Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a methodology that accompanies technological evolution and consists of a set of processes and tools that allows the creation of a three-dimensional digital model. This model centralizes information, facilitating its access and exchange between the entities along the life cycle of a building. This study focuses on the application of BIM methodology within the framework of a structural design, identifying the benefits and limitations that it provides and indicating strategies that may be used to improve the quality of a project. A structural model was created through BIM-based platforms and then transferred to the calculation software where the structural analysis and design were carried out. After this, through the conceived digital model, various applications that it allows were explored, namely, the method of coordination and collaboration, detection of conflicts, production of drawings, the budget, and an immediate evaluation of the environmental impact of the structure This study demonstrates a significant improvement in the quality of the structural design. Therefore, even though some limitations still exist, the implementation of this methodology is essential to improve the process in the AEC sector.

This article reports the results of a study carried out to evaluate the influence of wood-cement-steatite partitions on the thermal performance of a small building. The interior walls of two identical 2.0 × 2.5 × 3.0 m experimental wooden frame huts (tiny houses, with one door and one window), designed and built following the National Building Code of Canada, were covered with standard gypsum boards in one case (GB hut) and a combination of gypsum boards and wood-cement-steatite panels in the other case (WCSP hut). The thermal behavior of both huts, located on the campus of Laval University, in Québec (QC), Canada was monitored over a testing period extending from mid-march to the first week of July 2019. Depending on the moment during that period (cold weather, mild weather) and the characteristics being evaluated, the temperature inside the huts was conditioned or not with an electric heater. The following parameters were recorded: outdoor temperature, the temperature inside the two huts, and, when applicable, their electricity consumption. In cold weather, the wood-cement-steatite panels contributed to reducing the electricity consumption by 5.2% over that of the reference GB hut. In mild weather, wood-cement-steatite panels were found to improve the comfort inside the test hut by leveling off the temperature variations, with reductions ranging from 0.3 °C to 3.8 °C. Both the differences in electricity consumption and indoor temperature variations were determined to be statistically significant, with p - values inferior to 0.005. The results generated in this part of the study further strengthen the potential of WCSP as a real alternative to gypsum boards for drywall partitioning in residential and commercial buildings. In addition to their many advantageous constructive properties, such as water resistance, flexural strength, screw withdrawal resistance, and fire resistance, the improvements they could yield in energy efficiency and thermal comfort make it a quite promising partitioning option.

The latest wildfires around the globe are evidence of growing global temperatures that are a threat to infrastructure resilience. Wildfires are exacerbated by drought and parched conditions, disease, dry lightning and increased interaction between humans and forests leading to accidental as well as purposeful ignition.

This paper presents a case study on the environmental awareness of the students of secondary schools in Angola and analyses the environmental education programs in the two cycles. The study was carried out in the four largest provinces of Angola and the results were obtained from questionnaires to the students and interviews with the school coordinators and the waste management officers in the region. The results show that the students have moderate consumption habits of electricity and water, demonstrated by 40% of students following the appropriate attitude, and have reasonable knowledge about the scenarios that produce large environmental impact, marking 3 out of 9 options: river pollution, toxic waste in the soil and sewage discharge on the beach as the most relevant, together reaching almost 50% of the responses. However, they have a gap in knowledge about the health impact of solid waste disposal in dumps site close to urban areas, as evidenced by the high number of children and adolescents living near these areas and with some of them helping their families as waste pickers. The poor environmental education program and the nonexistence of school activities on these issues contribute for disassociate the linkage of waste disposal in dumps with diseases. As waste disposal in dumps is current in almost all provinces in Angola, except Luanda, environmental education in schools plays an important role in preparing children and adolescents to adopt practices in the future that protect the environment and contribute to the reduction of public health problems. In addition, children and adolescents can indirectly influence their parents on these issues.

Several strategies are currently underway to investigate alternative routes to efficiently use CO2 as a carbon source for the production of alternative fuels for energy end transportation [1,2].

Since 2016 the Instituto Mexicano del Transporte (Mexican Transport Institute) has continuously instrumented and performed the structural monitoring of the Mezcala Bridge, which is a cable-stayed bridge located in the State of Guerrero, Mexico. In order to identify early damage, several monitoring strategies based on changes in the bridge modal parameters have been implemented. To establish the limits of the parameters, such as the natural frequencies, damping ratios, and mode shapes, it is necessary to characterize the bridge dynamic behavior through monitoring information from the last 3 years, in order to analyze statistically every parameter and simulate different real damage scenarios. Modal parameters are calculated and evaluated every week or after accidents, earthquakes, or strong winds. Applying the proposed methodology based on the Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition (EFDD), the modal parameters of the Mezcala Bridge were efficiently estimated and monitored and subsequently, they could be used for finite element model development and calibration in order to evaluate the structural integrity of the bridge.

The report presents an early warning system against earthquakes of the conceptual design of the tunnels under the “Shipka” Pass. Bulgaria gives many victims on the roads - those killed in traffic crashes and accidents. In the case of tunnel facilities in seismic areas, chain accidents in tunnel pipes are particularly dangerous. Early warning systems for tunnels make it possible to immediately stop traffic by the traffic police or automatically, to include additional ventilation equipment and turn on the additional reserve lighting installations.

The study of silt fractions using the traditional methods, especially on large scales, is time-consuming, laborious, and costly. The present work intends to investigate the spectral behaviors of the soil silt fraction using reflectance spectroscopy technology. Accordingly, 128 soil samples were collected from 20cm of soil surface of Mazandaran province, northern Iran. First, the sample set was subdivided into calibration and validation subsets. Spectral signatures of silt components were detected utilizing the PLSR algorithm and Cross-Validation technique. The final model with 4 LFs was calibrated with these specs: Rc: 0.55, RMSEc: 8.31%, RPDc: 1.20, and RPIQc:1.71 and was eventually selected as the best model for studying the soil silt of Mazandaran province. The obtained spectral wavebands with the highest correlation coefficients (R(CCmax)) indicate the high impact as the independent predictors in the processes of modeling. Finally, the capability of the proximal sensing technology (VNIR-PS) was proved in examining the silt content of Mazandaran province. Also, the most influential spectral domains and ranges were detected and recognized. Our findings can be used as a basis for studying silt content on a large scale by applying the upscaling process via airborne/satellite hyperspectral data. Subject classification codes: Soil Conservation, Proximal Soil Sensing, Soil Spectral Modeling

The traffic safety system in Palestine needs major improvements. Traffic accident data in Gaza Strip are collected from crash reports recorded by the local Police. In many cases, roads are constructed without proper consideration of children’s needs. However, children and young kids use the roads as pedestrians, bicyclists, and occupants of vehicles. Moreover, they might choose to play on the road. This paper aims to investigate the situation of traffic safety of children in the Gaza Strip and to recommend measures to reduce their risk. This research is based on accident statistics recorded in the period between 2008 and 2018. Analysis was carried out to determine critical locations that have a high number of accidents, focusing on accidents that resulted in casualties and fatalities of children. Results show that the highest rate of children fatalities in the Gaza Strip was on Arterial Roads. According to the data collected in 2016, 2017, and 2018, the percentage of road traffic deaths of children are 60%, 68% and 59% respectively, which is higher than the average rate of child mortality in the world (52%) according to the world organization statistics. Gaza city has the largest number of children fatalities caused by road accidents in the Gaza Strip. This might be due to the high population density and heavy traffic. In order to reduce road accidents for children, it is necessary to control the speed of vehicles at school zones and to provide more safety measures for children on the roads, including illuminated pedestrian crossings for children. It is very important to provide children at schools and kindergartens with proper training on how to cross the street. It is also helpful to teach them some important traffic signs.

Technological advances have assisted in the development of modern software tools which can be used to assess and improve the energy efficiency of a building at the early stage of conceptual design. However, this study aims at validating the accuracy of one of the paramount building simulation software Integrated Environmental Solutions - Virtual Environment (IES-VE), widely used today. The methodology of this study involves physical measurements and simulation exercises. A longitudinal physical measurement was carried out using HOBO ware U-12 in 5 different points of the room space from 18th October to 4th December 2016. But, for validation, a critical atmospheric day (21st November 2016) was selected for the comparison. The room air temperature was first measured before comparing it to the simulated air temperature obtained from IES. After several analyses, the comparison of the measured room air temperature and simulation results showed similarity, discrepancy, closeness, significance, and accuracy. The investigation findings revealed a percentage discrepancy of 11.03%, which is less than the threshold of 20% between the measured and simulated air temperature of the case study model. Other findings show that: R2 = 0.98, MBE = 0.8, °C and RMSE = 1.70°C are all within the acceptable values of significance between the two data. These results signify that IES-VE is valid, accurate, and applicable for this study’s further Building Performance Simulation (BPS)