to design the syllabus of the proposed master’s programme. The master’s programme will help to produce industry-ready retrofit professionals through either physical or online delivery methods. Full article

Cloud-based machine learning systems are increasingly used in sectors such as healthcare, finance, and public services, where they influence decisions with significant social consequences. While these technologies offer scalability and efficiency, they raise significant concerns regarding security, privacy, and compliance. One of the central issues is algorithmic bias, which can emerge from data, design choices, or system interactions, and is often amplified when deployed at scale through cloud infrastructures. This study examines the relationship between algorithmic bias, social equity, and cloud-based innovation. Drawing on a survey of public perceptions, we find strong recognition of the risks posed by biased systems, including diminished trust, harm to vulnerable populations, and erosion of fairness. Participants overwhelmingly supported regulatory oversight, developer accountability, and greater transparency in algorithmic decision-making. Building on these findings, this paper proposes measures to integrate fairness auditing, representative datasets, and bias mitigation techniques into cloud security and compliance frameworks. We argue that addressing bias is not only an ethical responsibility but also an essential requirement for safeguarding public trust and meeting evolving legal and regulatory standards. Full article

Logistics involves planning and managing resources to meet customer demands. Its effectiveness depends not only on time and process coordination but also on the performance of logistics operators, whose actions directly affect customer satisfaction. Although operational risks are inherent to logistics, customer-oriented service failures are often overlooked in traditional risk assessment. To address this gap, this study proposes an integrated approach that combines a Pareto Diagram and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) within the ISO 31000 risk assessment framework. This structured method enables the identification and prioritization of logistics failures based on customer complaints, thereby supporting data-driven decision-making and continuous service improvement. Applied to a real-world case in a ceramic production line specializing in tableware manufacturing, the method identified and evaluated key logistics failures; particularly those related to late deliveries and damaged goods. Based on these findings, improvement actions were proposed to reduce the recurrence of these issues. This study contributes a structured, practical, and replicable approach for organizations to introduce risk assessment practices and enhance the service quality of logistics management. This study advances the literature by shifting the focus from internal production failures to customer-driven service risks, offering strategic insights for improving reliability and operational performance. Full article