Search results for: sustainable marketing practices

Authors: Samrat Paul, Satyajit Pahari, Krishnendu Basak, Amitava Roy

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Fishing is one of the pivotal livelihood activities, especially in developing countries. Today it is considered an important occupation for human society from the era of human settlement began. In simple terms, non-target catches of any species during fishing can be considered as ‘bycatch,’ and fishing bycatch is neither a new fishery management issue nor a new problem. Sundarban is one of the world’s largest mangrove land expanding up to 10,200 sq. km in India and Bangladesh. This largest mangrove biome resource is used by the local inhabitants commercially to run their livelihood, especially by forest fringe villagers (FFVs). In Sundarban, over-fishing, especially post larvae collection of wild Penaeus monodon, is one of the major concerns, as during the collection of P. monodon, different aquatic species are destroyed as a result of bycatch mortality which changes in productivity and may negatively impact entire biodiversity, of the ecosystem. Wild prawn seed collection gear like a small mesh sized net poses a serious threat to aquatic stocks, where the collection isn’t only limited to prawn seed larvae. As prawn seed collection processes are inexpensive, require less monetary investment, and are lucrative; people are easily engaged here as their source of income. Wildlife Trust of India’s (WTI) intervention in selected forest fringe villages of Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) was to estimate and reduce the mortality of aquatic bycatches by involving local communities in newly developed release method and their time engagement in prawn seed collection (PSC) by involving them in Alternate Income Generation (AIG). The study was conducted for their taxonomic identification during the period of March to October 2019. Collected samples were preserved in 70% ethyl alcohol for identification, and all the preserved bycatch samples were identified morphologically by the expertise of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata. Around 74 different aquatic species, where 11 different species are molluscs, 41 fish species, out of which 31 species were identified, and 22 species of crustacean collected, out of which 18 species were identified. Around 13 different species belong to a different order, and families were unable to identify them morphologically as they were collected in the juvenile stage. The study reveals that for collecting one single prawn seed, eight individual life of associated faunas are being lost. Zero bycatch mortality is not practical; rather, collectors should focus on bycatch reduction by avoiding capturing, allowing escaping, and mortality reduction, and must make changes in their fishing method by increasing net mesh size, which will avoid non-target captures. But as the prawns are small in size (generally 1-1.5 inches in length), thus increase net size making economically less or no profit for collectors if they do so. In this case, returning bycatches is considered one of the best ways to a reduction in bycatch mortality which is a more sustainable practice.

Keywords: bycatch mortality, biodiversity, mangrove biome resource, sustainable practice, Alternate Income Generation (AIG)

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Authors: M. Zayoud, S. Oueida, S. Ionescu, P. AbiChar

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Background: Wireless sensor network is encompassed of diversified tools of information technology, which is widely applied in a range of domains, including military surveillance, weather forecasting, and earthquake forecasting. Strengthened grounds are always developed for wireless sensor networks, which usually emerges security issues during professional application. Thus, essential technological tools are necessary to be assessed for secure aggregation of data. Moreover, such practices have to be incorporated in the healthcare practices that shall be serving in the best of the mutual interest Objective: Aggregation of encrypted data has been assessed through homomorphic stream cipher to assure its effectiveness along with providing the optimum solutions to the field of healthcare. Methods: An experimental design has been incorporated, which utilized newly developed cipher along with CPU-constrained devices. Modular additions have also been employed to evaluate the nature of aggregated data. The processes of homomorphic stream cipher have been highlighted through different sensors and modular additions. Results: Homomorphic stream cipher has been recognized as simple and secure process, which has allowed efficient aggregation of encrypted data. In addition, the application has led its way to the improvisation of the healthcare practices. Statistical values can be easily computed through the aggregation on the basis of selected cipher. Sensed data in accordance with variance, mean, and standard deviation has also been computed through the selected tool. Conclusion: It can be concluded that homomorphic stream cipher can be an ideal tool for appropriate aggregation of data. Alongside, it shall also provide the best solutions to the healthcare sector.

Keywords: aggregation, cipher, homomorphic stream, encryption

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Authors: Emilie Zimet

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During networking and NCCD moderation meetings, best practices for identifying students who require Literacy Intervention are often discussed. Once these students are identified, consideration is given to the most effective process for prioritising those who have the greatest need for Literacy Support and the allocation of resources, tracking of intervention effectiveness and communicating with teachers/external providers/parents. Through a workshop, the group will investigate best practices to identify students who require literacy support and strategies to communicate and track their progress. In groups, participants will examine what they do in their settings and then compare with other models, including the researcher’s model, to decide the most effective path to identification and communication. Participants will complete a worksheet at the beginning of the session to deeply consider their current approaches. The participants will be asked to critically analyse their own identification processes for Literacy Intervention, ensuring students are not overlooked if they fall into the borderline category. A cut-off for students to access intervention will be considered so as not to place strain on already stretched resources along with the most effective allocation of resources. Furthermore, communicating learning needs and differentiation strategies to staff is paramount to the success of an intervention, and participants will look at the frequency of communication to share such strategies and updates. At the end of the session, the group will look at creating or evolving models that allow for best practices for the identification and communication of Literacy Interventions. The proposed outcome for this research is to develop a model of identification of students requiring Literacy Intervention that incorporates the allocation of resources and communication to key stakeholders. This will be done by pooling information and discussing a variety of models used in the participant's school settings.

Keywords: identification, student selection, communication, special education, school policy, planning for intervention

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Authors: Anisah Ari

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Effects of organized crime permeate all facets of life, including public health, socio-economic endeavors, and human security. If any element of this is affected, it impacts large-scale national and global interest. Seeking to address terrorist networks through technical thinking is like trying to kill a weed by just cutting off its branches. It will re-develop and expand in proportions beyond one’s imagination, even in horrific ways that threaten human security. The continent of Africa has been bedeviled by this menace, with little or no solution to the problem. Nigeria is dealing with a protracted insurgency that is perpetrated by a sect against any form of westernization. Reimagining approaches to dealing with pressing issues like terrorism may require engaging the right set of people in the conversation for any sustainable change. These are people who have lived through the daily effects of the violence that ensues from the activities of terrorist activities. Effective leadership is required for an inclusive process, where spaces are created for diverse voices to be heard, and multiple perspectives are listened to, and not just heard, that supports a determination of the realistic outcome. Addressing insurgency in Nigeria has experienced a lot of disinformation and uncertainty. This may be in part due to poor leadership or an iteration of technical solutions to adaptive challenge peacemaking efforts in Nigeria has focused on behaviors, attitudes and practices that contribute to violence. However, it is important to consider the underlying issues that build-up, ignite and fan the flames of violence—looking at conflict as a complex system, issues like climate change, low employment rates, corruption and the impunity of discrimination due to ethnicity and religion. This article will be looking at an option of the more relational way of addressing insurgency through adaptive approaches that embody engagement and solutions with the people rather than for the people. The construction of a local turn in peacebuilding is informed by the need to create a locally driven and sustained peace process that embodies the culture and practices of the people in enacting an everyday peace beyond just a perennial and universalist outlook. A critical analysis that explores the socially identified individuals and situations will be made, considering the more adaptive approach to a complex existential challenge rather than a universalist frame. Case Study and Ethnographic research approach to understand what other scholars have documented on the matter and also a first-hand understanding of the experiences and viewpoints of the participants.

Keywords: terrorism, adaptive, peace, culture

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Authors: Saddikuti Venkataramanaiah, N Ravichandran

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The main focus of this paper is to highlight the challenges faced by the world’s largest pilgrimage center in providing free-of-cost luggage handling services to visiting pilgrims. The service was managed by a third-party agency selected based on a competitive bidding process. The third-party agency is responsible for providing timely, reliable, and secure services to the pilgrims. The methodology includes field visits and interaction with pilgrims, service providers, and other stakeholders of the system. Based on a detailed analysis of the information/data gathered, various innovations implemented and implications for policy making and sustainable service delivery were suggested.

Keywords: luggage handling, sustainable, service delivery, third party logistics, innovation

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Authors: Ali Christian Chinedu, Asogwa Vincent Chidindu, Ejiofor Toochukwu Eleazar, Okadi Ashagwu Ojang

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The increasing rate of Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder clashes, and kidnapping in Nigeria has resulted in food shortages and high cost of protein sources like beef and fish. This challenge could be curbed with the production of edible insects, which contain several nutritional benefits like calories, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals, depending on their species, metamorphic stage, and diet. Unfortunately, the benefits and competencies in producing, preserving, and marketing edible insects are still unknown to the public, including prospective farmers in Nigeria. Hence, this study determined teachers’ perception of integrating edible insects into the Animal Husbandry Curriculum in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria to equip the future generation with the relevant competencies for alternative sustainable protein supply. The study was carried out in Enugu State, Nigeria. The participants for the study comprised 162 agricultural science teachers. A questionnaire titled: Edible Insects Integration in Animal Husbandry Curriculum Questionnaire (EIIAHCQ) was used to collect data using a descriptive survey research design. We conducted data collection with the help of six research assistants. The study identified 11 objectives, 11 contents, 10 teaching methods, and 9 evaluation methods that could be integrated into the existing curriculum of animal husbandry in Nigeria. Among others, the Ministry of Education should integrate the finding of this study into the curriculum of Animal Husbandry in Nigeria to enhance the protein supply and curb food insecurity now and in the future.

Keywords: animal husbandry curriculum, edible insects, entomophagy, integration, secondary school, Nigeria

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Authors: Rowshan Mamtaz, Shuvo Ahmed, Imran Noor, Sumaiya Rahman, Prithvi Shams, Fahmida Gulshan

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Last few decades have witnessed a phenomenal rise in the use of electrical and electronic equipment globally in our everyday life. As these items reach the end of their lifecycle, they turn into e-wastes and contribute to the waste stream. Bangladesh, in conformity with the global trend and due to its ongoing rapid growth, is also using electronics-based appliances and equipment at an increasing rate. This has caused a corresponding increase in the generation of e-wastes. Bangladesh is a developing country; its overall waste management system, is not yet efficient, nor is it environmentally sustainable. Most of its solid wastes are disposed of in a crude way at dumping sites. Addition of e-wastes, which often contain toxic heavy metals, into its waste stream has made the situation more difficult and challenging. Assessment of generation of e-wastes is an important step towards addressing the challenges posed by e-wastes, setting targets, and identifying the best practices for their management. Understanding and proper management of e-wastes is a stated item of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) campaign, and Bangladesh is committed to fulfilling it. A better understanding and availability of reliable baseline data on e-wastes will help in preventing illegal dumping, promote recycling, and create jobs in the recycling sectors and thus facilitate sustainable e-waste management. With this objective in mind, the present study has attempted to estimate the amount of e-wastes and its future generation trend in Bangladesh. To achieve this, sales data on eight selected electrical and electronic products (TV, Refrigerator, Fan, Mobile phone, Computer, IT equipment, CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) bulbs, and Air Conditioner) have been collected from different sources. Primary and secondary data on the collection, recycling, and disposal of the e-wastes have also been gathered by questionnaire survey, field visits, interviews, and formal and informal meetings with the stakeholders. Material Flow Analysis (MFA) method has been applied, and mathematical models have been developed in the present study to estimate e-waste amounts and their future trends up to the year 2035 for the eight selected electrical and electronic equipment. End of life (EOL) method is adopted in the estimation. Model inputs are products’ annual sale/import data, past and future sales data, and average life span. From the model outputs, it is estimated that the generation of e-wastes in Bangladesh in 2018 is 0.40 million tons and by 2035 the amount will be 4.62 million tons with an average annual growth rate of 20%. Among the eight selected products, the number of e-wastes generated from seven products are increasing whereas only one product, CFL bulb, showed a decreasing trend of waste generation. The average growth rate of e-waste from TV sets is the highest (28%) while those from Fans and IT equipment are the lowest (11%). Field surveys conducted in the e-waste recycling sector also revealed that every year around 0.0133 million tons of e-wastes enter into the recycling business in Bangladesh which may increase in the near future.

Keywords: Bangladesh, end of life, e-waste, material flow analysis

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Authors: Seraphina Bakta

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In many societies in Africa, it is a taboo to speak, let alone to practice or in any way to engage in matters relating to sexual and reproductive health. For instance, girls using contraceptives may be labeled prostitutes, and married women using family planning methods may be divorced on account that they are disobedient to their husbands as they do not want to bear children. As such, sexual and reproductive health as a right is still very far from reality to many men and women. To a large extent, the objections are mainly backed up in culture, which is deeply rooted in many African traditions. While such culture have both the good and bad side, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights has identified the bad ones as’ harmful cultural practices. This paper argues that, while cultural norms may hinder the realization of human rights, adopting a human rights based approach to address harmful cultural practices is likely, the best approach to realizing women’s rights to sexual and reproductive health rights in Africa.

Keywords: rights, culture, health, women

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Authors: Olayemi Bakre

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The majoritant of the South African rural populace are directly or indirectly engaged in agricultural practices for a livelihood. However, impediments such as the climate change and inadequacy of governmental support has undermined the once thriving subsistence farming communities of South Africa. Furthermore, the poor leadership in hydrology, coupled with lack of depths in skills to facilitate the understanding and acceptance of groundwater from national level to local governance has made it near impossible for subsistence farmers to optimally benefit from the groundwater beneath their feet. The 2012 drought experienced in South Africa paralysed the farming activities across several subsistence farming communities across the KwaZulu-Natal Province. To revamp subsistence farming, a variety of interventions and strategies such as the Resource Poor Farmers (RPF) and Water Allocation Reforms (WAR) have been launched by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) as an agendum to galvanising the defunct subsistence farming communities of KwaZulu-Natal as well as other subsistence farming communities across South Africa. Despite the enormous resources expended on the subsistence farming communities whom often fall under the Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDI); indicators such as the unsustainable farming practices, poor crop yield, pitiable living condition as well as the poor standard of living, are evidential to the claim that these afore cited interventions and a host of other similar strategies indicates that these initiatives have not yield the desired result. Thus, this paper seeks to suggest practicable interventions aimed at salvaging the vulnerability of subsistence farmers within the province understudy. The study pursued a qualitative approach as the view of experts on ground water and similarly related fields from the DWS were solicited as an agendum to obtaining in-depth perspective into the current study. Some of the core challenges undermining the sustainability and growth of subsistence farming in the area of study were - inadequacy of experts (engineers, scientist, researchers) in ground water; water shortages; lack of political will as well as lack of coordination among stakeholders. As an agendum to optimising the ground water usage for subsistence farming, this paper advocates the strengthening of geohydrological skills, development of technical training capacity, interactive participation among stakeholders as well as the initiation of Participatory Action Research as an agenda to optimising the available ground water in KwaZulu-Natal which is intended to orchestrate a sustainable and viable subsistence farming practice within the province.

Keywords: subsistence farming, ground water optimisation, resource poor farmers, and water allocation reforms, hydrology

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Authors: M. Linda Phooko, Phesheya E. Dlamini, Vusumuzi E. Mbanjwa, Rhandu Chauke

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The decline of yields as a consequence of miss-informed land-use decisions poses a threat to sustainable agriculture in South Africa. The non-uniform growth pattern of wheat crop and the yields below expectations has been one of the main concerns for Timatjatji community farmers. This study was then conducted to characterize, classify, and evaluate soils of the farm for sustainable land use planning. A detailed free survey guided by surface features was conducted on a 25 ha farm to check soil variation. It was revealed that Sepane (25%), Bonheim (21%), Rensburg (18%), Katspruit (15%), Arcadia (12%) and Dundee (9%) were the dominant soil forms found across the farm. Field soil description was done to determine morphological characteristics of the soils which were matched with slope percentage and climate to assess the potential of the soils. The land capability results showed that soils were generally shallow due to high clay content in the B horizon. When the climate of the area was factored in (i.e. land potential), it further revealed that the area has low cropping potential due to heat, moisture stress and shallow soils. This implies that the farm is not suitable for annual cropping but can be highly suitable for planted pastures.

Keywords: characterization, land capability, land evaluation, land potential

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Authors: Gunjan Razdan, Priyanka Sreenath, Jagannath Behera, S. K. Mishra, Sunil Mehra

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Uttar Pradesh is one of the poor performing states with high Malnutrition and Anaemia among adolescent girls resulting in high MMR, IMR and low birth weight rate. The rate of anaemia among adolescent girls has doubled in the past decade. Adolescents gain around 15-20% of their optimum height, 25-50% of the ideal adult weight and 45% of the skeletal mass by the age of 19. Poor intake of energy, protein and other nutrients is one of the factors for malnutrition and anaemia. METHODS: The cross-sectional survey using a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) was adopted in this study. The respondents (adolescents, parents and frontline health workers) were selected randomly from 30 villages and surveyed through a semi-structured questionnaire for qualitative information and FGDs and IDIs for qualitative information. A 24 hours dietary recall method was adopted to estimate their dietary practices. A total of 1069 adolescent girls, 1067 boys, 1774 parents and 69 frontline functionaries were covered under the study. Percentages and mean were calculated for quantitative variable, and content analysis was carried out for qualitative data. RESULTS: Over 80 % of parents provided assertions that they understood the term balanced diet and strongly felt that their children were having balanced diet. However, only negligible 1.5 % of parents could correctly recount essential eight food groups and 22% could tell about four groups which was the minimum response expected to say respondents had fair knowledge on a balanced diet. Only 10 percent of parents could tell that balanced diet helps in physical and mental growth and only 2% said it has a protective role. Besides, qualitative data shows that the perception regarding balanced diet is having costly food items like nuts and fruits. The dietary intake of adolescents is very low despite the increased iron needs associated with physical growth and puberty.The consumption of green leafy vegetables (less than 35 %) and citrus fruits (less than 50%) was found to be low. CONCLUSIONS: The assertions on an understanding of term balanced diet are contradictory to the actual knowledge and practices. Knowledge on essential food groups and nutrients is crucial to inculcate healthy eating practices among adolescents. This calls for comprehensive communication efforts to improve the knowledge and dietary practices among adolescents.

Keywords: anemia, knowledge, malnutrition, perceptions

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Authors: Claire M. Hollocou, Denise Johnson

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As racism permeates the foundation of America's educational system, educators hold a level of responsibility to address racism and the power of white privilege in the classroom by implementing anti-racist practices. This study aims to discuss the practices of anti-racist education across two predominantly affluent white schools. It offers our perspectives as white and black female teachers committed to implementing and reflecting on our antiracist work. Through communities of practice and the critical dialogue framework, we will provide an environment for one another to share our experiences implementing anti-racist education. We will spend a couple of months engaging in dialogue together to support our praxis. With critical reflection, we will look for themes that emerge through the conversations as well as develop a protocol for building an antiracist community of practice. This study is a work in progress.

Keywords: anti-racism, critical dialogue, race and racism, teacher education

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Authors: Kimmo J. Kurppa

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This paper describes the development of the buyer-supplier dyad concept over the years and proposes improvements, clarifications and extensions to the prevailing definitions published in 1970’s and 1980’s. This paper suggests a partition of the buyer-supplier dyad to concepts of Commercial Dyad (dyadic interaction in vertical relationships) and Innovative Dyad (dyadic interaction in horizontal relationship) since dyadic interaction takes place in two major types of contexts between industrial firms. Especially the context of joint product development in a dyadic relationship has not been adequately recognized being totally different from the interaction taking place in commercial buyer-supplier interaction. This paper provides therefore a solution to the existing gap in research by clarifying the descriptions and the context where dyadic interaction takes place between industrial firms. This paper also illustrates and explains how the firm’s organization and the interaction taking place inside it, is connected to the dyadic interaction structure between the firm and its partner firm. This theme has been discussed earlier but the phenomenon has not been adequately described and has not been illustrated in earlier research. This conceptual study has been interested in how the dyad concept of Industrial Marketing has been defined in the earlier research and how the definition could be improved. This conceptual paper has been constructed by using the systematic review methodology and proposes avenues for future research. The concept and existence of relationship and interaction between firm’s internal interaction network and external interaction between firm’s dyadic counterparts, need to be verified through empirical research.

Keywords: dyadic interaction, industrial dyad, buyer-supplier relationship, strategic reciprocity, experience, socially adjusted opportunism

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Authors: Mariana Paz Sajon, Paula Cecilia Primogerio, Mariana Albarracin

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This study recovers an experience of teacher training carried out in an Undergraduate Business School from a private university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The purpose of the project was to provide teachers with an opportunity to reflect on their teaching practices at the university. The aim of the study is to systematize lessons and challenges that emerge from this teacher training experience. A group of teachers who showed a willingness to learn teaching abilities was selected to work. They completed a formative journey working in learning communities starting from the immersion in different aspects of teaching and learning, class observations, and an individual and collaborative reflection exercise in a systematic way among colleagues. In this study, the productions of the eight teachers who are members of the learning communities are analyzed, framed in an e-portfolio that they prepared during the training journey. The analysis shows that after the process of shared reflection, traits related to powerful teaching and meaningful learning have appeared in the classes. For their part, teachers reflect having reached an awareness of their own practices, identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement, and the experience of sharing their own way and knowing the successes and failures of others was valued. It is an educational journey of pedagogical transformation of the teachers, which is infrequent in business education, which could lead to a change in teaching practices for the entire Business School. The present study involves theoretical and pedagogic aspects of education in a business school in Argentina and its flow-on implications for the workplace that may be transferred to other educational contexts.

Keywords: Argentina, learning community, meaningful learning, powerful teaching, reflective practice

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Authors: Maiss Razem

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The construction sector is considered a major consumer of materials that undergoes processes of extraction, processing, transportation, and maintaining when used in buildings. Several metrics have been devised to capture the environmental impact of the materials consumed during construction using lifecycle thinking. Rarely has the materiality of this sector been explored qualitatively and systemically. This paper aims to explore socio-cultural forces that drive the use of certain materials in the Jordanian construction industry, using practice theory as a heuristic method of analysis, more specifically Shove et al. three-element model. By conducting semi-structured interviews with architects, the results unravel contextually embedded routines when determining qualities of three materialities highlighted herein; stone, glass and spatial openness. The study highlights the inadequacy of only using efficiency as a quantitative metric of sustainable materials and argues for the need to link material consumption with socio-economic, cultural, and aesthetic driving forces. The operationalization of practice theory by tracing materials’ lifetimes as they integrate with competencies and meanings captures dynamic engagements through the analyzed routines of actors in the construction practice. This study can offer policymakers better-nuanced representation to green this sector beyond efficiency rhetoric and quantitative metrics.

Keywords: architects' practices, construction materials, Jordan, practice theory

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Authors: Pedro Paulino

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The majority of the world’s population is already living in urban areas and the urban population is expected to keep increasing in the next decades. This exponential increase in urban population carries with it obvious mobility problems. Not only a new paradigm in the transport sector is needed in order to address these problems; effective regulatory policies to ensure the quality of services, passenger rights, competition between operators and consistency of the entire mobile ecosystem are needed as well. The purpose of this paper is to present the problems the world faces in this sector and contribute to their solution. Indeed, our study concludes that only through the active supervision of the markets and the activity of monitoring the various operators will it be possible to develop a sustainable and efficient transport system which meets the needs of a changing world.

Keywords: mobility, regulation policies, sanctioning powers, sustainable transport

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Authors: Mokgadi Julia Ngoepe-Ntsoane

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The article aims to make a case for a legislative framework for the fire sector in South Africa. Robust legislative framework is essential for empowering those with obligatory mandate within the sector. This article contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of policy reviews particularly with regards to the legal framework. It has been observed overtime that the scholarly contributions in this field are limited. Document analysis was the methodology selected for the investigation of the various legal frameworks existing in the country. It has been established that indeed the national legislation on the fire industry does not exist in South Africa. From the documents analysed, it was revealed that the sector is dominated by cartels who are exploiting the new entrants to the market particularly SMEs. It is evident that these cartels are monopolising the system as they have long been operating in the system turning it into self- owned entities. Commitment to addressing the challenges faced by fire services and creating a framework for the evolving role that fire brigade services are expected to execute in building safer and sustainable communities is vital. Legislation for the fire sector ought to be concluded with immediate effect. The outdated national fire legislation has necessitated the monopolisation and manipulation of the system by dominating organisations which cause a painful discrimination and exploitation of smaller service providers to enter the market for trading in that occupation. The barrier to entry bears long term negative effects on national priority areas such as employment creation, poverty, and others. This monopolisation and marginalisation practices by cartels in the sector calls for urgent attention by government because if left attended, it will leave a lot of people particularly women and youth being disadvantaged and frustrated. The downcast syndrome exercised within the fire sector has wreaked havoc and is devastating. This is caused by cartels that have been within the sector for some time, who know the strengths and weaknesses of processes, shortcuts, advantages and consequences of various actions. These people take advantage of new entrants to the sector who in turn find it difficult to manoeuvre, find the market dissonant and end up giving up their good ideas and intentions. There are many pieces of legislation which are industry specific such as housing, forestry, agriculture, health, security, environmental which are used to regulate systems within the institutions involved. Other regulations exist as bi-laws for guiding the management within the municipalities.

Keywords: sustainable job creation, growth and development, transformation, risk management

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Authors: Yang Chen, Lili Fu

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Promoting urban regeneration in existing areas has been elevated to a national strategy in China. In this context, because of the multidimensional sustainable effect through the intensive use of land, mixed-use development has become an important objective for high-quality urban regeneration in the inner city. However, in the long period of time since China's reform and opening up, the "unbalanced phenomenon" of mixed-use development in China's inner cities has been very serious. On the one hand, the excessive focus on certain individual spaces has led to an increase in the level of mixed-use development in some areas, substantially ahead of others, resulting in a growing gap between different parts of the inner city; On the other hand, the excessive focus on a one-dimensional element of the spatial organization of mixed-use development, such as the enhancement of functional mix or spatial capacity, has led to a lagging phenomenon or neglect in the construction of other dimensional elements, such as pedestrian permeability, green environmental quality, social inclusion, etc. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the central area of the inner city, and it clearly runs counter to the need for sustainable development in China's new era. Therefore, a rational qualitative and quantitative analysis of the "unbalanced phenomenon" will help to identify the problem and provide a basis for the formulation of relevant optimization plans in the future. This paper builds a dynamic evaluation method of mixed-use development based on a meta-dimensional model and then uses spatial evolution analysis and spatial consistency analysis with ArcGIS software to reveal the "unbalanced phenomenon " in over the past 40 years of the central city area in Nanjing, a China’s typical city facing regeneration. This study result finds that, compared to the increase in functional mix and capacity, the dimensions of residential space mix, public service facility mix, pedestrian permeability, and greenness in Nanjing's city central area showed different degrees of lagging improvement, and the unbalanced development problems in each part of the city center are different, so the governance and planning plan for future mixed-use development needs to fully address these problems. The research methodology of this paper provides a tool for comprehensive dynamic identification of mixed-use development level’s change, and the results deepen the knowledge of the evolution of mixed-use development patterns in China’s inner cities and provide a reference basis for future regeneration practices.

Keywords: mixed-use development, unbalanced phenomenon, the meta-dimensional model, over the past 40 years of Nanjing, China

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Authors: Artur Saraiva, Moritz von Schwedler, Emília Fernandes

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In recent years, the organic sector has increased significantly. However, with the ‘conventionalization’ of these products, it has been questioned whether these products have been losing their original vision. Accordingly, this research based on 31 phenomenological interviews with committed organic consumers in urban and rural areas of Portugal, aims to analyse how ethical motivations and ecological awareness are related to organic food consumption. The content thematic analysis highlights aspects related to society and environmental concerns. On an individual level, the importance of internal coherence, peace of mind and balance that these consumers find in the consumption of local organic products was stressed. For these consumers, local organic products consumption made for significant changes in their lives, aiding in the establishment of a green identity, and involves a certain philosophy of life. This vision of an organic lifestyle is grounded in a political and ecological perspective, beyond the usual organic definition, as a ‘post-organic era’. The paper contributes to better understand how an ideological environmental discourse allows highlighting the relationship between consumers’ environmental concerns and the politics of food, resulting in a possible transition to new sustainable consumption practices.

Keywords: organic consumption, localism, content thematic analysis, pro-environmental discourse, political consumption, Portugal

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Authors: Martin S. Mulyadi

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This research investigates the corporate governance disclosure behavior of Indonesian corporations with type II agency problems. The primary cause of the 1990s Asian financial crisis has been attributed to poor corporate governance practices in Indonesia. Most importantly, these poor practices were commonly found in family-owned and government-owned corporations. There are a lot of publicly listed family-owned and government-owned corporations in Indonesia. Agency theory refers to these corporations as corporations with type II agency problems. This research employs agency theory to analyzes corporate governance practice and disclosures in such settings and found that government-owned corporations perform better than family-owned corporations.

Keywords: corporate governance, corporate disclosures, agency theory, type II agency problems

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Authors: Elisa Santana-Monagas, Juan L. Núñez, Jaime León, Samuel Falcón, Celia Fernández, Rocío P. Solís

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Students’ emotional experiences have been a widely discussed theme among researchers, proving a central role on students’ outcomes. Yet, up to now, far too little attention has been paid to teaching practices that negatively relate with students’ negative emotions in the higher education. The present work aims to examine the relationship between teachers’ teaching practices (i.e., students’ evaluations of teaching and autonomy support), the students’ feelings of boredom and agentic engagement and motivation in the higher education context. To do so, the present study incorporates one of the most popular tools in natural processing language to address students’ evaluations of teaching: sentiment analysis. Whereas most research has focused on the creation of SA models and assessing students’ satisfaction regarding teachers and courses to the author’s best knowledge, no research before has included results from SA into an explanatory model. A total of 225 university students (Mean age = 26.16, SD = 7.4, 78.7 % women) participated in the study. Students were enrolled in degree and masters’ studies at the faculty of Education of a public university of Spain. Data was collected using an online questionnaire students could access through a QR code they completed during a teaching period where the assessed teacher was not present. To assess students’ sentiments towards their teachers’ teaching, we asked them the following open-ended question: “If you had to explain a peer who doesn't know your teacher how he or she communicates in class, what would you tell them?”. Sentiment analysis was performed with Microsoft's pre-trained model. For this study, we relied on the probability of the students answer belonging to the negative category. To assess the reliability of the measure, inter-rater agreement between this NLP tool and one of the researchers, who independently coded all answers, was examined. The average pairwise percent agreement and the Cohen’s kappa were calculated with ReCal2. The agreement reached was of 90.8% and Cohen’s kappa .68, both considered satisfactory. To test the hypothesis relations a structural equation model (SEM) was estimated. Results showed that the model fit indices displayed a good fit to the data; χ² (134) = 351.129, p < .001, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .09, TLI = .91, CFI = .92. Specifically, results show that boredom was negatively predicted by autonomy support practices (β = -.47[-.61, -.33]), whereas for the negative sentiment extracted from SET, this relation was positive (β = .23[.16, .30]). In other words, when students’ opinion towards their instructors’ teaching practices was negative, it was more likely for them to feel bored. Regarding the relations among boredom and student outcomes, results showed a negative predictive value of boredom on students’ motivation to study (β = -.46[-.63, -.29]) and agentic engagement (β = -.24[-.33, -.15]). Altogether, results show a promising future for sentiment analysis techniques in the field of education as they proved the usefulness of this tool when evaluating relations among teaching practices and student outcomes.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, boredom, motivation, agentic engagement

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Authors: Masoumeh Tadayoni, Saeed Kamyabi, Alireza Entezari

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Background and goal of the research: In planning and management system, the tourism carrying capacity is used as a holistic approach and supportive instrument. Evaluating the carrying capacity is used in quantitative the resource exploitation in line with sustainable development and as a foundation for identifying the changes in natural ecosystem and for the final evaluation and monitoring the tensions and decays in regressed ecosystem. Therefore, the present research tries to determine the carrying capacity of effective, physical and real range of Siahsard tourism region. Method: In the present research, the quantitative analysis of tourism carrying capacity is studied by used of effective or permissible carrying capacity (EPCC), real carrying capacity (PCC) and physical carrying capacity (RCC) in Siahsard fountain. It is analyzed based on the field survey and various resources were used for collecting information. Findings: The results of the analysis shows that, 3700 people use the Siahsard tourism region every day and 1350500 people use it annually. However, the evaluation of carrying capacity can be annually 1390650 people in this place. It can be an important tourism place along with other places in the region. Results: Siahsard’s tourism region has a little way to reach to its carrying capacity that needs to be analyzed. However, based on the results, some suggestions were offered for sustainable development of this region and as the most logical alternations for tourism management.

Keywords: carrying capacity, evaluation, Siahsard, tourism

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Authors: Obsi Terfasa, Bhanupriya Das, Mithilish Passawan

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The large-scale application of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology is significantly hindered by the high cost of the commonly used proton exchange membrane, Nafion. This has led to the recent development of ceramic membranes using various clay minerals. This study evaluates the characteristics and potential use of a new ceramic membrane made from potter’s clay © mixed with different proportions (0, 5, 10 wt%) of fly ash (FA), labeled as CFA0, CFA5, CFA10, for cost-effective and sustainable MFC use. Among these, the CFA10 membrane demonstrated superior quality with a fine pore size distribution (average 0.41 μm), which supports higher water uptake and reduced oxygen diffusion. Its oxygen mass transfer coefficient was 4.13 ± 0.13 × 10⁻⁴ cm/s, about 40% lower than the control. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the CFA membrane is rich in quartz, which enhances proton conductance and water retention. Electrochemical kinetics studies, including cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), also confirmed the effectiveness of the CFA10 membrane in MFC, showing a peak current output of 15.35 mA and low ohmic resistance (78.2 Ω). The novel CFA10 ceramic membrane, incorporating coal fly ash, a waste material, shows promise for high MFC performance at a significantly reduced cost (96%), making it suitable for sustainable scaling up of the technology.

Keywords: ceramic membrane, Coulombic efficiency, electro-chemical kinetics, fly ash, proton conductivity, microbial fuel cell

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Authors: Mikyung Bak

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The dokkaebi, a beloved icon of Korean culture, is represented as an elf, goblin, monster, dwarf, or any similar creature in different media, such as animated shows, comics, soap operas, and movies. It is often described as a mythical creature with a horn or horns and long teeth, wearing tiger-skin pants or a grass skirt, and carrying a magic stick. Many Korean researchers agree on the similarity of the image of the Korean dokkaebi with that of the Japanese oni, a view that is regard as negative from an anti-colonial or nationalistic standpoint. They cite such similarity between the two mythical creatures as evidence that Japanese colonialism persists in Korea. The debate on the originality of dokkaebi’s visual representation is an issue that must be addressed urgently. This research demonstrates through a diagram the plurality of interpretations of dokkaebi’s visual representations in what are considered ‘authentic’ images of dokkaebi in Korean art and culture. This diagram presents the opinions of four major groups in the debate, namely, the scholars of Korean literature and folklore, art historians, authors, and artists. It also shows the creation of new dokkaebi visual representations in popular media, including those influenced by the debate. The diagram further proves that dokkaebi’s representations varied, which include the typical persons or invisible characters found in Korean literature, original Korean folk characters in traditional art, and even universal spirit characters. They are also visually represented by completely new creatures as well as oni-based mythical beings and the actual oni itself. The earlier dokkaebi representations were driven by the creation of a national ideology or national cultural paradigm and, thus, were more uniform and protected. In contrast, the more recent representations are influenced by the Korean industrial strategy of ‘cultural economics,’ which is concerned with the international rather than the domestic market. This recent Korean cultural strategy emphasizes diversity and commonality with the global culture rather than originality and locality. It employs traditional cultural resources to construct a global image. Consequently, dokkaebi’s recent representations have become more common and diverse, thereby incorporating even oni’s characteristics. This argument has rendered the grounds of the debate irrelevant. The dokkaebi has been used recently for tourist marketing purposes, particularly in revitalizing interest in regions considered the cradle of various traditional dokkaebi tales. These campaign strategies include the Jeju-do Dokkaebi Park, Koksung Dokkaebi Land, as well as the Taebaek and Sokri-san Dokkaebi Festivals. Almost dokkaebi characters are identical to the Japanese oni in tourist marketing. However, the pursuit for dokkaebi’s authentic visual representation is less interesting and fruitful than the appreciation of the entire spectrum of dokkaebi images that have been created. Thus, scholars and stakeholders must not exclude the possibilities for a variety of potentials within the visual culture. The same sentiment applies to traditional art and craft. This study aims to contribute to a new visualization of the dokkaebi that embraces the possibilities of both folk craft and art, which continue to be uncovered by diverse and careful researchers in a still-developing field.

Keywords: Dokkaebi, post-colonial period, representation, tourist marketing

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Authors: Humphrey Agevi, Harrison Tsingalia, Richard Onwonga, Shem Kuyah

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Most of the world ecosystems have been affected by the effects of climate change. Efforts have been made to mitigate against climate change effects. While most studies have been done in forest ecosystems and pure plant plantations, trees on farms including agroforestry have only received attention recently. Agroforestry systems and tree cover on agricultural lands make an important contribution to climate change mitigation but are not systematically accounted for in the global carbon budgets. This study sought to: (i) determine tree diversity in different agroforestry practices; (ii) determine tree biomass in different agroforestry practices. Study area was determined according to the Land degradation surveillance framework (LSDF). Two study sites were established. At each of the site, a 5km x 10km block was established on a map using Google maps and satellite images. Way points were then uploaded in a GPS helped locate the blocks on the ground. In each of the blocks, Nine (8) sentinel clusters measuring 1km x 1km were randomized. Randomization was done in a common spreadsheet program and later be downloaded to a Global Positioning System (GPS) so that during surveys the researchers were able to navigate to the sampling points. In each of the sentinel cluster, two farm boundaries were randomly identified for convenience and to avoid bias. This led to 16 farms in Kakamega South and 16 farms in Kakamega North totalling to 32 farms in Kakamega Site. Species diversity was determined using Shannon wiener index. Tree biomass was determined using allometric equation. Two agroforestry practices were found; homegarden and hedgerow. Species diversity ranged from 0.25-2.7 with a mean of 1.8 ± 0.10. Species diversity in homegarden ranged from 1-2.7 with a mean of 1.98± 0.14. Hedgerow species diversity ranged from 0.25-2.52 with a mean of 1.74± 0.11. Total Aboveground Biomass (AGB) determined was 13.96±0.37 Mgha-1. Homegarden with the highest abundance of trees had higher above ground biomass (AGB) compared to hedgerow agroforestry. This study is timely as carbon budgets in the agroforestry can be incorporated in the global carbon budgets and improve the accuracy of national reporting of greenhouse gases.

Keywords: agroforestry, allometric equations, biomass, climate change

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Authors: Yajing Jiang, Jing Wu

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Residential area construction links many problems such as population resources, ecology, social values, public services and transportation in the city. After Chinese housing reform, a large number of residential area development accompanied by the loss of agricultural and ecological land. To explore the future of Chinese urban residential area, this article concentrates on how the 'Compact Settlement' behaves in improving the living environment and saving the resources. Through the research of residential area in Hangzhou, there are some determines that increasing the development intensity of the area can indeed bring some improvement in the overall environment. In conclusion, possible design alternatives are discussed for leading Chinese urban development towards a more sustainable path.

Keywords: compact city development, environmental sustainability, residential area, Hangzhou

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Authors: Jeremy Schultz, Kelly Bricker

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Ecotourism has proven itself to be a forerunner in the advancement of environmental conservation all the while supporting cultural tradition, uniqueness, and pride among indigenous communities. Successful private-community partnerships associated with ecotourism operations are vital to the overall prosperity of both the businesses and the local communities. Such accomplishments can be seen through numerous livelihood goals including income, food security, health, reduced vulnerability, governance, and empowerment. Private-community partnerships also support global initiatives such as the sustainable development goals and sustainable development frameworks including those proposed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO). Understanding such partnerships assists not only large organizations such as the WTO, but it also benefits smaller ecotourism operators and entrepreneurs who are trying to achieve their sustainable tourism development goals. This study examined the partnership between an ecotourism company (Rivers Fiji) and two rural villages located in Fiji’s Upper Navua Conservation Area. Focus groups were conducted in each village. Observation journals were also used to record conversations outside of the focus groups. Data were thematically organized and analyzed to offer researcher interpretations and understandings. This research supported the notion that respectful and emboldening partnerships between communities and private enterprise are vital to the composition of successful ecotourism operations that support sustainable development protocol. Understanding these partnerships can assist in shaping future ecotourism development and re-molding existing businesses. This study has offered an example of a thriving partnership through community input and critical researcher analysis. Research has identified six contributing factors to successful ecotourism partnerships, and this study provides additional support to that framework.

Keywords: community partnerships, conservation areas, ecotourism, Fiji, sustainability

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Authors: Aiydh Aljeddani, Fran Martin

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The critical time in which we live requires rethinking of many potential ways in order to make the concept of sustainability and its principles an integral part of our daily life. One of these potential approaches is how to attract community institutions, such as the private sector, to participate effectively in the sustainability industry by supporting public schools to fulfill their duties. A collaborative community of practice can support this purpose and can provide a flexible framework, which allows the members of the community to participate effectively. This study, conducted in Saudi Arabia, aimed to understand the process of a collaborative community of practice of involving the private sector as a member of this community to integrate the sustainability concept in school activities and projects. This study employed a qualitative methodology to understand this authentic and complex phenomenon. A case study approach, ethnography and some elements of action research were followed in this study. The methods of unstructured interviews, artifacts, observation, and teachers’ field notes were used to collect the data. The participants were three secondary teachers, twelve chief executive officers, and one school administrative officer. Certain contextual conditions, as shown by the data, should be taken into consideration when policy makers and school administrations in Saudi Arabia desire to integrate sustainability into school activities. The first of these was the acknowledgement of the valuable role of the members’ personality, efforts, abilities, and experiences, which played vital roles in integrating sustainability. Second, institutional culture, which was not expected to emerge as an important factor in this study, has a significant role in the integration of sustainability. Credibility among the members of the community towards the integration of the sustainability concept and its principles through school activities is another important condition. Fourth, some chief executive officers’ understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards contribution to sustainability agenda was shallow and limited and this could impede the successful integration of sustainability. Fifth, a shared understanding between the members of the community about integrating sustainability was a vital condition in the integration process. The study also revealed that the integration of sustainability could not be an ongoing process if implemented in isolation of the other community institutions such as the private sector. The study finally offers a number of recommendations to improve on the current practices and suggests areas for further studies.

Keywords: community of practice, public schools, private sector, sustainable development

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Authors: Ayushi Arora

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Solar photocatalysis has the potential to treat drinking water in a sustainable and cost effective manner. According to WHO, there should not be any colony forming units (CFU) per 100 mL present in drinking water, and as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India, the bathing water should have less than 500 CFU/100 mL and the maximum permissible limit is 2500 CFU/100 mL. In this study, 8 water sources near our collaborators, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, were analysed, and it was found that 6 out of 8 sources of water had significant coliform count in them. Two of them were chosen to be treated by solar photocatalysis a) well water which had a count of 4800 CFU/100 mL for total coliforms and was used by people for drinking purposes, and b) pond water which had a count of 92000 CFU/100 mL for total coliforms and 3000 CFU/mL for E.Coli and was used by people for washing and bathing purposes. In this study, a semiconductor-semiconductor, composite BTO-TiO2-RMSG & TiO2-SiO2 were tested for their ability to be activated under solar light and to reduce Total Coliforms and E.Coli bacteria in real world contaminated water, and it was found that both catalysts were both able to reduce the total coliform count in water by 99.7% and 98.2 % in 2 hrs respectively. They have also shown promising results in reusability tests. This study demonstrates the ability of solar photocatalysis to be used in real world drinking water treatment and will promote future advancements in this field.

Keywords: sustainable water treatment, waterpurification technologies, water policies, water pollution and environmental engineering

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Authors: Gisele Ragusa, Lilian Leung

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There are essential needs for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforces nationally. This important need underscores the necessity of increasing numbers of students attending both two-year community colleges and universities, thereby enabling and supporting a larger pool of students to enter the workforce. The greatest number of students in STEM programs attend public higher education institutions, with an even larger majority beginning their academic experiences enrolled in two-year public colleges. Accordingly, this research explores the impact of experiences and academic support practices on two-year (community) college students’ academic achievement in STEM majors with a focus on supporting students who are the first in their families to attend college. This research is a result of three years of iterative trials of differing supports to improve such students’ academic success with a cross-student comparative research methodological structure involving peer-to-peer and faculty academic supports. Results of this research indicate that background experiences and a combination of peer-to-peer and faculty-led academic support practices, including supplementary instruction, peer mentoring, and study skills support, significantly improve students’ academic success in STEM majors. These results confirm the needs that first-generation students have in navigating their college careers and what can be effective in supporting them.

Keywords: higher education policy, student support, two-year colleges, STEM achievement

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