Search Results (4,533)

Achieving urban climate neutrality and interim mitigation targets requires rapid demand-side emission reductions, yet current user-centred interventions remain fragmented, are often concentrated on low-impact actions, and rarely provide a traceable basis for comparing outcomes, validity conditions, and equity implications across contexts. This paper reframes demand-side mitigation as a design problem of “use infrastructures”: integrated configurations of communication, product-technology, services, interaction, and governance that make low-carbon choices practicable within everyday routines. We introduce the Design Evidence Link (DEL) as a traceability device supporting ex ante configuration (selection and orchestration of levers) and ex post verification (monitoring, attribution of outcomes, and trade-off control). Through a design-led comparative analysis of nine international cases in high-impact sectors (household energy, ground mobility, food systems, and circular economy/materials), we derive and consolidate a shared extraction and coding protocol that links determinants (barriers and enablers) to design requirements and decision-grade metrics (carbon impact, adoption, continuity, and equity), explicitly qualifying uncertainty and evidence levels. Cross-case results show that effective interventions rely less on isolated information and more on coordinated action packages that reduce cognitive and economic frictions, enhance data credibility through standards and accountability, and embed follow-up mechanisms that support behavioural continuity. DEL also surfaces recurring validity conditions and failure modes (digital exclusion, trust erosion, rebound, and lock-in), translating them into operational criteria for policy and design. Compared with behaviour-change or theory-of-change framings, DEL focuses on the observable orchestration of integrated conditions of use and on the explicit grading of evidence. It should therefore be read as a structured analytical–operational framework for ex ante and ex post assessment, whose transferability remains conditional on source quality, contextual prerequisites, and the limits of the selected cases. Full article

Recent advances in extended reality (XR) have enabled immersive virtual flight experiences for applications such as entertainment and teleoperation support. However, XR-based flight systems that rely primarily on audiovisual cues often fail to evoke a compelling sense of flight and embodied sensation. This study investigates how adaptive wind feedback enhances subjective flight perception in a virtual flight simulation system, Drone Rider. We implemented direction- and velocity-adaptive wind feedback that synchronizes airflow intensity and direction with the user’s motion in the virtual environment, focusing on perceptual effects in a controlled manner to identify key design factors, rather than reproducing aerodynamically accurate airflow. To explore flexible system configurations, two fan installation positions were compared: front-mounted and bottom-mounted. A questionnaire-based user study revealed that adaptive wind feedback significantly enhanced the sense of flight, self-location, and agency compared with the constant-wind and no-wind conditions. However, no significant differences were observed between velocity-adaptive wind and direction- and velocity-adaptive wind conditions. Furthermore, wind delivered from beneath the user yielded flight sensations comparable to those generated by front-mounted airflow. These findings suggest that temporal coupling between airflow intensity and visual motion plays a central role in XR flight perception and provide practical design insights for immersive and flexible XR-based flight simulation systems. Full article

To enhance the sustainability of temporary office buildings, energy-saving and emissions-reduction technologies, as well as the optimization of photovoltaic (PV) energy storage systems in such structures, are of great importance. In this study, a distributed energy storage system was developed for a temporary office building in Jincheng, China. Measurements showed climatic factors had the greatest effect on building energy consumption due to the building envelope’s low thermal performance and airtightness. The air conditioning system accounted for the highest proportion (87%) of building energy consumption. The PV system’s peak output occurred in the morning due to illumination conditions and module orientation. On this basis, a time-of-use (TOU)- and state-of-charge (SOC)-aware scheduling strategy was developed for the PV-ESS of the temporary office building to improve renewable-energy utilization and reduce user-end electricity cost. Unlike purely theoretical optimization studies, this work focuses on the practical application and validation of the scheduling framework in a real temporary office building using monitored data. The electricity cost decreased by 0.3 RMB/kWh, and the revenue from electricity sales during the scheduling period increased by 0.03 RMB/kWh after model optimization. The optimized scheduling strategy resulted in significantly fewer charge–discharge cycles of the storage battery, substantially decreasing the battery’s storage capacity and the system’s investment costs. Full article

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were originally designed for military and surveillance applications but are now significant in smart agriculture, wireless communication, and product delivery. In contrast to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which typically relies on fixed base stations, which can fail in the event of a disaster, UAVs offer more stable alternatives. Because IoT devices, sensors, and ground users have limited processing power and battery life, there is a need for energy-efficient solutions. Meanwhile, users still expect high data rates. UAV-based wireless networks can meet these needs, even in harsh or disaster-hit areas. Current research focuses on improving energy efficiency and data transmission by optimizing UAV flight paths and scheduling. In this work, we tackle these issues by formulating a mixed-integer non-convex optimization problem that jointly considers device scheduling and UAV trajectory. We further decompose it into the following two parts: energy-efficient scheduling among ground users ($P_2$) and the trajectory optimization of UAVs ($P_3$). To address these issues, we develop a linear programming relaxation approach, a Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programming (QCQP)-based Successive Convex Approximation (SCA) scheme, and the Block Coordinate Descent (BCD) algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms the state of the art in both power consumption and transmission rate. Full article

In the context of intergenerational integration, this study focuses on the elderly aged 60 to 74 and children aged 4 to 6, aiming to optimize the safety, usability and interactivity of public fitness facilities, enhance their sustainability and boost intergenerational well-being. Initially, the study collected 20 user demands via on-site investigations and user interviews. The KANO model was then used to classify these demand attributes, eliminating 7 indifferent demands and retaining 13 key ones. Subsequently, the Analytic Hierarchy Process was applied to calculate the weights of the key demands, with all consistency ratios (CR) remaining below 0.1, validating the rationality of the evaluation results. Finally, Quality Function Deployment was employed to transform the key demands into 10 design elements and conduct calculations and rankings. Based on this analysis, a design scheme was proposed that meets the fitness needs of both the elderly and children, promotes intergenerational interaction and health, and enhances the sustainability of public fitness facilities. Its feasibility has been preliminarily verified through a small-sample satisfaction survey. The KANO-AHP-QFD integrated method adopted in this study realizes the integration of qualitative and quantitative analysis, enhances the objectivity of public fitness facility design, and provides a scientific reference for the sustainable design of intergenerational public facilities. Full article

The rapid advancement of digital and mobile technologies has reshaped the educational landscape, fostering the adoption of interactive and learner-centered methodologies. Among these, immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), when coupled with next-generation wireless communication systems, hold the potential to revolutionize knowledge acquisition and student engagement. In this paper, we present the design and development of an AR-based educational tool specifically oriented to teaching concepts of fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks. The tool provides a real-time interactive visualization of 3D network components on mobile devices, enabling learners to explore 5G NSA/SA architectures in an accessible manner with real-world environments through mobile devices and their integrated cameras. The application was developed using Blender for 3D modeling and Unity as the rendering engine, incorporating the Vuforia SDK for marker-based AR tracking, and it was deployed on the Android operating system. Unlike traditional static approaches, the proposed solution enables learners to explore complex network architectures and key functionalities of 5G in an interactive and accessible manner. To assess its perceived effectiveness, quantitative surveys were conducted with both university and high school students, focusing on usability, engagement, and perceived learning outcomes. Results indicate that the tool is user-friendly, enhances motivation, and supports conceptual understanding as perceived by participants of 5G technologies. These findings highlight the potential of AR, supported by advanced wireless networks, as a pedagogical strategy to improve STEM education and foster technological literacy in the era of digital transformation. Full article

Urban transportation systems face increasing sustainability challenges due to the dominance of private-car use, particularly for short-distance trips. This study investigates the potential of micromobility to replace private-car travel on short-distance journeys and evaluates the resulting impacts on urban transportation networks and environmental sustainability. The analysis focuses on the Bornova district of Izmir and is based on a face-to-face survey conducted with 502 private-vehicle users. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and a binary logit regression model to identify factors influencing the willingness to adopt micromobility. Within the surveyed sample of private-car users, modal-shift rates were estimated as 35% for trips up to 5 km and 33% for trips between 5 and 10 km. These rates were applied to the private-car demand and distance matrices developed for the year 2030 within the scope of the Izmir Transportation Master Plan, resulting in a revised private-car demand matrix and a separate demand matrix representing potential micromobility users. Network assignments were performed in the PTV VISUM modeling environment. Assignment results demonstrate notable network-level changes following micromobility integration. The total length of road segments with micromobility traffic volumes exceeding a threshold of 10 veh/h was calculated at 292.5 km. Environmental impacts were evaluated using a life-cycle assessment (LCA) framework, revealing an approximate 5.5% reduction in total life-cycle CO₂ emissions. Overall, the findings provide quantitative evidence supporting micromobility as an effective component of sustainable urban transport strategies and offer guidance for local governments in infrastructure planning and policy development. Full article

This study focuses on an integrated conceptual framework for smart municipal waste management that combines Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) with digital technologies emerging from the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, and blockchain. In the literature, a key limitation has long been recognised: the fragmented implementation of technological solutions and economic instruments in waste management systems. This model is proposed as a multi-layer architecture that integrates user identification, real-time data collection, predictive optimisation, and automated tariff calculation. The framework is expected to reduce mixed-waste volumes and improve operational efficiency while ensuring traceability and transparency in waste management. The framework also provides a practical basis for implementing circular economy principles and advancing climate and urban sustainability goals by linking user behaviour to cost allocation and data-driven monitoring. The findings highlight that measurable environmental benefits depend on the structural integration of behavioural incentives, real-time monitoring, and transparent data governance. The framework demonstrates how PAYT-based incentives, combined with digital monitoring, can reduce mixed waste volumes and associated emissions. Full article

Deepfakes and adjacent synthetic-media capabilities have become a systemic challenge for information integrity, security, and digital trust. Countermeasures now span passive detection methods that infer manipulation from content traces, active provenance systems that cryptographically bind metadata to media, and watermarking approaches that embed detectable signals into content or generative processes. This review presents a rigorous synthesis of tools and technologies to combat deepfakes across modalities (image, video, audio, and selected multimodal settings), drawing primarily from the peer-reviewed literature, standardized benchmarks, and official technical specifications and reports. The review analyzes detection methods, provenance and authentication technologies, with emphasis on cryptographic manifests and threat models, watermarking and content provenance, including diffusion-era watermarking and industrial deployments, adversarial robustness and attacker adaptation, datasets and benchmarks, evaluation metrics across tasks, and deployment and scalability constraints. A dedicated section addresses legal, ethical, and policy issues, focusing on emerging transparency obligations and platform governance. The review finds that no single countermeasure is sufficient in realistic adversarial settings. The strongest practical approach is a layered defense that combines provenance, watermarking, content-based detection, and human oversight. The study concludes with limitations of the current evidence base and prioritized research directions to improve generalization, interoperability, and trustworthy user experiences. Full article

Public spaces (PSs) are vital to urban life, enhancing environmental sustainability, fostering social connections, and boosting public health. Cities have suffered from pandemics, which are becoming more frequent. Recent health crises have revealed significant shortcomings in public spaces’ capacity to preserve social support, safety, and functionality during pandemics. Despite urban resilience having developed as a critical concept for tackling such difficulties, its implementation in PS design remains limited, particularly in low- and middle-income contexts. The study’s main aim is to ascertain how ideas of urban resilience (UR) can be turned into measurable metrics to create and evaluate resilient public spaces during health crises. Several methods, including spatial analysis and questionnaire-based evaluations (n = 145), were analyzed using the Relative Importance Index (RII). This approach highlights key resilience factors, such as flexibility, accessibility, inclusion, and adaptation, that influence the effectiveness of PSs. The results indicate that “Safety & Well-being” emerged as the highest-ranked resilience dimension (RII = 0.636), suggesting that focusing on resilience in design can improve the long-term effectiveness of PSs by supporting social well-being, multifunctionality during crises, and compliance with health guidelines. By (1) translating urban resilience theory into clear PS indicators; (2) empirically assessing and ranking these indicators based on expert and user perspectives; and (3) developing a contextual framework specific to Egyptian cities and similar urban environments, this study advances existing research. These findings offer practical guidance for architects, urban planners, and policymakers to build flexible, inclusive, and resilient PSs capable of facing current and future challenges. Full article

This study explores the potential of biomimetic reasoning to inform early-stage design thinking, with a focus on enhancing the consideration of material utilization and textile waste. While sustainability efforts within the field of textiles are often focused on recycling and end-of-life management strategies, it is important to recognize that a substantial proportion of final waste-related outcomes are determined during the conceptual design stage and the initial prototyping iterations. This study investigates the potential of organizational principles derived from natural systems to inform the definition of problems, the generation of ideas, and early conceptual prototyping. This is achieved by the introduction of ecological constraints and material life-cycle awareness in conjunction with user-centered requirements. To address the conceptual gap between biological forms and manufacturing, biomimicry is approached as a mode of systemic reasoning, utilizing topological skeletonization as a tool for logic extraction rather than formal imitation, with emphasis placed on continuity, modularity, and adaptive organization. This computational proof-of-concept employs a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) framework, utilizing biological venation as a topological guide to demonstrate how distinct organizational logics influence pattern configuration while incorporating manufacturing-inspired constraints (such as path continuity and density) as optimization penalties. The findings are exploratory in nature and are confined to the computational domain; while the study utilizes proxy indicators to simulate potential textile behaviors, it acknowledges the lack of direct experimental validation of physical fabrication as a current limitation. By framing waste as an outcome of upstream design choices, this paper contributes a methodological perspective. This perspective places biomimetic design thinking as a reflective tool within sustainable and regenerative design practice. It also supports earlier engagement with ecological considerations in textile development. Full article

Mobile apps are essential for communication, transactions and leisure and frequently rely on access to personal data. This study examines Google Play’s Data Safety section and declared permissions five years after the GDPR came into force, focusing on how developers disclose data collection, sharing, security practices and deletion controls. We use metadata from 49,578 Android apps and analyze self-reported disclosures in relation to permission categories, app categories, installs and user ratings. The results show that free apps request broader permission access than paid ones and that declared permission use has gradually increased over time. In addition, 25.44% of the sampled apps had not completed any part of the Data Safety section and non-completion was associated with app age, installation band and pricing model. Among apps with completed relevant Data Safety section disclosures, 11% of developers explicitly declared that data are not encrypted in transit and 34% explicitly declared that no user-initiated data deletion mechanism is available. Category-level differences in declared data collection and sharing were modest, while the relationship between permission breadth and user ratings was small. Overall, the findings indicate that structured disclosure mechanisms can improve visibility of privacy-related information, but do not necessarily ensure its completeness or consistency. Full article

Lightweight and slender footbridges exemplify sustainable, material-efficient infrastructure, yet their vibration performance is frequently governed by high dynamic sensitivity, which directly affects serviceability, user comfort, and structural durability. This paper provides a critical review of full-scale experimental investigations and validated finite element simulations addressing the dynamic behavior of various footbridges, focusing on the influence of structural typology, material solutions, and excitation characteristics on vibration-related performance within sustainability-driven design objectives. This article is organized into three core research themes: (1) standards and guidelines in bridge engineering practice, (2) dynamics of footbridges with special structural response to human-induced loading, including walking, running, crowd actions, and higher harmonic contributions, and (3) case studies, based on which the gaps in the current approach are formulated. Based on a synthesis of findings from leading research on structural dynamics and sustainable infrastructure, this paper highlights critical gaps in current vibration serviceability guidance for footbridges. Concluding remarks delineate the principal research challenges and formulate evidence-based, practical recommendations to enhance the resilience, vibration comfort compliance, and sustainability of future footbridge infrastructure. Full article

Human–Machine Interfaces (HMIs) are increasingly important in vehicles and other safety-critical systems, yet approaches to their usability and User eXperience (UX) evaluation remain fragmented. This systematic literature review investigates how HMIs are empirically evaluated across domains, with a primary focus on automotive HMIs, complemented by evidence from related safety-critical domains. The review examines UX and usability evaluation methodologies, tools, standards, and technological trends reported in recent research. Peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2015 and 2025 were considered if they addressed empirical usability or UX evaluation of HMIs. Searches were conducted in Scopus and ScienceDirect databases following PRISMA guidelines. From n = 659 records initially identified, n = 82 papers were included in the final analysis. The literature was synthesized using a descriptive and narrative approach, focusing on evaluation contexts, testing methodologies, sensor-based tools, applied standards, and assessment metrics. Most papers investigated automotive HMIs, while fewer addressed aerospace, industrial, maritime, and other safety-critical applications. Simulation-based user testing emerged as the dominant evaluation approach, frequently supported by eye-tracking and physiological sensing technologies and subjective evaluation questionnaires. A more detailed analysis revealed that adherence to international standards (e.g., ISO 9241 and ISO 26262) was not always consistently evident. Overall, the evidence highlights substantial methodological heterogeneity, fragmented adoption of standards, and limited cross-domain comparability. While today UX and usability evaluation can benefit from continuous technological advances, the field lacks standardized and replicable assessment protocols. Future research should prioritize stronger integration of standards, multimodal evaluation approaches, and longitudinal study designs. Full article

Pedestrians are amongst the most vulnerable road user groups. Efforts to enhance pedestrian safety have mainly focused on intersections and midblock crossings. This study investigated the effect of bus stop environments on pedestrian safety in Kumasi, an area with a high incidence of pedestrian fatalities in Ghana. Crashes within a 50 m radius of bus stops were extracted using a spatial join. The Negative Binomial regression model was applied to model pedestrian crashes around bus stops as a function of three distinct non-collinear independent variable groups: road design features, bus stop characteristics, and pedestrian exposure measures. Formal bus stops were associated with higher crash rates than informal ones. The presence of medians and crosswalks was associated with lower crash rates, whereas wider carriageways were associated with higher crash rates. Higher crashes were linked to passing pedestrians and waiting pedestrians, while crossing pedestrians were associated with reduced crashes. These findings suggest that the combined effects of infrastructure and behavioural factors influence pedestrian safety at bus stops. Prioritising low-cost safety treatments, such as guard-railed waiting areas, marked crosswalks, medians, and raised crossings, around bus stops will yield substantial safety benefits for resource-constrained contexts and advance sustainable urban mobility. Full article