bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Legal Governance in the Smart Cities of China: Functions, Problems, and Solutions
Authors: He Wei , Li Wanqiang , Deng Peidong
Published: August 2022

The development approach to creating smart cities focused on data collection and processing relies on the construction of an efficient digital infrastructure and a safe trading environment under the protection of legal governance. Thus, studying the role and improvement of legal authority in the construction of smart cities is vital. This study first described the digital economy index of 31 provinces in China from 2014 to 2020, and analyzed the function of the legal governance in the development of local smart cities based on the promulgation and implementation of regulations on smart cities in the same period. The results indicate that perfect central legislation can provide a safe and stable environment for smart cities, and there is a positive correlation between the number of local norms and the development of digital economy. However, the limitation in legislation and its implementation causes legal gray areas, which hamper the development of smart cities. After conducting text analysis on multiple legal documents, we identified that the most critical issues are data security issue, data alienation issue, public data opening, and sharing issue. To this end, we examined the role that legal governance plays in the smart cities of New York and London in a case-comparison approach. Overall, we proposed future coping mechanisms for legal governance in smart city construction, such as promoting multi-subject participation in formulating legal norms, changing the model before legal regulation, and using local legal norms to determine the scope and quality of government data disclosure. This study further filled the gap in the study of China’s smart cities from the legal system of risk identification and control, which could help regulatory bodies, policymakers, and researchers to make better decisions to overcome the challenges for developing sustainable smart cities.
Carbon Sequestration in Fine Aroma Cocoa Agroforestry Systems in Amazonas, Peru
Authors: Goñas Malluri , Rojas-Briceño Nilton B. , Culqui-Gaslac Cristian , Arce-Inga Marielita , Marlo Gladys , Pariente-Mondragón Elí , Oliva-Cruz Manuel
Published: August 2022

One way to mitigate climate change is by reducing atmospheric CO2 levels with the establishment of agroforestry systems (AFSs) that can capture and store atmospheric CO2. This study therefore estimated the carbon sequestration in two components, aboveground (cocoa trees, other tree species, and leaf litter) and soil, in 15 fine aroma cocoa AFSs in Amazonas, Peru. These cocoa AFSs had a minimum area of 1.5 ha and were distributed into three age groups (each group consisted of five systems or farms): young cocoa trees between 8 and 15 years old, middle-aged cocoa trees between 16 and 29 years old, and adult cocoa trees between 30 and more than 40 years old. Generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) analysis followed by Fisher’s LSD mean comparison test (p > 0.05) determined the significant level of total aboveground biomass and total carbon content in the AFSs’ components. The present findings confirm that Theobroma cacao, Mussa sp., Cordia sp., and Persea sp. were the most common species in all AFSs. Clearly, biomass and carbon content in Theobroma cacao and Cordia sp. increased slightly with age, while fruit species Mussa sp. and Persea sp. decreased with age. The total aboveground carbon stock in young cocoa tree systems (13.64 Mg ha−1) was lower than in middle-aged cocoa systems (20.50 Mg ha−1) and adult cocoa systems (24.86 Mg ha−1); nevertheless, no significant differences were found for any of the age ranges. On the other hand, carbon stocks in soil (up to 30 cm depth) in the AFSs ranged from 119.96 Mg ha−1 to 131.96 Mg ha−1. Meanwhile, the total carbon stored by aboveground and soil components in adults cocoa systems (156.81 Mg ha−1) was higher compared to middle-aged cocoa systems (140.60 Mg ha−1) and young cocoa systems (133.59 Mg ha−1), although no statistically significant differences were found. Eventually, the CO2 sequestration for young cocoa systems was 490.28 Mg ha−1, and middle-aged and adult cocoa system recorded more than 500 Mg ha−1 of CO2. Furthermore, these data can further be used by national governments, local governments, and organisations of producers, particularly in accessing payments for environmental services, which may improve economic incomes and contribute to climate change mitigation by reserving biomass and sequestering C from these agroforestry cocoa systems.
Experimental Study on the Preparation of a Highly Active Bacterial Suspension for MICP in the South China Sea
Authors: Zhou Yuxuan , Hu Jun , Wu Yuwei , Zeng Hui , Zeng Dongling , Wang Zhixin
Published: August 2022

Most previous studies investigating the use of microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) to reinforce foundations have indicated that the final curing effect can be improved by changing the nutrient environment parameters during the MICP reaction. However, using such methods to improve the construction process increases the construction cost and the impact on the surrounding environment. This study was conducted to determine if we could prepare a bacterial suspension with high activity in a short period of time by examining the effects of inoculation time, the concentration of the inoculated bacterial suspension, and shaker speed during expansion to determine whether sporosarcina pasteurii would vigorously grow. Based on the analysis of the pattern of activity variations in the bacterial suspension, the most appropriate growth scheme for preparing high-activity bacterial suspensions when using MICP to strengthen structures in the South China Sea was proposed. In terms of the results, it was found that the trend of changes in activity and the peak time of maximum activity in the bacteriophage cultured under low-speed conditions in the expanded culture tended to be the same. The value of the bacteriophage’s activity was low. During medium speed culture of the bacterial suspension, urease activity peaked much higher than that of the other comparison groups, with the medium speed bacterial broth having the highest peak. As a result of the prolonged shaking incubation time, the effect of prolonged shaking on urease activity in the bacterial suspension was mainly reflected in the fact that the activity decay cycle of the colony itself was slowed.
Characteristics of Steroid Estrogen Loss, Degradation and Residues during Open-Air Dairy Manure Disposal
Authors: Feng Jimeng , Shen Jian , Wang Xinze , Liu Yanping , Li Wei , Qiu Jiangping
Published: August 2022

Steroid estrogens (SEs) are mainly derived from livestock manure, and composting is the common method of bioresource utilization. In this study, an open-air composting experiment with dairy manure was conducted to observe the degradation and loss of five SEs under the influence of different precipitation intensities and additional mixed fermentation strains. SE determination results for dairy manure after 30 days of composting indicated that the average removal rates of 17α-estradiol (E2α), estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2β), 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2), estriol (E3), and estradiol equivalent (EEQ) were 76.67%, 71.07%, 73.88%, 92.02%, 98.77%, and 88.11%, respectively, partly due to SE runoff. The rates of SEs leaching from the open-air composting dairy manure ranged from 0.05% to 4.75% after 10 rounds of 5–60 mm/d simulated rainfall. The total leaching amount of SEs was positively correlated with rainfall, but the leaching concentrations of SEs were just the opposite. As a result of its role as a degradation intermediate of other SEs, E3 was the most prone to run off. By strengthening the action of microorganisms, the total leaching amount of EEQ increased by 5%, E3 increased by five times, and E2β also underwent a transition from a conjugated form to free. However, there were also fewer final SEs remaining in the composted product, as well as the environmental risks of conjugated SEs. These conclusions can provide beneficial suggestions and references for controlling the environmental risks of SEs in the process of composting livestock and poultry manure.
Evaluating the Sustainability of the Olympic Transport System on the View of Regional Transport Development Pattern
Authors: Guo Kexin , Li Fujia , Cheng Hao
Published: August 2022

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) proposed that the host city should consider sustainable development from the Games’ beginning to end, and that the host city should make full use of the Olympic infrastructure even after the Games. However, a less systematic evaluation of their sustainability exists, especially for the roads. The new connections built for the Olympic Games cost the most and influenced the host city directly. We apply spatial design network analysis (sDNA) with exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) to evaluate the sustainability of the new connections built for the Olympics Games in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The results show that the Games encourage the host cities’ governments to work towards a common goal, and directly benefits Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei transport coordinated development. In “Edge cities”, such as Hengshui, Qinhuangdao, Cangzhou, and Zhangjiakou, traffic accessibility has been promoted dramatically. The foreground network of the region development moved northward, from “Beijing–Shijiazhuang–Baoding” to “Beijing–Tangshan–Qinhuangdao”. These findings can be used for policy design, to keep the new connections running with long-term stability, and to constantly create better economic effects.
The Relationship between Economic Growth and Disaster Losses-Based on Linear and Nonlinear ARDL Model in China
Authors: Cang Dingbang , Xu Yiming , Wang Guiqiang
Published: August 2022

China is a country with one of the most disaster losses in the world. In this paper, a comprehensive evaluation of disaster losses in China was carried out based on the TOPSIS model of entropy weight. Then, linear and nonlinear models were established, and the relationship between economic growth and disaster losses was analyzed using the ARDL model, which included energy consumption and fixed asset investments. The results showed a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between disaster losses and economic growth; that is, smaller disaster losses helped increase economic growth, but larger disaster losses inhibited economic growth. In the long run, the increase in fossil energy consumption and new energy consumption promoted economic growth, but the role of fossil energy was more significant than that of new energy. We also found that fixed asset investment had a negative effect on economic growth.
Supporter or Supervisor? The Role of Chief Financial Officers in Corporate Innovation
Authors: Huang Junqin , Liao Youliang , Lin Bin , Loh Lawrence
Published: August 2022

Like the chief executive officer (CEO), the chief financial officer (CFO) is an important corporate player. However, compared to the role of CEOs, research on the factors influencing corporate innovation has paid very little attention to the role of CFOs. Based on the perspective of role theory, we measure CFO role performance by organizational identification to explore the role of CFOs in corporate innovation. Employing the availability of CFO organizational identification data from a survey of listed firms in China, we find that: (1) CFO organizational identification is negatively associated with innovation output in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and positively associated with innovation output in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs); (2) corporate misconduct experience positively moderates the relationship between CFO organizational identification and innovation in SOEs; (3) CFO financial industry experience positively moderates the relationship between CFO organizational identification and innovation in non-SOEs. Our results show that CFOs play the supervisor role in innovation in SOEs and the supporter role in innovation in non-SOEs. Our research provides theoretical and practical references for companies to sustainably drive innovation.
Optimal Scheduling of Thermoelectric Coupling Energy System Considering Thermal Characteristics of DHN
Authors: Li Guangdi , Tang Qi , Hu Bo , Ma Min
Published: August 2022

In a thermoelectric coupling energy system, renewable energy is often curtailed by the uncertainty of the power generation. Besides, the integration of renewable energy is restricted by the inflexible operation of combined heat and power units due to the strong coupling relationship between power generation and heating supply, especially in winter. Utilization of the district heating network, a heat storage feature, is a cost-effective measure to improve the overall system operational flexibility. In this paper, a new heat characteristic index is proposed in a district heating system, which is applied to measure the impact of the flexibility of combined heat and power units’ output. Furthermore, in order to increase the reliability of an electric power system, a probabilistic model of combined heat and power units’ spinning reserves capacity related to confidence level K is established. What is more, the two indexes K and thermal characteristic index have a coupled relationship. In addition, for model solving methodology, the discretized step transformation and constant mass flow and variables temperature method is adopted to transform the non-linear system model into linear programming form. Case studies are carried out to show the linkage between system costs, K and thermal characteristic index. The optimal result can achieve balance among the system reliability, flexibility and economy.
A New Measurement of Global Equity in a Sustainability Perspective: Examining Differences from Space and Time Dimensions
Authors: Cai Lin , Xu Yating , Zhang Kaiqi , Zhang Caiya , Xiang Zhengzhe
Published: August 2022

With the increasing development gap, how to measure global equity in the perspective of sustainability has become an essential issue nowadays. To examine the intra-generational equity from the space dimension and the inter-generational equity from the time dimension, a new measurement of global equity in a sustainability is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a comprehensive assessment index of regional development and an index of regional equity are constructed based on panel data using an entropy weight method (EVW) and a coefficient of variation method (CVM). Secondly, the intra-generational equity within different continents and echelons and the inter-generational equity in seven fields over the last 30 years are analyzed. Lastly, the global equity index for the next 10 years is predicted based on a panel data autoregressive model. The results of the study will be a reference for global equity strategies.
Analysis and Prediction of the Coupling and Coordinated Development of Green Finance–Environmental Protection in China
Authors: Li Shanshan , Wang Gaoweijia , Yang Li , Geng Jichao , Zhu Junqi
Published: August 2022

Green finance is an important tool to help China accelerate the process of environmental protection, but the level of coupling and coordinated development between it and environmental protection has not yet been explored. This study measures the coupling and coordinated level of the green finance–environmental protection system (GE system) in 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020 and uses the improved GM (1,1) model based on background value optimization to predict the future development trend of the coupling and coordinated level of the green finance–environmental protection system. The results show that: (1) the national average coupling and coordinated level of the green finance–environmental protection system has been in mild disharmony from 2011 to 2020 all the time, and only Guangdong Province and Zhejiang Province among them have reached the coordination level. (2) The coupling and coordinated level of the green finance–environmental protection system based on regional differences has a large gap, ranking in order: Eastern region > Central region > Western region > Northeast region, where the first-ranked Eastern region leads the rise, while the last-ranked Northeast region even shows a decreasing trend year by year. (3) The national average coupling and coordinated level will reach the coordination level in 2077, which fails to get ahead of the “2060 carbon neutrality” goal. Additionally, from the regional division, the Eastern region will be the first to reach the coordination level (2040), the Central region will reach the coordination level in 2043, the Western region is difficult to reach the coordination level, and the Northeast region shows the deterioration of coupling and coordinated degree, and the regional differences are still obvious. This study aims to reduce regional disparities, improve the coupling and coordinated development level of the green finance–environmental protection system nationwide, and implement the process of green development in China.
Designing the Tourist Journey for the Advancement of Sustainable Tourist Practices
Authors: Fragidis Garyfallos , Riskos Kyriakos , Kotzaivazoglou Iordanis
Published: August 2022

Sustainable tourism has become a key priority in the strategic plans for tourism development in order to attain sociocultural development and environmental preservation. This paper examines opportunities for the advancement of sustainable tourism by encouraging tourists to consider sustainability and to include sustainable options in their tourist practices. The paper adopts a practice-based approach for the understanding of tourist behavior as a series of practices tourists perform for the development of valuable experiences, usually with the support of services offered by tourist organizations and service providers. Sustainability is an option for tourists that needs to be offered, promoted, and supported when they decide on their practices and the way they will perform them. Hence, sustainability is an option that needs to be designed so that tourists are enabled and motivated to adopt sustainable tourist practices. The paper proposes the sustainable tourist journey as an approach for the analysis and design of sustainable tourist practices that is based on the holistic scope of the consumer journey. The paper contributes to the advancement of sustainable tourism by introducing and improving the understanding of sustainability concerns in tourist practices. The paper discusses also how digital technologies can support the design of sustainable tourist practices.
Modeling and Performance Analysis for High-Rise Building Using ArchiCAD: Initiatives towards Energy-Efficient Building
Authors: Ali Siti Birkha Mohd , Mehdipoor Amirhossein , Samsina Johari Noora , Hasanuzzaman Md. , Rahim Nasrudin Abd
Published: August 2022

An energy-efficient building is not built in a day. It requires effective processes, approaches, and tools, as well as high commitment from all the involved parties. A similar requirement is needed for effective retrofitting practice. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the sensible processes in ensuring either the new building development or retrofitting initiatives arrive at its ultimate objectives, i.e., reduction in energy consumption, energy cost, and removal of harmful emissions. Many studies had proved that a window is one of the building elements that could contribute to establishing an energy-efficient building. Therefore, a 25-floor Wisma R&D, University of Malaya building was modeled using ArchiCAD to analyse the influences of window glazing, opaque materials, and shading elements on overall building energy performances. The accuracy of the model and simulation outcome was initially compared with the energy audit result conducted from March to May 2017. Consequently, this study revealed that the effective combinations of the window parameters had assisted in improving the infiltration rate and heat transfer coefficient which allowed a lower cooling load within 3% to 6%, respectively. After most, minimum savings of 18,133.9 kWh, RM 6618.88, and 1265.16 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) were gained through a reduction of cooling load in Wisma R&D based on the window system improvement. This article aims to promote the capability of ArchiCAD as a practical tool for effective retrofitting decision-making. Ultimately, this study revealed the importance of a multivariate framework in building energy conservation and provide an insight into the improvement of the Malaysia Standard MS1525:2019, mainly for high-rise buildings in Malaysia.
Does ISO 14001 and Green Servitization Provide a Push Factor for Sustainable Performance? A Study of Manufacturing Firms
Authors: Oyelakin Idris Oyewale , Johl Satirenjit Kaur
Published: August 2022

This study contributes to the development of a green servitization framework to achieve manufacturing firms’ sustainable performance using ISO 14001 as a driving factor in their operational management system. Manufacturing firms are becoming concerned due to the associated problem of physical flow of materials and energy through the ecosystem, which can hinder resource sustainability for future generations as a result of the enormous waste and emission of carbon produced by their operations. This is possible due to a lack of implementation of ISO 14001 in the production process, leading to a waste of resources and negative environmental effects on people and the planet, which requires an urgent green solution. Therefore, the present study investigated the adoption and implementation of ISO 14001 as a catalyst of a green initiative towards achieving sustainable performance. After a review of studies in operational and environmental management, a quantitative methodology was adopted in three research design phases that included identifying dimensions for survey measurement instruments, survey validation, a pilot study, as well as data analysis to investigate the mediating effect of ISO 14001 on the relationship between green servitization and sustainable performance. The results show a significant and positive mediation effect of ISO 14001 on the interaction between green servitization and sustainable performance. In conclusion, these findings will enhance the operation and performance of the environmental management system required for the manufacturing firm and improve the practice of green service toward sustainable performance.
MSSA-DEED: A Multi-Objective Salp Swarm Algorithm for Solving Dynamic Economic Emission Dispatch Problems
Authors: Hassan Mohamed H. , Kamel Salah , Domínguez-García José Luís , El-Naggar Mohamed F.
Published: August 2022

Due to the rising cost of fuel, increased demand for energy, and the stresses of environmental issues, dynamic economic emission dispatch (DEED), which is the most precise mode for actual dispatching conditions, has been a significant study topic in current years. In this article, the higher dimensional, deeply correlated, non-convex, and non-linear multi-objective DEED problem is designated, involving both the fuel costs and emissions objectives simultaneously. In addition, the valve point effect, transmission loss, as well as the ramping rate, are considered. The Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) is a well-established meta-heuristic that was inspired by the foraging behavior of salps in deep oceans and has proved to be beneficial in estimating the global optima for many optimization problems. The objective of this article is to evaluate the performance of the multi-objective Salp Swarm Algorithm (MSSA) for obtaining the optimal dispatching schemes. Furthermore, the fuzzy decision-making (FDM) approach is employed to achieve the best compromise solution (BCS). In order to confirm the efficacy of the MSSA, the IEEE 30-bus six-unit power system, standard 39-bus ten-unit New England power system, and IEEE 118-bus fourteen-unit power system were considered as three studied cases. The obtained results proved the strength and supremacy of the MSSA compared with two well-known algorithms, the multi-objective grasshopper optimization algorithm (MOGOA) and the multi-objective ant lion optimizer (MALO), and other reported methods. The BCS of the proposed MSSA for the six-unit power system was USD 25,727.57 and 5.94564 Ib, while the BCS was 2.520778 × USD 106 and 3.05994 × 105 lb for the ten-unit power system, and was 1.29200 × USD106 and 98.1415 Ib for the 14 generating units. Comparisons with the other well-known methods revealed the superiority of the proposed MSSA and confirmed its potential for solving other power systems’ multi-objective optimization problems.
Sustainable Financing and Financial Risk Management of Financial Institutions—Case Study on Chinese Banks
Authors: Liu Hao , Huang Weilun
Published: August 2022

This study examines the relationship between sustainable financing and financial risk management of Chinese financial institutions, using data from Chinese banks. Financial risk management is a comprehensive measure of operating performance, asset quality and capital adequacy ratio. The structural vector auto-regression model determines the relationship between two variables. The positive shock of sustainable financing business negatively impacts the financial risk management of banks. In contrast, positive shock of banks’ financial risk management positively affects sustainable financing. Further subdivision of the sample revealed that sustainable financing does not always negatively impact the financial risk management of large state-owned banks. However, the positive shock of financial risk management reduces urban banks’ green credit proportions. The results are consistent whenever compared between the empirical outcome of the entire sample and the sample consisting of national joint stock bank accounts. This comparison helps eliminate the possibility of a biased outcome as a major portion of the sample is from a national joint-stock bank account. Apart from data limitations, the results of the sub-sample test are influenced due to the difference in deposit and loan interest rates, as well as different ownership structures of banks.
Flood Susceptibility Assessment in Arid Areas: A Case Study of Qatar
Authors: Serdar Mohammad Zaher , Ajjur Salah Basem , Al-Ghamdi Sami G.
Published: August 2022

Over the past decade, the adverse impacts of climate change and excessive urbanization have contributed to several unfamiliar and costly floods in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), especially in Qatar. With limited historical rainfall records and unprecedented precipitation intensities impacting the efficiency of hydrological models, the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) presents a suitable alternative approach to assess and identify flood-susceptible areas. In this study, we applied MCDA to several factors that contribute to flood susceptibility, namely: elevation, slope, groundwater depth, distance to a drainage system, and land use. These criteria were assigned different weights based on their contribution and previous literature and later underwent a sensitivity analysis. The study’s results correlate well with recent flooding events, proving the method’s efficiency in identifying hotspots. This study is expected to provide a rapid tool to support the decision-making process for future urban expansion, sustainable development, and resilience planning in Qatar.
Combination Weighting Integrated with TOPSIS for Landscape Performance Evaluation: A Case Study of Microlandscape from Rural Areas in Southeast China
Authors: Shen Lan , Zhang Yikang , Yao Minfeng , Lan Siren
Published: August 2022

This study aims to evaluate the landscape performance of rural microlandscapes in highly urbanized areas and propose optimization strategies based on the evaluation results. As a sustainable promotion mode, microlandscapes can effectively improve the damage caused by the development of rugged urbanization to the living environment. To improve the rural living environment, some achievements have been made in the construction of microlandscapes in the highly urbanized rural areas of southeast coastal areas, represented by Fujian Province, but there are still problems such as low utilization rate and difficult maintenance. As a qualitative and quantitative weighting method, the combination weighting method is widely used in the construction of evaluation models of safety engineering, environmental management, and other disciplines. This study constructed a landscape performance evaluation system based on the American landscape performance series and combined it with performance evaluation methods in other related fields to establish a landscape performance evaluation system suitable for rural microlandscapes in highly urbanized areas. Taking social benefits as an example, five main factors affecting social benefits are highlighted: comfort and health; safety and accessibility; sociability and service; aesthetics and education; and culture and inheritance. Each factor contains different sub-criteria to identify specific problems. Field observation, questionnaire survey, and interview records of 25 microlandscape projects in Yinglin Town, Jinjiang City were conducted. The combination weight calculation based on the AHP-entropy weight method and the comprehensive benefit ranking calculation based on the TOPSIS method is carried out. It was found that stress relief and the number of visitors were the main factors affecting the social benefits of microlandscape performance, and the top-ranked projects also had such characteristics. The seasonal phase and color richness had the least effect on social benefits. Therefore, the microlandscape should improve the healing effect of the project on users as much as possible in the design stage, so that users can better relax through the microlandscape. In addition, strategies such as space selection and path optimization should be adopted to improve the utilization rate of the microlandscape as much as possible, and the fairness of the use of vulnerable groups should be fully considered.
Numerical Simulation of the Hydraulic Characteristics and Fish Habitat of a Natural Continuous Meandering River
Authors: Wang Pingyi , Li Jian , Wang Meili , Hu Jielong , Zhang Fan
Published: August 2022

Increasing international attention is being focused on the construction of ecological waterways. Ecological waterways are not only able to successfully sustain the navigational functions for ships, but also provide a stable long-term environment in which fish can survive. In nature, meandering rivers are the most common form. Compared with straight rivers, their flow conditions are complex and not conducive to ship navigation and fish survival. There has been less research conducted on the construction of ecological waterways in naturally curving rivers. Therefore, in this paper, a naturally continuous curved river was used as a research object, and numerical simulation was employed to study the hydraulic characteristics of the river and the survival environment by fish by introducing the Shannon diversity index. It was concluded that a naturally continuous curved river cannot meet the navigational requirements and does not provide a stable survival environment for fish. After proposing a targeted channel restoration plan, the hydraulic characteristics of the flow were significantly improved, and the flow velocity Shannon diversity index was reduced. The restored channel met the navigational requirements of vessels, and provided a more stable environment for fish. In the construction of the continuous bend river ecological corridor, the location of the continuous bend stream connection was used as a key restoration area. This paper provides ideas and basic research for the sustainable development of ecological river channels and the construction of continuous curved river channels.
Augmenting Community Engagement in City 4.0: Considerations for Digital Agency in Urban Public Space
Authors: Hunter Michael G. , Soro Alessandro , Brown Ross A. , Harman Joel , Yigitcanlar Tan
Published: August 2022

An engaged community that reflects a diverse set of experiences is key to an equitable and livable city. However, maximizing engagement activities is often difficult when competing with residents’ busy schedules and hectic daily lives. To explore new opportunities in this space, we developed four augmented reality experiences to learn more about the potential for this technology to transform community engagement practices in the context of City 4.0. City 4.0 utilizes digital technologies to transform public services and the local economy. Its goal is to produce more sustainable urban and societal outcomes. Our findings suggest that augmented reality is least successful when used to recreate existing engagement practices, such as surveys or questionnaires, and more successful when it empowers a sense of agency and ownership over the process in its users. The way augmented reality situates information can aid in making public space feel personal to the individual. In this way, augmented reality’s affordances are less about overlaying digital information in physical space and more about how this can enable individuals to reclaim a sense of control and relevance in the relationship between citizens and councils. We aim to contribute: (a) novel interaction paradigms and an evaluation of their effectiveness and limitation, and (b) new insights into how to support citizens’ sense of agency in public discourse with augmented reality. This paper highlights the value of augmented reality’s affordances to bring to light new interactions between community engagement stakeholders.
Copper and Zinc Removal from Wastewater Using Alum Sludge Recovered from Water Treatment Plant
Authors: Abba Alia Besma , Saggai Sofiane , Touil Youcef , Al-Ansari Nadhir , Kouadri Saber , Nouasria Fatima Zohra , Najm Hadee Mohammed , Mashaan Nuha S. , Eldirderi Moutaz Mustafa A. , Khedher Khaled Mohamed
Published: August 2022

The study aimed to determine Aluminum sludge composition and structure for its valorisation as an alternative natural material for heavy metals removal from wastewater for further reuse as treated water in different applications. The study was conducted to investigate the introduction of Al-bearing sludge composition. The physical and chemical properties were examined using X-ray diffraction tests (XRD), scanning electron microscope tests (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared tests (FTIR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller tests (BET). Furthermore, the heavy metal concentrations of synthetic wastewater were measured using the spectrophotometry method. The experimental procedure is based on testing different pH limits and amounts of aluminum sludge to find the optimum conditions for copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) removal. The results demonstrated a high removal efficiency where its value reached up to 97.4% and 96.6% for Zn and Cu, respectively, in an acidic medium (pH = 6) using a relatively high amount of sludge (1400 mg). Nevertheless, a low efficiency was obtained in the strongly acidic medium (pH = 4) and a smaller sludge amount of about 480 mg.
Identifying Challenges for Clients in Adopting Sustainable Public Cloud Computing
Authors: Khan Muhammad , Ullah Fasee , Imran Muhammad , Khan Jahangir , Khan Arshad , AlGhamdi Ahmed , Alshamrani Sultan
Published: August 2022

Sustainable Cloud Computing is the modern era’s most popular technology. It is improving daily, offering billions of people sustainable services. Currently, three deployment models are available: (1) public, (2) private, and (3) hybrid cloud. Recently, each deployment model has undergone extensive research. However, relatively little work has been carried out regarding clients’ adoption of sustainable public cloud computing (PCC). We are particularly interested in this area because PCC is widely used worldwide. As evident from the literature, there is no up-to-date systematic literature review (SLR) on the challenges clients confront in PCC. There is a gap that needs urgent attention in this area. We produced an SLR by examining the existing cloud computing models in this research. We concentrated on the challenges encountered by clients during user adoption of a sustainable PCC. We uncovered a total of 29 obstacles that clients confront when adopting sustainable PCC. In 2020, 18 of the 29 challenges were reported. This demonstrates the tremendous threat that PCC still faces. Nineteen of these are considered critical challenges to us. We consider a challenge a critical challenge if its occurrence in the final selected sample of the paper is greater than 20%. These challenges will negatively affect client adoption in PCC. Furthermore, we performed three different analyses on the critical challenges. Our analysis may indicate that these challenges are significant for all the continents. These challenges vary with the passage of time and with the venue of publication. Our results will assist the client’s organization in understanding the issue. Furthermore, it will also help the vendor’s organization determine the potential solutions to the highlighted challenges.
Optimal Selection of Short- and Long-Term Mitigation Strategies for Buildings within Communities under Flooding Hazard
Authors: Gupta Himadri Sen , Nofal Omar M. , González Andrés D. , Nicholson Charles D. , van de Lindt John W.
Published: August 2022

Every year, floods cause substantial economic losses worldwide with devastating impacts on buildings and physical infrastructures throughout communities. Techniques are available to mitigate flood damage and subsequent losses, but the ability to weigh such strategies with respect to their benefits from a community resilience perspective is limited in the literature. Investing in flood mitigation is critical for communities to protect the physical and socioeconomic systems that depend on them. While there are multiple mitigation options to implement at the building level, this paper focuses on determining the optimal flood mitigation strategy for buildings to minimize flood losses within a community. In this research, a mixed integer linear programming model is proposed for studying the effects and trade-offs associated with pre-event short-term and long-term mitigation strategies to minimize the expected economic losses associated with floods. The capabilities of the proposed model are illustrated for Lumberton, North Carolina (NC), a small, socially diverse inland community on the Lumber River. The mathematically optimal building-level flood mitigation plan is provided based on the available budget, which can significantly minimize the total expected direct economic loss of the community. The results reveal important correlations among investment quantity, building-level short- and long-term mitigation measures, flood depths of various locations, and buildings’ structure. Additionally, this study shows the trade-offs between short- and long-term mitigation measures based on available budget by providing decision support to building owners regarding mitigation measures for their buildings.
Assessment of Energy Efficiency Measures’ Impact on Energy Performance in the Educational Building of Kazakh-German University in Almaty
Authors: Dyussembekova Nassipkul , Temirgaliyeva Nazym , Umyshev Dias , Shavdinova Madina , Schuett Reiner , Bektalieva Damesh
Published: August 2022

As climate change concerns are rising rapidly, energy efficiency promotion and implementation could be sustainable solutions within energy transition. In this context, buildings, including educational ones, play an important role in reducing energy needs and promoting energy efficiency since they account for a significant share of the total energy consumption. As a case study for this research, the educational building of Kazakh-German University was selected. Following the national and international building standards, energy performance parameters were estimated. Current heat losses and performance have been estimated as baseline scenario settings. The impact of retrofitting measures on energy efficiency performance of the buildings under the four scenarios was calculated. Under the minor scenario, retrofitting interventions will lead to annual energy savings of 36.9 kWh/m2 and a 48% CO2 emission reduction, whereas under the major scenario, the annual energy savings will increase to 77.76 kWh/m2 and a nearly 82% CO2 emission reduction. The integration of a solar thermal system with capacity 400 kWh, assuming that the heat demand was reduced under the minor retrofitting scenario, can decrease heat energy consumption and CO2 emissions to 35%. As upfront costs of the energy efficiency measures are high, a carbon offset mechanism could facilitate the implementation of university building modernization.
Identifying Population Hollowing Out Regions and Their Dynamic Characteristics across Central China
Authors: Guo Bin , Bian Yi , Pei Lin , Zhu Xiaowei , Zhang Dingming , Zhang Wencai , Guo Xianan , Chen Qiuji
Published: August 2022

Continuous urbanization and industrialization lead to plenty of rural residents migrating to cities for a living, which seriously accelerated the population hollowing issues. This generated series of social issues, including residential estate idle and numerous vigorous laborers migrating from undeveloped rural areas to wealthy cities and towns. Quantitatively determining the population hollowing characteristic is the priority task of realizing rural revitalization. However, the traditional field investigation methods have obvious deficiencies in describing socio-economic phenomena, especially population hollowing, due to weak efficiency and low accuracy. Here, this paper conceives a novel scheme for representing population hollowing levels and exploring the spatiotemporal dynamic of population hollowing. The nighttime light images were introduced to identify the potential hollowing areas by using the nightlight decreasing trend analysis. In addition, the entropy weight approach was adopted to construct an index for evaluating the population hollowing level based on statistical datasets at the political boundary scale. Moreover, we comprehensively incorporated physical and anthropic factors to simulate the population hollowing level via random forest (RF) at a grid-scale, and the validation was conducted to evaluate the simulation results. Some findings were achieved. The population hollowing phenomenon decreasing gradually was mainly distributed in rural areas, especially in the north of the study area. The RF model demonstrated the best accuracy with relatively higher R2 (Mean = 0.615) compared with the multiple linear regression (MLR) and the geographically weighted regression (GWR). The population hollowing degree of the grid-scale was consistent with the results of the township scale. The population hollowing degree represented an obvious trend that decreased in the north but increased in the south during 2016–2020 and exhibited a significant reduction trend across the entire study area during 2019–2020. The present study supplies a novel perspective for detecting population hollowing and provides scientific support and a first-hand dataset for rural revitalization.
On the Performance of a Modified Triple Stack Blade Savonius Wind Turbine as a Function of Geometrical Parameters
Authors: Norouztabar Reza , Mousavi Ajarostaghi Seyed Soheil , Mousavi Seyed Sina , Nejat Payam , Rahimian Koloor Seyed Saeid , Eldessouki Mohamed
Published: August 2022

The Savonius wind turbine is one of the most well-known vertical axis wind turbines with insensitivity to wind direction, flow turbulence, and high torque generation. These turbines can extract up to 20% of the energy from the wind. This study numerically analyzes the performance of a modified Savonius wind turbine equipped with secondary blades and slots. The k-ε standard method is used to simulate the turbulence flow around the turbine, and the simulation is performed using the ANSYS FLUENT 18.2 commercial code. The effects of distance between the main blade and the secondary blade, position of the secondary blade, the width of the main blade’s slot, and the profile of the secondary blade on the produced torque are studied and analyzed. The simulation is performed at four wind velocities: 3, 4, 5, and 6 m/s. The results showed that the output torque at the secondary blade angular position β = 130 is higher than other angles. Furthermore, by increasing the radius of the additional blade from R = 25 to 43 mm, the torque is improved, and the area below the output torque curve is increased. Moreover, the results showed that creating a slot on the main blade equipped with a secondary blade has a significant impact on the produced torque; however, the geometrical parameters of the proposed rotors should be adjusted accurately to find the best case in terms of the produced torque.
Calibration Periodicity of Fuel Tanks Assigned to Legal–Industrial Metrology: A Case Study
Authors: Meškuotienė Asta , Kaškonas Paulius , Raudienė Edita , Dobilienė Justina , Urbonavičius Benas Gabrielis
Published: August 2022

Reliable quantity measurements are essential to meet the needs of the public interest, health, environmental protection, and the global fair trade of petroleum products. This can only be ensured by accurate and regular calibration of the measuring instruments. The frequency of metrological supervision is differently legally regulated in different countries since there are no clear criteria for determining periodicity. This report presents an analysis of the metrological supervision of vertical and aboveground tanks (intended for oil products) in different countries and long-term data usage for supervision periodicity identification. The periodicity of metrological supervision procedures must be synchronised with technical repairs and must depend on the type and volume of the tank. Choosing the optimal periodicity frequency of different tanks can adjust the economic burden of metrological supervision considering the economic and environmental aspects that is presented in the report with suitable adaptations.
COVID-19 Research in Business and Management: A Review and Future Research Agenda
Authors: Zackery Ali , Amankwah-Amoah Joseph , Heidari Darani Zahra , Ghasemi Shiva
Published: August 2022

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has generated voluminous research in mainstream business and management, there remains a need for a robust state-of-the-art review of the current diverse streams of research that have scattered across different fields. To address this lacuna in the current growing body of research, we conducted a systematic review of 152 COVID-related papers in the field of business and management published in top-tier journals to identify the impact of the pandemic on business activities. Based on the review, we classified the topical foci of the selected studies under three broad categories (i.e., corporate strategy, corporate design and culture, and contextual environment) and 13 sub-categories (e.g., CoVsumption, uncertainty asphyxiation, and normalization of meta-firms), which are the recurring themes in the papers. We correspondingly outline new avenues for future research and the theoretical and practical implications of this study. The findings revealed that, during the pandemic, adaptive strategies to survive the pandemic took precedence over shaping strategies to build post-COVID realities.