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Vernacular architecture is an important artificial habitat landscape that responds to and evolves with specific natural and social contexts. Although abundant evidence highlights the fragility of vernacular architecture in the urbanization process, in-depth discussion of the resilient manifestations represented by its anonymous evolution is lacking. Liangshuixiu , a courtyard-form vernacular building in Southern Hebei , is taken as the example. This study explored its spontaneous evolution mechanism characterized by the courtyard being covered (CBR). Benefiting from the computer vision technology and the remarkable orthophotos of Liangshuaixiu , the distribution characteristics of the CBR phenomenon in 131 townships were identified by high-resolution network. Subsequently, 14 potential influencing factors were selected according to "push–pull" theory, and explanatory variables that affect the development of CBR were identified using redundancy analysis. Spatial autocorrelation analysis of the CBR showed a significant clustering trend of high in the south and low in the north. Redundancy analysis results showed that the combined effects of push–pull factors were the most important aspects to explain the evolution of Liangshuaixiu. Urban pull and rural push made a greater contribution to the development of CBR, with education level being the most critical factor, followed by population decline rate and government revenue. Rural pull and urban push had limited contribution to the development of CBR, in which the aging rate was an important explanatory factor. This study revealed the evolutionary characteristics of specific vernacular buildings in a data-driven manner, thereby providing quantitative insights into how urbanization drives the evolution of vernacular habitats. • The evolution of Liangshuaixiu dwellings was identified by CV technology. • The "push-pull" factors between urban and rural areas have jointly affected the evolution. • Education level is the most critical explanatory variable for the evolution. • A new research paradigm was provided to study the evolution mechanism of vernacular architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The dielectric, ferroelectric and fatigue properties of modified lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics were investigated in terms of the effect of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM) buffer layers. The double sided LSM buffer layers resulted in a lower dielectric loss, a weaker frequency dependence of dielectric constant, a lower leakage current density, and an increase in the saturation polarization. Moreover, it was found that up to 1.4×107 cycle numbers, the Ag||LSM/PZT/LSM||Ag capacitor, with remanent polarization decreased by 55%, was superior to the Ag||PZT||Ag capacitor by 85%. The results indicate that the LSM buffer layers can improve the fatigue endurance of the PZT ceramics with Ag electrodes, mainly because the accumulated charges were compensated at the interface junctions between the LSM buffer layers and the Ag electrodes. We fit the polarization fatigue data using a modified model and calculated the characteristic decay time of oxygen vacancy migration in the Ag||LSM/PZT/LSM||Ag and the Ag||PZT||Ag capacitors, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Different countries have developed and extensively studied green building rating tools (GBRTs) to promote the sustainable development of the construction industry. The most important part of GBRTs is their weighting systems. However, previous studies are considered to be inadequate, especially their neglect of the multi-attribute characteristics of green building criteria (GBC). This paper proposes a reliable approach to bridge this research gap. The proposed approach includes equal comparison conditions, a unified GBC framework, a transparent GBC classification process, and the separation of multiple attributes of GBC. The sustainability performance of five GBRT samples was analyzed and compared with the previous studies to verify the proposed approach. The results showed that the performance of the GBRT samples, based on the three pillars of sustainability wherein the weightage obtained for environmental, social, and economy for each GBRTs, were almost similar. This study provides the theoretical and practical contributions to future GBRT-related research, thus avoiding the limitation of subjective classification of GBC by proposing a modified analytic hierarchy process method to deal with multiple attributes of GBC quantitatively based on the qualitative information provided by ISO 21929-1. It also deepens the understanding of institutional GBC by clearly defining and identifying them for the first time. Image 1 • GBRT criteria of institutional sustainability are defined and analyzed. • The multiple attributes of green building criteria are quantified and analyzed. • The overall performance of the GBRT in different concept modes is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and productive buildings are considered a key factor in sustainable cities, and they can contribute to achieving regional and national Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, green buildings (GBs) have been constructed widely and rapidly, and green building rating tools (GBRTs) have played a considerable role in this process. However, the specific contribution of GBs to the 17 SDGs remains unclear. This study proposed a realistic mapping tool using GBRTs as the medium for evaluating the contribution of GBs to the SDGs. It then quantitatively analyzed this contribution using the analytic hierarchy process. Results showed that SDGs 3, 7, 11 and 12 are highly supported by GBRTs, and SDG 12 benefits the most. Meanwhile, SDG Target 7.3 is the most prominent because it provides the most important channel for GBRT contribution to the SDGs. Lastly, an actual case was used to demonstrate the identification system that integrates important information, including GBs' contribution to the SDGs. Furthermore, two effective methods for improving GBs' contribution to the SDGs were proposed. This study presents an important practical tool that can scientifically quantify the contribution of GBs to the SDGs and provide the public with transparent and reliable information regarding the path and scope of this contribution. Image 1 • GB's contribution to the SDGs were scientifically quantified and intuitively demonstrated. • A unified indicator framework is proposed to link the SDGs to different GBRTs. • The relationship between GBRT indicators and SDGs was elucidated using the AHP method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green building rating tools (GBRTs) are well-known and important instruments for assessing building sustainability. GBRTs constantly upgrade to meet rapid development, one of which is achieving a reasonable balance among the "three pillars" of sustainability, namely, environmental, social and economic sustainability. This study analyzes the changes and trends in the three sustainability pillars of GBRT and reinforces the previous GBRT longitudinal studies in terms of research sample, time span, equal terms, and research depth. Ten global GBRTs are selected by specific screening principles, and a unified criterion framework is presented to compare these selected GBRTs on equal terms. The changes of GBRTs are then analyzed on three levels, namely, categories, subcategories, and criteria. The results show that in the past three decades, there is a continuous decrease in the weight of the environmental category, an obvious increase in the weight of the social category and a little rise in the wight of the "economic" category. "Pollution," "physical comfort," and "flexibility" are identified as "sensitive criteria" of environmental, social, and economic categories, respectively, given their significant changes; they are also critical factors for the evolution of GBRT for the past three decades. Image 1 • This study analyzes the changes and trends of different GBRTs over the past 30 years. • Changes based on three sustainability pillars on three levels of configuration, i.e., category, subcategory, and criteria. • Results show the GBRTs have evolved and are moving toward the balance of three sustainability pillars. • The environmental category that has the highest weightage at the early stage, decline in the recent developments. • While, the social category is on the rise with significant growth trend especially in the recent years. • Whereas, the economic category shows a slight growth trend. • "Pollution," "physical comfort," and "flexibility" are identified as the "sensitive criteria". • They are also critical factors for the evolution of GBRT in the recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]