Search Results (755)

Housing industrialization and modularization have gained traction as responses to two pressing challenges in the construction sector: the chronic shortage of affordable housing and the substantial environmental footprint of conventional building methods. Yet prevailing modular housing models in Europe remain constrained by dependence on global supply chains, production concentrated in large industrial operators, and insufficient adaptation to local material and territorial conditions. This article presents a state-of-the-art review of modular timber housing in Europe, examining technological typologies, market structures, and national regulatory frameworks. The methodology integrates a systematic literature and market review, a comparative country analysis, and an embedded case study. Findings indicate that the viability of modular timber housing depends not only on material performance but on its embeddedness in coherent industrial systems, business strategies, and regulatory contexts. Against this backdrop, the VICHO project is introduced as a case study exploring an open, proximity-based industrialization model that valorizes local poplar timber in southern Europe, in alignment with circular bioeconomy principles and the New European Bauhaus. Full article

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) includes innovative aviation technologies and services that could alter how people and goods are transported. However, future AAM growth and potential regional integration are uncertain and influenced by a range of factors. In this paper, we report findings from expert interviews (n = 35) and a scenario planning workshop (n = 32 stakeholders), conducted between August 2024 and July 2025, to explore potential alternative futures for AAM at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We applied a two-axis framework: regulatory environment (supportive vs. restrictive) and economic conditions (vibrant vs. stagnant). Building on this, we developed four plausible scenarios for the 2025 to 2030 and post-2030 time horizons. We apply the SPELT (social, political, economic, legal, technological) framework to assess cross-cutting drivers, tensions, and indicators across the four scenarios based on two timeframes, i.e., 2025 to 2030 and post-2030. Our analysis of the scenarios reveals that regulatory clarity and macroeconomic conditions are key influencers that define the pace and scale of AAM growth, while community impacts (e.g., noise), public acceptance, and infrastructure availability are constraints. These factors largely determine whether technical readiness can translate into scaled deployment. Cross-cutting themes across all of the scenarios consistently shape the outcomes: (1) equity and community acceptance strongly influence political feasibility; (2) SFO and other airports can serve dual roles as conveners and practical enablers but face risks of stranded assets; and (3) flexible, modular infrastructure and incremental investment strategies reduce uncertainty for SFO and other Bay Area airports and public agencies. Together, the findings suggest that while the future of AAM is uncertain, policy and planning responses can assist airports, local governments, and other public agencies in preparing for potential developments. Full article

This paper presents an ARMv8/NEON-oriented implementation of NCC-Sign targeting the NTT-friendly trinomial parameter sets (NCC-Sign-1/3/5), whose dominant cost arises from mixed-radix NTT computations with $n=2^a·3^b$. We design lane-local SIMD kernels—including a four-lane Montgomery multiply–reduce, a centered modular reduction pass, a fused stage-0 butterfly, and streamlined radix-2/radix-3 pipelines—and extend them with three further optimizations: (i) radix-2 multi-stage butterfly merging to halve intermediate load/store traffic, (ii) a stride-3 vectorization technique exploiting NEON structure load/store instructions (vld3q/vst3q) to fully vectorize small-len radix-3 stages that would otherwise fall back to scalar execution, and (iii) NEON-parallel pointwise Montgomery multiplication. Using cycle-accurate PMU measurements under identical toolchains for baseline and optimized builds on Apple M1 Pro, we observe geometric-mean speedups of 1.40× for key generation, 2.24× for signing, and 2.01× for verification across NCC-Sign-1/3/5, with per-kernel gains of up to 5–6× for NTT/INTT and 7.5× for pointwise multiplication. To contextualize these results, we provide a direct comparison with the NEON-optimized ML-DSA (Dilithium) implementation of Becker et al. on the same platform, a cross-platform evaluation on Arm Cortex-A72 (Raspberry Pi 4), a Montgomery-versus-Barrett microbenchmark supporting our design choice, and an empirical constant-time assessment via dudect confirming that no timing leakage is detected in any NEON kernel under 30 million measurements. Full article

Precise control over the physicochemical and biological properties of colloidal particles is essential for the rational design of functional soft materials. In this work, we report a simple and scalable strategy for generating modular dendron particles (MDPs) through the self-assembly of fully characterized small-molecule Bis-MPA dendrons that act as programmable molecular building blocks for colloidal particle formation. By systematically varying three structural domains—the inner functionality, methylene spacer length, and outer connector—we achieve tunable formation of MDPs ranging from nano- to microscale dimensions. Upon solvent evaporation under mild drying conditions, pre-assembled MDPs act as structure-directing seeds that guide the emergence of hierarchical surface morphologies with spiky, scaly, or spherical protrusions, depending on dendron architecture. Importantly, these assemblies exhibit good biocompatibility toward non-tumoral bronchial epithelial (NL-20) cells while displaying selective cytotoxicity toward Neuro-2a neuroblastoma cells, demonstrating that dendron molecular architecture alone can govern particle size, morphology, and biological response without external drug loading. Collectively, these findings highlight modular Bis-MPA dendrons as versatile building blocks for directing particle size, morphology, and biological response through controlled self-assembly and evaporation-driven structuring. Full article

This study maps competency requirements for two representative frontline marketing roles in China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) sector, NEV sales consultants and livestreaming hosts, and examines their alignment with current vocational education standards. Using a market-oriented, data-driven design, recruitment texts were collected from Zhaopin across more than 20 major Chinese cities. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) identified competency themes, which were then organized into work-process task domains and visualized as position–task–competency mappings. Mapping these demand-side requirements to national teaching standards reveals relatively strong alignment for sales in market insight and sales strategy, but also gaps in omni-channel lead operations, customer experience management, and operational coordination; livestreaming roles show systematic gaps across the entire work process, particularly in on-air control, customer conversion process design, and data-driven optimization. Building on the identified gaps, the study proposes a position–task–competency-to-curriculum translation pathway to support modular updates in NEV marketing talent development within vocational education and training. Full article

Real-time, precise monitoring of the number and distribution of indoor personnel is crucial for building safety management, operational optimization, and personnel scheduling. However, narrow entrances and high-density passageways often lead to missed detections, false positives, and tracking failures in pedestrian detection, thereby reducing cross-line counting accuracy. Additionally, edge devices deployed in practical scenarios frequently process multiple video streams simultaneously, resulting in computational resource constraints. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a lightweight, enhanced multi-object pedestrian tracking and counting method tailored for indoor scenarios by optimizing deep learning models. Firstly, modular optimizations are applied to the YOLOv8n model to construct a more lightweight detector, RL_YOLOv8, reducing computational overhead while maintaining accuracy. Secondly, correlated pedestrian auxiliary prediction and pedestrian position change constraints are employed to mitigate ID switching, tracking interruptions, and trajectory jumps in dense scenes. Finally, a buffer zone auxiliary counting strategy is designed to further reduce missed detections of pedestrians crossing lines. Experimental results demonstrate that compared to the original detection-and-tracking-based line-crossing counting method, the improved approach effectively enhances counting accuracy and real-time performance, better meeting the requirements of practical intelligent security and crowd monitoring systems. Full article

As digital government systems evolve, increasing complexity in information interactions has challenged traditional hierarchical governance models, which often struggle in dynamic and cross-sectoral contexts. This study aims to identify the structural patterns of government information interaction and to develop a testable adaptive governance approach that supports sustainable digital government evolution. Drawing on IT alignment theory and complex network analysis, this study reconceptualizes digital government as a complex adaptive system and reveals the heavy-tailed distribution, structural stability, and self-organizing tendencies of government information networks. Building on these findings, the study develops and operationalizes a self-organizing adaptive governance framework—featuring fractal design, dynamic alignment, and layered modular coordination—into 11 governance rules. By shifting the focus from static alignment to adaptive structural coordination, this research advances a new pathway for the sustainable and resilient evolution of digital government systems. Full article

The global shift toward renewable energy systems raises major challenges related to the variability of solar and wind power and their poor alignment with electricity demand. This paper addresses energy adequacy, defined as the ability of an energy system to reliably meet demand by balancing generation, storage, transmission, and reserves for unforeseen events. Within this framework, energy storage systems are identified as strategic components, requiring a diversified and multi-scale set of solutions-from territorial to building scale-to respond to infrastructural constraints and user behaviour. The study adopts a multi-scalar and interdisciplinary methodology combining deductive and inductive approaches. The deductive analysis examines global, European, and Italian electricity systems, highlighting issues such as overcapacity and grid instability caused by the uncoordinated development of renewable generation and network infrastructures. The inductive approach focuses on existing storage technologies, with particular attention to two types of thermal energy storage selected for their simplicity, scalability, and replicability. Hydropower reservoirs are also considered due to their multifunctional role in energy balancing. Two case studies developed by the research group—a public building energy retrofit in Milan and a modular off-grid housing prototype—demonstrate how integrated storage solutions can enhance system flexibility. The results emphasize the necessity of a systemic design approach that combines storage technologies, adaptable energy use, and active user participation to ensure energy adequacy in scenarios with high renewable penetration. Full article

The proposed study investigates the key factors influencing UAV adoption and proposes an integrated educational–operational framework to enhance implementation in agricultural practice. A case study in Sibiu County, Romania, combined survey-based empirical analysis (n = 80), strategic environmental assessment and the deployment of a demonstration aerial crop monitoring system for educational purposes (ACMS-E). We integrated the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine adoption intentions, revealing perceived usefulness (β = 0.355, p = 0.021) and positive attitudes (β = 0.382, p = 0.005) as the strongest predictors, explaining 44.1% of variance. Based on these findings, a modular training curriculum was designed, combining theoretical instruction, flight operation exercises, remote sensing techniques, data analytics and farm-management integration. ACMS-E provides hands-on training and promotes capacity-building, bridging the gap between technological availability and real-world adoption. By linking technological capabilities with structured training, ACMS-E bridges the gap between UAV availability and effective implementation, offering a scalable model for precision agriculture. This framework provides a pathway to accelerate UAV adoption, optimize field-level monitoring and support evidence-based, resource-efficient farm management in emerging and developed agricultural contexts. Full article

This study investigates the core optimization of a Prismatic Solid Molten-Salt Reactor (PSMSR) to meet key objectives of compactness, high power density, and extended operational life. With graphite irradiation resistance being a paramount concern in high-flux environments, the analysis focuses on the influence of core height-to-diameter ratio, active zone size, and reflector thickness on the graphite displacement per atom (DPA) distribution and burnup performance. The results indicate an optimal active core configuration characterized by a 1:1 height-to-diameter ratio, a 175 cm active zone radius, and a 55 cm reflector. Building on these findings, reactivity-control strategies were refined. An evaluation of burnable-poison addition against fuel-loading optimization revealed that the latter, by adjusting the TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic) packing factor and control-rod dimensions, can meet the safety shutdown margin requirements and substantially improve the fuel utilization efficiency, ultimately achieving a burnup depth of 50.3 MWd/kgU and a 10-year operation lifetime without refueling at a 500 MWt power level. This research provides an effective technical solution for the modular deployment of solid-state molten-salt reactors in remote areas and in special application scenarios. This research offers a viable technical pathway for implementing solid-fueled molten-salt reactors in remote and specialized scenarios, enabling their modular deployment. Full article

The UK faces an urgent challenge to simultaneously accelerate housing delivery and reduce whole-life carbon emissions, yet robust empirical evidence on the carbon performance of modular steel housing remains limited. This study aims to quantify the carbon impacts of a modular light-gauge steel frame social housing dwelling in the UK and to benchmark its performance against contemporary low-carbon construction typologies. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was conducted using primary project data from a real modular housing development, with embodied carbon modelled in One Click LCA and operational energy assessed through SAP 10.2-verified datasets. The results indicate a total whole-life carbon footprint of 91.3 tCO₂e over a 50-year period, with embodied emissions (A1–A3) accounting for 38.2% and operational energy and water use contributing 48.1%. The normalised embodied carbon intensity of 366 kgCO₂e/m² (A1–A5) is comparable to recent high-performing cross-laminated timber buildings, demonstrating that optimised modular steel systems can allow for low-carbon outcomes typically associated with bio-based construction. Sensitivity analysis shows that low-carbon foundation concrete, bio-based insulation, and steel optimisation can reduce upfront emissions by approximately 8–10%. Dynamic energy simulations were also used to assess how different design choices influence operational carbon emissions. This study provides transparent, real-project evidence of the whole-life carbon performance of UK modular light-gauge steel frame housing and identifies practical design strategies for further decarbonisation. The findings support informed decision-making for policymakers, designers, and housing providers seeking scalable, low-carbon residential solutions. Full article

Pyrrole derivatives are natural organic molecules that are important to the pharmaceutical industry due to their occurrence in nature and their use in a wide range of medical applications. In general, non-symmetric, 1,2,5-triaryl-substituted pyrroles are prepared either by Paal–Knorr condensation or cycloaddition that present synthetic challenges particularly if late-stage functionalization is required. The present study describes a modular approach to synthesizing 1,2,5-triarylpyrroles containing three different arene substituents. Using pyrrole ester building blocks, a sequence of decarboxylative cross-coupling and C–H arylation provides unsymmetrical 1,2,5-triarylpyrroles in a regioselective, stepwise manner; the scope and limitations of the sequence are disclosed. Full article

Intending to improve building performance and environmental sustainability, vertical greenery systems (VGSs) are employed as effective nature-based solutions (NbSs), yet they often struggle to meet modern building energy demands alone. This study investigates the integration of VGSs with advanced façade technologies (AFTs) to develop multifunctional hybrid façades. A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, combining bibliometric and thematic analyses of 415 publications (2015 to early 2026) from Scopus and Web of Science. The study categorizes AFT into adaptive, energy-generating, and high-performance façades. The results indicate that VGS–photovoltaic (PV) systems and double-skin (DS) systems are the most studied integration scenarios, providing significant thermal regulation and energy efficiency. However, significant gaps remain for kinetic, modular, bioactive, and glazing systems, particularly regarding standardized workflows and long-term lifecycle assessments (LCAs). The study reveals a transition of VGSs from passive aesthetic elements to active building components. To address these identified gaps, a four-phase design strategy—conceptualization, hybridization, optimization, and development—is proposed to guide architects and engineers in decision-making regarding generating optimized hybrid façades. Integrating VGSs with AFTs is essential for urban resilience and an alignment with Sustainable Development Goals. Future research should prioritize standardized integration protocols and the application of smart technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Full article

We present a modular building block strategy for synthesizing phosphonated polyaromatic systems as an alternative to the conventional late-stage phosphonation of prefabricated aromatic scaffolds, which often requires harsh conditions and has limited tolerance for functional groups. A monophosphonated biphenyl building block was obtained via nickel-catalyzed phosphonation of dibromobiphenyl at 170 °C for three hours. This synthesis is more economical and milder than typical high-temperature palladium systems. In parallel, a borated pyrene derivative was prepared by Suzuki–Miyaura borylation. The final palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction produced the target compound, octaethyl(pyrene-tetrakis(biphenyl))tetrakis(phosphonate), Et₈-PyTPPE. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals a centrosymmetric molecule that crystallizes in the triclinic space group P–1, with the inversion center located at the central C–C bond of the pyrene core. The pyrene unit is essentially planar, while the biphenylphosphonate arms are highly twisted relative to the core and to each other. The crystal packing is dominated by weak intermolecular interactions, and no significant π–π stacking is observed. Hirshfeld surface analysis shows that H···H (60.5%) and C···H (22.5%) contacts predominate, while O···H interactions (14.4%) with phosphoryl oxygen atoms represent the most relevant directed contacts. From photophysical investigations, Et₈-PyTPPE exhibits blue fluorescence (λ_em. = 452 nm) in solution and aggregation-induced red-shifted emission with nanosecond lifetimes in the solid state, confirming purely fluorescent behavior. Full article

Rotating machinery serves as a critical component in various engineering systems, making accurate prediction of its Remaining Useful Life (RUL) essential for ensuring operational stability. To address the technical limitations of mainstream RUL prediction models comprehensively capturing spatial correlations among multiple sensors, this paper proposes a multi-graph-structured spatiotemporal feature fusion model for RUL prediction of rotating machinery. Breaking through the constraints of constructing a single correlation graph, the model first builds two distinct graphs—a prior correlation graph based on the structural mechanism of the rotating machinery and a similarity correlation graph derived from monitoring data distribution characteristics. These dual-perspective graphs collectively characterize the potential spatial dependencies among multiple sensors. Subsequently, a Graph Attention Network (GAT) is introduced to aggregate spatial features from both graphs, and a feature concatenation fusion strategy is adopted to achieve a comprehensive representation of the inter-sensor spatial dependencies. Finally, a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network is employed to extract temporal evolution features from the operational data. The effective fusion of these spatial and temporal features enhances the model’s RUL prediction performance. Simulation experiments conducted on the Commercial Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation (C-MAPSS) dataset validated the robustness of the proposed method. Full article