Quality control is essential to a successful modular construction project and should be enhanced throughout the project from design to construction and installation. The current methods for analyzing the assembly quality of a removable floodwall heavily rely on manual inspection and contact-type measurements, which are time-consuming and costly. This study presents a systematic and practical approach to improve quality control of the prefabricated modular construction projects by integrating building information modeling (BIM) with three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning technology. The study starts with a thorough literature review of current quality control methods in modular construction. Firstly, the critical quality control procedure for the modular construction structure and components should be identified. Secondly, the dimensions of the structure and components in a BIM model is considered as quality tolerance control benchmarking. Thirdly, the point cloud data is captured with 3D laser scanning, which is used to create the as-built model for the constructed structure. Fourthly, data analysis and field validation are carried out by matching the point cloud data with the as-built model and the BIM model. Finally, the study employs the data of a removable floodwall project to validate the level of technical feasibility and accuracy of the presented methods. This method improved the efficiency and accuracy of modular construction quality control. It established a preliminary foundation for using BIM and laser scanning to conduct quality control in removable floodwall installation. The results indicated that the proposed integration of BIM and 3D laser scanning has great potential to improve the quality control of a modular construction project.

With the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy in recent years, the urbanization process of the provinces in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) has put serious pressure on the sustainability of the water resources carrying capacity (WRCC). It is necessary to analyze and diagnose the coordination state between urbanization and the WRCC. In this study, based on the Population-Economic-Social-Spatial (PESS) framework and Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model, we developed two index systems for the urbanization and WRCC, respectively. At the basis of the two index systems, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the two systems is calculated by applying the improved CCD model. Based on the calculated CCD for each province, the spatio-temporal analysis was performed to analyze the characteristics of CCD in the YRB. The obstacle factor model is utilized to obtain the main obstacle factors. The results show that: (1) the coordination state between the urbanization and WRCC systems was improved to some extent in 2017, compared to 2008, but there are differences in the coordination state of the different provinces in the YRB. (2) In terms of the level of urbanization, the gap between the seven provinces’ performance levels widened because urbanization grew at different rates. The WRCC system’s performance presented a fluctuating downward trend from 2008 to 2017 in the YRB. (3) The pressure subsystem had a significant impact on the two systems’ coordination state in the YRB, while the social urbanization and response subsystem had a less significant impact on the urbanization system and the WRCC system, respectively. Due to the growth of urbanization, the imbalanced development of the WRCC and urbanization has become the principal contradiction that must be solved in order to achieve sustainability in the YRB. The analysis of the coupling relationship between urbanization and WRCC may guide the policy makers in planning for realistic goals. The results provide a guide for high-quality development in the YRB.

Purpose: The application of the traditional failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) technique has been widely questioned in evaluation information, risk factor weights and robustness of results. This paper develops a novel FMEA framework with extended MULTIMOORA method under interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy environment to solve these problems.Design/methodology/approach: This paper introduces innovatively interval-value Pythagorean fuzzy weighted averaging (IVPFWA) operator, Tchebycheff metric distance and interval-value Pythagorean fuzzy weighted geometric (IVPFWG) operator into the MULTIMOORA submethods to obtain the risk ranking order for emergencies. Finally, an illustrative case is provided to demonstrate the practicality and feasibility of the novel fuzzy FMEA framework.Findings: The feasibility and validity of the proposed method are verified by comparing with the existing methods. The calculation results indicate that the proposed method is more consistent with the actual situation of project and has more reference value.Practical implications: The research results can provide supporting information for risk management decisions and offer decision-making basis for formulation of the follow-up emergency control and disposal scheme, which has certain guiding significance for the practical popularization and application of risk management strategies in the infrastructure projects.Originality/value: A novel approach using FMEA with extended MULTIMOORA method is developed under IVPF environment, which considers weights of risk factors and experts. The method proposed has significantly improved the integrity of information in expert evaluation and the robustness of results.

New approaches are provided for urban water environment treatment projects (UWETP) with the development and application of the public-private partnership (PPP) model. However, an asymmetry of information and conflicts of interest exists between the government and the private sector. The moral hazard and the opportunistic behaviors of the private sector present significant challenges to the operational efficiency of UWETP-PPP. To encourage the private sector to operate UWETP-PPP with its real capability and further improve and supplement the incentive contracts, the reputation theory is introduced in this study to design the incentive mechanism of UWETP-PPP in a contract to integrate short-term incentives with long-term incentives and finally to realize a win-win situation between two parties. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) A two-period dynamic incentive model for UWETP-PPP is constructed by introducing a reputation mechanism. (2) The effective conditions for exerting the reputation incentive effects are explored to realize the government’s effective incentive to the private sector. (3) The incentive effects of the explicit and implicit reputation incentive on the private sector are analyzed, and the incentive models with and without reputational concerns are compared. (4) The change rules of the private sector’s effort level and marginal incentive coefficient with the change in related variables that affect the model are revealed. The incentive contract of UWETP-PPP can be optimized using the proposed dynamic reputation incentive mechanism. This paper will be of interest to academics and practitioners concerned with the design of incentive contracts.

As a primary pioneering region in China’s ongoing urbanization process, the Yangtze River Economic Belt’s (YREB’s) urbanization process is itself continually accelerating, causing increasing pressure on the area’s water ecosystem. It is necessary to examine the coordination relationship between the urbanization system and the water ecosystem in the YREB for realizing sustainable urban development. To this purpose, we use two comprehensive index systems, along with an improved coupling coordination degree (CCD) model. This method is used to analyze the coordination between urbanization and the water ecosystem across spatial gradients and temporal scales in the YREB, from 2008 to 2017. The factors acting as obstacles were diagnosed by utilizing the obstacle degree model. The results show that: (1) the coordination state of each region gradually improved during the 2008–2017 period. In terms of spatial distribution, the coordination state between two systems gradually increased from east to west. Moreover, the spatial differences across the 11 analyzed regions gradually narrowed with the passage of time. (2) The coordination between the two systems, from 2008 to 2017, evolved from a state of serious imbalance to a state of good coordination. The two systems passed from an initial period of imbalance or antagonism, coupled with rapid growth (2008–2011), through a period of basic coordination with steady growth (2011–2014), and finally toward a period of good coordination with slow growth (2014–2017). (3) Spatial urbanization and pressures on subsystems are the key factors acting as obstacles in the urbanization system and water ecosystem, respectively. Facing the process of rapid urbanization in China, the coupling analysis of the coordination between urbanization and the water ecosystem can help the government to formulate a reasonable new-type urban development strategy. This strategy will play an important role in China’s sustainable urban development and water environmental protection. The findings of this study provide important support for urban planning in the future.