The incorporation of waste materials generated in many industries has been actively advocated for in the construction industry, since they have the capacity to lessen the pollution on dumpsites, mitigate environmental resource consumption, and establish a sustainable environment. This research has been conducted to determine the influence of different rice husk ash (RHA) concentrations on the fresh and mechanical properties of high-strength concrete. RHA was employed to partially replace the cement at 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% by weight. Fresh properties, such as slump, compacting factor, density, and surface absorption, were determined. In contrast, its mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength, were assessed after 7, 28, and 60 days. In addition, the microstructural evaluation, initial surface absorption test, = environmental impact, and cost–benefit analysis were evaluated. The results show that the incorporation of RHA reduces the workability of fresh mixes, while enhancing their compressive, splitting, and flexural strength up to 7.16%, 7.03%, and 3.82%, respectively. Moreover, incorporating 10% of RHA provides the highest compressive strength, splitting tensile, and flexural strength, with an improved initial surface absorption and microstructural evaluation and greater eco-strength efficiencies. Finally, a relatively lower CO₂-eq (equivalent to kg CO₂) per MPa for RHA concrete indicates the significant positive impact due to the reduced Global Warming Potential (GWP). Thus, the current findings demonstrated that RHA can be used in the concrete industry as a possible revenue source for developing sustainable concretes with high performance.

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the critical project management success factors and analyze those factors to achieve a sustainable construction industry in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach: This study identified 41 major problematic factors from the related literature. In this research, a detailed questionnaire survey was conducted among the experts and stakeholders of the construction industry of Bangladesh. The survey was carried out on a Likert scale and ranked the critical factors using the relative importance index (RII). The 41 problematic factors were divided into five group factors and ranked by the RII index to prioritize the factors. Finally, stakeholders' opinions were analyzed with the critical assessed factors, which was a very effective technique to eliminate the risks and uncertain occurrences in the construction industry of Bangladesh. Findings: The factors analysis revealed that cost overrun, traffic jam, low wedges, slow payment for completed works and financial issues of the owner were leading critical factors in construction projects. Moreover, the critical factors are divided into five-factor groups, namely, financial management, monitoring and feedback, competency management, communication and coordination management, and risk management, which exhibit 0.767, 0.720, 0.711, 0.710 and 0.658 RII values. After all, the stakeholders' opinion suggested that implementing modern tools and techniques can help to avoid the critical situation in the construction industry of Bangladesh. Practical implications: The construction industry of Bangladesh is moving away from stable construction work day by day. Previously, the potential CSFs were discussed unstructured way. Hence, detecting early warning signals in a structured way has become necessary for the building firm's survival. Originality/value: Though some scattered critical issues are discussed in different literature, the critical issues of the Bangladeshi construction industry were not investigated extensively. Therefore, this study finds out the potential critical issues of the construction industry of Bangladesh to accumulate such harmful construction issues in a single platform so that the construction industry can have an overview of them with the help of innovative technologies.

This paper investigates the formation of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) as a product ofpozzolanic reactions in a cement paste with cement partially replaced with crushed recycled glass at therate of 10% and 20%. Three different particle sizes for crushed glass used in this study were in therange of 150-75μm, 75-38μm and lower than 38μm; and a water to cement ratio of 0.45 was used for allspecimens. This study showed that the formation of Calcium Hydroxide Ca(OH)2 is decreased while theformation of C-S-H is increased simultaneously at 90 days for 75-38μm and <38μm glass powder. Theuse of waste glass as a partial cement replacement improves the cement strength through the formationof C-S-H due to the pozzolanic reaction with Ca(OH)2 improving the strength of the mortar.

Cement as an essential element for cement-based products contributed to negative environmental issues due to its high energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission during its production. These issues create the need to find alternative materials as partial cement replacement where studies on the potential of utilizing silica based materials as partial cement replacement come into picture. This review highlights the effectiveness of microstructural characterization techniques that have been used in the studies that focus on characterization of calcium hydroxide (CH) and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) formation during hydration process of cement-based product incorporating nano reactive silica based materials as partial cement replacement. Understanding the effect of these materials as cement replacement in cement based product focusing on the microstructural development will lead to a higher confidence in the use of industrial waste as a new non-conventional material in construction industry that can catalyse rapid and innovative advances in green technology.

Purpose: The quality of GeOx–Ge interface and the equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) are the main issues in fabricating high-k/Ge gate stack due to the low-k of GeOx interfacial layer (IL). Therefore, a precise study of the formation of GeOx IL and its contribution to EOT is of utmost importance. In this study, the GeOx ILs were formed through post-oxidation annealing of sputtered Al₂O₃on the Ge substrate. The purpose of this paper is to report on growth kinetics and composition of IL between Al₂O₃and Ge for HCl- and HF-last Ge surface.Design/methodology/approach: After wet chemical cleaning with HCl or HF, Al₂O₃was grown onto the Ge surface by RF sputtering. Thickness and composition of IL formed after post-anneal deposition at 400°C in dry oxygen ambience were evaluated as a function of deposition time by FESEM and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively.Findings: It was observed that the composition and thickness of IL were dependent on the starting surface and an aluminum germinate-like composition was formed during RF sputtering for both HF- and HCl-last starting surface.Originality/value: The novelty of this work is to investigate the starting surface of Ge to IL growth between Al₂O₃/Ge that will lead to the improvement in Ge metal insulator field effect transistors (MISFETs) application.

The performance of Fibre Reinforced Mortar (FRM) mixed with microfine size Palm Oil Fuel Ash was investigated in this study (POFA). The ideal volume of POFA and fibre in the mixed mortar is calculated in order to generate a cost-effective high-strength mortar with increased ductility. In this experimental investigation the polypropylene fibre used ranged from 0 kg/m3 to 20 kg/m3 and the replacement of cement with microfine POFA content of 0% and 40% (optimum) was studied. The mechanical properties of fibre reinforced masonry in the presence of the POFA was tested using compressive strength, flexural and split tensile tests. The surface morphology of the fibre reinforced mortar was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which showed the good fibre-mortar bond in the morphology of the samples at 7 and 28 days. From the compressive strength results, FRM tester contains 40% microfine POFA as a replacement against cement mixed with 10 kg/m3 of polypropylene fibre is optimum and achieved compressive strength up to 79.5 MPa at the 56th day of curing. Ductility ratio up to 13.3 was achieved from the flexural test for FRM sample with 15 kg/m3 polypropylene fibres. The high strength FRM with inclusion of POFA as supplementary cementitious material had the potential to become a new sustainable material in construction.