Buildings are essential facilities in the delivery of quality education in any nation. Providing not just buildings but sustainable ones is necessary, since educational buildings are meant to serve both the present generation, and generations to come. However, bold statements as to the poor sustainability nature of construction projects in most developing countries around the world have been made by researchers. This study therefore assessed the challenges of sustainable construction (SC) and the possible measures for mitigating the issue of poor sustainability in the Nigerian construction industry (NCI). Survey design was employed and questionnaire was administered on construction participants in selected higher institutions. Data gathered were analyzed using percentage, mean score, Kruskal-Walis H-test, and factor analysis. The study revealed that the significant challenges of SC are majorly construction related, sustainability awareness and knowledge related, finance related, and government related. To improve on the sustainability of construction projects, then strict government policy on SC, and jettisoning the traditional method of construction for innovative sustainability oriented methods, is necessary. The implication of this finding is that, the method and process of operations within the NCI does not favor the attainment of SC. Therefore, if sustainability is to be achieved, a review of construction activities and processes within the industry is necessary.
Purpose
This paper aims to present the result of a scientometric analysis conducted using studies on high-performance computing in computational modelling. This was done with a view to showcasing the need for high-performance computers (HPC) within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry in developing countries, particularly in Africa, where the use of HPC in developing computational models (CMs) for effective problem solving is still low.
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretivism philosophical stance was adopted for the study which informed a scientometric review of existing studies gathered from the Scopus database. Keywords such as high-performance computing, and computational modelling were used to extract papers from the database. Visualisation of Similarities viewer (VOSviewer) was used to prepare co-occurrence maps based on the bibliographic data gathered.
Findings
Findings revealed the scarcity of research emanating from Africa in this area of study. Furthermore, past studies had placed focus on high-performance computing in the development of computational modelling and theory, parallel computing and improved visualisation, large-scale application software, computer simulations and computational mathematical modelling. Future studies can also explore areas such as cloud computing, optimisation, high-level programming language, natural science computing, computer graphics equipment and Graphics Processing Units as they relate to the AEC industry.
Research limitations/implications
The study assessed a single database for the search of related studies.
Originality/value
The findings of this study serve as an excellent theoretical background for AEC researchers seeking to explore the use of HPC for CMs development in the quest for solving complex problems in the industry.
The effective use of daylight is a function of the luminance of the sky exposed to the glazing system. Therefore, accurate data about the luminance distribution of the sky are necessary for the optimum use of daylight. This paper compares seven models for estimating the angular sky luminance distribution. They were selected based on the ability to be used with all sky conditions and to determine the luminance of the sky from solar radiation. Measurements of solar radiation, sky luminance, and sky radiance were taken in a “maritime desert region” in Saudi Arabia. The results showed that the “Perez 93” model performed better than the other models tested, but there is a need for more studies to identify more accurate models for use in similar climatic conditions.
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