Search results for: sustainability communication

Authors: Jessica Achebe, Susan Tighe

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The reduction of material consumption and greenhouse gas emission when maintain and rehabilitating road networks can achieve added benefits including improved life cycle performance of pavements, reduced climate change impacts and human health effect due to less air pollution, improved productivity due to an optimal allocation of resources and reduced road user cost. This is the essence of incorporating environmental sustainability into pavement management. The functionality of performance measurement approach has made it one of the most valuable tool to Pavement Management Systems (PMSs) to account for different criteria in the decision-making process. However measuring the environmental performance of road network is still a far-fetched practice in road network management, more so an ostensive agency-wide environmental sustainability or sustainable maintenance specifications is missing. To address this challenge, this present research focuses on the environmental sustainability performance of network-level pavement management. The ultimate goal is to develop a framework to incorporate environmental sustainability in pavement management systems for network-level maintenance programming. In order to achieve this goal, this paper present the first step, the intention is to review the previous studies that employed environmental performance measures, as well as the suitability of environmental performance indicators for the evaluation of the sustainability of network-level pavement maintenance strategies. Through an industry practice survey, this paper provides a brief forward regarding the pavement manager motivations and barriers to making more sustainable decisions, and data needed to support the network-level environmental sustainability. The trends in network-level sustainable pavement management are also presented, existing gaps are highlighted, and ideas are proposed for network-level sustainable maintenance and rehabilitation programming.

Keywords: pavement management, environment sustainability, network-level evaluation, performance measures

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Authors: K. Vrinda

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Coastal ecosystems across the world are facing a lot of challenges due to natural phenomena as well as from uncontrolled human interventions. Here, Alappad, a coastal island situated in Kerala, India is undergoing significant damage and is gradually losing its environmental and social sustainability. The area is blessed with very rare and precious black mineral sand deposits. Sand mining for these minerals started in 1911 and is still continuing. But, unfortunately all the problems that Alappad faces now, have its root on mining of this mineral sand. The land area is continuously diminishing due to sea erosion. The mining has also caused displacement of people and environmental degradation. Marine life also is getting affected by mining on beach and pollution. The inhabitants are fishermen who are largely dependent on the eco-system for a living. So loss of environmental sustainability subsequently affects social sustainability too. Now the damage has reached a point beyond which our actions may not be able to make any impact. This was one of the most affected areas of the 2004 tsunami and the environmental degradation has further increased the vulnerability. So this study focuses on understanding the concerns related to the resource utilization, environment and the indigenous community staying there, and on formulating suitable strategies to restore the sustainability of the area. An extensive study was conducted on site, to find out the physical, social, and economical characteristics of the area. A focus group discussion with the inhabitants shed light on different issues they face in their day-to-day life. The analysis of all these data, led to the formation of a new development vision for the area which focuses on environmental restoration and socio-economic development while allowing controlled exploitation of resources. A participatory approach is formulated which enables these three aspects through community based programs.

Keywords: Community development, Disaster resilience, Ecological restoration, Environmental sustainability, Social-environmental planning, Social Sustainability

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Authors: Uchenna Patricia Ekwugha, Cornelius Aghadiegwu Ukwueze

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Global communication has changed life at the international scene affecting on the whole social, cultural and political life of individuals in a global community. It has brought about a changing trend in the field of communication and allowed people to learn, create and process information through mainline media and new media technologies. The paper debates that music is an integral form of global communication that cannot be overlooked because it is a beautiful and powerful tool in relating information to the people which they gladly imbibe. It is worrisome that through global communication there has been consistent clash of values on information’s disseminated to the global community of which the developing countries like Nigerians are the sufferers. Particularly involved in this vicious social dogma are the Nigerian youths, who learn defiant behaviour through global communication and lose touch of African cultural values.

Keywords: global communication, trends, impact, unbalanced information

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Authors: Iva Ariani, Mohammad Alvi Pratama

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Currently, the world of communication experiences a rapid development. There are many ways of communication utilized in line with the development of science which creates many technologies that encourage a rapid development of communication system. However, despite giving convenience for the society, the development of communication system is not accompanied by the development of applicable values and regulations. Therefore, it raises many issues regarding false information or hoax which can influence the society’s mindset. This research aims to know the role of social media towards the reputation of an institution using a communication ethics study. It is a qualitative research using interview, observation, and literature study for collecting data. Then, the data will be analyzed using philosophical methods which are hermeneutic and deduction methods. This research is expected to show the role of social media in developing an institutional reputation in ethical review.

Keywords: social media, ethics, communication, reputation

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Authors: Suffian Hadi Ayub, Mohammad Rezal Hamzah, Nor Hafizah Abdullah, Sharipah Nur Mursalina Syed Azmy, Hishamuddin Salim

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The liberalisation of the education industry has exposed the institute of higher learning (IHL) in Malaysia to the financial challenges. Without good financial standing, public institution will rely on the government funding. Ostensibly, this contradicts with the government’s aspiration to make universities self-sufficient. With stiff competition from private institutes of higher learning, IHL need to be prepared at the forefront level. The corporate identity itself is the entrance to the world of higher learning and it is in this uniqueness, it will be able to distinguish itself from competitors. This paper examined the perception of the stakeholders at one of the public universities in the east coast region in Malaysia on the perceived reputation and how the university communicate its preparedness for self-sustainability through corporate identity. The findings indicated while the stakeholders embraced the challenges in facing the stiff competition and struggling market conditions, most of them felt the university should put more efforts in mobilising the corporate identity to its constituencies.

Keywords: communication, corporate identity, market conditions, universities

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Authors: Dennis Caasi

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This study analyzed four knowledge-building elements of channel expansion theory namely: communication media, communication content, communication partner, and communication influence vis-à- vis media richness dimensions among parents working overseas and their left-behind children in the Philippines. Results reveal that both parents and children consumed four out of six mediated communications tested in this research, spent one to four days a week connecting, between 30 minutes to 3 hours per engagement, and media consumption is dependent on the message content and media literacy of parents. Family, academic, household, and health were the common communication topics and parents dictate which channel to use. All six medium tested received high ratings based on the media richness constructs.

Keywords: channel expansion theory, computer-mediated communication, media richness theory, overseas Filipino worker

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Authors: Meng-Yu Wun, Jiunde Lee

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Participatory design transfers the role of design team becoming the facilitator who manages to work collaboratively with the 'partners of innovation': users. This facilitator role not just concerns the users’ behaviors or insights under the common practice of user-centered design, it emphasizes the importance of communication experience conducted by various strategies and tools in a workshop session which could profoundly impact the quality of the co-creation process. To investigate the communication experience in the participatory design, this study proposed a qualitative research to analyze communication strategies and tools. A participatory design workshop and following in-depth interviews were carried out to explore how participants (facilitators, users) might apply different strategies and tools to enhance the communication process. The major study findings are as follows: (a) roles had influence on communication experience; facilitators’ principles and methods influenced the usage of facilitation strategies in various situations, while users put more emphasis on communication activities and goals aimed to complete the design tasks, (b) communication tools should be both fixed and changeable: participants had fixed cognition on different forms of communication tools; with the fundamental cognition, they could choose and make use of tools according to their needs, (c) the management of workshop communication should be flexible: controlling the schedule, stimulating innovations, and creating the space for conversation are crucial to facilitate in a participatory workshop.

Keywords: communication experience, facilitation, participatory design, workshop

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Authors: Subhashini Chaturvedi

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The New World Order of the 21st century which is largely lead by Global Technological Leadership, and a workforce of United Nations coming together in the wake of our planet's future. The objective of this study is to understand the approach taken to implement sustainable use of resources and adequate architectural interventions. The framework of global policies in terms of sustainability has to be checked whether they commensurate and do justice to various nations with highly variable resource availability and development index. The method used to analyse the subject is a study of linkage between Age, Development, and exertion of the land, which attribute to the history of nations worldwide. The study also questions whether the use of term Sustainability is even ethical to be suggested in under developed or developing nations. Evolving through examples of American Imperialism to steady decline of Indian state of Punjab over last few decades, shows how sustainability has acted like scoop taken from a whole container in case of developed societies whereas it has acted like scratching the bottom of an empty container in case of embryonic societies where needs for sustenance are still far fed. The result comes out in favour of more innovative and rational implementation of architecture, sustainability and urban planning in context to indigenous space of a society and its statistics. The bridge to reduce the gap of fiscal deficit in resource premises can be consolidated by balancing on a global level majorly and this research paper is in the pursuance of the same idea.

Keywords: developing nations, economy, holistic development, innovation, logical approach, statistics, USA

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Authors: Bhumi Shah

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The aim of the study is to create understanding of communication strategies followed by Jain mendicants, educators, and lay persons. Second objective of the study is to see ancient means of communication have reformed in this digital generation. For these purposes of the study, research was carried out among Jain lay persons, educators and mendicants. To understand how traditional methods of communication affect the understanding of Jain religion. The paper attempts further elaborate and analyse various degrees of involvement and expectations of Jain Lay persons and mendicants in the process of religious discourse. In doing so the paper would provide an in- depth debate and discussion about communication patterns and the actual impact to the original meaning of the religion. The study was carried out in the city of Ahmedabad India, where Jains are concentrated in urban settings. In depth interviews were carried out as to understand different communication strategies followed by them.

Keywords: customs, ethics, Jainism, Jain mendicants, religious communication, traditions, rituals

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Authors: Fahad Alam

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Work stress directly affects job performance, specifically in a worse environment. Consequently, a social provision plays a crucial part for enhancement. Therefore, the current research investigates the direct and moderating effect between religious activities, sustainability and peer support on job performance at hospitals in Khyber PakhtunKhwa (KPK), Pakistan. Both primary and secondary data are collected through 261 questionnaires of medical employees from four district hospitals in Khyber PakhtunKhwa, Pakistan, in 2018. The analysis was carried out by SPSS16 and SMART PLS3, to test the direct effect of religious activities, sustainability and social support on job performance and the effect of moderating variable 'work environment' on job performance. The finding confirmed that direct and moderating variables play a significant positive effect among religious activities, sustainability and peer support on job performance, the variables help to diminish the strain level or the stress level, consequently helps in the job completed. Affirmative social approaches produce desirable effects on job performance. The research revealed that social provisions are significant triggers for superior practices. Moreover, the results are stimulating because some of the past literature revealed an insignificant correlation between social provision and performance. This study found that there is a significant relationship which persuades health care organizations.

Keywords: job performance, peer’s support, religious activities, sustainability, work environment

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Authors: Camila Lima, Murilo Andrade Valle, Patrícia Teixeira Leite Asano

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The growth in demand for electricity, caused by human development, depletion and environmental impacts caused by traditional sources of electricity generation have made new energy sources are increasingly encouraged and necessary for companies in the electricity sector. Based on this scenario, this paper assesses the negative environmental impacts associated with thermoelectric power plants in Brazil, pointing out the importance of using renewable energy sources, reducing environmental aggression. This article points out the existence of an energy alternative, wind energy, of the municipalities of São Paulo, represented by georeferenced maps with the help of GIS, using as a premise the indicators of sustainability and multicriteria analysis in the decision-making process.

Keywords: GIS (geographic information systems), multicriteria analysis, sustainability, wind energy

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Authors: Sareh Rajabi, Taha Anjamrooz, Salwa Bheiry

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Sustainability of construction projects is an important issue to be addressed since the sector will continue to be developed in the coming years, especially in developing countries. Thus, it is significant to discover approaches and solutions for improving sustainability. Currently, the construction industry is the largest consumer of natural resources. This is the same in other countries in the Gulf region, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has limited natural resources such as water, electricity, etc. Recently, the UAE has taken several actions in order to implement sustainable initiatives within its construction industry. Within the industry, the contractors’ role is significant in promoting sustainable development by taking the responsibility to minimize their negative impacts on the environment and society, and maximize their economic distribution. In this research, sustainability will be studied as an important key to bring competitive advantages to contracting organizations. The contractors should understand the need to improve their sustainable performance in order to expand their business competitiveness. Competitiveness at the construction project level refers to a contractor’s ability to compete for a project. There is less focus on how to improve contractors’ competitiveness by implementing sustainable construction practices. Based on an inclusive literature review on the relationship between sustainability performance and business competitiveness, this research will conduct a study of sustainable practice in the construction industry and the relationship between sustainability performance and business competitiveness in order to develop a framework for evaluating how contractors can improve their competitiveness in terms of more efficient processes, enhancements in productivity, and lower costs of compliance in order to reduce the initial project cost and obtain market opportunities in the UAE. The research findings will provide a framework that can be a useful guideline for contractors to develop their sustainability policy, strategy and practice for meeting the increased requirements for sustainable development in construction.

Keywords: sustainable construction practice, sustainability, competitiveness, construction industry, contractors

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Authors: Barbara Pittau, Piergiorgio Palla, Antonio Mastino

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Communication is fundamental to health education. The proper use of medicinal products is a crucial aspect of the health of citizens that affects both safety and health care spending. Therefore, encouraging/promoting communication, concerning the importance of proper use of pharmaceuticals, has substantial implications in terms of individual health, health care, and health care system sustainability. In view of these considerations, in the context of two projects, one of which is still in progress, a relational database-backed web application named COLLABORAFARMACISOLA has been designed and developed as a tool to analyze and visualize how people approach the use of medicinal products, with the aim of improving and enhancing communication efficacy. The software application is being used to collect information (anonymously and voluntarily) from the citizens of Sardinia, an Italian region, regarding their knowledge, experiences, and opinions towards pharmaceuticals. This study that was conducted to date on thousand of interviewed people, has focused on different aspects such as: the treatment interruption and the "self-prescription” without medical consultation, the attention paid to reading the leaflets, the awareness of the economic value of the pharmaceuticals, the importance of avoiding the waste of medicinal products and the attitudes towards the use of generics. To this purpose, our software application provides a set of ad hoc parsing routines, to store information into the structure of a relational database and to process and visualize it through a set of interactive tools aimed to emphasize the findings and the insights obtained. The results of our preliminary analysis show the efficacy of the awareness plan and, at the same time, the criticality and the needs of the territory under examination. The ultimate goal of our study is to provide a contribution to the community by improving communication that can result in a benefit for public health in a context strictly connected to the reality of the territory.

Keywords: communication, pharmaceuticals, public health, relational database, tool, web application

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Authors: Maryam Mehrabpour

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The sports industry has recognized its impact on the natural environment and has taken steps to address relevant environmental issues. Two key initiatives have emerged: reducing the ecological footprint of sports activities and utilizing sports as a platform to raise environmental awareness. This article provides an overview of the scholarly research conducted on environmental sustainability in sports. It highlights various environmental programs implemented by sports organizations worldwide and examines the current state of environmental efforts in the field. The research utilized semi-structured interviews, website analysis, and published documents as data sources, and qualitative analysis methods were employed to identify themes representing the current status of environmental efforts in sports.

Keywords: environmental sustainability, sport industry, ecological footprint, environmental awareness, environmental programs

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Authors: Kuladeep Kumar Sadevi

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The shift towards raising global urban population has intense implications on the sustainability of the urban livelihoods. Rapid urbanization has made governments, companies and civil societies recognize that they are barely equipped to deal with growing urban demands, especially water, waste and energy management. Effective management of land, water, energy and waste at a community level should be addressed well to attain greener cities. In pursuit of Green livelihoods; various norms, codes, and green rating programmes have been followed by stakeholders at various levels. While the sustainability is being adapted at smaller scale developments, greening the urban environment at community/city level is still finding its path to reality. This is due to lack of the sense of ownership in the citizens for their immediate neighborhoods and city as a whole. This phenomenon can be well connected to the theory of 'tragedy of commons' with respect to the community engagement to manage the common pool resources. The common pool resource management has been well addressed by Elinor Ostrom, who shared the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009 for her lifetime of scholarly work investigating how communities succeed or fail at managing common pool (finite) resources. This paper examines the applicability of Elinor Ostrom's 8 Principles for Managing a Commons, to meet urban sustainability. The key objective of this paper is to come up with a model for effective urban common pool resource management, which ultimately leads to sustainability as a whole. The paper brings out a methodology to understand various parameters involved in urban sustainability, examine the synergies of all such parameters, and application of Ostrom’s principles to correlate these parameters in order to attain effective urban resource management.

Keywords: common pool resources, green cities, green communities, participatory management, sustainable development, urban resource management, urban sustainability

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Authors: Leyla A. Sandoval Hamón, Fernando Casani

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Sustainability has been integrated into the cities’ agenda due to the impact that they generate. The dimensions of greater proliferation of sustainability, which are taken as a reference, are economic, social and environmental. Thus, the decisions of management of the sustainable cities search a balance between these dimensions in order to provide environment-friendly alternatives. In this context, urban models (where water consumption, energy consumption, waste production, among others) that have emerged in harmony with the environment, are known as Ecocity. A similar model, but on a smaller scale, is ‘Ecocampus’ that is developed in universities (considered ‘small cities’ due to its complex structure). So, sustainable practices are being implemented in the management of university campus activities, following different relevant lines of work. The universities have a strategic role in society, and their activities can strengthen policies, strategies, and measures of sustainability, both internal and external to the organization. Because of their mission in knowledge creation and transfer, these institutions can promote and disseminate more advanced activities in sustainability. This model replica also implies challenges in the sustainable management of water, energy, waste, transportation, among others, inside the campus. The challenge that this paper focuses on is the water management, taking into account that the universities consume big amounts of this resource. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the sustainability experience, with emphasis on water management, of two different campuses belonging to two different Spanish universities - one urban campus in a historic city and the other a suburban campus in the outskirts of a large city. Both universities are in the top hundred of international rankings of sustainable universities. The methodology adopts a qualitative method based on the technique of in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions with administrative and academic staff of the ‘Ecocampus’ offices, the organizational units for sustainability management, from the two Spanish universities. The hypotheses indicate that sustainable policies in terms of water management are best in campuses without big green spaces and where the buildings are built or rebuilt with modern style. The sustainability efforts of the university are independent of the kind of (urban – suburban) campus but an important aspect to improve is the degree of awareness of the university community about water scarcity. In general, the paper suggests that higher institutions adapt their sustainability policies depending on the location and features of the campus and their engagement with the water conservation. Many Spanish universities have proposed policies, good practices, and measures of sustainability. In fact, some offices or centers of Ecocampus have been founded. The originality of this study is to learn from the different experiences of sustainability policies of universities.

Keywords: ecocampus, ecocity, sustainability, water management

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Authors: Mehmet Tahir Dursun, Hilmi Rafet Yüncü

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In social life growing fast, not only people, but also, companies and regions are located in a struggle to provide continuity of life cycles. This struggle brings together an important competitiveness when considering environmental conditions. By emphasizing this point, being able to competitiveness notion comes out as a determiner of the struggle to exist. With the development of technology in tourism industry so as in all branches, it is seen that the companies and regions in different districts are in competitiveness and competitiveness ability is affected in assessing of marketing shares. A condition of competitiveness is to provide sustainability of all structured forms. In addition, environment and sensitiveness of environment are notions affecting directly the competitiveness ability of tourism destinations. It is claimed that providing the sustainability of environment gives competitiveness to tourism destinations. In this study, competitiveness and performances of tourism in Mediterranean countries are going to be compared by examining a variety of indexes related to the sensitiveness of environment. Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (T&TCI) (Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resources), Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Ecological Foot Print, Human Development Index (HDI), Climate Risk Index (CRI) will be used in this study. These Index data will be compared with international tourist arrivals, international tourism receives and expenses of per tourist of countries.

Keywords: ecological foot print, environmental performance index, human development index, sustainability, travel and tourism competitiveness index

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Authors: Tonny Ograh, Joshua Ayarkwa, Dickson Osei-Asibey, Alex Acheampong, Peter Amoah

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Theories are used to improve the conceptualization of research ideas. These theories enhance valuable elucidations that help us to grasp the meaning of research findings. Nevertheless, the use of theories to promote studies in green supplier selection in procurement decisions has attracted little attention. With the emergence of sustainable procurement, public procurement practitioners in Ghana are yet to achieve relevant knowledge on green supplier selections due to insufficient knowledge and inadequate appropriate frameworks. The flagrancy of the consequences of public procurers’ failure to integrate environmental considerations into supplier selection explains the adoption of a multi-theory approach for comprehension of the dynamics of green integration into supplier selection. In this paper, the practicality of three theories for improving the understanding of the influential factors enhancing the integration of environmental sustainability into supplier selection was reviewed. The three theories are Resource-Based Theory, Human Capital Theory and Absorptive Capacity Theory. This review uncovered knowledge management, top management commitment, and environmental management capabilities as important elements needed for the integration of environmental sustainability into supplier selection in public procurement. The theoretical review yielded a framework that conceptualizes knowledge and capabilities of practitioners relevant to the incorporation of environmental sustainability into supplier selection in public procurement.

Keywords: environmental, sustainability, supplier selection, environmental procurement, sustainable procurement

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Authors: Venkataraman Sankaranarayanan, Sougata Ray

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While extant research has examined many aspects of differential corporate environmental outcomes and behavior, a holistic and integrated view of heterogeneity in corporate environment sustainability (CES) practices remains a puzzle to be fully unraveled – its extent and nature, its relationship to macro or micro level influences, or strategic orientations. Such a perspective would be meaningful for the field given notable strides in CES practices and the corporate social responsibility agenda over the last two decades, in the backdrop of altered global socio-political sensitivities and technological advances. To partly address this gap, this exploratory research adopted a content analysis approach to code patterns in the sustainability disclosures of the 160 largest global firms spread over 8 years. The sample of firms spanned seven industries, nine countries and three continents thereby presenting data rich and diverse enough in several dimensions to be representative of global heterogeneity in CES practices. Through a factor analysis of the coded data, four strategic CES orientations were extracted through the analysis, that effectively straddles most of the variation observed in current CES practices – one that seeks to reduce environmental damage on account of the firm’s operations, another that prioritizes minimalism, a third that focuses on broader ecological status quo, and a final one that champions the ‘business of green’, extending the CES agenda beyond the firm’s boundaries. These environment sustainability strategy orientations are further examined to elicit prominent patterns and explore plausible antecedents.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability, environmental management, heterogeneity, strategic orientation

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Authors: Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo

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Communication is a social phenomenon which mediates to our everyday life and it creates, maintains, builds, circulates, and propagates for a common identity the society. The symbolic forms of communication such as aural, sounds, oral expressions, signs, and language as means of communication are being used in everyday life in helping to identify as construction of social reality. These symbolic forms of communication are treated as the social process in everyday life. Therefore, there is an intrinsic relationship between communication and culture to understand media life for village communities. Similarly, the interface of communication with social life is reflected upon it’s formulation of the notions of social structure and culture. It has been observed that there is an overlapping and new phenomenonal change of media life among marginalized communities in general and village communities in particular. Therefore, this paper is an outcome of decadal stock of literature and an empirical investigation on understanding of communication in a tribal village in India. It has examined the idea of American scientist Edward T. Hall “the culture is communication, and the communication is culture” in village society on understanding media life. Thus, the Harold Innis’s theoretical idea of “communication” has been critically examined in these contexts since author tries to explore and understand the inter-disciplinarity on understanding media life through communication and culture which is embedded in socio-cultural life bearing on epistemological and ontological implications. The paper tries to explore and understand the inter-disciplinary and historical trajectories of communication embedded with other social science disciplines; and also tries to map these studies relevant for the future directions and engagement which would have bearing on epistemological and ontological implications in the field of media and communication.

Keywords: culture, communication, history, media, oral, tradition

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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: Taki Eddine Seghier, Mohd Hamdan Ahmad, Yaik-Wah Lim, Samuel Opeyemi Williams

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The assessment of building sustainability to achieve a specific green benchmark and the preparation of the required documents in order to receive a green building certification, both are considered as major challenging tasks for green building design team. However, this labor and time-consuming process can take advantage of the available Building Information Modeling (BIM) features such as material take-off and scheduling. Furthermore, the workflow can be automated in order to track potentially achievable credit points and provide rating feedback for several design options by using integrated Visual Programing (VP) to handle the stored parameters within the BIM model. Hence, this study proposes a BIM-based tool that uses Green Building Index (GBI) rating system requirements as a unique input case to evaluate the building sustainability in the design stage of the building project life cycle. The tool covers two key models for data extraction, firstly, a model for data extraction, calculation and the classification of achievable credit points in a green template, secondly, a model for the generation of the required documents for green building certification. The tool was validated on a BIM model of residential building and it serves as proof of concept that building sustainability assessment of GBI certification can be automatically evaluated and documented through BIM.

Keywords: green building rating system, GBRS, building information modeling, BIM, visual programming, VP, sustainability assessment

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Authors: Elham Falatoonitoosi, Vikki Schaffer, Don Kerr

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Over-development for tourism and its consequences on residents’ well-being turn into a critical issue in tourism destinations. Learning about undesirable impacts of tourism has led many people to seek more sustainable and responsible tourism. The main objective of this research is to understand how and to what extent sustainable tourism development enhances locals’ well-being regarding stakeholder perception. The research was conducted in a coastal-hinterland tourism region through two sequential phases. At the first phase, a unique set of 19 sustainable tourism indicators resulted from a triplex model was used to examine the sustainability effects on the main factors of residents’ well-being including equity and living condition, life satisfaction, health condition, and education quality. The triplex model including i) systematic literature search, ii) convergent interviewing, and iii) DEMATEL aimed to develop sustainability indicators, specify them for a particular destination, and identify the dominant sustainability issues acting as key predictors in sustainable development. At the second phase, a hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the relationship between sustainable development and local residents’ well-being. A number of 167 participants from five different groups of stakeholders perceived the importance level of each sustainability indicators regarding well-being factors on 5-point Likert scale. Results from the first phase indicated that sustainability training, government support, tourism sociocultural effects, tourism revenue, and climate change are the top dominant sustainability issues in the regional sustainable development. Results from the second phase showed that sustainable development considerably improves the overall residents’ well-being and has positive relationships with all well-being factors except life satisfaction. It explains that it was difficult for stakeholders to recognize a link between sustainable development and their overall life satisfaction and happiness. Among well-being’s factors, health condition was influenced the most by sustainability indicators that indicate stakeholders believed sustainability development can promote public health, health sector performance, quality of drinking water, and sanitation. For the future research, it is highly recommended to analysis the effects of sustainable tourism development on the other features of a tourism destination’s well-being including residents sociocultural empowerment, local economic growth, and attractiveness of the destination.

Keywords: residents' well-being, stakeholder perception, sustainability indicators, sustainable tourism

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Authors: Fátima Gonçalves, Joaquim Brigas, Jorge Gonçalves

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As a way of managing the increasing volume and complexity of information that circulates in the present time, graphical representations are increasingly used, which add meaning to the information presented in communication media, through an efficient communication design. The visual culture itself, driven by technological evolution, has been redefining the forms of communication, so that contemporary visual communication represents a major impact on society. This article presents the results and respective comparative analysis of four publications in the Iberian press, focusing on the formal aspects of newspapers and the space they dedicate to the various communication elements. Two Portuguese newspapers and two Spanish newspapers were selected for this purpose. The findings indicated that the newspapers show a similarity in the use of graphic solutions, which corroborate a visual trend in communication design. The results also reveal that Spanish newspapers are more meticulous with graphic consistency. This study intended to contribute to improving knowledge of the Iberian generalist press.

Keywords: communication design, graphic resources, Iberian press, visual journalism

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Authors: Gulshad Azatova, Aleksandr Kapitonov, Natig Aminov

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Multiagent systems have gained significant attention in various fields, such as robotics, autonomous vehicles, and distributed computing, where multiple agents cooperate and communicate to achieve complex tasks. Efficient communication among agents is a crucial aspect of these systems, as it directly impacts their overall performance and scalability. This scholarly work provides an exploration of essential communication elements and conducts a comparative assessment of diverse protocols utilized in multiagent systems. The emphasis lies in scrutinizing the strengths, weaknesses, and applicability of these protocols across various scenarios. The research also sheds light on emerging trends within communication protocols for multiagent systems, including the incorporation of machine learning methods and the adoption of blockchain-based solutions to ensure secure communication. These trends provide valuable insights into the evolving landscape of multiagent systems and their communication protocols.

Keywords: communication, multi-agent systems, protocols, consensus

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Authors: Mohd Fairus Humar, Ibrahim Sulaiman, Pedro Cruz, Hasry Harun

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This paper presents the propose knowledge transfer program on railway signaling and communication by Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Thales Portugal. The fundamental issue is that there is no rail related course offered by local universities and colleges in Malaysia which could be an option to pursue student career path. Currently, dedicated trainings related to the rail technology are provided by in-house training academies established by the respective rail operators such as Malaysia Railway Academy (MyRA) and Rapid Rail Training Centre. In this matter, the content of training and facilities need to be strengthened to keep up-to-date with the dynamic evolvement of the rail technology. This is because rail products have evolved to be more sophisticated and embedded with high technology components which no longer exist in the mechanical form alone but combined with electronics, information technology and others. These demand for a workforce imbued with knowledge, multi-skills and competency to deal with specialized technical areas. Talent is needed to support sustainability in Southeast Asia. Keeping the above factors in mind, an Industrial Collaboration Program (ICP) was carried out to transfer knowledge on curricula of railway signaling and communication to a selected railway operators and tertiary educational institution in Malaysia. In order to achieve the aim, a partnership was formed between Technical Depository Agency (TDA), Thales Portugal and MyRA for two years with three main stages of program implementation comprising of: i) training on basic railway signaling and communication for 1 month with Thales in Malaysia; ii) training on advance railway signaling and communication for 4 months with Thales in Portugal and; iii) a series of workshop. Two workshops were convened to develop and harmonize curricula of railway signaling and communication course and were followed by one training for installation equipment of railway signaling and Controlled Train Centre (CTC) system from Thales Portugal. With active involvement from Technical Depository Agency (TDA), railway operators, universities, and colleges, in planning, executing, monitoring, control and closure, the program module of railway signaling and communication course with a lab railway signaling field equipment and CTC simulator were developed. Through this program, contributions from various parties help to build committed societies to engage important issues in relation to railway signaling and communication towards creating a sustainable future.

Keywords: knowledge transfer program, railway signaling and communication, curricula, module and teaching aid simulator

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Authors: Mohd Yusri Ibrahim

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Youth participation in social work is essential in social and community development. Although many studies have been conducted to identify the determinant of youth involvement, few studies were discussed interaction between communication skills and youth participation in volunteerism. This article will discuss a cross-sectional study that was conducted to identify the relationship between communication skills and youth participation in social work. The results were successfully developed an interaction model of communication skills as predictor to participation criteria among youth. Finally, the article was suggested several ways to encourage youth participation in community by developing their communication skill in various stages.

Keywords: youth, participation, communication skill, social work

Procedia PDF Downloads 334

Authors: Mahmood Naghizadeh, Maryam Memarian, Hourshad Irvash

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Following the rise in the world population and the upward growth of urbanization, the design, planning, and management of the site scenery for the purpose of presentation and expansion of sustainable site scenery has turned to be the greatest concern to experts. Since the fundamental principles of the site scenery change more and less haphazardly over time, sustainable site scenery can be viewed as an ideal goal because both sustainability and dynamism come into view in urban site scenery and it wouldn’t be designed according to a set of pre-determined principles. Sustainable site scenery, as the ongoing interaction between idealism and pragmatism with sustainability factors, is a dynamic phenomenon created by bringing cultural, historical, social and natural scenery together. Such an interaction is not to subdue other factors but to reinforce the aforementioned factors. The sustainable site scenery is a persistently occurring event not only has attenuated over time but has gained strength. The sustainability of a site scenery or an event over time depends on its site identity which grows out of its continuous association with the past. The sustainability of a site scene or an event in a time frame intertwined with the identity of the place from past to present. This past history supports the present and future of the scene. The result of such a supportive role is the sustainability of site scenery. Isfahan Naqsh-e-Jahan Square is one of the most outstanding squares in the world and the best embodiment of Iranian site scenery architecture. This square is an arena that brings people together and a dynamic city center comprising various urban and religious complexes, spaces and facilities and is considered as one of the most favorable traditional urban space of Iran. Such a place can illustrate many factors related to sustainable site scenery. One the other hand, there are still no specific principles concerning sustainability in the architecture of site scenery. Meanwhile, sustainability is recognized as a rather modern view in architecture. The purpose of this research is to identify factors involved in sustainability in general and to examine their effects on site scenery architecture in particular. Finally, these factors will be studied with taking Naqsh-e-Jahan Square into account. This research adopts an analytic-descriptive approach that has benefited from the review of literature available in library studies and the documents related to sustainability and site scenery architecture. The statistical population used for the purpose of this research includes square constructed during the Safavid dynasty and Naqsh-e-Jahan Square was picked out as the case study. The purpose of this paper is to come up with a rough definition of sustainable site scenery and demonstrate this concept by analyzing it and recognizing the social, economic and ecological aspects of this project.

Keywords: Naqsh-e-Jahan Square, site scenery architecture, sustainability, sustainable site scenery

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Authors: Adebayo J. Julius, Oluremi N. Iluyomade

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Livelihood in Nigeria is a paradox of poverty amidst plenty. The Country is endowed with a good climate for agriculture, naturally growing fruit trees and vegetables, and undomesticated water resources. In spite of all its endowment, Nigeria continues to live in poverty year in year out. This thus raises a very important question as to how can there be so much poverty in Nigeria with all its natural endowments. This study focused comparative analysis of the utilization of community informatics for sustainable livelihoods through agriculture. The idea projected in this study is that small strategic changes in the modus operandi of social informatics can have a significant impact on sustainability of livelihoods. This paper carefully explored the theories of community informatics and its efficacies in dealing with sustainability issues. This study identified, described and evaluates the roles of community informatics in some sectors of the economy, different analytical tools to benchmark the influence of social informatics in agriculture against what is obtainable in agricultural sectors of the economy were used. It further employed comparative analysis to build a case model for sustainable livelihood in agriculture through community informatics.

Keywords: informatics , model, rural community, livelihoods sustainability, Nigeria

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Authors: O. I. Ekwueme

Abstract:

New media technologies are noted for their immense contributions in various sectors of the economy which are believed to have resulted in the development of European countries. There is an assumption that we cannot have development communication without communication development, but we are not sure if new media technologies contribute to development in the South-East zone, Nigeria. The study employed mixed method and discovered that new media technologies have a very minimal relationship to development in the South-East zone, Nigeria. It was discovered that the media report on development news is basically informative instead of interactive. The South-East zone is scarcely covered unlike other zones. It argued that the communication technologies introduced in Nigeria was as a result of their struggle for independence. It was recommended that media organisations in the South-East zone should give adequate coverage to the zone, and be more interactive.

Keywords: communication, development, new media, technologies

Procedia PDF Downloads 298