ALBERT

Description: For the first time, the distribution and modifications of living ostracod associations present in the Gulf of Trieste (GoT) in relation to alterations caused by human activity in the last 20 years were investigated. The results were compared with the main physicochemical parameters (especially nitrogen and phosphorus) measured over the same period, which can lead to a general decrease in environmental quality. For a more in-depth analysis of the changes recorded by ostracods in the last 50 years, a period in which eutrophication and anoxia increased, we revisited the study carried out by Masoli in the GoT in 1967. The results obtained made it possible to verify how, over the last 20 years, ostracod assemblages have suffered a decrease both qualitatively and quantitatively. Most of the species recovered show characteristics of opportunism and tolerance to environmentally stressful conditions, high organic matter concentrations, and oxygen deficiency. The ostracods analyzed in 1967 showed similar results with few dominant opportunistic species. We verified how ostracods recorded in GoT, similar to Mollusks and Foraminifera, have been impaired by the possible environmental crisis linked to the recurrence of mucilage and hypoxic events documented for the GoT in the last 50 years. Finally, a comparison with the best environmental conditions found in the Marine Nature Reserve of Miramare (MPA) allowed us to emphasize the important role of protected areas to avoid loss of biodiversity due to urbanization.

Description: While sustainability has attracted the attention of managers and academicians for over two decades, the macro-level indicators of sustainability are not moving in the right direction. Climate change continues to be an existential threat for humanity and other indicators of sustainability do not fare much better. The logic of the business case and the associated framing of tension between financial outcomes and sustainability have generated a limited and inadequate response to the existential challenges before humanity today. In this essay, we analyze the evolution of sustainability in the business context and call for a recognition that social and environmental outcomes must supersede economic ones in corporate sustainability thinking. We call for a widening of the spatial, temporal, and moral lenses in the formulation and execution of business strategy to ensure that it is in alignment with the needs of current and future generations of humanity and proportionate to planetary conditions.

Description: Many game-based instructional designs have demonstrated effectiveness for a variety of educational outcomes, although typically in limited contexts. In this article, we report the results of a four-year study testing the extent to which a game-based learning approach to undergraduate engineering education demonstrating promising results in a university course was transportable to other engineering courses and universities. We evaluated students’ conceptual understanding, emotional engagement (with the Experience Sampling Method), and experience when using the video game, Spumone, for their coursework compared to a textbook-based control condition. Multilevel models and other quantitative analyses showed that the effect of the experimental condition (i.e., game-based) on conceptual understanding and student engagement was not significant. Based on a content analysis of students’ feedback, however, the students reported a positive experience with game-based learning for their assignments overall. Areas of need towards successful implementation of the game-based learning intervention were also examined. This study has important implications for the salience of implementation issues including adequate training and continuing teacher professional development, and ongoing supports for instructors and students to aid in the learning of concepts that the game was intended to teach.

Description: Finding the correct pricing strategy for a product with multiple versions is an issue for retailers from various industries. In this paper, joint pricing and ordering problem is considered for a product that has two versions at each selling period. Two models, namely with or without the donation option, are analyzed and optimality conditions and monotonicity properties of the decision variables are characterized. When demands of products depend on prices of both versions, donating part of old product inventory would be more profitable for the retailer. Moreover, the donation model would result in less wasted inventory, contributing to sustainability and goals of green economy. Analytical results are supported with numerical analysis of a realistic case.

Description: Product-service systems (PSS) are often presented as an inherently sustainable business model. The argumentation is often based on theoretical considerations, which cite circular economy (CE) characteristics in PSS business models as an explanation. In this paper we examined to what extent positive and negative sustainability effects of PSS could actually be observed, based on use cases. For this purpose, we conducted a systematic literature review and analyzed the statements on sustainability effects based on the triple bottom line approach. We find that positive sustainability effects, especially on the environmental sustainability of PSS, are described disproportionately often, which may be indicating a possible publication bias. In addition, the methods used to derive statements on sustainability effects are very heterogeneous and often unsystematic, making it difficult to compare the described effects. Furthermore, we were able to identify drivers that are particularly often considered in literature to be responsible for sustainability effects. As a result, we were able to derive direct implications for future research in the field of sustainability assessment of PSS.

Description: The current studies on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the impacts on public health focus mainly on evaluating CO2 emissions from two types of emission sources. The first is a fixed source type from industrial plants, which can be controlled or easily evaluated. The second is a mobile source type from the transport sector, especially from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs), which produce high emissions. However, the common methods of evaluation of the average value of CO2 emissions per kilometer of a vehicle use a general Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) model that does not consider the topography or road conditions. This affects the accuracy of CO2 emission assessments and, in turn, affects the accuracy of any analysis needed to establish health policies and the management of public health within the affected area. In this paper, therefore, we present the development of emission coefficient calculations with varying topography conditions for MHDVs with consideration of the health effects on the populace. The study area was the Asian highway network in Thailand that passes through all regions and is geographically diverse. Data were collected from the Department of Highway’s records, global positioning system (GPS) and electronic control unit (ECU) with data consisting of road data, slope, distance, traffic level and vehicle weight, as well as fuel consumption along the transportation route. To analyze and map out the correlation of the CO2 emission coefficients for each road slope, we determined the coefficient of the CO2 emissions using multiple linear regression analysis and validated this using Huber–White robust standard errors for heteroscedasticity. This method was more cost-efficient and time-efficient compared to the conventional approaches. We also created CO2 emission maps with risk points for health effects, and we propose policy designs and plans to manage the traffic level in each of these areas prone to higher levels of such emissions.

Description: The Sassi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and its rupestrian churches, are richly decorated and visited by thousands of visitors every year. It is important to preserve this heritage which shows signs of deterioration due to abiotic and/or biotic factors. Aiming to carry out in the future an environmental-friendly restoration, a screening of the fungi present on walls and frescoes of two rupestrian churches “Santa Lucia alle Malve” and “La Madonna dei derelitti” located, respectively, in the “Sasso Caveoso” and in the “Sasso Barisano” was performed. Isolation and characterization of fungal species from investigated sites was carried out. Total genomic DNA (gDNA) was extracted from pure fungal cultures and subsequently utilized in PCRs using primers that amplify a portion of the ribosomal DNA (ITS5/ITS4) or the β-tubulin gene (Bt2a/Bt2b). The amplicons were directly sequenced. Obtained nucleotide sequences were compared to those present in the GenBank (NCBI) showing a very high similarity (99–100%) with the following species: Parengyodontium album, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Lecanicillium psalliotae, Meyerozyma guilliermondii and Botryotrichum atrogriseum. All sequences from this study were deposited in the EMBL database. Detailed knowledge about fungi isolated from stone is indispensable not only to counter/reduce the structural and aesthetic damage but also to protect the health of both guardians and visitors who may develop different pathologies due to the spores diffused in the environment.

Description: The research aim of this paper was two-fold: to generate evidence that personality factors are linear predictors of the variable approaches to learning (a relevant cognitive-motivational variable of Educational Psychology); and to show that each type of learning approach differentially predicts positive or negative achievement emotions, in three learning situations: class time, study time, and testing. A total of 658 university students voluntarily completed validated questionnaires referring to these three variables. Using an ex post facto design, we conducted correlational analyses, regression analyses, and multiple structural predictions. The results showed that Conscientiousness is associated with and predicts a Deep Approach to learning, while also predicting positive achievement emotions. By contrast, Neuroticism is associated with and significantly predicts a Surface Approach to learning, as well as negative achievement emotions. There are important psychoeducational implications in the university context, both for prevention and for self-improvement, and for programs that offer psychoeducational guidance.

Description: In order to control manufacturing systems, managers need risk and performance evaluation methods and simulation tools. However, these simulation techniques must evolve towards being multiperformance, multiactor, and multisimulation tools, and this requires interoperability between those distributed components. This paper presents an integrated platform that brings interoperability to several simulation components. This work expands the process modeling tool Papyrus to allow it to communicate with external components through both distributed simulation and cosimulation standards. The distributed modeling and simulation framework (DMSF) platform takes its environment into consideration in order to evaluate the sustainability of the system while integrating external heterogeneous components. For instance, a DMSF connection with external IoT devices has been implemented. Moreover, the orchestration of different smart manufacturing components and services is achieved through configurable business models. As a result, an automotive industry case study has successfully been tested to demonstrate the sustainability of smart supply chains and manufacturing factories, allowing better connectivity with their real environments.

Description: This paper assessed the impact of soil and water conservation practices on farm productivity and risk exposure using data from 1204 plots in the semiarid tropics of India. A probit model was used to assess the determinants of adoption of soil bunds. We employed a moment-based approach for estimating crop revenue, its variability and downside risk exposure, i.e., crop failure. Furthermore, we also used a doubly robust method for assessing the impact of soil bunds on crop revenue, its variability and downside risk. Matching and propensity-based methods were also used to check robustness. The results show that training, access to credit and extension services are key determinants of adoption of soil bunds. Furthermore, the results also suggest that soil bunds not only improve the crop revenue but also reduce its variability. Most interestingly, we show that soil bunds also reduce the chances of downside risk, i.e., crop failure. Therefore, in view of increasing climate change and variability in the semiarid tropics, it can be suggested that soil bunds could be an important adaptation strategy for improving productivity and reducing risk exposure. This paper supports the investment in soil and water conservation technologies for sustaining the livelihood of resource-poor farmers of ecologically fragile regions such as the semiarid tropics.

Description: This study examines who are the social actors in coordinating the environmental hot spots along the process of desalination. The integrated model design of life cycle modeling and Social Network Analysis is evaluated holistically by the inventory of life cycle and actor engagement ratings. Instances of the first small-scale reverse osmosis desalination plant project in Kelantan, Malaysia were used to meet the demands of this study. Environmental performance is measured through the Eco-Indicator 99 method in the Life Cycle Assessment Principles. Meanwhile, the network analysis of the actors’ networks involves stakeholders visualized through the UCINET software. The results show three hotspot points of membrane and brine disposal, the use of electrical energy, and the use of chemicals. The results acknowledged that 87 percent of the actors’ involvement from the dominant stakeholder group has been in control of the management and of the aforementioned hotspot. Undoubtedly, the results of this study can provide a better understanding of the potential market of actors to work with a more accurate and polycentric information flow for the development of more established desalination systems. This intriguing research will require further exploration in future studies.

Description: In this contribution, we explore the possibilities of Responsible Innovation (RI) to assess and support the engagement of businesses in the spectrum of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and, in particular, cooperatives to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the firm level. We conduct a critical review of the academic literature on sustainable development and responsible innovation, focusing on the role of business to identify how firms in the spectrum of SSE can contribute through responsible innovation to the sustainable development agenda and how firms in the spectrum of SSE can benefit from it. Results suggest that firms can benefit from responsible innovation in the transformation of their business models. On the other hand, firms in the spectrum of SSE contribute to extending the scope of SDGs to business, not focusing on what cooperatives do by their nature (e.g., principles and values), but their contribution to key horizontal enablers (e.g., partnership and innovation) for the integration of firms in the sustainable development agenda. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between SSE firms and RI is assessed from the perspective of firms’ contribution to SDGs. Further research is needed to sophisticate the translation of particular tools developed in the framework of RI to firms in the spectrum of SSE and, in particular, cooperative firms.

Description: The traditional analysis of road safety is based on statistical methods that are applied to crash databases to understand the significance of geometrical and traffic features on safety, or in order to localize black spots. These classic methodologies, which are based on real crash data and have a solid background, usually do not explicitly consider the trajectories of vehicles at any given location. Moreover, they are not easily applicable for making comparisons between different traffic network designs. Surrogate safety measures, instead, may enable researchers and practitioners to overcome these limitations. Unfortunately, the most commonly used surrogate safety measures also present certain limits: Many of them do not take into account the severity of a potential collision and the dangers posed by road-side objects and/or the possibility of drivers being involved in a single-vehicle crash. This paper proposes a new surrogate safety indicator founded on vehicle trajectories, capable also of considering road-side objects. The validity of the proposed indicator is assessed by means of comparison between the calculation of surrogate safety measures on micro-simulated trajectories and the real crash risk obtained with data on real crashes observed at several urban intersection scenarios. The proposed experimental framework is also applied (for comparison) to classical indicators such as TTC (time to collision) and PET (post-encroachment time).

Description: Understanding socio-ecological interactions requires an interdisciplinary approach that recognizes the value of both a social and an ecological perspective. However, such a recognition does not yet automatically result in an integral approach. Many studies of socio-ecological transformations start from either social science or a natural science perspective, and take results from other academic disciplines merely as a given, thus treating these disciplines as black boxes. In this editorial we argue that socio-ecology requires a new paradigm that not only seeks to transcend the separation between social sciences and ecological sciences but also develops a more intimate relationship between these different academic disciplines. We argue that studying socio-ecological interactions is not merely the sum total of social scientific and ecological research, because socio-ecological interactions are not interactions between sociological and ecological systems, but interactions that take place within the socio-ecological whole. Therefore, the study of socio-ecological interactions should start with a new ontology, in which social and ecological aspects are considered different aspects of one and the same reality. The papers in this special issue all show aspects of socio-ecological interactions, but also illustrate the challenge of studying socio-ecological interactions in a comprehensive way.

Description: Petroleum hydrocarbons, notably diesel oil, are the main energy source for running amenities in the Antarctic region and are the major cause of pollution in this area. Diesel oil spills are one of the major challenges facing management of the Antarctic environment. Bioremediation using bacteria can be an effective and eco-friendly approach for their remediation. However, since the introduction of non-native organisms, including microorganisms, into the Antarctic or between the distinct biogeographical regions within the continent is not permitted under the Antarctic Treaty, it is crucial to discover native oil-degrading, psychrotolerant microorganisms that can be used in diesel bioremediation. The primary aim of the current study is to optimize the conditions for growth and diesel degradation activity of an Antarctic local bacterium, Arthrobacter sp. strain AQ5-05, using the Plackett-Burman approach and response surface method (RSM) via a central composite design (CCD) approach. Based on this approach, temperature, pH, and salinity were calculated to be optimum at 16.30 °C, pH 7.67 and 1.12% (w/v), respectively. A second order polynomial regression model very accurately represented the experimental figures’ interpretation. These optimized environmental conditions increased diesel degradation from 34.5% (at 10 °C, pH 7.00 and 1.00% (w/v) salinity) to 56.4%. Further investigation of the kinetics of diesel reduction by strain AQ5-05 revealed that the Teissier model had the lowest RMSE and AICC values. The calculated values for the Teissier constants of maximal growth rate, half-saturation rate constant for the maximal growth, and half inhibition constants (μmax, Ks, and Ki), were 0.999 h−1, 1.971% (v/v) and 1.764% (v/v), respectively. The data obtained therefore confirmed the potential application of this cold-tolerant strain in the bioremediation of diesel-contaminated Antarctic soils at low temperature.

Description: The consequences of climate change can involve various ambits and be very severe. For this reason, the social perception of climate change is a fundamental issue since it can influence the decisions of the policymakers, by encouraging or discouraging political, economic and social actions. In this paper, a sample of 300 interviews, collected through a standardized questionnaire and carried out among two municipalities located in southern Italy, was exploited to investigate the perception of climate change. Specific issues, regarding perceptions about climate change, concerns about its impacts, level of information, behavior and actions, exposure to extreme natural events and trust, were addressed to give answers to the research questions: (i) Is climate change perceived by the population? (ii) What is the degree of the community resilience to extreme natural events and climate change? As the main findings, this survey highlighted that the spatio-temporal dimension affects population perception, suggesting that some issues, such as correct behavior towards the geosphere, the sustainability of anthropization processes, community resilience and disaster risk reduction policies, can be very central and useful to mitigate the effects of climate change in population and society. Moreover, climate change perception varies in relation to contextual factors, including media communication, socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, knowledge and education, economic and institutional factors, personal values and, finally, psychological factors and experience.

Description: The current COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis has evolved to epic proportions and placed some of the cruise lines on the verge of bankruptcy. This research aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the crisis. Using an inductive qualitative approach, interviews were conducted with eight frequent cruisers who were at home and eight cruise ship employees who were employed by various cruise companies and who were working on cruise ships during the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. The findings revealed a systematic failure within the cruise industry management to understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of this study highlight the importance of health-related perceived risks on the nature and impact of the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. This study supports the overall theory of cruise tourism and crisis management by extending the chaos theory and its principals on the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. The managerial implications for cruise lines are outlined.

Description: A three-year experiment was carried out in Central Greece to assess the use of different tillage practices (Conventional, Reduced, and No tillage) for seedbed preparation, in a double cropping per year rotation of irrigated and rainfed energy crops for biomass production for first- and second-generation biofuel production. A life cycle assessment (LCA) study was performed for the first year of crop rotation to evaluate the environmental impact of using different tillage practices, identifying the processes with greater influence on the overall environmental burden (hotspots) and demonstrating the potential environmental benefits from the land management change. LCA results revealed that fertilizer application and diesel fuel consumption, as well as their production stages, were the hot-spot processes for each treatment. In the present study, different tillage treatments compared using mass- and area-based functional unit (FU), revealing that reduced tillage, using strip tillage for spring crop and disc harrow for winter crops, and no tillage treatment had the best environmental performance, respectively. Comparison between the prevailing in the area monoculture cotton crop with the proposed double energy crop rotation adopting conservation tillage practices, using mass and energy value FU, showed that cotton crop had higher environmental impact.

Description: This paper examines the materiality of the Cypriot Base Ring ware through the lens of the new materialisms. Specifically, it draws upon Bennett’s vibrant matter and thing-power, to explore how cultural and technological knowledges of Late Bronze Age Cyprus were informed through material engagements with clay. This approach highlights the agency of matter and illustrates how the distinct capacities of clay (working with water and fire) provoked, enabled and constrained potters’ behaviour, resulting in a distinctive pottery style that was central to the Late Cypriot social and material world. The aim is to demonstrate how people, materials and objects are all matter in relationship, drawing attention to the fluidity, porosity and relationality of the material world.

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed several challenges for the oncology health care system. The need to improve patients’ Quality of Life (QoL) through exercise, which is related to survival and healing, has increased, especially during lockdowns. Technologies are often used to help with patient care as well as to monitor exercise training. This case study, developed during the pandemic period, aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a proposed home-based combined training (CT) regimen, supervised through online lessons, in increasing QoL and fatigue in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant therapy. Additionally, we evaluated the effect of exercise on psychological and functional parameters. Methods: Two breast cancer (BC) survivors were required to participate in 2 h/week of supervised and home-based CT for 16 weeks. Results: Improvements were found in the emotional function of QoL (10% in patient A; 70% in patient B) and in all variables of fatigue (physical fatigue 66% in patient A; 33% in patient B). Conclusion: The findings from this study revealed positive effects of CT on QoL and fatigue perception in BC women undergoing therapy. Both patients attended all training sessions with no adverse events, showing the sustainability of this training as an alternative and affordable method that is capable of improving patients’ wellbeing.

Description: Farmers’ livelihoods are uniquely vulnerable to climate change, and taking adaptive measures to changing environmental conditions constitutes one of the most important pathways for protecting them. Their willingness and capacity to adopt improved practices and technologies, their cognitive and behavioural preferences, and the institutional response mechanisms will go a long way in determining their success in their adaptation to climate change. This study presents results of an analysis of the vulnerabilities of smallholder coffee producers in Nicaragua to climate change. I use descriptive analyses and experimental risk games to evaluate the preferences and attitudes of coffee producers in the context of their adaptation to climate change. I show that food insecure households are more risk-averse than food-secure households and that much work is needed in the sector to ensure equity and improve institutional capacity. For households in chronic poverty, conventional risk management strategies simply may not be enough. Institutional arrangements must be put in place to enable coffee-growing households to engage in practices that result in improved capacity for climate change adaptation.

Description: Most climate change messages depict a picture of the devastating effects that anthropogenic activities have on the environment, expecting to mobilise human action. Built on the daunting scientific evidence, these gloomy messages can potentially emotionally harm a young audience. By contrast, this study explores the impact of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) as an innovative marketing technique to communicate positive climate change messages. This study investigates whether ASMR could be used to encourage pro-environmental behaviour and create social bonding among young people. An ASMR video and two series of interviews with high school students were conducted in Sydney, Australia. The results show that the participants are divided in their opinion about the effectiveness of ASMR. Although all see ASMR as a completely new world in marketing, some are of the opinion that it can influence positive climate change behaviours while others are reluctant to accept it as a way to encourage action. Given the vastness and urgency of the climate change agenda, this novel marketing technique can find its way in promoting pro-environmental behaviours by utilising positive messaging and influencing a section of the young population.

Description: Korea is one of the fastest-growing CO2-emitting countries but has recently experienced a dramatic slowdown in emissions. The objective of the study is to examine the driving factors of long-term increases (1990–2015) and their slowdown (2012–2015) in emissions of Korea. This study uses an extended index decomposition analysis model that better fits Korea’s emission trends of the last 25 years by encompassing 19 energy end-use sectors (18 economic sectors and a household sector) and three energy types. The results show that emission increases in the long term (1990–2015) come from economic growth and population growth. However, improvements in energy intensity, carbon intensity, and economic structure offset large portions of CO2 emissions. The recent slowdown (2012–2015) mainly resulted from a decline in energy intensity and carbon intensity in the economic sectors. Among the different energy types, electricity has played a significant role in decreasing emissions because industries have reduced the consumption of electricity per output and the source of electricity generation has shifted to cleaner energies. These results imply that the Korean government should support strategies that reduce energy intensity and carbon intensity in the future to reduce CO2 emissions and maintain sustainable development.

Description: The emergence of social media platforms as the main representatives of Web 3.0 applications significantly impacts the co-creation activities among enterprises, customers, and other stakeholders, and has enabled firms to benefit from creativity and ideas of their users and customers for developing and rendering innovative services. This study aims to investigate how the co-creation activities of users on social media platforms have an effect on the enterprises’ innovative services. For this purpose, the authors surveyed customers of innovative services who used social media platforms to meet their needs from the enterprises that innovatively offer such services. An online questionnaire was designed and distributed among the sample of customers, and 505 completed questionnaires were analyzed following the PLS-SEM approach. The findings revealed that customer citizenship behavior and customer participation behavior on social media platforms positively affect the rendering of innovative services. Findings also highlighted that an increase in social co-creation activities, as moderator, positively affects customer citizenship behavior on service innovativeness, and negatively affects customer participation behavior on service innovativeness. The findings of this research could be useful for entrepreneurs and managers of the enterprises that offer innovative services to efficiently use social media tools to benefit from the customers’ co-creation activities and to perform more competitively and sustainably in a hostile business environment.

Description: Hydrological process simulation and rainfall–runoff analysis are important foundations for reasonably evaluating changes in water resources. In this paper, the VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity) hydrological model was used to simulate runoff without observed data for exploring the applicability of the model in the Kequ, Dari, and Jimai river basins in the source region of the Yellow River, and the Balegen River basin in the inland arid source region. The results show that, from 2015 to 2018, the VIC model had a good simulation effect. The Nash efficiency coefficients (NSE) of the four basins were all above 0.7, and the NSE of the Dari River basin reached 0.93. The relative error (RE) of the three river basins was about 5%, on average, and the RE of the Balegen basin was 6.50%, indicating that the model has good applicability in the study area. Climate perturbation experiments were performed to quantitatively analyze the relationship between rainfall and runoff. The results show that, in the source area of the Yellow River, rainfall and runoff are roughly linearly related. However, in the inland arid source area, temperature has a slightly greater impact on runoff than rainfall.

Description: Municipal and regional governments can play a key role in global society’s transition towards sustainability. However, municipal leaders often lack a sufficient overview of sustainability and thereby the capacity to coordinate efforts across sectors. Several municipal planning frameworks are available but vary greatly in terms of definitions, scope, and hands-on advice on processes. To complement and unify approaches, the framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) has been developed. It utilizes backcasting from operational boundary conditions for the full scope of social and ecological sustainability. This study aims to evaluate a recently developed model for long-term implementation of FSSD across sectors for more cohesive cooperation towards sustainability. This is done through participatory action research (PAR) in ten Swedish municipalities and regions. The evaluation is done to examine if the implementation model (i) lives up to its purpose to help sectors cooperate effectively by using the FSSD as a shared mental model, (ii) aid the handling of previously identified barriers to strategic sustainable development in municipalities and regions, (iii) may contain barriers of its own for appropriate use and (iv) has room for improvement. We used observations, dialogues, and surveys to capture the strengths, weaknesses, enablers, and barriers of the preliminary implementation model. While the compliance of the model varied, our findings show a general appreciation and identified the needs for the approach. From experiencing barriers for the application of the model, practitioners provided several ideas for additional support, such as assessment and alignment support of on-going work and further developed guiding material. In a second phase of the PAR project, application of the implementation model will continue, and such additional support will be developed and evaluated.

Description: Closed-loop supply chain networks are gaining research popularity due to environmental, economic and social concerns. Such networks are primarily designed to overcome carbon footprints and to retrieve end of life products from customers. This study considers a multi echelon closed-loop supply chain in the presence of machine disruption. A multi-objective model is presented to optimize the total cost, the total time and emissions in a closed-loop supply chain network. The aim is to analyze the trade-off between the objectives of cost, time, and emissions and how these decisions are impacted by the selection of different available machines. A number of solution approaches are tested on a case study from the tire industry. The results suggest the improved performance of the hybrid heuristic and the importance of controlling disruption in a closed-loop supply chain network. Furthermore, there is a trade-off between the different objective functions which can help the decision maker to choose a particular solution according to the preference of an organization. Finally, conclusion and future research avenues are provided.

Description: An increase in the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet of Things (IoT) in Facility Management (FM) induces a huge data stack. Even though these data bring opportunities such as cost savings, time savings, increase in user comfort, space optimization, energy savings, inventory management, etc., these data sources cannot be managed and manipulated effectively to increase efficiency at the FM stage. In addition to data management issues, FM practices, or developed solutions, need to be supported with the implementation of lean management philosophy to reveal organizational and managerial wastes. In the literature, some researchers performed studies about awareness about building information modeling (BIM)-FM, and FM-related data management problems in terms of lean philosophy. However, the comprehensive solution for effective FM has not been investigated with the application of lean management philosophy yet. Therefore, this study aims to develop an FM framework for healthcare facilities by considering lean management philosophy since more stable workflow, continuous improvement, and creating more value to customers will help to deliver a more acceptable solution for the FM industry. Within this context, the integration of BIM, Building Energy Performance Simulations, and Big Data Analytics are proposed as a solution. In the study, the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology was followed to develop the FM framework. Depending on the DSR methodology, two scenarios were used to investigate the issue in a real healthcare facility and develop the FM framework. The developed framework was evaluated by four experts, and the revisions of the proposed framework were realized.

Description: Automobility has long been understood as the normal and hegemonic way of moving and even without considering a global pandemic and the imperative of social distancing, disruptive change in everyday automobility seems far away. Based on 34 interviews with members of carsharing associations and private carsharing arrangements, this article argues that non-commercial carsharing, a self-organized form of carsharing, poses a twofold challenge to the hegemonic meanings of automobility on the level of everyday practice. First, the car’s role as status symbol is fading and overridden as an object of utility that is only used when absolutely necessary and mostly for leisure purposes. Second, the car is losing its position as the realization of individual freedom and the coercive aspects of the car and automobility become strongly present amongst non-commercial carsharers. Thereby, automobility emerges as an ambivalent issue and becomes perceived as means of liberation and means of domination simultaneously. By working with and against automobility’s hegemonic meanings on the level of everyday practice, non-commercial carsharing is changing the system of automobility from within and bears the potential for substantially altering the reproduction of the system of automobility.

Description: Corporate Mobility as a Service (CMaaS) is a type of MaaS that enables mobility within as well as to and from a worksite for employees. The expected benefits of CMaaS are to support a shift towards more sustainable and more effective work-related transport activities. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the impacts of CMaaS and how its performance should be measured. This paper proposes an evaluation framework to measure CMaaS impacts at a system level. The proposed evaluation framework is then applied to evaluate a real CMaaS deployment in Sweden. This paper contributes to knowledge building and guidance to support policy and decision making for CMaaS development and implementation in the future.

Description: In light of rising concern about the coronavirus pandemic crisis, a growing number of universities across the world have either postponed or canceled all campus and other activities. This posed new challenges for university students. Based on the classification proposed in the Mental Health Continuum model by Keyes, the aims were to estimate university students’ prevalence of mental health during lookdown outbreak, and to examine the associations between mental health and, respectively, academic stress, self-efficacy, satisfaction for degree course, locus of control, COVID-19 risk perception, taking into account the level of information seeking about pandemic. Overall, 1124 Italian university students completed a self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational analyses. Results showed that 22.3% of participants were flourishing, and levels of mental well-being appeared in line with normative values in young Italian adults; levels of academic stress were not significantly higher than those found in other student samples before the COVID-19 outbreak. Students with high levels of information seeking presented higher levels of well-being and risk perception. Results could be considered useful to realize training pathways, to help the university students to improve their well-being, post-pandemic.

Description: Until recently, solar assisted heat pumps have used solar collectors as a cold source. Solar collectors provide, when possible, direct heat, otherwise they offer temperature levels to the heat pump evaporator higher than the outside air. At the same time, solar thermal cooling exploits the solar collectors and the absorption chiller only in hot months. Photovoltaic/Thermal (PVT) modules have been available on the market in recent years for solar cogeneration, but their utilization can be problematic due to PhotoVoltaic (PV) cell damage in cases where there is no heating request. This paper considers the possibility of coupling evacuated tube collectors and photovoltaic/thermal modules to drive an absorption heat pump-based plant operating as an absorption chiller in the summertime. The cold source is the solar energy and the ground, which is recharged by the solar thermal and photovoltaic/thermal collectors and by the cooling of the absorber-condenser in mid-seasons and summer. This study analyzes the system behavior in yearly operation and evaluates the role of suitable storage tanks in two different climates, varying the size of the two solar fields and the generator tank. In the best plant configuration, a primary energy ratio of 26.6 in colder climates with cloudy skies and 20 in hotter climates with clearer skies is obtained.

Description: Sustainable economic growth is an essential objective at the European Union level. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of monetary integration on economic growth, assuming that the introduction of the euro significantly stimulated the process of European financial integration. We used a fixed-effects methodology for panel data for the EU 28 countries for the period 2004–2018. We find that the main factors through which monetary integration contributessignificantly and positively to economic growth areeconomic growth Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)cards, trade, monetary freedom, convergence of interest rates, convergence of exchange rates and cross-border holdings of short-term debt, with significant differences between Eurozone and non-euro countries, which confirms the hypothesis that the introduction of the euro had a significant impact on economic and financial integration.

Description: Energy efficiency in companies is addressed by established tools or procedures, such as energy audits or the implementation of an energy management system in accordance with the Energy Efficiency Directive. Both options indistinctly provide sufficient information for companies to identify opportunities for improvement and savings in their energy costs. However, the influence of cultural and behavioral aspects on employees and the organizational and structural configuration of companies impacts the effectiveness of these tools. In this regard, within the framework of the INDUCE “Towards a sustainable agro-food Industry: Capacity building programmes in Energy Efficiency” project, which is an H2020 research project focused on the food and beverage industry, an innovative methodology based on the human-centered design approach has been designed to motivate and empower the key actors of companies by creating an energy culture that increases energy efficiency. This methodology, which internalizes the procedures and philosophy of continuous improvement of an energy management system, allows companies to adopt different models adapted to each situation in order to acquire an energy-efficiency culture that enables actions to be carried out in companies more effectively and with long-term impact. This paper describes the methodology and its implementation and validation within 11 pilot companies in France, Germany, Spain, and The Netherlands, providing some representative results.

Description: The influence of environmental design on people’s wellbeing and productivity has been well studied in some settings such as offices, hospitals, and elementary schools, but salutogenic and biophilic design in urban post-secondary educational environments remains understudied and warrants closer investigation. There are unique challenges faced by these students and implementing health promoting and restorative, environmental design strategies could improve the quality of life and learning outcomes of university students. This paper identifies pertinent themes in published multi-disciplinary literature relating to the influence of the built environment on university students: emotional stress, happiness, stimulation, cognitive function, social support, belonging, places to study, lighting, and ventilation. The results of the semi-structured literature review identifies, analyzes, and categorizes relevant studies that examine nature views, nature images, natural colors, natural materials, auditory and olfactory aspects of nature, nature images with water, indoor plants, campus landscapes, study spaces, local materials and style, daylight access, and thermal and environmental comfort. These are organized according to the biophilic patterns identified by Browning, Ryan, and Clancy. Trends and gaps in understanding the influence of biophilic design on university settings are discussed, and the paper identifies evidence-based design recommendations for incorporating biophilic design in university settings.

Description: The deployment of solar photovoltaics (PV) and electric vehicles (EVs) is continuously increasing during urban energy transition. With the increasing deployment of energy storage, the development of the energy sharing concept and the associated advanced controls, the conventional solar mobility model (i.e., solar-to-vehicles (S2V), using solar energy in a different location) and context are becoming less compatible and limited for future scenarios. For instance, energy sharing within a building cluster enables buildings to share surplus PV power generation with other buildings of insufficient PV power generation, thereby improving the overall PV power utilization and reducing the grid power dependence. However, such energy sharing techniques are not considered in the conventional solar mobility models, which limits the potential for performance improvements. Therefore, this study conducts a systematic review of solar mobility-related studies as well as the newly developed energy concepts and techniques. Based on the review, this study extends the conventional solar mobility scope from S2V to solar-to-buildings, vehicles and storage (S2BVS). A detailed modeling of each sub-system in the S2BVS model and related advanced controls are presented, and the research gaps that need future investigation for promoting solar mobility are identified. The aim is to provide an up-to-date review of the existing studies related to solar mobility to decision makers, so as to help enhance solar power utilization, reduce buildings’ and EVs’ dependence and impacts on the power grid, as well as carbon emissions.

Description: Food waste has been a major barrier to achieving global food security and environmental sustainability for many decades. Unfortunately, food waste has become an even bigger problem in many countries because of supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic and African Swine Fever epidemic. Although Japan and South Korea have been leaders in recycling food waste into animal feed, countries that produce much greater amounts of food waste, such as the United States and the European Union, have lagged far behind. Concerns about the risk of transmission of bacteria, prions, parasites, and viruses have been the main obstacles limiting the recycling of food waste streams containing animal-derived tissues into animal feed and have led to government regulations restricting this practice in the U.S. and EU. However, adequate thermal processing is effective for inactivating all biological agents of concern, perhaps except for prions from infected ruminant tissues. The tremendous opportunity for nitrogen and phosphorus resource recovery along with several other environmental benefits from recycling food waste streams and rendered animal by-products into animal feed have not been fully appreciated for their substantial contribution toward solving our climate crisis. It is time to revisit our global approach to improving economic and environmental sustainability by more efficiently utilizing the abundant supply of food waste and animal tissues to a greater extent in animal feed while protecting human and animal health in food animal production systems.

Description: To address the complex challenge of sustaining basic water and sanitation services in low income settings, international organizations and local and national government entities are beginning to design and implement interventions explicitly aimed at addressing system weaknesses. Often referred to as “systems approaches,” these interventions seek to understand, engage with, and positively influence the network of actors and the interacting factors that deliver services. As WASH sector assistance and support activities shift toward systems approaches, many associated intermediate results and desired outcomes become less quantifiable than those of more traditional WASH activities. This paper reviews systems approaches, evaluation methodologies, and several applications in East Africa, at varying geographic scales. Early findings from the application of outcome mapping and system-wide assessments within the USAID-funded Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) indicate the importance of including both within an overall monitoring approach to support systems strengthening of water and sanitation services. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views and opinions of the United States Agency for International Development, or the U.S. Government.

Description: The economy in China has gradually transformed from a stage of high-speed development into one of high-quality development. The current study considers the economic environment, energy saving, and pollution treatment in an integrated way to measure eco-efficiency and external environmental heterogeneity. A modified three-phase data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is constructed to measure ecological efficiency while eliminating interference from both statistical noise and the external environment. The first phase uses a two-stage production structure DEA model considering nondiscretionary input and undesirable output. The model was applied to data for the year 2015 in 30 administrative regions in China, including municipalities, provinces, and autonomous regions. The results of this study show that many factors influence these regions’ eco-efficiency in China, including the levels of economic development, technological innovation, environmental regulation, and industrial structure. Finally, implications and suggestions are given to provincial governments from the perspectives of different industries and of provincial ecological–economic development.

Description: This paper firstly introduces green governance into the empirical research of family firms. Due to the fact that family firms have their own particularity in the principal agent and also have a strong desire to preserve social emotional wealth, this paper deeply studies the driving influence of family control on the green governance of family firms, and analyzes the moderating effect based on the political connection of executives. Taking the 2015–2017 Chinese family-listed firms that released social responsibility reports as the research sample, we find that family control contributes to the improvement of corporate green governance in family firms. However, the political connection of the actual controller weakens the effect of family control on the green governance of family firms. In addition, this research is also carried out under different situations, such as at the regional level and individual level. The research helps family firms give full play to their own advantages, guide the green governance practice of family firms, and improve the level of green governance.

Description: In a world of fast technological advancements, it is increasingly important to see how hydrocracking applications can benefit from and adapt to digitalization. A review of hydrocracking processes from the perspective of modeling and characterization methods is presented next to an investigation on digitalization trends. Both physics-based and data-based models are discussed according to their scope of use, needs, and capabilities based on open literature. Discrete and continuous lumping, structure-oriented lumping, and single event micro-kinetic models are reported as well as artificial neural networks, convolutional neural networks, and surrogate models. Infrared, near-infrared, ultra-violet and Raman spectroscopic methods are given with their examples for the characterization of feed or product streams of hydrocracking processes regarding boiling point curve, API, SARA, sulfur, nitrogen and metal content. The critical points to consider while modeling the system and the soft sensor are reported as well as the problems to be addressed. Optimization, control, and diagnostics applications are presented together with suggested future directions of interdisciplinary studies. The links required between the models, soft sensors, optimization, control, and diagnostics are suggested to achieve the automation goals and, therefore, a sustainable operation.

Description: Open education can enrich learning environments and support the processes of educational innovation. The objective of this article is to analyze the evidence published about open education in the period 2014–2019 to identify future challenges. We performed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), identifying 245 articles on the topic of open education in the databases, Web of Science (WOS), and Scopus, from January 2014 to June 2019. We filtered to obtain the most relevant data by applying inclusion, exclusion, and quality criteria. The results yield information on (1) the characteristics of the publications; (2) the methodological trends; (3) the central and transversal dimensions of the topic; and (4) the innovative educational practices that have been implemented. The article concludes with a presentation of the challenges that are linked to coverage, empirical evidence, co-creation, and innovation. The contribution of this research is to add value to the body of knowledge available to trainers, researchers, and decision-makers interested in open education and educational innovation.

Description: While many important links between institutional quality and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and/or between inward FDI and economic development through productivity growth have been uncovered, the full links between emerging and advanced economies are not yet well understood. This paper develops a model of FDI with an explicit distinction between the two economies where domestic and multinational firms using different technologies compete on the final good market and highlights the institutional quality–FDI–productivity link within a unified theoretical general equilibrium framework. We show that an improvement of institutional quality in the emerging economies induces pervasive technology-upgrading effects in the advanced economies, which generates aggregate productivity gains.

Description: In this study, the ideal adsorption cycle behavior of eight activated carbon and refrigerant pairs is evaluated. The selected pairs are KOH6-PR/ethanol, WPT-AC/ethanol, Maxsorb-III/methanol, Maxsorb-III/CO2, Maxsorb-III/n-butane, Maxsorb-III/R-134a, SAC-2/R32 and Maxsorb-III/R507a. The following cooling performance parameters are evaluated for all pairs: specific cooling energy (SCE), concentration difference (ΔW) and coefficient of performance (COP) of ideal adsorption cooling and refrigeration cycles. The evaporator temperatures for the applications of adsorption cooling and refrigeration are selected as 7 and −5 °C, respectively. It is found that the Maxsorb-III/methanol pair has shown the highest specific cooling energy and coefficient of performance in a wide range of desorption temperatures; i.e., for the adsorption cooling cycle it has SCE and COP of 639.83 kJ/kg and 0.803, respectively, with desorption temperatures of 80 °C. The KOH6-PR/ethanol and the WPT-AC/ethanol pairs also give good performances comparable to that of the Maxsorb-III/methanol pair. However, the SAC-2/R32 pair possesses a higher concentration difference than the Maxsorb-III/methanol, KOH6-PR/ethanol and WPT-AC/ethanol pairs but shows a lower performance. This is due to the lower isosteric heat of adsorption of SAC-2/R32 compared to these pairs. It is found that Maxsorb-III/methanol, KOH6-PR/ethanol and WPT-AC/ethanol are the most promising pairs for application in designing adsorption cooling and refrigeration systems.

Description: A feature of modern society in the era of cultural globalization is its mobility. One of the manifestations of this social mobility is people spending free time on tourist trips. Tourism, as understood as a sociocultural phenomenon, is a special manifestation of location. In addition to the motives for undertaking trips in martial arts tourism, individual destinations, specific tourism potential and the typology of participants in tourist meetings were analyzed, and individual cases were examined. The research materials were 44 articles published in scientific journals indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOHost databases. Publications, which appeared in the sources discussed between 2005 and mid-2020s were considered. Some periodicals were present in all three of the quoted databases, therefore specific articles were taken into account only once. This study will cover a meta-analysis of martial arts tourism in journals indexed in several major scientific databases. It is related to the phenomenon of tourism of this type, which is discussed from various scientific perspectives. As a research tool, the Atlas.ti program was used (mainly in the qualitative research or analysis of qualitative data), by means of which correlations and dominant items were sought. A comparison with other publications suggests that no similar meta-analysis has so far been performed in relation to the literature devoted to the subject of “martial arts tourism”. Particularly interesting conclusions were identified: (1) there are thematic relations between the destination country, the main destination, and the destination country; (2) martial arts are treated by researchers as both primary, and secondary threads, (3) the difference between travel destinations and types events attended by people interested in martial arts, (4) the variety of event formats plays a role in popularizing the subject of these forms of physical activity, and (5) the number of publications describing specific destinations is not particularly related to specific countries as destinations.

Description: An increasing number of scholars and practitioners are advocating for the exploration of the demand-side consequences of business model (BM) design from the customer’s perceptual perspective. Consistent with this view, this paper discusses how BM design can achieve customer loyalty through the mediating role of customer citizenship behavior. Therefore, this paper puts forward a series of hypotheses regarding relationships among BM design, customer citizenship behavior, and customer loyalty and further tests these hypotheses through hierarchical regression analysis from data collected from Chinese customers. The results show that both efficiency-centered and novelty-centered BM designs are the antecedents of customer citizenship behavior and customer loyalty. The results also show that efficiency-centered and novelty-centered BM designs can directly affect customer loyalty, and indirectly affect customer loyalty through the mediating role of customer citizenship behavior. Our findings contribute to research on the relationship between BM design and customer loyalty, and research on the demand-side consequences of BM design. Our findings also contribute to research on the link between BM design and marketing, and research on BM design for corporate sustainability. Our findings have management implications for practitioners as well.

Description: The cultivation of vegetables in greenhouses requires seedlings produced in nurseries with high levels of practice specialisation. The nurseries are dedicated to the early stages of growth, from sowing to the first leaves. There, the seeding density and the hydro-climatic conditions favour diseases. Plant protection treatments are carried out with the use of low-cost machines, whose efficiencies and safety conditions depend on the workers’ ability. The irrigation system with a mechanised horizontal spray boom could be an alternative solution to the hand-held spray gun. This research aimed to investigate the use of a horizontal boom sprayer for the distribution of pesticides in different pressure conditions and forward speeds compared with a spray gun, in relation to tomato growth stages. The tests were carried out on tomato seedlings grown in polystyrene seeding boxes and arranged on hanging benches. Deposits on the seedlings (µL cm−2) and losses in the soil (µL cm−2) were assessed by means of standard colorimetric analysis. In order to reduce the environmental pollution and increase the sustainability of the treatments, the pressure at the horizontal spray boom should be reduced and the arrangement of the outermost nozzles may also be better set on the boom.

Description: The design of steel logistics parks acts as fundamental infrastructure supporting the operations of storage, allocation, and distribution of steel products in the steel logistics industry, which actually lags behind the development of other logistics industries, such as e-commerce logistics, due to its large lot bulk storage, low turnover rate, and costly transportation and operations. This research proposes a data-driven approach for a specific steel logistics park, aiming to improve its operational efficiency in terms of product layout and allocation in multiple yards. The entry and delivery order data are analyzed comprehensively so as to determine the products with high operational frequency and the corresponding relevancy among them. Experimental results show that, among the 69 steel specifications, 14 high-frequency products are identified, and the correlation among the 14 identified high-frequency products possesses evident distribution characteristics concerning their brands and specifications. The identified frequency and correlation among various products can not only facilitate the product layout and allocation in steel logistics parks, but also advance the vehicle scheduling efficiency for product pick-up and delivery. Moreover, the research methodology and framework can provide managerial insights for other industries with mass data processing requirements.

Description: Geospatial technologies play an important role in understanding and monitoring of land cover and land use change which is critical in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 and related goals. In this study, we assessed SDG Indicator 11.3.1, Ratio of Land Consumption Rate to Population Growth Rate (LCRPGR) and other urban growth trends of four cities in South Africa using Landsat 5 TM and SPOT 2&5 satellite images and census data collected in 1996, 2001 and 2011. The 2011 built-up areas were mapped using South Africa’s SPOT 5 Global Human Settlements Layer (GHSL) system whereas the 1996 and 2001 built-up areas were extracted from Landsat 5 and SPOT 2 satellite imagery using a kNN object-based image analysis technique that uses textural and radiometric features. We used the built-up area layer to calculate the land consumption per capita and total urban change for each city, both of which have been identified as being important explanatory indicators for the ratio of LCRPGR. The assessment shows that the two major cities, Johannesburg and Tshwane, recorded a decline in the ratio of LCRPGR between the periods 1996–2001 and 2001–2011. In contrast, the LCRPGR ratios for secondary cities, Polokwane and Rustenburg increased during the same periods. The results further show that Tshwane recorded an increase in land consumption per capita between 1996 and 2001 followed by a decrease between 2001 and 2011. Over the same time, Johannesburg experienced a gradual decrease in land consumption per capita. On the other hand, Polokwane and Rustenburg recorded a unique growth trend, in which the overall increase in LCRPGR was accompanied by a decrease in land consumption per capita. In terms of land consumption, Tshwane experienced the highest urban growth rate between 1996 and 2001, whereas Johannesburg and Polokwane experienced the highest urban growth rates between 2001 and 2011. The information derived in this study shows the significance of Indicator 11.3.1 in understanding the urbanization trends in cities of different sizes in South Africa and creates a baseline for nationwide assessment of SDG 11.3.1.

Description: Synchronization is a crucial problem in the grid-connected inverter’s control and operation. A phase-locked loop (PLL) is a typical grid synchronization strategy, which ought to have a high resistance to power system uncertainties since its sensitivity influences the generated reference signal. The traditional PLL catches the phase and frequency of the input signal via the feedback loop filter (LF). In general, to enhance the steady-state capability during distorted grid conditions generally, a filter tuned for nominal frequency is used. This PLL corrects large frequency deviations around the nominal frequency, which increases the PLL’s locking time. Therefore, this paper presents an adaptive feed-forward PLL, where the input signal frequency and phase under large frequency deviations are tracked precisely, which overcomes the above-mentioned limitations. The proposed adaptive PLL consists of a feedback loop that reduces the phase error. The feed-forward loop predicts the frequency and phase error, and the frequency adaptive FIR filter reduces the ripples in output, which is due to input distortions. The adaptive mechanism adjusts the gain of the filter in accordance with the supply frequency. This reduces the phase and frequency error and also decreases the locking time under wide frequency deviations. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive feed-forward PLL, the system was tested under different grid abnormal conditions. Further, the stability analysis has been carried out via a developed prototype test platform in the laboratory. To bring the proposed simulations into real-time implementations and for control strategies, an Altera Cyclone II field-programmable gate array (FPGA) board has been used. The obtained results of the proposed PLL via simulations and hardware are compared with conventional techniques, and it indicates the superiority of the proposed method. The proposed PLL effectively able to tackle the different grid uncertainties, which can be observed from the results presented in the result section.

Description: The food delivery sector is assuming increasing importance in the distribution of food products and meals as it is becoming an ordinary component of consumption habits. However, the growth of the sector has inevitably affected the demand for freight transport, especially in urban areas. The aim of this study was to investigate the main enabling factors affecting the adoption of sustainable strategies, among which the electro-mobility, in the food delivery sector and what obstacles to dissemination can be seen. Deliveroo s.r.l. was chosen as case study. Results show that Deliveroo undoubtedly represents a good example of sustainable logistics and the dissemination of good practices among the key players of the food delivery sector. However, if on the one hand there is a strong commitment on the part of Deliveroo to find solutions that encourage the use of these means, on the other hand, there is the need for a greater commitment on the part of the institutions to create infrastructure conditions that facilitate the diffusion of these means.

Description: Additive manufacturing has the potential to make a longstanding impact on the manufacturing world and is a core element of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Additive manufacturing signifies a new disruptive path on how we will produce parts and products. Several studies suggest this technology could foster sustainability into manufacturing systems based on its potential of optimizing material consumption, creating new shapes, customizing designs and shortening production times that, all combined, will greatly transform some of the existing business models. Although it requires reaching a certain level of design maturity to completely insert this technology in an industrial setting, additive manufacturing has the potential to favorably impact the manufacturing sector by reducing costs in production, logistics, inventories, and in the development and industrialization of a new product. The transformation of the industry and the acceleration of the adopting rate of new technologies is driving organizational strategy. Thus, through the lenses of Industry 4.0 and its technological concepts, this paper aims to contribute to the knowledge about the impacts of additive manufacturing technology on sustainable business models. This aim is accomplished through a proposed framework, as well as the models and scales that can be used to determine these impacts. The effects are assessed by taking into account the social, environmental and economic impacts of additive manufacturing on business models and for all these three dimensions a balanced scorecard structure is proposed.

Description: This study investigates the association of the rural–urban divide and the time individuals allocate to self-employment. The empirical analysis uses fixed effects modelling on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey over the period 2009–2019. The study identifies significant differences in the time men and women allocate to self-employment between rural and urban areas according to their career age group. While men and women tend to allocate more time to selfemployment in their senior career age when residents of urban areas, the time they allocate to self-employment between rural and urban areas in early- and mid-career age differs markedly. More importantly, we find that significant differences exist not only between residents of rural and urban areas, but also between residents of these areas and in-migrants to these areas. We find a significant positive effect on the time senior career age women who migrate to rural areas allocate to self-employment. In contrast, we find that early career men who move from rural to urban areas allocate significantly more time to self-employment. The results reveal the existence of complex dynamics between gender and age, which affect the allocation of time to self-employment between rural and urban areas.

Description: Points of interest (POIs)—areas with a concentration of places that attract people—are important urban planning and tourism policy targets. This study aims to determine the points of interest of urban residents by analyzing big data from search engines to reveal the physical characteristics of POIs. To achieve this, POI data were collected in three city centers in Seoul using a South Korean dominant portal site that includes a search engine. The most popular POIs were determined by using GIS search engine analysis frequency, and correlation and regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relation between POIs and urban elements. The results revealed different POI trends in each city center. While POIs were concentrated in old, narrow streets with small attractions and mixed-use construction near Seoul City Wall (historic downtown district), they also formed around notable architectural landmarks in the newly developed Yeouido and Yeongdeungpo areas. This study found that tourism attraction took different forms in old and new areas, demonstrating that citizens are interested in both historic downtown areas and new areas, as traditional urban theorists suggest. Thus, urban planners and tourism policy makers should consider specific spatial contexts with search engines.

Description: This article illustrates the critical findings of an empirical investigation of resilience, vulnerability, and livelihood nexus in one of the worst cyclone-affected sub-districts “Mongla” in Bangladesh. Results obtained from the survey conducted in 2018 and 2019 explore the co-existence of climate change vulnerability and resilience at the rural household level. Additionally, the study identifies the role of assets (e.g., land, cash, and livestock) in order to enhance the resilience of poor inhabitants. Quantitative data have been collected using structured and semi-structured interviews. The outcome of the study demonstrates that the relationships between vulnerability and resilience are very complex and exist in the study area. An exciting outcome has revealed that in some places, more vulnerable people exhibit higher resilience capacity and vice versa. Furthermore, this research emphasizes that local livelihood systems may be improved if appropriate policies are considered by local government organizations in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. Consequently, the local citizens have to play their critical role to assist government policies in order to enhance resilience at the community level. Moreover, local residents can have a better understanding of their livelihood issues in the face of climate change.

Description: High levels of trust in government are important in addressing complex issues, including the realization of the mainstream sustainability agenda. However, trust in government has been declining for decades across the western world, undermining legitimacy and hampering policy implementation and planning for long-term sustainability. We hypothesize that an important factor in this decline is citizen disappointment with the current types of public participation in governance and that this could be reversed through a change from informing/consulting to a relationship of partnership. Using case studies from Western Australia, the paper investigates whether an intervention targeted at establishing a partnership relationship through mini-public, deliberative, participatory budgeting would improve trust and help the implementation of sustainability. These results show evidence of improvements in trust and provide conceptual and practical tools for government administrations wishing to close the detrimental trust gap that may hamper the implementation of a sustainability agenda.

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected human health and the economy. The implementation of social distancing practices to combat the virus spread, however, has led to a notable improvement in air quality. This study compared the surface air quality monitoring data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)’s AirNow network during the period 20 March–5 May in 2020 to those in 2015–2019 from the Air Quality System (AQS) network over the state of California. The results indicated changes in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) of −2.04 ± 1.57 μg m−3 and ozone of −3.07 ± 2.86 ppb. If the air quality improvements persist over a year, it could potentially lead to 3970–8900 prevented premature deaths annually (note: the estimates of prevented premature deaths have large uncertainties). Public transit demand showed dramatic declines (~80%). The pandemic provides an opportunity to exhibit how substantially human behavior could impact on air quality. To address both the pandemic and climate change issues, better strategies are needed to affect behavior, such as ensuring safer shared mobility, the higher adoption of telecommuting, automation in the freight sector, and cleaner energy transition.

Description: The North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS) is a vital groundwater source in a notably water-scarce region. However, impetuous agricultural expansion and poor resource management (e.g., over-irrigation, inefficient techniques) over the past decades have raised a number of challenges. In this exploratory study, we introduce an open access GIS-based model to help answer selected timely questions related to the agriculture, water and energy nexus in the region. First, the model uses spatial and tabular data to identify the location and extent of irrigated cropland. Then, it employs spatially explicit climatic datasets and mathematical formulation to estimate water and electricity requirements for groundwater irrigation in all identified locations. Finally, it evaluates selected supply options to meet the electricity demand and suggests the least-cost configuration in each location. Results indicate that full irrigation in the basin requires ~3.25 billion million m3 per year. This translates to ~730 GWh of electricity. Fossil fuels do provide the least-cost electricity supply option due to lower capital and subsidized operating costs. Hence, to improve the competitiveness of renewable technologies (RT) (i.e., solar), a support scheme to drop the capital cost of RTs is critically needed. Finally, moving towards drip irrigation can lead to ~47% of water abstraction savings in the NWSAS area.

Description: Climate change has become one of the most debated topics in recent times. The social media platforms have given the general public the power and propensity to share and express concerns about climate change. However, climate change awareness created on social media depends on user engagement with the contents modulated by emotions. Much has been researched in this area using Twitter, but Facebook fan-based pages have not been extensively explored in the past. In this study, we investigate the engagement behaviour of users on a Facebook fan-based page titled “Global Climate Change Awareness” by analysing user insights data for two years starting from April 2018 to April 2020. Results show that the frequency of posts made to the page did not significantly promote engagement but improved visibility of the contents to the users. Overall, fan growth was attributed more to increased post visibility that enhanced post engagement. Hashtags associated with climate change had a significant reach amongst users, but those associated with disasters where the page expressed sadness and informed users about taking precautions had the highest engagement rate. Likewise, users from developing countries, especially from the small islands, were more engaged with climate change awareness. This study did not assess negative responses from users (possible deniers of climate change) and other Facebook fan-based pages due to data privacy and stringent Facebook policy.

Description: Both the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) and its embedded technology diffusion exponentially progress and grow in terms of technical change and socioeconomic impact. The aim of this study was the evaluation of research and development efficiency in the public and private sectors in EU countries. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology, within which the slack-based model was applied, was used to achieve this aim. The Malmquist index (MI) was used to calculate changes in research and development efficiency during 2010/2013 and 2014/2017. The results present a decrease in total Research and Development (R&D) productivity in public and private sectors for an average of EU countries (28). However, Spain, Slovenia, and Portugal (in the public sector), and Ireland and Romania (in the private sector) revealed an increase of a total R&D productivity during 2010/2013 and 2014/2017 that was primarily influenced by an increase of technical efficiency (catch-up effect). Similarly, the results confirm the differences in R&D efficiency in private and public sectors in the European countries. The study’s results also provide a valuable platform for creators of national strategic and innovative investment and educational plans, and creators of relevant policies and create a platform for national and international benchmarking indicators.

Description: Institutional investors are essential stakeholders of the firm, and they care about firms’ sustainable development. In this study, we focused on a prevalent and essential type of information acquisition activity of institutional investors: corporate site visits, which refers to their trip to the firms’ headquarters and factories. We investigated the impact of institutional investors’ corporate site visits on firms’ likelihood of environmental violation. Using Chinese listed manufacturing firms in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2017, the econometric analysis shows that institutional investors’ corporate site visits significantly decrease firms’ likelihood of environmental violation. Moreover, this effect is more pronounced for firms in heavily polluting industries, firms not owned by the government, and firms with less institutional shareholding. Furthermore, we show that institutional investors’ corporate site visits prevent environmental violations by increasing firms’ environmental investment. Our study highlights the importance of institutional investors’ corporate site visits by showing that they are beneficial to the firms visited.

Description: Direct evaporative coolers are energy-efficient, economic solutions to supplying cooling demand for space conditioning. Since their potential strongly depends on air hygrothermal conditions, they are traditionally used in dry and hot climates, though they can be used in many applications and climates. This work proposes a new direct evaporative cooling system with a fabric-based pad. Its design enables maximum wetted surface with minimum pressure drop. Its performance has been experimentally characterized in terms of saturation efficiency, air humidification, pressure drop, and level of particles, based on a full factorial Design of Experiments. Factors studied are air dry bulb temperature, specific humidity, and airflow. Saturation efficiencies obtained for a 25 cm pad are above the values achieved by other alternative evaporative cooling (EC) pads proposed in the literature, with lower pressure drops.

Description: The Chinese government hopes to implement groundwater table control to realize the sustainable utilization of groundwater resources based on controlling the current groundwater exploitation amount. In this study, a method to determine the control index of the groundwater table is proposed. In the method, the reasonable relationship between the groundwater table and groundwater exploitation amount is ensured using the groundwater numerical simulation model. The operability of the index determination is improved using a surrogate numerical model, and the annual hydrological dynamic is simplified to three scenarios of dry, flat, and wet. To verify this method, the Minqin Basin in Northwest China was chosen as a typical study area. It is assumed that the control index of groundwater exploitation in 2020 is 85,000 × 103m3. Then, the preset annual water table index is calculated as [−0.70, 0.62, 1.13, −1.25, 1.36, 3.09] m [−0.77, 0.53, 1.05, −1.33, 1.27, 2.96] m, and [−0.83, 0.46, 0.99, −1.40, 1.20, 2.85] m for the chosen six monitoring wells, varying over the years with wet, flat, and dry scenarios. This method can ensure high precision, operability, and dynamic management when determining the control index of the groundwater table and satisfy the demand of managers.

Description: The financial transmission of the USA’s housing price bubble has highlighted the inadequacy of the valuation methods adopted by the credit institutions, due to their static nature and inability to understand complex socio-economic dynamics and their related effects on the real estate market. The present research deals with the current issue of using Automated Valuation Methods for expeditious assessments in order to monitor and forecast market evolutions in the short and medium term. The paper aims to propose an evaluative model for the corporate market segment, in order to support the investors’, the credit institutions’ and the public entities’ decision processes. The application of the proposed model to the corporate real estate segment market of the cities of Rome and Milan (Italy) outlines the potentialities of this approach in property big data management. The elaboration of input and output data in the GIS (Geographic Information System) environment allowed the development of an intuitive platform for the immediate representation of the results and their easy interpretation, even to non-expert users.

Description: Numerous tree planting initiatives have been launched worldwide, based on the idea that carbon capture by trees can help to limit global warming. A recent study estimated the additional tree canopy cover that could be established given the growing conditions in every square kilometre of land on earth that is not already forested, urbanised, or used for crop production. It reported a total “tree restoration potential” of 〉900 million ha worldwide and identified hotspots where opportunities for tree planting initiatives may be the greatest. With the potential for an estimated 4.2 million ha of additional canopy cover, one such hotspot is Great Britain. We quantify the extent of habitats, land uses, and protected areas that would be impacted by tree planting on this scale in Great Britain and discuss the potential social–ecological trade-offs involved. Our findings show that realising the “tree restoration potential” would mean a considerable upheaval for the British landscape with 30–50% of ecologically valuable habitats lost and a reduction of 44% in the area of improved grassland. Up to 21% of land protected by law for its ecological, scientific, scenic, or cultural value would be impacted. Importantly, we demonstrate that an alternative approach based on increasing tree canopy cover by up to 20% in urban areas and on cropland could make a substantial contribution to tree planting targets, potentially offsetting losses elsewhere. Such shifts in the structure and function of the British landscape will depend on deep changes in the food system, evidence-based decisions about which existing habitats to protect, and a long-term commitment to tree planting and maintenance.

Description: In recent years, the interest in properly conditioning the indoor environment of historic buildings has increased significantly. However, maintaining a suitable environment for building and artwork preservation while keeping comfortable conditions for occupants is a very challenging and multi-layered job that might require a considerable increase in energy consumption. Most historic structures use traditional on/off heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system controllers with predetermined setpoints. However, these controllers neglect the building sensitivity to occupancy and relative humidity changes. Thus, sophisticated controllers are needed to enhance historic building performance to reduce electric energy consumption and increase sustainability while maintaining the building historic values. This study presents an electric cooling air controller based on a fuzzy inference system (FIS) model to, simultaneously, control air temperature and relative humidity, taking into account building occupancy patterns. The FIS numerically expresses variables via predetermined fuzzy sets and their correlation via 27 fuzzy rules. This intelligent model is compared to the typical thermostat on/off baseline control to evaluate conditions of cooling supply during cooling season. The comparative analysis shows a FIS controller enhancing building performance by improving thermal comfort and optimizing indoor environmental conditions for building and artwork preservation, while reducing the HVAC operation time by 5.7%.

Description: This paper addresses a key social–cultural aspect of sustainability in the Gulf region: Workforce localization (WL). Our research objective is to empirically explore organizational socialization (OS) practices in the context of WL in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where National Citizens (NCs) are a powerful minority in the workforce. This research adopts a qualitative methodology, using semi-structured interviews with managers in charge of the WL program in 14 organizations in the UAE, across different industrial sectors and ownership. We found five major OS practices: Establishing thorough orientation programs, providing formal training programs (skills, diversity/cultural awareness, supervisor, mentoring and coaching team building), redesigning NCs’ jobs and work teams, engaging expatriates in NCs’ OS processes, and organizing networking events. All organizations rigorously evaluated the effectiveness of their OS practices. This study contributes to the empirical literature on management OS, WL, and diversity management in a non-western, emerging Arab country. It contributes to theory development on the content of OS practices, showing how a minority can be a powerful group around whom socialization processes are tailored to integrate them fully into the organization. Practically, our findings inform managers of how to adapt their existing OS practices to the specific needs of minority members, and support Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-based organizations and policymakers with the design, monitoring, and implementation of WL programs, and with the development of a sustainable workforce.

Description: Fermented tea is traditionally consumed in many Asian countries. In Thailand, the product is made by anaerobic submerged fermentation of semi-mature tea leaves before being made into a ball form. This study aims to investigate the composition of health-associated bioactive compounds in fermented tea balls made from Camellia sinensis var. assamica, which is naturally grown in the forests of northern Thailand. The processing involves steaming semi-mature tea leaves followed by anaerobic fermentation in 2% NaCl solution (1:5 w/v of tea leaves solution). Levels of catechin (C), epicatechin (EC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), gallocatechin (GC), flavonols (myricetin, quercetin, and kaempferol), phenolic acids (caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, coumaric acid, and sinapic acid), total phenolic content, and in vitro antioxidant activity were evaluated in fresh tea leaves, steamed tea leaves, and fermented tea leaves over a period of 60 days’ monitoring. The results indicated that fermented tea balls still contain significant amounts of tea polyphenols, although their processing may result in some loss of most bioactive compounds. The antioxidant activity measured by Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) assays also declined as the fermentation time was extended. However, phenolic acids, including caffeic acid and sinapic acid, contrastingly increased during prolonged fermentation by 74.35% and 171.43% from fresh leaves, respectively.

Description: To conduct, in an effective way, the non-destructive testing (NDT) of products—in particular, the fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI)—remains a challenge. Therefore, the aim of this work is to propose the method of support in the choice of a fluorescent penetrant to be used in FPI research. In the results of the usage of the proposed procedure, it is demonstrated that it is possible to reduce the negative impacts on the environment by FPI processes (through sustainability), while including other criteria, i.e., financial, security, productive (Industry 4.0), and societal (Society 5.0) criteria. The essence of the proposed method is to integrate two methods of decision support. These were the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and the cost–quality analysis (AKJ). Using the AHP method, the quality level of fluorescent penetrant (to the satisfaction of the customer)—which included the sustainability criteria—are calculated. These criteria include natural environment, reactivity, combustibility, level of sensitivity, and type of washing (emulsification). Then, with the help of the AKJ, the most favorable penetrant—in terms of quality and cost—is calculated and, thus, indicated. This choice must include the concept of sustainable development. Therefore, this method can be used to choose fluorescent penetrants in manufacturing and service enterprises which carry out FPI.

Description: In 2005, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted the Common Agricultural Policy of ECOWAS (ECOWAP), as an instrument for implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). The main goals of ECOWAP/CAADP were set to promote agriculture development and end hunger by 2025. In this study we focused on the Cabo Verde archipelago as one of the best performing countries within ECOWAS in terms of overall sustainable development. In this paper, the evolution of the ECOWAP implementation and of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) associated with agriculture in Cabo Verde, were assessed by semi-quantitative (e.g., agricultural policies, agrarian periodical literature) and quantitative (modeling regression of ECOWAP implementation and Sustainable Development Goals—SDGs—performance) analyses. Our integrated results suggest that the agriculture development strategies, the signature of ECOWAP/CAADP by the national government, and political stability might explain the progress made towards poverty reduction and the improvement of food security. The results also show that agriculture-related SDGs in Cabo Verde are higher than the mean values obtained from the remaining West African countries, well above the top 25% WA countries. Nevertheless, Cabo Verde public expenditure into agriculture under the ECOWAP was generally below the targeted 10% of the national budget, with food import required to meet internal food demands.

Description: Agricultural land is crucial for the production of food and is, thereby, directly connected to food security. Agriculture is threatened by a multitude of hazards, such as climate change, peak oil, peak soil and peak phosphorus. These hazards call for a more resilient food system that can deliver food security for the global population in the future. In this paper, we analyse the Baltic Sea region’s ten European Union (EU) member states, investigating which trends are to be found in statistics between 2005 to 2016 on the development of agricultural land. In our paper, we analyse these trends of agricultural land by looking at three categories of data: (1) utilised agricultural area, (2) number of farms and (3) agricultural labour input. The results showed a trend that agricultural land is increasingly dominated by large farms, whilst over 1 million predominantly small farms have disappeared, and agricultural-labour input has dropped by more than 26%. These trends point towards a mechanisation of production, where larger and less labour-intensive farms take over production. This could partly be due to the EU common agricultural policy, which tends to favour large farms over small. Further, we argue for the importance of farm-size diversity, and about the dangers to food security that a system that is dominated by large farms possesses. Lastly, we conclude that the concept of resilience needs to be better included in policy development and food-system planning, and that more research needs to be done, analysing how existing agricultural policies impact the parameters studied in this paper.

Description: This paper proposes the hybrid sequential quadratic programming (SQP) technique based on active set method for identifying the optimal placement and rating of distribution generation (DG) incorporated in radial distribution systems (RDS) for minimizing the real power loss satisfying power balance equations and voltage limits. SQP runs quadratic programming sequentially as a sub-program to obtain the best solution by using an active set method. In this paper, the best optimal solution is selected with less computation time by combining the benefits of both classical and meta-heuristic methods. SQP is a classical method that is more sensitive to initial value selection and the evolutionary methods give approximate solution. Hence, the initial values for the SQP technique were obtained from the meta–heuristic method of Parameter Improved Particle Swarm Optimization (PIPSO) algorithm. The proposed hybrid PIPSO–SQP method was implemented in IEEE 33-bus RDS, IEEE 69-bus RDS, and IEEE 118-bus RDS under different loading conditions. The results show that the proposed method has efficient reduction in real power loss minimization through the enhancement of the bus voltage profile.

Description: The lauded Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) has achieved much in stimulating private sector investment in the renewable energy market in South Africa. Yet, 95% of electricity generated is still from a single source, the state-owned utility Eskom. This paper set out to explore the policy sphere governing electricity generation and identifying possible avenues that can contribute to a more vibrant solar energy market in the most solar abundant province of South Africa, the Northern Cape Province. Licensed mines were identified as low hanging fruit due to a large policy overlap and leeway within existing mining policy. A solar audit of these areas was performed, based on accepted multi-criteria decision analysis techniques, and found that a potential 369 TWh to 679 TWh per annum can be generated, exceeding South Africa’s current electricity usage.

Description: The goal of the present study was to analyze the joint role that non-cognitive (motivation and self-esteem) and cognitive (verbal fluency and reasoning) factors play on academic achievement, both as a global score and in relation to specific subjects, such as language and literature and mathematics. We also analyzed the mediating role of cognitive factors. We recruited a sample of 133 primary education students (aged 6–9 years old) (47.6% girls, 52.6% boys), to whom various measures of the above-indicated variables were administered. Several predictive models were tested through a mediational regression analysis. The results indicated the relevance of intrinsic motivation together with self-esteem as predictors of academic achievement mediated by the cognitive abilities verbal fluency and reasoning. These relationships differed depending on the specific subject. We discuss the educational implications of these findings and emphasize, on the one hand, that academic achievement depends on both cognitive and non-cognitive factors and, on the other hand, the malleability of cognitive factors, as they seem to improve based on motivation and self-esteem.

Description: The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the entire life cycle of vehicles has become part of the strategic objectives in automotive industry. In this regard, the design of future body parts should be carried out based on information of life cycle GHG emissions. The substitution of steel towards lightweight materials is a major trend, with the industry undergoing a fundamental shift towards the introduction of electric vehicles (EV). The present research aims to support the conceptual design of body parts with a combined perspective on mechanical performance and life cycle GHG emissions. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the GHG impact of EV in the use phase depends on vehicle-specific factors that may not be specified at the conceptual design stage of components, such as the market-specific electricity mix used for vehicle charging. A methodology is proposed that combines a simplified numerical design of concept alternatives and an analytic approach estimating life cycle GHG emissions. It is applied to a case study in body part design based on a set of principal geometries and load cases, a range of materials (aluminum, glass and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP, CFRP) as substitution to a steel reference) and different use stage scenarios of EV. A new engineering chart was developed, which helps design engineers to compare life cycle GHG emissions of lightweight material concepts to the reference. For body shells, the replacement of the steel reference with aluminum or GFRP shows reduced lifecycle GHG emissions for most use phase scenarios. This holds as well for structural parts being designed on torsional stiffness. For structural parts designed on tension/compression or bending stiffness CFRP designs show lowest lifecycle GHG emissions. In all cases, a high share of renewable electricity mix and a short lifetime pose the steel reference in favor. It is argued that a further elaboration of the approach could substantially increase transparency between design choices and life cycle GHG emissions.

Description: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were set up under the idea that no one—and no place—be left behind. Today, the tendency for population growth concentrates in cities, causing social segregation and the proliferation of marginalized urban areas. In this global context, SDG 11, which addresses the urban dimension of the 2030 Agenda, is becoming crucial. To achieve inclusive and sustainable development, especially in disadvantaged urban areas, collaborative partnerships have been suggested as essential to building habitable spaces where life is worth living. However, the literature reveals how the commitment to multistakeholder partnerships depends on many factors, such as the perceptions the participants have about their reality and the problems they face. In this study, we rely on the information collected from 118 surveys conducted among the leaders of private, public, and civil society organizations already collaborating in six disadvantaged neighborhoods in Andalusia. The results show how and where their perceptions about their own neighborhoods differ and the intersectional reasons behind these differing opinions. This is a critical starting point to elucidate how to enable and sustain local collective actions to start the process of fighting for human dignity.

Description: It is vital that subjects such as the circular economy, sustainable design, green computing or environmental engineering be included in the engineering curriculum. Education for sustainable development will enable engineers to develop sustainable products and provide sustainable services, thereby leading to a beneficial result for society and making an indispensable contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals achievement. As the last stage for students in academia, Degree Theses (Bachelor’s and Master’s) provide a good tool for reviewing the sustainability competencies developed during the degree, as well as being an opportunity for applying these competencies in a holistic way. In their Degree Theses, students should be able to demonstrate that they are aware of the need to introduce and assess sustainability in their future engineering projects. This paper presents a guide aimed at helping engineering students to design and develop sustainable projects, and analyzes the first results of its use in two schools of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—BarcelonaTech. The proposal is based on a tool referred to as “the Sustainability Matrix”, in which cells contain questions that engineering students should take into account when undertaking their Degree Theses. The questions are related to the project development, the project exploitation and the possible risks involved, three aspects in accordance with the sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental and social). The Sustainability Matrix helps students to develop sustainable projects when they graduate, and teachers to assess how sustainability is incorporated across the curriculum in the subjects they teach and in the students’ Degree Theses.

Description: As e-commerce is rapidly expanding, efficient and competitive product delivery system to the final customer is highly required. Recently, the emergence of a smart platform is leading the transformation of distribution, performance, and quality in express delivery services, especially in the last-mile delivery. The business to consumer (B2C) through smart platforms such as Amazon in America and Coupang in Korea utilizes the differentiated delivery rates to increase the market share. In contrast, the small and medium-sized express delivery companies with low market share are trying hard to expand their market share. In order to fulfill all customer needs, collaboration is needed. This study aims to construct a collaboration model to maximize the net profit by considering the market density of each company. A Baduk board game is used to derive the last-mile delivery time function of market density. All companies in collaboration have to specialize the delivery items into certain service clustering types, which consist of regular, big sized/weighted, and cold items. The multi-objective programming model is developed based on max-sum and max-min criteria. The Shapley value and nucleolus approaches are applied to find the profit allocation. Finally, the applicability of the proposed collaboration model is shown through a numerical example.

Description: The textile industry is one of the most chemically intensive industries, and its wastewater is comprised of harmful dyes, pigments, dissolved/suspended solids, and heavy metals. The treatment of textile wastewater has become a necessary task before discharge into the environment. The textile effluent can be treated by conventional methods, however, the limitations of these techniques are high cost, incomplete removal, and production of concentrated sludge. This review illustrates recent knowledge about the application of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) for remediation of textile wastewater. The FTWs system is a potential alternative technology for textile wastewater treatment. FTWs efficiently removed the dyes, pigments, organic matter, nutrients, heavy metals, and other pollutants from the textile effluent. Plants and bacteria are essential components of FTWs, which contribute to the pollutant removal process through their physical effects and metabolic process. Plants species with extensive roots structure and large biomass are recommended for vegetation on floating mats. The pollutant removal efficiency can be enhanced by the right selection of plants, managing plant coverage, improving aeration, and inoculation by specific bacterial strains. The proper installation and maintenance practices can further enhance the efficiency, sustainability, and aesthetic value of the FTWs. Further research is suggested to develop guidelines for the selection of right plants and bacterial strains for the efficient remediation of textile effluent by FTWs at large scales.

Description: Swidden or shifting cultivation is a widespread yet controversial land-use in the tropical forest–agriculture frontier. In recent years, the extent of land under swidden and the people who rely on it for subsistence and income have declined. We report swidden land-use changes in two central hill districts of Nepal by indigenous Chepang communities—a stronghold of swidden cultivation in mountainous Nepal. Despite a common trend of swidden decline, as in other parts of South and Southeast Asia, we found that swidden is important in the life and livelihoods of smallholder rural Chepang farmers in the area. Swidden cultivation was found to be more important to farmers with limited off-farm opportunities and in areas where alternative land-uses were scarce. We discuss biophysical, socio-economic, institutional, and other key drivers affecting farmers’ decision to shift away from or continue with swidden in the area. Using linear mixed effect models, we also examined households’ attributes that may expedite swidden decisions in the area. Our study recommends greater access to alternative land-use(s) and other income-generating options for the wellbeing of smallholder indigenous Chepang farmers, as well as the sustainability of this age-old land-use practice.

Description: Using the CiteSpace software and bibliometric methods, with the core collection of the Web of Science (WoS) database as the data source, the development of industrial heritage research in China and Western countries since the 2006 Wuxi Proposal was analyzed. The study found that the latest quantitative changes in China and Western countries’ industrial heritage research have similar fluctuations. However, researchers and institutions in the two places are independent of each other, lacking in-depth cooperative research. Notwithstanding, comprehensive and holistic research needs to be strengthened. The research content in China mainly focuses on the issues of urban renewal, industrial heritage tourism and creative industries, whereas Western countries are dominated by heritage and community building industrial heritage, the exploration of tourism and the protection of industrial sites, post-industrial heritage protection, and new technology use. Finally, by comparing and analyzing the research status of the two regions, future research on industrial heritage in China and Western countries are encouraged.

Description: Our study explores the factors influencing investors’ behavior in the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market in China, and the relationships among them from the perspective of investors. The primary component analysis method was used to divide the P2P lending platforms into five categories. Then, a structural equation model was applied to analyze the interrelationship. Our results show that more exceptional operating ability, profitability, and security of the platform help to improve investor’s investment behavior. Operation ability is the most significant influencing factor, which also influences other factors to different degrees. After the analysis of the results, we found that the security degree of P2P lending platforms in China differs, and the risk due to the lack of bank depository for platforms is the most serious. In terms of the background, investors are less interested in the state-owned platforms compared to the bank- or listed-company-owned platforms, although the background strength of the state-owned platforms is more powerful.

Description: The Food and Agriculture Organization’s previsions show that by 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.6 billion people, and the request for a high value protein source will increase as well. Poultry can guarantee high value protein for humans, even in the poorest regions of the world. Hence, efficient poultry production is needed, matching with sustainable development. The residual meal from cardoon seed oil (used for biodiesel and biodegradable bioplastic production) is suitable for animal feeding due to its protein content. The aim of this preliminary study was to test for a possible use of cardoon meal as a protein source in a poultry diet during the finishing period. Forty-five Kabir chickens were divided into three groups and fed three diets in which soybean meal (control) was partially (16%) or completely replaced with cardoon meal as a protein source (treated groups). In vivo performances, animal welfare, dressing out and meat color were evaluated. No statistical differences in feed efficiency, dressing out, nor in meat quality were found among groups. Moreover, birds that were fed cardoon meal showed lower perivisceral fat. Therefore, cardoon meal could be considered as an alternative for soybean meal in the finishing period in poultry feeding.

Description: The United Nations (UN) 2030 agenda involved 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve a better and more sustainable world for all. The fourth Sustainable Development Goal called for “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all”. Despite international efforts to achieve such a goal, many students with vision impairment (VI) who wish to pursue a degree in computer science face significant challenges and must overcome social and technical obstacles. One challenge is learning how to program as a key skill for pursuing a degree in the field of computer science. This paper explores practical issues in teaching students with VI the basics of programming and presents recommended practices based on a suggested workshop setup. The workshop ran for three weeks, for a total of 60 teaching hours, and involved designing and implementing complete curricula and multi-modal activities to simplify the acquisition of basic programming concepts. Workshop data was collected using several data collection methods—i.e., interviews, observation, questionnaires, performance records, and daily journals. The results indicated an improvement in participants’ programming skills, which was detected through their performance records and final project evaluations. The participants also showed a high interest in learning programming and positive attitudes towards the experience. However, the participants’ experience also involved some challenges such as understanding abstract concepts, code navigation, and some technical issues. The study is hoped to contribute to the literature on education inclusion and to bridge the digital divide in our society.

Description: The citizenship’s distrust of politicians clashes with the absence of research of politicians’ moral competence, which is a challenge to positive psychology. The objective of this work, approved by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, is to measure, for the first time, the moral competence of Spanish councilors and to explore its relationship with different independent variables. A sample of 625 councilors from all the territories of the country completed a questionnaire that includes the Moral Competence Test Moral Competence Test. Estimation parameters and hypothesis contrast methods were used for the statistical analysis of the obtained data. The results indicate that most of the Spanish councilors in the sample have low moral competence, which does not depend on any of the variables contemplated in the study. Councilors with high moral competence represent only 3.7%, with a profile corresponding more closely to that of people under 45 years of age, with university training, professionally linked to the private services sector, and dedicated exclusively to politics in a Town Hall.

Description: Methane hydrates (hereinafter, MH), for many reasons, are widely recognized as a form of sustainable energy due to their environmentally friendly nature. MH, while burning, produce fresh water, which could in turn offer one possible solution to worldwide shortages of water. MH also maintains the capacity to change the landscape of the global energy supply. According to recent scientific evaluations, the potential global supply of MH is even higher than the total storage of traditional crude oil and conventional natural gas. However, its offshore extraction process could be linked to both catastrophic and non-catastrophic events that may contribute to global warming and climate change, cause harm to human health and life, endanger the flora and fauna, and threaten the very global environment as a whole. Therefore, from a legal viewpoint, an efficient and effective system of civil liability rules seem crucial to control the risks, and to compensate the victims to which damages may occur. This article takes into consideration China’s legal framework in assessing the risks connected to MH offshore extraction. Such a choice for examination is justified by China’s leading position for implementing the technology necessary for extracting MH. This analysis shows that China’s current legal instruments are still far from fully equipped to prevent the risks associated with the offshore extraction of MH, as well as to offer effective remedies for the victims once any damages have occurred. Therefore, more efficient measures and remedies should be considered (or even imposed) to address the specific risks of offshore methane hydrate extraction. Indeed, in the past few decades, China’s environmental protection laws and regulations have mainly focused on the environmental risks that may occur during the process of extracting conventional resources; however, they do not address methane hydrates specifically. This presents a legal challenge for environmental protection laws. The potentially catastrophic events that may occur as a result of the offshore MH extraction processes in particular present a legal challenge for environmental protection laws in China and across the globe. Thus, this article focuses on how to prevent these risks before they even occur, followed by a careful attempt to address compensation efforts for any damages caused by said catastrophes.

Description: Bridges are important infrastructures for urban growth and the economic development of a country, because bridges allow a large volume of logistics and transportation by connecting rivers, canyons, islands and lands. As such, massive resources including financial, material and human resources are invested for bridge construction and management. However, although the latest bridge construction is undergoing rapid development of new technologies and designs, the management and prevention of risks still tend to rely on qualitative practices, which, as a result, calls for more quantified and systematic measurement and, thus, more sustainable management of potential risks. As part of efforts in managing risks to achieve quantitative risk management, this study aimed to predict losses of financial resources by identifying statistically significant risk factors based on the past record of insurance claim payouts (compensation for a loss that occurred as a result of a material damage in bridge construction projects) from a major insurance company in Korea, and conducted a multiple regression analysis to identify the loss indicators and to develop a loss estimation model. The statistical analysis confirmed that superstructure types, superstructure construction methods, and construction duration are the three significant risk factors that affects financial losses of bridge construction projects among the seven variables adopted as independent variables, which included the superstructure type, maximum span length, superstructure construction method, foundation type, floods, typhoons, and construction duration. Such findings, and the consequentially developed risk prediction model of this study, will contribute to sustainable construction management through cost reduction by predicting and preventing the future financial loss factors of bridge construction.

Description: Rice is a staple food crop, and its production generates large volumes of agricultural waste, rice straw. Several studies have proven that open-field burning and soil incorporation are unsustainable practices of managing rice straw, but remain as prevalent methods of treating and disposing of rice straw. An alternative solution is to harness the energy from rice straw via a small-scale heat conversion system for paddy drying applications, which can reduce rice grain post-processing costs and improve paddy storage conditions. This study investigated the energy flow, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and cost of a small-scale rice-straw-based heat generation (RBHG) system using a downdraft furnace and a dryer simulator setup. The highest input energy and GHG emissions of 92% and 68%, respectively, were from the heat generation stage. The RBHG energy ratio was between 1.4 and 1.7, and the percent net energy was between 39 and 67%. The best case of RBHG offers a possibility of a net GHG avoided (−61 kg CO2-eq Mg−1), while the worst case (856 kg CO2-eq Mg−1) has a net GHG emission comparable with soil incorporation. The average total cost of RBHG is 0.096 USD kWh−1. Overall, RBHG technology has the potential to improve energy flow, GHG emissions, and the cost of rice production systems.

Description: This study investigates the relationships between three dimensions of competitive priorities (customer focus, product innovation and delivery) and how Asian manufacturers manage and develop their employees and the consequent effect on sustainable manufacturing performance. Three dimensions of manufacturing performance are considered in this study—quality performance, production flexibility and operations cost. This study uses 259 datasets collected from manufacturers in four Asian countries. Structural equation modeling and mediation analysis are performed to test the relationships. Results show that there is a significant positive and mediating relationship between the competitive priority of product innovation, employee management and development, quality performance, production flexibility and operation cost. However, such significant relationships do not exist with competitive priorities of customer focus and delivery. Organizations are constantly faced with the problem of determining which competitive priorities to focus on. However, different competitive priorities have different effects on how the employees are managed and developed, and ultimately, on organizational performance and competitiveness. There is a need to focus on innovation-led strategies that relate to sustainable outcomes. This is one of the first studies in Asia to understand the multilateral relationships between different competitive priorities and different performance dimensions when employee management and development intermediate.

Description: As health disparities among Native Americans persist, promoting better health outcomes is of paramount concern among Indigenous populations. A variety of programs exist that try to alleviate problems resulting in higher rates of diet-related chronic diseases and premature death. For this study, we collaborated with an Indigenous-led nonprofit that implemented a series of nutrition education courses designed to empower community members to make healthier food choices. The theoretically based curriculum, which provided learners with information in the form of sensory-based modules, e.g., food preparation, food handling, cultural awareness, and practical cooking skills, was introduced in various communities in the Great Plains and Southwest. The nutrition education programs were modeled after a canonical educational learning model, Bloom’s Taxonomy, designed to provide participants with information and resources necessary to make healthier food choices across three cognitive domains (i.e., tiers). We used a mixed-methods approach, coupling Principal Components Analysis with a qualitative SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, to assess each program’s capacity to enhance learning retention, i.e., to assess the salience of information provided and the extent to which each program was more or less successful in participants’ learning. We found that course content and instruction are strongly correlated with program satisfaction. In addition, from the qualitative analysis, we found that as each successive module of the program challenged higher cognitive domains, participants were more likely to indicate satisfaction in the course material as well as state a desired change in their behavior, which we attribute to participants’ ability to synthesize and evaluate information. Aspects of this programming framework have the potential to be adapted to and integrated into other Native communities striving for the successful adoption of healthier diets.

Description: An intergenerational sustainability dilemma (ISD) is a situation of whether or not a person sacrifices herself for future sustainability. However, little is known about what people consider while making a decision under ISD. This paper analyzes motivational factors for people to decide under ISD, hypothesizing that the factors can be different with or without perspective-taking of future generations. One-person basic ISD game (ISDG) along with post-interviews are instituted where a lineup of individuals is organized as a generational sequence. Each individual chooses an unsustainable (or sustainable) option with (without) irreversibly costing future generations in 36 situations. A future ahead and back (FAB) mechanism is applied as a treatment for perspective-taking of future generations where each individual is asked to take the next generation’s position and to make a request about the choice that he/she wants the current generation to choose, and next, he/she makes the actual decision from the original position. By analyzing the post-interview contents with text-mining techniques, the paper finds that individuals mostly consider how previous generations had behaved in basic ISDG as the main motivational factor. However, individuals in FAB treatment are induced to put more weight on the possible consequences of their decisions for future generations as motivational factors. The findings suggest that perspective-taking of future generations through FAB mechanism enables people to change not only their behaviors but also motivational factors, enhancing ISD.

Description: Rapidly growing cities often struggle with insufficient green space, although information on when and where more green space is needed can be difficult to collect. Big data on the density of individuals in cities collected from mobile phones can estimate the usage intensity of urban green space. Taking Zhengzhou’s central city as an example, we combine the real-time human movement data provided by the Baidu Heat Map, which indicates the density of mobile phones, with vector overlays of different kinds of green space. We used the geographically weighted regression (GWR) method to estimate differentials in green space usage between weekdays and weekends, utilizing the location and the density of the aggregation of people with powered-up mobile phones. Compared with weekends, the aggregation of people in urban green spaces on workdays tends to vary more in time and be more concentrated in space, while the highest usage is more stable on weekends. More importantly, the percentage of weekday green space utilization is higher in small parks and green strips in the city, with the density increasing in those small areas, while the green space at a greater distance to the city center is underutilized. This study validates the potential of applying Baidu Heat Map data to provide a dynamic perspective of green space use, and highlights the need for more green space in city centers.

Description: Rural tourism has commonly been identified as one of the main areas of application of the principles of sustainable tourism, but the literature has typically focused solely on the ecological dimension, particularly when referring to agritourism. This study presents a new approach to assessing the “eco-effectiveness” of the evolutionary dynamics of agritourism, as applied in a study of NUTS-2 regions in two European countries (Spain and Italy) that have implemented similar rural development strategies. To this end, a synthetic sustainability index was developed using the Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) technique. The last period of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) 2007–2013 was chosen for the study in order to analyze the outcomes of a programming cycle focusing on the diversification of agriculture through tourism. The results show that the sustainability of agritourism growth is not homogeneous and has specific features in different regions of the same country. In some cases, there were more similarities with regions from other countries. This tool could help evaluate the impact of agritourism and facilitate comparisons between different regions, in this way supporting the process of transition from a linear to a circular economy.

Description: Winemaking is concerned about sustainable energy availability that implies new methods for process monitoring and control. The aim of this paper is to realize a comparative analysis of the possibilities offered using estimation techniques, balances, and filtering techniques such as the Kalman filter (KF) and the extended Kalman filter (EKF), to obtain indirect information about the alcoholic fermentation process during winemaking. Thus, an estimation solution of the process variables in the exponential growing phase is proposed, using an extended observer. In addition, two estimation solutions of this process with the EKF and an estimation of the decay phase of the fermentation process are presented. The difference between the two EKF variants consisted of taking into consideration the indicator of the integral of the error norm square for the second EKF, for which the performance criterion was the statistical average of this indicator. Results from the simulation of the estimation programs of the two EKF variants were more than satisfactory. This research provides a basis for using an EKF designed for advanced control of the alcoholic fermentation batch process as a knowledge-based system.

Description: The role of socio-demographic vulnerability to hazards is an increasingly important aspect for consideration in disaster mitigation and adaptation. This paper examines the spatial adjustments of populations to the 2008 Hurricane Ike by estimating the effects of damage on the changes of socially vulnerable populations pre- and post-Hurricane Ike. Multivariate regression models are used to understand household-level adjustments in different flood zones and inundation levels at the block-group level in Galveston county. In contrast to past literature that suggests that vulnerable populations remain or move into hazardous areas post-disaster, our results indicate that socially vulnerable populations have moved out of highly damaged areas. The tremendous investment opportunity post-disaster and the slow distribution of funds to recover public housing on Galveston Island provide potential explanation of the estimated adjustment patterns. Analyzing post disaster adjustments offers important insights into the “resilient” recovery of Galveston County post-Hurricane Ike. Our results also point to potential vulnerabilities that may arise in the future because of the change in community identity and the loss of social memory. Understanding disaster-driven changes in community make-up will help inform potential recovery trajectories from future catastrophes.

Description: Smart Cities empower progress through technology integration directed with a strategic approach to sustainable development and citizen well-being. The creation of solid strategic planning boosts the development of infrastructure, innovation, and technology. However, the above can be compromised if citizens are not properly involved; therefore, it is relevant to enhance citizen participation when a new Smart City project appears on the horizon. This work presents a Smart Cities Oriented Project Planning and Evaluation (SCOPPE) Methodology that combines the citizen participation and the Minimum Viable Product creation through adaptive project management. Moreover, since the smart mobility projects represent the first step towards a Smart City, a case of study of an Intelligent Parking System (SEI-UVM) is presented following the SCOPPE Methodology. The application’s steps results lead us to key and useful information when defining, designing, and implementing the minimum viable product of the cornerstone device of the SEI-UVM: the Smart Vehicle Presence Sensor (SPIN-V). It is worthwhile to mention that the proposed SCOPPE Methodology could be extended to any Smart City project.

Description: The response of the structure subjected to an earthquake load is greatly affected by the properties of the structure and soil so it is very important to accurately determine the characteristics of the structure and soil for analysis. However, studies on the effective profile depth where soil properties are determined, have been conducted in the presence of restricted conditions (i.e., surface foundation, linear soil properties), and without any considerations on damping. In case of the effective height of structure that affects its rocking behavior, it was only theoretically or empirically determined. In addition, most previously published studies on soil–structure interaction (SSI) focused on limited effects and parameters (e.g., rocking behavior, embedment effect, effective profile depth, spring constant, and damping coefficient) and not on comprehensive SSI parameters. Furthermore, no detailed validation procedure has been set in place which made it difficult to validate the SSI parameters. Since the effective height of structure and effective profile depth are the basis of all the input parameters of SSI analysis, it is important to validate and determine them. Therefore, in this study, the procedure used to optimize the two SSI parameters was established based on an analytical approach that considered all the possible SSI parameters that were investigated from conventional codes and studies and physical model tests. As a result of this study, the optimum values of the effective height of the structure and effective profile depth were respectively determined according to (a) the height from the bottom part of the foundation to the center of the mass of the superstructure, and according to (b) the depth at values equal to four times the radius of the foundation.

Description: Korean duty-free shops sales rank first among duty-free shops around the world (Generation Research, 2018) and have become a target of interest for academics and industry observers. In particular, attention has been focused on variables affecting the shopping behavior of this fast-growing segment of online duty-free shop users. In this research, the main variables of the technology innovation acceptance model and the target-oriented behavior model are added. Focus is placed on the decomposed theory of planned behavior, and the variables affecting the behavioral intention are identified. A survey is conducted with users of online duty-free shops (Internet, mobile) as targets, and an analysis of the structural equation model is utilized. Among the technology innovation acceptance variables, the factors affecting attitude are compatibility and perceived usefulness. It is determined that only perceived behavioral control has a significant effect on behavioral intention, which is a dependent variable of the decomposed theory of planned behavior, and the attitude and subjective norms are found to have a significant effect on both desire and behavioral intention. Thus, it is confirmed that attitude is a key variable in explaining this research model. This research has academic implications because it examines variables affecting the behavioral intention of online duty-free shop users by integrating the theory of technology innovation acceptance and the decomposed theory of planned behavior, with the addition of a desire variable. Moreover, there are practical implications in that online duty-free shop operators have provided meaningful basic data to establish differentiated marketing strategies from offline duty-free shops with the goal of expanding use. The results of this study are expected to serve as basic data for increasing the behavioral intention of online duty-free shop users and promoting the sustainable development of online duty-free shops in South Korea.

Description: At present, the recognition of vehicle flow is mainly achieved with an artificial statistical method or by intelligent recognition based on video. The artificial method requires a large amount of manpower and time, and the existing video-based vehicle flow recognition methods are only applicable to straight roads. Therefore, a deep recognition model (DERD) for urban road vehicle flow is proposed in this paper. Learning from the characteristic that the cosine distance between the feature vectors of the same target in different states is in a fixed range, we designed a deep feature network model (D-CNN) to extract the feature vectors of all vehicles in the traffic flow and to intelligently determine the real-time statistics of vehicle flow based on the change of distance between vectors. A detection and tracking model was built to ensure the stability of the feature vector extraction process and to obtain the behavior trajectory of the vehicle. Finally, we combined the behavior and the number of vehicle flows to achieve the deep recognition of vehicle flow. After testing with videos recorded in actual scenes, the experimental results showed that our method can intelligently achieve the deep recognition of urban road vehicle flow. Compared with the existing methods, our approach shows higher accuracy and faster real-time performance.

Description: The purpose of the paper is to present the survey findings of two alternative methods (self-rating (SR) and third-person rating (TPR)) of measuring employee work engagement (EWE). The potential impacts of gender, job tenure, position, and work condition on TPR vs. SR were also investigated. A sample of 649 of hotel service workers, supervisors, and managers in China participated in the study. An accurate measure of employee work engagement serves as a leading indicator of turnover intention and an early diagnostic tool for sustainable human resource management. Despite its popularity as a work engagement measure, SR method has many limitations. This research attempted to demonstrate that TPR is a viable and better alternative measure of EWE. The results indicated that TPR does possess desirable measurement characteristics, such as convergent validity, nomological validity, and structure invariant. TPR also provides a more conservative, and perhaps more accurate as well, measure of EWE. The difference in mean EWE scores as measured by SR vs. TPR was found to be affected by the specific dimension under study, with the least observable absorption dimension the most affected. The difference was also found to be significantly higher for males than for females, bigger as an employee’s position moves higher, and larger as the length of job tenure increases. Additionally, the difference in satisfaction–EWE correlations, as measured by TPR vs. SR, were much higher when the work conditions were poor. For practitioners, the importance of this study lies in the fact that TPR, as a conservative measure of EWE, can play an important role in detecting early signs of employee troubles sooner and lead management to take timely actions, making human resource management more sustainable. For academics, the results that SR and TPR of EWE generally result in similar pattern of findings offer strong encouragement to build future research on EWE through the TPR method.