The increasing demand for building materials in the road industry creates interest for a new source of high-quality aggregates. In order to conserve natural resources, more attention is focused on anthropogenic soils and industrial solid wastes. For the successful application of these types of soil, a series of geotechnical and environmental tests have to be conducted. A potential hazard in the reuse of wastes from thermal degradation in the construction industry, particularly in reinforced concrete (RC) construction, is the migration of heavy metals into the groundwater environment. In this article, a geotechnical assessment of blast furnace slag (BFS) properties is presented. We conducted a series of CBR, and oedometric tests to evaluate the feasibility of BFS application in earth construction. The oedometric test results show acceptable compression characteristics which are in the range of natural aggregates. The CBR shows that this material may be used as a pavement subbase. We also noticed the preconsolidation pressure phenomenon in both Proctor and vibro-compacted soil during the oedometric test. The compression index and recompression index value show that the compression characteristics are close to those of dense sand. Based on the results described in the article, blast furnace slag is a candidate for technological application and can become one of the elements of sustainable development by contributing to a reduction in the negative environmental impact of production and use of building materials.

One of the fundamental techniques for road subgrades is soil stabilization. Considering the high emission of carbon dioxide during the production of binders, novel techniques to reduce the binder are being studied. Thus, we investigated dispersed reinforcement in stabilized soils. A study was conducted to determine the ultrasonic pulse velocity in nine mixtures of soil, cement, and polypropylene fibers and then correlate the results with other destructive tests. The results show a decrease in wave velocity in mixes with fiber addition by up to 18.5%. The result is dependent on the curing time and whether the samples were stored in a water tank. Immersion in water increases the obtained results by about 6.3%. Based on the analysis, for mixtures with fibers, boundary velocities of waves above which lower values of modulus of elasticity were obtained were determined. Depending on the mix and the module analyzed, the limits range from 2194 m/s to 2498 m/s.

During the exploitation time of hydraulic structures, the reinforced concrete deteriorates. Therefore, it is important to repair and protect the concrete from atmospheric forces. The concrete surface that has to be repaired must be rough enough, and the repair material must have proper adhesive features so that the bond between the old concrete and repair material is strong. In the present paper, the optimal roughness index of the concrete surface was estimated for structural and non-structural repair. Moreover, the suitability of cement mortar modified with expansive admixture and fibres for the repair of hydraulic structures was evaluated. To estimate the bond strength, a pull-off test was conducted. To investigate the repair’s frost resistance, specimens were treated with 50, 100 and 150 freezing–thawing cycles, and subsequently, the pull-off bond strength was determined. It is concluded that expansive admixture and polypropylene fibres increased the cement mortar’s adhesive features as well as the roughness of the concrete surface to be repaired. It is estimated that the most suitable variant for the repair of reinforced concrete in hydraulic structures (when frost-resistant mark F100 is required) is to use cement mortar modified with expansive admixture and a properly prepared concrete surface.

The shear modulus and normalized shear modulus degradation curve are the fundamental parameters describing soil behavior. Thus, this article is focused on the stiffness characteristic of 15 different Warsaw cohesive soli represented by the parameters mentioned above. In this research, standard resonant column tests were performed in a wide shear strain range, from a small one, where soil behaves like an elastic medium, to a medium one, where soil has an unrecoverable deformation. Collected data allows the authors to create empirical models describing stiffness characteristics with high reliability. The maximum shear modulus calculated by the proposed equation for Warsaw cohesive soil had a relative error of about 6.8%. The formula for normalized shear modulus estimated G/G_MAX with 2.2% relative error. Combined empirical models for G_MAX, and G/G_MAX allow the evaluation of Warsaw cohesive soil’s shear modulus value in a wide shear deformation range, with a very low value of the relative error of 6.7%.

The present study attempted to examine the impact of inhabitants’ perceptions and local community participation on supporting sustainable tourism development. The goal of the current study was to determine how local community involvement and local views affected the development of a sustainable tourism industry. Inhabitants’ positive/negative perceptions and local community participation had direct but differential effects on supporting sustainable tourism development. Findings revealed that positive perceptions of residents affected their support for tourism development at twice the rate than their negative perceptions did, which indicated their higher readiness for participating in the tourism development process. Moreover, findings showed that using 16 latent variables to form a structural model and a path analysis method was good enough in terms of covering the research questions and analyzing the dataset.

Although organic rice is a niche market in Pakistan, it has exhibited enormous potential for growth in export-oriented production. Since contract farming is the leading promoter of export-oriented organic rice production in Punjab, Pakistan, improving the technical efficiency of smallholder rice farmers through contract farming holds sufficient potential. This work examines the influence of contract farming participation on smallholder rice farmers’ technical efficiency using a cross-sectional data set of 650 respondents. We applied a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to examine the production frontier and inefficiency estimates. Further, propensity score matching (PSM) was used to control endogeneity and self-selection bias in technical efficiency estimates. The results reveal that the technical efficiency score of organic rice farmers in Punjab, Pakistan, is 89.7%, which can still be improved by 10.3% at the current sociodemographic characters and input levels. Likewise, land size, seed, and machine expenditures are the key inputs of the production frontier. Results show a positive and significant connection between contract farming participation and technical efficiency. The study extends the literature on technical efficiency, export-oriented production, contract farming, and the well-being of smallholder farmers. Moreover, the study’s findings provide cues for policies and practices.