Smart Construction Objects

The primary aim of this research is to define smart construction objects (SCOs), the fundamental building blocks of future construction. SCOs are construction resources (e.g., machinery, device, and materials) that are made smart by augmenting them with technologies conferring autonomy, awareness, and the ability to interact with their vicinity. This smartness can enable better decision making in construction. Understanding of SCOs, however, is still in its infancy. Informed by theories on ubiquitous computing and general smart objects, this paper first defines the panoramic and interconnected properties that differentiate SCOs from conventional construction objects. Second, representative scenarios of the use of SCOs are given to illustrate the new workflow with enhanced smartness in the future. Next, using prefabrication construction as an example, this paper further elaborates SCOs using Industry Foundation Classes Extensible Markup Language and exploring their software/hardware representations. This is the first-ever research to articulate canonical SCOs and their core properties, computing applications, and representations. More specific and applicable SCOs are compellingly desired as the future study. Properly linked to building information modeling and Internet of Things, SCOs can enable a safer, greener, more efficient, and more effective construction system that has ever been seen.postprin

Encouraging the use of urban green space: the mediating role of attitude, perceived usefulness and perceived behavioural control

Prior studies have identified key factors that influence recycling intention. However, these studies rarely pay attention to the interaction of attitude and subjective norm that influences recycling intention. This study applied a conceptual model by extending the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) for addressing the gap. The study collected 246 responses through a street survey in Hong Kong. Findings revealed that two interaction terms (i.e., experiential attitude and subjective norm; instrumental attitude and subjective norm) influenced recycling intention. It implies that subjective norm plays a crucial role in motivating recycling behaviors. Moreover, subjective norm could increase the likelihood of recycling for people exhibiting positive experiential attitude, and motivate people who possesses limited knowledge on recycling benefits of practicing recycling behaviors. Policy implications were drawn from the findings. Limitations of the study and future research direction were also discussed

Salient attributes of urban green spaces in high density cities: the case of Hong Kong

This study aimed to elicit users' perceptions of key attributes of urban green spaces (UGS) in Hong Kong, a compact and land-hungry city, and assess their associations with perceptions of the usefulness, quality, and the frequency of visits in a sample of users of these spaces. This study first employed the repertory grid technique to interviews with 21 respondents to elicit users' assessment of key attributes of green spaces. Second, the factors that emerged were used to develop a questionnaire, which was administered telephonically to 263 individuals who were users of these spaces. The responses were then analysed by multiple regression to assess the extent to which the attributes predicted users' attitudes regarding usefulness and quality and users' behaviour regarding frequency of use of the spaces. The results suggested that the four factors of attributes (features, naturalness, accessibility, and variety of facilities) significantly predicted both of the attitudes and the behaviour relevant to UGS in Hong Kong. Accessibility was most important to the frequency of use and features were the most important to attitudes regarding usefulness and quality. The results imply that policymakers and urban planners could more effectively and sustainably utilise limited land resources by considering users' nuanced meanings and perceptions of urban green spaces. Limitations of the study and future research directions are discussed

A review on political factors influencing public support for urban environmental policy

Environmental quality is important to urban residents’ physical, social and psychological well-being. Governments have been formulating and implementing policies to mitigate environmental deterioration in cities. To effectively implement policies and achieve policy goals, gaining sufficient public support is an essential prerequisite; the policies would be in ruins and the government may also suffer from setbacks in other policy areas in the absence of public support. Therefore, to understand what contributes to public support is a crucial task for policymakers. Though current literature on socio-demographic and attitudinal/psychological factors provides fruitful accounts for policy support, a comprehensive examination of political determinants has yet to be established. In response to this, this review paper explores political factors that influence level of policy support based on existing literature. An integrated framework is proposed to explain policy support for urban environmental policy. This paper also discusses the possible directions of future research

Understanding public support for recycling policy: to unveil the political side of influence and implications

Policy support from the public is gaining importance for successful implementation of environmental policy. Yet the underlying factors of policy support for environmental policy have not been comprehensively examined. While considerable number of studies offered explanation of the phenomenon from the perspective of environmental psychology and social psychology, the growing attention to political factors has not been adequately addressed. In light of this, the present study systematically identified political factors and integrated them with psychological attributes to build a conceptual model for investigating level of policy support for recycling policy. A random household telephone survey was conducted in Hong Kong. 504 valid responses were collected for model testing. The results suggested that although psychological attributes, attitude and perceived benefits, are significant in predicting recycling policy support, political factors are stronger predictors, which perceived policy effectiveness, policy fairness, policy preference, and participatory process demonstrated a significant effect on the level of policy support. In addition, the explanatory power of the conceptual model remarkably increased after political factors were added to the model. The model enables us to compare effects of different sources on the level of policy support, in turn, advances our understanding of the phenomenon. In addition to shaping positive attitude towards recycling and enhancing perceived benefits of recycling practices among the public, policy-makers should put more efforts in formulating a fair, responsive recycling policy that demonstrates capability of policy goal attainment. Public involvement during policy formulation stage is also highly encouraged for mobilizing greater public support

SIMULATIONS OF MICROCLIMATE IN GREENHOUSES AIMING THE ACCLIMATIZATION OF MICROPROPAGATED SEEDLINGS OF BANANA CV. GRANDE NAINE

In acclimatization processes, the environment control takes over a part of vital importance, since in in vitro condition banana seedlings do not efficiently operate the absorption of light. water and nutrients. Therefore, they should be Submitted to controlled environments under feasible conditions Of luminosity, temperature (around 28 degrees C, with minimum of 18 degrees C and maximum of 34 degrees C), and relative humidity above 75%. For this purpose, it was installed five mini tunnels with controlled temperature and relative humidity. For the control of temperature it was used pad-fan evaporative coolers at 28/25 degrees C. For the control of relative humidity it was used fogging during the day at 75% Under intermittence of 6s at each 40s. For temperature and relative humidity monitoring, it was installed three aspirate psychrometers in each mini tunnel connected to a data logger for daily acquisition every 60s. Temperature and relative air humidity were adequate for plants development, however significant differences were observed between the different environment conditions. For luminosity Study, under transparent plastic film (low density polyethylene) of 100 mu m thickness, it was used four meshes with average shading in the PAR spectrum band (400 to 700nm) of 69.92%, 50.73%, 29.73%, and 57.77%, being the first three in red color (with top level at 580nm, and abrupt reduction after that), the fourth mesh was black (linear behavior). The fifth tunnel had only transparent plastic film, showing 12.74% of solar radiation interception. These values were obtained from paired samples (mesh and plastic film) for the first four tunnels, and only the transparent plastic film for the last, using a spectral radiometer (400 to 1100nm), with spectral resolution of 2nm. Inside and outside of each environment it was obtained global and PAR irradiance by using calibrated photovoltaic sensors at 9:00, 12:00, and 3:00, under clean and cloudy sky, during the summer of 2004/05, and winter of 2005. The red mesh presented differentiated transmittances at the PAR spectrum band which established an interesting material for acclimatization studies. Results show bigger reductions on the PAR spectrum band for the red mesh, regardless of time. solar radiation. or seasons. which agree with the results obtained by the spectral radiometer3041001100

Differential public support for waste management policy: the case of Hong Kong

Gaining public support for environmental policy can promote pro-environmental behaviors and facilitate policy implementation. A telephone survey was conducted in Hong Kong to solicit 504 respondents’ level of support for different waste management policies and to investigate the role of key socio-demographic variables in influencing the level of support for these policies. Data was examined by using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Findings revealed that variance in policy support for different measures differs significantly across gender, age groups, and education level, while household size and political inclination exhibited less association with support for the policies. Respondents also indicated a varying level of support across policy tools, with policies of developing recycling industry and extending Producer Responsibility Scheme received more support, but municipal solid waste charging scheme and publicity and education measure were less welcomed by respondents. Our analysis infers that current waste management framework should be driven toward a more coherent mode in order to secure greater public support and maximize policy effectiveness. Policy implications could be applied to waste management framework development in cities which share similar background with Hong Kong

The moderating effect of subjective norm in predicting intention to use urban green spaces: a study of Hong Kong

People living in urban areas are encouraged to use urban green spaces (UGS) because of the physical, psychological and social benefits offered by the green environment to city dwellers. Prior studies have investigated the physical, socio-psychological and demographic factors in explaining the use of UGS; however, the moderating effect of social influence has rarely been examined. Based on the theory of planned behaviour, a model extending the predictors of behavioural intention was proposed in this study. Data were collected by a telephone survey conducted in Hong Kong. The results revealed that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, and usefulness positively influence people’s intention of using urban green areas. It was also proved that the interaction terms of usefulness and subjective norm, and perceived quality and subjective norm, negatively influence behavioural intention. Insightful implications for studying UGS behaviour, suggestions for urban planning and promotion of using urban green spaces are discussed

Experiential and instrumental attitudes: interaction effect of attitude and subjective norm on recycling intention

Prior studies have identified key factors that influence recycling intention. However, these studies rarely pay attention to the interaction of attitude and subjective norm that influences recycling intention. This study applied a conceptual model by extending the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) for addressing the gap. The study collected 246 responses through a street survey in Hong Kong. Findings revealed that two interaction terms (i.e., experiential attitude and subjective norm; instrumental attitude and subjective norm) influenced recycling intention. It implies that subjective norm plays a crucial role in motivating recycling behaviors. Moreover, subjective norm could increase the likelihood of recycling for people exhibiting positive experiential attitude, and motivate people who possesses limited knowledge on recycling benefits of practicing recycling behaviors. Policy implications were drawn from the findings. Limitations of the study and future research direction were also discussed