bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Soil carbon sequestration in building life cycle assessment: Offsetting measure or site impact
Authors: Roberts M , Thibaudeau P 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
The environmental impacts of the built environment typically focus on the materials and operations within the building envelope. Little, if any, consideration is given to impacts that occur outside the building. This can be an appropriate simplification for urban settings where the building dominants the site. However, it would ignore impacts and benefits associated with site activities in more rural settings. The present study investigates soil carbon sequestration (SCS) principles to determine whether SCS can be considered an offsetting measure for buildings or should be considered within the site impacts for a project. Soil organic carbon (SOC) levels change overtime in response to external factors and interventions, however this response time is within the reference study period commonly used for building-scale life cycle assessments (LCAs). Therefore, it would be plausible to monitor changes in SOC throughout the lifespan for a project. Currently, there are some emerging methods but no consensus standards on accounting for SCS in building LCAs and current methodologies for quantifying SCS need further development to align with carbon offset principles. However, since soil is an intrinsic part of the landscape, it would be appropriate to incorporate SCS within the use phase impacts for a site. Expanding the system boundary to account for SCS should include accounting for the environmental impacts associated with landscaping, maintenance, and land management practices. Guidelines for calculating SCS and landscaping environmental impacts need to be developed to better reflect the complete environmental impact of the built environment.
A review of building life cycle assessment software tools: Challenges and future directions
Authors: Dharmarathna Dilshi , Bunster Victor , Graham Peter 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Buildings contribute close to 40% of the global annual energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, all emissions need to halve by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive, holistic, and systemic approach to quantify the environmental impacts of a building. Built environment professionals rely on building LCA software tools (BLCA STs) to simplify the modelling needed to inform decision-making. However, BLCA STs are not widely used by the building industry. This has been attributed to a lack of data, time constraints, compatibility issues and the complexity of conducting LCA studies. In parallel, the variety of stakeholders involved, tools available, and intended use during the building’s life cycle means that the requirements expected from BLCA STs can vary substantially. In a first step towards mainstreaming the use of these tools, this study reviews the scope of existing BLCA STs in terms of their attributes and relevance to the building life cycle workflow. This review identifies hindrances in data availability, consistency, transparency, and global coverage during BLCA STs integration. Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Machine Learning (ML) integration, design optimization features and links to certifications can further streamline the BLCA process. While this review is based on the academic perspectives of BLCA STs, there is a significant gap and need for an in–depth understanding of these tools from the perspective of the stakeholders within the building value chain and how they utilize them.
A review of classified regional ventilation strategies based on urban morphology
Authors: Gao Z , He B J 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Currently, urban high temperature phenomenon occurs frequently all over the world, which not only brings serious ecological environment problems, but also brings certain risks to people’s life safety. Therefore, a large number of scholars have studied urban ventilation, and most of the articles have qualitatively analysed the influencing factors of urban ventilation performance. From the perspective of urban morphology, urban spatial heterogeneity has developed rapidly, but the important role of urban spatial homogeneity still cannot be ignored. In this paper, we first review the past local-scale ventilation studies, and then select three important urban form indicators related to urban ventilation to qualitatively classify the urban form characteristics and summarize the respective ventilation characteristics. The classification system of this paper includes “building coverage + non-building coverage + frontage area density”, which can provide researchers, designers and planners with the ventilation performance of different urban environments, and thus further assist decision makers in formulating urban ventilation planning regulations and rational urban design.
Assessing overheating and undercooling risks in existing public secondary schools in Mediterranean climate
Authors: Calama-González CM , Escandón R , Llanos-Jiménez J , Suárez R 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
During the last years, there has been a significant increase in temperatures, as well as in the intensity and duration of heatwaves due to climate change, which noticeably affects summer, but also winter conditions. Thus, assessing overheating and undercooling risks in the existing stock is of the utmost importance, especially in highly occupied educational buildings with natural ventilation systems. These risks do not only affect students’ thermal comfort but their health and academic performance. Besides, COVID-19 has highlighted the energy vulnerability of schools and the complexity to adopt adequate strategies to enhance indoor environmental quality. To assess overheating and undercooling risks in educational buildings in southern Spain, a parameterized and validated building simulation model has been constructed from a representative school using monitored data. Through sensitivity analysis techniques, the most critical variables on adaptive thermal comfort in summer and winter have been determined. The study highlights the difficulty of guaranteeing a balance between indoor air quality and thermal comfort, since not only infiltration and ventilation rate have a key impact on thermal comfort, but also and more importantly ventilation schedules. These conclusions are vital to propose retrofit strategies to mitigate climate change while tackling undercooling, using parameterized building-archetype models, which allow to simulate other representative case studies in the area.
Treating domestic wastewater using tea leaf residues
Authors: Lee T C , Wei Y H , Xie X Y 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Tea is nonalcoholic drink and widespread in the world. After drinking, tea leaf residues are discarded as waste. However, the waste is a kind of biosorption material with a net-like structure, and exhibits well adsorption performance for heavy metal and dye removal. Untreated domestic wastewater, containing ionic cleanser, is discharged into the environment and causing river and soil pollution. Therefore, tea leaf residues might have a potential to remove pollutants from domestic wastewater. In this study, we used methylene blue (MB), an ionic dye, as an indicator to test dye adsorption by tea leaf residues. The dry tea residue samples were crushed to pass through a 65-mesh sieve for obtaining the desired particle sizes. Aqueous phase MB concentration was analysed using a UV-visible spectrophotometer at 664 nm. Concentration of MB used for the experiments of was controlled at 300 mg/L. Results showed (1) Green tea residues have better adsorption capacity than black tea residues, and adsorption reaches an equilibrium state when the contact time is at 60 min. (2) Green tea residues have better removal efficiency than black tea residues. (3) Regeneration experiments indicated the powder of tea leaf residue have high efficiently after 4 cycles using NaOH as a desorbing agent. In conclusion, powder of tea leaf residue can adsorption aqueous phase MB in a batch mode. This finding could be applied to treat domestic wastewater, and decrease river and soil pollution. In addition, the tea residue powder can reuse after NaOH treatment.
On the development of a standardised method for climate vulnerability and risk assessment (CVRA) for buildings and properties
Authors: Binz S , Brombacher M , Propach V 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
The IPCC AR6 underlines that climate risks need to be embedded into the architectural design and retrofitting of housing. The Federal Government of Germany acknowledges that buildings are at risk from climate change impacts and intends to lead the way by making federally owned buildings more climate-adapted. The parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany passed the Climate Adaptation Act in November 2023 (effective July 1, 2024). The procedure of Climate Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (CVRA) for buildings remains unregulated on a global, European, or national level. Simultaneously, regulations, such as the EU-taxonomy, but also certification systems and national quality seals require CVRAs for buildings. Up to date, an abundance of methodologies is in development. Yet, calculation bases are often non-transparent. Therefore, there is a strong need to provide building planners and policy makers with a user-friendly methodology for buildings to assess the vulnerability and risk against climate impacts on an early stage. As part of the revision of Germany’s federal system for planning and assessing sustainable buildings (BNB) this paper presents a draft for a standardised CVRA to assess the criterion of climate change adaptation. On this basis, the presented approach will be further developed so that it can also be used separately and outside of building certification. The iterative development of the CVRA approach is based on a comparative analysis of existing methodologies within and outside of building certification. Part of the development process was scientific feedback by external experts and pilot applications to assess reproducibility. The present paper outlines core elements of a CVRA for buildings and suggests a practical, process-oriented approach, based on current scientific standards, databases and climate projections. The proposal defines temporal and spatial system boundaries, qualitative and quantitative indicators, and benchmarks suitable for a final assessment in the certification process as well as for the planning phase.
The Cost of Mitigating Climate Change by Building with Renewable Materials
Authors: Schneider-Marin P , Arendt R 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
While the reduction of operational greenhouse gas emissions is prioritized for the existing building stock, embodied emissions dominate the environmental impact of newly constructed buildings that fulfil zero emission standards. One option to reduce embodied emissions is the use of biogenic materials in construction. However, this usually requires an increase in investment costs. This contribution explores the costs of avoided and temporarily saved greenhouse gas emissions in buildings if non-renewable materials are substituted with biogenic materials. To investigate this question, we use life cycle assessment and life cycle costing, aligning the economic and ecological perspectives. We consider material options of different building parts, exterior walls, and slabs. We use the construction element with the lowest cost as a baseline and determine emission savings of different material choices and related costs. This reveals how changing material choices, e.g., from a concrete core to a wooden core, can cause high prevention costs of more than ten times the current values for emissions certificates, if a short time horizon is considered. In a life-cycle perspective, prevention costs can be even higher, depending on the carbon accounting method used. However, replacing cheaper, short lasting, higher-emitting materials with more expensive, long-lasting materials, with lower emissions, is a win-win option if the whole life cycle is considered. We conclude that construction based on reinforced concrete and other non-renewable materials bears a great risk of carbon lock-in if carbon taxes and emissions trading remain the main legislation to prevent greenhouse gas emissions. The study shows that there are currently only very limited economic incentives to avoid and temporarily store embodied greenhouse gas emissions by using biogenic materials instead of non-renewable materials in buildings, and that new policies need to be developed to unlock this potential.
Remanufacturing insulated glazing: five levers through value network mapping of two pioneering projects
Authors: Geboes Esther , Van Vooren Ruben , Galle Waldo , Temmerman Niels De 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
In façade retrofit projects, several challenges are hindering the reuse of insulated glazing. As a result, 1.5 million tons of insulated glass units (IGUs) are being downcycled or landfilled in Europe each year. Yet, niche practices in which IGUs are remanufactured prove that recurring challenges can be tackled. Therefore, this research identifies levers to overcome challenges from two pioneering projects: the swimming pool in Stuttgart-Feuerbach (Germany) and elderly home Betsy Perk (The Netherlands). Through interviews, a detailed analysis of the IGU remanufacturing process is conducted, mapping material flows, steps of the remanufacturing process, the value network (showing roles involved and their main interactions in materials, money, and intangible flows), and specific answers to pre-specified recurring challenges. These potential levers include assigning a reuse coordinator, building a complementary network with early involvement, conducting a feasibility study, specifying reuse ambitions in the tendering documents and/or quotations, and organising the logistics pragmatically. Instead of being one-on-one solutions, the identified levers could tackle several challenges at once. Altogether the results of this study provide a better understanding of reuse practices of façade components. In further research, multiple projects will be compared allowing practitioners to overcome the recurring challenges and to increase reuse in the construction sector.
Vernacular identity conservation: architectural ethnography fieldwork on Cham housing in Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Authors: Nguyen Tran Y K , Huynh V K 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
With the technology advances recently, cities are transforming at an unprecedented speed. Meanwhile, the focus is given unequally to preserving culture worldwide, which makes ethnicity conservation a challenge for authorities of lower-income countries. In this context, the approach to vernacular architecture has shifted towards learning and applying environmentally friendly principles for sustainable design. Vietnam is already a rare example of its 54 ethnicities and architectural heritage that survived through generations of colonization and is a growing interest in city development. However, in remote areas, the conservation of local identity from vernacular knowledge is lacking due to unequal attention given to ethnic people. Such a case exists in the Cham Muslim village at the Northwest borders of the Mekong Delta region, which is the motivation for this study. In this research, the authors have conducted extensive on-site fieldwork of approximately two thousand rural houses of the ethnic Cham for two months. Through fieldwork collection of everyday life, the research employs the vigorous practice of architectural ethnography and a critical approach to environmental consciousness. Developed from previous work on the spatial formation and transformation of Cham village housing typology, this paper examines the process of architectural ethnography fieldwork employed to define the evolution of Cham Muslim villages and housing. These characteristics contribute to their identity, their community, and their adaptation to cohabitation with other ethnic in the Mekong Delta. The results show how the spatial layout and architectural elements of Cham traditional housing are made conscious of their day-to-day activities, lifestyle and living environment. Furthermore, the vernacular knowledge of living with nature contributes to preserving its cultural and architectural heritage and protects the community identity from homogenization and eradication. The outcome of such a tenuous practice can be a valuable archive to discuss the future development of cities in Vietnam, which are currently under threat of fast and destructive urbanization.
On the orbit-induced spin density of tightly focused optical vortex beams: ellipticity and helicity
Authors: Forbes Kayn A 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
It has recently been established that a linearly-polarized optical vortex possesses spin angular momentum density in the direction of propagation (longitudinal spin) under tight-focusing. The helicity of light has long been associated with longitudinal spin angular momentum. Here we show that the longitudinal spin density of linearly-polarized vortices is anomalous because it has no associated helicity. It was also recently determined that the polarization-independent helicity of tightly-focused optical vortices is associated with their transverse spin momentum density. The key finding of this work is the fact that, in general, longitudinal spin can not necessarily be associated with helicity, and transverse spin is in general not associated with a zero helicity, and such extraordinary behaviour manifests most clearly for optical vortices under non-paraxial conditions.
EA-DINO: Improved method for unmanned aerial vehicle detection in airspace based on DINO
Authors: Cai Hao , Zhang JinHong , Xu JianLong 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
In recent years, the increase in drone traffic and the potential for unauthorized surveillance has underscored the urgent need for technological advances in drone detection. Despite the rapid advancements in deep learning that have significantly improved object detection tasks, air-to-air unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) detection continues to pose significant challenges. Challenges such as complex backgrounds, small size of UAVs in captured images, and variations in flight poses and angles pose significant difficulties for traditional deep learning approaches, mainly because of the inherent limitations of conventional convolutional neural network architectures in discriminating fine details against dynamically changing backdrops. To address these challenges, this study introduces EA-DINO, a new deep learning network based on enhanced aggregation (EA) and DINO. The network incorporates a series of improvements over DINO. First, the backbone is replaced with a Swin transformer, and agent attention is integrated. Second, an EA feature pyramid network is added to the network architecture. Experimental evaluations demonstrate that, in the context of air-to-air UAV detection complexities, the EA-DINO model achieves an mAP
50 of 96.6% on the Det-Fly dataset, representing an improvement of 8.3% over the baseline DINO model. This improvement is noteworthy compared with other mainstream models, illustrating the effectiveness of the proposed model in addressing the challenges of air-to-air UAV detection.
Experimental investigation on enhancement in pure axial deformation of soft pneumatic actuator (SPA) with cap ring reinforcement
Authors: Mehta Vishal , Chauhan Mihir , Sanghvi Harshal A , Engeberg Erik D , Hashemi Javad , Pandya Abhijit 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Bio-inspired soft-robots are nowadays found their place in many applications due to its flexibility, compliance and adaptivity to unstructured environment. The main intricate part of such bio-inspired soft robots are soft pneumatic actuators (SPA) which replicate or mimic the limbs and muscles. The soft actuators are pneumatically actuated and provide bending motion in most cases. However, many engineering and medical applications need axially expanding soft pneumatic actuators to deal with delicate objects. Various studies have put forward designs for SPA with axial deformation, but the majority of them have limited axial deformation, constraining motion and less overall efficacy which limit the scope of utilization. The common practice to enhance the axial deformation of SPA is by incorporating directionally customized reinforcement using fibres or by other means like yarns, fabrics, etc These types of reinforcements are generally embedded to SPA during fabrication and may not have capability for any correction or modification later on hence lack the customization. This paper presents a novel method of radial reinforcement for the enhancement of axial deformation of SPAs with provision of customization. The present study aims to enhance and/or customize the axial deformation of SPA by incorporating external and detachable reinforcement in the form of annulus shaped cap ring. The investigation encompasses the design and attachment of four distinct cap ring geometries to SPA at different locations. Experimental results affirm that cap ring reinforcement bolster the radial stiffness, curbing lateral deformation while permitting axial deformation of soft pneumatic actuators. Out of 64 distinct configurations, the one with full reinforcement, featuring four cap rings of maximum size, yields a remarkable 169% increase in pure axial deformation compared to unreinforced cases. It is also observed that by varying the number and placement locations of cap rings the pure axial deformation can be customized. This novel insight not only propels soft pneumatic actuation technology but also heralds prospects for highly agile and versatile robotic systems which can be used in medical, prosthetics, pharmaceutical and other industries.
Emergence of chemotactic strategies with multi-agent reinforcement learning
Authors: Tovey Samuel , Lohrmann Christoph , Holm Christian 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Reinforcement learning (RL) is a flexible and efficient method for programming micro-robots in complex environments. Here we investigate whether RL can provide insights into biological systems when trained to perform chemotaxis. Namely, whether we can learn about how intelligent agents process given information in order to swim towards a target. We run simulations covering a range of agent shapes, sizes, and swim speeds to determine if the physical constraints on biological swimmers, namely Brownian motion, lead to regions where reinforcement learners’ training fails. We find that the RL agents can perform chemotaxis as soon as it is physically possible and, in some cases, even before the active swimming overpowers the stochastic environment. We study the efficiency of the emergent policy and identify convergence in agent size and swim speeds. Finally, we study the strategy adopted by the RL algorithm to explain how the agents perform their tasks. To this end, we identify three emerging dominant strategies and several rare approaches taken. These strategies, whilst producing almost identical trajectories in simulation, are distinct and give insight into the possible mechanisms behind which biological agents explore their environment and respond to changing conditions.