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Morocco is facing climate change, as shown by national studies conducted to date. The purpose of our research work is, on one hand, to develop an experimental protocol; simulating the Moroccan climate, through exposing concretes to accelerated aging in different cycles of temperature variation (+5 to +40 C°) and humidity (60–98% RH) and on another hand, to determine the effect of exposure to temperature and humidity variation cycles on the durability indicators (of concrete [with and without thermal cure]).

For this purpose, three classes of concrete were studied (C35, C40 and C55). Each class of concrete was considered first with no addition of silica fume (SF) and then with a 10% addition of SF. The concrete samples underwent three types of conditioning before performing the tests. The control concretes (Ct) were demoulated after 24 h and stored under stable temperature and humidity conditions (20 ± 2 °C and 80% ± 5 RH). Treated concretes (CV) demouled after 24 h and exposed to 300 cycles of 12 h of temperature and moisture variation in a climate chamber. And finally, concretes that have undergone a heat cure (CTV) for 5 h at 90 °C, were then removed from the mold and exposed to temperature and moisture variations cycles identical to treated concrete (CV).

The results obtained show that aging accelerated by temperature change, and humidity improves durability indicators compared to Ct. Concretes that have undergone a thermal cure, followed by accelerated aging, show an improvement in durability indicators between 50 and 200 cycles, but the performance of concrete decreases after 200 exposure cycles. The addition of SF plays a beneficial role in the durability of concrete in the three exposure environments.

The originality of the work is, to develop an experimental protocol, simulating the Moroccan climate, through exposing concretes to accelerated aging in different cycles of temperature variation (+5 to +40 C°) and humidity (60–98% RH) and on another hand, to determine the effect of exposure to temperature and humidity variation cycles on the durability indicators of conventional concrete (with and without thermal cure).

Total risk score (TRS) is considered one of the main indicators for risk evaluation. Several studies attempted to employ different types of risk indices for the evaluation of cost overrun causes. Hence, this study aims at performing a comparative analysis to evaluate the efficiency of three different approaches for TRS calculation.

Thirty-eight unique causes of cost overrun in urban-related construction projects were identified and a survey was conducted among construction professionals in Iran. The TRS for each cost overrun cause is calculated using single-attribute (SA), double-attribute (DA), and multiple-attribute (MA) approaches, and eventually, causes were ranked. Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA), logistic regression analysis (LRA), and K-means clustering are utilized to compare the differences in the generated TRS using different approaches.

The results revealed that the TRS generated through the MA approach demonstrated the highest efficiency in terms of generating correlation between causes and their identified latent constructs, prediction capability, and classification of the influential causes in the same group.

The originality of this study primarily stems from the adoption of statistical approaches in the evaluation of the recently introduced TRS calculation approach in comparison to traditional ones. Additionally, this study proposed a modified application of the relative importance index (RII) for risk prioritization. The results from this study are expected to fulfill the gap in previous literature toward exploring the most efficient TRS calculation approach for those researchers and practitioners who seek to utilize them as a measure to identify the influential cost overrun causes.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt fuzzy interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to develop a precise evaluation framework and provide a theoretical basis for enhancing the understanding of responsible consumption and production (RCP) in academic and industrial fields.

An integration of fuzzy set theory and ISM is proposed to maintain a higher level of consistency and reduce the uncertainty inherent in expert responses.

RCP can be categorized into seven levels, which represent the driving power from higher to lower. The top aspect is management style; the remaining aspects are stakeholder management, regulation compliance, efficiency improvement, sustainable awareness, sustainable production and social responsibility.

This study attempts to integrate the triple bottom line (TBL) concept and corporate sustainability to develop a significant framework for evaluating RCP. Although the proposed aspects and criteria can be used to evaluate the Chinese construction industry, these may be insufficient for other industries. In addition, further discussion regarding important aspects and criteria is required to complete the theoretical basis.

The results indicate that the top two criteria are establishing transparent communication channels and promoting managerial attitudes and behavior, which are followed by technology capabilities, organizational culture and stakeholder engagement. These five criteria play important roles when implementing RCP practices among Chinese construction firms.

This study is the first to discuss RCP via an integration of the TBL concept and corporate sustainability. The framework developed herein provides a precise guideline for Chinese construction firms to improve their performance, and it also promotes the efficient use of resources via sustainable practices.

The purpose of this paper is to describe research into attachment styles of rough sleepers and considersthe implications for practice.

The research was structured interviews with a cohort of rough sleepers analysed through evidence-based techniques, and the implications were drawn out with reference to current best practice.

The rough sleepers in the cohort had a very different pattern of attachment styles to the housed population, with 100% insecure vs c35%, and 50% insecure disorganised vs >15%.

The limitation is that the cohort was relatively small, n = 22 and was a sample of convenience. The implications are that homelessness services working with rough sleepers need to be attachment-informed as much as trauma-informed.

Practical implications are that homelessness services need to have a more rounded psychological perspective such as psychologically informed environments rather than just a trauma-informed approach.

Rough sleepers suffer from deeply pervasive and severe attachment disorders, and this may be causal to their becoming rough sleepers and is certainly a factor in whether or not they are successfully rehoused.

There is almost no other original research published into the attachment styles of rough sleepers or homeless people. The current trend is for trauma-informed services: the call for attachment-informed ones is original.

Oil is crucial for industrial development. This paper investigates the impacts of oil price changes on China's industrial growth and examines whether the impacts are asymmetric. The estimations can help determine how oil price shocks are transmitted throughout the economy.

This paper adopts West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price and industrial sector output and uses monthly data. The recently developed nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model is employed to illustrate the effects in both the short term and long term. Importantly, under NARDL framework, this paper examines whether the impacts are asymmetric by decomposing oil price shocks into their positive and negative partial sums.

The empirical results prove clear evidence of asymmetries in the short term, long term or both terms. Specifically, some sectors benefit from, rather than suffer from higher oil prices, even some energy-intensive sectors, i.e. C31 (Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous Metals) and C32 (Smelting and Pressing of Non-ferrous Metals). However, the effects on some other energy-intensive sectors appear insignificant. Additionally, the results prove significantly negative responses in some sectors in the long term, and most of these sectors are in the top half of the ranking by energy consumptions.

This paper studies the economic responses at a disaggregated level by employing industry-level data. NARDL method is used to decompose oil price changes into their increases and decreases and investigate the asymmetries in the impacts of oil price changes.

Ready-mix concrete delivery problem (RMCDP), a specific version of the vehicle routing problem (VRP), is a relevant supply-chain engineering task for construction management with various formulations and solving methods. This problem can range from a simple scenario involving one source, one material and one destination to a more challenging and complex case involving multiple sources, multiple materials and multiple destinations. This paper presents an Internet of Things (IoT)-supported active building information modeling (BIM) system for optimized multi-project ready-mix concrete (RMC) delivery.

The presented system is BIM-based, IoT supported, dynamic and automatic input/output exchange to provide an optimal delivery program for multi-project ready-mix-concrete problem. The input parameters are extracted as real-time map-supported IoT data and transferred to the system via an application programming interface (API) into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) optimization model developed to perform the optimization. The obtained optimization results are further integrated into BIM by conventional project management tools. To demonstrate the features of the suggested system, an RMCDP example was applied to solve that included four building sites, seven eligible concrete plants and three necessary RMC mixtures.

The system provides the optimum delivery schedule for multiple RMCs to multiple construction sites, as well as the optimum RMC quantities to be delivered, the quantities from each concrete plant that must be supplied, the best delivery routes, the optimum execution times for each construction site, and the total minimal costs, while also assuring the dynamic transfer of the optimized results back into the portfolio of multiple BIM projects. The system can generate as many solutions as needed by updating the real-time input parameters in terms of change of the routes, unit prices and availability of concrete plants.

The suggested system allows dynamic adjustments during the optimization process, andis adaptable to changes in input data also considering the real-time input data. The system is based on spreadsheets, which are widely used and common tool that most stakeholders already utilize daily, while also providing the possibility to apply a more specialized tool. Based on this, the RMCDP can be solved using both conventional and advanced optimization software, enabling the system to handle even large-scale tasks as necessary.

Attempts to provide a better explanation of differences in diverse export behaviour among similar operating firms in the same country. Wishes to compensate for deficiencies by analysing determinants of behaviour of exporting firms by: controlling for country‐specific; and industry‐specific influences on them. Tests the hypothesis and chosen research approaches which are based on earlier results. Discusses the use of a four‐part questionnaire designed with 194 independent variables and how this was sent to 1,500 managing directors of British and German food‐processing and mechanical engineering firms ‐ there were, by June 1982, 310 replies. Compares extracted sets of discriminating variables to validate by test established hypothesis. Identifies six key influences on export behaviour and concludes that the chosen research approach is an important step towards model building. Finally, states that future researchers will find scope to refine results further, and in more detail and uses a Likert scale with nine concepts.

A new integrated method based on the means‐end chain (MEC) analysis and factor analysis is proposed for developing intangible product‐mix strategies for convenience store (CVS) chains. With variables obtained from a survey on CVS service items, both analyses were used to derive the hierarchical value factor map (HVFM). The new map can handle and develop strategies for product differentiation, advertising and market segmentation. The purpose of this article is two‐fold: to propose improvements for the traditional MEC method of constructing the service hierarchical value map (HVM) and to formulate effective intangible‐product strategies.

IN today's battle for greater productivity management is cast in a cardinal role. Like a military commander, it has first to recognize the nature and purpose of the opponent and then formulate the best strategy to encompass his defeat. One element in that is to know the strength and quality of the available resources, ways in which to improve both, and then deploy them to the best advantage.

This study aims to apply unit root test to investigate the behavior of Chinese firms toward their leverage policy. The study is based on two influential and competing theories of capital structure.

This study applies unit root test to investigate the behavior of Chinese firms toward their leverage policy. The study is based on two influential and competing theories of capital structure. Trade off theory advocates that firms have a target level of leverage ratio and that firms try to achieve that optimal leverage ratio, whereas pecking order theory argues that firms have no target level of leverage and that they follow a specific pattern of leverage. For this purpose, this study applies a Fisher type unit root test to 12,808 firm level observations. The data are unbalanced and cover a period from 1991 to 2014.

The results reveal the presence of a stationary behavior across short-term, long-term and total leverage policies. For short-term leverage policy, 21 per cent firms show stationary behavior, while for long-term, 20 per cent show a targeting behavior; for the total leverage policy 17 per cent of firms are found to follow a tradeoff model. To make the findings more interesting sample was further classified into profit and loss making firms. The study finds that loss making firms do not follow a target level of leverage in China. Furthermore, unit root is applied to all firms before and after crises-2008. It is revealed that stationary behavior is more prevalent before crises-2008.

This study is highly important from the point of view that it quantifies firms into distinct categories of following specific model of capital structure. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the findings of this study add to current research knowledge about Chinese firms with respect to adjustment behavior toward a target capital structure.