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Purpose -This study aims to present a pedagogical practice in the project-based assessment of AEC students' interdisciplinary building design work adopting BIM. This pedagogical practice emphasizes the impacts of BIM, as the digital collaboration platform, on the crossdisciplinary teamwork design through information sharing. This study also focuses on collecting students' perceptions on BIM effects in integrated project design. Challenges in BIM adoption from AEC students' perspective were identified and discussed, and could spark further research needs.Design/Methodology/Approach -Based on a thorough review of previous pedagogical practices of applying BIM in multiple AEC disciplines, this study adopted a case study of Solar Decathlon residential building design as the group project for AEC students to deliver the design work and construction planning. In total 13 different teams within the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, each group consisting of final year undergraduate students with backgrounds in architecture, civil engineering, and architectural environmental engineering, worked to deliver the detailed design of solar-powered residential house meeting pre-specified project objectives in terms of architectural aesthetics, structural integrity, energy efficiency, prefabrication construction techniques, and other issues such as budget and scheduling. Each team presented the cross-disciplinary design plan with cost estimate and construction scheduling together within group reports. This pedagogical study collected students' reflective thinking on how BIM affected their design work, and compared their feedback on BIM to that from AEC industry professionals in previous studies. Findings -The case study of Solar Decathlon building project showed the capacity of BIM in enabling interdisciplinary collaboration through information exchange and in enhancing communication across different AEC fields. More sustainable design options were considered in the early architectural design stages through the cross-disciplinary cooperation between architecture and building services engineering. BIM motivated AEC student teams to have a more comprehensive design and construction plan by considering multiple criteria including energy efficiency, budget, and construction activities. Students' reflections indicated both positive effects of BIM (e.g., facilitating information sharing) as well as challenges for further BIM implementation, for example, some architecture students' resistance to BIM, and the lack of existing family types in BIM library, etc.Research limitations/implications -Some limitations of the current BIM pedagogy were identified through the student group work. For example, students revealed the problem of interoperability between BIM (i.e., Autodesk Revit) and building energy simulation tools. To further integrate the university education and AEC industry practice, future BIM pedagogical work could recruit professionals and project stakeholders in the adopted case study, for the purpose of providing ...

Thermal absorbers and their integration methods are critical to solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) modules. These two elements directly influence the cooling effort of PV layers and as a result, the related electrical/ thermal/overall efficiency. This paper conducts a critical review on the essential thermal absorbers and their integration methods for the currently-available PV modules for the purpose of producing the combined PV/T modules. A brief overview of different PV/T technologies is initially summarized, including aspects of their structure, efficiencies, thermal governing expressions and their applications. Seven different types of thermal absorbers and four corresponding integration methods are subsequently discussed and summarized in terms of their advantages/disadvantages and the associated application for various PV/T modules. Compared to traditional thermal absorbers, such as sheet-and-tube structure, rectangular tunnel with or without fins/ grooves and flat-plate tube, these four types, i.e. microchannel heat pipe array/heat mat, extruded heat exchanger, roll-bond heat exchanger and cotton wick structure, are promising due to the significant enhancement in terms of efficiency, structure, weight, and cost etc. The appropriate or suitable integration method varies in different cases, i.e. the ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) based lamination method seems the best option for integration of PV layer with thermal absorber when compared with other conventional methods, such as direct contact, thermal adhesive and mechanical fixing. Finally, suggestions for further research topics are proposed from five aspects. The overall research results would provide useful information for the assistance of further development of solar PV/T modules with high feasibility for widespread application in energy supply even at district or city-level in the near future.

5BIM has been undergoing continuous growth in the global architecture, engineering, and 6 construction (AEC) industry. However, knowledge development within BIM management is 7 lagging behind its implementation. This study initiates a BIM management-based framework 8 involving BIM climate, which is measured by individual BIM practitioners' perceptions. 9Subgroup comparison is highlighted in measuring perceptions. Regional variance in BIM 10 climate is addressed in applying the framework by adopting an empirical case study within the 11 context of China's AEC industry. The case study uses Shanghai and Wenzhou, which represent 12 a BIM-leading metropolitan city and a BIM-developing counterpart, respectively, for the 13 comparative analysis of BIM climate. Based on data collected from a questionnaire survey sent 14 to BIM practitioners from these two cities, it is revealed that Shanghai, as the BIM-leading city 15 in China, has somewhat significant differences in BIM climate compared with Wenzhou. For 16 example, Shanghai BIM practitioners perceive fewer challenges in BIM training, but higher 17

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