Search

Food security and energy transition are among the current major global environmental challenges. Although these issues individually are significant in their own right, they are connected to each other in a nexus with different interrelationships and dependencies. In the quest for non-fossil alternatives for energy, cultivation of bioenergy crops has become an important part of the energy policy in many countries. In this regard, the use of fertile agricultural land for growing crops for energy production rather than for food supply affects the global food security. Recent conflicts and the geopolitical crisis in Europe, leading to increased food, fuel, and fertiliser prices, the existing climate crisis, and the crisis caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have further reinforced the understanding of this nexus, with certain countries mulling limiting biofuel production from agricultural land and others banning food grain exports to safeguard food supply. The idea of growing non-food energy crops on marginal lands in general and closed landfill sites in particular is hence ever more relevant, to avoid land-use concurrence between food needs and energy needs. Landfilling has been the dominant waste management strategy until recently in European countries and is still the dominant mode of waste management in low-income regions like South Asia. This paper provides a review of the economic as well as environmental benefits of growing Ricinus communis L., Jatropha curcas L., and Populus deltoides as energy crops on closed landfill sites in the South Asian context. While as the cultivation of Miscanthus X Giganteus, Silphium perfoliatum L., and Panicum virgatum (Switchgrass) is reviewed in the European context. The cultivation of non-food energy crops like these on closed landfill sites and marginal lands is presented as a potential component of an integrated food-energy policy, with an increased relevance in the current times. In the current times of multiple crises, this measure is of increasing relevance as a part of the overall strategy to achieve resilience and environmental sustainability.

A tumor is an abnormal development of cells in the human body. A tumor develops when cells divide without any control. Tumors change their size from a small to large lump. Tumors appear anywhere in the body. The early stage of diagnosis is an essential one in disease treatment. Many researchers carried out their research on different tumor detection methods. However, the tumor detection accuracy level was not improved and tumor detection time consumption not minimized. In order to address these problems, an Iterative Reflect Perceptual Sammon Bagging Classification (IRPS-BAC) Method is introduced. The aim is to accurately detect brain tumors as early as possible and make the method suitable for real-time applications. The IRPS-BAC Method comprises two processes, namely, feature selection and classification using the iterative reflect perceptual sammon feature selection process and bagging classification process. In the IRPS-BAC Method, an input of medical data are gathered from the Epileptic Seizure Recognition Data Set and Cervical Cancer Risk Classification database. After that, iterative reflect perceptual sammon feature selection process is carried out to select the relevant features. Iterative reflect perceptual divergence computes the variation between two features. After that, sammon mapping projects the similar and dissimilar features into feature space. By this manner, the relevant features get selected using the IRPS-BAC Method. With the help of selected relevant features, bagging classification process is carried out. In bagging classification process, internal node processes the selected features and leaf node to make the tumor decision as normal or cancerous one based on information gain. This, in turn, helps to reduce the time complexity and error rate. The performance of the proposed IRPS-BAC Method is determined by two benchmark datasets through comparing the parameter such as tumor detection time, tumor detection accuracy and error rate with the existing approaches. In the Epileptic Seizure Recognition Data Set, the proposed IRPS-BAC Method improves tumor detection accuracy by 16%, with minimum time period and the error rate of 41 ms and 58% for tumor detection as compared to existing methods. By using Cervical Cancer Risk Classification, the proposed IRPS-BAC Method exhibited higher classification performance measures, including accuracy (14%), time (46 ms), and error rate (61%), than the current conventional approaches.

Artificial intelligence development and research leaders in business, industry, and nations gain a major competitive edge. Additionally, it is clear that nations with a well-established national artificial intelligence policy have an edge over others, both technologically and economically. To further their artificial intelligence capability, nations also seek to develop a strategy, vision, structure, and working environment that encourages collaboration between the public sector, private industry, and educational institutions. Artificial intelligence is thought to be a tool that will help bridge the gap between powerful and developing countries growing in the future. Using data from “The Global AI Index” for 2021, this study aims to examine and analyze the present state of artificial intelligence management in 62 nations in terms of talent, infrastructure, business environment, development and research government policy, and commercial efforts. The research used PROMETHEE, which is widely used in multi-criteria decision-making evaluations, and its geometric representation, the GAIA plane. This study also found that the United States of America is the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development as well as AI investment. The United Kingdom, China, Israel, Canada, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Germany all rank well. China is rapidly catching up to the USA. At the very bottom of the list are nations such as Armenia, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, and Pakistan. Turkey’s values are more similar to those of nations towards the bottom of the list than of those in the top half. There is a significant gap between the top three countries and the rest of the world in all parameters included in the survey. Except for the ‘State Strategy’ category, Turkey scores quite low compared to the top-performing countries. Decision makers are expected to address the identified global challenges of the study by creating a more comprehensive national AI strategy, both financially and in terms of content.

The Action Plan for Soil Pollution Prevention and Control (“10-point Soil Plan”) provides the top-level design for soil environmental protection in China and motivates heavy polluters to participate in soil pollution prevention and control. Using a sample of Chinese-listed firms with key soil pollution regulation from 2013 to 2020, this study utilized the Difference-in-Differences method to analyze the effect and mechanism of the “10-point Soil Plan” on corporate sustainable development. The “10-point Soil Plan” significantly promoted corporate sustainability via debt vacating and cash defense effects. However, this policy failed to achieve innovation compensation. Further, the promotion of corporate sustainability via the “10-point Soil Plan” is more significant in state-owned and large enterprises and depends on the intensity of local environmental regulations. This study provides a valuable reference for government and corporates to actively implement soil pollution prevention and control measures, which complements the systematic study of soil environmental planning and helps China integrate soil environmental planning with water and air environmental planning to build a comprehensive pollution prevention system.

Forest reserves are spaces of conservation and are often spaces of ecotourism as well. Evidence suggests that local community participation in the conservation of the forest reserve space tends to break down under weak ecotourism sector management. The Bossou Forest Reserve (BFR) in Guinea, West Africa has deteriorated considerably due to the fragmentation of the reserve and the inexorable decline in Bossou chimpanzee populations since the 1970s. The situation is largely attributable to several complex and interrelated factors, including the lack of established processes to support meaningful community participation in conservation and ecotourism planning. Ecotourism planning, with the participation of local communities, is considered to strengthen the management of the BFR and conservation connectivity. This paper reports on an approach to sustainable ecotourism planning of the BFR using the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) framework to determine the drivers of change and livelihood concerns. Fieldwork undertook in 2019 entailed concept mapping activities which were followed by a participatory geographic information system (PGIS) approach to support community-scale ecotourism planning that considers the multiple needs of stakeholders. Data analysis resulted in a community-centered situational assessment and classification of opportunities, both of which inform ecotourism planning and social-ecological resilience. The study provides baseline data for developing a robust ecotourism management plan capable of coping with the changing internal and external stressors. PGIS-based ecotourism planning can support community priorities and is potentially applicable to other West African areas with similar ecological and livelihood settings.

Unlike battery electric vehicles, extended-range electric vehicles have one more energy source, so a reasonable energy management strategy (EMS) is crucial to the fuel economy of the vehicles. In this paper, an adaptive equivalent fuel consumption minimization strategy (A-ECMS)-based energy management strategy is proposed for the extended-range electric vehicle. The equivalent fuel consumption minimization strategy (ECMS), which utilizes Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP), is introduced to design the EMS. Compared with other ECMS strategies, an adaptive equivalent factor algorithm, based on state of charge (SOC) feedback and a proportional–integral (PI) controller is designed to update the equivalent factor under different working conditions. Additionally, a start–stop penalty is added to the objective function to take the dynamic start–stop process of the range extender into account. As a result, under the WLTC driving cycle, the proposed strategy can achieve 6.78 L/100 km comprehensive fuel consumption, saving 6.2% and 3.4% fuel consumption compared with the conventional rule-based thermostat strategy and the power following strategy. Moreover, the proposed EMS achieves the lowest ampere-hour flux among the three EMSs, indicating its ability to improve battery life.

A 16-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate effects of replacing dietary fish oil (FO) with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich microbial oil (MO) from Schizochytrium sp. (T18) on membrane lipid composition of Atlantic salmon parr liver and muscle tissues. Four nutritionally balanced diets were formulated with varying levels of FO, MO, and canola oil (CO), including a control diet with 20% FO, a secondary control diet with 10% FO and 10% CO, and two experimental diets that completely replaced FO with a low (5%) and high (10%) proportion of MO. No significant differences were observed in growth parameters (81–98 g; weight gain), total lipid class composition, and total sterol content among the dietary treatments. However, there were significant differences in the proportions of individual ꞷ3 and ꞷ6 fatty acids in both liver and muscle tissues, reflecting the different dietary treatments. Notably, the presence of low eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the MO diets did not affect the growth performance of the fish, suggesting a lower requirement for EPA in the diet and a greater necessity for DHA. The results also showed that DHA was present in very high proportions in the cellular membrane, particularly in muscle tissue, with low levels of linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid. Overall, the findings suggest that MO derived from Schizochytrium sp. (T18) could be a potential substitute for FO in the diet of farmed Atlantic salmon.

The propagation mechanism of explosion stress waves in frozen rock mass is the main factor affecting the blasting efficiency and safety construction of strip mines in alpine cold regions. In order to study explosion stress wave propagation and crack extension in the blasting process of frozen rock mass with ice-filled cracks, RFPA2D is adopted to simulate the influence of the geometric parameters of ice-filled cracks (ice-filled crack thickness d, normal distance R from blasting hole to the ice-filled crack, and ice-filled crack angle α), loading intensity and loading rate on the explosion stress wave propagation effect and the damage range. The results show: The attenuation trend of explosion stress waves decreases gradually with an increase of thickness (e.g., In the case of R is 0.2 m, when d is 0.02 m, 0.04 m, and 0.08 m, the calculated attenuation factor of the minimum principal stress peak value is 7.128%, 18.056%, and 30.035%, respectively), and it decreases slightly with an increase of normal distance and ice-filled crack angle. The damage elements range of the ice-filled crack decreases when the ice-filled crack thickness and normal distance increases. The loading intensity and the loading rate have a significant influence on blasting hole fracture patterns. The ice-filled crack has a guiding effect on the growth of blasting cracks at the blasting hole. Nevertheless, the existence of ice-filled cracks inhibits the propagation of explosion stress waves in frozen rock mass.

In the past decades, the demand for providing soft skills among higher learners has been met through cooperative teamwork commitment. The need to continue empowering such initiatives should entail finding a balance between accountabilities and capabilities to play a significant role in academic achievement and social community engagement. This paper aims to examine the strategies to empower cooperative teamwork to provide insights into community service sustainability, where this would entail designing its key roles to engage with higher learners’ practices. The literature from recent reviews was developed to construct a critical examination of the role of service learning in strengthening cooperative teamwork to contribute to community service sustainability. This approach used the keywords cooperative teamwork, community service, and service learning. The findings reveal that there are three main points representing the core attempts to help empower cooperative teamwork to support community service sustainability: expanding strategic management of cooperative-based experiential learning, community service with commitment to civic responsibility, and incorporating service learning into higher education (HE) contexts. The value of this paper aims to contribute to the knowledge development of service learning, specifically addressed with the experiential skills obtained through planning, implementing, and evaluating the service learning process. The ultimate aim was also to enhance cooperative teamwork with critical, creative, and innovative thinking as key performance skills.

Urban flooding has become one of the most common natural hazards threatening people’s lives and assets globally due to climate change and rapid urbanization. Hydraulic structures, e.g., sluicegates and pumping stations, can directly influence flooding processes and should be represented in flood modeling and risk assessment. This study aims to present a robust numerical model by incorporating a hydraulic structure simulation module to accurately predict the highly transient flood hydrodynamics interrupted by the operation of hydraulic structures to support object-level risk assessment. Source-term and flux-term coupling approaches are applied and implemented to represent different types of hydraulic structures in the model. For hydraulic structures such as a sluicegate, the flux-term coupling approach may lead to more accurate results, as indicated by the calculated values of NSE and RMSE for different test cases. The model is further applied to predict different design flood scenarios with rainfall inputs created using Intensity-Duration-Frequency relationships, Chicago Design Storm, and surveyed data. The simulation results are combined with established vehicle instability formulas and depth-damage curves to assess the flood impact on individual objects in an urbanized case study area in Zhejiang Province, China.

This work was financed by national funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the project LA/P/0037/2020. The authors would like to acknowledge the support given to this research by REPSOL and RAVAGO CHEMICALS, providing the binder and the red pellet pigment, respectively. © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland Despite asphalt self-healing with encapsulated rejuvenators having been intensively researched over the last decade, there is still uncertainty about the performance advantages granted by this technology. As a way of adding to the existing set of research methodologies, this study aimed to test the feasibility of a visual method to investigate the working mechanism of encapsulated rejuvenators in the bituminous mixture. For this purpose, clear bituminous mixtures were produced using a colorless synthetic binder and a pigment was added to the rejuvenator incorporated in the calcium alginate capsules. The internal structure of the bituminous mixtures containing these capsules was inspected both on loaded and unloaded specimens. The colored rejuvenator was also directly added to cracked specimens and its distribution was studied, along with the interaction between the rejuvenator and the synthetic binder. The results show that the rejuvenator could modify the binder to a limited extent, and the bituminous mixtures containing capsules showed evidence of rejuvenator release. It is demonstrated that the aggregate gradation of mixtures has a significant effect on capsule damage and rejuvenator release. However, the pigment can be filtrated from the rejuvenator by the capsule polymer structure and the asphalt. Even though the methodology presented some constraints, it has been proven to be capable of achieving the initial goal, while also acting as an important first step in the visual study of rejuvenator release in asphalt. publishersversion published

Despite extensive research on the role of negative affect (NA) in causing interpersonal deviance, the role of positive affect (PA) remains unclear. Responding to the call for more nuanced research on the interpersonal effects of PA, this study explores the neglected facet of PA, the agentic rather than communal aspect, in predicting interpersonal deviance. Drawing upon regulatory focus theory and social labeling theory, we explore how PA predicts interpersonal deviance. We further propose that this relationship will be mediated by social risk-taking and moderated by task interdependence. Multi-source field data provide support for the hypothesis that PA is positively related to interpersonal deviance, which is mediated by social risk-taking. In addition, the relationship is significant only in the condition of high task interdependence that activates the agentic aspect of PA. This study concludes that the beneficial effects of PA are not universal, and that PA at work may have unintended negative consequences, such as interpersonal deviance. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

The study of factors that predict pro-environmental behavior is interesting, given the need to develop sustainable actions in urban and rural contexts. The available scientific evidence shows knowledge gaps and opportunities about the role that environmental identity, connectedness with nature, and well-being play in pro-environmental behavior. To provide evidence in this regard, this research aimed to describe and identify possible significant differences between these variables to establish whether they predict pro-environmental behavior, considering the rural-urban provenance. The methodology was cross-sectional, with descriptive and correlational analysis. The sample was 1705 people (M age = 31.36 years, 57.4% female) belonging to two departments in southern Colombia (66.7% from the rural sector), and questionnaires were applied to collect the information. The results show that people of rural origin showed higher levels of environmental identity with significant differences (p-value > 0.01) compared to the urban sample. The indicators of psychological health, connectedness with nature, and identity better explain the levels of pro-environmental behavior of the urban population (R = 0.81, p-value < 0.01) compared to the rural population (R = 0.64, p-value < 0.01). This study concludes that the variables predict pro-environmental behavior, providing better explanatory evidence in urban than rural inhabitants. The limitations and new study prospects in the area are discussed.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are constantly under pressure to grow. This pressure forces everyone involved to think about how best to run their business. Although there is much research on SME growth, previous research is fragmented and only addresses internal or external enablers. This study aims to construct an interaction model for all enablers that promote sustainable SME growth. An interpretive structural modeling (ISM) analysis is conducted to formulate an interaction model of enablers for SME growth. The results show that both internal and external enablers are crucial for SME growth. This study shows that the following internal enablers that are interrelated and strongly influence SME growth are MS (managerial skills), EO (entrepreneurial orientation), and OwS (ownership structure). In addition, external enablers such as CIL (customer involvement and location) and GS (government support) also play an important role in improving the performance of other factors for SME growth. In addition, this study also provides a guide for formulating strategies for SME sustainability. Effective policy formulation must be based on a correct understanding of the interdependence between enablers as a unified model of interaction. The interaction between the enablers highlighted and the level of the model would be helpful to all shareholders in finding appropriate strategies for SME growth.

Background: This study aimed to examine the effect of perception, attention, and sleep levels on the number of occupational accidents and near-misses in the mining and metal sectors. Methods: The data were collected from 53 employees in the mining (n = 30) and metal (n = 23) sectors in 2021 from a mining and metal company. The study collected the following data from the sample: demographic information forms, previous accident and previous near-miss histories, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality (PSQI) scale, pulse, sleep levels, and attention tests. Results: Having an education at primary school and below (B = 0.235; p < 0.05), and having an education at the high school level (B = 0.710; p < 0.01), being single (B = −0.291; p < 0.01), time working in the department (B = 0.027; p < 0.05), time working in the company (B = −0.034; p < 0.05), and the number of near-misses (B = 0.354; p < 0.01), had a significant impact on accidents. Having an education in primary school or below (B = −1.532; p < 0.01), not having had an accident (B = −3.654; p < 0.01), age (B = 0.074; p < 0.01), correct score (B = 0.014; p < 0.01), incorrect time (B = 0.228; p < 0.01) and unanswered score averages (B = −0.029; p < 0.01) had a significant impact on near-misses. Conclusion: Education, the working year, and working time had significant effects on workplace accidents.

Electricity access is an essential factor for any nation’s fast-growing economic and technological development. Therefore, to meet the fast-growing world population, the adoption of a mix of energy sources, including renewable energy, is one of the ways to address the paucity supply of energy worldwide. In this paper, the performance yields of five solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, named PV1, PV2, PV3, PV4, and PV5, from different manufacturers were analyzed and compared to their respective cost benefits for profitable customer’s choice. The study on the panels was conducted at the geographical locations of 25.7535° S latitude and 28.2079° E longitude, with an average perimeter of 525.6 m in Pretoria, South Africa. The panels were installed without shading under the same condition of solar irradiation. The power output of each module was collected three times a day for six months. The analysis showed that the power outputs or performances of the respective modules are majorly affected by their surface temperatures as indicated by the values of multiple regression correlation of 92.9%, 96.9%, 99.1%, 97.2%, and 77.5% between the respective modules’ power outputs and temperature. The study also showed a techno-economic evaluation method that helps to economically alleviate the cost of solar PVs and balance the choice of the PV panels according to their short-term performances.

Digital technologies and Industry 4.0 hold the prospect of improving the sustainability performance of manufacturing, but the environmental implications of this transformation are uncertain. To contribute to resolving the environmental impacts of production, Industry 4.0 needs to be guided by sustainable manufacturing principles. This article asserts that we have access to only one functioning example of sustainable production on planet Earth, which is nature, and that Industry 4.0 guided by natural biomimetic principles can advance sustainable production goals. It first contends that industry to date has been guided geomimetic principles—which is the industrial mimicking of physical geologic processes—and that geomimicry is a source of many environmental externalities arising from industrial production. The paper then introduces a series of nature-inspired, biomimetic principles that can be facilitated by the unique capabilities inherent in emerging digital production technologies.

Parental participation has an important and direct influence on the effect of home-based online learning of primary school students. Taking more than 500 guardians of primary school students in a number of prefecture-level cities in the Pearl River Delta as the questionnaire respondents, and applying the structural equation model method, this paper, based on the theory of planned behavior, explores the effects of various factors on parental participation in the home-based online learning of primary school students. The results show that: (1) the behavioral intention of parents to participate in the home-based online learning of primary school students has a significant influence on their actual participation behavior. (2) Behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have a significant influence on behavioral intention. To strengthen the actual effects of parents’ participation behavior, this paper puts forward a number of suggestions. These include enhancing home-school partnerships, achieving home-school co-education, and training parents with regard to the integration of daily Internet use and online learning for primary school students. This study supports the effective implementation of home-based online learning of primary school students and the joint effect of home-school co-education, specifically from the perspective of parents in the subsequent implementation of integrated online and offline teaching.

The area of sharing economy business models (SEBMs) is expanding worldwide. To date, a few qualitative literature reviews concentrating on specific business models have been undertaken, while several have focused on the general concept of the sharing economy. Meanwhile, there is a lack of quantitative reviews in this area. Therefore, a retrospective review of the evolution of the SEBM area and prospective forecasts based on quantified data are urgently needed. In order to fill the gaps and critically evaluate the extant literature on the SEBM area and its scientometrics-related topics, this paper combines the Scopus and Web of Science databases to establish a dataset for a thorough bibliometric analysis. With 951 studies from 552 sources identified, this research provides comprehensive and nuanced information covering the most influential authors and their contributions to the subject, impactful articles with their citation details, ranked sources with their h_, g_ and m-index as well as collaboration maps for authors, affiliations and countries. Graphical representation of knowledge mapping depicts the evolution of publications over time and the emerging trends of current interests and potential directions for future research for sustainable development. This study revealed that Sustainability is the most relevant and second most impactful journal in SEBM research. More importantly, this research deployed keyword dynamic and thematic evolution to detect the current and future trending topics, providing seven future research directions: (1) drivers-, location- and competition-related topics; (2) SEBMs in emerging economies; (3) country-, region- and culture-oriented SEBMs; (4) the link between e-commerce and social media frameworks and SEBMs; (5) sustainability and SEBMs; (6) new technologies and SEBMs and (7) COVID-19 effects on SEBMs. Overall, the results of this study theoretically enrich the sharing economy business model literature and have substantial implications for policymakers and practitioners.

Water injection strategy is considered a promising technique to improve the performance of boosted engine and reduce the NOx emission via the latent heat of water vaporization. Numerous research on water injection has been conducted on in-cylinder and intake port water injection. However, the water injection focusing on the spark ignition (SI) engine exhaust system is still lacking. This study proposed a pre-turbocharger turbine water injection (PTWI) concept to reduce the turbine inlet temperature. This was done so that the stoichiometric engine operation could be achieved at a medium–high load and engine speed without resorting to a fuel enrichment strategy to reduce the exhaust gas temperature. This study aims to investigate the effect of injecting water into the exhaust gas at the pre-turbine of a turbocharged spark ignition engine. This study experimented on a 1.3-L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine to collect engine data for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) baseline model validation. A one-dimensional engine model was then developed based on the 1.6-L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine experiment using AVL BOOST software. The CFD model was used to investigate the effects of water injection pressure, pipe diameter, and water injector location. The CFD results showed that a 50 mm connecting pipe with 4 bar of injection pressure gives the largest reduction in exhaust temperature. The CFD results were then applied to the one-dimensional engine model. The engine model simulation results showed that the fuel consumption could be reduced up to 13% at 4000 rpm during wide-open throttle and 75% engine load. The PTWI is a new approach, but this study has proved the potential of using water injection at the pre-turbine turbocharger to reduce the fuel consumption of a turbocharged SI engine.

Vallesia glabra (Vg) is a species that has been used in traditional medicine due to its secondary metabolites (alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, phenols, and cardiac glucosides) for the treatment of measles, rheumatism, muscle aches, and eye inflammation. The biosynthesis of magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) was carried out using an aqueous leaf extract of Vg and was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Afterward, the magnetic adsorbent was tested for its potential to remove cationic dye from aqueous solutions at different pH and adsorbent mass and its reusability after several adsorption/desorption cycles. The XRD pattern and SEM micrographs resulted in an average size of NPs of 12.2 nm. Regarding the removal of MB from an aqueous solution, the kinetic and isotherm adsorption behavior is governed by the pseudo-second-order model and a Langmuir isotherm which describes an ionic exchange and chemisorption process between the positive partial charges of MB and Vg compounds stabilizing Fe3O4 NPs following a thermodynamically favorable process. Therefore, the green synthesis of NPs from Vg leaf extract is considered a sustainable alternative to removing dyes from aqueous solutions.

The prevailing research study described in this article is undertaken to investigate how a green transformational leadership style (GTFL) and green human resource management (GHRM) heighten the environmental performance (EP) of small- and medium-sized enterprises. It also focuses on accessing the mediating role of pro environmental behavior (PEB) between GTFL, GHRM, and the EP of the firms. Using a quantitative design of research, data for the study were collected from the small and medium enterprises of Lahore, Pakistan, with a self-administered survey questionnaire. SPSS and AMOS were used for analyzing the data. The various tests, such as structural equation modelling (SEM), correlation, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and bootstrapping, were performed to test the hypothesis. The analytical results revealed that GHRM and GTFL lead towards optimizing the EP of the firms. Moreover, the findings shed light on the roles of GHRM and GTFL to engage and motivate the employees for the organization’s ecological betterment by generating PEB in order to reach the EP of the firms. This study will be an extension of the existing body of knowledge by recognizing the predictors of GHRM and GTFL as substantial antecedents of the PEB of employees and the EP of the firms.

Industrial revolution has intensified water pollution due to the indiscriminate discharge of untreated industrial effluents into water bodies, posing a serious threat to the whole ecosystem. Recently, the floating treatment wetlands system (FTWs) technique has been used as one of the most innovative, cost-effective and environment-friendly option for wastewater treatment. The present study is aimed at investigating the Malachite green (MG) dye decolorizing potential of Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) through the development of a bacterial augmented FTWs. To an artificial FTWs, vegetated with E. crassipes and bioaugmented with Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas sp., synthetically prepared MG dye enriched wastewater was added. Among all the treatments developed, floating wetlands treatment T2 (consisting of dye, E. crassipes and Pseudomonas putida) performed the best in decolorizing the dye and in reducing values of electrical conductivity (EC), pH and total dissolved solids (TDS) of the treated water. Bacterial inoculation proved fruitful in assisting the increased MG dye decolorization in partnership with E. crassipes and also helped in aquatic plant growth promotion. MG dye toxicity effects were studied through phytotoxicity assay using FTWs treated water on Pisum sativum seeds, and satisfactory results were obtained. From experimental results, it can be seen that Eichhornia crassipes with bacterial inoculation have a strong ability to degrade and decolorize MG dye in textile effluents. We conclude that the plant-microbial assisted FTWs technique can be a unique approach to remediate the textile dye effluents before their release into water bodies.

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the moderation influence of CG regulatory compliance on the relationship between board diversity and voluntary disclosure (VD) of Nigerian listed firms since the literature on disclosure studies has concentrated principally on examining a direct relationship between internal governance mechanisms, neglecting the external regulations. Being an ex post facto design, a sample of 67 firms listed in the Nigerian stock exchange for the period 2012–2017 is used. A system GMM approach (being the best and most contemporary panel approach) is employed. The study revealed that the interaction of regulatory code compliance with board gender and ethnic diversity has a significant positive impact on the firms’ voluntary disclosure. The result also indicates that ethnic diversity shows a positive and significant association with voluntary disclosure. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this study is among the few attempts at explicitly examining the effect of CG regulatory compliance on board diversity and VD in CG studies, especially in a developing economy such as that of Nigeria. Additionally, it is among the few attempts that provide empirical results using superior dynamic panel models. This study provides a strong practical implication for business firms, policymakers, future research, and society. For instance, the findings have direct implications for Nigerian firms in the selection of directors in order to comprise well-educated people of different ethnic backgrounds and be inclusive of females.

Pollution by heavy metal cadmium (Cd) in soil is still serious and control measures are constantly updated. In this paper, one indoor culture method was applied to investigate the effect of phosphate and thermo-activated nano silicate combined application on soil cadmium (Cd) speciation transformation. A total of 7 treatments were designed, which were: simulated cadmium-contaminated soil without phosphate and silicate recorded as the reference (CK) treatment; mixtures of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0% soil heavy dose of potassium dihydrogen phosphate and 700 °C thermo-activated nano serpentine (potassium dihydrogen phosphate: thermo-activated nano serpentine ratio = 1:2) added to simulated cadmium-contaminated soil, denoted as nPS700-0.5, nPS700-1.0, and nPS700-2.0, respectively; and 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0% soil heavy dose of potassium dihydrogen phosphate and 700 °C thermo-activated nano zeolite mixture (potassium dihydrogen phosphate: thermo-activated nano zeolite ratio = 1:2) added to simulated cadmium-contaminated soil, denoted as nPF700-0.5, nPF700-1.0, and nPF700-2.0, respectively. The results showed that the combined application of potassium dihydrogen phosphate with thermo-activated nano serpentine or potassium dihydrogen phosphate with thermo-activated nano zeolite reduced the soil exchangeable Cd content to varying degrees and increased levels of carbonate-bound, Fe-Mn oxide-bound, organic-bound, and residual Cd forms to different degrees. In combined application of phosphate and thermo-activated nano silicate, the higher the dosage level, the greater the reduction of exchangeable Cd content and the better the effect on Cd-contaminated soil remediation: nPS700-2.0 > nPS700-1.0 > nPS700-0.5, nPF700-2.0 > nPF700-1.0 > nPF700-0.5 (N, P, S, and F represent nano, KH2PO4, serpentine, and zeolite, respectively, and 700 represents the activation temperature). At the same dosage level, the combined application of potassium dihydrogen phosphate and thermo-activated nano serpentine was more effective than that of potassium dihydrogen phosphate and thermo-activated nano zeolite in repairing Cd-contaminated soil (nPS700-2.0 > nPF700-2.0, nPS700-1.0 > nPF700-1.0, nPS700-0.5 > nPF700-0.5), which indicated that the combination of phosphate and thermo-activated nano silicate can passivate heavy metal cadmium (Cd) to a certain extent and promote the transformation of bioavailable Cd into an unusable state. The reason why potassium dihydrogen phosphate, zeolite, and serpentine can absorb heavy metal cadmium after entering the soil is because the silicate mineral itself can directly absorb cadmium. Second, after nano treatment and thermal activation, the specific surface areas and pores of the minerals increase, which enhances the adsorption performance. Third, because the pH value of the mineral itself is high, the pH value of the soil environment will rise, thereby transforming H2PO4− into PO43−, which is conducive to the adsorption of Cd2+.

This study investigates the influence of individual cultural value differences on pro-environmental behavior (PEB) among international students from various cultural backgrounds presently studying in Korean universities. Data was collected using an online, self-administered questionnaire from a sample of 224 international students. Analysis was performed through structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques with the help of AMOS 26 software. The results show that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are strong predictors of private and public-sphere PEB. The results indicated that the uncertainty avoidance, collectivistic, and long-term orientation values of international students have a significant positive effect on both private and public-sphere PEB. However, power distance does not affect PEB in the private and public spheres. Notably, masculinity is negatively associated with only public-sphere PEB. This study also provides valuable practical implications for policymakers and other stakeholders to promote sustainable behavior among international students.

This paper examines the role of financial stress in explaining the relationship between financial literacy and financial well-being among individuals in the United States. The 2018 FINRA National Financial Capability Study dataset is used for the empirical analyses of this study. The results found that financial literacy was positively associated with financial well-being. The study also found that the association between financial literacy and financial well-being was mediated by perceived financial stress experienced by individuals. Additionally, the results from the moderated mediation model showed that while financial stress mediated the association between financial literacy and financial well-being, the association between financial stress and financial well-being was moderated by financial literacy. Financial education was positively associated with financial literacy in this study. The broader implications of the main findings of this study for individuals’ sustainable financial well-being are presented for policymakers, financial educators, and financial counselors and planners.

In the face of drastic global climate change, the transition to a green economy is becoming increasingly important and it is understood as an opportunity to redesign and redefine business models, products and services, market approaches, forms of consumption, and production. Thus, this study aims to understand how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adhere to green innovation activities in the management of their business. To answer this objective, the qualitative approach (case study) was used with recourse to interview three SME owner-managers as data collection. From a content analysis, the results obtained show that green innovation is a focus of concern for managers but its operationalization has not proved easy. So two of the SMEs studied here have only implemented measures to recycle the waste produced by their daily activity, although they consider their transition to a green and sustainable business model to be important. The current macroeconomic scenarios reveal the urgent need for SMEs to change their traditional business models to a more sustainable model that involves their managers’ commitment to sustainable development objectives, supported by the green and circular economy, which requires reduction, reuse, and recycling that, as has been shown, still falls far short of expectations. This means that all business stakeholders must understand the reason for adopting green innovation.

Tourism is being impacted by climate change all around the world. Tourism is now seen as one of the economic sectors least equipped for the risks and opportunities provided by climate change, and it is just now establishing the capacity to advance the knowledge required to teach businesses, communities, and governments about the concerns and potential solutions. As a small coastal island, Prince Edward Island (PEI) on Canada’s Atlantic coast is highly vulnerable to climate change extremes, including coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and flooding. The island’s tourism industry generates substantial revenue for businesses and the government, yet it is highly vulnerable to the climate extremes that impact beach and sea-faring attractions. Limited research has been reported on this topic, and most information on island tourism and how sustainable tourism is achievable is out of date. Here, we present evidence of climate-related impacts and vulnerabilities in tourism within PEI and highlight existing and future adaptation strategies to support sustainability in this sector. Key information gaps are highlighted, and recommendations are proposed to facilitate climate resilience in Prince Edward Island’s tourism sector.

Data surveys show that near-fault ground motion does great damage to tunnel structures, especially the portal section and fault zone. In this paper, a series of shaking table model tests of near-fault tunnels were conducted and the surrounding-rock fault-zone-lining model of the near-fault tunnel was established. Accelerometers and strain gauges were arranged at specific locations, and the experimental process of earthquake occurrence was simulated by inputting seismic waves of different working conditions, which obtained the characteristics of stress, damage and deformation of the tunnel model. The tested results showed that the acceleration response of the tunnel portal section was close to the wave shape of the inputted seismic wave, and the acceleration response of the arch shoulder, arch waist and arch foot was more prominent. The internal force of lining at the arch shoulder and arch foot was greater than that at the arch crown, and the peak internal force appeared at the arch foot. The internal force and the maximum or minimum principal stress of the lining under impulse ground motion were larger than those under non-impulse ground motion. Additionally, the surrounding rock had a filtering effect on the high-frequency band of seismic waves. Meanwhile, when the geological characteristics of the fault zone were poor, and the tensile damage first appeared at the arch foot, the compressive damage appeared at the junction of the surrounding rock and fault zone. This study will offer a practical guidance for tunnel engineering earthquake damage.

Heavy metals in the environment cause adverse effects on living organisms. Agro-wastes have the potential to remove heavy metals from aqueous solutions. In this study, the orange peel cellulose (OPC) beads were utilized as adsorbents to remove metals from wastewater. The surface of the adsorbent was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The concentrations of the metals before and after adsorption were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The removal of the metal ions (i.e., Cr6+, Cd2+, and Pb2+) using the OPC was investigated by varying the pH, contact time, and adsorbent dosages parameters. The maximum removal efficiency obtained for the metal ions occurred at pHs 4–8. The use of the Langmuir isotherm and Freundlich isotherm models demonstrated the statistical significance of the heavy metal adsorption processes (R2 > 0.96). At a neutral pH, the OPC adsorption order was Pb2+ > Cd2+ > Cr6+ with % removal values of 98.33, 93.91, and 33.50, respectively. The adsorption equilibrium for Cr6+ was reached after 36 h. For Cd2+ and Pb2+, equilibrium was reached after 8 and 12 h, respectively. The FT-IR and SEM-EDS confirmed the presence of many functional groups and elements on the adsorbent. The adsorption of heavy metals using the OPC is a low-cost, eco-friendly, and innovative method for the removal of metals in aquatic environments. The findings of this study will be highly significant for the public in the affected areas worldwide that have credible health concerns due to water contamination with heavy metals.

With the exponential growth of educational data, increasing attention has been given to student learning supported by learning analytics dashboards. Related research has indicated that dashboards relying on descriptive analytics are deficient compared to more advanced analytics. However, there is a lack of empirical data to demonstrate the performance and differences between different types of analytics in dashboards. To investigate these, the study used a controlled, between-groups experimental method to compare the effects of descriptive and prescriptive dashboards on learning outcomes. Based on the learning analytics results, the descriptive dashboard describes the learning state and the prescriptive dashboard provides suggestions for learning paths. The results show that both descriptive and prescriptive dashboards can effectively promote students’ cognitive development. The advantage of prescriptive dashboard over descriptive dashboard is its promotion in learners’ learning strategies. In addition, learners’ prior knowledge and learning strategies determine the extent of the impact of dashboard feedback on learning outcomes.

Law reinforcement agencies can be established to improve enterprise environmental performance, a determinant of sustainable growth, but their micropractical evaluation is unclear. This paper uses panel data (1998–2014) from the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Pollution Database and the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database and adopts the multiperiod difference-in-differences (DID) method to investigate the impact of law reinforcement on enterprise environmental performance (measured by air pollutant emissions). Using the establishment of China’s city-level environmental courts (ECs) as an identification strategy, the study finds a strong positive effect of EC establishment on firms’ environmental performance and confirms the validity of law reinforcement. Furthermore, the effects are heterogeneous for firms with different characteristics (including scale, profit, ownership, pollution intensity and location). Notably, we find that firms improve their environmental performance by changing their production pattern and energy consumption structure. Additionally, ECs could influence firms’ environmental behaviors by enhancing judicial efficiency and generating a deterrence effect. These findings show the government could improve enterprises’ environmental performance through law reinforcement but should consider the heterogeneous effect on different firms.

Liaoning Province, as an old industrial urban agglomeration since the founding of China, is an important link between the Bohai Economic Zone and the Northeast Economic Zone, and it has made great contributions to the economic development of China. The transformation of China’s economy and heavy industrial development have posed great challenges to the long-lasting growth of Liaoning Province. In this study, the driving force of land expansion was detected using the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model in Liaoning Province, and the land situation in 2030 was predicted under natural development, ecological protection, and economic development scenarios. We then further coupled the PLUS model with the integrated valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs (InVEST) model to explore the spatial autocorrelation and synergistic relationship between carbon storage and habitat quality. The results indicated the following: (1) The total accuracy of the simulation in 2020 using the PLUS model reached 94.16%, and the Kappa coefficient reached 0.9089; therefore, the simulation result was highly reliable. (2) The overall spatial pattern of both carbon storage and habitat quality decreased from the northwest and southeast to the middle, and habitat quality had an impact on carbon storage to a certain extent, with a positive spatial correlation. (3) The ecological protection (EP) scenario was the only development prospect with increasing total carbon storage, which could increase carbon sequestration by approximately 7.83 × 106 Mg/C, and development prospects with optimal habitat quality. (4) Weak trade-off and weak synergy dominated in the 2030 natural development (ND) scenario; most regions showed weak synergy in the ecological protection scenario, spatial heterogeneity became more pronounced in the economic development (ED) scenario, and a strong trade-off and strong synergy emerged in individual regions. The results of the study have a positive feedback effect on establishing an ecological security barrier in Liaoning Province and furthering long-lasting low-carbon urban development.

COVID-19 has resulted in the increased use of distance learning around the world. With the advancement of information technology, traditional classroom teaching has gradually integrated the Internet and distance learning methods. Students need to be able to learn on their own in a distance learning environment, so their ability to self-regulate their learning in a distance learning environment cannot be ignored. However, in previous studies on self-regulated learning, most learners learn alone. When they have academic doubts, they cannot obtain help and support from their studies, resulting in reduced learning outcomes. This study uses the peer self-disciplined learning mechanism to establish a distance teaching system that assists students and to improve their own learning status by meeting with peers at a distance. It can also help learners orient themselves by observing their peers’ learning status and goal considerations. The participants in this study were 112 college students in the department of information management. The control group used a general self-regulated teaching system for learning, and the experimental group used a distance learning system, incorporating peer self-regulated learning. The results of the study found that learners who used the distance peer learning mechanism were more effective than those who used the general distance self-regulated learning system; learners who used the distance peer-regulated learning mechanism had better motivation, self-efficacy, and reflection after the learning activity than those who used the general distance self-regulated learning system. In addition, with the aid of such mechanisms, learners’ cognitive load can be reduced, and learning effectiveness can be improved.

Funding Information: This research is currently funded by a pre-doctoral contract within the framework of the UNED-Banco Santander agreement. Likewise the doctoral stay corresponding to this study has been carried out at UAb thanks to an international mobility grant from Banco Santander for doctoral students enrolled in the International Doctoral School of UNED. Funding Information: We would like to acknowledge the participation in this project of the interviewees from UAb and UNED. Their predisposition and expertise have been essential in the development of this research. We would also like to thank Maria José Bautista-Cerro Ruiz (EIDUNED) for her support throughout the elaboration of this paper. Finally, we would like to underline the relevance of the financial support given by UNED-Banco Santander agreement for the development of this research. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. The current eco-social crisis includes global challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation and demographic shifts that call for a global response. The European Environment Agency claims that over the next decade, very different answers will be needed to the world’s challenges than the ones provided over the past 40 years to confront the foreseeable global changes. Higher Education Institutions have their own responsibility in training future professionals in cross-cutting key competences for sustainability, which are defined through different frameworks. Considering that current students will need to overcome global challenges, this research aims to identify the ways in which Higher Education Institutions are anticipating the introduction of key competences for sustainability into the curricula of their programs. Specifically, it aims to detect the perception of the heads of three departments and three faculties of two universities in Spain and Portugal about the presence of key competences for sustainability in the selected degrees. For this study, a qualitative research approach was employed. The methodology used involved the application of interviews to departments and faculties heads. The results showed there is a growing interest in sustainability at Higher Education Institutions, but key competences for sustainability were not yet sufficiently valued as competences needed for the students in the future, in particular those linked with the professional world. Further similar research could be conducted at other levels (master’s degree, doctorate). publishersversion published

The concept and application of nature-based solutions (NBS) have been rapidly progressing in Europe and Latin America, reflecting a transition in the way that urban governance is perceived. There is a large call for the collaborative, polycentric, and interdisciplinary governance of NBS. However, research on options for operationalising these governance processes in different contexts is still insufficient. This study explores and analyses the operationalisation of NBS adaptive governance in Europe and Latin America. Seven cities that are part of the project EU-H2020 CONEXUS have been selected as case studies: Barcelona, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo, and Turin. This contribution aims to (i) understand how NBS governance processes are managed; (ii) identify the main positive and negative factors that influence NBS adaptive governance; and (iii) understand common factors and relationships that can hinder or drive forward adaptive governance for NBS in the investigated contexts. The results revealed common priorities indicating a shared pathway for Europe and Latin America; however, context-dependent specificities were also observed. These findings can be used to support cities in both European and American contexts in developing plans and actions for the more efficient enabling of NBS implementation and governance through adaptive governance.

Using motorcycle crash data from 2016 to 2019, this paper aims to uncover and compare the risk factors that influence the severity of motorcyclist injuries sustained in daytime and nighttime motorcycle crashes in Thailand. Mixed-ordered probit models with means and variances in heterogeneity were used to take into consideration unobserved heterogeneity. The temporal instability of risk factors was also extensively explored. The results show that male motorcyclists, speeding, fatigue, crashes in work zones, crashes on raised median roads, intersection-related crashes, crashes on wet roads, and crashes on unlit roads are all factors that are positively associated with the risk of death and serious injury in nighttime crashes. The presence of pillions, crashes on two-lane roads, crashes on depressed/flush median roads, crashes in rural areas, U-turn-related crashes, weekend crashes involving heavy vehicles, and head-on crashes are factors that were positively associated with risk of death and serious injury for both daytime and nighttime crashes. This study’s findings provide evidence that factors that influence motorcycle accidents during the daytime and nighttime vary significantly. Additionally, nighttime crashes typically carried a higher risk of fatalities or serious injuries compared to daytime crashes. A discussion of policy recommendations is also provided.

Japan’s urban planning system began with the Urban Renewal (1885) and has been modified since then in various ways through the Tokyo City Improvement Ordinance (1888) and the City Planning Law (1919). From 1895 to 1945 (Japanese colonization era), Japan applied and tested its urban planning in Taipei (1895–1945), Seoul (1910–1945, Gyeongseong), and Beijing (1936–1945). Although Tokyo was the first city discussed for planning, urban renewal was implemented in other colonized cities in a similar period. What Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and Taipei have in common is that they are built around fortress walls. Hence, the present study aims to examine the characteristics of Tokyo’s urban planning and reveal how Japan’s urban planning transformed these cities in East Asia, which had different cultures and styles, during Japanese colonial rule. We analyzed urban renewal projects implemented in each city, the organization of a committee to plan the City Planning Ordinance, the effect of urban planning, the characteristics of urban planning, and changes in existing downtowns.

Effective residence planning is crucial to encourage sustainable housing development. Residents in densely populated cities inevitably have negative residential experiences caused by compact land use. Still, this situation is improvable through optimizing the physical environment or increasing service facilities that cater to dwellers’ residential preferences. Therefore, understanding the factors impacting residential satisfaction in high-population metropolitan areas is essential mainly. This study surveyed the citizens’ residential environment and satisfaction in dense urban residential areas. Results of this survey indicate that 13 environmental factors significantly impact residential evaluation. Among them, improving ventilation, privacy, and property maintenance can effectively address the adverse effects of densely populated communities. Additionally, neighborhoods or amenities could further impact younger respondents’ residential evaluation. Elderly citizens place high importance on the quality of their indoor living environment. Green space could promote the residential satisfaction of young and more senior citizens. Environmental factors can significantly affect the residential satisfaction of citizens across all age groups with their homes. As a result, real estate planners should provide a range of dwelling unit designs to support housing development. Real estate planners can better understand the needs of potential clients by considering the housing preferences of individuals across different age groups and the surrounding neighborhood. The indoor or outdoor environment might be adjusted to meet households’ demands, while non-essential factors could be omitted to cut expenses. This study might aid in the sound development of dwellings.

It is necessary to review changes in the interactions of indicators following the construction of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in order to explore the impact of the dam on ecology. Research on changes in interactions among indicators of the comprehensive social–economic–ecology system in the Yangtze River Basin is limited, and the objective of this study was to investigate how this system changed after the operation of the TGD, as well as how the indicators contributed to this change. Here, the correlational network approach using 38 data point indicators from 1949 to 2018 of the Yangtze River Basin was applied to analyze the changes in indicator interactions before and after the TGD operation. The TGD impoundment altered networks of the social–economic–ecological system in the Yangtze River Basin. Indicators are both less positively and less negatively connected. The number of synergy and trade-off networks clusters changed from two (Modularity = 0.33) to -six (Modularity = 0.23) and from two (Modularity = 0.015) to four (Modularity = 0.34) after the TGD operation, indicating that the sustainable development of the Yangtze River Basin might be at a middle level after the TGD operation. Further analysis revealed that the mean annual discharge, downstream fry runoff, and downstream counts of the eggs and larvae of four carp, diatom abundance index, breeding population of Chinese sturgeon, and annual precipitation contributed more to the changes in the networks after 2003.

Presented in this study is a comparative life cycle assessment of 60 wind plant systems’ GHG intensities (49 of onshore and 11 of offshore) in China with regard to different geographical location, turbine technology and management level. As expected, geographical location and turbine technology affect the results marginally. The result shows that the life-cycle GHG intensities of onshore and offshore cases are 5.84–16.71 g CO2eq/kWh and 13.30–29.45 g CO2eq/kWh, respectively, which could be decreased by 36.41% and 41.30% when recycling materials are considered. With wind power density increasing, the GHG intensities of onshore cases tend to decline, but for offshore cases, the larger GHG intensity is as the offshore distance increases. The GHG intensities of onshore cases present a decreasing trend along with the technical advancement, and offshore counterparts is around 65% higher than the onshore cases in terms of wind turbines rated at more than 3 MW. The enlarging of offshore turbine size does not necessarily bring marginal benefit as onshore counterparts due to the increasing cost from construction and maintenance. After changing the functional unit to 1 kWh on-grid electricity (practical), the highest GHG intensities of Gansu province increase to 17.94 g CO2eq/kWh, same as other wind resource rich provinces, which significantly offsets their wind resource endowment. The results obtained in this study also highlight the necessity for policy interventions in China to enhance resource exploration efficiency and promote robust and sustainable development of the wind power industry.

The effects of producer gas (PG), hydrogen (H2), and neem oil methyl ester-blended fuel (NeOME B20) flow rate optimization on dual fuel (DF) engine performance were examined in the current work. PG and H2 were used as primary fuels, while NeOME B20 was used as a secondary pilot fuel in the DF engine. The DF engine’s performance and pollution levels were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) and the results were compared with experimental values. The full factorial design (FFD) has been used to minimize the number of experiments. The design of experiments (DOEs) with an experimental design matrix of 27 distinct combinations were taken into consideration. The primary goal of the effort is to optimize different fuel flow rates for better brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and lower tail pipe exhaust pollutants. The developed RSM model is validated with experimental results for the selected fuel flow rates using a desirability approach. Experiments were carried out at a constant speed of 1500 rpm, compression ratio (CR) of 17.5, injector opening pressure (IOP) 240 bar, six-hole nozzle with 0.2 mm diameter, and injection timing (IT) of 27° before top dead center (bTDC). The flow rates of NeOME B20, PG, and H2 varied from 0.4 to 0.8 kg/h, 7 to 9 kg/h, and 0.029 to 0.059 kg/h, respectively. Optimum flow rates for NeOME B20, PG, and H2 were found to be 0.8, 7, and 0.044, kg/h respectively for the maximized break thermal efficiency (BTE) and reduced exhaust emission levels. However, a marginal increase in NOx was noticed. In addition, the delay period and combustion duration were reduced, and the cylinder pressure (CP) and heat release rate (HRR) were increased for the optimal condition with a desirability of 0.998. Overall, DF operation with selected fuel combinations was found to be smooth and satisfactory.

This research aims at establishing an integrated urban public transport system with a subway route supplemented by conventional bus lines, in order to enable residents’ “door-to-door” travel. This paper first analyzed the attraction area of the subway, and then used the GIS tools to calculate and analyze residents’ accessibility to adjacent bus stops. Moreover, it created a preliminary layout of bus stops for residential areas with extremely low accessibility using an improved potential model. From the perspective of minimizing residents’ travel costs and bus stop infrastructure deployment costs, a bus stop site selection optimization model was developed. According to the characteristics of the model, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) was employed to solve the optimal bus stop locations. In addition, the entropy weight technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) evaluation model was used to evaluate and sort candidate schemes, accordingly, and thus the optimal site selection scheme was identified. Finally, a before-after comparative analysis on residents’ travel accessibility was conducted. Results show that the proposed method can effectively improve residents’ accessibility to bus stops, which facilitates residents to transfer from conventional bus to subway. Furthermore, it provides a basis for the follow-up optimization of the connection between subway and conventional bus lines.

Sustainability and the circular economy (CE) are issues of increasing interest to governments, investors, industry, and civil society; for this reason, the implementation of a business model for circularity and/or sustainability is becoming crucial for achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage for various organizations. In this context, consumers play a crucial role in reducing the environmental impact of business processes through their choices and behaviors. “Sustainable consumption” is a growing global concern that will link human behavior with the planet’s future. Negligent behavior by individuals in their daily lives has a significant impact on the environment, with devastating consequences for the survival of humankind itself. However, even though sustainability issues and the circular economy have now widely involved consumers, making them seem aware of how the behavioral ran has a direct impact on the environment, the percentage of people who accompany this awareness with truly sustainable behavior and who are therefore willing to embrace the goal of “saving the planet” is small. Therefore, this study hypothesizes that from a sample of consumers with a particular interest in environmental and sustainability issues, there are subsamples of consumers who show a particular interest in adopting sustainable purchasing behavior regarding food products. Our analysis adds essential results to the existing literature by using a methodology that can improve the homogeneity of a sustainable consumer dataset to assess consumer behavior. Through cluster analysis, one of the most widely used techniques, it is possible to extract a sub-sample of consumers with conceptions on environmental and sustainability issues that may influence their awareness of buying sustainable food products. The results show the presence of four different consumer clusters, Some consumers are sustainability and environmentally aware, other consumers are indifferent to environmental issues, and finally, some consumers show minimal attention to sustainability but little involvement in activities. The study shows that attention to environmental sustainability has clear policy and managerial and scientific implications that can increase consumer awareness.

The production of Portland cement is energy-intensive and polluting. As a result, the search for ecological and economical alternatives has become a global priority. Geopolymers are among the most promising ecological alternatives to Portland cement. Their properties depend on the nature and concentration of the activators. This study investigates the effect of Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio and NaOH molarity on the alkaline activation of natural volcanic pozzolan. The physico-mechanical and microstructural properties of the investigated geopolymer were evaluated using compressive strength, density, porosity, water absorption, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that the optimal parameters for activation are a NaOH molarity of 8 mol/L and Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio of 1.2. These parameters enhance the dissolution of the volcanic pozzolan and the formation of a N-A-S-H geopolymer gel, resulting in a dense, less porous matrix with good resistance.

In recent years, the smart city concept has developed rapidly and has gradually become the most popular urban concept. However, the advent of the new century has been accompanied by the emergence of many other emerging city concepts. For these emerging urban concepts, such as a resilient city, low-carbon city, sponge city, and inclusive city, it needs to be clarified how these concepts relate to a smart city. In this paper, the scientometrics software Pajek was used to analyze the publication activities of the city concept and two-mode keywords co-occurrence network with cities. Meanwhile, the study also explores these concepts’ global development and correlation. Further, it also analyzes the core problems that each city concept addresses through a literature review. It was observed that although the research content of these four city concepts is different from that of smart cities, they are conceptually and technologically connected with them. The development of smart cities can accelerate the smart development of other city concepts. At the same time, it can acquire and absorb more advanced models from other city concepts to enrich itself. The results suggest that the development of city concepts should be more comprehensive to help cities become more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, which has important implications for urban policy and practice.

When the World Health Organization (WHO) analyzed the culprits of global warming, it was found that in developed countries with relatively few high-polluting heavy industries, the medical sector is one of the sources of high-density carbon emissions. Therefore, the medical industry has a noticeable impact on the environment. Amid the current COVID-19 epidemic, this study adopts the theory of planned behavior (TPB), widely used in decision-making science. We selected a regional teaching hospital with 339 employees in Taiwan to obtain valid questionnaire data. We explore the comparative analysis of different intra-organizational stakeholders’ “attitudes,” “subjective norms,” and “perceived behavioral control” on the hospital’s behavioral intention to promote green healthcare. The results show that the TPB model has reliable explanatory power. All three factors have a positive and significant effect on promoting green hospital behavior. Among them, perceived behavioral control was the most notable. A comparative analysis of the differences among stakeholders in the research model shows that “medical administrators” and “nursing staff” have a higher proportion of significant influence effects in various hypotheses, highlighting the critical roles of these two groups in promoting green hospitals. This research policy suggests that the cross-departmental staff in the hospital put forward green innovation ideas, strengthen internal environmental education and management, establish a good incentive system for front-line nursing staff, and implement the sustainable development strategy of the hospital.

The electrochemical treatment of canal water was investigated in a batch-wise system in the presence of stainless steel 316-grade electrodes. Three effective process parameters, including current density, reaction time, and electrode spacing, were evaluated in the range of 0.25–2.5 mA/cm2, 1–10 min, and 0.5–2.5 cm, respectively. Operational variables of electrochemical disinfection are optimized in response surface methodology (RSM) using Box–Behnken design. Before electrochemical disinfection, a pretreatment process of coagulants mixing for turbidity removal was conducted. Results revealed that a 10 ppm dosage of Ferric chloride (FeCl3.6H2O) and alum (Al2(SO4)3·16H2O) at neutral pH is appropriate. Furthermore, the RSM analysis shows that interelectrode spacing is the most prominent factor affecting the disinfection performance, and increasing electrode spacing inversely affects the disinfection efficiency. Results revealed that 1.52 mA/cm2 current density, 6.35 min reaction time, and 1.13 cm of electrode spacing are the optimum conditions, resulting in a statistically 98.08% disinfection of the total coliform. The energy required for electrochemically disinfection of water at optimum conditions was 0.256 kWh/m3.

Vegetation is an important component of the terrestrial ecosystem, and studying the rules of vegetation change and its driving factors is helpful to strengthen the ecological protection and sustainable development of regional vegetation. This study analyzes the changes in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and its response to climate factors in the five regions of western Ordos and eastern Alxa in China between 2000 and 2020. The MODIS NDVI and meteorological data from 2000 to 2020 was used and the ordinary least squares, trend analysis, and correlation analysis methods were analyzed. The NDVI in this region shows spatial differentiation and is high in the east and low in the west. The overall NDVI has shown a significant increasing trend (p < 0.01), and the slope value of the rate of change also shows that the NDVI in 98.17% of the area is increasing. On a temporal scale, NDVI had a significant positive correlation with precipitation (p < 0.01), but no significant correlation with temperature changes. On a spatial scale, NDVI was positively correlated with precipitation, which accounted for 95.57% of spatial changes, of which a significant positive correlation accounted for 34.99% (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the temperature and NDVI were negatively correlated but not significantly. A positive correlation accounted for 45.95% of the change, but the insignificant negative correlation accounted for 54.05%. Therefore, comprehensive analysis showed that precipitation played a leading role in the NDVI in the study area. The results are helpful to study the driving mechanism of vegetation growth and provide reference for vegetation protection in regions of western Ordos and eastern Alxa of Inner Mongolia, China.