Practical Application of Nanotechnology Solutions in Pavement Engineering: Addressing Practical Road Construction Related Problems Using Marginal Materials Stabilised With New-Age (Nano) Modified Emulsions (Nme) Towards Sustainable Roads

The use of New-age (Nano) Modified Emulsions (NME) for the stabilisation of marginal materials for use in the upper-pavement layers of roads have been proven in laboratories, through Accelerated Pavement Tests (APT) and in practice. In addition, material design methods have been developed based on the scientific analysis of granular material mineralogy and the chemical interaction with the binder to design a material compatible NME stabilising agent for naturally available (often marginal) materials. However, the introduction of any new disruptive technology in a traditionally well-established industry, such as the road construction industry, is usually associated with considerable resistance. This is especially relevant when the new technology enables the use of granular materials traditionally considered to be of an unacceptable quality in combination with relatively new concepts such as New-age (Nano) Modified Emulsions (NME). In practice, few road construction projects are without any problems. The introduction of new-technologies obviously makes it an easy target to blame for any non-related problem that may arise during construction. This article aims to assist in pre-empting, recognising, preventing and resolving material or non-material related construction problems through the correct identification of the cause of the problem and recommending the best, most cost-effective way to correct any deficiencies on site.

Thermal Management System Architecture for Hydrogen-Powered Propulsion Technologies: Practices, Thematic Clusters, System Architectures, Future Challenges, and Opportunities

The thermal management system architectures proposed for hydrogen-powered propulsion technologies are critically reviewed and assessed. The objectives of this paper are to determine the system-level shortcomings and to recognise the remaining challenges and research questions that need to be sorted out in order to enable this disruptive technology to be utilised by propulsion system manufacturers. Initially, a scientometrics based co-word analysis is conducted to identify the milestones for the literature review as well as to illustrate the connections between relevant ideas by considering the patterns of co-occurrence of words. Then, a historical review of the proposed embodiments and concepts dating back to 1995 is followed. Next, feasible thermal management system architectures are classified into three distinct classes and its components are discussed. These architectures are further extended and adapted for the application of hydrogen-powered fuel cells in aviation. This climaxes with the assessment of the available evidence to verify the reasons why no hydrogen-powered propulsion thermal management system architecture has yet been approved for commercial production. Finally, the remaining research challenges are identified through a systematic examination of the critical areas in thermal management systems for application to hydrogen-powered air vehicles’ engine cooling. The proposed solutions are discussed from weight, cost, complexity, and impact points of view by a system-level assessment of the critical areas in the field.

A Systematic Literature Review of Blockchain Technology Adoption in Bangladesh

The spirit of “blockchain technology” is a distributed database in which saved data is transparent, accountable, public, immutable, and traceable. This base-level disruptive technology can boost the security and privacy-related efficiency of various domains. As Bangladesh is currently aiming for sustainable development, blockchain technology adoption by the local researchers is growing robustly. However, in Bangladesh, the blockchain Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is not yet well structured which is also limiting the perspective of local developers and researchers. Therefore, sectors like governance, healthcare, security, privacy, farming, information authentication, cryptocurrencies, internet architecture, data, and so on are unable to utilize the full potential of this technology. In this research, the authors conduct an in-depth review of such types of blockchain technology-related research articles that have been published recently and are also solely focused on Bangladesh. From 5 publishers (IEEE Xplore, ACM, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, and SpringerLink) this study analyses 70 articles published during the year 2016-2020. The study results find the top 13 sectors where Bangladeshi researchers are currently focusing on. Those studies identify that the rigid policy by the government, scarcity of expert researchers, and lack of resources are the main reasons why Bangladesh is still struggling to accommodate blockchain extensively. In addition, published papers are mostly based on theoretical concepts without an appropriate implementation. Finally, this study will be a great resource to the developers, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts to determine the strategic plan for adopting blockchain technology in Bangladesh or even to any other developing country.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality, also known as computer-based reality, is an advanced technology that has the capability to upsurge destination accessibility and to increase the popularity of lesser-known destinations. The objective of the current study is to understand the latest trends in virtual reality and to discover the future scope of implementation of virtual reality in the tourism industry across the world. The potential and the employment of virtual reality is not entirely understood and comprehended by many destinations. The present study identifies that there is a continuous development in popularity of virtual reality, and it is the need of the hour today. This disruptive technology has led to the phenomenon of virtual tourism, which gives people a preview and understanding of what they will experience if they visit a place physically. Virtual reality is becoming an outstanding way to showcase information and to gain relevant response from the tourists to enhance the services and overall tourist experience in the tourism destination.

Agri-food safety optimized by blockchain technology: review

Blockchain technology is a distributed database, an innovation tool in the agri-food supply chain in processes such as production, distribution, marketing. In this research work, the blockchain technology application in agri-food security processes was evaluated, establishing the best conditions for its adoption in companies, this proposal synthesizes the contributions as a disruptive technology, for this, the information was collected from the period 2018-2020 from the Scopus and Web of Science bases, performing an analysis of the information using the Atlas TI 8.4 software, establishing the focus of the research on a network of codes suggested by some authors. It was found that the contribution of Blockchain for the years of study was traceability 26%, supply chain 17.5%, technological development 10.4%, trust 9.8%, among others. It is concluded that establishing the theoretical link between technology and traceability processes in supply chains, traceability in the agri-food sector is essential to certify information of interest to the stakeholder group. This is because traceability is the transcendental element of the food safety system that allows guaranteeing control in the supply chain when processes are being recorded and enriching the databases, which can be available to the final consumer to check the details of the production cycle and that technological elements generate competitiveness in companies with blockchain in their procedures, promote high levels of transparency, data security, decentralization, among other terms associated with trust, and a better relationship with the consumer is developed and a greater number of sale increasing profitability.

Disruptive Technology, Value Proposition, and Business Model Change Management in a Multi-Faceted SME

Disruptive technology, or disruptive innovation, is undeniably one of the most significant concepts to emerge from management theory in the last three decades. Both its theoretical and practical impact has been far reaching. Notwithstanding this stellar impact, it seems unlikely that a small hyper-conservative, risk-averse SME with limited management training in concepts that have little immediate return on investment would choose to embark upon a radical change of direction sparked by new technology and innovation. Using an interpretivist, inductive, approach based on interview material and personal observation, this chapter examines the realities of business strategy, how disruption is perceived, management decisions made, technologies introduced, and change management enacted in this family-run business. The chapter concludes that change perception and change management are related to efficiency and threat responses rather than disruption to business models or technology availability.

Disruptive Engineering: Maximizing the Feedback Relationship between Industry 4.0 and the Nigerian Engineering Education Sector

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) continues to drive a fusion of physical, digital and biological technology in ways that are rewriting the norms in engineering practice by introducing new approaches such as Internet of things (IoT) and the Industry 4.0 paradigm, that are poised to also change the educational sector globally. Nigeria is yet to tap into the full potential of the Third Industrial Revolution. The relationship between 4IR and engineering education is considered as a positive feedback loop. 4IR technologies have great potential to enhance the quality of the Nigerian engineering education system, which in turn fosters an improved engineering education sector that is better-equipped to produce sustainable outcomes in Industry 4.0 era. This paper explores the potentials for application of 4IR technologies in improving the Nigerian engineering education delivery system by review and suggests ways through which the educational system can enhance the potentials of its educands to become competitive professionals in the disruptive-technology engineering era. It was concluded that the feedback relationship which exists between engineering education and Industry 4.0 needs rapt attention of stakeholders in order to address the reality of disruptive technology. Keywords— Industrial revolution, Internet of things, Engineering education, Positive feedback, Disruptive technology

‘ISOLATED IN OUR OWN NEIGHBOURHOOD’: ANALYSIS ON THE PROPOSAL TO REGULATE PEER-TO-PEER ACCOMMODATION SERVICES IN MALAYSIA

Peer-to-Peer Accommodation services (P2PA) are mushrooming worldwide due to the expansion of digital services and Internet access. Since P2PA services operate fully online, small establishments utilise disruptive technology and surpass traditional hoteliers by surprise. In the first part of this article, we examine the problems caused by P2PA for ‘playing on an uneven field’, avoiding necessary taxes, skipping regulatory and safety requirements, and causing loss of tranquillity to the neighbourhood. Due to these problems, a proposal was moved by the government to regulate P2PA in Malaysia via a self-regulatory guideline, as analysed in the second part of the article. However, due to its non-binding status, the proposal will arguably lead to irregularities in regulatory mechanisms at the state level when enforced. P2PA hosts were asked to comply with regulatory requirements similar to hoteliers, but the platform providers have arguably avoided any P2PA related liability nor responsibility as they operate offshore. Applying qualitative research methods via content analysis and semi-structured interviews, the article concludes by proposing a legal framework to regulate the P2PA platform providers, including hosts and agents, which is deemed timely and necessary for Malaysia to safeguard the interests of both tourists and stakeholders.

Practical Application of Nanotechnology Solutions in Pavement Engineering: Construction Practices Successfully Implemented on Roads (Highways to Local Access Roads) Using Marginal Granular Materials Stabilised with New-Age (Nano) Modified Emulsions (NME)

The introduction of any new disruptive technology in a traditionally well-established industry, such as the road construction industry, is usually associated with considerable resistance. This is especially relevant when the new technology is based on the use of granular materials traditionally considered to be of an unacceptable quality in combination with relatively new concepts such as New-age (Nano) Modified Emulsions (NME). In such cases, the fact that the material design methods are based on fundamental scientific principles and have been proven in laboratories and through Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT), may be of little influence. However, the general acceptance of new disruptive technologies, e.g. telecommunications and Information Technologies (IT), have been based on the considerable advantages it presented. The same principles are applicable to the general acceptance and use of NME stabilisation/enhancement of materials in the road construction industry. This article is aimed at the practical cost-effective demonstration of the general application of the use of nanos-silane modified emulsions in the construction of the highest order roads, i.e. inter-city multi-lane highways, lower order roads (including Low-Volume-Roads (LVR)) and even local accesses to farms and in villages/townships. The implementation of NME technologies is directly associated with ease of use, time and cost savings and the addressing and reduction of risks applicable to the use thereof.