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Railways are a well-known example of complex critical infrastructure, incorporating socio-technical systems with humans such as drivers, signallers, maintainers and passengers at the core. The technological evolution including interconnectedness and new ways of interaction lead to new security and safety risks that can be realised, both in terms of human error, and malicious and non-malicious behaviour. This study aims to identify the human factors (HF) and cyber-security risks relating to the role of signallers on the railways and explores strategies for the improvement of “Digital Resilience” – for the concept of a resilient railway.

Overall, 26 interviews were conducted with 21 participants from industry and academia.

The results showed that due to increased automation, both cyber-related threats and human error can impact signallers’ day-to-day operations – directly or indirectly (e.g. workload and safety-critical communications) – which could disrupt the railway services and potentially lead to safety-related catastrophic consequences. This study identifies cyber-related problems, including external threats; engineers not considering the human element in designs when specifying security controls; lack of security awareness among the rail industry; training gaps; organisational issues; and many unknown “unknowns”.

The authors discuss socio-technical principles through a hexagonal socio-technical framework and training needs analysis to mitigate against cyber-security issues and identify the predictive training needs of the signallers. This is supported by a systematic approach which considers both, safety and security factors, rather than waiting to learn from a cyber-attack retrospectively.

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are gaining significant importance in the current environment. Many businesses are keen to adopt SDGs to get a competitive edge. There are certain challenges in realigning the present working scenario for sustainable development, which is a primary concern for society. Various firms are adopting sustainable engineering (SE) practices to tackle such issues. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging technology that can help the ineffective adoption of sustainable practices in an uncertain environment. In this regard, there is a need to review the current research practices in the field of SE in AI. The purpose of the present study is to comprehensive review the research trend in the field of SE in AI.

This work presents a review of AI applications in SE for decision-making in an uncertain environment. SCOPUS database was considered for shortlisting the articles. Specific keywords on AI, SE and decision-making were given, and a total of 127 articles were shortlisted after implying inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Bibliometric study and network analyses were performed to analyse the current research trends and to see the research collaboration between researchers and countries. Emerging research themes were identified by using structural topic modelling (STM) and were discussed further.

Research propositions corresponding to each research theme were presented for future research directions. Finally, the implications of the study were discussed.

This work presents a systematic review of articles in the field of AI applications in SE with the help of bibliometric study, network analyses and STM.

This paper aims to study a neural network-based fault-tolerant controller to improve the tracking control performance of an unmanned autonomous helicopter with system uncertainty, external disturbances and sensor faults, using the prescribed performance method.

To ensure that the tracking error satisfies the prescribed performance, the authors adopt an error transformation function method. A control scheme based on the neural network and high-order disturbance observer is designed to guarantee the boundedness of the closed-loop system. A simulation is performed to prove the validity of the control scheme.

The developed adaptive fault-tolerant control method makes the system with sensor fault realize tracking control. The error transformation function method can effectively handle the prescribed performance requirements. Sensor fault can be regarded as a type of system uncertainty. The uncertainty can be approximated accurately using neural networks. A high-order disturbance observer can effectively suppress compound disturbances.

The tracking performance requirements of unmanned autonomous helicopter system are considered in the design of sensor fault-tolerant control. The inequality constraint that the output tracking error must satisfy is transformed into an unconstrained problem by introducing an error transformation function. The fault state of the velocity sensor is considered as the system uncertainty, and a neural network is used to approach the total uncertainty. Neural network estimation errors and external disturbances are treated as compound disturbances, and a high-order disturbance observer is constructed to compensate for them.

This paper extends the authors’ previous research work investigating resilience for municipal infrastructure from an asset management perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to formulate a pavement resilience index while incorporating asset management and the associated resilience indicators from the authors’ previous research work.

This paper introduces a set of holistic-based key indicators that reflect municipal infrastructure resiliency. Thenceforth, the indicators were integrated using the weighted sum mean method to form the proposed resilience index. Resilience indicators weights were determined using principal components analysis (PCA) via IBM SPSS®. The developed framework for the PCA was built based on an optimization model output to generate the required weights for the desired resilience index. The output optimization data were adjusted using the standardization method before performing PCA.

This paper offers a mathematical approach to generating a resilience index for municipal infrastructure. The statistical tests conducted throughout the study showed a high significance level. Therefore, using PCA was proper for the resilience indicators data. The proposed framework is beneficial for asset management experts, where introducing the proposed index will provide ease of use to decision-makers regarding pavement network maintenance planning.

The resilience indicators used need to be updated beyond what is mentioned in this paper to include asset redundancy and structural asset capacity. Using clustering as a validation tool is an excellent opportunity for other researchers to examine the resilience index for each pavement corridor individually pertaining to the resulting clusters.

This paper provides a unique example of integrating resilience and asset management concepts and serves as a vital step toward a comprehensive integration approach between the two concepts. The used PCA framework offers dynamic resilience indicators weights and, therefore, a dynamic resilience index. Resiliency is a dynamic feature for infrastructure systems. It differs during their life cycle with the change in maintenance and rehabilitation plans, systems retrofit and the occurring disruptive events throughout their life cycle. Therefore, the PCA technique was the preferred method used where it is data-based oriented and eliminates the subjectivity while driving indicators weights.

This paper explores Lean Six Sigma principles and the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) methodology to propose a new Lean Six Sigma 4.0 (LSS 4.0) framework for employee occupational exams and address the real-world issue of high-variability exams that may arise.

This study uses mixed methods, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection. A detailed case study assesses the impact of LSS interventions on the exam management process and tests the applicability of the proposed LSS 4.0 framework for employee occupational exams.

The results reveal that changing the health service supplier in the explored organization caused a substantial raise in occupational exams, leading to increased costs. By using syntactic interoperability, lean, six sigma and DMAIC approaches, improvements were identified, addressing process deviations and information requirements. Implementing corrective actions improved the exam process, reducing the number of exams and associated expenses.

It is important to acknowledge certain limitations, such as the specific context of the case study and the exclusion of certain exam categories.

The practical implications of this research are substantial, providing organizations with valuable managerial insights into improving efficiency, reducing costs and ensuring regulatory compliance while managing occupational exams.

This study fills a research gap by applying LSS 4.0 to occupational exam management, offering a practical framework for organizations. It contributes to the existing knowledge base by addressing a relatively novel context and providing a detailed roadmap for process optimization.

By providing an overview of the existing knowledge on public governance in the context of Construction 4.0, this review serves as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers and practitioners interested in understanding the current state of public governance in the context of Construction 4.0 and identifying avenues for future research and practical implementation.

This article presents a systematic and comprehensive review of the academic literature on public governance in the context of Construction 4.0. To ensure a systematic and rigorous selection of source material, the study adopts the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

By examining a wide range of scholarly works, the review identifies and discusses eight recurring themes that are crucial for understanding the role of public governance in Construction 4.0. These themes include policy and regulation, infrastructure and investment, skill development and education, digital inclusion and access, collaboration and partnerships, data governance and privacy, interactions with environmental and societal goals and the impact of Construction 4.0 on public governance itself. The review highlights a significant disparity between the normative debates on the importance of public governance in Construction 4.0 and the empirical knowledge available regarding its practical implementation. While the literature emphasizes the need for effective governance mechanisms to address the challenges and opportunities presented by Construction 4.0, there is a notable lack of empirical research examining the actual implementation and outcomes of public governance strategies.

This is the first systematic review of academic literature on public governance in the context of Construction 4.0.

The effect of dynamic capabilities on operational excellence and the moderating effect of environmental dynamism on the relationship between operational excellence and dynamic capabilities in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka were investigated while developing new psychometric scales to assess operational excellence and dynamic capacities constructs.

We followed the exploratory sequential research design with a mixed-method research approach, aligning with the pragmatic research philosophy. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were followed.

Dynamic capabilities positively affect operational excellence, and environmental dynamism moderates the relationship between operational excellence and dynamic capabilities in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka such that when a higher environmental dynamism exists, a weaker positive relationship exists between dynamic capabilities and operational excellence. The two main dimensions of the operational excellence construct are continuous improvement of sustainable operational performance and sustainable competitive advantages. It empirically confirmed that sensing, seizing and reconfiguring capabilities are the three main dimensions of the dynamic capabilities construct.

This study was limited to the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. This research phenomenon should be explored in other industrial sectors worldwide to generalize the findings. The practitioners in the apparel sector may improve the organizational dynamic capabilities to achieve operational excellence and keep a strong positive relationship between dynamic capabilities and operational excellence in a highly dynamic environment if they address out-of-family situations with out-of-the-box thinking.

We generated two new empirical findings: (1) dynamic capabilities positively affect operational excellence, and (2) environmental dynamism moderates the relationship between dynamic capabilities and operational excellence. Also, we introduced validated new scales for assessing operational excellence and dynamic capabilities.

This study aims to examine the impact of some real variables such as real effective exchange rates, real mortgage rates, real money supply, real construction cost index and housing sales on the real housing prices.

This study uses a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model in the monthly period of 2010:1–2021:10.

The real effective exchange rate has a positive and symmetric effect. The decreasing effect of negative changes in real money supply on real housing prices is higher than the increasing effect of positive changes. Only positive changes in the real construction cost index have an increasing and statistically significant effect on real house prices, while only negative changes in housing sales have a small negative sign and a small increasing effect on housing prices. The fact that the positive and negative changes in real mortgage rates are negative and positive, respectively, indicates that both have a reducing effect on real housing prices.

This study suggests the first NARDL model that investigates the asymmetric effects on real housing prices instead of nominal housing prices for Turkey. In addition, the study is the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to examine the effects of the five real variables on real housing prices.

This study aims to examine the impact of Lean 4.0 practices on value co-creation in the dairy ecosystem.

Data collection were carried out through a questionary application with 126 professionals linked to the dairy ecosystem, including milk producers, milk cooperatives and milk transporters. The data were analyzed using Cluster Analysis, Mann-Whitney test and Chi-Square test.

A strong relation was found between the use of Lean 4.0 tools and the increase in operational performance, in addition to milk quality. Moreover, it can be noted that the use of digital technologies from Industry 4.0 has a strong relation with dairy production optimization, in other words, it is possible to be more efficient in the dairy process via Lean 4.0 adoption.

The study is limited to analyzing the Brazilian dairy ecosystem. The results presented may not reflect the characteristics of the other countries.

Once the potential empirical impacts of the relation between Lean 4.0 and value co-creation are elucidated, it is possible to direct strategies for decision-making and guide efforts by researchers and professionals to deal with the waste mitigation present in the dairy sector.

Lean 4.0 proves to be a potential solution to improve the operational performance of the dairy production system. Lean 4.0, linked to value co-creation, allows the integration of the production sector with consumers, through smart technologies, so new services and experiences can be provided to the consumer market. Additionally, the consumer experience can be stimulated based on Lean 4.0, once the quality specification is highlighted based on data science and smart management control.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes the interrelationship between the Lean 4.0 philosophy and the value co-creation in the dairy ecosystem. In this sense, the study reveals the main contributions of this interrelation to the dairy sector via value co-creation, which demonstrates a new perspective on the complementarity of resources, elimination of process losses and new experiences for the user through digital technologies integrated with the Lean Thinking approach.