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1 – 5 of 5Anthony Kwame Danso, David John Edwards, Elvis Konadu Adjei, Theophilus Adjei-Kumi, De-Graft Owusu-Manu, Stephen Israel Fianoo and Wellington Didibhuku Thwala
The integration of building information modelling (BIM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) is an effective means of achieving sustainability in the built environment. However…
Abstract
Purpose
The integration of building information modelling (BIM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) is an effective means of achieving sustainability in the built environment. However, research remains scant on BIM-LCA integration in the Ghanaian construction industry (GCI). This study aims to evaluate the barriers to BIM-LCA integration in the GCI from the perspective of construction professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
Epistemologically relevant theory was developed using interpretivism and post-positivist principles and tested using primary quantitative data. Firstly, a comprehensive literature review identified and examined BIM-LCA integration barriers. Structured surveys of 216 Ghanaian construction professionals collected data on BIM-LCA integration barriers. Data was then analysed using exploratory factor analysis.
Findings
Findings revealed three clusters of barriers, namely, organisational barriers; technical complexity; and knowledge and education. These findings identify and recommend solutions to BIM-LCA integration barriers to standardise processes, raise awareness and integrate project management systems. BIM-LCA adoption will increase productivity, sustainability, construction sector employment (and skills development) and economic growth. This paper concludes with future research on how artificial intelligence and machine learning could improve BIM-LCA integration in building designs. Such work would reveal how new technologies can be used to overcome adoption barriers and promote sustainable building.
Originality/value
This research provides novel knowledge on the barriers to BIM-LCA adoption in Ghana. Practical recommendations for overcoming these barriers are also proposed, e.g. developing standardised procedures and protocols, increasing awareness and education and integrating BIM-LCA into project management systems.
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Sajira Khatoon and Varisha Rehman
The purpose of this study is to explore the consequences of brand grief resulting from the loss of strong consumer-brand relationships (CBR) and devise a typology of grieving…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the consequences of brand grief resulting from the loss of strong consumer-brand relationships (CBR) and devise a typology of grieving consumers. The paper specifically attempts to understand the effect of brand grief stemming from the termination of CBR due to brand death and brand transgression in the context of product and human brand.
Design/methodology/approach
Considering the exploratory nature of this study, qualitative research methodology employing in-depth interviews from consumers of global products and human brands is employed. To derive further insights, the artifacts shared by the consumers were also analyzed.
Findings
The research identifies several notable consequences of brand grief, encompassing switching, avoidance, hoarding and diminution of trust. Furthermore, a typology is developed to better understand the diverse reactions to brand grief. This model categorizes grieving consumers into four distinct groups – switchers, evaders, amassers and skeptics – across the three stages of grief: onset, experience and acceptance. These findings are consistent across both product and human brands.
Originality/value
Grounded in theories of possessions, loss and recovery and symbolic interactionism across the salient stages from onset to the experiences and eventual acceptance of brand grief, this research delves into the under-examined consequences of brand grief within the marketing literature. Further, the proposed typologies illuminate the scantly understood behaviors of grieving consumers as they navigate the grieving process following CBR loss due to brand death and transgression.
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Oswald A. J. Mascarenhas, Munish Thakur and Payal Kumar
Currently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and several outer space industry multibillionaire entrepreneurs – e.g., Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue…
Abstract
Executive Summary
Currently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and several outer space industry multibillionaire entrepreneurs – e.g., Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin), and Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic), to name a few – are actively engaged in outer space research that reports innovative advances, such as outer space mining, outer space tourism, outer space medicine labs, outer space terraforming of Mars and moon, and altering celestial bodies and terrestrial humans to enhance extraterrestrial survivability. All these advances induce serious ethical concerns of human identity and dignity and destiny, human rights and privileges over earth and her resources, and cosmic sustainability. Further, the current understanding of sustainability development is highly anthropocentric (i.e., the earth and cosmos are meant solely for man's use) and limited in scope as a terrestrial, temporal, economic, and pro-human project. Critical thinking invites sustainability development to include trans-terrestrial, trans-temporal, trans-economic, and transhuman developments. While outer space research certainly offers great hopes of newer living spaces and resources for mankind already strapped by depleted terrestrial habitable spaces, we believe that this capital-intensive “elitist” unregulated outer space research industry may benefit a chosen few at the expense of polarizing mankind in terms of one's undeserved financial capacities to afford extraterrestrial spaces and privileges while endangering Nature by deploying massive terrestrial energy resources for outer space rocket launches causing trailing cosmic debris and planetary pollution. We frame this complex problem into terrestrial humanist issues versus extraterrestrial transhumanist issues, each domain triggered by pro-planetary versus pro-cosmic breakthrough technologies, thus creating a fourfold framework that enables us to explore a distributed ethical strategic understanding and ethical resolution of outer space ethical concerns.
Lala Hajibayova, Mallory McCorkhill and Timothy D. Bowman
In this study, STEM resources reviewed in Goodreads were investigated to determine their authorship, linguistic characteristics and impact. The analysis reveals gender disparity…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, STEM resources reviewed in Goodreads were investigated to determine their authorship, linguistic characteristics and impact. The analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applies theoretical concepts of knowledge commons to understand how individuals leverage the affordances of the Goodreads platform to share their perceptions of STEM-related books.
Findings
The analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors. Female-authored STEM publications represent popular science nonfiction and juvenile genres. Analysis of the scholarly impact of the reviewed titles revealed that Google Scholar provides broader and more diverse coverage than Web of Science. Linguistic analysis of the reviews revealed the relatively low aesthetic disposition of reviewers with an emphasis on embodied experiences that emerged from the reading.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the understanding of the impact of popular STEM resources as well as the influence of the language of user-generated reviews on production, consumption and discoverability of STEM titles.
Details