A Blockchain-Based Life-Cycle Environmental Management Framework for Hospitals in the COVID-19 Context

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency, many hospitals were built or renovated around the world to meet the challenges posed by the rising number of infected cases. Environmental management in the hospital life cycle is vital in preventing nosocomial infection and includes many infection control procedures. In certain urgent situations, a hospital must be completed quickly, and work process approval and supervision must therefore be accelerated. Thus, many works cannot be checked in detail. This results in a lack of work liability control and increases the difficulty of ensuring the fulfillment of key infection prevention measures. This study investigates how blockchain technology can transform the work quality inspection workflow to assist in nosocomial infection control under a fast delivery requirement. A blockchain-based life-cycle environmental management framework is proposed to track the fulfillment of crucial infection control measures in the design, construction, and operation stages of hospitals. The proposed framework allows for work quality checking after the work is completed, when some work cannot be checked on time. Illustrative use cases are selected to demonstrate the capabilities of the developed solution. This study provides new insights into applying blockchain technology to address the challenge of environmental management brought by rapid delivery requirements.

披荆斩棘,居功至伟--怀念汪坦先生

本文回顾汪坦先生的生平并简述其参与创办深圳大学建筑系的历史,结合一批涉及创系的档案文件,初步分析了汪坦先生的办学理念源流与深圳大学建筑学科早期的发展情况,以此总结汪坦先生对深圳大学建筑学科创办与发展所作出的巨大贡献。

Highway Planning and Design in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau of China: A Cost–Safety Balance Perspective

Engineering designs for mountainous highways emphasize compliance checking to ensure safety. However, relying solely on compliance checking may lead designers to minimize costs at the expense of high risk indicators, since the overall risk level of the highway design is unknown to the designers. This paper describes a method for the simultaneous consideration of traffic safety risks and the associated cost burden related to the appropriate planning and design of a mountainous highway. The method can be carried out in four steps: First, the highway design is represented by a new parametric framework to extract the key design variables that affect not only the life-cycle cost but also the operational safety. Second, the relationship between the life-cycle cost and the operational safety risk factors is established in the cost-estimation functions. Third, a fault tree analysis (FTA) is introduced to identify the traffic risk factors from the design variables. The safety performance of the design solutions is also assessed by the generalized linear-regression model. Fourth, a theory of acceptable risk analysis is introduced to the traffic safety assessment, and a computing algorithm is proposed to solve for a cost-efficient optimal solution within the range of acceptable risk, in order to help decision-makers. This approach was applied and examined in the Sichuan–Tibet Highway engineering project, which is located in a complex area with a large elevation gradient and a wide range of mountains. The experimental results show that the proposed approach significantly improved both the safety and cost performance of the project in the study area.

Servitization in Construction and its Transformation Pathway: A Value-Adding Perspective

Against the current social and technological background dominated by services and technology,new opportunities are opening up for the industrial transformation and upgrading of the construction industry.Considering the successful transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry through servitization,scholars and practitioners have begun to explore the possibility of servitization in the construction industry.Current practices and theory show that different understandings of servitization in the construction sector exist;however,they are still in their infancy and lack a deep and systematic awareness,which does not benefit the transformation and upgrading of construction through servitization.Therefore,this paper systematically analyzes the motivation,definition,and implications of servitization in construction based on the value-adding nature of servitization and considers the problems confronting the construction industry.To facilitate this development,transformation pathways for servitization in construction are analyzed from multiple angles,including value co-creation,service innovation,and networked operation,which are in line with the new trends in digital construction.In addition,based on the supporting elements of construction,which include finance,human resources,technology,materials,and equipment,this paper examines the impact of servitization on the construction industry’s ecology.In short,we expect that this systematic analysis and exposition can provide a holistic view of servitization in construction from the inside out for scholars and practitioners and can help to promote servitization in construction.

Hyperledger fabric-based consortium blockchain for construction quality information management

Lack of trust has been an ongoing issue for decades in construction quality management,hindering the improvement of quality performance.The development of mutual trust depends on immutable,traceable,and transparent construction quality information records.However,current information technologies cannot meet the requirements.To address the challenge,this study explores a blockchain-based framework for construction quality information management,which extends applications of blockchain in the domain of construction quality management.A consortium blockchain system is designed to support construction quality management in which participants’information permissions and lifecycle are discussed.Additionally,this study presents in detail the consensus process that aims to address the problem of information fraud.The automated compliance checking based on smart contracts is presented as well,aiming to assure that construction products meet regulation requirements.Finally,an example of the consortium blockchain network is visualized to validate the feasibility of blockchain-based construction quality information management.The research shows that blockchain can facilitate mutual trust in construction quality management by providing distributed,encrypted,and secure information records and supporting automated compliance checking of construction quality.

Engineering management:Global engineering research frontiers

“Engineering Fronts 2019”focuses on the major research and technology directions that are forward-looking,pioneering,and exploratory in the field of engineering science and technology.It has a significant impact on and results in the future development of engineering science and technology(Center for Strategic Studies of Chinese Academy of Engineering et al.,2019).