Search results for: exploring top sustainable practices

Authors: Danute Jablonskyte-Rasce, Laura Masilionyte

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The field experiments of different farming systems were conducted at Joniškėlis Experimental Station of the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry in 2006–2016. The soil of the experimental site was Endocalcari-Endohypogleyic Cambisol (CMg-n-w-can). The research was designed to identify the effects of dry matter and nitrogen accumulated in the above-ground biomass of various catch crops grown after winter wheat on soil mineral nitrogen variation during the autumn and spring period in the presence of intensive leaching complex. Research was done in the soil differing in humus status in the organic and sustainable cropping systems by growing various plant mixtures as catch crops: narrow-leafed lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.) and oil radish (Raphanus sativus var. Oleifera L.), white mustard (Sinapis alba L.) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum exculentum Moench.) and white mustard as a sole crop. All crop and soil management practices have shown optimal efficiency in late autumn – stubble breaking, catch crops and straw used during the post-harvest period of the main crops, reduced Nmin migration into deeper (40–80 cm) soil layer. The greatest Nmin reduction in the 0–40 cm soil layer during the period from late autumn to early spring was identified in the sustainable cropping system having applied N30 for the promotion of straw mineralization and with no catch crops cultivation. The sustainable cropping system, having applied N30 for straw mineralization and growing white mustard in combination with buckwheat as catch crops, Nmin difference in the spring compared with its status in the autumn in the soil low and moderate in humus was lower by 70.1% and 34.2%, respectively.

Keywords: soil nitrogen, catch crops, ecological and sustainable farming systems, Cambisol

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Authors: Sherine El Sakka

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Most developing countries consider sustainability is a luxury, but El Gouna city at hurghada, Egypt, thought differently and uses sustainability as a tool for branding the place. Branding a place is new approach towards sustainable cities development (SCD); sustainability(S) requires multi-dimensional indicators to show the relationship between economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects. Sustainable development (SD) according to Brundland commission defined as" meeting the needs of current generations without negative impact on the needs of future generation’, branding a place (BP) integrate economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects into the city. In order for a city to be a good brand it must possess distinctive characteristics that can be identified, these include city appearance, people’s experience, people’s belief as well as what the city stands for. The study has found that place branding is a way to promote sustainable initiative; place branding has the potential to shape as a leading tool for the concurrence of more sustainable cities in developing countries, sustainability and green development should turn main priorities to developing countries.

Keywords: sustainable cities development (SCD), sustainability(S), sustainable development (SD), branding a place (BP)

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Authors: Fatemeh Yazdandoust, Derrick Mirrindi

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The excessive use of non-renewable fossil fuels has led to a pressing energy crisis that demands urgent attention. While renewable sources like solar, wind, and water have gained significant attention as alternatives, we must explore additional avenues. This study takes an interdisciplinary approach, investigating the potential of waste streams from energy production and other untapped natural sources as sustainable energy solutions. Through a review of case studies, this study demonstrates how these alternative sources, including human power, animal body heat, and noise, can seamlessly integrate into architecture and urban planning. This article first discusses passive design strategies integrating alternative energy sources into vernacular architecture. Then, it reviews the waste stream (exergy) and potential energy sources, such as human power, animal body heat, and noise, in contemporary proposals and case studies. It demonstrates how an alternative energy design strategy may easily incorporate these many sources into our architecture and urban planning through passive and active design strategies to increase the energy efficiency of our built environment.

Keywords: alternative energy sources, energy exchange, human and animal power, potential energy sources, waste stream

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Authors: Henry Prihanto Nugroho

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This paper suggests education tourism as an option into developing more sustainable mass tourism. Identifying the potential of education tourism and developing a sustainable packages will have an impact on social economic development in the area. Indonesia especially Yogyakarta can increase their tourism earnings by tapping into this growing market phenomenon. Educational tourism, a growing part in the world tourism market, has attracted great attention because of its direct impact on the community and as an alternative strategy for poverty alleviation. Tourism is considered as one of the main industries and sectors highly contributing to economic development in Indonesia especially in Yogyakarta, this region can be an ideal case for studying the issue of educational tourism in Universitas Gadjah Mada. This paper tries to introduce the educational tourism as an important alternative source of the economy accelerator in the context of Yogyakarta Indonesia. This paper also aims to discuss the education tourism potential at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia then to create and established an Education Tourism package at Gadjah Mada University. Education Tourism is a means to empower academics, local community, local businesses, and to improve the economic welfare. Methods: Focus group discussions, direct observation, survey and best practice method. Conclusion: There is a positive relationship between attitude, environmental impact, economic impact, and socio-cultural impacts and practice in the field when the potential is seized. The findings incorporate insights into the socio-cultural and economic potential of education tourism and practices related to community development at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia by creating an Education Tourism Packages that will suit the needs of the tourist. Educational tourism can create sustainable development for local communities, academic society, universities, and stakeholders.

Keywords: education tourism, Gadjah Mada, sustainable, tourism

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Authors: Tris Kee

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As the urban design discipline develops renewed interests in participatory design and collaborative place-making, it becomes critical to review the potential and limitations in current processes to ensure a sustainable method for future development.This paper explores how collaborative design can be a key to future sustainable urban development through two case studies from Asia.The process involves a multi-disciplinary collaboration and an innovative learning process by sharing ideas as well as careful consideration on social, economic and political circumstances among government and district stakeholders.This intrinsic proposition of innovative participatory planning implies interdisciplinary collaboration between professionals and local residents to integrate knowledge into new urban place-making thinking.Design innovation in contemporary society can manifest itself in the discourse sustainable urban development by bottom-up planning and community driven design. This paper examines the emerging design pedagogy which promotes interdisciplinary coalition of professionals and local stakeholders in community development as an innovative design rubric to create a sustainable urban approach.Through two case studies in Hong Kong, this paper reviews and critically evaluates the process of how the notion of sustainable development in contemporary urban planning theory is underpinned by the collaborative design practice.

Keywords: collaborative design, design innovation, sustainable development, urban development

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Authors: Scarlet Alejandra Romano, Joni Kareco

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The three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental) are relevant concepts to the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry because of the increase of international agreements and guidelines related to this topic during the last years. Considering these three pillars, the AEC industry faces important challenges, for instance, to decrease the carbon emissions (environmental challenge), design sustainable spaces for people (social challenge), and improve the technology of this field to reduce costs and environmental problems (economic and environmental challenge). One alternative to overcome these challenges is Building Information Modelling program (BIM) because according to several authors, this technology improves the performance of the sustainable buildings in all their lifecycle phases. The main objective of this paper is to explore and analyse the current advantages and disadvantages of the BIM implementation in the life-cycle of sustainable buildings considering the three pillars of sustainability as analysis parameters. The methodology established to achieve this objective is exploratory-descriptive with the literature review technique. The partial results illustrate that despite the BIM disadvantages and the lack of information about its social sustainability advantages, this software represents a significant opportunity to improve the three sustainable pillars of the sustainable buildings.

Keywords: building information modelling, building lifecycle analysis, sustainability, sustainable buildings

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Authors: Lucie Litvack, Malaz Elsaddig, Kevin Jones

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There is strong evidence to support the efficacy of the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist in improving patient safety; however, its use can be associated with difficulties. This study uses qualitative data collected in Kitovu Healthcare Complex, a rural Ugandan hospital, to identify factors that may influence the use of the checklist in a low-income setting. Potential barriers to and motivators for the hospital’s use of this checklist are identified and explored through observations of current patient safety practices; semi-structured interviews with theatre staff; a focus group with doctors; and trial implementation of the checklist. Barriers identified include the institutional context; knowledge and understanding; patient safety culture; resources and checklist contents. Motivators for correct use include prior knowledge; team attitudes; and a hospital advocate. Challenges are complex and unique to this socioeconomic context. Stepwise change to improve patient safety practices, local champions, whole team training, and checklist modification may assist the implementation and sustainable use of the checklist in an effective way.

Keywords: anaesthesia, patient safety, Uganda, WHO surgical safety checklist

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Authors: Bhumika Gupta, Jeayaram Subramanian, Hardik Vachhrajani, Avinash Shivdas

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Indian food processing industry is one of the largest in the world in terms of production, consumption, exports and growth opportunities. SMEs play a crucial role within this. Large manufacturing firms largely dominate innovation studies in India. Innovation sources used by SMEs are often different from that of large firms. This paper focuses on exploring various sources of innovation adopted by food processing SMEs in Kerala, South India. Outcome suggests that SMEs use various sources like suppliers, competitors, employees, government/research institutions and customers to get new ideas.

Keywords: food processing, innovation, SMEs, sources of innovation

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Authors: Sammani Danwawu Abdullahi

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Vertex Enumeration Algorithms explore the methods and procedures of generating the vertices of general polyhedra formed by system of equations or inequalities. These problems of enumerating the extreme points (vertices) of general polyhedra are shown to be NP-Hard. This lead to exploring how to count the vertices of general polyhedra without listing them. This is also shown to be #P-Complete. Some fully polynomial randomized approximation schemes (fpras) of counting the vertices of some special classes of polyhedra associated with Down-Sets, Independent Sets, 2-Knapsack problems and 2 x n transportation problems are presented together with some discovered open problems.

Keywords: counting with uncertainties, mathematical programming, optimization, vertex enumeration

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Authors: Lina Sinevičienė

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Arising problems of countries’ public finances, social and demographic changes motivate scientific and policy debates on public spending size, structure and efficiency in order to meet the changing needs of society and business. The concept of sustainable development poses new challenges for scientists and policy-makers in the field of public finance. This paper focuses on the investigation of the relationship between government expenditure and country’s economic development in the context of sustainable development. Empirical analysis focuses on the data of the European Union (except Croatia and Luxemburg) countries. The study covers 2003 – 2012 years, using annual cross-sectional data. Summarizing the research results, it can be stated that governments should pay more attention to the needs that ensure sustainable development in the long-run when formulating public expenditure policy, particularly in the field of environment protection.

Keywords: economic development, economic growth, government expenditure, sustainable development

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Authors: Tracey Estriplet-Adams

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This paper focuses on the influence of maternal-fetal bonding by examining attachment theory, psycho-social-cultural influences/adaptations, and maternal well-being. A systematic review methodology was used to synthesize research results to summarize current evidence that can contribute to evidence-based practices. It explores the relationship between attachment styles, prenatal attachment, and perceptions of maternal-infant bonding/attachment six weeks postpartum. It also examines the protective factors of maternal-fetal attachment development. The research explores Bowlby's attachment theory and its relevance to maternal-fetal bonding with a Black Feminist Theory lens. Additionally, it discusses the impact of perceived stress, social support, and ecological models on maternal-fetal attachment. The relationship between maternal well-being, maternal-fetal attachment, and early postpartum bonding is reviewed. Moreover, the paper specifically addresses black mothers and maternal-fetal bonding, exploring the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, geographic location, cultural identities, and immigration status. It considers the role of familial and partner support, as well as the relationship between maternal attachment style and maternal-fetal bonding, within the framework of attachment theory and black feminist theory. Therefore, it is imperative to center Black women's voices in research, policy, and healthcare practices. Black women are experts in their own experiences and advocate for their autonomy in decision-making regarding maternal-fetal health. By amplifying their voices, we can ensure that interventions are grounded in their lived experiences.

Keywords: maternal-fetal bonding, infant well-being, maternal-infant attachment, black mothers

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Authors: Keivan Amirbagheri, Ana Nuñez-Carballosa, Laura Guitart-Tarrés

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Over the last couple of decades, enterprises have begun to accept the need for environmental management and have started to implement environmental management programs to compete in the markets. The implementation of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices can provide valuable opportunities to improve firm performance. Through the prior investigations, the ascending tendency of the numbers of published papers in the field of green supply chain management practices has been reported and it shows the high interest level of the authors to work in this area. Besides, there is still a gap to study more about the relationship of GSCM to the organizational performance (OP). So, the purpose of this research is to study the practices related to green supply chain management that influence the results of the company as an organizational performance. Based on our previous works, from one part we have collected these GSCM practices (planning, operational, and communication practices) and classified them through conducting some literature reviews to analyze their effects on the OP’s factors (balanced scorecard’s perspectives). To do so we design a case study methodology through semi-structured interviews and secondary data from some multinational well-known companies based in Spain. The cases have been selected with the criterion of trying to collect members of the entire supply chain to have a vision as global as possible. The results report the considerable influence of green supply chain management practices on the organizational performance of the companies of the study. In addition, they represent that the implementation of green supply chain management practices especially in a long-term perspective can be economically justified. From the point of view of the personal, they feel better about being a member of this type of company that has been structured on environmental issues. Also, for these companies, the image that has been created by the implementation of these practices helps them to facilitate their marketing program.

Keywords: green supply chain management, organizational performance, case study, Spain

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Authors: Davod Ahmadigheidari, Isabel Alvarez, Kate Sinclair, Marnie Davidson, Patrick Cortbaoui, Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez

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The burden of collecting water tends to disproportionately fall on women and girls in low-income countries. Specifically, women spend between one to eight hours per day fetching water for domestic use in Sub-Saharan Africa. While there has been research done on the global time burden for collecting water, it has been mainly focused on water quality parameters; leaving the relationship between water fetching and health outcomes understudied. There is little available evidence regarding the relationship between water fetching and maternal child care practices. The main objective of this study was to help fill the aforementioned gap in the literature. Data from two surveys in Ethiopia and Malawi conducted by CARE Canada in 2016-2017 were used. Descriptive statistics indicate that women were predominantly responsible for collecting water in both Ethiopia (87%) and Malawi (99%) respectively, with the majority spending more than 30 minutes per day on water collection. With regards to child care practices, in both countries, breastfeeding was relatively high (77% and 82%, respectively); and treatment for malnutrition was low (15% and 8%, respectively). However, the same consistency was not found for weighing; in Ethiopia only 16% took their children for weighting in contrast to 94% in Malawi. These three practices were summed to create one variable for regressions analyses. Unadjusted logistic regression findings showed that only in Ethiopia was time fetching water significantly associated with child care practices. Once adjusted for covariates, this relationship was no longer found to be significant. Adjusted logistic regressions also showed that the factors that did influence child care practices differed slightly between the two countries. In Ethiopia, a lack of access to community water supply (OR= 0.668; P=0.010), poor attitudes towards gender equality (OR= 0.608; P=0.001), no access to land and (OR=0.603; P=0.000), significantly decreased a women’s odd of using positive childcare practices. Notably, being young women between 15-24 years (OR=2.308; P=0.017), and 25-29 (OR=2.065; P=0.028) increased probability of using positive childcare practices. Whereas in Malawi, higher maternal age, low decision-making power, significantly decreased a women’s odd of using positive childcare practices. In conclusion, this study found that even though amount of time spent by women fetching water makes a difference for childcare practices, it is not significantly related to women’s child care practices when controlling the covariates. Importantly, women’s age contributes to child care practices in Ethiopia and Malawi.

Keywords: time fetching water, community water supply, women’s child care practices, Ethiopia, Malawi

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Authors: Ali Hamza, Bertug Akintug

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Having an appropriate plan of sanitation systems is one of the critical issues for global urban slums. Poor sanitation systems in urban slums outcomes an enhanced vulnerability of severe diseases, low hygiene and environmental risks within our environment. Mentioning human excreta being one of the most highly risked pollutants among all the other major contributors of sanitation pollutants is increasing public health risks and amounts of pollution loads within the slum environment. Higher population growth, urge of urbanization and illegal status of urban slums makes it impossible to increase the level of performance of sanitation systems in urban slums. According to Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, design parameters for sanitation systems were set up to ensure sustainable environment. This paper reviews the characteristics of human excreta at present, treatment technologies, and procedures of processes that can be adopted feasibly in the urban slums. Keeping these factors as our significant concern of study, assessment of sustainable sanitation systems is done using sanitation chain concept in accordance to the pre-determined sustainability indicators and criteria which reflect the potential and feasible application of waterless sanitation systems bringing sustainable sanitation systems in urban slums.

Keywords: human excreta, sanitation chain, sustainable sanitation systems, urban slums

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Authors: Joseph M. Njoroge

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The need for urgent adaptation have triggered tourism stakeholders and research community to develop generic adaptation framework(s) for national, regional and or local tourism desti-nations. Such frameworks have been proposed to guide the tourism industry in the adaptation process with an aim of reducing tourism industry’s vulnerability and to enhance their ability to cope to climate associated externalities. However research show that current approaches are far from sustainability since the adaptation options sought are usually closely associated with development needs-‘business as usual’-where the implication of adaptation to social justice and environmental integrity are often neglected. Based on this view there is a need to look at adaptation beyond addressing vulnerability and resilience to include the need for adaptation to enhance social justice and environmental integrity. This paper reviews the existing adaptation frameworks/models and evaluates their suitability in enhancing sustainable adaptation for regional tourist destinations. It is noted that existing frameworks contradicts the basic ‘principles of sustainable adaptation’. Further attempts are made to propose a Sustainable Regional Tourism Adaptation Framework (SRTAF) to assist regional tourism stakeholders in the achieving sustainable adaptation.

Keywords: sustainable adaptation, sustainability principles, sustainability portfolio, Regional Tourism

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Authors: Roman Girma Teshome

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The intersection between development and human rights has been the point of scholarly debate for a long time. Consequently, a number of principles, which extend from the right to development to the human rights-based approach to development, have been adopted to understand the dynamics between the two concepts. Despite these attempts, the exact relationship between development and human rights has not been fully discovered yet. However, the inevitable interdependence between the two notions and the idea that development efforts must be undertaken by giving due regard to human rights guarantees has gained momentum in recent years. On the other hand, the emergence of sustainable development as a widely accepted approach in development goals and policies makes this unsettled convergence even more complicated. The place of sustainable development in human rights law discourse and the role of the latter in ensuring the sustainability of development programs call for a systematic study. Hence, this article seeks to explore the relationship between development and human rights, particularly focusing on the place given to sustainable development principles in international human right law. It will further quest whether there is a right to sustainable development recognized therein. Accordingly, the article asserts that the principles of sustainable development are directly or indirectly recognized in various human rights instruments, which provides an affirmative response to the question raised hereinabove. This work, therefore, will make expeditions through international and regional human rights instruments as well as case laws and interpretative guidelines of human rights bodies to prove this hypothesis.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability

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Authors: D. Garg, S. Luthra, A. Haleem

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Due to growing concern about environmental and social consequences throughout the world, a need has been felt to incorporate sustainability concepts in conventional manufacturing. This paper is an attempt to identify and evaluate drivers in implementing sustainable manufacturing in Indian context. Nine possible drivers for successful implementation of sustainable manufacturing have been identified from extensive review. Further, Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach has been utilized to evaluate and categorize these identified drivers for implementing sustainable manufacturing in to the cause and effect groups. Five drivers (Societal Pressure and Public Concerns; Regulations and Government Policies; Top Management Involvement, Commitment and Support; Effective Strategies and Activities towards Socially Responsible Manufacturing and Market Trends) have been categorized into the cause group and four drivers (Holistic View in Manufacturing Systems; Supplier Participation; Building Sustainable culture in Organization; and Corporate Image and Benefits) have been categorized into the effect group. “Societal Pressure and Public Concerns” has been found the most critical driver and “Corporate Image and Benefits” as least critical or the most easily influenced driver to implementing sustainable manufacturing in Indian context. This paper may surely help practitioners in better understanding of these drivers and their priorities towards effective implementation of sustainable manufacturing.

Keywords: drivers, decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), India, sustainable manufacturing

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Authors: Priya Nangia, Sanchita Bansal

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As fashion cycles become more rapid, some segments of the fashion industry have adopted increasingly unsustainable production processes to keep up with demand and enhance profit margins. The growing threat to environmental and social wellbeing posed by unethical fast fashion practices and the need to integrate the targets of SDGs into this industry necessitates a shift in the fashion industry's unsustainable nature, which can only be accomplished in the long run if consumers support sustainable fashion by purchasing it. Fast fashion is defined as low-cost, trendy apparel that takes inspiration from the catwalk or celebrity culture and rapidly transforms it into garments at high-street stores to meet consumer demand. Given the importance of identity formation to many consumers, the desire to be “fashionable” often outweighs the desire to be ethical or sustainable. This paradox exemplifies the tension between the human drive to consume and the will to do so in moderation. Previous research suggests that there is an attitude-behavior gap when it comes to determining consumer purchasing behavior, but to the best of our knowledge, no study has analysed how to encourage customers to shift from fast to slow fashion. Against this backdrop, the aim of this study is twofold: first, to identify and examine the factors that impact consumers' decisions to engage in sustainable fashion, and second, the authors develop a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing and encouraging researchers and practitioners to foster sustainable consumer behavior. This study used a systematic approach to collect data and analyse literature. The approach included three key steps: review planning, review execution, and findings reporting. Authors identified the keywords “sustainable consumption” and “sustainable fashion” and retrieved studies from the Web of Science (WoS) (126 records) and Scopus database (449 records). To make the study more specific, the authors refined the subject area to management, business, and economics in the second step, retrieving 265 records. In the third step, the authors removed the duplicate records and manually reviewed the articles to examine their relevance to the research issue. The final 96 research articles were used to develop this study's systematic scheme. The findings indicate that societal norms, demographics, positive emotions, self-efficacy, and awareness all have an effect on customers' decisions to purchase sustainable apparel. The authors propose a framework, denoted by the acronym SHIFT, in which consumers are more likely to engage in sustainable behaviors when the message or context leverages the following factors: (s)social influence, (h)habit formation, (i)individual self, (f)feelings, emotions, and cognition, and (t)tangibility. Furthermore, the authors identify five broad challenges that encourage sustainable consumer behavior and use them to develop novel propositions. Finally, the authors discuss how the SHIFT framework can be used in practice to drive sustainable consumer behaviors. This research sought to define the boundaries of existing research while also providing new perspectives on future research, with the goal of being useful for the development and discovery of new fields of study, thereby expanding knowledge.

Keywords: consumer behavior, fast fashion, sustainable consumption, sustainable fashion, systematic literature review

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Authors: Michael A. Ifarajimi

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The transition from being a graduate teacher to a highly accomplished teacher has been widely portrayed in literature as challenging. Pre-service teachers are troubled with complex issues such as implementing, assessment, meeting prescribed learning outcomes, taking risks, supporting eco sustainability, etc. This list is not exhaustive as they are further complicated when the concerns extend beyond the classroom into the broader school setting and community. Meanwhile, the pre-service teacher education programme as is currently run in Nigeria, cannot adequately prepare newly trained teachers for the realities of classroom teaching. And there appears to be no formal structure in place for mentoring such teachers by the more seasoned teachers in schools. The central research question of the study, therefore, is which institutional framework can be distinguished for enactment in mentoring practices in teacher education? The study was conducted in five colleges of education in South-West Nigeria, and a sample of 1000 pre-service teachers on their final year practicum was randomly selected from the colleges of education. A pre-service teacher mentorship programme (PTMP) framework was designed and implemented, with a focus on the impact of transformative inquiry on the pre-service teacher support system. The study discovered a significant impact of mentoring on pre-service teacher’s professional transformation. The study concluded that institutionalizing mentorship through transformative inquiry is a means to sustainable teacher education, professional growth, and effective classroom practice. The study recommended that the government should enact policies that will promote mentoring in teacher education and establish a framework for the implementation of mentoring practices in the colleges of education in Nigeria.

Keywords: institutionalization, mentoring, pre-service teachers teacher education, transformative inquiry

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Authors: Virginia Dickson-Swift, Amanda Kenny, Jane Farmer, Sarah Larkins, Karen Carlisle, Helen Hickson

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In this presentation, we will focus on the methods of Remote Services Futures (RSF), an evidence-based method of community participation that was developed in Scotland. Using oral health as the focus, we will discuss the ways that RSF can be used to achieve sustainable engagement with stakeholders from various parts of the community. We will describe our findings of using RSF methods to engage with rural communities, including the steps involved and what happened when we asked people about the oral health services that they thought were needed in their community. We found that most community members started by thinking that a public dental clinic was required in every community, which is not a sustainable health service delivery option. Through a series of facilitated workshops, communities were able to discuss and prioritise their needs and develop a costed plan for their community which will ensure sustainable service delivery into the future. Our study highlights the complexities of decision making in rural communities. It is important to ensure that when communities participate in health care planning that the outcomes are practical, feasible and sustainable.

Keywords: community participation, sustainable health planning, Remote Services Futures, rural communities

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Authors: Felicite Ann Fairer-Wessels

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There has always been a disparity between mining and tourism mainly due to the socio-economic and environmental impacts of mines on both the adjacent resident communities and the areas taken up by the mining operation. Although heritage mining tourism has been actively and successfully pursued and developed in the UK, largely Wales, and Scandinavian countries, the debate whether active mining and tourism can have a mutually beneficial relationship remains imminent. This pilot study explores the relationship between the ‘to be developed’ future Nokeng Mine and its adjacent community, the rural community of Moloto, will be investigated in terms of whether sustainable tourism and livelihood activities can potentially be developed with the support of the mine. Concepts such as social entrepreneur, corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and triple bottom line are discussed. Within the South African context as a mineral rich developing country, the government has a statutory obligation to empower disenfranchised communities through social and labour plans and policies. All South African mines must preside over a Social and Labour Plan according to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, No 28 of 2002. The ‘social’ component refers to the ‘social upliftment’ of communities within or adjacent to any mine; whereas the ‘labour’ component refers to the mine workers sourced from the specific community. A qualitative methodology is followed using the case study as research instrument for the Nokeng Mine and Moloto community with interviews and focus group discussions. The target population comprised of the Moloto Tribal Council members (8 in-depth interviews), the Moloto community members (17: focus groups); and the Nokeng Mine representatives (4 in-depth interviews). In this pilot study two disparate ‘worlds’ are potentially linked: on the one hand, the mine as social entrepreneur that is searching for feasible and sustainable ideas; and on the other hand, the community adjacent to the mine, with potentially sustainable tourism entrepreneurs that can tap into the resources of the mine should their ideas be feasible to build their businesses. Being an exploratory study the findings are limited but indicate that the possible success of tourism and sustainable livelihood activities lies in the fact that both the Mine and Community are keen to work together – the mine in terms of obtaining labour and profit; and the community in terms of improved and sustainable social and economic conditions; with both parties realizing the importance to mitigate negative environmental impacts. In conclusion, a relationship of trust is imperative between a mine and a community before a long term liaison is possible. However whether tourism is a viable solution for the community to engage in is debatable. The community could initially rather pursue the sustainable livelihoods approach and focus on life-supporting activities such as building, gardening, etc. that once established could feed into possible sustainable tourism activities.

Keywords: community development, mining tourism, sustainability, South Africa

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Authors: Alvyra Galkienė, Ona Monkevičienė

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The full participation of all pupils in the overall educational process is defined by the concept of inclusive education, which is gradually evolving in education policy and practice. It includes the full participation of all pupils in a shared learning experience and educational practices that address barriers to learning. Inclusive education applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which includes promoting students' involvement in learning processes, guaranteeing a deep understanding of the analysed phenomena, initiating self-directed learning, and using e-tools to create a barrier-free environment, is a prerequisite for the personal success of each pupil. However, the sustainability of quality education is affected by the transformation of education systems. This was particularly evident during the period of the forced transition from contact to distance education in the COVID-19 pandemic. Research Problem: The transformation of the educational environment from real to virtual one and the loss of traditional forms of educational support highlighted the need for new research, revealing the individual profiles of teachers using UDL-based learning and the pathways of sustainable transfer of successful practices to non-conventional learning environments. Research Methods: In order to identify individual latent teacher profiles that encompass the essential components of UDL-based inclusive teaching and direct leadership of students' learning, the quantitative analysis software Mplius was used for latent profile analysis (LPA). In order to reveal proven, i.e., sustainable, pathways for the transit of the components of UDL-based inclusive learning to distance learning, latent profile transit analysis (LPTA) via Mplius was used. An online self-reported questionnaire was used for data collection. It consisted of blocks of questions designed to reveal the experiences of subject teachers in contact and distance learning settings. 1432 Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian subject teachers took part in the survey. Research Results: The LPA analysis revealed eight latent teacher profiles with different characteristics of UDL-based inclusive education or traditional teaching in contact teaching conditions. Only 4.1% of the subject teachers had a profile characterised by a sustained UDL approach to teaching: promoting pupils' self-directed learning; empowering pupils' engagement, understanding, independent action, and expression; promoting pupils' e-inclusion; and reducing the teacher's direct supervision of the students. Other teacher profiles were characterised by limited UDL-based inclusive education either due to the lack of one or more of its components or to the predominance of direct teacher guidance. The LPTA analysis allowed us to highlight the following transit paths of teacher profiles in the extreme conditions of the transition from contact to distance education: teachers staying in the same profile of UDL-based inclusive education (sustainable transit) or jumping to other profiles (unsustainable transit in case of barriers), and teachers from other profiles moving to this profile (ongoing transit taking advantage of the changed new possibilities in the teaching process).

Keywords: distance education, latent teacher profiles, sustainable transit, UDL

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Authors: Suresh Reddi, Mathew Leslie, Vishnu S. Das

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Sustainable design is a prominent concept across all sectors of engineering and its importance is widely recognized within the Arabian Gulf region. Despite that sustainable or soft engineering options are not widely deployed in coastal engineering projects and a preference for utilizing ‘hard engineering’ solutions remain. The concept of soft engineering lies in “working together” with the nature to manage the coastline. This approach allows hard engineering options, such as breakwaters or sea walls, to be minimized or even eliminated altogether. Hard structures provide a firm barrier to wave energy or flooding, but in doing so they often have a significant impact on the natural processes of the coastline. This may affect the area locally or impact on neighboring zones. In addition, they often have a negative environmental impact and may create a sense of disconnect between the marine environment and local users. Soft engineering options, seek to protect the coastline by working in harmony with the natural process of sediment transport/budget. They often consider new habitat creation and creating usable spaces that will increase the sense of connection with nature. Often soft engineering options, where appropriately deployed can provide a low-maintenance, aesthetically valued, natural line of coastal protection. This paper deals with an overview of the following: The widely accepted soft engineering practices across the world; How this approach has been considered by Ramboll in some recent projects in Middle East and Asia; Challenges and barriers to use in using soft engineering options in the region; Way forward towards more widespread adoption.

Keywords: coastline, hard engineering, low maintenance, soft engineering options

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Authors: Eldah Ephraim Buba, Amina Bata Zoaka, Aishatu Ibrahim

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This study appraised maintenance practices in selected tourist attractions in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Four tourist attractions were used for the research. Checklists were used to assess operations and repairs maintenance practices in the different attractions. The study carried out personal assessment thrice in six months without prior knowledge of the staff in charge for operational maintenance. Records of repairs maintenance from the attractions maintenance unit for a period of ten years were assessed using the checklists. The findings of the study show that operations maintenance was not adequately carried out in the four tourists attractions. Repairs maintenance was carried out in Yankari game reserve and safari, but repairs maintenance was poor in the other three attractions. The study therefore, recommends that adequate maintenance should be practiced in tourist attractions to expand the lifespan of the facilities and also encourage tourist patronage.

Keywords: appraisal, maintenance, practices, tourist attraction

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Authors: Willie Eselebor

Abstract:

Environmental governance is not new, but may consist of a series of actions taken to establish sanity and ensure sustainable environment. While there is a growing accord linking disaster risk reduction with the management of environment and natural resources, little is known about failure to act which constitute vulnerability and how improved governance reduces risk globally. The paper reviews emerging trends in the field of application of governance tools and approaches for reducing disaster risk. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) enjoin all stakeholders to stimulate the sustainable use and management of ecosystems, which promote the implementation of integrated environmental and natural resource planning that incorporate disaster risk reduction, including structural and non-structural measures, such as integrated management of fragile ecosystems. The methodology adopted is a case study of disaster-prone sites, prompting guided analysis on which hazards are traceable to environmental degradation, why a degraded environment reduces community resilience; how healthy ecosystems provide natural defense, and which opportunities exist to address gaps in reduction of disasters in Nigeria. The paper further analyses the interaction between disaster risk and environmental change. It is established that environmental governance remains a challenge; which implies that there is the need for a shift in traditional approaches to disaster risk management; exploring new initiatives and allowing environmental managers to be docketed as disaster risk managers in context, potentially opening up a window of dialogue on disaster risk management.

Keywords: disaster, ecosystem, environment, risk

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Authors: Puwanenthiren Pratheepkanth

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The main aim of this paper is to analyse existing literature (1960 -2016) on management accounting revolution by firms in a comparative perspective to see whether any differences between developed and developing countries context. The significant role that management accounting practices play in corporate finance is well established by reams of research articles. The study reveals that there are clear limitations to the literature review, it suggests that a majority of management accounting practices’ studies are focused on developed markets and that there is a scarcity of serious analyses of the situation in emerging markets.

Keywords: developed countries, developing countries, literature review, management accounting practices

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Authors: Daniel Brian Thompson, Subarmaniam Kannan

Abstract:

The huge weightage of knowledge in this world and within the repository of organizations has already reached immense capacity and is constantly increasing as time goes by. To accommodate these constraints, Big Data implementation and algorithms are utilized to obtain new or enhanced knowledge for decision-making. With the transition from data to knowledge provides the transformational changes which will provide tangible benefits to the individual implementing these practices. Today, various organization would derive knowledge from observations and intuitions where this information or data will be translated into best practices for knowledge acquisition, generation and sharing. Through the widespread usage of Big Data, the main intention is to provide information that has been cleaned and analyzed to nurture tangible insights for an organization to apply to their knowledge-creation practices based on facts and figures. The translation of data into knowledge will generate value for an organization to make decisive decisions to proceed with the transition of best practices. Without a strong foundation of knowledge and Big Data, businesses are not able to grow and be enhanced within the competitive environment.

Keywords: big data, knowledge management, data driven, knowledge creation

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Authors: Odinah Cuartero-Enteria, Aive Pecasales, Jhadly Philip Buniel, Christian Joy Vega, Shiela Estubo

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In the Philippines, Mindanao Island has the cheapest electricity because of the hydroelectric plants. Due to the rapid increase of the electricity consumption which the sources of electricity cannot support, it causes rotating brownout during summer season. This study investigated the household energy usage and practices in the rural areas of northern part of the Mindanao Island, Philippines. The questionnaire that includes the respondents’ profile and their common practices in energy consumptions was used as a tool in gathering the data. Several households were subjected to the survey. Results show energy consumption is not dependent on the profile of the respondents. It was observed that most of the families prefer to use energy saving methods of reducing electricity consumption. The main energy saving methods are unplugging unused home appliances, using of compact fluorescent bulb and energy-efficient gadgets, and using high electricity consumption appliances by schedule. Based on the results, the households in the rural areas know the practices of reducing electricity consumption. However, it is highly recommended that concern agencies should initiate information dissemination and strict implementation of well-formulated energy conservation practices all over the areas in Mindanao.

Keywords: Philippines, Mindanao island, rural areas, households, energy usages, practices

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Authors: Muhamad Azani Yahya, Vikneswaran Munikanan, Mohammed Alias Yusof

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There is the need to take the holistic approach in achieving sustainable construction for a contemporary practice. Sustainable construction is the practice that involved method of human preservation of the environment, whether economically or socially through responsibility, management of resources and maintenance utilizing support. This paper shows the correlation of achieving rapid construction with sustainable concepts using lean principles. Lean principles being used widely in the manufacturing industry, but this research will demonstrate the principles into building construction. Lean principle offers the benefits of stabilizing work flow and elimination of unnecessary work. Therefore, this principle contributes to time and waste reduction. The correlation shows that pulling factor provides the improvement of progress curve and stabilizing the time-quality relation. The finding shows the lean principles offer the elements of rapid construction synchronized with the elements of sustainability.

Keywords: sustainable construction, rapid construction, time reduction, lean construction

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Authors: Marianys Fernandez

Abstract:

Gastronomic experiences generate a positive impact on the dynamization of the economy when they are managed in a sustainable manner, given that they value the identity of the destination, strengthen cooperation between stakeholders in the sector, contribute to the preservation of gastronomic heritage, and encourage the implementation of competitive and sustainable public policies. Having as its main aim the analysis of sustainable management of gastronomic experiences, this study analyses different elements associated with the promotion of the local economy. For this purpose, a systematic literature review was carried out to identify, select, synthesise, and evaluate the studies that respond to the research objectives in order to select more reliable articles for research and reduce the potential for bias within the review of literature. To obtain reliable, updated and relevant sources for scientific research, the Web of Science and Scopus databases were used, taking into account the following key words: (1) experiential tourism, (2) gastronomy experience, (3) sustainable destination management, (4) sustainable gastronomy, (5) sustainable economy, in which we obtained a final list of 76 articles. The analysis of the literature allowed us to identify the most pertinent elements referring to the objective of the study: (a) need for competitive policies in the gastronomic sector to promote sustainable local economic development, (b) incentive for cooperation between stakeholders in the gastronomic sector, to guarantee the competitiveness of the destination, (c) propose sustainable standards in the gastronomic tourism sector that link the local economy. Gastronomic experiences constitute a dynamic element of the local economy and promote sustainable tourism. We can highlight that sustainability is a mechanism for the preservation of regional identity in the gastronomic sector through the valuation of the attributes of gastronomy, promotion of the local economy, strengthening of strategic alliances between the stakeholders of the gastronomic sector and its relevant contribution to the competitiveness of the destination. The theoretical implications of the study are focused on suggesting planning, management, and policy criteria to promote the sustainable management of gastronomic experiences in order to promote the local economy. In the practical context, research integrates different approaches, tools, and methods to encourage the active participation of local actors in the promotion of the local economy through the sustainable management of gastronomic tourism.

Keywords: experiential tourism, gastronomy experience, sustainable destination management, sustainable economy, sustainable gastronomy

Procedia PDF Downloads 74