Big Data in the construction industry: A review of present status, opportunities, and future trends

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd The ability to process large amounts of data and to extract useful insights from data has revolutionised society. This phenomenon—dubbed as Big Data—has applications for a wide assortment of industries, including the construction industry. The construction industry already deals with large volumes of heterogeneous data; which is expected to increase exponentially as technologies such as sensor networks and the Internet of Things are commoditised. In this paper, we present a detailed survey of the literature, investigating the application of Big Data techniques in the construction industry. We reviewed related works published in the databases of American Association of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and Elsevier Science Direct Digital Library. While the application of data analytics in the construction industry is not new, the adoption of Big Data technologies in this industry remains at a nascent stage and lags the broad uptake of these technologies in other fields. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no comprehensive survey of Big Data techniques in the context of the construction industry. This paper fills the void and presents a wide-ranging interdisciplinary review of literature of fields such as statistics, data mining and warehousing, machine learning, and Big Data Analytics in the context of the construction industry. We discuss the current state of adoption of Big Data in the construction industry and discuss the future potential of such technologies across the multiple domain-specific sub-areas of the construction industry. We also propose open issues and directions for future work along with potential pitfalls associated with Big Data adoption in the industry

From Associations to Info-Sociations: Civic associations and ICTs in Two Asian Cities

Non-profit civic associations are experimenting with information communications technologies (ICTs) in their work inside ‘global cities.’ The “info-sociational” concept is introduced in this paper as a heuristic and an approach for investigating ICT-linked organizational, participatory and spatial transformations in civic associations. The info-sociational approach is applied to four cases of civic environmental associations in two ‘Asian tiger’ cities-Hong Kong and Taipei-to compare their experiments with: urban map mash-ups; digital storytelling; participatory e-platforms; green new media; and networked activism. An info-sociational approach-besides providing a frame for comparatively analyzing digital practices amongst civic groups-arguably advances theory on the co-evolution of civic associations and ICTs.Special Issue: Linking the Local with the Global within Community Informatic

Challenges and Approaches in Green Data Center

Cloud computing is a fast evolving area of information and communication technologies (ICTs)that hascreated new environmental issues. Cloud computing technologies have a widerange ofapplications due to theirscalability, dependability, and trustworthiness, as well as their abilityto deliver high performance at a low cost.The cloud computing revolution is altering modern networking, offering both economic and technologicalbenefits as well as potential environmental benefits. These innovations have the potential to improve energyefficiency while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions and e-waste. These traits have thepotential tomakecloud computing more environmentally friendly. Green cloud computing is the science and practise of properlydesigning, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers,and associated subsystems like displays,printers, storage devices, and networking and communication systems while minimising or eliminatingenvironmental impact. The most significant reason for a data centre review is to understand capacity,dependability, durability,algorithmic efficiency, resource allocation, virtualization, power management, andother elements. The green cloud design aims to reduce data centre power consumption. The main advantageof green cloud computing architecture is that it ensures real-time performance whilereducing IDC’s energyconsumption (internet data center).This paper analyzed the difficultiesfaced by data centers such as capacityplanning and management, up-time and performance maintenance, energy efficiency and cost cutting, realtime monitoring and reporting. The solution for the identified problems with DCIM system is also presentedin this paper. Finally, it discusses the market report’s coverage of green data centres, green computingprinciples, andfuture research challenges. This comprehensive green cloud analysis study will assist nativegreen research fellows in learning about green cloud concerns and understanding future research challengesin the field

A Strategic Roadmap for the Manufacturing Industry to Implement Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 (also referred to as digitization of manufacturing) is characterized by cyber physical systems, automation, and data exchange. It is no longer a future trend and is being employed worldwide by manufacturing organizations, to gain benefits of improved performance, reduced inefficiencies, and lower costs, while improving flexibility. However, the implementation of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies is a difficult task and becomes even more challenging without any standardized approach. The barriers include, but are not limited to, lack of knowledge, inability to realistically quantify the return on investment, and lack of a skilled workforce. This study presents a systematic and content-centric literature review of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies, to highlight their impact on the manufacturing industry. It also provides a strategic roadmap for the implementation of Industry 4.0, based on lean six sigma approaches. The basis of the roadmap is the design for six sigma approach for the development of a new process chain, followed by a continuous improvement plan. The reason for choosing lean six sigma is to provide manufacturers with a sense of familiarity, as they have been employing these principles for removing waste and reducing variability. Major reasons for the rejection of Industry 4.0 implementation methodologies by manufactures are fear of the unknown and resistance to change, whereas the use of lean six sigma can mitigate them. The strategic roadmap presented in this paper can offer a holistic view of phases that manufacturers should undertake and the challenges they might face in their journey toward Industry 4.0 transition

A review of Smart Contract Blockchain Based on Multi-Criteria Analysis: Challenges and Motivations

A smart contract is a digital program of transaction protocol (rules of contract) based on the consensus architecture of blockchain. Smart contracts with Blockchain are modern technologies that have gained enormous attention in scientific and practical applications. A smart contract is the central aspect of a blockchain that facilitates blockchain as a platform outside the cryptocurrency spectrum. The development of blockchain technology, with a focus on smart contracts, has advanced significantly in recent years. However research on the smart contract idea has weaknesses in the implementation sectors based on a decentralized network that shares an identical state. This paper extensively reviews smart contracts based on multi criteria analysis challenges and motivations. Therefore, implementing blockchain in multi-criteria research is required to increase the efficiency of interaction between users via supporting information exchange with high trust. Implementing blockchain in the multi-criteria analysis is necessary to increase the efficiency of interaction between users via supporting information exchange and with high confidence, detecting malfunctioning, helping users with performance issues, reaching a consensus, deploying distributed solutions and allocating plans, tasks and joint missions. The smart contract with decision-making performance, planning and execution improves the implementation based on efficiency, sustainability and management. Furthermore the uncertainty and supply chain performance lead to improved users confidence in offering new solutions in exchange for problems in smart contacts. Evaluation includes code analysis and performance while development performance can be under development.Comment: Revie

e-Leadership through strategic alignment: an empirical study of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the digital age

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the European economy. A critical challenge faced by SME leaders, as a consequence of the continuing digital technology revolution, is how to optimally align business strategy with digital technology to fully leverage the potential offered by these technologies in pursuit of longevity and growth. There is a paucity of empirical research examining how e-leadership in SMEs drives successful alignment between business strategy and digital technology fostering longevity and growth. To address this gap, in this paper we develop an empirically derived e-leadership model. Initially we develop a theoretical model of e-leadership drawing on strategic alignment theory. This provides a theoretical foundation on how SMEs can harness digital technology in support of their business strategy enabling sustainable growth. An in-depth empirical study was undertaken interviewing 42 successful European SME leaders to validate, advance and substantiate our theoretically driven model. The outcome of the two stage process – inductive development of a theoretically driven e-leadership model and deductive advancement to develop a complete model through in-depth interviews with successful European SME leaders – is an e-leadership model with specific constructs fostering effective strategic alignment. The resulting diagnostic model enables SME decision makers to exercise effective e-leadership by creating productive alignment between business strategy and digital technology improving longevity and growth prospects

New Waves of IoT Technologies Research – Transcending Intelligence and Senses at the Edge to Create Multi Experience Environments

The next wave of Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) brings new technological developments that incorporate radical advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), edge computing processing, new sensing capabilities, more security protection and autonomous functions accelerating progress towards the ability for IoT systems to self-develop, self-maintain and self-optimise. The emergence of hyper autonomous IoT applications with enhanced sensing, distributed intelligence, edge processing and connectivity, combined with human augmentation, has the potential to power the transformation and optimisation of industrial sectors and to change the innovation landscape. This chapter is reviewing the most recent advances in the next wave of the IoT by looking not only at the technology enabling the IoT but also at the platforms and smart data aspects that will bring intelligence, sustainability, dependability, autonomy, and will support human-centric solutions.acceptedVersio