Search results for: education sustainability

Authors: Lokesh Harshe

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The building construction sector is using 36% of global energy consumption with 39% of CO₂ emission. Professionals in the Built Environment Sector have long been aware of the industry’s contribution towards CO₂ emissions and are now moving towards more sustainable practices. As a result of this, many organizations have introduced rating systems to address the issue of global warming in the construction sector by ranking construction projects based on sustainability parameters. The pre-construction phase of any building project is the most essential time to make decisions for addressing the sustainability aspects. Traditionally, it is very difficult to collect data from different stakeholders and bring it together to form a decision based on factual data to perform sustainability analyses in the pre-construction phase. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the solution where one single model is the result of the collaborative approach of BIM processes where all the information is shared, extracted, communicated, and stored on a single platform that everyone can access and make decisions based on real-time data. The focus of this research is on the Indian Green Rating System IGBC® with the objective of understanding IGBC® requirements and developing a framework to create the relationship between the rating processes and BIM. A Hypothetical (Architectural) model of a hostel building is developed using AutoCAD 2019 & Revit Arch. 2019, where the framework is applied to generate results on sustainability analysis using Green Building Studio (GBS) and Revit Add-ins. The results of any sustainability analysis are generated within a fraction of a minute, which is very quick in comparison with traditional sustainability analysis. This may save a considerable amount of time as well as cost. The future scope is to integrate Architectural, Structural, and MEP Models to perform accurate sustainability analyses with inputs from industry professionals working on real-life Green BIM projects.

Keywords: sustainability analyses, BIM, green rating systems, IGBC®, LEED

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Authors: Kanika Saxena, Sunita Balani

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Purpose - The aim of the study is to compare the reported sustainability activities in areas of emission, water management and gender equality, currently undertaken by the seven major pharmaceutical companies. Methodology: The published corporate sustainability activity reports for the year 2017 for seven pharmaceutical companies have been studied. The two main criteria for the inclusion of pharmaceutical companies in this study are that they are globally recognized and active in the field of sustainability reporting. Company’s actions and initiatives have been grouped under three categories: (i) Emissions (ii) Water management (iii) Gender Equality in terms of employee workforce. Findings: Based on the sustainability reports, quantification and grading of the companies showed interesting results. Johnson & Johnson and Bayer are leading their activities under emissions and water management categories. The number of activities under emission and water management in case of Eli Lily, Roche, Sanofi, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline were 19, 16, 16, 11 and 6 respectively. Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lily are leading in taking the initiatives to curb the problem of emissions as compared with other 5 companies. Under the category of gender equality in terms of employee workforce, Eli Lily is leading the group of sampled companies with 47% of women employee workforce globally followed by Sanofi with 46.2% (42.2% of managers) female employees. It has also been observed that in some of the reports, gender diversification in the workforce has not been mentioned though the total number of employees were mentioned. Conclusion: This study could serve as the informative material for future in-depth industry-specific studies in order to find out the participation of the pharmaceutical companies in the reporting of the sustainability activities especially in reference to emission, water management and gender equality in the workforce. In addition to it, this can be helpful as a reference point for other companies in the pharmaceutical sector who are yet to explore the field of sustainability initiatives and reporting. Due to the limited scope of this study, only seven major players of the pharmaceutical sector who are active in the field of sustainability have been considered.

Keywords: emission, gender equality workforce, pharmaceutical, sustainability, water management

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Authors: Takatoshi Ishii, Koji Kimita, Keiichi Muramatsu, Yoshiki Shimomura

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To increase the quality of learning, teacher and learner need mutual effort for realization of educational value. For this purpose, we need to manage the co-creational education among teacher and learners. In this research, we try to find a feature of co-creational education. To be more precise, we analyzed learners’ reports by natural language processing, and extract some features that describe the state of the co-creational education.

Keywords: co-creational education, e-portfolios, ICT integration, latent dirichlet allocation

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Authors: Alexandra M. Kriofske Mainella

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This paper will examine the need for more aggressive public policies around bodily, reproductive and sexual health education for young people with disabilities in the United States. This paper will consider the policies around sexuality education for students in the United States and the recommendation for national standards around sexuality education. We will investigate the intersection of these policies and recommendations for students with disabilities and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): what this means for students with disabilities’ access to comprehensive sexuality education and how it affects their behaviors and outcomes.

Keywords: disability, sexuality, education, policy

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Authors: M. D. Nghiteke, A. Mji, G. T. Molepo

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Inclusive education stems from a philosophy and vision, which argues that all children should learn together at school. It is not only about treating all pupils in the same way. It is also about allowing all children to attend school without any restrictions. Ten primary school teachers in a circuit in Namibia volunteered to participate in face-to-face interviews about inclusive education. The teachers responded to three questions about their (i) understanding of inclusive education; (ii) whether inclusive education was implemented in primary schools; and (iii) whether they were able to work with learners with special needs. Findings indicated that teachers understood what inclusive education entailed; felt that inclusive education was not implemented in their primary schools, and they were unable to work with learners with special needs in their classrooms. Further, the teachers identified training and resources as important components of inclusive education. It is recommended that education authorities should perhaps verify the findings reported here as well as ensure that the concerns raised by the teachers are addressed.

Keywords: classrooms and schools, inclusive education, resources, training

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Authors: Tuğçe Kök, Gözen Güner Aktaş, Nur Ayalp

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In a global world, Social and cultural sustainability are subjects which have gained significant importance in recent years. The concept of sustainability was included in the document of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) by World Charter for Nature, adopted in 1982 for the first time. However, merged with urban sustainability a new phenomenon has emerged. Sustainability is an essential fact, This fact is discussed via the socio-cultural field of sustainability. Together with central government and local authorities, conservation activities have been intensified on the protection of values on an area scale. Today, local authorities play an important role in the urban historic site rehabilitation and re-construction of traditional houses projects in Ankara, Turkey. Many conservative acts have occurred after 1980’s. To give a remarkable example about the conservation implementations of traditional Turkish houses is ‘Hamamönü, Ankara Re-Construction Project which is one of the historical parts that has suffered from deterioration and unplanned urban development. In this region, preexisting but unused historic fibre of the site has been revised and according to result of this case-study, the relationship between users and re-construction were discussed. Most of the houses were re-constructed in order to build a new tourist attraction area. This study discusses the socio-cultural relations between the new built environment and the visitors, from the point of cultural sustainability. This study questions the transmission of cultural stimulations. A case study was conducted to discuss the perception of cultural aspects of the visitors in the site. The relationship between the real cultural identities and existent ones after the re-constructed project, Which has been transmitted through the visitors and the users of those spaces will be discussed. The aim of the study is to analyze the relation between the cultural identities, which have been tried to be protected with the re-construction project and the users. The purposes of this study are to evaluate the implementations of Altındağ Municipality in Hamamönü and examine the socio-cultural sustainability with the user responses. After the assessment of implementation under socio-cultural sustainability, some proposals for the future of Hamamönü were introduced.

Keywords: social sustainability, cultural sustainability, Hamamönü, Turkey, re-construction

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Authors: Ngong Eugene Ekia

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Education is the foundation for the success of any society as its impact transcends across all sectors, including economics, politics, and social welfare. It is through education that individuals acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed in life and contribute meaningfully to society. However, the world is changing rapidly, and it is vital for education systems to adapt to these changes to remain relevant. In this paper, we will discuss the current trends and challenges in education and management and propose solutions that can enable individuals to thrive in an ever-evolving world.

Keywords: access to education, effective teaching and learning, strong management practices, and empowering and personal development

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Authors: S. M. Amin Hosseini, Ana Blanco, Albert De La Fuente, Sergio Cavalaro

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In emergency situations, it is fundamental to provide with a safe shelter to the population affected. However, the lack of resources and short time often represent a barrier difficult to overcome. A sustainable, rapid and low-cost construction technique is earthbag construction. This technique has spread as an alternative to the construction of emergency shelter, social housing, and even ecovillages. The earthbag construction consists of introducing soil in degradable bags that are stacked to form adobe structures. The present study aims to assess characteristics of the earthbag construction technique based on sustainability requirements and features of other methods used for temporary housing. In this case, after defining the sustainability criteria and emergency situation necessities, this study compares earthbag construction with other types of prefabricated temporary housing. Finally, the most suitable conditions for applying this technique based on the particular local properties and second life scenarios of superadobe temporary housing. The results of the study contribute to promote the earthbag and superadobe techniques as sustainable alternatives for temporary housing. However, the sustainability index of this technology highly depends on affected local conditions and characteristics. Consequently, in order to achieve a high sustainability index, emergency managers need to decide about this technology based on the highlighted results of this study, attention to the importance of specific local conditions and next functions of temporary housing.

Keywords: temporary housing, temporary shelter, earthbag, superadobe, sustainability, emergency

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Authors: Mohammad Qasim Mohammadi, Mohammad Arif Rohman

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Although socially sustainable building is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, past studies indicate that when policymakers support sustainable building development, the social dimension is often given insufficient attention or entirely disregarded. There are not many studies that focus on the problems of socially sustainable buildings in Afghanistan. This research investigates the factors that may hinder social sustainability implementation in residential building construction. The study will gather data from construction professionals by purposive sampling and employ Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Varimax for analysis. The results will undergo rigorous examination and thorough discussion. The expected results in this research will analyze the underlying barrier structure (factors) that hinder social sustainability, and each of these factors will represent a set of observed variables. In addition, the factor loadings show which barriers pose the greatest challenges. The primary goal of this study is to provide valuable insights into the impediment factors of social sustainability within the residential building environment, aiming to inform decision-making in the industry and encourage the adoption of more socially sustainable construction practices.

Keywords: social sustainability, residential building, barriers, drivers, afghanistan, factor analysis

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Authors: Osman Okumuş

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The pandemic has significantly affected every aspect of life. Especially in recenttimes, as a result of this effect, we have come closer to technology. Distance education has taken the place of formal education rather than supporting formal education. Thiscreatednewexperiencesforbothteachersandstudents. This research focused on revealing the experiences of the same students in distance and formal education, especially in history lessons. In the study, which was designed as a case study, 20 students were interviewed through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. The results show that both learning environments provide students with important experiences. However, despite the fact that the students developed their digital competencies and experienced different learning environments, they focused on formal education in the name of socialization.

Keywords: history lessons, distance education, pandemic., formal education

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Authors: Poh Im. Lim, Hillary Yee Qin. Tan

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Nowadays, going green has become a trend, and being emphasized in the construction industry. In Malaysia, there are several green rating tools available in the industry and among these, GBI and GreenRE are considered as the most common tools adopted for residential buildings. However, being green is not equal to or making something sustainable. Being sustainable is to take economic, environmental and social aspects into consideration. This is particularly essential in the affordable housing sector as the end-users belong to lower-income and places importance on many socio-economic needs beyond the environmental criteria. This paper discusses the arguments in proposing a sustainability framework that is tailor-made for high-rise affordable housing. In-depth interviews and observation mapping methods were used in gathering inputs from the end-users, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as the professionals. ‘Bottom-up’ approach was applied in this research to show the significance of participation from the local community in the decision-making process. The proposed sustainability framework illustrates the discrepancies between user priorities and what the industry is providing. The outcome of this research suggests that integrating sustainability into high-rise affordable housing is achievable and beneficial to the industry, society, and the environment.

Keywords: green building rating tools, high-rise affordable housing, sustainability framework, sustainable development

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Authors: E. Lacasa, J. L. Santolaya, I. Millán

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The progress toward sustainability implies maintaining and preferably improving both, human and ecosystem well-being, according to a triple bottom line that includes the environmental, economic and social dimensions. The life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method applicable to all production sectors that aims to quantify the environmental pressures and the benefits related to goods and services, as well as the trade-offs and the scope for improving areas of the production process. While using LCA to measure the environmental dimension of sustainability is widespread, similar approaches for the economic and the social dimensions still have limited application worldwide and there is a need for consistent and robust methods and indicators. This paper focuses on the milk production process and presents the analysis of the flows exchanged by an industrial installation through accounting all the energy and material inputs and the associated emissions and waste outputs at this stage of its life cycle. The functional unit is one litre of milk produced. Different metrics and indicators are used to assess the three dimensions of sustainability. Metrics considered useful to assess the production activities are the total water and energy consumptions and the milk production volume of each cow. The global warming, the value added and the working hours are indicators used to measure each sustainability dimension. The study is performed with two types of feeding of the cows, which includes a change in percentages of components as well. Nutritional composition of the milk obtained is almost kept. It is observed that environmental and social improvements involve high economic costs.

Keywords: milk production, sustainability, indicators, life cycle assessment

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Authors: Melisa Yazdan Panahi

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Since, today in most countries around the world much attention is paid to planning the smallest unit in the city i.e. the residential neighborhoods to achieve sustainable urban development goals, a variety of assessment tools have been developed to assess and monitor the sustainability of new developments. One of the most reliable and widely used assessment tools is LEED-ND rating system. This paper whit the aim of assessing sustainability level of Roshdieh neighborhood in Tabriz, has introduced this rating system and applied it in the study area. The results indicate that Roshdieh has the potential of achieving the standards of sustainable neighborhoods, but the present situation is far from the ideal point.

Keywords: LEED-ND, sustainable neighborhood, new developments, Tabriz

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Authors: Mohammad Matin

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Nowadays, one of the basic problems of higher education is a significant decline in the quality of education and reduction in efficiency of training. These research and studies are aiming to assess affecting factors of the erosion of academic quality, including educational environmental and content, social and economic factors, elements of the training, elements of education, family factors, from the perspective of students. The result of such improper competition, totally, has led to the decline of education quality in higher education centers, and in many aspects. The results showed a significant difference between male and female students' perspective for two areas of social and economic factors.

Keywords: higher education, decline, the quality of education, student

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Authors: Kawinphat Lertpontmanee

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The tourism industry in Thailand is regarded as an energizer of the domestic economy for several years. With this reason, researchers aim to study Visitor Expectation on a Tour Guide Business as part of promoting the Sustainability Tourism in Thailand. The study collected data via questionnaires from the population of 400 samples who have experienced the tour guide and traveling business. The research was studied by divided samples into two main groups, male samples and female sample. There are differences on their average salary per month and expectation on the tour company as part of promoting the Sustainability Tourism of the country. The majority of samples expect that the tour guide company will present the awareness of operating their business without any impact to the environment, offering an appropriated quality trips and offering a valuable price. The tour guide companies were expected to be expanded and operated in regional level in order to strengthen the community economy.

Keywords: expectation, tour guide business, sustainability tourism, sightseeing business

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Authors: Milene Magalhães Pinto, Irlen Antônio Gonçalves

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the historical processes of organization and reform of professional education contributed with the educational projects for the training/education starting from the idea of modernization of Brazil by way of industry and skilled worker. In the discourse of Congress Legislative of Minas Gerais is possible to identify the role of education as a mediating body of construction processes and rationalization modernizing of the country. The hypothesis is that education is an important instrument for promoting progress and citizenship and the way to form the professional who would serve the social and economic purposes of modernization of Brazil in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this sense, we investigate the relationship of the concept of professional education with the ideas of modernization and modernity.

Keywords: education, modernization and education, legislative congress of Minas Gerais, professional education

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Authors: Gae Hee Song

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This paper aims to address the evolution of public-private partnerships for mainstreaming an evaluation approach in the community-based education project. It examines the distinctive features of Save the Children’s School Me project in terms of empowerment evaluation principles introduced by David M. Fetterman, especially community ownership, capacity building, and organizational learning. School Me is a Save the Children Korea funded-project, having been implemented in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone since 2016. The objective of this project is to reduce gender-based disparities in school completion and learning outcomes by creating an empowering learning environment for girls and boys. Both quasi-experimental and experimental methods for impact evaluation have been used to explore changes in learning outcomes, gender attitudes, and learning environments. To locate School Me in the public-private partnership framework for community empowerment and sustainability, the data have been collected from School Me progress/final reports, baseline, and endline reports, fieldwork observations, inter-rater reliability of baseline and endline data collected from a total of 75 schools in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone. The findings of this study show that School Me project has a significant evaluation component, including qualitative exploratory research, participatory monitoring, and impact evaluation. It strongly encourages key actors, girls, boys, parents, teachers, community leaders, and local education authorities, to participate in the collection and interpretation of data. For example, 45 community volunteers collected baseline data in Cote d’Ivoire; on the other hand, three local government officers and fourteen enumerators participated in the follow-up data collection of Sierra Leone. Not only does this public-private partnership improve local government and community members’ knowledge and skills of monitoring and evaluation, but the evaluative findings also help them find their own problems and solutions with a strong sense of community ownership. Such community empowerment enables Save the Children country offices and member offices to gain invaluable experiences and lessons learned. As a result, empowerment evaluation leads to community-oriented governance and the sustainability of the School Me project.

Keywords: community empowerment, Cote d’Ivoire, empowerment evaluation, public-private partnership, save the children, school me, Sierra Leone, sustainability

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Authors: Ozcan Yavas, Berrak Erol Nalbur, Sermin Gunarslan

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A materiality matrix is a tool that organizations use to prioritize their activities and adapt to the increasing sustainability requirements in recent years. For the materiality index to move from business models to the sustainability business model stage, it must be done with all partners in the raw material, supply, production, product, and end-of-life product stages. Within the scope of this study, the Materiality Matrix was used to transform the business model into a sustainability business model and to create a sustainability roadmap in a factory producing electric buses. This matrix determines the necessary roadmap for all stakeholders to participate in the process, especially in sectors that produce sustainable products, such as the electric vehicle sector, and to act together with the cradle-to-cradle approach of sustainability roadmaps. Global Reporting Initiative analysis was used in the study conducted with 1150 stakeholders within the scope of the study, and 43 questions were asked to the stakeholders under the main headings of 'Legal Compliance Level,' 'Environmental Strategies,' 'Risk Management Activities,' 'Impact of Sustainability Activities on Products and Services,' 'Corporate Culture,' 'Responsible and Profitable Business Model Practices' and 'Achievements in Leading the Sector' and Economic, Governance, Environment, Social and Other. The results of the study aimed to include five 1st priority issues and four 2nd priority issues in the sustainability strategies of the organization in the short and medium term. When the studies carried out in the short term are evaluated in terms of Sustainability and Environmental Risk Management, it is seen that the studies are still limited to the level of legal legislation (60%) and individual studies in line with the strategies (20%). At the same time, the stakeholders expect the company to integrate sustainability activities into its business model within five years (35%) and to carry out projects to become the first company that comes to mind with its success leading the sector (20%). Another result obtained within the study's scope is identifying barriers to implementation. It is seen that the most critical obstacles identified by stakeholders with climate change and environmental impacts are financial deficiency and lack of infrastructure in the dissemination of sustainable products. These studies are critical for transitioning to sustainable business models for the electric vehicle sector to achieve the EU Green Deal and CBAM targets.

Keywords: sustainability business model, materiality matrix, electricity bus, carbon neutrality, sustainability management

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Authors: Rebecca Angeles

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This qualitative case study seeks to understand and explain the deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems in two countries (i.e. in Taiwan for the adoption of electric scooters and in Finland for supporting glass bottle recycling) using the 'Technology-Organization-Environment' theoretical framework. This study also seeks to highlight the relevance and importance of pursuing environmental sustainability in firms and in society in general due to the social urgency of the issues involved.

Keywords: environmental sustainability, radio frequency identification, technology-organization-environment framework, RFID system implementation, case study, content analysis

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Authors: A. Meydanlioglu, F. Arikan

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In recent years, thanks to the development of information and communication technologies, the computer and internet have been used widely in higher education. Internet-based education is impacting traditional higher education as online components increasingly become integrated into face-to-face (FTF) courses. The goal of combined internet-based and traditional education is to take full advantage of the benefits of each platform in order to provide an educational opportunity that can promote student learning better than can either platform alone. Research results show that the use of hybrid learning is more effective than online or FTF models in higher education. Due to the potential benefits, an increasing number of institutions are interested in developing hybrid courses, programs, and degrees. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of hybrid learning. This paper is designed to determine the impact of hybrid learning on higher education.

Keywords: e-learning, higher education, hybrid learning, online education

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Authors: Patrick Velte

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Sustainability reporting has become a central element of modern corporate governance practice. This paper is the first to recognize supervisory board independence, sustainable expertise and gender diversity in two European two tier countries and their impact on sustainability reporting quality. For a sample of 188 German and Austrian companies which are listed at the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt and Vienna Stock Exchange for the business years 2012-2013, descriptive findings show that CSR reporting quality is still low in both countries. Furthermore, multiple regressions state that independent and female members in the supervisory board do have a positive impact on CSR reporting quality in Germany and Austria. However, the existence of sustainable experts in the supervisory board both in Germany and Austria shows a positive but insignificant impact. Our findings suggest that the current European corporate governance regulations can be a useful instrument to increase the quality of modern CSR reporting for the stakeholders.

Keywords: sustainability reporting, corporate governance, gender diversity, board independence

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Authors: James Moir

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Recent evidence suggests that academic staff face difficulties in applying new technologies as a means of assessing higher order assessment outcomes such as critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. Although higher education institutional mission statements and course unit outlines purport the value of these higher order skills there is still some question about how well academics are equipped to design curricula and, in particular, assessment strategies accordingly. Despite a rhetoric avowing the benefits of these higher order skills, it has been suggested that academics set assessment tasks up in such a way as to inadvertently lead students on the path towards lower order outcomes. This is a controversial claim, and one that this papers seeks to explore and critique in terms of challenging the conceptual basis of assessing higher order skills through new technologies. It is argued that the use of digital media in higher education is leading to a focus on students’ ability to use and manipulate of these products as an index of their flexibility and adaptability to the demands of the knowledge economy. This focus mirrors market flexibility and encourages programmes and courses of study to be rhetorically packaged as such. Curricular content has become a means to procure more or less elaborate aggregates of attributes. Higher education is now charged with producing graduates who are entrepreneurial and creative in order to drive forward economic sustainability. It is argued that critical independent learning can take place through the democratisation afforded by cultural and knowledge digitization and that assessment needs to acknowledge the changing relations between audience and author, expert and amateur, creator and consumer.

Keywords: higher education, curriculum, new technologies, assessment, higher order skills

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Authors: Atiqa Marium

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In 2015, all 193 UN Member countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is an ambitious 15- year plan to address some of the most pressing issues the world faces. Goal 4 is about Quality Education which highlights the importance of inclusive and quality education for sustainable development. Sustainable Development Goal 10 focuses on reducing inequalities within and among countries. In June 2019, Federal Government in Canada released “Towards Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy”, which was an important step to move the 2030 Agenda forward. In April 2019, the Ontario government announced the performance-based funding model for publically assisted colleges and universities in Ontario, which is now part of the universities’ budget 2024-2025. The literature review has shown that the funding model has been implemented by different governments to achieve objectives. However, this model has also resulted in conflicting consequences like reducing university autonomy, education quality/ academic standards, and increased equity concerns. The primary focus of this paper will be to analyze the tensions and coherence between the proposed funding model for education for sustainable development goals and targets set by Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy. Considering that the literature review has provided evidence that the performance-based funding model has resulted in reducing quality of education and increased equity issues in other countries, it will be interesting to see how this proposed funding will align with the SDGs of “Quality Education” and “Reduced Inequalities”. This paper will be well-suited for Volume 4, with the theme of re-visioning institutional impact and sustainability. This paper will underscore the importance of policy coherence between federal and provincial policies for higher education institutions in Ontario for better institutional impact and helping universities in the attainment of goals set in 2030 Agenda towards education for sustainable development.

Keywords: performance-based funding model, education for sustainable development, policy coherence, sustainable development gaols

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Authors: Nurdan Yildirim, Arif Hepbasli

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Heating, cooling and lighting appliances in buildings account for more than one third of the world’s primary energy demand. Therefore, main components of the building heating systems play an essential role in terms of energy consumption. In this context, efficient energy and exergy utilization in HVAC-R systems has been very essential, especially in developing energy policies towards increasing efficiencies. The main objective of the present study is to assess the performance of a family house with a volume of 326.7 m3 and a net floor area of 121 m2, located in the city of Izmir, Turkey in terms of energetic, exergetic and sustainability aspects. The indoor and exterior air temperatures are taken as 20°C and 1°C, respectively. In the analysis and assessment, various metrics (indices or indicators) such as exergetic efficiency, exergy flexibility ratio and sustainability index are utilized. Two heating options (Case 1: condensing boiler and Case 2: air heat pump) are considered for comparison purposes. The total heat loss rate of the family house is determined to be 3770.72 W. The overall energy efficiencies of the studied cases are calculated to be 49.4% for Case 1 and 54.7% for Case 2. The overall exergy efficiencies, the flexibility factor and the sustainability index of Cases 1 and 2 are computed to be around 3.3%, 0.17 and 1.034, respectively.

Keywords: buildings, exergy, low exergy, sustainability, efficiency, heating, renewable energy

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Authors: Ogbeta I. Joseph, Habiba B. A. Awwalu, Otokiti Jimoh

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This paper entitled science education in Nigeria issues and challenges highlighted the role of science education to the development of science and technology in Nigeria. Science embraces every attempt of human to explore and manage the natural world, the contribution of science education to the technological development of the nation, the role of science education in ICT development, the importance of mathematics in the development of science education, the paper also analyzed the challenges facing the development of science education to include corruption, insecurity, and political instability, the paper concluded by encouraging the government and other stakeholders in educational sector to pay more attention to the teaching and learning of science in our schools. Therefore recommended the development that emphasizes should be on the teaching and learning of science base subjects in the school.

Keywords: education, science, technology and national development, challenges

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Authors: Karen Bell

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While there is broad agreement among governments and civil society globally about the need to develop more sustainable societies, the best way to achieve this is still contested. In particular, there are differences regarding whether to continue to implement market-based approaches or to move to alternative redistributive-based approaches. In this paper, ‘Green Economy’ and ‘Living Well’ strategies are compared as examples of these two different strategies for achieving social, ecological and economic sustainability. The paper is based on a 3-year ESRC funded project on transitions to sustainability which examines the implementation of the ‘Green Economy’ paradigm in South Korea and the 'Living Well' paradigm in Bolivia. As well as outlining and analysing secondary data, the paper also draws on over 100 interviews with a range of local stakeholders in these countries carried out by the author between and including 2016 and 2018. The work indicates that the Living Well paradigm seems to better integrate social, ecological and economic concerns and may better deliver sustainability in the time frame necessary than the dominant Green Economy paradigm. This seems to be primarily because Living Well emphasises redistribution to reduce inequality and ensure human needs are met; living in harmony with nature, taking into account natural limits and cycles; respecting traditional values and practices where these support sustainability and human well-being; sovereignty and local control of natural resources; and participative decision-making, based on grassroots community organising. It is, therefore, argued that to achieve inclusive, just and effective transitions to sustainability we should aim to foster equality, respect planetary limits, build on local traditions, bring resources into public ownership and enhance participatory democracy. This will require a radically different approach to that offered within the market-based agenda currently dominating global sustainability debates and activities.

Keywords: environmental transition, green economy, inclusive sustainability, living well, sustainable transition

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Authors: Taiwo, Richard Oluseyi, Morakinyo, Kolawole O., Oyeniran, Demilade O.

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This study examines the effects of digitalization and sustainability on professionals' performance within the built environment. By examining the interplay between these two transformative forces, the study seeks to unravel the complexities and opportunities presented by digital technologies in fostering sustainable practices across various professional disciplines. Through an extensive analysis of literature and expert interviews, this research explores how digitalization can enhance professionals' abilities to incorporate sustainability principles, optimize resource utilization, and promote resilient and inclusive built environments. Furthermore, it examines the challenges and barriers professionals face in adapting to and harnessing the potential of digital tools and processes. The findings will contribute to a greater comprehension of the beneficial interactions between digitalization and sustainable development and provide valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and educators in fostering an ecosystem that supports professionals' capacity building, collaboration, and innovation toward achieving sustainable goals in the built environment.

Keywords: digitisation, sustainability, professional performance, built environment

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Authors: Muhammad Yahaya Ubale

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Substantial rate of urbanization as well as economic growth is the tasks and prospects of sustainability. Objectives of the paper are: to ascertain the fate of sustainability in urbanized cities and; to identify the challenges of land use array in urbanized cities. Methodology engaged in this paper employed the use of secondary data where articles, conference proceedings, seminar papers and literature materials were effectively used. The paper established the fact that while one thinks globally, it is reciprocal to act locally if at all sustainability should be achieved. The speed and scale of urbanization must be equal to natural and cost-effective deliberations. It also discovered a podium that allows a city to work together as an ideal conglomerate, engaging all city departments as a source of services, engaging residents, businesses, and contractors. It also revealed that city should act as a leader and partner within an urban region, engaging senior government officials, utilities, rural settlements, private sector stakeholders, NGOs, and academia. Cities should assimilate infrastructure system design and management to enhance efficiency of resource flows in an urban area. They should also coordinate spatial development; integrate urban forms and urban flows, combine land use, urban design, urban density, and other spatial attributes with infrastructural development. Finally, by 2050, urbanized cities alone could be consuming 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass annually (three times its current rate of consumption), sustainability can be accomplished through land use control, limited access to finite resources, facilities, utilities and services as well as property right and user charge.

Keywords: sustainability, land use array, urbanized cities, fate of sustainability and perseverance

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Authors: Steven Woods

Abstract:

The use of Corporate Social Responsibility Statements has become ubiquitous in society. The appeal to consumers by being a well-behaved social entity has become a strategy not just to ensure brand loyalty but also to further larger scale projects of corporate interests. Specifically, the use of CSR to position corporations as good planetary citizens involves not just self-promotion but also a way of transferring responsibility from systems to individuals. By using techniques labeled as “greenwashing” and emphasizing ethical consumption choices as the solution, corporations present themselves as good members of the community and pursuing sustainability. Ultimately, the primary function of Corporate Social Responsibility statements is to maintain the economic status quo of ongoing growth and consumption while presenting and environmentally progressive image to the public, as well as reassuring them corporate behavior is superior to government intervention. By analyzing the communication techniques utilized through content analysis of specific examples, along with an analysis of the frames of meaning constructed in the CSR statements, the practices of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability will be addressed from an ethical perspective.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, ethics, greenwashing, sustainability

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Authors: Henok Metaferia Gebremariam

Abstract:

Worldwide, considerable resources are spent implementing public health interventions that are interrupted soon after the initial funding ends. However, ambiguity remains as to how health programs can be effectively sustained over time because of the diversity of perspectives, definitions, study methods, outcomes measures and timeframes. From all the above-mentioned research challenges, standardized measures of sustainability should ultimately become a key research issue. To resolve this key challenge, the objective of the study was to adapt a tool for measuring the program’s capacity for sustainability and evaluating its reliability and validity. To adapt and validate the tool, a cross-sectional and cohort study design was conducted at 26 programs in Addis Ababa between September 2014 and May 2015. An adapted version of the tool after the pilot test was administered to 220 staff. The tool was analyzed for reliability and validity. Results show that a 40-item PSAT tool had been adapted into the Amharic version with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.80), test-retest reliability(r=0.916) and construct validity. Factor analysis resulted in 7 components explaining 56.67 % of the variance. In conclusion, it was found that the Amharic version of PAST was a reliable and valid tool for measuring the program’s capacity for sustainability.

Keywords: program sustainability, public health interventions, reliability, validity

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