Search Results (13)

Engineered wood products (EWPs) and timber buildings are increasingly recognised for their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by storing biogenic carbon and replacing emission-intensive materials. This article systematically evaluates the carbon footprint (CF) of EWPs and timber buildings during the production stage (A1–A3), identifies key sources of variability, and extracts quantitative emission reduction metrics. Based on a review of 63 peer-reviewed studies, CF values vary widely, from −40 to 1050 kg CO₂eq m⁻² for buildings and 12 to 759 kg CO₂eq m⁻³ for EWPs, due to inconsistent system boundaries, functional units, and emission factor assumptions. Median CFs were 165.5 kg CO₂eq m⁻² and 169.3 kg CO₂eq m⁻³, respectively. Raw material extraction (50.7%), manufacturing (37.1%), and transport (12.2%) were the dominant contributors. A mitigation matrix was developed, showing potential reductions: 20% via transport optimisation, 24–28% through low-density timber, 76% from renewable energy, 11% via sawmill efficiency, 75% through air drying, and up to 92% with reclaimed timber. The geographic skew toward Europe and North America underscores the need for region-specific data. The findings provide actionable benchmarks and strategies to support carbon accounting, emissions modelling, and climate policy for more sustainable construction. Full article

This study investigates three methods for sizing behind-the-meter (BTM) solar PV systems for pumped water distribution networks (WDNs). The three methods are (1) the industry method based on current industry practices, (2) the minimum total life cycle cost (TLCC) method to minimize TLCC through the life of solar PV systems, and (3) the minimum payback method to minimize the time to pay off the capital investment in solar PV systems. The industry method risks over-sizing, while the minimum payback method risks under-sizing. The minimum TLCC method leads to systems with balanced performance. The findings offer decision-makers insights when selecting solar PV systems for WDNs. Full article

Bacillus cereus sensu stricto is a foodborne pathogen that causes food poisoning. Their spore and biofilm-forming abilities persist in various environments and foods. This study investigated the prevalence, virulence, antibiotic resistance, and genetic diversity of B. cereus s. s. strains isolated from various food samples. Of 179 samples, 22.34% were positive for B. cereus s. s., with significantly high detection rates in milk products and raw chicken meat. Forty strains were isolated from positive samples. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time of flight mass spectrometry analysis revealed nine distinct clusters and multi-locus sequence typing revealed 34 sequence types including 23 novel sequences, demonstrating high genetic diversity among the isolates. PCR analysis revealed that all the strains contained at least one toxin gene, but none contained the cytK gene. Antibiotic resistance tests revealed that all isolates were classified as multidrug-resistant, with high resistance levels, particularly to β-lactam antibiotics and vancomycin, but were susceptible to gentamicin. All isolates showed variations in biofilm formation. This study highlights the significant public health risk due to B. cereus s. s. and underscores the need for stringent monitoring and control measures in food production to manage antimicrobial resistance and ensure food safety. Full article

This article investigates heating options for poultry houses (or sheds) in order to meet their specific indoor air temperature requirements, with case studies conducted across Australia under conditions similar to those encountered worldwide. Hybrid geothermal–solar (PV)–gas heating systems with various configurations are proposed to minimise the lifecycle costs and GHG emissions of poultry shed heating, which involves six seven-week cycles per year. The baseload heating demand is satisfied using ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs), with solar photovoltaic panels generating the electricity needed. LPG burners satisfy the remaining heating demand. Integrating these systems with GSHPs aims to minimise the overall installation costs of the heating system. The primary focus is to curtail the costs and GHG emissions of poultry shed heating with these hybrid systems, considering three different electricity offsetting scenarios. It is found that a considerable reduction in the lifecycle cost (up to 55%) and GHG emissions (up to 50%) can be achieved when hybrid systems are used for heating. The Pareto front solutions for the systems are also determined. By comparing the Pareto front solutions for various scenarios, it is found that the shave factor, a measure of the GSHP proportion of the overall system, significantly influences the lifecycle cost, while the size and utilisation of the solar PV panels significantly affect the lifecycle GHG emissions. Full article

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are prognostic in invasive breast cancer. However, their prognostic significance in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has been controversial. To investigate the prognostic role of TILs in DCIS outcome, we used different scoring methods for TILs in multi-national cohorts from Asian and European women. Self-described race was genetically confirmed using QC Infinium array combined with radmixture software. Stromal TILs, touching TILs, circumferential TILs, and hotspots were quantified on H&E-stained slides and correlated with the development of second breast cancer events (BCE) and other clinico-pathological variables. In univariate survival analysis, age older than 50 years, hormone receptor positivity and the presence of circumferential TILs were weakly associated with the absence of BCE at the 5-year follow-up in all cohorts (p < 0.03; p < 0.02; and p < 0.02, respectively, adjusted p = 0.11). In the multivariable analysis, circumferential TILs were an independent predictor of a better outcome (Wald test p = 0.01), whereas younger age was associated with BCE. Asian patients were younger with larger, higher grade, HR negative DCIS lesions, and higher TIL variables. The spatial arrangement of TILs may serve as a better prognostic indicator in DCIS cases than stromal TILs alone and may be added in guidelines for TILs evaluation in DCIS. Full article

Working from home (WFH) has been imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The adoption of WFH impacts energy use in the residential, commercial, and transportation sectors. Consequently, this affects the greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) and the associated energy costs to workers and employers. This study estimates the effects of WFH on the GHGE and energy-related costs in the residential, commercial, and transportation sectors. A simple linear model was used to estimate the changes in the GHGEs and cost by a typical employee when WFH practice is adopted for 1.5 and 4 days per week. The adoption of WFH reduces the operational GHGE accounted for commercial buildings and transport. However, it increases the operational GHGE accounted for residential buildings, which is a maximum of about 6% and 12%, respectively, for WFH 1.5 and 4 days. The reduction of GHGE from transport is significantly higher than that of residential buildings. The GHGE reductions from the transport sector are about 30% and 80%, respectively, for WFH 1.5 days and 4 days per week. WFH for 1.5 and 4 days per week reduces the national annual GHGE by about 1.21 Mt CO₂-e and 5.76 Mt CO₂-e, respectively. Further, the annual transportation cost of an employee is reduced by 30% and 80% in each city when the employee WFH for 1.5 and 4 days per week. The outcomes of this study offer a direction to reduce energy consumption and related costs and potential future research avenues on this topic. Further, the findings also help policymakers develop a hybrid work model for the post-COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the accessibility, social gathering, lifestyle, and working environment to be changed to reduce the infection. Coronavirus spreads between people in several different ways. Small liquid particles (aerosols, respiratory droplets) from an infected person are transmitted through air and surfaces that are in contact with humans. Reducing transmission through modified heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and building design are potential solutions. A comprehensive review of the engineering control preventive measures to mitigate COVID-19 spread, healthy building design, and material was carried out. The current state-of-the-art engineering control preventive measures presented include ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), bipolar ionization, vertical gardening, and indoor plants. They have potential to improve the indoor air quality. In addition, this article presents building design with materials (e.g., copper alloys, anti-microbial paintings) and smart technologies (e.g., automation, voice control, and artificial intelligence-based facial recognition) to mitigate the infections of communicable diseases. Full article

There is a need to apply lean approaches in construction projects. Both BIM and IoT are increasingly being used in the construction industry. However, using BIM in conjunction with IoT for sustainability purposes has not received enough attention in construction. In particular, the capability created from the combination of both technologies has not been exploited. There is a growing consensus that the future of construction operation tends to be smart and intelligent, which would be possible by a combination of both information systems and sensors. This investigation aims to find out the recent efforts of utilizing BIM for lean purposes in the last decade by critically reviewing the published literature and identifying dominant clusters of research topics. More specifically, the investigation is further developed by identifying the gaps in the literature to utilize IoT in conjunction with BIM in construction projects to facilitate applying lean techniques in a more efficient way in construction projects. A systematic review method was designed to identify scholarly papers covering both concepts “lean” and “BIM” in construction and possibilities of using IoT. A total of 48 scholarly articles selected from 26 construction journals were carefully reviewed thorough perusal. The key findings were discussed with industry practitioners. The transcriptions were analyzed employing two coding and cluster analysis techniques. The results of the cluster analysis show two main directions, including the recent practice of lean and BIM interactions and issues of lean and BIM adoption. Findings revealed a large synergy between lean and BIM in control interactions and reduction in variations, and surprisingly there are many uncovered areas in this field. The results also show that the capability of IoT is also largely not considered in recent developments. The number of papers covering both lean and BIM is very limited, and there is a large clear gap in understanding synergetic interactions of lean concepts applying in BIM and IoT in specific fields of construction such as sustainable infrastructure projects. Full article

This article reviewed the state-of-the-art applications of the Internet of things (IoT) technology applied in homes for making them smart, automated, and digitalized in many respects. The literature presented various applications, systems, or methods and reported the results of using IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), and geographic information system (GIS) at homes. Because the technology has been advancing and users are experiencing IoT boom for smart built environment applications, especially smart homes and smart energy systems, it is necessary to identify the gaps, relation between current methods, and provide a coherent instruction of the whole process of designing smart homes. This article reviewed relevant papers within databases, such as Scopus, including journal papers published in between 2010 and 2019. These papers were then analyzed in terms of bibliography and content to identify more related systems, practices, and contributors. A designed systematic review method was used to identify and select the relevant papers, which were then reviewed for their content by means of coding. The presented systematic critical review focuses on systems developed and technologies used for smart homes. The main question is ”What has been learned from a decade trailing smart system developments in different fields?”. We found that there is a considerable gap in the integration of AI and IoT and the use of geospatial data in smart home development. It was also found that there is a large gap in the literature in terms of limited integrated systems for energy efficiency and aged care system development. This article would enable researchers and professionals to fully understand those gaps in IoT-based environments and suggest ways to fill the gaps while designing smart homes where users have a higher level of thermal comfort while saving energy and greenhouse gas emissions. This article also raised new challenging questions on how IoT and existing developed systems could be improved and be further developed to address other issues of energy saving, which can steer the research direction to full smart systems. This would significantly help to design fully automated assistive systems to improve quality of life and decrease energy consumption. Full article

Dry ports have the potential to enhance the sustainability of transport systems, yet their introduction requires major changes to the current logistics chain. Further, emphasising sustainability goals and continued employee engagement can be a challenge when developing or implementing organisational change management programs in dry ports. Key considerations include governmental requirements and compliance, investor expectations, as well as employee engagement; these factors may be conflicting. The top-down management approach supported by strong leadership, participative approaches and constant communication assists in achieving successful change management. Sound selection of key performance indicators (KPIs) provides a set of metrics to track and aid the change process. They serve as a unifying link between top managements’ sustainability goals and employees’ engagement. The initial findings of our research confirm that both port and terminal operators have a gap in their understanding of the importance of sustainability goals and environmental goals. This will have a flow-on effect of port and terminal operators not driving the right messages to their staff in their organisational change management programs. Based on a critical literature review, it has been established what might qualify as good sustainability KPIs for dry ports. An example of a dry port at the Port of Somerton has been included. As every dry port has different requirements and constraints, it is important to develop KPIs together with stakeholders. Full article

The World Green Building Council (WGBC) advocates improvements in employee health, wellbeing, and productivity in buildings as people are about 90% of an organisation’s expense and well exceed building costs and energy costs. It was reported that earlier research on workplace design primarily focused on physical arrangement of employees’ immediate work area, and ambient environmental qualities of the work area. Building organisation, exterior amenities, and site-planning have been given less attention. Therefore, we examine more closely the health relevance of both proximal and remote aspects of workplace design. Occupational stress is a complex phenomenon that is dynamic and evolving over time. This investigation reviews the existing fundamental conceptual models of occupational stress, workplace design, and connection to nature. It aims to develop an improved model relevant to work place design and occupational stress linked with connection to nature. The proposed improved model is presented with an appropriate causal loop diagram to assist in visualizing how different variables in a system are interrelated. The developed model highlights how connection to nature in workspaces can function as a work resource with a dual effect of improving physical wellbeing and psychological wellbeing. Full article

There is a significant increase in the number of people with dementia, and the demand for residential support facilities is expected to increase. Providing an appropriate living environment for residents with dementia, which can cater for their specific needs is crucial. Residential aged care design can impact the quality of life and wellbeing of the residents. In this investigation, three recently constructed dementia support facilities in Victoria, Australia are selected for evaluation. Through fieldwork observation, design evaluation and space syntax analysis, the aim of this investigation is to consider the design of these three facilities in the context of current evidence on how the built environment can best accommodate residents with dementia. Full article

Green roofs are consistently being used to reduce some of the negative environmental impacts of cities. The increasing interest in extensive green roofs requires refined studies on their design and operation, and on the effects of their relevant parameters on green roof thermal performance. The effects of two design parameters, substrate thickness (ST) and conductivity of dry soil (CDS), and four operating parameters, leaf area index (LAI), leaf reflectivity (LR), stomatal resistance (SR), and moisture content (MC), were investigated using the green roof computer model developed by Sailor in 2008. The computer simulations showed that among the operating parameters, LAI has the largest effects on thermal performance while CDS is a more influential design parameter than ST. Experimental investigations of non-vegetated and sparsely vegetated green roofs in Melbourne were principally used to understand the effect of the substrate and enable better understanding of dominant heat transfer mechanisms involved. Investigated green roofs had three substrate thicknesses (100, 150 and 200 mm), and their performance was compared to a bare conventional roof. In contrast to the computer simulations, the experimental results for summer and winter showed the importance of MC and ST in reducing the substrate temperature and heat flux through the green roof. Full article