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This paper aims to concentrate on recent innovations in flexible wearable sensor technology tailored for monitoring vital signals within the contexts of wearable sensors and systems developed specifically for monitoring health and fitness metrics.

In recent decades, wearable sensors for monitoring vital signals in sports and health have advanced greatly. Vital signals include electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, electromyography, inertial data, body motions, cardiac rate and bodily fluids like blood and sweating, making them a good choice for sensing devices.

This report reviewed reputable journal articles on wearable sensors for vital signal monitoring, focusing on multimode and integrated multi-dimensional capabilities like structure, accuracy and nature of the devices, which may offer a more versatile and comprehensive solution.

The paper provides essential information on the present obstacles and challenges in this domain and provide a glimpse into the future directions of wearable sensors for the detection of these crucial signals. Importantly, it is evident that the integration of modern fabricating techniques, stretchable electronic devices, the Internet of Things and the application of artificial intelligence algorithms has significantly improved the capacity to efficiently monitor and leverage these signals for human health monitoring, including disease prediction.

This paper aims to investigate how different knitted structures affect the illuminative effect of polymeric optical fibres (POFs).

Knit prototypes were constructed using a 7-gauge industrial hand flat knitting machine. The textile prototype swatches developed in this study tested POF illumination in three types of knitting structures: intervallic knit and float stitch structures; POF inlaid into double plain and full cardigan structures; and double plain and partial knitting structures. The illuminative effects of the POFs in seven prototype swatches were analysed and compared.

It is possible to use an industrial hand flat knitting machine to knit POFs. Longer floats expose more POFs, which boosts illumination but limits the textile’s horizontal stretchability. The openness of the full cardigan structure maximises POF exposure and contributes to even illumination. The partial knitting in different sections achieves the most complete physical integration of POFs into the knitted textiles but constrains the horizontal stretchability of the textiles.

The integration of POFs into knitted textiles provides a functional illuminative effect. Applications include but are not limited to fashion, architecture and interior design.

This study is novel, as it investigates new POF knitted textiles with different loop structures. This study examines how knit stitches affect POFs in intervallic knit and float stitch, inlaid POF double knit, double plain and partial knit and the illuminative effects of the knitted textile.

This paper aims to prepare a new donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) and acceptor–π– D–π–A (A–π–D–π–A) phenothiazine (PTZ) in conjugation with vinyl isophorone (PTZ-1 and PTZ-2) were designed and their molecular shape, electrical structures and characteristics have been explored using the density functional theory (DFT). The results satisfactorily explain that the higher conjugative effect resulted in a smaller high occupied molecular orbital–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gap (Eg). Both compounds show intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) transitions in the ultraviolet (UV)–visible range, with a bathochromic shift and higher absorption oscillator strength, as determined by DFT calculations.

The produced PTZ-1 and PTZ-2 sensors were characterized using various spectroscopic methods, including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H/¹³CNMR). UV–visible absorbance spectra of the generated D–π–A PTZ-1 and A–π–D–π–A PTZ-2 dyes were explored in different solvents of changeable polarities to illustrate positive solvatochromism correlated to intramolecular charge transfer.

The emission spectra of PTZ-1 and PTZ-2 showed strong solvent-dependent band intensity and wavelength. Stokes shifts were monitored to increase with the increase of the solvent polarity up to 4122 cm⁻¹ for the most polar solvent. Linear energy-solvation relationship was applied to inspect solvent-dependent Stokes shifting. Quantum yield (ф) of PTZ-1 and PTZ-2 was also explored. The maximum UV–visible absorbance wavelengths were detected at 417 and 419 nm, whereas the fluorescence intensity was monitored at 586 and 588 nm.

The PTZ-1 and PTZ-2 dyes leading to colorimetric and emission spectral changes together with a color shift from yellow to red.

At the moment, in terms of both research and commercial products, smart shoe technology and applications seem not to attract the same magnitude of attention compared to smart garments and other smart wearables such as wrist watches and wrist bands. The purpose of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by discussing issues regarding smart shoe sensing technologies, smart shoe sensor placements, factors that affect sensor placements and finally the areas of smart shoe applications.

Through a review of relevant literature, this study first and foremost attempts to explain what constitutes a smart shoe and subsequently discusses the current trends in smart shoe applications. Discussed in this study are relevant sensing technologies, sensor placement and areas of smart shoe applications.

This study outlined 13 important areas of smart shoe applications. It also uncovered that majority of smart shoe functionality are physical activity tracking, health rehabilitation and ambulation assistance for the blind. Also highlighted in this review are some of the bottlenecks of smart shoe development.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive review paper focused on smart shoe applications, and therefore serves as an apt reference for researchers within the field of smart footwear.

Research on the relationship between customer bargaining power and supplier performance in supplier–customer relationships has flourished in recent decades. This study aims to empirically investigate whether product market overlap (PMO) in a supply chain moderates the effect of customer bargaining power on supplier profitability.

This study uses large-scale secondary data from multiple databases. Econometric panel data techniques are used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that PMO in a supplier–customer relationship and PMO in supplier–supplier relationships both exacerbate the negative effect of the bargaining power of customers on supplier profitability.

This study contributes to the field of supply chain management. This study brings new insights into the ongoing debate surrounding the relationship between customer bargaining power and supplier profitability. The study also contributes to the literature on supply chain networks by showing the impact of indirect supply chain relationships.

Virtual reality (VR) offers unprecedented immersion and interactivity in education, and working and learning from home have become the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study empirically investigated the factors affecting the use of a VR online learning system (VROLS).

To explore factors affecting users’ continuance behavioral intentions toward using VROLSs, a research framework was formed comprising factors that constitute benefits (i.e. pull factors) and costs (i.e. push factors); these factors included perceived value, flow and social influence. The data for this study were collected via online survey questionnaires. A total of 307 valid responses were used to examine the hypotheses in the research model, employing structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques.

Perceived value, flow experience and the number of peers using VR primarily affect the decision to adopt a VROLS. The pull factors of spatial presence, entertainment and service compatibility, along with the push factors of complexity and visual fatigue, affect perceived value. Therefore, we conclude that perceived value is a primary factor positively influencing both flow experience and the decision to adopt the service.

This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of factors that explain users’ intention to use VROLSs.

Sustainability has become an integral part of the real estate industry, alongside advancing globalization and demographic development. Due to real estate's influence on greenhouse gas emissions throughout its life cycle, both the regulatory and legal requirements concerning the sustainability of real estate are growing and, as a result of social responsibility, the interest of tenants and investors in sustainable real estate. However, criteria for measuring the ecological sustainability of a real estate investment in the purchase process in order to reduce the risk of including “stranded assets” in the portfolio are missing. This paper aims to address the need to integrate the issue of carbon stranding into existing sustainability rating tools.

Existing tools are examined based on defined criteria to determine whether they are suitable for purchasing a property before suitable tools for purchase are compared. Strengths and weaknesses are identified, which are to be remedied with the scoring tool. Taxonomy regulation is integrated into the existing valuation basis as a legal regulation.

The result is a scoring tool that enables real estate companies to measure and evaluate the ecological sustainability performance of a property during the acquisition process, taking into account the three aspects of sustainability and considering them when determining an appropriate purchase price in line with market conditions. Moreover, the developed tool helps to minimize the risk of acquiring a stranding asset.

The environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework employed in this study does not incorporate governance considerations. While the analysis extensively evaluates the building's environmental and social aspects, it does not extend to examining the governance practices of the companies involved. Thus, the assessment is confined solely to the physical attributes of the property without accounting for broader corporate governance factors.

The developed scoring tool represents a valuable tool for the real estate industry, offering insights into sustainability performance during property acquisitions and providing a structured framework for decision-making. By addressing both certification and taxonomy regulation requirements, the tool contributes to the industry's evolution toward more sustainable and environmentally responsible real estate practices.

In response to the growing importance of sustainability in the real estate industry, this paper introduces a novel scoring tool for evaluating the sustainability of real estate investments during the acquisition process.

Over the years, the significance of retrofitting has gained much attention with the unveiling of its different applications, such as energy retrofit and deep retrofit, to enhance the climate-resilience of buildings. However, no single study comprehensively assesses the climate-resilience of retrofitting. The purpose of this study is to address this gap via a systematic literature review.

Quality journal studies were selected using the PRISMA method and analysed manually and using scientometrics. Three dimensions of climate-resilience, such as robustness, withstanding and recovery, were used to evaluate the contribution of retrofit measures for achieving climate-resilient houses across four climate zones: tropical, arid, temperate and cold.

Most passive measures can enhance the robustness of residential buildings but cannot verify for withstanding against immediate shocks and timely recovery. However, some passive measures, such as night-time ventilation, show excellent performance over all four climate zones. Active measures such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, can ensure climate-resilience in all three dimensions in the short-term but contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, further exacerbating the long-term climate. Integrating renewable energy sources can defeat this issue. Thus, all three retrofit strategies should appropriately be adopted together to achieve climate-resilient houses.

Since the research is limited to secondary data, retrofit measures recommended in this research should be further investigated before application.

This review contributes to the knowledge domain of retrofitting by assessing the contribution of different retrofit measures to climate-resilience.

Wireless sensor networks (WSN), as a solution for buried water pipe monitoring, face a new set of challenges compared to traditional application for above-ground infrastructure monitoring. One of the main challenges for underground WSN deployment is the limited range (less than 3 m) at which reliable wireless underground communication can be achieved using radio signal propagation through the soil. To overcome this challenge, the purpose of this paper is to investigate a new approach for wireless underground communication using acoustic signal propagation along a buried water pipe.

An acoustic communication system was developed based on the requirements of low cost (tens of pounds at most), low power supply capacity (in the order of 1 W-h) and miniature (centimetre scale) size for a wireless communication node. The developed system was further tested along a buried steel pipe in poorly graded SAND and a buried medium density polyethylene (MDPE) pipe in well graded SAND.

With predicted acoustic attenuation of 1.3 dB/m and 2.1 dB/m along the buried steel and MDPE pipes, respectively, reliable acoustic communication is possible up to 17 m for the buried steel pipe and 11 m for the buried MDPE pipe.

Although an important first step, more research is needed to validate the acoustic communication system along a wider water distribution pipe network.

This paper shows the possibility of achieving reliable wireless underground communication along a buried water pipe (especially non-metallic material ones) using low-frequency acoustic propagation along the pipe wall.

This paper aims to synthesize new screen-printing ink formula based on new derivatives of azo thiadiazol disperse dyes and evaluate their characteristics after being printed on polyester fabric substrates.

New dispersed dyes based on 1, 3, 4-Thiadiazole derivatives (dyes 1 and 2) were prepared and confirmed by different analyses, infrared (IR), mass and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and then formulated as colored materials in the screen-printing ink formulations. Printing pastes containing the prepared dyestuffs and other ingredients were used for printing polyester using screen-printing or traditional printing. The characteristics of printed polyester fabric substrates were measured by color measurements such as a*, b*, L*, C*, E, Ho, R% and color strength, as well as light, washing, crock and alkali perspiration fastness, and finally, the depth of penetration was evaluated.

The prepared 1, 3, 4-Thiadiazole derivatives (dyes 1 and 2) were obtained from the reaction of 5,5’-(1,4-phenylene)bis(1,3,4-Thiadiazole-2-amine) with resorcinol and m-toluidine as a coupling component. The suitability of the prepared dyestuffs for silk screen-printing on polyester fabrics has been investigated. The prints obtained from a formulation containing dye 1 possess high color strength as well as good overall fastness properties if compared to those obtained using dye 2.

The method of synthesis of the new dyestuffs and screen-printing ink provides a simple and practical solution to prepare some new heterocyclic disperse azo dyes, and they are formulated in the screen-printing inks for printing on a polyester fabric substrate.

The prepared disperse dyes based on 1,3,4-Thiadiazole derivatives (dyes 1 and 2) could be used in textile printing of polyester on an industrial scale.