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The amount of energy consumption of buildings has obtained international concern so the concept of zero energy building becomes a target for building designers. There are various definitions and evaluation methods for efficient buildings. However, detailed research about the critical parameters that have a major effect through the operational time to reduce the energy consumption is not emphasized as this paper represents. The main aim of this study is to identify the effect of applicable interventions on energy consumption parameters with their sensitivity to each other to reach zero energy building. Relatedly, the cost of energy reduction is also determined.

Energy consumption parameters were defined as area lightings, space heating, space cooling, ventilation fans, pumps, auxiliary equipment and related miscellaneous equipment. The effect of each applied intervention on energy consumption was classified as high, medium, low, very low, no effect and negative effect by utilizing a sensitivity analysis. The base case's energy model is created by utilizing energy performance software such as e-Quest. Accordingly, energy performance improvement scenarios are developed by applying interventions such as lamp replacements, sensors, heat pumps and photovoltaic panels’ integration. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses of each intervention were developed for consumed energy and its cost.

Results indicated the electric consumption is more effective than gas consumption on primary energy and energy cost. Solar systems decline primary energy by 78.53%, lighting systems by 13.47% and heat pump by 5.48% in this building; therefore, integrating mentioned strategies could rise the improvement rate to 100%, in other words, zero amount of energy is using from the grid that means saving $ 5,750.39 in one year.

The study can be applied to similar buildings. It is worthwhile to investigate suggested methods in diverse buildings with different functions and climates in future works.

This study aims to investigate of energy consumption of an educational building in the Mediterranean climate to convert an existing building into a zero energy building by saving energy and renewable sources. Subsequent purposes are analyzing the effect of each strategy on energy consumption and cost.

The novelty of this study is filling gaps in sensitivity analysis of energy consumption parameters by not only identifying their effect on overall energy consumption but also identifying their effect on each other. Some interventions may have a positive effect on overall consumption while having a negative effect on each other. Identifying this critical effect in detail not only further improves the energy performance, but also may affect the decision-making of the interventions.

The paper presents the facts on the policy challenges and opportunities in the way forward of trade and economic co-operation in South Asia amid the coronavirus disease 2019, which comes to be the least economically integrated region worldwide. Due to tense geopolitics in South Asia, trade is heavily biased toward extra-regional markets despite of existing regional trade agreements (TAs) in the region.

Having tested the stationarity of data with structural break, the paper uses intra-regional trade in addition to other domestic economic variables as exogenous regressors in autoregressive distributed lag multivariate framework, hence raising the quality of statistical inference.

This paper highlights that intra-regional trade significantly affects the economic welfare as measured by Gross Domestic Product per capita of the people from the region, hence raising the need for higher regional trade openness. If trade barriers are overcome, all the South Asian countries will gain through effective implementation of regional TAs.

The study relies on the multivariate technique with regional trade share as the main exogenous variable. In addition, the regulatory and economic conditions of all countries are different which also tends to affect the mutual degree of trade relations.

Over the economic reasons, the manmade barriers owing to political differences are the root cause for the low intra-regional trade. Amid the pandemic, South Asian courtiers have the high time to leverage the bilateral trade for mutual benefits. India being the largest economy can play a decisive role in pushing forward the regional trade bloc – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – for achieving its objective through multilateral engagements in a wider perspective.

The present study makes pioneer efforts to examine the dynamic linkages between regional trade and economic growth. The results provide new insight into the dynamics of benefits driven by trade interdependency.

Since conducting agile strategies provides sustainable passenger satisfaction and revenue by replacing applied policies with more profitable ones rapidly, the focus of this study is to evaluate agile attributes for managing low-cost carriers (LCCs) operations by means of resources and competences based on dynamic capabilities built on resource-based view (RBV) theory and to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in a volatile and dynamic air transport environment. LCCs in Turkey are also evaluated in this study since the competition among LCCs is high to gain market share and they can adapt quickly to all kinds of circumstances.

Two well-known Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods (MCDM) named as the Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) and multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) methods by employing Picture fuzzy sets (PiFS) are employed to determine weight of agile attributes and superiority of LCCs based on agile attributes in the market, respectively. To check the consistency and robustness of the results for the proposed approach, comparative and sensitivity analysis are performed at the end of the study.

While the ranking orders of agile attributes are Strategic Responsiveness (AG1), Financial Management (AG4), Quality (AG2), Digital integration (AG3) and Reliability (AG5), respectively, LCC2 is selected as the best agile airline company in Turkey with respect to agile attributes. SWARA and MABAC method based on PiFS is appropriate and effective method to evaluate agile attributes that has important reference value for the airline companies in aviation industry.

The findings of this study will support managers in the airline industry to conduct airline operations more flexibly and effectively to take sustainable competitive advantage in unexpected and dynamic environment.

To the author' best knowledge, this study is the first developed to identify the attributes necessary to increase agility in LCCs. Thus, as a systematic tool, a framework is developed for the implementation of agile attributes to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the airline industry and presented a roadmap for airline managers to deal with crises and challenging situations by satisfying customer and increasing competitiveness.

This research aims to investigate the influence of building design on the thermal comfort of occupants of naturally ventilated hospital (NVH) wards to identify the aspects with the most significant influence on the thermal comfort of hospital buildings during the hot-dry season in the hot-humid tropics of Southeast Nigeria.

Field measurements, physical observations and a questionnaire survey of 60 occupants of the wards of the Joint Presbyterian Hospital, Uburu in Ebonyi State, Nigeria were undertaken. The data were analysed using Humphreys' neutral temperature formula, descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis.

The results revealed that the neutral temperature for the wards ranges from 26.2 °C to 29.9 °C, the thermal condition in the wards was not comfortable because it failed to meet the ASHRAE Standard 55 as only 65% of the occupants said the thermal condition was acceptable. The number and sizes of windows, building orientation, the presence of high-level windows and higher headroom significantly influenced the occupants' thermal comfort vote.

This research is valuable in estimating comfort temperature and identifying aspects that require attention in enhancing the capacity of NVH wards to effectively meet the thermal comfort needs of occupants in the hot-humid tropics of Southeast Nigeria and other regions that share similar climatic conditions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of this nature that provides valuable feedback for building design professionals on the performance of existing hospital buildings in meeting users' thermal comfort needs in the hot-dry season of the hot-humid tropics in Southeast Nigeria.

Despite many studies on buildability from different perspectives and methods, the problems associated with buildability have not ceased from confronting the construction industry. This paper aims to determine the critical measures for improving the buildability of building designs in the construction industry.

A questionnaire was developed to address the aim of the study. Data were collected through the administration of questionnaires to purposively selected group of quantity surveyors, builders, engineers and architects. A total of 368 questionnaires were administered and a response rate of 60% (219 questionnaires were returned) was achieved. Data elicited were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results revealed that “the benefits of improved buildability should be made known to designers”, “more technical literature for improving buildability should be provided to designers” and “more education and training on buildability should be given to designers” are the top most important three measures for improving the buildability of building designs in the construction industry.

This study highlights the measures for improving buildability of building designs which are considered significant by construction professionals. An understanding of these measures is essential for reducing buildability problems as well as for improving and embedding buildability as a practice in the construction industry.

Construction industry is a vital sector for economic and national development. However, the industry suffers buildability problems. Improving construction projects buildability is the duty of every key stakeholder. Thus, this study aims to identify and evaluate the project designers’ roles in improving construction projects buildability in Nigeria.

This study adopted quantitative research method. A purposive sampling approach was used in identifying the representative sample for the administration of the questionnaire survey. A total of 122 questionnaires were distributed to the targeted construction professionals, out of which 93 questionnaires were sufficiently filled and returned, representing a response rate of 76%. This study used descriptive and inferential statistics for data analyses.

The results from factors analysis show that the roles of project designers in improving construction projects buildability in Nigeria can be categorised into two constructs: “discuss fully the design objectives with builders” and “prepare cost effective and buildable designs”.

This study contributed to more effective buildability studies by highlighting the roles of project designers in improving construction projects buildability in the construction industry. An understanding of these roles is vital for reducing buildability problems as well as for improving and embedding buildability as a practice in construction management.

The application of good buildability practices is vital for improving the performance of projects and businesses in the construction sector. Despite the plethora of research into buildability in construction in the previous years, there is little information concerning how buildability practice can be successfully implemented. This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that explains how buildability practice can be implemented successfully in the construction industry.

The paper uses an integrative literature review method to synthesise literature from different domains to describe various themes by which buildability assessment can be successfully implemented in the construction industry.

The findings of the review of literature conceptualised a buildability implementation framework at four principal themes: buildability attributes for improving the practice of construction management, factors supporting the implementation of buildability assessment, measures for improving the buildability of building designs and factors impeding the implementation of buildability assessment.

The outcome of this study contributes to knowledge in three different ways. First, the framework emerging from this study provides guidance to stakeholders on strategies for the successful implementation of buildability. Second, the information gathered in this study is useful for the development of buildability assessment tool. Finally, the framework has a potential of improving the practice of embedding buildability into designs. The detailed descriptions of the relevant variables at each principal theme advance the understanding of buildability in the construction industry and are fundamental to developing buildability assessment tools for the industry.

The manufacture of polymer composites with a lower environmental footprint requires incorporation of sustainably sourced components. In addition, the incorporation of novel components should not compromise the material properties. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of a synthetic amine functional toluidine acetaldehyde condensate (AFTAC) as a modifier for fiber-reinforced epoxy composites. One of the fiber components was sourced from agricultural byproducts, and glass fiber was used as the fiber component for comparison.

The AFTAC condensate was synthesized via an acid-catalyzed reaction between o-toluidine and acetaldehyde. To demonstrate its efficacy as a toughening agent for diglycidyl ether bisphenol A resin composites and for the comparison of reinforcing materials of interest, composites were fabricated using a natural fiber (mat stick) and a synthetic glass fiber as the reinforcing material. A matched metal die technique was used to fabricate the composites. Composites were prepared and their mechanical and thermal properties were evaluated.

The inclusion of AFTAC led to an improvement in the mechanical strengths of these composites without any significant deterioration of the thermal stability. It was also observed that the fracture strengths for mat stick fiber-reinforced composites were lower than that of glass fiber-reinforced composites.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the use of the AFTAC modifier as well as incorporation of mat stick fibers in epoxy composites has not been demonstrated previously.

Technology addiction is an increasingly severe problem. TikTok has become increasingly popular recently, and its addiction is also a major concern. This study aims to examine the antecedents and outcomes of TikTok addiction.

The authors collect 579 data from Chinese users using an online survey. The authors use structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) to analyze data and test hypotheses.

The results illustrate that perceived enjoyment, social relationship, utilitarian need and social influence positively affect TikTok addiction. Both social anxiety and loneliness have positive effects on TikTok addiction. Moreover, parasocial relationships positively moderate the association between the antecedents of self-determination theory (SDT) (perceived enjoyment, social relationship, utilitarian needs, social influence, social anxiety and loneliness) and TikTok addiction. Meanwhile, TikTok addiction intensifies conflicts, including technology-family conflict, technology-person conflict and technology-work conflict. These conflicts reduce life satisfaction.

It offers practical implications for preventing and avoiding TikTok addiction to create a healthy environment.

This study is one of the few to provide a complete process of TikTok addiction. It systematically investigates the antecedents and outcomes of TikTok addiction.

Buildability assessment is an important tool used in improving buildability of building designs. Its practice has positive impact on construction project such as cost-saving, material waste reduction, labour-saving technologies, increase in efficiency, saving wasteful efforts and quality improvement as well as cost-effective methods of site construction and future maintenance. However, there are several factors hindering building construction industry to implement buildability assessment. In addition, there are few studies that described the factors impeding the implementation of buildability assessment in construction industry. This study aims to determine the factors impeding buildability assessment implementation in the Nigerian building construction industry

Quantitative research method was adopted for the study. Questionnaires were administered to purposively selected group of architects, engineers, builders and quantity surveyors. A total of 368 questionnaires were distributed among the sampled participants, out of which a total of 219 representing 60% were sufficiently filled and returned. Data elicited were analysed using inferential and descriptive statistics.

The results revealed that “poor co-ordination amongst different design disciplines”, “lack of buildability assessment awareness”, “design review pattern where construction personnel (builders) are invited to assess the building production information”, “unwillingness to invest extra money and effort during the early stage of project” and “designers value aesthetics and functionalities more than buildability in their designs” are the topmost five factors impeding buildability assessment implementation in the Nigerian construction industry.

This study highlights factors impeding the implementation of buildability assessment in construction industry. An understanding of these factors can help stakeholders in the construction industry facilitate the development of strategies required to mitigate the factors impeding buildability assessment implementation in the sector.