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In the global pursuit of sustainability, higher education institutions serve as powerful actors, leveraging their multifaceted contributions to advance the implementation of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study employed a multi-dimensional analysis to evaluate the prioritization of these goals within the institutional framework of Arab universities and identify the key factors that drive their involvement with these goals. The methodology used involved a quantitative approach, utilizing a survey questionnaire to collect data from faculty members representing 30 public universities across the Arab region. The results of the study regarding prioritization analysis reveal that SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) are top priorities across all universities, with prioritization scores exceeding 65.4. Furthermore, the results of the ordinal logistic regression analysis demonstrate that institutional governance and research productivity are significant factors that influence Arab universities' engagement with the SDGs. The findings of this study have important implications for higher education policies, practices, and interventions, aimed at fostering university engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land surface temperature (LST) is essentially considered to be one of the most important indicators used for assessment of the urban thermal environment. It is quite evident that land-use/land-cover (LULC) and landscape patterns have ecological implications at varying spatial scales, which in turn influence the distribution of habitat and material/energy fluxes in the landscape. This article attempts to quantitatively analyse the complex interrelationships between urban LST and LULC landscape patterns with the purpose of elucidating their relation to landscape processes. The study employed an integrated approach involving remote-sensing, geographic information system (GIS), and landscape ecology techniques on bi-temporal Landsat Thematic Mapper images of Southwestern Sydney metropolitan region and the surrounding fringe, taken at approximately the same time of the year in July 1993 and July 2006. First, the LULC categories and LST were extracted from the bi-temporal images. The LST distribution and changes and LST of the LULC categories were then quantitatively analysed using landscape metrics and LST zones. The results show that large differences in temperature existed in even a single LULC category, except for variations between different LULC categories. In each LST zone, the regressive function of LST with fractional vegetation cover (FVC) indicated a significant relationship between LST and FVC. Landscape metrics of LULC categories in each zone in relation to the other zones showed changing patterns between 1993 and 2006. This study also illustrates that a method integrating retrieval of LST and FVC from remote-sensing images combined with landscape metrics provides a novel and feasible way to describe the spatial distribution and temporal variation in urban thermal patterns and associated LULC conditions in a quantitative manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]