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Purpose This study aims to evaluate enterprise technology innovation capability in prefabricated construction (PC) from an input-output perspective, using six integrated enterprises in China as cases. Design/methodology/approach An evaluation system for enterprise technology innovation capability in PC was constructed, including total input, technology output (TO) and project output. All the evaluation indexes were quantified, and the subject and object indexes weights were determined using the fuzzy cognitive map and information entropy, respectively. The final scores and ranks were evaluated through gray relational analysis (GRA) based on the combined weights. Findings It was found that enterprise technology innovation capability in PC was low in China, with its unbalanced development in different dimensions and the poorest performance in TO, currently. Originality/value This research has developed an evaluation system for technology innovation capability in PC at the enterprise level and scientifically quantified all the indexes, which is a breakthrough over existing studies. The GRA model based on the combined weights proposed in this study can be applied to other comparable fields and regions, with its easy operation.

PurposeConscious of the benefits building information modeling (BIM) has brought about to the architecture, engineering, construction and operations (AECO) industry, the Chinese government has been driving BIM adoption. Nonetheless, its acceptance and proliferation in China remain stagnant. Most relevant literature focuses on BIM diffusion at the industry and organizational levels, but the impact of non-managerial practitioners executing BIM or the traditional drafting approach in day-to-day work tends to be disregarded. This study aims to extend theoretical models pertaining to technology acceptance to understand non-managerial practitioners’ perceptions toward working with BIM in China.Design/methodology/approachA new BIM acceptance model was proposed based on previous technology acceptance theories. After a pilot study, a survey was conducted with 153 non-managerial practitioners in the Chinese AECO industry.FindingsAmong factors impacting non-managerial practitioners’ BIM acceptance in China, performance expectancy and task-technology fit significantly and positively influence behavioral intention to accept BIM, while the impacts from effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions are not essential.Research limitations/implicationsManagement strategies, such as improving non-managerial staff’s benefits and sense of BIM usefulness, selecting suitable tools to match with the staff’s tasks and promoting a middle-out approach in parallel with top-down interventions, are proposed for Chinese AECO organizations to enhance BIM acceptance.Originality/valueFew studies have explored BIM acceptance from the perspective of non-managerial users in the Chinese AECO industry, especially using the theories related to technology acceptance. The BIM acceptance model developed in this study is different from those used in previous global studies in terms of influencing factors.

The formation mechanism of cross-city transportation network resilience occupies an important position in cross-city transportation network resilience management. This study analyzes the constituent elements of the cross-city transportation network and their interrelationships, and the connotation of cross-city transportation network resilience is defined from the general meaning of system resilience. Combining with the connotation of cross-city transportation network resilience, the specific formation process of cross-city transportation network resilience is analyzed and summarized from three stages, including resisting disturbance, absorbing disturbance, and function recovery. Taking cross-city transportation network nodes and systems as specific objects, the static and dynamic formation path of cross-city transportation network resilience is condensed. Based on the standard linear solid model, a theoretical model is constructed and solved for revealing the formation mechanism of cross-city transportation network resilience. Finally, the theoretical model of cross-city transportation network resilience proposed in this study is used for analyzing the China railway network resilience.

The construction industry faces the challenges of balancing environmental concerns with the construction of new buildings. Although the government has identified the promotion of prefabricated construction as an important strategy for tackling this challenge, little attention has been paid by the government to the practical schemes to be used. To fill this gap, a systematic review was conducted of policies related to prefabricated construction in China. In this study, a policy reviewed framework for the prefabricated construction was established. A total of 133 prefabricated construction policies issued from 1956 to 2018 were reviewed by mixed content analysis. The results reveal a closely integrated policy network, the evolution of ambitious policy objectives, and the development of a combination of various policy instruments over the different stages. The most often employed prefabricated construction policy instrument was the standard. Initiatives and guidance were moderately used. The establishment of regulations has been largely ignored in China. In addition, although a diverse range of incentives has been offered, incentives were found to be the least frequently used due to their associated fiscal burdens on governments. Based on our results, a roadmap is proposed for optimizing the existing prefabricated construction policies. The findings of this study increase our understanding of construction policies and how to optimize the existing policies to promote prefabricated construction in China. The study also provides a valuable reference for the large-scale promotion of prefabricated construction in other countries and regions.

Discovering and assessing cracks is widely thought to be critical for maintaining the healthy conditions of asphalt pavement. Unfortunately, the inspection of pavement for cracks is not only labor-intensive, time-consuming, inefficient, and costly, but it is also unable to detect and quantify cracks accurately at the pixel level. To address this problem, we propose an integrated approach based on the convolutional neural network DeepLabv3+ for crack detection, as well as a crack quantification algorithm for crack quantification at the pixel level. The quantification algorithm is used to evaluate five important indicators: crack length, mean width, maximum width, area, and ratio. To fully verify the performance of DeepLabv3+, 50 images were studied; the best image showed a mean intersection of union (MIoU) of 0.8342. For testing, 80 new images (including both asphalt pavement images and concrete pavement images) were used. DeepLabv3+ was found to be reliable and widely applicable for crack detection, and it demonstrated an MIoU of 0.7331. Of the various quantitative indicators, the crack length had the lowest relative error rate of the predicted values and therefore had the highest accuracy (its relative error rate ranged from −25.93% to 14.11%). We also compared our system with four state-of-the-art methods. The results showed our integrated approach to be more effective and more accurate in both the detection and quantification of cracks. The integrated approach could potentially serve as the basis of an automated, cost-effective pavement-condition assessment scheme for the operation and maintenance of pavement.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to study the description and extension of the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard in construction schedule management, which achieves the information exchange and sharing among the different information systems and stakeholders, and facilitates the collaborative construction in the construction projects. Design/methodology/approach: The schedule information processing and coordination are difficult in the complex construction project. Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides the platform for exchanging and sharing information among information systems and stakeholders based on the IFC standard. Through analyzing the schedule plan, implementing, check and control, the information flow in the schedule management is reflected based on the IDEF. According to the IFC4, the information model for the schedule management is established, which not only includes the each aspect of the schedule management, but also includes the cost management, the resource management, the quality management and the risk management. Findings: The information requirement for the construction schedule management can be summarized into three aspects: the schedule plan information, the implementing information and the check and control information. The three aspects can be described through the existing and extended entities of IFC4, and the information models are established. Originality/value: The main contribution of the article is to establish the construction schedule management information model, which achieves the information exchange and share in the construction project, and facilitates the development of the application software to meet the requirements of the construction project.

With the increasing complexity of the construction process, there was a large number of information in the construction process, which had to be collected, analyzed and processed in a timely manner, and the efficiency of construction management should be improved. Construction was also a typical collaborative work, and the information should be exchanged and shared between the construction main bodies and the different workers. In this paper, the conception of collaborative construction was illustrated and expounded. Moreover, the frame of collaborative construction based on ubiquitous computing was established and the function of each module was described in this paper. In the future researches, ubiquitous computing and BIM could be combined for the collaborative construction.