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Oman has a rich built heritage due to its strategic location, making its history full of events, which resulted in remarkable cultural and social heritage. The government works on preserving the built environment through the adaptive reuse strategy of abandoned buildings or sites, which is considered a comprehensive approach to sustainability. The adaptive reuse process often involves complex factors especially through decision-making, which influence the success of the generated project. The research aims at proposing an assessment strategy that offers guidelines that can help to achieve comprehensive adaptive reuse.

This paper analyzes and assesses adaptive reuse interventions of selected five heritage projects in Oman. The assessment was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and local community representatives, as well as onsite observations, documentation and relevant data analyses.

The results display that a comprehensive sustainable management plan for adaptive reuse projects is essential to ensure the success of the new uses in promoting the local economy, enhancing social values, preserving the cultural identity and adapting to the local environment.

This contribution proposes a comprehensive strategy for assessing the adaptive reuse projects' performance that can be used as a checklist for achieving more social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits. This strategy can be further developed by extending to include more categories.

The study aims to analyze the development of Omani heritage legislation against the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (WHC), 1972 and WHC Operational Guidelines (WHC-OGs) to predict the possible effects of the recent developments on the management of the World Heritage Site in Oman.

This study discusses the development of the heritage protection legislation in Sultanate of Oman since 1970; it analyses the Omani Cultural Heritage Law 35/2019 against the recommendations of the UNESCO WHC as well as the requirements of the World Heritage Operational Guidelines. Moreover, the research investigates the possible effects of the recent heritage legislation developments on the management of Bahla Fort and Oasis in Oman, which is the first Omani World Heritage Site and the only site with special management regulations.

The paper outlines the effects of both the Omani Cultural Heritage Law 35/2019 and the Special Management Regulations 81/2019 on the implementation of the Bahla Management Plan. Additionally, the research establishes how the customization of heritage legislation as a special heritage management regulation facilitates the implementation of national legislation to solve specific local problems.

The study establishes the significance of developing comprehensive legislation to protect and manage the rich Omani cultural heritage and World Heritage Sites in alignment with the WHC and the WHC-OGs.

This paper aims to investigate the role of lean talent management (LTM) as a novel approach for optimising creativity in architectural design firms (ADFs) towards achieving divergent heritage sustainability (DHS).

To achieve the abovementioned aim, a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology is designed to accomplish three objectives. First, investigating the relationship between heritage and urban development; types of heritage and the role of LTM in enhancing creativity in ADFs. Second, presenting and analysing six heritage-related case studies to assess the need for creative solutions based on extent of deterioration in three different places in Egypt. Third, outlining the results of a survey questionnaire conducted with a representative sample of ADFs in Egypt to investigate the role of LTM towards optimising creativity in ADFs for achieving DHS.

The extent of deterioration increased for modern heritage than old heritage. Conventional approaches adopted by ADFs failed to develop built environments that can bridge the gap between the diverse identities. Creativity was not optimised when talent management (TM) was integrated solely and architects failed to develop appropriate solutions. LTM use architects to allow expression of arts towards heritage sustainability through the built environment, in which they feel associated with physical heritage. Consequently, individuals’ intangible heritage is preserved in which they will less deteriorate the physical heritage. Hence, LTM is a paradigm shift that has a great potential for DHS.

The survey questionnaire and case studies focused on the Egyptian context because the region is in critical need for effective creative solutions and for such research that is unprecedented in investigating this gap. However, findings are absolute and could be used at any country sharing the Egyptian context and wishing to achieve a DHS approach.

The research work presented in this paper is novel in approach as it integrates two divergent fields and highlights the concept of DHS with its threefold approach. In addition, the concept of LTM is proposed as a novel paradigm shift in which it has received scant attention especially relating to heritage sustainability. The proposed ideas represent a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds to the existing body of knowledge for future research in LTM and DHS.

With the increasing number of creative cities as well as the reported incidences of deterioration to physical heritage, this paper aims to protect silent identities of heritage from the ruining living identities of modern generations in current and futuristic creative cities.

The research aim is achieved through trait-related mixed methods, since the variances are not method-related, to answer three research questions. The first method was a survey questionnaire distributed to the creative architectural sector because it was the best sector to meet the identified criteria. It aimed to answer if the upperground layer in creative cities considers the underground layer's diversity as a main cause for heritage deterioration and for being a barrier to developing creative solutions. A hypothesis for the first question was tested through a t-test. The second method was to study cases of heritage in present and futuristic creative cities to answer if living identities threaten physical heritage of all ages at the same extent and if the same creativity concepts are applied to all heritage.

The underground layer's diversity identities were found as a major barrier to the creative architectural sector. The R-value indicated a negative relationship between heritage age and its condition. Cases witnessed different creative expressions, but cases within the same period faced similar concepts of expressed creativity. The proposed tree diagram is a framework that gives numerical guidelines for the interrelationship between every heritage age and creativity concept for novel and conscious creative practices at the upperground layer to solve the conflicts in creative cities.

The selection of Egypt does not possess a limitation because methodological considerations required for generalising the findings to a broader area were met. Findings in this paper are applicable to all upperground creative sectors that seek to understand the underground layer's diversity. Results are useful for protecting heritage silent identities in all existing and futuristic creative cities in countries that have heritage, of any age, facing deterioration.

The research work in this paper is novel in thought and resolves a perpetual conflict between silent identities and expressive living identities in current and futuristic creative cities through the proposed numerical framework for the upperground creative layer to develop novel conscious solutions. This framework represents a novel synthesis that adds to the existing body of knowledge, as it resolves a critical problem highlighted in previous research studies.

The purpose of this study is to explore using real-observation quantum genetic algorithms (RQGAs) to evolve neural controllers that are capable of controlling a self-reconfigurable modular robot in an adaptive locomotion task.

Quantum-inspired genetic algorithms (QGAs) have shown their superiority against conventional genetic algorithms in numerous challenging applications in recent years. The authors have experimented with several QGAs variants and real-observation QGA achieved the best results in solving numerical optimization problems. The modular robot used in this study is a hybrid simulated robot; each module has two degrees of freedom and four connecting faces. The modular robot also possesses self-reconfiguration and self-mobile capabilities.

The authors have conducted several experiments using different robot configurations ranging from a single module configuration to test the self-mobile property to several disconnected modules configuration to examine self-reconfiguration, as well as snake, quadruped and rolling track configurations. The results demonstrate that the robot was able to perform self-reconfiguration and produce stable gaits in all test scenarios.

The artificial neural controllers evolved using the real-observation QGA were able to control the self-reconfigurable modular robot in the adaptive locomotion task efficiently.

Architecture is classified as one of the creative industries worldwide. However, it is plagued with a number of problems that confine its creativity towards developing innovative solutions that fulfil society needs. One of these pressing problems is the lack of creativity due to the non-utilisation of talented architects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of lean talent management (LTM) as a novel approach to increase creativity in architectural design firms (ADFs).

In order to achieve the above-mentioned aim, a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology is designed to accomplish three objectives. First, reviewing literature to investigate the concepts of creative industries, motivation, demotivation, talent management (TM), talents utilisation (TU), lean thinking (LT) and lean innovation (LI). Second, presenting and analysing five case studies to explore the integration between TM, LT and LI in real-life context to overcome barriers of creativity. Finally, analysing the results of a survey questionnaire conducted with a representative sample of Egyptian ADFs to evaluate their perception and application of TM as a facilitator for creativity.

The five barriers of creativity encompassed lack of motivation in ADFs and demotivation and lack of TU in ADFs and Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. TM facilitated motivation and eliminated six demotivating factors. The seventh factor was eliminated through LT. In AEC industry, TU was achieved through LI with five considerations. In ADFs, TU can be achieved through LTM. However, two additional barriers have been identified for further investigation. Egyptian ADFs failed increasing creativity with TM solely. Hence, a LTM framework is required.

Although the study focussed on architecture as a case for creative industries and targeted Egyptian ADFs, the application of LTM is to be applied at any industry that is talent-based although barriers related to the design process could vary.

This paper presents an innovative approach through discussing the integration of lean concepts into TM towards increasing creativity in ADFs. This ideology has received scant attention in construction literature and is the first of its kind in the architectural field. The proposed ideas represent a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not previously occurred.

This paper aims to explore a framework for implementing Lean Construction (LC) to provide corrective actions for quality defects, customer dissatisfaction and value creation during the construction of megaprojects.

This paper presents a case study involving the construction of the Mohamed VI Tower in Morocco. It is the tallest tower in Africa, with 55 floors and a total height of 250 m. This study of the quality of the work and the involvement of the LC was carried out using the Define–Measure–Analysis–Improve–Control approach from Lean six sigma. It describes the Critical to Quality and analyses the root causes of quality defects, customer dissatisfaction and variation in the quality process.

Firstly, the results of this study map the causal factors of lack of quality as established in the literature. Secondly, the LC tools have reduced non-value-added sources of quality waste and, consequently, improved critical quality indicators.

This document focuses on one part of the tower’s construction and is limited to a project case in a country where LC is rarely used.

This study reinforces the literature reviews, surveys and the small number of case studies that have validated the potential of LC and further clarifies future directions for the practical emergence of this quality improvement approach, especially for large-scale projects.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of nanoparticles as an additive on the tribological properties of calcium grease.

The nano additives in this research are with different concentration of multi carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Talc powder (1, 2, 3, 3 and 5 per cent). The ratio of MWCNTs to Talc powder is 1:1. The tribological properties of hyper MWCNTs/Talc powder to calcium grease were evaluated using a pin-on-disk wear testing. The results show that the nano additives MWCNTs/Talc to calcium grease exhibit good performance in anti-wear and friction reduction. The action mechanism was estimated through analysis of the worm surface with x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope.

The result indicates that boundary film mainly composed of MWCNT and Talc powder, and other organic compound was formed on the worm surface during the friction test. In addition, the wear rate and coefficient of friction of nanogreases have shown excellent improvement about 80.62 and 63.44 per cent, respectively, at 4 Wt.% of MWCNTs/Talc powder. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of nanogrease increased about 51.72 per cent.

This study describes the inexpensive and simple fabrication of nanogrease for improving properties of lubricants, which improve power efficiency and extend lifetimes of mechanical equipment.

This work describes the fabrication of composite nanogrease based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as an additive at different volume concentrations 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 Wt.% and investigates the correlation between CNTs and grease rheological behaviour. In addition, study the influence of shear thinning rate at various temperatures and investigates the thermal conductivity of nanogrease. The results demonstrated that grease behaves like a Newtonian viscoelastic material with a narrow linear domain. The thermal conductivity of nanogrease was enhanced by about 31.58 per cent, and the thermal and mechanical stabilities improved. Moreover, the apparent viscosity and dropping point increased by about 93 and 27 per cent, respectively.

Grease was dissolved in chloroform (10 Wt.%), at 25°C for 1 h. In parallel, functionalized CNTs with different volume concentrations (0.5, 1, 2 and 3 Wt.%) were dispersed in N,N-dimethylformamide; the dispersion was stirred for 15 min, and then sonicated (40 kHz, 150 W) for 30 min. Grease solution was then added to the CNTs. The nanofluid was magnetically stirred for 15 min and then sonicated for 2 h. This ensured uniform dispersion of nanoparticles in the base fluid.

Inexpensive and simple fabrication of nanogrease. Thermal conductivity of nanogrease was typically enhanced compared to other reported studies. Apparent viscosity and dropping point increases with the increase the volume concentration.

This work describes the inexpensive and simple fabrication of nanogrease for improving properties of lubricants, which improve power efficiency and extend lifetimes of mechanical equipment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the rheological characteristics of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and hybridized nanocomposite consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and GNPs as an additive on lithium-based grease. The experiments of nanogrease are examined in different values of shear stress, apparent viscosity, temperature and shear rate using Brookfield Programmable Rheometer DV-III ULTRA and characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

First, GNPs was mixed well with lithium grease using mechanical stirring at 3,500 rpm for 15 min at room temperature to form a homogenous composite at different concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5 Wt.%). Afterwards, MWCNTs and GNPs are mixed and dispersed well in the lithium grease using a sonication path for 30 min and mechanical stirring at 3,500 rpm for 15 min at 28°C to form a homogenous nanocomposite.

The results indicated that 1 Wt.% of GNPs is the optimum concentration. Subsequently, the weight percentage of additives varying between MWCNTs and GNPs are tested, and the result indicate that the grease containing GNPs had a 75 per cent increase in shear stress and 93.7 per cent increase in apparent viscosity over ordinary grease.

This work describes the inexpensive and simple fabrication of nanogrease for improving properties of lubricants, which improve power efficiency and extend lifetimes of mechanical equipment.