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The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the influence of individual learning styles on the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR)-based learning in structural engineering. There has been a lack of research examining the correlation between learning efficiency and learning style, particularly in the context of quantitatively assessing the efficacy of AR in structural engineering education.

Using Kolb’s experiential learning theory (ELT), a model that emphasizes learning through experience, students from the construction management department are assigned four learning styles (converging, assimilating, diverging and accommodating). Performance data were gathered, appraised, and compared through the three dimensions from the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey model across four categories of Kolb’s learning styles in both text-graph (TG)-based and AR-based learning settings.

The findings indicate that AR-based materials positively impact structural engineering education by enhancing overall learning performance more than TG-based materials. It is also found that the learning style has a profound influence on learning effectiveness, with AR technology markedly improving the information retrieval processes, particularly for converging and assimilating learners, then diverging learners, with a less significant impact on accommodating learners.

These results corroborate prior research analyzing learners' outcomes with hypermedia and informational learning systems. It was found that learners with an “abstract” approach (convergers and assimilators) outperform those with a “concrete” approach (divergers and accommodators). This research emphasizes the importance of considering learning styles before integrating technologies into civil engineering education, thereby assisting software developers and educational institutions in creating more effective teaching materials tailored to specific learning styles.

The aim of this paper is to explore the rationale for teaching sustainability and engineering ethics within a decision‐making paradigm, and critically appraise ways of achieving related learning outcomes.

The paper presents the experience of the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney in teaching environmental sustainability and engineering ethics to third‐year undergraduate students. It discusses the objectives of the course and the merits and drawbacks of incorporating ethics and sustainability in the same teaching framework. In addition, it evaluates ways of incorporating theoretical and applied perspectives on sustainability.

Ethics and sustainability overlap but do not coincide; incorporating them in the same engineering course can be effective, provided that points of linkage are clearly recognized in the syllabus, a suitable combination of theory and practical applications is drawn upon and adequate teaching methods, including decision‐making case problems, are used.

While environmental sustainability, economic rationality and ethical reasoning can be easily fitted into the syllabus, social sustainability is more difficult to teach because it requires a significant conceptual departure from deep‐seated preconceptions on the part of students and teachers, and does not lend itself easily to conventional classroom activity, such as lectures and weekly workshops. Further research on effective ways of incorporating social sustainability in engineering curricula is therefore needed.

The paper evaluates sustainability issues within the context of civil engineering education.

The effectiveness of the construction industry highly depends on the quality of the work practices, education and training. Based on the industry’s need to strengthen the productivity and performance improvement scopes in the construction education/training practices, this study aims to develop a guiding tool for designing new training programmes in different qualification levels considering the industry’s near-future challenges.

The study methodology encompassed literature reviews, experts’ discussions/reviews and problem-based communication approaches with qualitative methods to obtain a set of expected competency outcomes (COs) for each qualification level. The necessary mapping frameworks were used to display the cross section of each CO.

The study has presented a guiding model comprising three categories of qualification levels, where each consists of 12 COs with the mapping outcomes against learning domains of a conceptual framework. The guiding model also displays the detailed steps to develop detailed curriculums for different qualification levels of training.

Though the scope of the study was limited to the Sri Lankan context, the findings can be beneficial to many other countries in similar scenarios.

Overall study outcomes are expected to make an impact on the industry’s reskilling and upskilling practices resulting in a considerable level of improvement in the quality and productivity of work operations.

The experts’ reviews highlight the developed model as a valuable tool that provides a platform for upgrading the construction education and training practices based on the industry’s near-future circumstances in productivity and performance improvement practices, also revealing its future influences in training accreditation processes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between civil engineers’ demographics (e.g. age, marital status, education, work experience) and their personal values. The objective was to predict civil engineers’ personal values based on their demographics.

A questionnaire survey was administered to civil engineers to collect data on their demographics and their personal values. Statistical analysis was performed to verify whether a significant statistical relationship exists between civil engineers’ demographics and their personal values.

The most important and the least important personal values were identified for civil engineers. Statistical analysis indicated that civil engineers’ values do vary based on their demographics.

The results of this study cannot be generalized, because individuals’ personal values and demographics are, by definition, local. Location and culture may affect the personal values of civil engineers.

Team leaders normally have access to information about the demographics of the engineers they employ; based on the results of this study, they should be able to predict their personal values, and to make more informed decisions when appointing them to particular positions on project teams.

The research presented in this paper, establishes for the first time, that a linkage exists between civil engineers’ personal values and their demographics, and makes it easier for team leaders to make assignment decisions.

This survey covers civil, electrical and electronics, energy, environment, general, materials, mechanical, and traffic and transportation engineering. Areas such as biomedical and chemical engineering will be dealt with in future issues. Readers may find that the classifications included in this survey are not mutually exclusive but do occasionally overlap with one another. For instance, the section on environmental engineering includes a review of a book on the environmental impact of nuclear power plants, which might as easily have been part of the section on energy technology. Before we go into a discussion of data bases and indexes, I would like to note in this introductory section some recent bibliographic aids published during the period surveyed. Most engineering libraries will find them very valuable in their reference and acquisition functions. Since normal review sources will cover these books, I am merely listing them below: Malinowski, Harold Robert, Richard A. Gray and Dorothy A. Gray. Science and Engineering Literature. 2d ed., Littleton, Colorado, Libraries Unlimited, 1976. 368p. LC 76–17794 ISBN 0–87287–098–7. $13.30; Mildren, K. W., ed. Use of Engineering Literature. Woburn, Mass., Butterworths, 1976. 621p. ISBN 0–408–70714–3. $37.95. Mount, Ellis. Guide to Basic Information Sources in Engineering. New York, Wiley, Halsted Press, 1976. 196p. LC 75–43261 ISBN 0–47070–15013–0. $11.95 and Guide to European Sources of Technical Information. 4th ed., edited by Ann Pernet. Guernsey, Eng., F. Hodgson, 1976. 415p. ISBN 0–85280–161–0. $52.00.

The purpose of this paper is to check the feasibility of using biomaterial such as of Phragmites-Australis (PA) in cement paste to achieve sustainable building materials.

In this study, cement pastes were prepared by adding locally produced PA fibers in four different volumes: 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% for a duration of 180 days. Bottles and prisms were subjected to chemical shrinkage (CS), drying shrinkage (DS), autogenous shrinkage (AS) and expansion tests. Besides, prism specimens were tested for flexural strength and compressive strength. Furthermore, a mathematical model was proposed to determine the variation length change as function of time.

The experimental findings showed that the mechanical properties of cement paste were significantly improved by the addition of 1% PA fiber compared to other PA mixes. The effect of increasing the % of PA fibers reduces the CS, AS, DS and expansion of cement paste. For example, the addition of 2% PA fibers reduces the CS, expansion, AS and DS at 180 days by 36%, 20%, 13% and 10%, respectively compared to the control mix. The proposed nonlinear model fit to the experimental data is appropriate with R2 values above 0.92. There seems to be a strong positive linear correlation between CS and AS/DS with R2 above 0.95. However, there exists a negative linear correlation between CS and expansion.

The PA used in this study was obtained from one specific location. This can exhibit a limitation as soil type may affect PA properties. Also, one method was used to treat the PA fibers.

The utilization of PA fibers in paste may well reduce the formation of cracks and limit its propagation, thus using a biomaterial such as PA in cementitious systems can be an environmentally friendly option as it will make good use of the waste generated and enhance local employment, thereby contributing toward sustainable development.

To the authors best knowledge, there is hardly any research on the effect of PA on the volume stability of cement paste. Therefore, the research outputs are considered to be original.

A description of failure events during construction illustrates the urgent need to emphasize the management of quality in civil engineering projects. During the construction of a civil engineering project, cost control techniques are used to monitor cost trends and to detect cost deviations in order to control project cost. However, this technique does not reveal the cause of any failure. The nature and collection of failure costs have been part of quality costing. Hypothetical illustrations show how failure costs can be extracted during construction using a matrix. Quality cost information can be used to supplement cost control techniques for cost control purposes and in identifying weaknesses within a system.

The realization that concurrent engineering can be adopted in construction has led to various efforts to develop appropriate tools and techniques for its implementation in the industry. This paper discusses the role of client requirements processing in implementing concurrent engineering in construction. Client requirements processing refers to the definition, analysis, and translation of client requirements into solution‐neutral specifications for design. It is essential in maintaining focus on the client, and provides for the effective consideration, resolution and prioritization of the various perspectives within the client body. It also facilitates collaborative teamwork, compliance checking at every stage of the design and construction process, and the traceability of design decisions to explicit and implicit client requirements. The paper concludes with a description of a model for processing clients' requirements in construction, and an example of its practical application.

This paper explains why Eskom, a large electrical utility, has decided to adopt the New Engineering Contract system of documents and assist the owners of the NEC with its further development. It describes the effect this decision is having on Eskom's ‘culture’, the benefits the introduction is providing through the opportunity to retrain all its contract practitioners and the response from South African industry. Types of project to which NEC has been applied are discussed. Examples of problems and successes with the introduction phase are given, with particular reference to the settlement of disputes. The paper concludes with a reference to the South African Government's Procurement Reform Initiative which is seeking standardization of conditions of contract used throughout the Republic.

The purpose of this study was to design an assessment instrument to evaluate students’ attitudes toward sustainable engineering (SE). Factors that impact SE beliefs could then be explored.

Using the definition of sustainability from the Brundtland report and expectancy value theory, students’ sentiment toward SE was evaluated using items to assess SE self-efficacy, SE value and SE affect. The survey was distributed at three diverse universities with 515 responses from students ranging from first year through graduate studies in a variety of engineering majors. The survey instrument was validated using principal components analysis, and internal reliability was established via high Cronbach’s alpha for each construct.

Participation in more experiential, enriching learning experiences correlated to higher SE self-efficacy, value and affect. Extracurricular club involvement correlated with a lower self-efficacy but high SE value. Students who had participated in undergraduate research had a high SE self-efficacy, particularly in the environmental and social sub-scales. The students who participated in internships had high SE self-efficacy but lower SE affect. A greater number of volunteer hours correlated with increased SE affect. Female students possessed higher SE value and affect than male students, but self-efficacy was not significantly different. SE self-efficacy increased with academic rank.

This is the first effort to measure engineering students’ attitudes toward SE using the three sub-scales of expectancy value theory and assessing correlations in these attributes with students’ participation in various learning experiences.