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A new hybrid substrate technology for power electronic applications has been characterised by thermal resistance and mechanical stress measurements. The new substrate utilises thermal spray technology for deposition of dielectric layer and electrical conductors. The results are compared with the more established technology of alumina substrates with direct copper bonding (DCB) metallisation. Silicon test chips for thermal resistance and mechanical stress measurement were used for the characterisation. The experimental results were compared with finite element analysis and a reasonable agreement was found.

This paper aims to introduce and apply an assessment method designed to measure city satisfaction in relation to the subjective perception of individual well-being.

A structural model of residential satisfaction assessment is developed. To test the model, the authors have carried out an empirical research study, using a representative sample (1,636 respondents) of the residents of Perm, a large Russian city.

This study demonstrates both the direct and indirect influence of satisfaction with urban services, respondents’ individual characteristics, life satisfaction and happiness on overall city satisfaction. Moreover, this study attempts to explore the causality between subjective well-being and city satisfaction.

The empirical research is limited to the one-city case.

This study aimed to provide local policy makers with a more refined tool for decision-making in urban policy, which could be of great importance as far as the city authorities need to set up priorities in urban management, especially under the pressure of limited budgets.

The results allow for the illustration of the cumulative and hierarchical nature of city satisfaction and highlight the relation of various life and urban domains and their influence on happiness, life satisfaction and city satisfaction.

Energy codes for residential buildings in India prescribe design guidelines for each climate zone. However, these guidelines are broad and similar for different cities under the same zone overlooking climatic variations due to altitude, location and other geographical factors.

To develop strategies addressing the city-specific requirements, a stepwise simulation approach was used. Integrated Environmental Solutions–Virtual Environment (IES-VE) was used to create a prototype of a singly detached residence. The applicability of strategies is studied during the day and night times. Optimum orientation, the thickness of insulation, Window–Wall Ratio, the impact of cross-ventilation and shading depth are determined for two cities – Tiruchirappalli and Coimbatore under the warm-humid climate zone of India.

Results indicate that optimum insulation thickness and WWR vary between both cities during daytime and night time. In Tiruchirappalli, roof and wall insulation using polyurethane board (100 mm) and foam concrete (25 mm) offers a maximum reduction of 2.2°C indoors. Foam concrete (25 mm) insulation for roof and expanded polystyrene (25 mm) for walls reduce a maximum of 2.6°C during daytime in Coimbatore. Further, night ventilation with 20% WWR allows an average decrease of 0.5–0.6°C in triply exposed spaces facing the South. The use of a 2'0" depth shading device shows a maximum reduction of 0.1–0.3°C.

The contribution of this work lies in developing city-specific inputs presenting the advantage of easy replicability for other cities in the Indian context.

This study aims to examine the effects of board independence and gender diversity on bank performance in Nigeria.

The two-step system-generalized method moment was used to estimate the effect of board independence and gender diversity on bank performance in Nigeria using annual data of 15 deposit money banks from 2006 to 2018.

The results revealed that gender diversity is a significant positive predictor of bank performance, whereas board independence is a negative predictor of bank performance in Nigeria.

Despite the significant positive relationship between gender diversity and bank performance, this paper does not recommend mandatory quota-based initiates of female representation on corporate boards because of the increasing number of female representations on corporate boards of banks in Nigeria.

The study contributes to corporate governance literature from developing country perspective and policy, particularly, on the relevance or otherwise of market-based measures in assessing bank performance in developing counties. This paper finds that market-based variables are not good measures of firm performance in economies with underdeveloped markets.

Optimisation of daylight admission through window is crucial for alleviating glare while maintaining useful daylight levels in order to enhance occupants' health, visual comfort and moderating lighting energy consumption. Amongst various solutions, fixed external shade is an affordable solution for housing spaces that need to be sophisticatedly designed, especially during the period of increasing home spaces as working environments. In the humid subtropical region, daylight control plays an important role in indoor comfort, particularly with areas with a high window to wall ratio (WWR). Due to the insufficient amount of such study on non-office spaces in Australia, shading-related standards are not addressed in Australian building codes.

The chosen methodology for the research is a quantitative data collection and analysis through field measurement and simulation simultaneously. The first step is a multi-objective optimisation of shading elements through a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) on parametric modelling via Rhino3D CAD and simulation engines (DIVA and ClimateStudio). In the second phase, the Pareto front solutions are validated by experimental measurements within a room with a single north-facing window (the most probable for the daytime glare in Sydney) for the seven most common local window configurations.

Through the simulation of ten genes, 1,560 values and 2.4 × 1,019 of search space, this study found an optimum shade for each local common window layout, resulted in +22% in (UDI) and −16% in views with discomfort glare on average. Moreover, an all-purpose polygonal shade showed an average of 4.6% increase in UDI and a 5.83% decrease in the percentage of views with discomfort glare.

The findings are subject to the room dimensions, window dimensions and layouts, and orientation of windows for selected residential buildings in Sydney.

The study contributes to the development of highly accurate fixed external shading systems with rectangular and tapered-form external shapes. A real-time measurement by luminance-metre sensors and HQ cameras located at six eye levels is conducted to corroborate simulation results of the visual comfort.

Due to the increasing complexity of curved roof surface design and the inadequate optimisation algorithms in design software, the optimisation of curved roof surface design needs to be studied further. The purpose of this paper is to develop an alternative approach to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of curved roof surface design of buildings.

To achieve the purpose, an optimisation method/tool is developed through reviewing the application of CATIA and integrating genetic algorithm with CATIA; and the effectiveness to perform the GA‐based optimisation method is demonstrated by using a real‐life case study. Furthermore, a comparison among different optimisation algorithms currently available in the CATIA system is conducted.

Through the case study and the comparison, it is found that the GA‐based method can improve the performance of optimisation for curved roof surface design in the CATIA system; however, further research work is required for the best global optimisation result.

The paper proposes an optimisation method for curved roof surface design through integrating genetic algorithm with CATIA. This method improves the current method of curved roof surface design.

The built environment is taking enormous leaps towards its digitalization. Computer-aided tools such as building information modeling (BIM) are found in the forefront of this evolution, playing a critical role in creating the foundations for the upcoming development of smart low-carbon cities. However, the potential of BIM is still untapped – links will need to be created among the available and forthcoming methodologies under one integral operational system. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated BIM-based life cycle-oriented framework for achieving sustainable constructions at the pre-construction phase. The developed framework represents an example of the approaches that the construction industry will need to adopt to integrate the different tools under an integrated smart city context.

The methodological approach follows the development of four same-volume different-configuration three-dimensional BIM designs, which are coupled with life cycle assessment (LCA) tools for establishing sustainable building design.

The results of this paper indicated that the choice of building design and shape can play a significant role in reducing the embodied energy and embodied carbon of buildings, achieving a reduction of up to 15% compared to a reference building of same volume and gross floor area.

The originality of this paper is found in its approach application by coupling three-dimensional BIM models with LCA data, the use of reinforcement detailing in an nD BIM study and the employment of country-specific LCA databases.