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The purpose of this paper is to optimize the degradation test for products subject to multiple types of inherent stresses and external random shocks. The mechanism that shows how the variables to be optimized influence the considered multiple objectives is also aimed to be explored by using the grey incidence analysis (GIA) model.

The Gamma process is employed to model the influences of different types of stresses and external random shocks. The GIA model is introduced to transfer multiple considered objectives as a comprehensive degree of grey incidence. The particle swarm optimization is integrated to search the globally optimal value of the characteristic variables to be optimized.

The acceleration of tested stresses and external random shocks both make the engineering systems become more vulnerable to the inherent degradation. And, the Kriging model can provide guidance of searching the optimal values of test characteristic variables and mitigate the computation burden. The grey incidence model can make the optimization focused and improve the optimality of objective values.

The proposed method can effectively overcome the drawbacks brought by the limitation of test data and can specify the dependence strength between the inherent degradation and external random shock. The computation cost and accuracy of optimization can be simultaneously ensured by the proposed model.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize and characterize a series of two-component aromatic waterborne polyurethane (2K-WPU) which is composed of non-ionic and anionic polyisocyanate aqueous dispersion and polyurethane polyol aqueous dispersion.

The polyisocyanate aqueous dispersion was synthesized through non-ionic and anionic hydrophilic modification procedures. The values of the hydrogen bonding index (HBI) and molecule structures of WPU were obtained by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The thermal, mechanical and water resistance properties of 2K-WPU films were investigated.

The appearance of non-ionic polyisocyanate aqueous dispersion and anionic polyisocyanate aqueous dispersion was colorless translucent pan blue and yellow opaque emulsions, respectively. FTIR not only showed that 2K-WPU was obtained from the polymerization of polyisocyanate component and polyhydroxy component by polymerization but also showed that the content of hydrogen bondings of anionic 2K-WPU (WPU 2) was higher than non-ionic 2K-WPU (WPU 1). The glass-transition temperature (Tg), storage modulus and water resistance of WPU 2 were higher than WPU1, whereas the thermal stability of WPU1 was better than WPU 2.

The investigation established a method to prepare a series of 2K-WPU which was composed of non-ionic or anionic polyisocyanate aqueous dispersion and polyurethane polyol aqueous dispersion. The prepared 2K-WPU film could be applied as substrate resin material in the field of waterborne coating.

The paper established a method to synthesize a series of 2K-WPU. The effect of HBI value and the molecule structure of soft segment on the thermal stability, mechanical and water resistance properties of 2K-WPU films were studied.

This research aims to develop an approach to assess the reliability of integrated construction supply chains via an integrated model of building information modelling (BIM) and the lean supply chain (LSC). It reflects the synergistic workflow between BIM and LSC as a novel approach to improve the reliability of construction projects.

This research evaluates the reliability of the BIM-LSC approach through a combination of entropy theory, set pair analysis (SPA), and Markov chains (EESM). An exploratory survey was conducted to collect data from 316 industry professionals experienced in BIM and LSC. Subsequently, multiple cycles of calculations were performed with indirect data inputs. Finally, a reliability evaluation index is established for the BIM-LSC approach and potential applications are identified.

The results show that the EESM model of BIM-LSC developed in this study can handle not only supply chain reliability evaluation at a given state but also the prediction of reliability in supply chain state transitions due to changing project conditions. This is particularly relevant to the current environment of the construction project, which is characterised by an increasing level of complexity in terms of labour, technology, and resource interactions.

Future research could consider the accuracy and validity of the proposed model in real-life scenarios with by considering both quantitative and qualitative data across the entire lifecycle of projects.

The research offers a model to evaluate the reliability of the BIM-LSC approach. The accuracy of BIM supply chain reliability analysis and prediction in an uncertain environment is improved.

The BIM-LSC reliability evaluation and prediction presented in this study provides a theoretical foundation to enhance understanding of the BIM-LSC in the construction project context.

In China, external supervision on construction safety mainly comes from the government and supervision engineers (SEs). However, the construction safety supervisory mechanism (CSSM) contains some dilemmas affecting the improvement of safety performance, such as the declining impact of SEs, the increasing rent-seeking behaviors of contractor and excessive government interference. This study aims to depict and analyze the CSSM in China from an evolutionary game view. The objectives are to understand the supervision strategy and evolutionary behaviors of different stakeholders, propose suggestions for improving safety performance and help the key safety supervision stakeholders, especially the government, formulate a suitable safety supervision strategy.

This research uses tripartite dynamic evolutionary game theory to study the CSSM in China and solve the stable equilibrium solution using system dynamics.

This study has revealed the game relationship of construction safety supervision mechanisms in China and solved the stable equilibrium solution. The results prove that a supervision engineer (SE) plays a crucial role in the CSSM, and “supervision engineer useless” is an unreasonable assertion. For government supervision agency (GSA), excessive inspection and free-market regulation are neither wise strategies. GSA can reduce the inspection frequency when general contractors (GCs) input high safety investments and SEs implement responsible supervision. But keeping proper government supervision to avoid GC's unlawful behaviors and SE's rent-seeking is indispensable. In addition, excessive governmental supervision will weaken SE's role, so the government should transfer some supervision powers to SE.

This study focuses on the dynamic evolution process between GSA, GC and SE. This method is different from most research that neglected the dynamic characteristic of system and game solution stability. The research methods not only contribute to construction safety supervision policy-making in China but also help to improve supervision efficiency in other countries and other fields.

Prefabricated housing has become a boom industry across the world; however, the uptake of offsite construction (OSC) approaches in Australian low-rise buildings is rather low compared with high-rise buildings in other countries. This study aims to investigate and analyse the adoption of different levels of OSC approaches and the selection of different procurement options in Australian low-rise residential buildings.

The research objectives were pursued through a mixed research method. An empirical questionnaire survey was carried out with 35 professionals in the Australian building and construction industry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 interviewees and analysed using thematic analysis method in NVivo software.

The research results found that the most suitable OSC level for Australian low-rise buildings is components-based prefabrication and identified the barriers to OSC uptake for each OSC level. The study also showed that the best option of procuring prefabricated products is from Australian manufacturers, followed by Australian suppliers/dealers and overseas manufacturers. Panelised prefabrication and components-based prefabrication are ranked as the most suitable OSC approaches for Australian manufacturers. Modular prefabrication is regarded as the most suitable for overseas manufacturer, while components-based prefabrication is the most suitable for Australian suppliers/dealers.

The selection of various OSC approaches and different procurement options in the low-rise residential buildings are scarcely explored topic, and thus, this study provides knowledge of interest for both researchers and practitioners.

The purpose of this study is to use empirical data to examine the hierarchical impact of the Internet of things capability on supply chain integration (SCI), supply chain capability (SCC) and firm performance (FP) in the UK retail industry.

A deductive approach was employed to carry out this research. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed using the partial least square method (SmartPLS 3.3.3) to test theoretical predictions which underlie the relationships among Internet of things capability (IoTC), SCI, SCC and FP. Data are collected using an online survey completed by senior executives of 66 large, medium and small firms within the UK retail industry.

The empirical results of this research reveal that IoTC has a significant positive effect on the UK retail industry FP through the mediating role of SCI and SCC.

The research results from this study provide useful management insights for firms within the retail industry into the development of effective strategies for integrating their supply chain alongside the adoption of IoTC into SCI, consequently leading to improvements in FP.

Although previous studies have explored the impact of IoT on FP through the sequential mediating role of SCI and SCC, few have explored the impact of the IoT capability (IoTC) on FP through sequential mediators, i.e. SCI and SCC. This study examines the relationship between IoTC, SCI, SCC and FP in the UK retail industry supply chain to address this knowledge gap. Moreover, this study examines the effects of IoTC on FP by applying partial least square (PLS)-SEM techniques. Testing the sequential mediating role of SCI and SCI is undertaken, and the relationships among IoT-enabled SCI and SCC is analysed to improve FP. The robustness check's result through PLSpredict analysis also confirms the power of the model proposed in this study.