bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of Performance Evaluation Indicators for Table Grape Packaging Units
Authors: Kogachi Edson , Ferreira Adonias , Cavalcante Carlos , Embiruçu Marcelo
Published: February 2021

In order to improve the process management of table grape packaging, its performance should be evaluated. However, the literature on performance evaluation indicators is scarce. To address this research gap, we propose a method for the development of performance evaluation indicators for table grape packaging units, which are characterized by labor-intensive and highly seasonal production processes in the agro-economic sector. The stages include the following: contextualizing table grape packaging units, selecting the performance objectives, selecting techniques to be used in the development of the indicators, and applying the method to the packaging units of table grapes. The techniques adopted in the development of the indicators aimed at the cost, quality, flexibility, reliability, and speed performance objectives were data envelopment analysis, principal component analysis, quantification of the batch, compliance with the program within the established deadline, and measurement of the execution time of the batch, respectively. The results obtained in the case study demonstrate that the correlations between the performance indicators do not indicate the need to disregard any of them. Furthermore, the standard deviation values for each indicator are similar. Thus, both results of correlations and standard deviation confirm the importance of the indicators chosen for the performance evaluation of table grape packaging.
A Virtual Reality-Based Cognitive Telerehabilitation System for Use in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Varela-Aldás José , Buele Jorge , Ramos Lorente Pedro , García-Magariño Iván , Palacios-Navarro Guillermo
Published: February 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s lives and the way in which certain services are provided. Such changes are not uncommon in healthcare services and they will have to adapt to the new situation by increasing the number of services remotely offered. Limited mobility has resulted in interruption of treatments that traditionally have been administered through face-to-face modalities, especially those related to cognitive impairments. In this telerehabilitation approach, both the patient and the specialist physician enter a virtual reality (VR) environment where they can interact in real time through avatars. A spaced retrieval (SR) task is implemented in the system to analyze cognitive performance. An experimental group (n = 20) performed the SR task in telerehabilitation mode, whereas a control group (n = 20) performed the SR task through a traditional face-to-face mode. The obtained results showed that it is possible to carry out cognitive rehabilitation processes through a telerehabilitation modality in conjunction with VR. The cost-effectiveness of the system will also contribute to making healthcare systems more efficient, overcoming both geographical and temporal limitations.
Optimization of International Roughness Index Model Parameters for Sustainable Runway
Authors: Tian Yu , Liu Shifu , Liu Le , Xiang Peng
Published: February 2021

Pavement roughness is a critical airport pavement characteristic that has been linked to impacts such as safety and service life. A properly defined roughness evaluation method would reduce airport operational risk, prolong the life of aircraft landing gear, and optimize the decision-making process for pavement preservation, which together positively contribute to overall airport sustainability. In this study, we optimized the parameters of the International Roughness Index (IRI) model to resolve the current poor correlation between the IRI and aircraft vibration responses in order to adapt and extend the IRI’s use for airport runway roughness evaluation. We developed and validated a virtual prototype model based on ADAMS/Aircraft software for the Boeing 737–800 and then employed the model to predict the aircraft’s dynamic responses to runway pavement roughness. By developing a frequency response function for the standard 1/4 vehicle model, we obtained frequency response distribution curves for the IRI. Based on runway roughness data, we used fast Fourier transform to implement the frequency response distribution of the aircraft. We then utilized Particle Swarm Optimization to determine more appropriate IRI model parameters rather than modifying the model itself. Our case study results indicate that the correlation coefficient for the optimized IRI model and aircraft vibration response shows a qualitative leap from that of the original IRI model.
Continuous Thermal Stripping Process for Ammonium Removal from Digestate and Centrate
Authors: Leverenz Harold , Adams Russel , Hazard Jessica , Tchobanoglous George
Published: February 2021

The state of California has passed legislation to divert organic materials from landfills to reduce the emission of methane to the atmosphere. A large amount of this source separated organic (SSO) material is expected to be used as a feedstock for anaerobic digestion processes. Based on a review of properties for likely SSO feedstocks, it is clear that while SSO are high in volatile solids, they are also concentrated sources of nutrients (principally, ammonium). When SSO feedstocks are digested, these nutrients are released into the digestate, where ammonium can cause problems both within the digester and in downstream treatment processes. The focus of this paper is on the performance of two pilot studies designed to remove ammonia from a digester effluent. The process used in the study is a thermal stripping column with tray configuration, operating under a vacuum. In the first study, food waste digestate was treated as a slurry in the stripping column with and without NaOH addition. At process temperatures near 90 °C, the performance with and without caustic was similar. In the second study, centrate from a co-digestion facility, that blends food processing waste with wastewater process solids, was treated in the same thermal stripping column under the same conditions and without chemical addition. The results from both studies, which can be described using the same performance curves, are presented and discussed in this paper.
Twitter, Social Services and Covid-19: Analysis of Interactions between Political Parties and Citizens
Authors: Chaves-Montero Alfonso , Relinque-Medina Fernando , Fernández-Borrero Manuela Á. , Vázquez-Aguado Octavio
Published: February 2021

The state of alarm caused by Covid-19 has mobilised the population’s digital social participation in social networks. Likewise, the relevance acquired by Social Services as a support for the social and health crisis has generated an unprecedented social debate on Twitter about the reality of these services in Spain. The analysis of this phenomenon is the focus of the present article, in which the tweets on Social Services and Covid-19 published during the confinement have been analysed using the qualitative analysis software Atlas.Ti. The results show the precariousness of social services and that a change in the management and financing model of these services is required to guarantee benefits and satisfy fundamental social rights.
Is Environment a Strategic Priority of the Leading Energy Companies? Evidence from Mission Statements
Authors: Ruban Dmitry A. , Yashalova Natalia N. , Ermolaev Vladimir A.
Published: February 2021

Hydrocarbon production, electricity transmission, and other energy-related activities affect the environment. It is expected that environmental issues can be among strategic priorities summarized in mission statements of energy companies. The present analysis of the mission statements of 43 leading energy companies implies that these issues are considered by 36% of the top energy companies and 37% of the fastest-growing energy companies. These considerations often co-occur with attention to a company’s higher tasks and image. Most often, production ecologization is posed as a priority. The fastest-growing companies pay insufficient attention to climate changes. Conceptually, reflection of environmental issues in mission statements depends on the managerial awareness of these issues; additionally, the development of separate sustainability strategies may make environmental priorities somewhat marginal. The ‘greening’ of mission statements of energy companies is recommended.
Research on the Optimal Operation of a Novel Renewable Multi-Energy Complementary System in Rural Areas
Authors: Wang Ting , Wang Qiya , Zhang Caiqing
Published: February 2021

Sustainable development is an inevitable choice for the development of human society, and energy is closely related to sustainable development. Improving energy structure, increasing energy efficiency, and vigorously developing renewable energy are of great significance to the sustainable development of rural areas. Moreover, the establishment of a distributed multi-energy complementary system (MECS) using abundant renewable energy such as wind, solar, and biomass energy is an effective way to solve the rapid growth of rural power demand, weak rural power grids, and rural environmental pollution. This paper proposes a new type of Wind–Solar–Biomass–Storage MECS composed of wind power generation (WPG), photovoltaic power generation (PVG), biogas power generation (BPG) and energy storage system (ESS) and establishes a MECS optimization operation model with the goal of maximizing daily operating economic benefits, considering the characteristics of each power generation system and power demand characteristics. By using the multi-population genetic algorithm (MPGA), the simulation experiments of the MECS operation under four typical weather scenarios are carried out. The results show that the MECS can operate stably in different scenarios and achieve the goal of maximizing economic benefits, which verifies the feasibility of the MECS model. In addition, the simulation results are compared with the standard genetic algorithm (SGA), which shows the effectiveness of the optimization method. This paper takes Chinese rural areas as an example for research. The proposed MECS and optimal operation model are also applicable to developing countries with a high proportion of the rural population.
A Proposed Conceptual Framework on the Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices: The Role of Network Contact Frequency and Institutional Trust
Authors: Pierrette Coulibaly Tiéfigué , Du Jianguo , Diakité Daniel , Abban Olivier Joseph , Kouakou Elvis
Published: February 2021

To promote environmental changes in agriculture, the use of sustainable agricultural practices was considered to be crucial. Several factors have been identified that affect farmers in their decision to implement sustainable agricultural practices effectively. Despite this, the rate of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices remains below the planned level, and it is important to know how to solve this issue. In this paper, we propose a model based on the theory of planned behavior and the norm activation theory with the integration of network contact frequency as a mediator and institutional trust as a moderator to fill “the intention-behavior” gap.
Impact of Structural Oil Price Shock Factors on the Gasoline Market and Macroeconomy in South Korea
Authors: Lee Jihoon , Cho Hong Chong
Published: February 2021

This study decomposed shocks of the global crude oil (GCO) market and Korean gasoline (KG) market into six types using the structural vector auto-regressive model. Breaking down the shocks into six, we analyzed how each shock affects the macroeconomy and gasoline market in Korea. Results of the analysis revealed that the oil supply shock did not cause a large fluctuation in gasoline prices, but it harmed the macroeconomy. By contrast, the two shocks on the demand side of the GCO market caused a large increase in domestic gasoline prices, but they did not negatively affect the macroeconomy. Meanwhile, in the KG market, gasoline-refining shock and gasoline demand shock caused a significant increase in gasoline prices. Both shocks had some negative effects on the Korean macroeconomy at a certain point, but the effects are not as strong as the oil supply shock. However, the gasoline distribution shock in Korea rarely caused negative consequences for major macroeconomic variables. Moreover, analyzing the KG prices through historical decomposition, we found that the two demand-side factors of the GCO market and the demand shock of the KG market have had the most important influence on the gasoline price since the 2000s. From the analysis, the increase in gasoline prices in Korea since the 2000s can be inferred to have no significant negative impact on the macroeconomy. Therefore, the essential factors of price fluctuations must be focused on in analyzing domestic gasoline price and their impact on the macroeconomy.
Emotional Well-Being in Urban Wilderness: Assessing States of Calmness and Alertness in Informal Green Spaces (IGSs) with Muse—Portable EEG Headband
Authors: Herman Krzysztof , Ciechanowski Leon , Przegalińska Aleksandra
Published: February 2021

In this experiment, we operated within the novel research area of Informal Green Spaces (often called green wastelands), exploring emotional well-being with the employment of portable electroencephalography (EEG) devices. The apparatus (commercial EEG Muse headband) provided an opportunity to analyze states of calmness and alertness in n = 20 participants as they visited selected Informal Green Spaces in Warsaw, Poland. The article aims to test the hypothesis that passive recreation in Informal Green Spaces (IGSs) has a positive impact on emotional well-being and that there is a connection between the intensity of states of calmness and alertness and 1. the type of green space (IGS/GS), 2. the type of scenery and 3. the type of IGS. The preliminary experiment showed that there might be no substantial distinction in the users’ levels of emotional states when considering existing typologies. On the other hand, data-driven analysis suggests that there might be a connection between the state of alertness and some characteristics of specific areas. After carrying out the multivariate analyses of variance in the repeated measurement scheme and finding significant differences between oscillations in different areas, we conclude that there might be three possible sources of lower alertness and increased calmness in some areas. These are 1. the presence of “desirable” human intervention such as paths and urban furniture, 2. a lack of “undesirable” users and signs of their presence and 3. the presence of other “desirable” users.
Optimizing of Microalgae Scenedesmus sp. Biomass Production in Wet Market Wastewater Using Response Surface Methodology
Authors: Mohd Apandi Najeeha , Muhamad Mimi Suliza , Radin Mohamed Radin Maya Saphira , Mohamed Sunar Norshuhaila , Al-Gheethi Adel , Gani Paran , A. Rahman Fahmi
Published: February 2021

The present study aimed to optimize the production of Scenedesmus sp. biomass during the phycoremediation process. The biomass productivity was optimized using face centred central composite design (FCCCD) in response surface methodology (RSM) as a function of two independent variables that included wet market wastewater concentrations (A) with a range of 10% to 75% and aeration rate (B) with a range of 0.02 to 4.0 L/min. The results revealed that the highest biomass productivity (73 mg/L/d) and maximum growth rate (1.19 day−1) was achieved with the 64.26% of (A) and 3.08 L/min of (B). The GC-MS composition analysis of the biomass yield extract revealed that the major compounds are hexadecane (25%), glaucine (16.2%), and phytol (8.33%). The presence of these compounds suggests that WMW has the potential to be used as a production medium for Scenedesmus sp. Biomass, which has several applications in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry.
Building Back Sustainably: COVID-19 Impact and Adaptation in Newfoundland and Labrador Fisheries
Authors: Asante Edward Oteng , Blankson Genevieve Kuntu , Sabau Gabriela
Published: February 2021

The coronavirus pandemic, which started in late 2019, is one of the devastating crises that has affected human lives and the economies of many countries across the globe. Though economies have been affected, some sectors (such as food and fisheries sectors) are more vulnerable and prone to the deleterious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper highlights the various disruptions (safety at workplace, loss of harvest and processing activity, loss of export opportunities and income) faced by the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries due to several restrictive measures (especially on mobility, social distancing, quarantine, and, in extreme cases, lockdown) to curtail the spread of the virus. Additionally, this paper makes a case that Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries can be managed sustainably during and after the pandemic by suggesting practical recommendations borrowed from two sustainability frameworks (Canadian Fisheries Research Network and the EU Setting the Right Safety Net framework) for managing fisheries in Canada and the European Union.
Stability of Treatment from Earth-Based Mortar in Conservation of Stone Structures in Tanais, Russia
Authors: Sobczyńska Ewa , Terlikowski Wojciech , Gregoriou-Szczepaniak Martyna
Published: February 2021

Identification of materials, masonry elements, their shapes, physical and mechanical parameters and type of connection is crucial for the conservation works related to ancient masonry structures. In the case of the archaeological site where the research was carried out (Tanais in Russia), some irregular masonries made of limestone and earth-based mortar were stated. Such type of structures is a common finding during the archaeological excavations in the Black Sea basin carried out by the Division of Fundamental of Building of the Civil Engineering Faculty of the Warsaw University of Technology in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw and the Antiquity in Southeastern Europe Research Center. The structure of such walls is degraded to a large extent, has low strength, internal cohesion and, as a result—low durability. At the same time, due to their historical importance, proper conservation, as well as the development of the whole methodology for selecting the best composition of earth-based mortar, is of great importance. Presented in the article, research on earth-based mortars were carried out to determine the best way to strengthen them, using cement (creating an earth-based mortar stabilized with cement with the most appropriate recipe) and other substances available in the region where conservation works are carried out not only to improve the durability physical and mechanical parameters but also to achieve the desired esthetic effect in the form of a suitable tone together with the compatibility of repair mortar with the substrate and constitutes the primary stage of creating the whole methodology of selecting a proper composition of earth-based mortar for the conservation of ancient stone structures. In this stage, four criteria were taken into consideration: mechanical (compressive strength test), conservation (compatibility, reversibility, color, texture and surface profile), durability (freeze–thaw test, the appropriate finish of the surface, shrinkage, workability) and technological one (application of materials, technology and techniques available at the conservation area). Applied treatment was evaluated in the next two years of the conservation works. Parameters of repair earth-based mortar stabilized with cement fulfilled all of the above-mentioned requirements.
Analysis of the Determining Factors for the Renovation of the Walloon Residential Building Stock
Authors: Ruellan Guirec , Cools Mario , Attia Shady
Published: February 2021

The issue of energy retrofitting of existing building stock occupies an increasingly prominent place in energy transition strategies in Europe. Adopting models representing the building stock and accounting for occupancy influence on final housing energy use must be developed to advise new policies. In this respect, this study aims to characterize the Walloon residential building stock and to analyze the existing correlations between the stock’s technical data and its occupants’ socioeconomic data. This study uses existing databases on buildings and inhabitants in Wallonia. Several statistical analyses make it possible to highlight the preponderant criteria and existing correlations between these different criteria. This study affirms the importance of accounting for certain socioeconomic categories, such as low-income groups, in a global strategic reflection on energy renovation. Multiple linear regression shows us that each percent increase in the category of households that declare between 10,000–20.000 EUR of income per year corresponds to an increase of 7.22 kWh/m2·y in the average energy efficiency of the built stock. The results highlight the importance of focusing on renovation strategies for particular types of buildings, such as semi-detached houses, which combine unfavorable technical and socioeconomic factors. Thus, the results confirm the interest of a mixed model approach to adapt to effective renovation policy strategies.
Effect of Inadequate Electrification on Nigeria’s Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability
Authors: Mukhtar Mustapha , Obiora Sandra , Yimen Nasser , Quixin Zhang , Bamisile Olusola , Jidele Pauline , Irivboje Young I.
Published: February 2021

In this study, the impact of the electricity crisis on the economic growth of Nigeria is presented. Unlike other existing studies that checked the effect of electricity consumption on economic development or environmental sustainability for different countries, the present study will further present a techno-economic analysis of a proffered solution to the imminent electricity crisis. Time-series regression models are used to analyze the effect of electricity consumption on economic development and environmental sustainability while RETScreen professional software is used to perform a techno-economic analysis and determine the feasibility of a 500-kW microgrid Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system integrated for electricity generation. From the analysis results, a strong positive correlation effect is evident between electricity consumption and GNI, as well as a strong negative correlation between electricity consumption and gross domestic savings. Also, strong positive correlation effects are evident in the case of carbon emissions by buildings, by the power industry, and by other combustion industries on electricity consumption in Nigeria. Considering the net present value, internal rate of return and payback periods, the use of solar PV systems for electricity generation is feasible in the 12 different locations in Nigeria studied in this research. The most feasible area for solar PV installation is the northern part of Nigeria as Gombe and Kaduna recorded a simple PBP and an equity PBP are 6.3 years and 7.4 years respectively.
Innovative Multi-Layered Architecture for Heterogeneous Automation and Monitoring Systems: Application Case of a Photovoltaic Smart Microgrid
Authors: González Isaías , Calderón Antonio José , Portalo José María
Published: February 2021

Intelligent energy facilities, e.g., smart grids and microgrids are the evolution of traditional energy grids through digital transformation. These modern paradigms are expected to foster the utilization of renewable energies, sustainable development, and resilience of the power grid. A barrier found when deploying experimental smart grids and microgrids consists of handling the heterogeneity of the required hardware and software components as well as the available commercial equipment. Despite the fact that there is various architecture proposed in previous literature, it commonly lacks experimental validation, specification of involved equipment concerning industrial/proprietary or open-source nature, and concretization of communication protocols. To overcome such drawbacks, this paper proposes an innovative multi-layered architecture to deploy heterogeneous automation and monitoring systems for microgrids. The architecture is structured into six functional layers to organize the hardware and software equipment in an integrated manner. The open protocol Modbus TCP is chosen to harmonize communications, enabling the interconnection of equipment from industrial and energy scopes, indeed of open-source nature. An experimental photovoltaic-based smart microgrid is reported as the application case to demonstrate the suitability and validity of the proposal.
Lean–Green Improvement Opportunities for Sustainable Manufacturing Using Water Telemetry in Agri-Food Industry
Authors: Viles Elisabeth , Santos Javier , Muñoz-Villamizar Andrés , Grau Paloma , Fernández-Arévalo Tamara
Published: February 2021

Water has become a critical resource due to increased manufacturing activities. However, there is a lack of detailed information on water management and consumption by industries. In the recent bibliography, lean–green was established as a good approach for achieving sustainability in manufacturing industries, but few studies have aimed to achieve both operational and environmental improvements in water consumption. In this paper, we present a multi-case study in the agri-food industry in which water consumption in company activities is monitored, allowing them to improve their industrial processes based on lean–green practices, leading to a zero-waste strategy for this critical resource. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of having detailed knowledge regarding water consumption in order to discover, in a lean–green context, new improvement opportunities which could remain hidden by the current way of analysing consumption.
Green Roofs and Walls Design Intended to Mitigate Climate Change in Urban Areas across All Continents
Authors: Barriuso Fernando , Urbano Beatriz
Published: February 2021

Green roofs and walls can mitigate the environmental and climate change of a city. They can decrease the urban heat island (UHI), reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fix environmental pollutants, manage urban stormwater runoff, attenuate noise, and enhance biodiversity. This paper aims to analyse green roofs and walls in the possible mitigation of urban climate change and compare it by continent. Green roofs and walls might decrease the air temperature in a city up to 11.3 °C and lower the thermal transmittance into buildings up to 0.27 W/m2 K. Urban greening might sequester up to 375 g C·m−2 per two growing seasons and increase stormwater retention up to 100%. Urban greening might attenuate city noise up to 9.5 dB. The results found green roofs and walls of varied effectiveness in ameliorating climate extremes present in host continents. Results show urban planners might focus on green roofs and walls exposure to attenuate temperatures in hotter Asian cities and advise greening in cities in Africa and Asia. European and American designers might optimise runoff water capacity of green roofs and walls systems and use greening in old buildings to improve insulation. Recommendations are made based on the study to concentrate certain designs to have greater impact on priority climate challenges, whether UHI or stormwater related. This study provides information for decision and policymakers regarding design and exposure of green roofs and walls to mitigate urban environmental and climate change.
A Video Captioning Method Based on Multi-Representation Switching for Sustainable Computing
Authors: Kim Heechan , Lee Soowon
Published: February 2021

Video captioning is a problem that generates a natural language sentence as a video’s description. A video description includes not only words that express the objects in the video but also words that express the relationships between the objects, or grammatically necessary words. To reflect this characteristic explicitly using a deep learning model, we propose a multi-representation switching method. The proposed method consists of three components: entity extraction, motion extraction, and textual feature extraction. The proposed multi-representation switching method makes it possible for the three components to extract important information for a given video and description pair efficiently. In experiments conducted on the Microsoft Research Video Description dataset, the proposed method recorded scores that exceeded the performance of most existing video captioning methods. This result was achieved without any preprocessing based on computer vision and natural language processing, nor any additional loss function. Consequently, the proposed method has a high generality that can be extended to various domains in terms of sustainable computing.
Indirect Economic Effects of Vertical Indoor Green in the Context of Reduced Sick Leave in Offices
Authors: Hollands Jutta , Korjenic Azra
Published: February 2021

Low indoor humidity has been shown to influence the transmission of respiratory diseases via air. A certain proportion of sick leave in offices is therefore attributable to dryness of air. An improvement in these conditions thus means a reduction in sick leave, which is accompanied by cost savings for companies. Vertical indoor greening has a verifiable positive effect on air humidity, especially in winter months. In this article, the correlation between improved air humidity in greened rooms and reduction of sick leave due to improved air humidity was described. The resulting indirect economic effect was determined by comparing the costs for construction, green care, and technical maintenance of indoor greenery with savings due to lower sick leave. Based on long-term measurement data on air humidity and temperature, and actual cost values for three buildings, located in Vienna, Austria, with 6 greened and 3 reference rooms without greenery, the correlation of the method was derived and finally formulated in a generalized way using dimensioning factors. Only considering the influence on air humidity, profitability of 6.6 m2 vertical greening installed in an example office with six workplaces equipped with technical ventilation and saving of two sick days already results after about 4.5 years.
Understanding Socio-Technological Systems Change through an Indigenous Community-Based Participatory Framework
Authors: Schaefer Marie , Schmitt Olabisi Laura , Arola Kristin , Poitra Christie M. , Matz Elise , Seigel Marika , Schelly Chelsea , Adesanya Adewale , Bessette Doug
Published: February 2021

Moving toward a sustainable global society requires substantial change in both social and technological systems. This sustainability is dependent not only on addressing the environmental impacts of current social and technological systems, but also on addressing the social, economic and political harms that continue to be perpetuated through systematic forms of oppression and the exclusion of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. To adequately identify and address these harms, we argue that scientists, practitioners, and communities need a transdisciplinary framework that integrates multiple types of knowledge, in particular, Indigenous and experiential knowledge. Indigenous knowledge systems embrace relationality and reciprocity rather than extraction and oppression, and experiential knowledge grounds transition priorities in lived experiences rather than expert assessments. Here, we demonstrate how an Indigenous, experiential, and community-based participatory framework for understanding and advancing socio-technological system transitions can facilitate the co-design and co-development of community-owned energy systems.
Realizing the Social Dimension of EU Coastal Water Management
Authors: Langlet David , Westholm Aron
Published: February 2021

In the last 20 years, the EU has adopted some rather ambitious pieces of legislation with the aim to achieve a good environmental status in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Both the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) have a strong focus on the natural environment and biological criteria for assessing the status of the relevant ecosystems. In the same time period, much research on environmental governance has focused on the interconnectedness of social systems and ecosystems, so-called social-ecological systems (SES). While having high aspirations, the legal frameworks underpinning current EU water and marine management do not necessarily reflect the advances of contemporary science relating to SES. Using the geographical intersection of the two directives, i.e., coastal waters as a focal point, the paper explores the inchoate integration of social and ecological perspectives in the EU marine governance. What are the main challenges for the current EU legal regimes for managing coastal waters in a way that builds on the understanding of social and ecological systems as interconnected? Having explored the two directives, the paper introduces the possibility of using marine spatial planning (MSP), and the EU directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning (MSPD) as a bridge between the social and ecological dimensions and discusses what implications this would have for the current system for governing coastal waters in Europe.
The Sustainability of EU Labor Immigration in Terms of Poverty Inequalities and Employment
Authors: Ivanová Eva , Grmanová Eva
Published: February 2021

The basic feature of developed economies is a high economic growth rate, which creates the preconditions for a high living standard of population based on high incomes from economic activities. Development processes in advanced economies also include changes in demographic development, resulting in population structure changes, as well as labor force structure changes caused by birth rates reduction and life expectancy increase and an aging process. Due to the high standard of living in European developed countries, they are becoming attractive to less developed countries, having a surplus of labor that migrates to work with a vision of increasing living standards and quality of life. The workforce does not always find full employment here in terms of qualifications, leading to social inequalities between the domestic population and immigrants for whom the social situation poses a risk of poverty. The goal of the article is to determine the specifics of inequalities between the domestic and immigrant population in terms of social status in individual EU countries. Immigrants coming out of the EU are significantly at higher risk of poverty. In most EU countries, the employment rate in the group “nationals” is lower than in the group “foreign” from the EU.
How Can Scientific Literature Support Decision-Making in the Renovation of Historic Buildings? An Evidence-Based Approach for Improving the Performance of Walls
Authors: Marincioni Valentina , Gori Virginia , de Place Hansen Ernst Jan , Herrera-Avellanosa Daniel , Mauri Sara , Giancola Emanuela , Egusquiza Aitziber , Buda Alessia , Leonardi Eleonora , Rieser Alexander
Published: February 2021

Buildings of heritage significance due to their historical, architectural, or cultural value, here called historic buildings, constitute a large proportion of the building stock in many countries around the world. Improving the performance of such buildings is necessary to lower the carbon emissions of the stock, which generates around 40% of the overall emissions worldwide. In historic buildings, it is estimated that heat loss through external walls contributes significantly to the overall energy consumption, and is associated with poor thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Measures to improve the performance of walls of historic buildings require a balance between energy performance, indoor environmental quality, heritage significance, and technical compatibility. Appropriate wall measures are available, but the correct selection and implementation require an integrated process throughout assessment (planning), design, construction, and use. Despite the available knowledge, decision-makers often have limited access to robust information on tested retrofit measures, hindering the implementation of deep renovation. This paper provides an evidence-based approach on the steps required during assessment, design, and construction, and after retrofitting through a literature review. Moreover, it provides a review of possible measures for wall retrofit within the deep renovation of historic buildings, including their advantages and disadvantages and the required considerations based on context.
The Impact of the Virtual Learning Platform EDUKA on the Academic Performance of Primary School Children
Authors: Kliziene Irina , Taujanskiene Grazina , Augustiniene Aldona , Simonaitiene Berita , Cibulskas Gintautas
Published: February 2021

The modern teaching/learning environment is, like never before, rich with digital teaching/learning technologies and tools that are becoming part of children’s daily lives. Background: In Lithuania, virtual teaching/learning platforms (environments for mathematics, knowledge of nature, history, and language practice) in primary education became more widely used approximately three years ago after the implementation and application of the virtual teaching/learning platform EDUKA. The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of the virtual teaching/learning platform EDUKA on the learning outcomes of primary-grade students in the subject of mathematics. Methods: In this study, a pre-test/middle-test/post-test experimental strategy was used to avoid any disruption of educational activities due to the random selection of children in each group. Mathematical diagnostic progress tests (MDPTs) are an objective way to measure skills and abilities. The MDPTs were divided into two sections: the tasks were allocated according to performance levels and the content, as well as fields of activity and cognitive skills. The assessment of all areas of activity was based on the primary school children’s performance (i.e., unsatisfactory, satisfactory, basic, and advanced). Results: An analysis of the results of the MDPTs showed that, across the seven possible tasks, both male and female seven-year-old children achieved satisfactory results (results were observed between groups) (post-test: control gathering (CG) 5.10; test gathering (EG) 5.04; p = 0.560), basic results (post-test: CG 6.28; EG 6.42; p = 0.630), and advanced results (post-test: CG 1.90; EG 2.27; p = 0.025). The differences between the pre-test and post-test advanced (p = 0.038) and the pre-test and post-test basic (p = 0.018) levels were found to increase. Conclusions: It was found that intensively integrating the virtual learning platform EDUKA into formal education—specifically in the subject of mathematics—had a significant impact on primary school children’s mathematical performance. In addition, after the experiment, a statistically significant difference was found (p < 0.05) in primary school children with higher levels. The intervention in the experimental group (i.e., integration of the virtual learning platform into the formal mathematics learning process) had a positive impact on access to mathematics. Students’ math learning achievements were positive in progressive mathematics.
The Role of Sustainable Restaurant Practices in City Branding: The Case of Athens
Authors: Karagiannis Dimitris , Andrinos Meletios
Published: February 2021

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the role that restaurant practices play on tourists’ choices and specifically on city branding. It examines whether sustainability practices are considered by customers to be part of what they perceive as overall quality, leading to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. It examines whether sustainability practices become part of the customer experience and perceived quality, and if they could work as another key predictor of customer dining satisfaction effecting their decisions to revisit a destination. Several studies focused on sustainability practices from the restaurant owner’s perspective, but there is no study investigating the viewpoint of international tourists and consumers of common restaurants, and the influence of green practices on visiting a major European capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research was conducted using a sample of 204 international consumers after completing meals at local restaurants in Athens. This study offers insights on the role that sustainable and green practices of restaurants play in customer satisfaction as it relates to a potential re-visit of a destination; however, it still shows a path worth investigating. Restaurateurs, tourism experts (DMO), and local government should monitor what influences the satisfaction of potential global tourists while taking their sensitivity on sustainability issues into account when shaping their branding strategy during the COVID-19 era.
A Holistic Review of Building Energy Efficiency and Reduction Based on Big Data
Authors: Lim Jeeyoung , Kim Joseph J. , Kim Sunkuk
Published: February 2021

The construction industry is recognized as a major cause of environmental pollution, and it is important to quantify and evaluate building energy. As interest in big data has increased over the past 20 years, research using big data is active. However, the links and contents of much literature have not been summarized, and systematic literature studies are insufficient. The objective of this study was a holistic review of building energy efficiency/reduction based on big data. This review study used a holistic analysis approach method framework. As a result of the analysis, China, the Republic of Korea, and the USA had the most published papers, and the simulation and optimization area occupied the highest percentage with 33.33%. Most of the researched literature was papers after 2015, and it was analyzed because many countries introduced environmental policies after the 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change. This study can be helpful in understanding the current research progress to understand the latest trends and to set the direction for further research related to big data.
Business Education: Filling the Gaps in the Leader’s Awareness Concerning Organizational Phronesis
Authors: Rocha Raysa , Pinheiro Paulo
Published: February 2021

Education is a method of sharing social consciousness and social reconstruction. There is an existential crisis in business education driven by the conflict between social and financial objectives. A paradigm shift in business education requires that leaders be taught how to incorporate new competencies. Phronesis (practical wisdom), individual and collective, is an essential competence to be addressed in business education. It leads companies to continuous innovation and highly sustainable performance. We conducted 23 interviews with leaders from organizations in 14 countries to discuss some transformations that business education needs through leaders’ awareness concerning organizational phronesis. We conducted a thematic analysis of the interviews with support from NVivo software. The results demonstrate gaps in leaders’ awareness concerning phronesis and its relationships with knowledge management and organizational spirituality. Business education still needs to be reviewed to enable leaders to learn and incorporate phronesis theory and practice. Building on the gaps found in the leaders’ awareness of phronesis, we propose interdisciplinary pedagogical methods to teach business students competencies that enable the embodiment of phronesis. These changes in business education are indispensable to reach sustainability.
Linked(In)g Sport Management Education with the Sport Industry: A Preliminary Study
Authors: López-Carril Samuel , Villamón Miguel , González-Serrano María Huertas
Published: February 2021

Social media are one of the most valuable management tools used by sport managers in the fulfilment of their daily tasks. However, the studies that share and analyse the impact of educational experiences that incorporate social media into sport management education for professional purposes are scarce to date. Thus, this study presents an educational innovation piloted in a sport management course where LinkedIn—the social media most associated with the professional sphere—is introduced through an experiential learning methodology, as a driver of students’ career development and as a tool to keep up to date and interact with the sport industry. To assess the learning outcomes, a new scale was developed and tested. A total of 90 Spanish undergraduate sport management students (M = 22.71; SD = 3.84) participated in the study, partaking in a pre-test and a post-test. Regarding the results linked to the testing of the scale, the statistical analysis reflects the scale’s two-dimensional nature, explaining 68.78% of the variance, presenting good psychometric properties (α = 0.95). On the other hand, significant increases in all the scale items between the two measures were obtained, with large effects size in the two dimensions (Cohen’s d ≥ 0.80). Therefore, it is concluded that LinkedIn can help to develop the professional profile of sport management students, Linked(In)g what is taught in the classroom with what the sport industry demands.
Deep Learning-Based Knowledge Graph Generation for COVID-19
Authors: Kim Taejin , Yun Yeoil , Kim Namgyu
Published: February 2021

Many attempts have been made to construct new domain-specific knowledge graphs using the existing knowledge base of various domains. However, traditional “dictionary-based” or “supervised” knowledge graph building methods rely on predefined human-annotated resources of entities and their relationships. The cost of creating human-annotated resources is high in terms of both time and effort. This means that relying on human-annotated resources will not allow rapid adaptability in describing new knowledge when domain-specific information is added or updated very frequently, such as with the recent coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic situation. Therefore, in this study, we propose an Open Information Extraction (OpenIE) system based on unsupervised learning without a pre-built dataset. The proposed method obtains knowledge from a vast amount of text documents about COVID-19 rather than a general knowledge base and add this to the existing knowledge graph. First, we constructed a COVID-19 entity dictionary, and then we scraped a large text dataset related to COVID-19. Next, we constructed a COVID-19 perspective language model by fine-tuning the bidirectional encoder representations from transformer (BERT) pre-trained language model. Finally, we defined a new COVID-19-specific knowledge base by extracting connecting words between COVID-19 entities using the BERT self-attention weight from COVID-19 sentences. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed Co-BERT model outperforms the original BERT in terms of mask prediction accuracy and metric for evaluation of translation with explicit ordering (METEOR) score.