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1 – 10 of over 1000Yan Ma, Cai Minqiang and Li Yun
The purpose of this paper is to define the Internet as a virtual space supported by technologies and presented in the form of socioeconomic relations from the perspective of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to define the Internet as a virtual space supported by technologies and presented in the form of socioeconomic relations from the perspective of political economy. The Internet space is a unique virtual commodity different from ordinary commodities and has the following effect characteristics: super replicability, space- and time-transcendence, open-source shareability and reality–virtuality transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
Internet space can also be imagined as a piece of virtual land. Internet space can be deemed as a piece of virtual land and its value can be divided into labor value and virtual value. The pricing model of virtual value is mainly determined by the gain and discount rate and this value comes from the transfer and markup of social value. In the context of the Internet Plus era, Internet space has become an essential economic factor that influences human economic activities.
Findings
Therefore, it is of practical significance and theoretical value to introduce Internet space as an economic variable into the framework of economic theory. The realistic logic of Internet space is to influence human economic behaviors with the combination of information binding.
Originality/value
The theoretical mechanism is to have an impact on the micro-market price by changing market relations from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. Its path to functioning at the macro level is to influence economic behaviors by changing the expectations of investment and consumption, resulting in new economic trends.
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This paper aims to provide top-level design and basic platform for intelligent application in China high-speed railway.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide top-level design and basic platform for intelligent application in China high-speed railway.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the analysis for the future development trends of world railway, combined with the actual development needs in China high-speed railway, The definition and scientific connotation of intelligent high-speed railway (IHSR) are given at first, and then the system architecture of IHSR are outlined, including 1 basic platform, 3 business sectors, 10 business fields, and 18 innovative applications. At last, a basic platform with cloud edge integration for IHSR is designed.
Findings
The rationality, feasibility and implementability of the system architecture of IHSR have been verified on and applied to the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, providing important support for the construction and operation of the world’s first IHSR.
Originality/value
This paper systematically gives the definition and connotation of the IHSR and put forward the system architecture of IHSR for first time. It will play the most important role in the design, construction and operation of IHSR.
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Stef Lommen, Gabriel Lodewijks and Dingena L. Schott
Bulk material-handling equipment development can be accelerated and is less expensive when testing of virtual prototypes can be adopted. However, often the complexity of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Bulk material-handling equipment development can be accelerated and is less expensive when testing of virtual prototypes can be adopted. However, often the complexity of the interaction between particulate material and handling equipment cannot be handled by a single computational solver. This paper aims to establish a framework for the development, verification and application of a co-simulation of discrete element method (DEM) and multibody dynamics (MBD).
Design/methodology/approach
The two methods have been coupled in two directions, which consists of coupling the load data on the geometry from DEM to MBD and the position data from MBD to DEM. The coupling has been validated thoroughly in several scenarios, and the stability and robustness have been investigated.
Findings
All tests clearly demonstrated that the co-simulation is successful in predicting particle–equipment interaction. Examples are provided describing the effects of a coupling that is too tight, as well as a coupling that is too loose. A guideline has been developed for achieving stable and efficient co-simulations.
Originality/value
This framework shows how to achieve realistic co-simulations of particulate material and equipment interaction of a dynamic nature.
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The future construction site will be pervasive, context aware and embedded with intelligence. The purpose of this paper is to explore and define the concept of the digital skin of…
Abstract
Purpose
The future construction site will be pervasive, context aware and embedded with intelligence. The purpose of this paper is to explore and define the concept of the digital skin of the future smart construction site.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a systematic and hierarchical classification of 114 articles from both industry and academia on the digital skin concept and evaluates them. The hierarchical classification is based on application areas relevant to construction, such as augmented reality, building information model-based visualisation, labour tracking, supply chain tracking, safety management, mobile equipment tracking and schedule and progress monitoring. Evaluations of the research papers were conducted based on three pillars: validation of technological feasibility, onsite application and user acceptance testing.
Findings
Technologies learned about in the literature review enabled the envisaging of the pervasive construction site of the future. The paper presents scenarios for the future context-aware construction site, including the construction worker, construction procurement management and future real-time safety management systems.
Originality/value
Based on the gaps identified by the review in the body of knowledge and on a broader analysis of technology diffusion, the paper highlights the research challenges to be overcome in the advent of digital skin. The paper recommends that researchers follow a coherent process for smart technology design, development and implementation in order to achieve this vision for the construction industry.
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Weifei Hu, Tongzhou Zhang, Xiaoyu Deng, Zhenyu Liu and Jianrong Tan
Digital twin (DT) is an emerging technology that enables sophisticated interaction between physical objects and their virtual replicas. Although DT has recently gained significant…
Abstract
Digital twin (DT) is an emerging technology that enables sophisticated interaction between physical objects and their virtual replicas. Although DT has recently gained significant attraction in both industry and academia, there is no systematic understanding of DT from its development history to its different concepts and applications in disparate disciplines. The majority of DT literature focuses on the conceptual development of DT frameworks for a specific implementation area. Hence, this paper provides a state-of-the-art review of DT history, different definitions and models, and six types of key enabling technologies. The review also provides a comprehensive survey of DT applications from two perspectives: (1) applications in four product-lifecycle phases, i.e. product design, manufacturing, operation and maintenance, and recycling and (2) applications in four categorized engineering fields, including aerospace engineering, tunneling and underground engineering, wind engineering and Internet of things (IoT) applications. DT frameworks, characteristic components, key technologies and specific applications are extracted for each DT category in this paper. A comprehensive survey of the DT references reveals the following findings: (1) The majority of existing DT models only involve one-way data transfer from physical entities to virtual models and (2) There is a lack of consideration of the environmental coupling, which results in the inaccurate representation of the virtual components in existing DT models. Thus, this paper highlights the role of environmental factor in DT enabling technologies and in categorized engineering applications. In addition, the review discusses the key challenges and provides future work for constructing DTs of complex engineering systems.
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Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, railway systems worldwide have faced challenges such as the modernization of engineering projects, efficient management of intelligent digital railway equipment, rapid growth in passenger and freight transport demands, customized transport services and ubiquitous transport safety. The transformation toward intelligent digital transformation in railways has emerged as an effective response to the formidable challenges confronting the railway industry, thereby becoming an inevitable global trend in railway development.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper, therefore, conducts a comprehensive analysis of the current state of global railway intelligent digital transformation, focusing on the characteristics and applications of intelligent digital transformation technology. It summarizes and analyzes relevant technologies and applicable scenarios in the realm of railway intelligent digital transformation, theoretically elucidating the development process of global railway intelligent digital transformation and, in practice, providing guidance and empirical examples for railway intelligence and digital transformation.
Findings
Digital and intelligent technologies follow a wave-like pattern of continuous iterative evolution, progressing from the early stages, to a period of increasing attention and popularity, then to a phase of declining interest, followed by a resurgence and ultimately reaching a mature stage.
Originality/value
The results offer reference and guidance to fully leverage the opportunities presented by the latest wave of the digitalization revolution, accelerate the overall upgrade of the railway industry and promote global collaborative development in railway intelligent digital transformation.
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Xudong Lu, Shipeng Wang, Fengjian Kang, Shijun Liu, Hui Li, Xiangzhen Xu and Lizhen Cui
The purpose of this paper is to detect abnormal data of complex and sophisticated industrial equipment with sensors quickly and accurately. Due to the rapid development of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to detect abnormal data of complex and sophisticated industrial equipment with sensors quickly and accurately. Due to the rapid development of the Internet of Things, more and more equipment is equipped with sensors, especially more complex and sophisticated industrial equipment is installed with a large number of sensors. A large amount of monitoring data is quickly collected to monitor the operation of the equipment. How to detect abnormal data quickly and accurately has become a challenge.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors propose an approach called Multiple Group Correlation-based Anomaly Detection (MGCAD), which can detect equipment anomaly quickly and accurately. The single-point anomaly degree of equipment and the correlation of each kind of data sequence are modeled by using multi-group correlation probability model (a probability distribution model which is helpful to the anomaly detection of equipment), and the anomaly detection of equipment is realized.
Findings
The simulation data set experiments based on real data show that MGCAD has better performance than existing methods in processing multiple monitoring data sequences.
Originality/value
The MGCAD method can detect abnormal data quickly and accurately, promote the intelligent level of smart articles and ultimately help to project the real world into cyber space in CrowdIntell Network.
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Mpho Trinity Manenzhe, Arnesh Telukdarie and Megashnee Munsamy
The purpose of this paper is to propose a system dynamic simulated process model for maintenance work management incorporating the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a system dynamic simulated process model for maintenance work management incorporating the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The extant literature in physical assets maintenance depicts that poor maintenance management is predominantly because of a lack of a clearly defined maintenance work management process model, resulting in poor management of maintenance work. This paper solves this complex phenomenon using a combination of conceptual process modeling and system dynamics simulation incorporating 4IR technologies. A process for maintenance work management and its control actions on scheduled maintenance tasks versus unscheduled maintenance tasks is modeled, replicating real-world scenarios with a digital lens (4IR technologies) for predictive maintenance strategy.
Findings
A process for maintenance work management is thus modeled and simulated as a dynamic system. Post-model validation, this study reveals that the real-world maintenance work management process can be replicated using system dynamics modeling. The impact analysis of 4IR technologies on maintenance work management systems reveals that the implementation of 4IR technologies intensifies asset performance with an overall gain of 27.46%, yielding the best maintenance index. This study further reveals that the benefits of 4IR technologies positively impact equipment defect predictability before failure, thereby yielding a predictive maintenance strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The study focused on maintenance work management system without the consideration of other subsystems such as cost of maintenance, production dynamics, and supply chain management.
Practical implications
The maintenance real-world quantitative data is retrieved from two maintenance departments from company A, for a period of 24 months, representing years 2017 and 2018. The maintenance quantitative data retrieved represent six various types of equipment used at underground Mines. The maintenance management qualitative data (Organizational documents) in maintenance management are retrieved from company A and company B. Company A is a global mining industry, and company B is a global manufacturing industry. The reliability of the data used in the model validation have practical implications on how maintenance work management system behaves with the benefit of 4IR technologies' implementation.
Social implications
This research study yields an overall benefit in asset management, thereby intensifying asset performance. The expected learnings are intended to benefit future research in the physical asset management field of study and most important to the industry practitioners in physical asset management.
Originality/value
This paper provides for a model in which maintenance work and its dynamics is systematically managed. Uncontrollable corrective maintenance work increases the complexity of the overall maintenance work management. The use of a system dynamic model and simulation incorporating 4IR technologies adds value on the maintenance work management effectiveness.
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Felipe Bastos dos Reis, Leonardo Augusto de Vasconcelos Gomes and PauloTromboni de Souza Nascimento
The Internet of Things (IoT) real-time data collection can help to more efficiently optimize and control companies' internal processes. Prior research analyzed IoT benefits and…
Abstract
Purpose
The Internet of Things (IoT) real-time data collection can help to more efficiently optimize and control companies' internal processes. Prior research analyzed IoT benefits and potential applications. Nevertheless, there is little empirical evidence and theoretical understanding of how IoT impacts new product development (NPD). This article aims at narrowing this gap.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 54 case studies were selected from an IoT database – IoT ONE. IoT ONE has a section on NPD. NPD was divided into three phases: discovery, development and commercialization. The adopted IoT technology maturity level was also analyzed. A content analysis was carried out to identify the impacts of IoT in NPD.
Findings
This study’s findings capture the emerging patterns of IoT adoption and its impact on NPD. Of the total, 33 IoT adoption cases in the sample were in the machinery and equipment sector. Adopted technologies were at least two years old in 85% of the sample. Only 15% adopted cutting edge technologies (less than 2 years old). Key actors (e.g. vendors) facilitate IoT adoption. By a small margin, the larger impacts of IoT were in the commercialization phase, where it was primarily applied to improve and optimize production processes, to better execute and synchronize new products launching, and to increase the factories' productive capacity. In the discovery phase, IoT was mainly used to identify new opportunities in the market and to collect customer data, to generate a better customer experience. In the development phase, IoT allows greater integration across departments, increasing internal collaboration and allowing more flexible NPD.
Originality/value
Many articles studied the impact of information technologies in NPD. Few address the impact of IoT in NPD. IT tells about the impact of better communications with relevant people. IoT tells about machine acquired information and knowledge. This is new, much broader and deals with quite different impacts on NPD.
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Vuyokazi Precious Camngca, Christopher Amoah and Emma Ayesu-Koranteng
The construction industry’s daily processes demand heavy data usage and communication between project participants to meet client requirements. Thus, the application of…
Abstract
Purpose
The construction industry’s daily processes demand heavy data usage and communication between project participants to meet client requirements. Thus, the application of information technology in project implementation has been increasing in the construction sector (CS) lately. However, the same cannot be seen in public sectors responsible for implementing government projects in South Africa. This study aimed to investigate the causes and effects of the underutilisation of information communication technology (ICT) in the building section of a public sector in a municipality in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted for the study, using a public sector in one of the municipalities as a case study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among the building unit workers, using unstructured interview questions. The data collected were analysed using the ATLAS.ti software.
Findings
The findings indicate a lack of understanding of existing and newly available ICT software and hardware technology among staff within the building technology due to lack of digitalisation in construction projects implementation, inadequate system upgrades, lack of adequate ICT resources, lack of financial resources for internet and software application subscriptions and lack of ICT training leading. The issues mentioned above have led to the outsourcing of projects professionals, slow pace of electronic emails, untrained professionals, usage of different and unlicensed software, resulting in the underutilisation of ICT within the whole building section. This change also adversely affects all officials, especially the junior officials who have graduated using the most recent ICT technology during their studies.
Research limitations/implications
The building department of only one public sector was used for the study; therefore, the findings may not be generalisable. The case study public sector’s name is withheld for confidentiality purposes.
Practical implications
Adequate change management and continuous development, combined with the allocation of proper resources, would be necessary for all staff members. Enormous investments had to be made in the ICT equipment by providing a sufficient budget in the building section of the public sectors. The building section within public sectors should provide change management to all aged skills staff by attending seminars to learn new ICT technology applied within its work environment.
Originality/value
The study established the causes of the underutilisation of ICT in the CS, especially in the public work departments and municipalities, and how this contributes to service delivery.
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