Search Results (15,030)

Background: This study focuses on construction firms undergoing digital transformation, exploring the mechanisms through which Generative AI (GenAI) is associated with employee creativity in a context where knowledge is highly context-dependent, project teams are temporary, and unique safety and schedule pressures prevail. Methods: A mixed-methods approach integrating Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), Importance-Performance Mapping Analysis (IPMA), and Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is employed. The proposed model is tested using primary survey data from 268 employees of Chinese construction firms. Results: Generative AI has no significant direct association with construction firm employee creativity (CFEC). Instead, it shows an indirect association through the full mediation of explicit knowledge sharing (EKS) and tacit knowledge sharing (TKS), with TKS having a stronger association with employee creativity. The relationship between GenAI and knowledge sharing is positively moderated by digital self-efficacy. The fsQCA identifies seven equifinal configurations leading to high employee creativity, with ‘explicit knowledge sharing and digital self-efficacy’ constituting the optimal configuration. Conclusions: Construction firms should actively promote knowledge sharing among their staff and provide regular training on GenAI tools, thereby fully harnessing employee creativity. Managerial Implication: Construction CEOs should prioritize building GenAI-supported knowledge sharing systems and improving employees’ digital self-efficacy, rather than expecting direct creativity improvement from GenAI deployment. Full article

This research examines how the relationship between cities and rural areas has evolved in light of the profound transformation affecting rural areas of high landscape value, which has been driven by the expansion opportunities granted to the real estate sector by urban planning regulations. The role of the landscape dimension in interpreting the relationship between territorial wealth and landscape value is considered, based on the convergence of two complementary disciplinary perspectives on territory: land planning and valuation science. Against this backdrop, and with a view to containing the progressive contamination of rural and agricultural heritage by the real estate sector, this study proposes a structured observation, valuation, interpretation, and regulatory tool to support the development of territorial planning in areas significantly characterized in terms of rural landscape value. The proposed tool is based on evidence regarding the phenomenon of building expansion in the agricultural territory of a municipality in southeastern Sicily, where favorable conditions for the development of the building sector exist, such as the vastness of the municipal territory and extensive farming as the mainstay of agricultural activity. This wider sub-regional area has also received attention due to the over-tourism phenomenon that has occurred in its cities of art. The evaluation approach experienced is a value-based representation of the evolution of this process over three observation periods: 2000, 2007, and 2012, relating the quantitative observation of the building expansion to the connected qualitative impact on rural landscape. It is the result of coordinating a large set of data in a hierarchical model of indices that converge to construct a synthetic index of rural landscape resilience. This achievement is based on the linguistic progression of “lexicon”, “semantics”, “syntax”, and “pragmatics”, each of which robustly supports “observation”, “valuation”, “interpretation”, and “planning”, respectively. The final stage is based on the convergence of explanatory indices, which are developed by coordinating evidence and assessments (factual and value judgements). This stage enables the proposal of a constraints system that supports a modus vivendi between the interests of the real estate sector and the values of the rural landscape in such a rich and fragile area. Full article

As a form of living heritage, Historic Urban Landscapes (HULs) have long been limited by the static perspectives and reductionist tendencies of conventional conservation and research approaches. Although the geological and archaeological concept of “stratification” offers a methodological basis for understanding the diachronic evolution of heritage, its unidimensional temporal lens fails to capture the inherent complexity and systemic nature of historic urban landscapes. To address this gap, this study proposes a “multidimensional stratification” theoretical framework through theoretical critique and paradigm reconstruction. The framework introduces innovations at the ontological, epistemological, and methodological levels, positing that the evolution of historic urban landscapes emerges from the nonlinear interaction and dynamic interweaving of four core dimensions: time, space, society, and value. It further systematizes five intrinsic attributes of such landscapes: authenticity, integrity, continuity, adaptability, and dynamism. Building on this foundation, the paper constructs a systematic analytical pathway—elements–processes–patterns–modes–drivers–characteristics—that enables dynamic analysis from micro-level identification to macro-level generalization, offering a scalable tool for HUL conservation and regeneration. To demonstrate the framework’s applicability, the historic urban area of Shenyang—a nationally designated historical and cultural city—is selected as a case study. Its urban landscape comprises four core districts: the Shengjing City District, the South Manchuria Railway Concession District, the Commercial Port District, and the Tiexi Industrial District, representing historical strata from the Qing dynasty capital, modern colonial planning, commercial opening, to industrial heritage. Using the multidimensional stratification approach, this study elucidates the spatial complexity, temporal nonlinearity, social dynamism, and value pluralism embedded in Shenyang’s historic urban area. Corresponding conservation strategies grounded in holism, dynamism, and differentiation are proposed. The research not only advances the theoretical understanding of HUL but also provides a novel paradigm—integrating holistic, dynamic, and operational perspectives—for the conservation, renewal, and regenerative practice of historic urban landscapes worldwide. Full article

Modern Chinese traditional-style buildings (MCTBs) preserve the beam–column –construction of historical architecture, but the irregularity of joints continues to constrain their seismic performance. To enhance the energy-dissipation capacity of these joints, viscous dampers were installed at the Que-Ti braces (cantilever corbels beneath beam ends) of beam–column joints. Six 1/2.6-scale specimens were designed and tested under periodic dynamic loading. The experimental results indicate that the installation of viscous dampers significantly improved the failure modes by delaying the formation of plastic hinges at beam ends, as well as the initiation of base material cracking and weld fracture. After damper installation, the joint strength increased by 18–46%, and the improvement was more pronounced in double beam–column joints. A finite element model was established in ABAQUS to investigate the effects of axial load ratio, damping coefficient and damper length on joint strength, hysteretic energy dissipation, and damper mechanical response. The results revealed that the axial load ratio has a limited influence on the overall joint strength and damper contribution. Increasing the damping coefficient significantly enhances the joint hysteretic energy dissipation and peak damper force, exhibiting an approximately linear relationship. The damper length has a minor influence on joint strength, but a longer damper slightly increases the hysteretic energy dissipation and equivalent viscous damping, while the maximum damper displacement is mainly governed by the damper length. Similar damper contributions are observed in single beam–column and double beam–column joints, indicating stable and reliable energy-dissipation behavior. The proposed numerical approach can predict the axial deformation, velocity, and force demands of dampers under various loading conditions. In addition, preliminary design recommendations for irregular steel joints with supplemental viscous dampers in MCTBs were developed based on ancient Chinese architectural literature and refined through combined experimental observations and finite element analyses (FEA). Full article

Global urbanization is shifting from incremental expansion to stock optimization, and old residential communities have become important spatial units for low-carbon transition. However, in existing built environments, traditional process-based inventory methods face practical constraints, including missing original drawings, complex site conditions, and severe vegetation obstruction. As a result, systematic accounting of buildings, landscapes, and natural carbon sinks remains difficult. This study integrates life cycle assessment (LCA), BIM reverse modeling, 3D point clouds, DesignBuilder simulation, inventory-based accounting, and i-Tree Eco to construct a life cycle carbon emission accounting framework for old residential communities. The framework links current-condition data reconstruction, quantity take-off, operational energy simulation, landscape inventory accounting, and vegetation carbon sequestration assessment. It is applied to Nanyuan Xincun in Hefei to quantify the community-scale carbon source–sink structure. The results show that Nanyuan Xincun presents a clear operation-led emission pattern, with the operation and maintenance phase accounting for 82.52% of total positive emissions. Within architectural engineering, operation and maintenance accounts for 82.91%, while material production accounts for 13.28%. Landscape engineering shows a more mixed structure, with operation and maintenance accounting for 52.95% and material production accounting for 36.49%. Vegetation carbon sequestration analysis shows that mature trees and shrubs are the main ecological carbon assets. Annual sequestration reaches 16.95 t-CO₂e/a, and trees and shrubs contribute 92.85% of total vegetation carbon storage. Under current vegetation conditions, annual sequestration is equivalent to 32.99% of annual landscape operation emissions, indicating considerable ecological compensation potential. Based on these findings, this study proposes four optimization pathways: operational energy reduction, low-carbon material substitution, construction and demolition waste recycling, and mature tree protection. These pathways provide data support for refined carbon management and low-carbon renewal in existing communities. Full article

Building services systems in comprehensive hospitals must support safety-critical clinical workflows within dense spatial and technical interfaces. Coordination among owners, designers, contractors, operators, and clinical users is often fragmented across planning, design, construction, and operation. This study adopts an exploratory qualitative case-study design using grounded theory coding procedures. Semi-structured interviews and field observations were conducted with 44 stakeholders involved in 10 tertiary hospitals in Shenzhen, China. Through open, axial, and selective coding, the study identifies contextual conditions, recurrent coordination breakpoints, and four lifecycle coordination mechanisms: requirement stabilization, technical integration, verification and handover, and feedback optimization. The findings show that failures in hospital building services systems are not merely technical defects. They are cumulative socio-technical failures generated by unstable clinical requirements, discontinuous responsibilities, weak knowledge translation, and delayed decisions at stage interfaces. The proposed model reframes coordination as an iterative lifecycle process and provides an analytically grounded framework for diagnosing coordination risks and organizing stakeholder responsibilities in complex hospital projects. Its effects on project outcomes require further validation through future implementation and comparative studies. Full article

Multi-building, multi-story prefabricated construction projects are notably characterized by high complexity and repetitiveness, which necessitate efficient resource scheduling. Traditional resource-constrained project scheduling problems primarily address global resources, whereas existing studies on repetitive scheduling emphasize crew allocation and often neglect constraints associated with spatially localized resources, such as tower cranes. To address the challenges posed by repetitive prefabricated construction, this study systematically analyzes scheduling characteristics and classifies renewable resources into three categories: local, crew, and global resources. This study also introduces a novel spatial precedence relationship to capture dependencies between activities on adjacent floors. A linear programming model is formulated to minimize both project duration and total resource idle time. The model is developed under several explicit simplifying assumptions to ensure computational tractability while preserving the core-resource interdependencies. The proposed model’s effectiveness is validated through an empirical case study and additional numerical experiments. In the case study, utilization rates for local resources and crews increased by 20% and 8%, respectively. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis of local-resource allocation indicates that increasing the number of tower cranes yields diminishing marginal reductions in project duration, while total resource idle time first decreases and then increases. Consequently, resource over-allocation should be avoided to prevent degradation in utilization. Full article

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is imperative for industrial decarbonization. However, current life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies often apply a static, one-size-fits-all approach, assuming a 99% CO₂ purity standard for all utilization pathways. This ignores the thermodynamic limits of capture technologies and the tolerance of certain endpoints for coarse gas, leading to severe over-purification energy penalties. To bridge this gap, we developed a quality-matched dynamic LCA framework targeting steam methane reforming (SMR) tail gas in industrial parks. A superstructure matrix was constructed, coupling 16 capture configurations (spanning chemical absorption to cryogenic separation across 85–99% purities) with five utilization pathways, under a dynamic grid decarbonization model (2024–2060). The baseline scenario shows that methanol is the most carbon-intensive pathway at 16.88 kg CO₂-eq per kg CO₂ utilized, whereas mineralization and concrete curing remain near break-even at 0.221 and 0.010 kg CO₂-eq, respectively. When low-purity demand is matched with PSA capture at 85–90% purity, the net GWP of mineralization and concrete curing decreases to 0.134 and 0.005 kg CO₂-eq, corresponding to capture-stage penalty reductions exceeding 60% relative to unnecessary 99% purification. Under the dynamic electricity scenario, concrete curing reaches the net-zero tipping point around 2031, and the coupled mineralization substitution strategy ultimately achieves −0.046 kg CO₂-eq per kg CO₂ utilized. These findings provide a compelling scientific basis for policymakers to design dual-grade CO₂ pipeline networks and prioritize low-purity, high-circularity building materials over carbon-intensive chemical synthesis in near-term industrial transitions. Full article

A pressing challenge of modern wireless networks is ensuring stable radio coverage inside buildings, where radio signal propagation is significantly complicated by the influence of building structures. Reinforced concrete walls, floor slabs, internal partitions, and energy-efficient windows with metallized coatings create substantial obstacles to the propagation of electromagnetic waves, causing reflection, absorption, and scattering. As a result, areas with weakened coverage are formed inside buildings, leading to deterioration in mobile communication quality and reduced data transmission rates. This study presents an experimental investigation of the received signal strength of mobile operators inside a multi-storey residential complex. An analysis was conducted to evaluate the impact of building height, architectural features, and construction materials on radio signal propagation. In addition, the frequency bands used in 4G LTE and 5G networks by mobile operators were examined. It was found that LTE networks mainly operate in the 1.8–2.1 GHz frequency range, whereas 5G networks operate in the n77 band (3.6–3.7 GHz), which provides higher data throughput but is characterized by greater signal attenuation when propagating inside buildings. To address this issue, a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) based on GPON technology was implemented in the studied building. The placement of antenna equipment on the roof enabled the efficient reception of the signal from the base station and its subsequent distribution inside the building through an internal antenna network. The measurement results demonstrated that the deployment of a GPON-based DAS significantly improves the received signal level and ensures more uniform radio coverage inside indoor environments. The obtained results confirm that the use of distributed antenna systems is an effective solution for compensating signal losses caused by the shielding effect of building structures and can significantly improve the quality of mobile communications in dense urban environments. The results show that the RSRP level in indoor environments without DAS decreases to approximately −100 to −110 dBm, while after deployment of the GPON-based DAS, it improves to −45 to −75 dBm. This corresponds to a signal gain of up to 40–50 dB, ensuring stable connectivity and significantly improved data transmission performance. Full article

The accelerating convergence of geopolitical volatility, technological disruption, environmental stress, and societal transformation has rendered traditional strategic management frameworks insufficient. Organizations now operate in environments defined not only by disruptions with existential implications but by wickedness—conditions in which problems are ambiguous, stakeholders disagree, and solutions reshape the challenge itself. Building on the premise that strategy itself is a wicked problem, this article advances a central claim: organizational resilience is best understood as an architectural capability largely grounded in humanity-based identity. Unlike organizational structure, mission, or even current strategy, each of which may be transient in turbulent environments, organizational identity, which is a construct that derives from individuals and humanity, provides an enduring basis for harmonizing the organization and its environment. Utilizing the lens of “humanity”—in its two dimensions of humankind and humaneness—we synthesize research on wicked problems, organizational identity, dynamic capabilities, modular design, alliances and smart power, and hybrid intelligence. We then propose an integrative model linking humanity-driven identity to resilience through three vectors—Inspirational Transformative Ambition, Innovative Value Networks, and Hybrid Intelligence Ecosystems—operationalized via a recently developed diagnostic tool. Finally, we offer corroborative evidence for the “Business of Humanity” logic, arguing that aligning humankind (opportunity across the full market spectrum) with humaneness (values-based evaluation) strengthens resilience by expanding opportunity sets while enhancing legitimacy, trust, and stakeholder alignment. Full article

This review develops a configurational account of the relationship between religion and transnationalism by addressing a specific analytical limitation in the existing literature: its tendency to oscillate between substantializing religious traditions as already constituted entities that move across borders and segmenting transnational religion into disconnected domains such as networks, migrant communities, diasporic identities, institutions, political mobilization, digital mediation, social support, or pilgrimage. While these approaches have generated substantial empirical insight, they leave undertheorized the relational formation through which religious authority, practice, identity, material circulation, symbolic boundary-making, institutional organization, and mediated presence are assembled and made socially effective across multiple scales. To clarify this problem, the review reconstructs scholarship on religion and transnationalism through five major thematic domains: transnational religious networks, religious identity in transnational contexts, religion as a catalyst of transnationalism, the embedding of religion in transnational social practices, and distinctive forms of transnational religion. This reconstruction shows that transnational religious phenomena are inadequately understood as the spatial extension of pre-given traditions, as residual expressions of ethnicity or migration, or as discrete networks, movements, institutions, or diasporic communities. They are better grasped as historically contingent and relationally ordered formations whose temporary coherence is produced through the interaction of actors, authorities, practices, discourses, infrastructures, legal-regulatory environments, memories, obligations, and material flows. Building on the concept of social configuration, the review therefore proposes transnational religious configurations as a more precise unit of analysis for studying how the religious and the transnational are mutually constituted rather than externally connected. It defines such configurations as historically specific formations in which religious categories, institutions, practices, authorities, material resources, symbolic boundaries, and cross-border conditions of possibility are articulated across local, national, transnational, and global scales. The review operationalizes this approach through three analytical levels—conditions of possibility, construction and characteristics, and social realities and consequences—and illustrates its explanatory purchase by examining a new phenomenon within the contemporary transnational revival of Shi‘i Islam. Full article

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is a multipurpose crop with significant industrial and therapeutic potential. This article reviews the various uses of hemp in production, building, food, cosmetics and medicine, focusing on its economic, environmental and health benefits. Industrially, hemp has been used for making fabrics, paper, bioplastics, construction materials and biofuels, because of its strong fibres, fast growth and low impact on the environment. Hemp seed oil and protein in the food and beauty industries are gaining more recognition for their nutritional and functional characteristics. Medically, compounds extracted from hemp, especially cannabidiol (CBD) and other non-psychoactive phytochemicals, have been shown to possess significant anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, neuroprotective, antioxidant and antibacterial properties. This article talks about how better cultivation methods, processing technologies, and extraction techniques can help improve product quality, marketability, regulatory frameworks, safety standards and the quality control measures that are in place to monitor hemp production and utilization, as well as the focus on new policies in developing nations. Even though hemp has a wide range of potentials, the industry still faces difficulties in the form of laws, lack of infrastructure, unequal product standardization, and lack of scientific proof in certain areas of application. This article further identifies research gaps and points out potential areas for innovation, policymaking, and market development to be explored in the future. If backed up by proper regulations and research, hemp has great potential to contribute to the development of environmentally friendly industries, the improvement of public health and the socio-economic upliftment of communities. Full article

The taphole is the only visible window for observing the blast furnace hearth state, and hot metal flow carries key hearth information. To address the problems of current hot metal flow monitoring, such as reliance on manual work, difficulty in quantification, poor real-time performance, as well as insufficient perception stability and low data utilization in existing research, this study proposes a full-chain intelligent solution for blast furnace taphole hot metal flow monitoring: by building an image acquisition system adapted to extreme working conditions, selecting ResNet50 as the state perception model, and combining Canny edge detection with the local morphological extremum analysis algorithm to extract core contour parameters; supplemented by the anti-vibration self-adjustment algorithm and the multi-taphole automatic switching strategy, the robustness and operation efficiency of the system are significantly improved. On this basis, a coke sticking early-warning model is constructed, splashing in different periods is quantitatively classified, and the spatiotemporal difference in hot metal flow is revealed. Finally, a full-chain technical system of “data acquisition–intelligent perception–working condition diagnosis–decision support” is formed, which promotes the digital and intelligent upgrading of hot metal flow monitoring and provides solid support for the safe operation. Full article

With the steady progress of the global energy transition and the pursuit of “dual carbon” goals, Offshore Carbon Sequestration (OCS) has emerged as a pivotal strategic pathway within Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) initiatives aimed at mitigating climate warming. Nevertheless, the drilling of OCS injection wells faces severe challenges, including narrow geological pressure windows, high risks of shallow geohazards, stringent environmental protection standards, and prohibitive construction costs. Riserless Mud Recovery (RMR) technology, as a novel and eco-friendly deepwater drilling technique, provides innovative technical support for OCS by establishing a closed-loop seafloor circulation system that achieves dual-gradient pressure control and “near-zero discharge” of drilling fluids. This paper systematically reviews the development history and technical principles of RMR. By integrating the specific requirements of OCS injection well drilling—such as wellbore integrity, environmental protection, and shallow hazard mitigation—the study provides an in-depth analysis of the application potential of RMR in drilling CO₂ injection wells within shallow formations. Furthermore, it demonstrates the engineering feasibility of RMR across technical, environmental, and economic dimensions. Building on this analysis, the paper discusses current technical challenges regarding key equipment research and development, adaptability to complex operating conditions, enhancement of intelligent control systems, and the establishment of technical standards. It also outlines the prospects for the integrated development of RMR with emerging fields, including hydrate-based carbon sequestration, intelligent drilling and completion, and carbon sequestration in far-reaching deep-sea areas. The research indicates that RMR technology can effectively resolve the dual constraints of cost control and environmental protection in OCS drilling. With breakthroughs in critical hardware, such as high-displacement subsea lift pumps, and the deepening of cross-disciplinary integration, RMR is poised to become an essential technical pillar in the field of offshore carbon sequestration. Full article

Reducing carbon emissions during construction is essential for meeting dual carbon targets. Current green scheduling methods assume fixed emission factors, overlooking time-dependent variations driven by grid peak-valley patterns. Under interval duration uncertainty coupled with tight dynamic carbon budgets, conventional algorithms struggle with sparse feasible solutions and slow Pareto front convergence. We formulate a bi-objective interval RCPSP model with time-varying carbon emission factors that minimizes both interval makespan and total carbon emissions. A possibility degree measure converts scalar carbon budgets into linearized hard constraints. To solve this NP-hard problem, we propose the Knowledge-Driven Interval Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (KD-IMOEA), which integrates four components: Knowledge-Driven Initialization (KDI), Adaptive Time-window Carbon-aware Decoding (TCD), Carbon Budget-aware Repair Mutation (CBM), and Interval Pareto Elite Archive (IPA), forming an end-to-end carbon-aware optimization pipeline. We validate KD-IMOEA on J30 through J120 benchmark instances; results show it outperforms four established algorithms, including NSGA-II, in both convergence and distribution, with hypervolume (HV) gains up to 6.3%. A green building case study confirms that KD-IMOEA exploits spatiotemporal decoupling to identify float time and assign energy-intensive machinery to lower-carbon operating profiles. At the optimal compromise makespan of 169.5 days, this strategy cuts carbon emissions by 3.07% over traditional baselines, enabling management-driven emission savings without extending project duration. Full article