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In the realm of construction education, the investigation of immersive learning and extended reality (XR) technologies has experienced a surge in recent times. Nevertheless, there remains a notable lack of comprehension surrounding the most efficient ways to integrate these technologies into tailored teaching approaches for vocational construction training. This research study aims to pinpoint the key factors that construction vocational education and training (VET) providers must consider when introducing XR technologies into their training schemes.

This study conducted an in-depth literature review to develop an initial framework to summarise training, technology and institutional factors influencing the educational-technology integration of XR technologies in VET. In addition, this study utilised a Delphi technique, including semi-structured group discussions and two rounds of online follow-up questionnaires, to capture VET experts’ judgements on the importance of decision-making criteria.

This study has identified the critical factors to be considered in the VET sector when adopting XR technologies. Findings revealed institutional factors were the most important criteria for participants, followed by training and technology factors.

The current decision-making process focuses on selecting XR technologies rather than evaluating their performance after implementation. Therefore, more research is needed to monitor the implementation of this technology in curricula from a senior management perspective. This will help to understand the cost and value factors related to the value proposition of XR technologies in courses.

To ensure the success and long-term viability of the technology-curriculum interface, it is important to consider factors such as the availability of technical and educational support, data security and cost-effectiveness. It is also crucial to focus on ease of use and content development that emphasises instruction to create engaging content for learners.

The potential impact of this study is underpinned by two facts: (1) it constitutes the first effort made in the field to comprehensively elicit VET expert judgements in relation to XR technologies, and (2) it offers decision-making criteria that are at play in seeking to take advantage of high-cost technologies that are rapidly evolving. While there is no simple checklist for XR implementation, this study takes a step further to identify significant factors influencing XR integration in vocational construction training.

Architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) is an important industry worldwide and one of the largest economic sectors in several developing countries, particularly in Iran. The Iranian AEC sector suffers from low productivity and needs to adopt building information modeling (BIM) to reduce inefficiencies. Therefore, this paper was conducted to identify the BIM barriers and propose practical solutions to overcome them in Iran.

A comprehensive literature review, two rounds of the Delphi technique and semi-structured interviews with 12 Iranian experts in the AEC sector were conducted. The data were analyzed using the mean score, standard deviation and nonparametric tests.

The present study identified 26 BIM barriers in the Iranian AEC community and provided practical strategies for improving BIM adoption. The identified barriers were categorized into six main groups including source barriers, financial barriers, unawareness barriers, organizational barriers, regulatory barriers and market-demand barriers. The main three BIM barriers in Iran were the lack of government intervention, change-resistant and the gap between industry and academia. Kruskal–Wallis tests revealed that there are no statistically significant differences in perceptions of BIM barriers between respondents. The Mann–Whitney test indicated that there is no statistically significant difference in perceptions between engineers and architects except for one.

There are few studies on BIM adoption across developing countries, particularly in Iran. Moreover, the results can also be used in other developing nations with similar conditions.

The analysis of the flow field and heat transfer around a tube row or tube banks wrapped with porous layer have many related engineering applications. Examples include the reactor safety analysis, combustion, compact heat exchangers, solar power collectors, high-performance insulation for buildings and many another applications. The purpose of this paper is to perform a numerical study on flows passing through two circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement wrapped with a porous layer under the influence of a magnetic field. The authors focus the attention to the effects of magnetic field, Darcy number and pitch ratio on the mechanism of convection heat transfer and flow structures.

The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model for simulating the flow in porous medium along with the Maxwell equations for providing the coupling between the flow field and the magnetic field have been used. Equations with the relevant boundary conditions are numerically solved using a finite volume approach. In this study, Stuart and Darcy numbers are varied within the range of 0 < N < 3 and 1e-6 < Da < 1e-2, respectively, and Reynolds and Prandtl numbers are equal to Re=100 and Pr=0.71, respectively.

The results show that the drag coefficient decreases for N < 0.6 and increases for N > 0.6. Also, the effect of magnetic field is negligible in the gap between two cylinders because the magnetic field for two cylinders counteracts each other in these regions.

To the authors knowledge, in the open literature, flow passing over two circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement wrapped with a porous layer has been rarely investigated especially under the influence of a magnetic field.

The present investigation aims to deal with the study of unsteady, heat-generating/-absorbing and chemically reacting Casson fluid flow over a vertical cone and flat plate saturated with non-Darcy porous medium in the presence of cross-diffusion effects.

A numerical computation for the governing equations has been performed using implicit finite difference method of Crank–Nicolson type.

The influence of various physical parameters on velocity, temperature and concentration distributions is illustrated graphically, and the physical aspects are discussed in detail. Numerical results for average skin-friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are tabulated for the pertaining physical parameters. Results indicate that Soret and Dufour effects have notable influence on heat and mass transfer characteristics of the fluid when the temperature and concentration gradients are high. It is also observed that the consideration of heat generation/absorption plays a vital role in predicting the heat transfer characteristics of moving fluids.

Consider a two-dimensional, unsteady, free convective flow of an incompressible Casson fluid over a vertical cone and a flat plate saturated with non-Darcy porous medium. The fluid properties are assumed to be constant except for density variations in the buoyancy force term. The fluid flow is moderate and the permeability of the medium is assumed to be low, so that the Forchheimer flow model is applicable.

The flow of Casson fluids (such as drilling muds, clay coatings and other suspensions, certain oils and greases, polymer melts and many emulsions), in the presence of heat transfer, is an important research area because of its relevance in the optimized processing of chocolate, toffee and other foodstuffs.

In the heat and mass transfer investigations, the Casson fluid model is found to be accurately applicable in many practical situations in the wings of polymer processing industries and biomechanics, etc.; some prominent examples are silicon suspensions, suspensions of bentonite in water and lithographic varnishes used for printing inks.

The motivation of the present study is to bring out the effects of heat source/sink, Soret and Dufour effects on chemically reacting Casson fluid flow over a vertical cone and flat plate saturated with non-Darcy porous medium. The flow of Casson fluids (such as certain oils and greases, polymer melts and many emulsions) in the presence of heat transfer is an important research area because of its relevance in the optimized processing of chocolate, toffee and other foodstuffs. A numerical computation for the governing equations has been performed using implicit finite difference method of the Crank–Nicolson type.

The paper aims to find an accurate analytic solution (series solution) for the micropolar flow in a porous channel with mass injection for different values of Reynolds number.

In this paper, the homotopy analysis method (HAM) with different numbers of unknown convergence-control parameters has been used to derive accurate analytic solution for micropolar flow in a porous channel with mass injection. The possible optimal value of convergence-control parameter determined by minimizing the averaged residual error.

The results obtained from HAM solution with two parameters are compared with numerical results and that obtained from HAM solution with only one parameter. The results show that this method gives an analytical solution with high order of accuracy with a few iterations. As shown in this paper, by minimizing the averaged residual error, the authors can get the possible optimal value of the convergence-control parameters which may give the fastest convergent series.

The HAM with different numbers of unknown convergence-control parameters can be used to obtain analytic solutions for many problems in sciences and engineering.

This paper fulfils an identified need to evaluate the accurate analytic solution (series solution) of practical problem.

The purpose of this paper is to implement the numerical analysis based on finite volume method to compare the effects of stress-jump (SJ) and stress-continuity (SC) conditions on flow structure around and through a porous circular cylinder.

In this study, a steady flow of a viscous, incompressible fluid around and through a porous circular cylinder of diameter “D,” using Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer’s equation in the porous region, is discussed. The SJ condition proposed by Ochoa-Tapia and Whitaker is applied at the porous-fluid interface and compared with the traditional interfacial condition based on the SC condition in fluid and porous media. Equations with the relevant boundary conditions are numerically solved using a finite volume approach. In this study, Reynolds and Darcy numbers are varied within the ranges of 1 < Re < 40 and 10-7 < Da < 10-2, respectively, and the porosities are e=0.45, 0.7 and 0.95.

Results show that the SJ condition leads to a much smaller boundary layer within porous medium near the interface as compared to the SC condition. Two interfacial conditions yield similar results with decrease in porosity.

There is no published research in the literature about the effects of important parameters, such as Porosity and Darcy numbers on different fluid-porous interface conditions for a porous cylinder and comparison the effects of SJ and SC conditions on flow structure around and through a porous circular cylinder.

The construction industry remains one of the most hazardous industries worldwide, with a higher number of fatalities and injuries each year. The safety and well-being of workers at a job site are paramount as they face both immediate and long-term risks such as falls and musculoskeletal disorders. To mitigate these dangers, sensor-based technologies have emerged as a crucial tool to promote the safety and well-being of workers on site. The implementation of real-time sensor data-driven monitoring tools can greatly benefit the construction industry by enabling the early identification and prevention of potential construction accidents. This study aims to explore the innovative method of prototype development regarding a safety monitoring system in the form of smart personal protective equipment (PPE) by taking advantage of the recent advances in wearable technology and cloud computing.

The proposed smart construction safety system has been meticulously crafted to seamlessly integrate with conventional safety gear, such as gloves and vests, to continuously monitor construction sites for potential hazards. This state-of-the-art system is primarily geared towards mitigating musculoskeletal disorders and preventing workers from inadvertently entering high-risk zones where falls or exposure to extreme temperatures could occur. The wearables were introduced through the proposed system in a non-intrusive manner where the safety vest and gloves were chosen as the base for the PPE as almost every construction worker would be required to wear them on site. Sensors were integrated into the PPE, and a smartphone application which is called SOTER was developed to view and interact with collected data. This study discusses the method and process of smart PPE system design and development process in software and hardware aspects.

This research study posits a smart system for PPE that utilises real-time sensor data collection to improve worksite safety and promote worker well-being. The study outlines the development process of a prototype that records crucial real-time data such as worker location, altitude, temperature and hand pressure while handling various construction objects. The collected data are automatically uploaded to a cloud service, allowing supervisors to monitor it through a user-friendly smartphone application. The worker tracking ability with the smart PPE can help to alleviate the identified issues by functioning as an active warning system to the construction safety management team. It is steadily evident that the proposed smart PPE system can be utilised by the respective industry practitioners to ensure the workers' safety and well-being at construction sites through monitoring of the workers with real-time sensor data.

The proposed smart PPE system assists in reducing the safety risks posed by hazardous environments as well as preventing a certain degree of musculoskeletal problems for workers. Ultimately, the current study unveils that the construction industry can utilise cloud computing services in conjunction with smart PPE to take advantage of the recent advances in novel technological avenues and bring construction safety management to a new level. The study significantly contributes to the prevailing knowledge of construction safety management in terms of applying sensor-based technologies in upskilling construction workers' safety in terms of real-time safety monitoring and safety knowledge sharing.

The effect of a magnetic field on nanofluid natural convection in a porous annulus is simulated. Control volume-based finite element method (CVFEM) is applied to find the influence of tilted angle and Darcy, Rayleigh and Hartmann numbers on nanofluid hydrothermal behavior. Vorticity stream function formulation is taken into account. Also, Brownian motion effect on nanofluid thermal conductivity is considered. Results reveal that Hartmann number and tilted angle make changes in nanofluid flow style. Nusselt number enhances with augment of Darcy number and buoyancy forces but reduces with rise of tilted angle and Hartmann number.

The influence of adding CuO nanoparticles in water on the velocity and temperature distribution in an inclined half-annulus was studied considering constant heat flux. CVFEM is applied to the simulation procedure.

Influences of CuO volume fraction, inclination angle and Rayleigh number on hydrothermal manners are presented.

Results indicate that inclination angle makes changes in flow style. The temperature gradient enhances with rise of buoyancy forces, whereas it reduces with augment of inclination angle.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the unsteady flow past through a permeable diamond-shaped cylinder and to study the effects of the aspect ratios and Darcy numbers of the cylinder.

The lattice Boltzmann method with D2Q9 lattice model was used to simulate the unsteady flow through permeable diamond-shaped cylinders. The present numerical method is validated against the available data.

The key findings are that increasing the permeability enhances the suppression of vortex shedding, and that the Strouhal number is directly proportion to the Darcy number, Reynolds number and the aspect ratio of the porous cylinder.

The present study considers unsteady laminar flow past through single permeable diamond-shaped cylinder. According to the authors’ knowledge, very few studies have been found in this field. The present findings are novel and original, which in turn can attract wide attention and citations.