Environmental Sustainability Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, Sustainability

Loss and damage from climate change have risen to a prominent position on the international agenda. At COP27 in 2022, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ratified a decision to establish a loss and damage fund to compensate low- and middle-income countries that are suffering negative impacts from climate change. The fund is meant to address the Global Adaptation Gap, which describes the rising cost of adaptation needed to cope with climate change impacts due to delayed action to curb greenhouse gas emissions and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This essay highlights issues around loss and damage from climate change from a variety of natural and social science perspectives. From three months of discussions, an interdisciplinary perspective and research agenda on this topic have crystallised, which is outlined here. Given that the implementation of the loss and damage fund still needs negotiation and commitment from...

2025, American journal of climate change

As the global temperature continues to increase, the sea level continues to rise at a rapid rate that has never been seen before. This becomes an issue for many facets of life but one of the most impacted is the transportation infrastructure. Many people living in low elevation coastal areas can become trapped by flooding with no way in or out. With Delaware being a coastal state, this would affect a large portion of the population and will have detrimental effects over time if nothing is done to combat sea level rise. The issue with sea level rise in transportation is that once the roads become flooded, they become virtually unusable and detour routes would be needed. If all the roads in a coastal area were to be affected by sea level rise, the options for detours would become limited. This article looks at direct solutions to combat sea level rise and indirect solutions that would specifically help transportation infrastructure and evacuation routes in Delaware. There is not one solution that can fix every problem, so many solutions are laid out to see what is applicable to each affected area. Some solutions include defense structures that would be put close to the coast, raising the elevation of vulnerable roads throughout the state and including pumping stations to drain the water on the surface of the road. With an understanding of all these solutions around the world, the ultimate conclusion came in the form of a six-step plan that Delaware should take in order to best design against sea level rise in these coastal areas.

2025, Open Journal of Energy Efficiency

A great challenge in water electrolysis is how to optimize the major factors that influence the production of hydrogen gas. Over the past years, different methods have been used to produce hydrogen gas from carbon-base fossil fuels but these methods have been proven to be environmentally unfriendly due to the enormous release of greenhouse gases associated with their use. In this work, an experimental study was carried out to evaluate the effect of electrolyte strength, voltage and time on the volume of HHO gas produced using a design built HHO gas generator. The generator was constructed from Stainless Steel 316 L plates made of 3 anodes, 3 cathodes, and 20 neutral plates. During the study, the strengths of KOH, NaOH, and NaHCO 3 was prepared within the range of 0.010 M -0.030 M. The prepared strengths for each catalyst were then varied across voltage range of 9 V to 13 V for 50 seconds. The experimental results obtained showed that, increasing electrolyte strength, voltage and time proportionally increased the yield of HHO gas. An optimal yield rate of 2.27 cm 3 /s of HHO gas was obtained when the generator was run at 13 V using 0.025 M KOH. In addition, other factors studied including electrode surface morphology, plate's configuration, and temperature also showed improvement in yield of HHO gas by 41.85%, 69.74%, and 71.96% respectively.

2025, JRST (Jurnal Riset Sains dan Teknologi)

Salah satu mekanisme yang diajukan Pemerintah untuk mengurangi volume sampah adalah dengan program Bank Sampah. Pada tahun 2019, Kabupaten Bantul memiliki 117 bank sampah, 40% bank sampah yang aktif, 9% bank sampah kurang aktif, dan 51% bank sampah yang tutup. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa tingkat partisipasi masyarakat masih kurang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengatahui faktor penghambat masyarakat untuk berpartisipasi aktif di bank sampah. Metode yang digunakan pada penelitian yaitu regresi linear. Penentuan jumlah sampel menggunakan teknik purposive sampling dengan kriteria dalam pemilihan responden yaitu masyarakat yang menjadi anggota pasif bank sampah atau belum mengikuti kegiatan bank sampah. Jumlah responden sebanyak 223 kuisioner. Variabel penelitian yaitu sikap, ketidaknyamanan, situasional bank sampah, situasional nasabah, niat perpartisipasi di bank sampah, dan perilaku. Hasil dari penelitian menunjukkan bahwa sikap, ketidaknyamanan, situasional nasabah, dan situasional...

2025, El Estado sometido: espejismos de la regulación financiera, financiamiento sostenible y política económica en el neoliberalismo

Ante las distintas transformaciones que han venido ocurriendo en los sistemas económicos, los mercados financieros se han caracterizado por dar mayor importancia a intermediarios e inversionistas privados altamente vinculados con las instituciones estatales. Así, organismos como los bancos centrales ocupan un lugar cada vez más importante en la implementación de la política económica. Igualmente, la aparición de nuevos problemas, como la necesidad de la transición energética y el surgimiento de nuevas tecnologías, ha obligado a replantear el papel de la
regulación estatal.

2025, Transylvanian Review of Systematical and Ecological Research

This paper proposes a novel multi-task statistical learning framework which aims to concurrently address all the environmental challenges in the Alps. The goal is to analyse the effects of lichen and fog on water balance. The objective is the analysis of water balance mechanisms by investigating the contribution of fog and the role of forest age in the water cycle. The methods include advanced multitask learning with statistical modelling techniques. The results shown that interception plays a dominant role in the precipitation and evapotranspiration partitioning, enhanced by lichens. Trees transpiration as lower in the young stand and the evapotranspiration of soil and understory contributed considerably to the water balance at both stands. Moreover, fog caused additional throughfall in mixed fog and rain precipitation. RÉSUMÉ: Apprentissage multitâche avec paramétrisation statistique pour une analyse écohydrologique. Cette étude examine les effets des lichens et du brouillard sur le bilan hydrique des Alpes. L'objectif est l'analyse des mécanismes du bilan hydrique: contribution du brouillard et rôle de l'âge de la forêt dans le cycle de l'eau. Les méthodes incluent un apprentissage multitâche avancé avec des techniques de modélisation statistique. Les résultats montrent que l'interception joue un rôle dans la précipitation et l'évapotranspiration, renforcée par de lichens. La transpiration des arbres était plus faible dans le peuplement jeune, tandis que l'évapotranspiration du sol et du sous-bois a contribué considérablement au bilan hydrique des deux peuplements. REZUMAT: Învățare multisarcină cu parametrizare statistică pentru o analiză ecohidrologică. Acest studiu investighează efectele lichenilor și a ceții asupra echilibrului apei din Alpii. Obiectivul este analiza mecanismelor de bilanț al apei: contribuția ceții și rolul vârstei pădurilor în ciclul apei. Metodele includ învățare multisarcină avansată cu tehnici de modelare statistică. Rezultatele au arătat că interceptarea joacă un rol în compartimentarea precipitațiilor și evapotranspirației, sporită de licheni. Transpirația arborilor a fost mai scăzută în arboretul tânăr, iar evapotranspirația solului și a tufărișurilor a contribuit considerabil la echilibrul hidric la ambele arborete. Ceața a provocat căderi suplimentare de precipitații mixte de ceață și ploaie.

2025, European Mechanical Science

In this study, integration of appropriate renewable methods are going to be applied on conventional coal fired steam power plant which has 660 MW full load capacity and including 4 Turbines (1 HP, 1 IP and 2 LP), one Benson type boiler and having multi pre heater stages for each unit. Steam parameters are 177 Bar and 541 o C super-heater section and 50 bar 539 o C for re-heater section. Primary fuel is coal except for startup and shut down operations. It is aimed by retrofitting some renewable energy methods on existing power plant, thus eliminating conventional type power plants adverse effects on thermodynamically, environmental and economic issues. One of the most important issue of conventional steam power plant operation is waste heat recovery management. A widespread techniques has been developed on this topic. It's possible to handle low grade heat by considering thermodynamic and environmental facts and also dealing with restrictions and opportunities after fulfilled feasibility study. In this study, it is being proposed waste heat recovery by combining Organic-Rankine Cycle (ORC) with steam-Rankine cycle at available section. Brief summary of operation is ORC takes place after regenerative air preheater section and the target is to utilize waste heat of flue gas either via district heating or power generation up to few MW values. Depending upon the calculation and results additional modifications can further be needed as well.

2025

The Ipomoea pes-caprae along with water samples were collected from two different sites of east coast of India, namely Marina Beach, Chennai in South India and Digha, West Bengal in North east India during 2018 to 2022. In both water and biological samples, a rising trend is observed except during 2020, which is due to COVID-19 lockdown phase when all the industrial operations, fishing activities, tourism activities were temporarily shut down. The overall results prove the eco-restoration of coastal water quality during COVID-19 lockdown phase.The potential of I. pes-capraeto bioaccumulate heavy metals in their vegetative parts have two importance's, viz. (i) the species can act as an indicator of heavy metal pollution, and (ii) the species can act as an agent of bioremediation. Hence, it is the need of the hour to lower the levels of heavy metals in coastal water through mass scale plantation of potential floral species as it is not only eco-friendly, but also cost-effective.

2025, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

Hotels can play an important role in tourists' experiences. Illumination is a critical component in hotel design. The objective of this study is to document appropriate educational activities which advocated the design of green (sustainable and healthy) hotels while specifically addressing relevant illumination issues, (i.e., reducing energy consumption through the use of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and state-of-the-art lighting controls; and using "daylight harvesting") so as to prepare University students to understand and improve hotel designs of the future. This presentation will explore three very different, faculty-led, educational activities (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) related to green hotels, all conducted with the ultimate goal of understanding and improving tourist experiences: Part 1). Graduate student workshop at international conference: document hotel guest room temporary LED conversion and determine light spectra and light level measurement activity using spectrometers; Part 2). Undergraduate student in-class field study: document LED replacements in an on-campus hotel guest room's temporary conversion and light spectra and light measurement activity using spectrometers and light meters; Part 3). Six-week undergraduate student design studio class project to renovate lighting of an existing hotel such that it was sustainable. Use of energy-efficient light sources and lighting controls while minimizing watts/square feet were important considerations. Students utilized spectrometers and AutoCAD Enscape software to explore existing conditions or develop hotel renovation recommendations. N=61 students participated in the three activities. Students gained knowledge of "real-world", appropriate lighting design approaches for green hotels which could influence tourists' future experiences.

2025, Academia Environmental Sciences and Sustainability

This study evaluates Namibia’s maritime security frameworks and their role in facilitating the country’s transition to a green economy. Namibia’s coastline, rich in marine resources, presents both opportunities and challenges for sustainable development. This study investigates the effectiveness of current ocean governance and conservation strategies in promoting sustainability, identifies gaps and opportunities in maritime security, and proposes policy recommendations for enhancing sustainable ocean management. Grounded in global sustainability principles, the research aligns Namibia’s maritime security agenda with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 14 (life below water) and 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions). A qualitative research approach was employed, combining policy document analysis with stakeholder consultations conducted through semi-structured interviews. This methodological design enabled the collection of nuanced insights into policy frameworks, institutional capacities, and stakeholder perspectives on maritime security and sustainable ocean governance. The findings reveal the critical role of effective maritime security and governance in advancing Namibia’s green economy aspirations. This study contributes to global discussions on operationalizing sustainable ocean principles by addressing socio-economic and environmental dimensions of maritime security.

2025

This paper is structured on two mainly sections. In the first section there are presented actual knowledge about the origin of the modern humans, based on the mtDNA and genomic DNA analysis at the fossil and actual human species. In the second section, based on the classical centres of the domesticated of the plants, elaborated by Nikolai I. Vavilov, as well as on the paleontological data, Earth surface evolution, on the migration and dispersion on the Earth surface of the human populations, etc., there are discussed the domestically centres of some culture plants and animals. It is evidenced the importance of the human populations presence and their migration, the size of the considered area, as well as the genetic diversity of the biological sources. It is discussed the domestication process of some culture plants as: wheat, rye, barley, potato, grape vine, garlic, black cumin, etc., as well as of some animals as horse, dog, chicken. The implication of many factors in the domestication process is evidently. A special attention can be accorded to some areas as Fertile Crescent and Central Asiatic Centre. Thus in Central Asiatic Centre there were present, in the same time in the same area, three human genotypes: Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo denisovan. In this region (Central Asia Centre) numerous culture plants (common wheat, peas, lentil, horse bean, onion, garlic, spinach, carrot, grape, apple, pear, a/o), as well as animals (dog, horse, chicken, etc.) were domesticated. The analysis of the species from the culture centres origin, on basis of recent data of genetics and molecular biology, as well as on palaeontology and civilization history data, will permit the thoroughly into the knowledge of life evolution.

2025, Environmental Science and Pollution Research

The presence of pathogens in drinking water can seriously affect human health. Therefore, water disinfection is needed, but conventional processes, such as chlorination, result in the production of dangerous disinfection by-products. In this regard, an alternative solution to tackle the problem of bacterial pollution may be the application of advanced oxidation processes. In this work, the inactivation of total coliforms, naturally present in a Colombian surface water by means of UV/H 2 O 2 , UV/US, and the UV/US/ H 2 O 2 advanced oxidation processes, was investigated. Under the investigated conditions, complete bacterial inactivation (detection limit equal to 1 CFU 100 mL -1 ) was found within 5 min of treatment by UV/H 2 O 2 and UV/US/H 2 O 2 systems. UV/US oxidation process also resulted in total bacterial load elimination, but after 15 min of treatment. Bacterial reactivation after 24 h and 48 h in the dark was measured and no subsequent regrowth was observed. This phenomenon could be attributed to the high oxidation capacity of the evaluated oxidation systems. However, the process resulting in the highest oxidation potential at the lowest operating cost, in terms of energy consumption, was UV/H 2 O 2 system. Therefore, UV/H 2 O 2 advanced oxidation system can be used for disinfection purposes, enabling drinking water production meeting the requirements of regulated parameters in terms of water quality, without incurring extremely high energy costs. Nonetheless, further researches are required for minimizing the associated electric costs.

2025, Water

Water hyacinth is a well-known invasive weed in lakes across the world and harms the aquatic environment. Since 2011, the weed has invaded Lake Tana substantially posing a challenge to the ecosystem services of the lake. The major factors which affect the growth of the weed are phosphorus, nitrogen, temperature, pH, salinity, and lake depth. Understanding and investigating the hotspot areas is vital to predict the areas for proper planning of interventions. The main objective of this study is therefore to predict the hotspot areas of the water hyacinth over the surface of the lake using the geographical information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) technique. The main parameters used in the multi-criteria analysis were total phosphorus (>0.08 mg L−1), total nitrogen (>1.1 mg L−1), temperature (<26.2 °C), pH (<8.6), salinity (<0.011%), and depth (<6 m). These parameters were collected from 143 sampling sites on the lake in August, December (2016), a...

2025

A soother (also known as pacifier, dummy, or binky) is a device used by small children for nonnutritive sucking needs as well as to fall asleep at night. However, children often drop their soother without being able to retrieve it in the dark causing them to cry and alert their parents. This often means that parents are forced to go out of their way in order to assist the crying child. This can occur several times a night and is inconvenient for parents especially when trying to sleep. This project explores different solutions to this problem and focuses on the development of a prototype of the best solution found. The solution is meant to allow children to assist themselves in retrieving their soother. The development is based on the integration of built-in electronics into the soother that are used to detect when the child is crying. Upon detection of the crying sound the device responds by lighting up for a given period of time allowing the child to see and retrieve the soother. This innovation is primarily intended to benefit parents with small children, improving the quality of their leisure time and sleep.

2025, Land

Urban style is the comprehensive expression of the material environment, the associated cultural connotation and social life. Under the influence of globalization and rapid urban expansion, many cities around the world show a global convergence in style, which poses a challenge in terms of satisfying both function and local identity. However, the current insufficiency of research on the quantitative evaluation of urban style makes it hard to have a full grasp on how urban style can instruct land use and landscape planning strategies. In this paper, we propose Suitability, Aesthetics and Vitality as three core dimensions of urban style, and construct a quantitative evaluation framework for urban style evaluation at the street level. Taking a street in Hengyang County, China as an example, the method’s operability is demonstrated, and the results show that urban style performance is closely related to building construction periods, trends of urban expansion, and the natural environmen...

2025, Journal of Building Engineering

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2025, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering

Vegetation has been considered as an effective strategy to combat the urban heat island effect. Most researches have focused on evaluating the cooling effect of trees in the urban thermal environment, while little attention has been paid to the cooling effect of the vegetation combinations. Moreover, most studies are focused on the horizontal cooling performance of plants, ignoring their vertical influence. Therefore, this study evaluates the 3D (horizontal and vertical) cooling performances of the three vegetation combination scenarios in the urban area using the ENVI-met model. The study indicates that the tree-grass (TG) combination has the best 3D cooling effect, followed by the tree-shrub-grass (TSG) combination, while the shrubgrass (SG) combination has the weakest 3D cooling effect. Besides, it is economical to plant TSG combinations because fewer trees are needed than planting TG combinations. Therefore, the study recommends the tree-shrub-grass combination rather than TG or SG combination in urban areas to effectively improve the thermal environment. The study also shows that the relationship between increasing tree coverage and the resulting cooling effect is not linear. The results of this study can effectively guide the design of greening strategies in urban areas to improve thermal comfort.

2025, Journal of Environment and Earth Science

Research on water quality of Imo River Nigeria was conducted between the months of June and September, 2011 to investigate the impact of some human and industrial activities on some physicochemical and bacteriological characteristics of the system. Industrial activities such as local sand dredging, cottage industries producing papers and cosmetics, construction of a jetty for marine activities and municipal waste discharge all take place at the bank of the river. Water and sediment samples were collected and analysed in the laboratory to ascertain the level of the concentration of the parameters being monitored. Standard methods were adopted for both field and laboratory analyses. For purpose of comparison the study was conducted in three stations (upstream, station A. midstream, station B and downstream, station, C). Water sample was also collected from tap water to act as a control for the potability fitness of the study area. The result of the mean concentrations of the parameters for water sample include: pH (6.25), conductivity (217.30µS/cm), temperature (26.13 0 c), TDS (123.67mg/l), TSS (67.67mg/l), Nitrate (3.93mg/l), Sulphate (5.67mg/l), Turbidity (105.65mg/l ), phosphate (0.33mg/l), BOD (12.13mg/l), Lead (0.98mg/l), Aluminum (0.47mg/l), Cadmium (0.02mg/l) and Chromium (0.0003mg/l). The mean concentration for sediments include pH (5.95), temperature (26.200c), Nitrate (10.3mg/l), Sulphate (1.105mg/l), phosphate (2.43mg/l), Iron (0.73mg/l), Copper (1.42mg/l), Manganese (0.34mg/l), Lead (1.56mg/l), Cadmium (0.04mg/l) and Chromium (0.005mg/l).

2025, Journal of Sustainable Development of Transport and Logistics

The problem structuring method of General Morphological Analysis was used to explore the factors and uncertainties to be considered in the proposed building of a canal linking the Morava and Vardar Rivers, which in recent years has taken on greater importance given its possible link in China’s one belt initiative. Facilitated workshop sessions identified five main factors – investors, risks, the motivation to invest, type of investment and long-term benefits – and 19 conditional states resulting in 1440 unique scenarios. Using specialist software and input from subject matter specialists from the fields of geography, environment and security, 81 scenarios were isolated. Modelling indicated that over two-thirds of scenarios did not feature the impact on environmental damage such as raised pollution and effect on biodiversity. Interestingly, while financial institutions and the EU did feature because of reputational and ethical reasons, non-EU governments, construction firms and some ...

2025, Proceedings of International Conference on Social Science, Political Science, and Humanities (ICoSPOLHUM)

This paper discusses about (a) the urgent global problem of unsustainable development of the Earth’s natural systems, and (b) a promising way forward in the form of a transformative educational perspective that integrates STEM education and Arts education. I illustrated how this transformative STEAM curricular and pedagogical perspective is currently being implemented by educators in universities and schools across Indonesia, Nepal, Hong Kong, Southern Africa, Philippines and Australia. A detailed account can be found in two recently published books that provide insightful accounts of both the theory and practice of transformative learning and STEAM education for sustainable development This paper provides a synopsis of the main ideas.

2025, Sustainability

This paper reports the results of a study on the implementation of the Ethical Dilemma STEAM Teaching Model in secondary schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. This interdisciplinary curriculum approach employed ‘ethical dilemma story pedagogy’ in a STEAM education project designed to engage students in values-based chemistry learning. Drawing on the arts, specially written ethical dilemma stories posing real-world environmental problems engaged students in exploring their value systems. Students reflected on the pros and cons of ethical dilemmas related to the everyday use of artificial fertilizers, disposal of used cooking oil and detergent waste, and environmental pollution caused by plastic waste. The purpose of the study was to investigate the potential of the Ethical Dilemma STEAM Teaching Model to empower Indonesian secondary school students with both chemistry knowledge and transdisciplinary capabilities for resolving environmental problems. The researchers conducted an interpretive...

2025

Founded in 1945, the Federation of American Scientists is dedicated to ending the worldwide arms race and reducing the dangers of nuclear weapons. Over the years it has played a key role in ensuring that the public debate over arms control, and other science and technology policy issues, is informed by clear, reliable, and unbiased information and analysis drawing on the skills of the US scientifi c community. It has also been active in advocating positions supported by its board of sponsors, which includes 58 American Nobel laureates. The National Resources Defense Council uses law, science, and the support of more than 400,000 members nationwide to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. For more than 25 years, NRDC has played a major role in the formation of US nuclear nonproliferation, arms control, energy, and environmental policies. In addition, NRDC has established vital precedents in the application of environmental laws to US nuclear and national security programs. The overarching goal of NRDC's Nuclear Program is the reduction, and ultimate elimination, of unacceptable risks to people and the environment from the exploitation of nuclear energy for both military and peaceful purposes. The Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofi t partnership of scientists and citizens combining rigorous scientifi c analysis, innovative policy development, and effective citizen advocacy to achieve practical environmental solutions. Established in 1969, UCS seeks to ensure that all people have clean air, energy and transportation, as well as food that is produced in a safe and sustainable manner. UCS strives for a future that is free from the threats of global warming and nuclear war, and a planet that supports a rich abundance of life. Sound science guides our efforts to secure changes in government policy, corporate practices and consumer choices that will protect and improve the health of the environment globally, nationally, and in communities throughout the United States. In short, UCS seeks a great change in humanity's stewardship of the earth. The full text of this report is available on the UCS website (www.ucsusa.org/publications) or may be obtained from

2025, Australian Geographer

Air travel has become central to Australian academic practice, with flying increasingly seen as crucial to the progression of successful academic careers. This paper seeks to understand why academic air travel has come to be perceived as so necessary, particularly given its significant environmental, social, and economic implications. Drawing on the mobilities paradigm and social practice theory, we seek to understand how air travel practices are a key part of contemporary academic careers. We conducted an online survey of 301 academics and 24 in depth semistructured interviews to understand academic air travel in Australia, finding that it is seen as a means to connect and collaborate within and between academic communities, and to counteract the effects of 'remoteness'. This remoteness is experienced domestically and internationally, by Australian academics who feel they must travel to perceived centres of knowledge production to further their careers. Academics often frame their 'need' for connections as necessarily involving physical co-presence. Air travel offers career benefits for those who can take advantage of it, and corresponding drawbacks for those 'stuck on the ground'. We conclude by discussing the need for valuing localised forms of collaboration as markers of success, and developing imaginative alternatives to academic flying.

2025, Plantae Scientia

Campanula dimorphantha Schweinf. is documented first time from Doaba region of Punjab, India. This study will be useful for Botanists, taxonomists, researchers etc. for identification of species.

2025, Sustainability

In recent years, farmers in Beja, an agricultural governorate in northwestern Tunisia, have expressed their willingness to use urban sewage sludge as agricultural fertilizer, especially with the unavailability of chemical fertilizers and the soil type of the region that is poor in organic matter. However, there is an imbalance between the important farmers’ demand versus the limited quantity of sludge produced by the Beja wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In the face of this, this study aims to identify the problems related to the agricultural reuse of sludge in Beja and propose solutions to solve them. The quality of the sludge produced by the five Beja WWTPs was assessed based on physicochemical and microbiological parameters. The data were collected using the Delphi method, with 15 experts representing different positions on the issue treated. The SWOT-AHP methodology was used to define the strategies promoting the sustainable use and management of urban sewage sludge for sust...

2025

The data acquisition process has the role of transposing physical phenomena from the real world into analogue and digital electrical signal for further processing, analysis and storage of the measurement data. This paper proposes a data acquisition system based on a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) for voltage and current monitoring in a DC circuit. Two interfacing methods are presented. The first method consists of interfacing the system by means of a specialized graphical terminal. The second method is realized by connecting the system to a PC terminal trough the serial RS-232 interface.

2025, Journal of Bioresource Management

Users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles in the Journal. We operate under International Version 4 (CC BY 4.0) of Creative Commons Attribution License which allows the... more

2025

This celebratory volume pays homage to the late Hayman Russel Botman who died suddenly, early in his second term as rector and vice-chancellor of Stellenbosch University. Botman's story is told from his earliest childhood years until his last day as rector. Russel Botman was a minister and public theologian who exercised his theology in the three public spheres identified by the Roman Catholic theologian, David Tracy, namely church, broader society and academics. Botman served in all these areas. He served churches at the local level of individual, family and congregation, and in the wider context of denomination and ecumenism -locally and globally. He influenced public opinion and served the different terrains of the broader society, among others politics, the economy, ecology, as well as the civil society with its many spheres of among others individual, marriage, family, circle of friends, neighbourhood, institutions for education, sport, culture, art, trade unions as well as volunteer organisations, social movements and non-governmental organisations. Botman served academics at the University of the Western Cape, but especially at Stellenbosch University, as well as in national, continental en global regard. Theology, UWC, 1981: Induction as minister of religion. Russel Botman is at the back, second from the right. Russel as a young student.

2025, Journal of African Real Estate Research

This paper provides a scoping literature review of research methods that seek to measure individual productivity and organisational performance in office buildings containing enhanced green building features and initiatives that focus on Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). The paper follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework and includes thirty-nine academic papers for the period 2000 to 2020. Different research instruments are discussed, including post-occupancy evaluations (POE), longitudinal surveys, and interviews. Furthermore, a narrative focuses on specific measures, including location, amenities, comfort, engagement, individual productivity, and organisational performance. This provides insight into common research approaches and highlights where lesser used research approaches could be applied in the field of green building features and initiatives (GBFIs), including the assessment of individual productivity and organisa...

2025, Lautech Journal of Engineering and Technology

2025, Information and Knowledge Management

Hotel businesses consume significant amounts of natural resources, discharge large amounts of raw and solid waste which consequently affects the sustainability of the natural environment. Environmental management and sustainability have been recent important issues in hospitality industry. The hotels, as a main sector of the hospitality industry, have benefited from environmental initiatives through improving corporate image and increasing resource and energy efficiency. In Kenya greening in hotels is a new concept that managers are yearning to embrace. This study therefore sought to establish the current state of green practices in four to five star hotels in Mombasa, Kenya. Further, this study also sought to determine the relationship between management environmental commitment and organizational involvement in green practices. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and observation checklists. The results indicated that 88.9 percent of the managers were not satisfied with their current issues while 81.5 percent were focusing on improving the green concepts. The study concluded that hotel managers should embrace regular environmental audits where environmental performance is constantly monitored and recorded. Environmental education and training were also considered valuable in developing awareness, knowledge, positive attitude, skills and participation in green practices.

2025, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge

Advocacy for pro-environmental behaviour in the business arena is on the increase. Yet, many businesses have continued to indulge in “business-as-usual” practices, which are preoccupied with profit maximization objectives at the expense of all other social benefits. Such anti-environment practice has little or no regard for flora and fauna wellbeing. Hence, the main objective of this study is to review, explore and synthesize current views in the field in view of clarifying relevant concepts in green entrepreneurship context. Also, to identify behavioural and performance standards required of green entrepreneurship growth and development. To achieve the study objectives, we adopted integrative review of literature methodology. Concerning the findings, the paper identified new trends in green entrepreneurship and identified the need to clarify some relevant concepts, such as: industry life cycle, entrepreneurship knowledge sharing, institutional framework, entrepreneurship financing,...

2025, International Journal of Strategic Property Management

This paper examines 23 recent case studies of post‐disaster settlement and shelter across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to provide examples of implementing transitional settlement and shelter as a process and how to build more capacity for such programmes. The case studies are examined by using a four‐part framework: (i) Safety, security, and livelihoods; (ii) the question “Transition to what?” in order to understand better how to connect post‐disaster programmes to permanent communities and housing; (iii) fairness and equity; and (iv) connecting relief and development, which also explores root causes of vulnerability. The main lessons identify six specific activities that should be highlighted for capacity building in transitional settlement and shelter: site selection, good governance, participatory and consultative processes, land ownership, logistics, and monitoring and evaluation. Santruka Šiame darbe analizuojami 23 neseniai atliktu nelaimes ištiktu žmoniu apgyvendinimo ir p...

2025

From Recent circumstances man has been in quest for energy to take care of his consistently expanding demand. These days the general public has woken up to the immense dangers of contamination and a dangerous atmospheric devation caused by fuel based energy sources. The issue of creating power is late journey, so everybody should think gravity be the alternative in non-customary energy sources. Since gravity is accessible all finished in bottomless amount. Since gravity is available all finished from start of universe. Sir Issac Newton find marvel of gravity close to 400 year prior. On top of it is inexhaustible. It is predictable i.e. 24 X 7. Contrasting with concoction, warm and other energy source gravity is frail, is adaptable. This shortcoming is basically because of the consistency, or relentless state, of our cooperation with gravity. As gravity is feeble it can't be proficiently be changed over into electrical energy or in other frame .In this paper we have outlined a st...

2025, Ecology and Society

We applied an integrative framework to illuminate and discuss the complexities of exurbanization in Macon County, North Carolina. The case of Macon County, North Carolina, highlights the complexity involved in addressing issues of exurbanization in the Southern Appalachian region. Exurbanization, the process by which urban residents move into rural areas in search of unique natural amenities and idealized lifestyles, can often have a dramatic impact on the local economy, culture, and environment. Within Macon County, complex debates and tensions among multiple stakeholders struggle to address local residential development. How can better problem definition benefit rural communities in addressing exurbanization pressures and effects? We asserted that a key factor in the shortcomings of previous solutions was the shortsightedness inherent in policy that attempts to treat individual symptoms without being able to adequately characterize the underlying problem. The goal of the integrative framework is to initiate an iterative process of transparent negotiation, which recognizes a range of potential choices to be considered and to embrace the social complexities that can at times overwhelm scholars and practitioners, inviting simplification and polarization of the issues. This new and emerging framework offers a novel way of approaching conservation and development issues where other frameworks have failed. It helps acknowledge the difficult choices, i.e., trade-offs, that have to be made in a material process like exurbanization. Trade-offs will be necessary in any negotiation related to conservation. Therefore, conflict surrounding specific values, e.g., cultural, financial, or ecological, must be acknowledged upfront to move deeper into issues of plurality. Given the complexity, understanding how the process of exurbanization is being played out within Macon County provided not only an opportunity to demonstrate the functionality of an integrative approach, but also a call for further study of exurbanization dynamics.

2025, Ecology and Society

The benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary training are well documented, and several reviews have discussed the particular importance of interdisciplinary training for conservation scholars and practitioners. We discuss the progress within one university program to implement specific training models, elements, and tools designed to move beyond remaining barriers to graduatelevel, interdisciplinary conservation education.

2025, Strategy Science

Some strategic decisions will long be remembered for being remarkably successful, providing dramatic benefits to customers, investors, or social welfare. The individuals who make these decisions are often called “visionary.” But what enables some people to be visionary? Is it a gift or skill, and can it be learned? In this paper I identify three main cognitive processes that underlie the creation of visionary strategy: abstraction, idealism, and long paths of analytical reasoning. Using a combination of examples and cognitive science, I explain how they work individually and in combination, and how they may be cultivated.

2025

Land degradation is a global concern. In tropical areas it primarily concerns the conversion of forest into non-forest lands and the associated losses of environmental services. Defining such degradation is not straightforward hampering effective reduction in degradation and use of already degraded lands for more productive purposes. To facilitate the processes of avoided degradation and land rehabilitation, we have developed a methodology in which we have used international environmental and social sustainability standards to determine the suitability of lands for sustainable agricultural expansion. The method was developed and tested in one of the frontiers of agricultural expansion, West Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The focus was on oil palm expansion, which is considered as a major driver for deforestation in tropical regions globally. The results suggest that substantial changes in current landuse planning are necessary for most new plantations to comply with international sustainability standards. Through visualizing options for sustainable expansion with our methodology, we demonstrate that the link between oil palm expansion and degradation can be broken. Application of the methodology with criteria and thresholds similar to ours could help the Indonesian government and the industry to achieve its pro-growth, pro-job, pro-poor and proenvironment development goals. For sustainable agricultural production, context specific guidance has to be developed in areas suitable for expansion. Our methodology can serve as a template for designing such commodity and country specific tools and deliver such guidance.

2025, PLoS ONE

2025, Animals

Recent interest in the mass production of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae has resulted in many studies being generated. However, a majority of the studies are benchtop, or small-scale, experiments. Results generated from such studies may not translate to large-scale/industrial production. The current study was conducted at a conventional large-scale (10,000 larvae/treatment fed seven kg) to determine the impact on selected life-history traits when BSF were fed seven kg of manure (swine, dairy, or poultry) or a control diet (Gainesville diet: 50% wheat bran, 30% alfalfa meal, and 20% corn). Results showed larvae fed dairy manure took one to two days longer to develop to prepupation, with lower survivorship (45%) compared to those fed poultry or swine manure (>70%). Furthermore, the maximum larval weight was reached on day six for those fed swine manure, while other treatments achieved the maximum weight on day seven. However, larvae fed swine manure averaged 150 mg, while those fed...

2025, Animals

Structural changes and growth of animal production systems have resulted in greater volumes of manure. Current manure storage methods pose a potential environmental threat. Lessening these issues is a key concern for the animal production industry. The primary aim of this research was to evaluate black soldier fly (BSF) performance when fed poultry, swine, or dairy manure at different rates (18 or 27 g/2 d until 40% prepupation). The results indicated that larvae fed with the control diet (Gainesville diet) were the heaviest (+31–70%); however, for other life-history traits, those fed the higher feed rate of poultry manure produced comparable results to the control. Larvae fed more resource, regardless of manure type, weighed more as larvae (+3–9%), pupae (+22–48%), and adults (+18–42%), developed faster (up to 3–4 d), had a higher percentage reach the prepupal stage (+2–16%), lived longer as adults (+1 d), and converted more resource to biomass (up to 1% more) than those fed at the...

2025

AGNU) propone el logro de condiciones de trabajo decente de todo trabajador en el mundo. El objetivo de esta investigación es caracterizar el trabajo decente (TD) desde la perspectiva de los directivos de las micro y pequeñas empresas en Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo, México. La hipótesis es que existen diferencias significativas en la percepción del TD dependiendo del giro de la empresa y del nivel educativo del directivo. Se llevó a cabo un estudio cuantitativo con una muestra de 393 directivos, a quienes se les aplicó la escala de trabajo decente para empresarios (TDE). Los resultados indican que los directivos tienen una percepción regular del TD, sólo con diferencias significativas en el nivel educativo. Con relación a los componentes del TD, los directivos favorecen más la igualdad de oportunidades y de trato entre hombres y mujeres, así como la promoción del diálogo social. También se encontró que el 69% de los directivos no ofrecen seguridad social y se inclinan más por otorgar bonos y vacaciones pagadas.

2025, Jurnal Zona

Utilization of coastal land in the community of Cemara Labat Village has been passed down from generation to generation. The people of Cemara Labat Village still maintain the tradition of coastal land management, such as planting certain types of mangroves, prohibiting cutting down mangrove forests and hunting animals which are regulated in unwritten customary law or local wisdom. Utilization of coastal area resources by humans from time to time continues to increase. The intensity of exploiting the potential of coastal areas resources often does not pay attention to the carrying capacity and principles of optimal and sustainable use of natural resources. Therefore, the mangrove forest ecosystem in Cemara Labat Village needs to be preserved both ecologically and biologically with an awareness approach to local wisdom. The data collection which used in this research was interview method, observation method, and survey. The results showed that Avicennia marina species had a very high ...

2025, Frontiers in Built Environment

Occupants can provide valuable feedback on the indoor environmental quality of buildings. Research on occupant voting systems (OVS) has demonstrated that apps or electronic devices can act as viable tools for collecting long-term feedback from occupants. However, previous research has only to a limited extent explored occupants’ interaction with OVS and the impact it might have on the reliability of the collected feedback. The present paper presents three case studies on applying a tangible OVS, denoted TiAQ, to collect feedback on thermal and indoor air quality (IAQ) in office spaces. The main objective of the present study was first to explore occupants’ interaction with TiAQ and their motivation. Second, identifying whether feedback collected with TiAQ could represent occupants’ comfort and discomfort with the thermal environment and IAQ. Thirdly, identifying challenges related to occupants’ interaction with TiAQ that might affect the representativeness of collected feedback. The...

2025, Rosell-Cabrera A. (2025). Diseño y sostenibilidad, Ricard Huerta (2024), Editorial Tirant lo Blanch, 332 pp. ISBN: 978-84-1183-224-3. Depósito Legal: V-707-2024. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 37(3), 697-698. https://doi.org/10.5209/aris.101591

¿Puede la humanidad transformar sus ciudades en entornos sostenibles, con bajo impacto ambiental y mínima huella ecológica? ¿Cómo convertir el diseño y la creatividad en herramientas clave para lograrlo? A estas y otras interrogantes... more