bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
De-Identification Mechanism of User Data in Video Systems According to Risk Level for Preventing Leakage of Personal Healthcare Information
Authors: Kim Jinsu , Park Namje
Published: March 2022

A problem with biometric information is that it is more sensitive to external leakage, because it is information that cannot be changed immediately compared to general authentication methods. Regarding facial information, a case in which authentication was permitted by facial information output by a 3D printer was found. Therefore, a method for minimizing the leakage of biometric information to the outside is required. In this paper, different levels of identification information according to the authority of the user are provided by the de-identification of metadata and face information in stages. For face information and metadata, the level of de-identification is determined and achieved according to the risk level of the de-identified subject. Then, we propose a mechanism to minimize the leakage path by preventing reckless data access by classifying access rights to unidentified data according to four roles. The proposed mechanism provides only differentially de-identified data according to the authority of the accessor, and the required time to perform the de-identification of one image was, on average, 3.6 ms for 300 datapoints, 3.5 ms for 500 datapoints, and 3.47 ms for 1000 datapoints. This confirmed that the required execution time was shortened in proportion to the increase in the size of the dataset. The results for the metadata were similar, and it was confirmed that it took 4.3 ms for 300 cases, 3.78 ms for 500 cases, and 3.5 ms for 1000 cases.
A Conformal Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna with Multiband and Wideband Characteristics
Authors: Hussain Niamat , Ghaffar Adnan , Naqvi Syeda Iffat , Iftikhar Adnan , Anagnostou Dimitris E. , Tran Huy H.
Published: March 2022

A compact flexible multi-frequency antenna for smart portable and flexible devices is presented. The antenna consists of a coplanar waveguide-fed slotted circular patch connected to a rectangular secondary resonator (stub). A thin low-loss substrate is used for flexibility, and a rectangular stub in the feedline is deployed to attain wide operational bandwidth. A rectangular slot is etched in the middle of the circular patch, and a p-i-n diode is placed at its center. The frequency reconfigurability is achieved through switching the diode that distributes the current by changing the antenna’s electrical length. For the ON state, the antenna operates in the UWB region for −10 dB impedance bandwidth from 2.76 to 8.21 GHz. For the OFF state of the diode, the antenna operates at the ISM band (2.45/5.8 GHz), WLAN band (5.2 GHz), and lower X-band (8 GHz) with a minimum gain of 2.49 dBi and a maximum gain of 5.8 dBi at the 8 GHz band. Moreover, the antenna retains its performance in various bending conditions. The proposed antenna is suitable for modern miniaturized wireless electronic devices such as wearables, health monitoring sensors, mobile Internet devices, and laptops that operate at multiple frequency bands.
Blockchain-Based Authentication and Trust Management Mechanism for Smart Cities
Authors: Asif Muhammad , Aziz Zeeshan , Bin Ahmad Maaz , Khalid Adnan , Waris Hammad Abdul , Gilani Asfandyar
Published: March 2022

Security has always been the main concern for the internet of things (IoT)-based systems. Blockchain, with its decentralized and distributed design, prevents the risks of the existing centralized methodologies. Conventional security and privacy architectures are inapplicable in the spectrum of IoT due to its resource constraints. To overcome this problem, this paper presents a Blockchain-based security mechanism that enables secure authorized access to smart city resources. The presented mechanism comprises the ACE (Authentication and Authorization for Constrained Environments) framework-based authorization Blockchain and the OSCAR (Object Security Architecture for the Internet of Things) object security model. The Blockchain lays out a flexible and trustless authorization mechanism, while OSCAR makes use of a public ledger to structure multicast groups for authorized clients. Moreover, a meteor-based application is developed to provide a user-friendly interface for heterogeneous technologies belonging to the smart city. The users would be able to interact with and control their smart city resources such as traffic lights, smart electric meters, surveillance cameras, etc., through this application. To evaluate the performance and feasibility of the proposed mechanism, the authorization Blockchain is implemented on top of the Ethereum network. The authentication mechanism is developed in the node.js server and a smart city is simulated with the help of Raspberry Pi B+. Furthermore, mocha and chai frameworks are used to assess the performance of the system. Experimental results reveal that the authentication response time is less than 100 ms even if the average hand-shaking time increases with the number of clients.
Road Speed Prediction Scheme by Analyzing Road Environment Data
Authors: Lim Jongtae , Park Songhee , Choi Dojin , Bok Kyoungsoo , Yoo Jaesoo
Published: March 2022

Road speed is an important indicator of traffic congestion. Therefore, the occurrence of traffic congestion can be reduced by predicting road speed because predicted road speed can be provided to users to distribute traffic. Traffic congestion prediction techniques can provide alternative routes to users in advance to help them avoid traffic jams. In this paper, we propose a machine-learning-based road speed prediction scheme using road environment data analysis. The proposed scheme uses not only the speed data of the target road, but also the speed data of neighboring roads that can affect the speed of the target road. Furthermore, the proposed scheme can accurately predict both the average road speed and rapidly changing road speeds. The proposed scheme uses historical average speed data from the target road organized by the day of the week and hour to reflect the average traffic flow on the road. Additionally, the proposed scheme analyzes speed changes in sections where the road speed changes rapidly to reflect traffic flows. Road speeds may change rapidly as a result of unexpected events such as accidents, disasters, and construction work. The proposed scheme predicts final road speeds by applying historical road speeds and events as weights for road speed prediction. It also considers weather conditions. The proposed scheme uses long short-term memory (LSTM), which is suitable for sequential data learning, as a machine learning algorithm for speed prediction. The proposed scheme can predict road speeds in 30 min by using weather data and speed data from the target and neighboring roads as input data. We demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed scheme through various performance evaluations.
A Systematic Review on Healthcare Artificial Intelligent Conversational Agents for Chronic Conditions
Authors: Bin Sawad Abdullah , Narayan Bhuva , Alnefaie Ahlam , Maqbool Ashwaq , Mckie Indra , Smith Jemma , Yuksel Berkan , Puthal Deepak , Prasad Mukesh , Kocaballi A. Baki
Published: March 2022

This paper reviews different types of conversational agents used in health care for chronic conditions, examining their underlying communication technology, evaluation measures, and AI methods. A systematic search was performed in February 2021 on PubMed Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, and ACM Digital Library. Studies were included if they focused on consumers, caregivers, or healthcare professionals in the prevention, treatment, or rehabilitation of chronic diseases, involved conversational agents, and tested the system with human users. The search retrieved 1087 articles. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria. Out of 26 conversational agents (CAs), 16 were chatbots, seven were embodied conversational agents (ECA), one was a conversational agent in a robot, and another was a relational agent. One agent was not specified. Based on this review, the overall acceptance of CAs by users for the self-management of their chronic conditions is promising. Users’ feedback shows helpfulness, satisfaction, and ease of use in more than half of included studies. Although many users in the studies appear to feel more comfortable with CAs, there is still a lack of reliable and comparable evidence to determine the efficacy of AI-enabled CAs for chronic health conditions due to the insufficient reporting of technical implementation details.
An Exploratory EEG Analysis on the Effects of Virtual Reality in People with Neuropathic Pain Following Spinal Cord Injury
Authors: Tran Yvonne , Austin Philip , Lo Charles , Craig Ashley , Middleton James W. , Wrigley Paul J. , Siddall Philip
Published: March 2022

Neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury is thought to be due to altered central neuronal activity. A novel therapeutic intervention using virtual reality (VR) head-mounted devices was investigated in this study for pain relief. Given the potential links to neuronal activity, the aim of the current study was to determine whether use of VR was associated with corresponding changes in electroencephalography (EEG) patterns linked to the presence of neuropathic pain. Using a within-subject, randomised cross-over pilot trial, we compared EEG activity for three conditions: no task eyes open state, 2D screen task and 3D VR task. We found an increase in delta activity in frontal regions for 3D VR with a decrease in theta activity. There was also a consistent decrease in relative alpha band (8–12 Hz) and an increase in low gamma (30–45 Hz) power during 2D screen and 3D VR corresponding, with reduced self-reported pain. Using the nonlinear and non-oscillatory method of extracting fractal dimensions, we found increases in brain complexity during 2D screen and 3D VR. We successfully classified the 3D VR condition from 2D screen and eyes opened no task conditions with an overall accuracy of 80.3%. The findings in this study have implications for using VR applications as a therapeutic intervention for neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury.
Impact of Li-Ion Battery on System’s Overall Impedance and Received Signal Strength for Power Line Communication (PLC)
Authors: Marsic Vlad , Amietszajew Tazdin , Gardner Christopher , Igic Petar , Faramehr Soroush , Fleming Joe
Published: March 2022

In anticipation of the hybrid utilisation of the radio frequency (RF) wireless transceiver technology embedded in future smart Li-ion battery cells to deliver hybrid links based on power line communication (PLC) and wireless connections, herein we present an empirical high-frequency investigation of the direct current (DC) bus. The focus is to determine, via statistical tools including correlation coefficient (CC), root mean squared error (RMSE) and feature selective validation (FSV) method, the impedance and signal change impact on a possible communication link when fully charged cells are present or completely missing from the bus. Moreover, to establish if technological differences may be accounted for during the empirical experiments, Li-ion cells from two different manufacturers were selected and connected via three subsequent capacitive couplings of 1 µF, 1 nF and 1 pF. According to a methodical comparison by employing CC, RMSE, and FSV over the measured impedance and signal attenuation, this study has shown that the physical DC network is the dominant impedance at high frequencies and that the signal attenuation on the DC line supports communication in the investigated spectrum. The reported findings are critical for in situ hybrid PLC and wireless communication implementation of BMS for Li-ion systems supported through only one RF transceiver.
Assessment of Spatial and Temporal Variations in Runoff Potential under Changing Climatic Scenarios in Northern Part of Karnataka in India Using Geospatial Techniques
Authors: Raghavan Rejani , Rao Kondru Venkateswara , Shirahatti Maheshwar Shivashankar , Srinivas Duvvala Kalyana , Reddy Kotha Sammi , Chary Gajjala Ravindra , Gopinath Kodigal A. , Osman Mohammed , Prabhakar Mathyam , Singh Vinod Kumar
Published: March 2022

The northern dry zone of Karnataka in Southern India is frequently affected by drought, and the overdraft of groundwater resulted in declining groundwater levels. In this context, spatial estimation of available runoff potential, planning and adoption of site-specific interventions for in-situ moisture conservation, supplementing irrigation and groundwater recharge are of prime concern. Therefore, spatial runoff estimation models were developed subdistrict-wise for the northern dry zone of Karnataka using the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) method and GIS. The estimated runoff was validated using the recorded data and was found satisfactory (R2 = 0.90). The results indicated that for major portion of the study area (61.8%), the mean annual rainfall varied spatially from 550 to 800 mm, and the runoff potential ranged from 10.0% to 20.0% of mean annual rainfall from 1951 to 2013. The higher rainfall and runoff potential was observed in the Khanapur subdistrict which lies in the western part of the selected area. It was observed that the number of subdistricts under the low-rainfall category (<550 mm) has increased, whereas the high-rainfall category (>1100 mm) has decreased over the years. Considerable variation in rainfall and runoff potential was observed during above normal, normal and drought years. The runoff generated from most of the study area was below 10.0% of mean annual rainfall in drought year, <30.0% in above normal year and <15.0% in normal year. The northern dry zone of Karnataka is vulnerable to drought and water scarcity, and the runoff potential was estimated under future scenarios using ENSEMBLE data of CMIP 5 to enable planners to design water-harvesting structures effectively. Finally, based on the modeling results, it was found that by 2050s (2040 to 2069), the runoff potential is expected to increase by 20.0% to 30.0% under RCP 8.5 and by 10.0% to 20.0% under RCP 4.5 and RCP 2.6 scenarios. By 2080s (2070–2099), the runoff is predicted to increase by >30.0% under RCP 8.5, by 20.0% to 30.0% under RCP 4.5 and by 10.0% to 20.0% under RCP 2.6, respectively. Even though considerable increase in runoff potential is predicted for the northern dry zone of Karnataka in the coming years, the current runoff potential itself is relatively high, and there is tremendous scope for its harvesting and utilization for in-situ moisture conservation, supplemental irrigation and groundwater recharge to ensure the long-term sustainability of the region
Exploring Coastal Access in South Africa: A Historical Perspective
Authors: Mafumbu Luyanda , Zhou Leocadia , Kalumba Ahmed Mukalazi
Published: March 2022

(1) Background: Coastal spaces have been highly contested terrains in South Africa, dating from the colonial period to the present time. Inclusive documentation of the history of coastal access in South Africa is inadequate. The current paper aims to explore the history of coastal access in South Africa, dating back to precolonial times until the present. (2) Methods: this research includes the review of documents in order to understand the phenomenon. Documents ranging from pre-colonial times to the present regarding access to the coast in South Africa were explored. (3) Results: the alienation of the African majority from coastal access in South Africa has been systematically executed through various legislations. Although 1994 (democratic era) ushered in a political change, coastal spaces in South Africa still reflect historical racial divide, with former Caucasian areas well-endowed with facilities whilst others are still underdeveloped. The lack of access to coastal resources remains a challenge to many previously disadvantaged communities, owing to South Africa’s history of Apartheid. Apartheid spatial planning remains a factor that undermines equitable access to the coast. (4) Conclusions: Our conclusions show that, although the Native Land Act of 1913 was abolished, the failure to implement meaningful land redress continues to perpetuate Apartheid spatial order. Furthermore, a drastic shift in spatial planning and socio-economic development must be implemented to address the imbalances of the past. Although the Integrated Coastal Management Act (2008) is a progressive legislation, capacity and boldness is needed to implement the expropriation of coastal land for public interest. South African jurisprudence also needs to deal with the perceived unequal regard for private property rights and public property rights.
The Influential Mechanisms of Power Actor Groups on Policy Mix Adoption: Lessons Learned from Feed-In Tariffs in the Renewable Energy Transition in Iran and Germany
Authors: Mohammadi Naimeh , Khabbazan Mohammad M.
Published: March 2022

The Energy transition is fiercely competitive. The incumbents of fossil-based energy are in conflict with the advocate coalitions of transition in energy policy changes. Such changes do not occur as sudden punctuation via an external shock, but rather incrementally and over time, by incorporating power insights such as lobbies, coalitions, and campaigns. This article provides a framework grounded in theoretical power theories and draws additional insights from policy mix studies. It investigates how focusing events and feedback loops shape the coalition of interest groups in policymaking through implementations of power mechanisms. Our framework is tested through two different power stories of energy transition in Iran and Germany. Our findings reveal that the centrally planned economy of Iran leaves society with a negligible or passive role in the energy transition. The passive role of society in the energy transition is mainly caused by subsidizing energy. In addition, the financial and economic crisis resulting from other macro-economic challenges, such as sanctions, may exacerbate the minor involvement of civil society in the slow expansion of renewables in Iran. By contrast, as a robust economy with a corporatist tradition, Germany has made a strong advocacy coalition of energy transition that resulted in political incentives for substantial renewable energy deployment. Regarding the theoretical question of the power dynamics in divergent countries’ energy transitions, the proposed framework based on the interest group coalitions and power mechanism offers an understanding of the social character of energy transitions.
Tourism Using Virtual Reality: Media Richness and Information System Successes
Authors: Lee Un-Kon
Published: March 2022

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, borders were closed, cities were blocked, and individuals went into quarantine. The market size of the tourism industry in 2020 declined by more than 70% compared to the previous year, regressing to the size it was 30 years ago. This does not mean that people’s needs for tourism have decreased. People started to use virtual reality technologies to get the experience of sightseeing even if they could not go directly to tourist attractions. Prior studies found that virtual reality technology is effective for online shopping and gaming contexts. However, there are insufficient studies investigating the effect of using virtual reality for tourism content. Therefore, this study attempts to verify how the media richness of virtual reality tourism content elicits various reactions from potential tourists in terms of perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, satisfaction, destination visit intention, and positive word-of-mouth intention. The purpose of this study is to verify how virtual reality tourism content increases the destination visit intention after the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on media richness theory and the information system success model, a hypothesis was developed. One hundred and eighty-two data were gathered from potential tourists who were in quarantine by performing an online scenario survey that used quasi-experiment methods. Data were analyzed with a PLS algorithm. The results indicate that media richness of tourism content using virtual reality significantly increased perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment. It could significantly increase satisfaction, destination visit intention, and positive word-of-mouth intention. The results of this study explain how information technology can be used in the tourism industry, and they provide suggestions on why tourism content using virtual reality can be useful for attracting tourists, and what experiences it can provide tourists.
The Necessity of Introducing Autonomous Trucks in Logistics 4.0
Authors: Kim Eunbin , Kim Youngrim , Park Jieun
Published: March 2022

Autonomous vehicles have become important with the emergence of Logistics 4.0. Moreover, truck-based transport has become the critical means of transport in the logistics market. Thus, to deal with the pending issues of the logistics market, it is not enough to merely expand the workforce. Adopting autonomous trucks will also help change the truck allocation structure. This may enable horizontal and vertical integration based on the new logistics model and help address various problems faced by shipping companies. Thus, adopting autonomous trucks can provide various benefits for the logistics business, society, and consumers. However, adopting autonomous trucks does not only have benefits. Here, this study suggests truck platooning as a method of adopting autonomous trucks more efficiently. Furthermore, we approach the potential issues regarding autonomous truck adoption from various perspectives by demonstrating the efficiency of autonomous trucks as well as their problems.
#StrongTogether? Qualitative Sentiment Analysis of Social Media Reactions to Disaster Volunteering during a Forest Fire in Finland
Authors: Raisio Harri , Puustinen Alisa , Lindell Juha
Published: March 2022

The transformation of disaster volunteering has been highlighted in academic literature. This study examined that transformation via a big data approach. The context for the study was provided by a forest fire in Finland, which sparked a debate on volunteering. The data (806 social media messages) were analyzed using qualitative sentiment analysis to (1) identify the sentiments relating to a variety of volunteers and (2) understand the context of and tensions behind those sentiments. The data suggested that the prevailing view of disaster volunteering is a rather traditional one, while the observations on the transformation remain largely latent. The positive sentiments reflected a view of the co-production of extinguishing forest fires as an activity of formal governmental and nonprofit emergency management organizations and volunteers from expanding and extending organizations. Unaffiliated volunteers were seen as extra pairs of hands that could be invited to help in an organized way and with limited tasks, only if required. Sentiments with a more negative tone raised concerns about having sufficient numbers of affiliated volunteers in the future and the rhetorical level of appreciation of them. The data revealed a dichotomous relationship between “professionals” and “amateurs” and the politicization of the debate between different actor groups.
Construction of an Ecological Security Pattern and the Evaluation of Corridor Priority Based on ESV and the “Importance–Connectivity” Index: A Case Study of Sichuan Province, China
Authors: Liu Ziyi , Gan Xiaoyu , Dai Weining , Huang Ying
Published: March 2022

Constructing an ecological security pattern (ESP) is an important means to describe, manage, and control ecological security. However, there are few related studies on functional analyses and evaluations of landscape elements, and the distribution of identified elements cannot fully reflect reality. To accurately depict ecological security and strengthen the role of landscape planning for policy formulation, we used the spatial distribution patterns of ecosystem services to adjust the ecosystem service value to accurately identify the distribution of ecological sources. The gravity model and Centrality Mapper tool are used to build an “importance–connectivity” index that evaluates the importance of ecological corridors in linking the sources and the contribution to maintaining the overall connectivity of ecological networks. The results show that (1) spatial heterogeneity exists in seven kinds of ecosystem services in Sichuan Province, China, and the high-level areas are concentrated in the central region. Moreover, (2) a total of 179 ecological sources and 445 ecological corridors with woodland and grassland as the main land use types are identified, and (3) a total of 153, 49, 78, and 165 corridors are divided into high importance–high connectivity, low importance–high connectivity, high importance–low connectivity, and low importance–low connectivity ecological corridors, respectively. The study provides a new framework for the construction of an ESP and for the priority evaluation of ecological corridors. To achieve balance between economic development and environmental protection, priority should be given to the protection of high-priority corridors when maintaining ecological security.
The Relevance of the Circular Economy for Climate Change: An Exploration through the Theory of Change Approach
Authors: Khanna Manav , Gusmerotti Natalia Marzia , Frey Marco
Published: March 2022

The relevance of the circular economy for climate change is still a developing area of research that needs to be explored. This paper aims to provide an overview of the relevance of the circular economy for climate change through the theory of change approach framework. For this purpose, we analysed 96 articles from the Scopus and WoS databases in the “Arts and Humanities, Business, Management and Accounting, Economics, Econometrics and Finance and Social Sciences,” with the keywords “Circular economy” and “Climate Change”. Our analysis shows that 87% of the reviewed articles showed a strong relevance of the circular economy for climate change. However, most of the articles focused on the mitigation aspect of climate change. The circular economy is widely practised in countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, and China. Our main theoretical contribution is in developing a logical framework through the theory of change, which is a novel approach in social science research apart from monitoring and evaluation studies.
Assessment of Pesticide, Dioxin-like Polychlorinated Biphenyl, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Existence around Galindez Island, and Comparison with the Organic Pollution Bibliography of the Antarctic Peninsula
Authors: Ergül Halim Aytekin , Erdem Türkan , Pelin Ezgi Gizem , Tonay Arda M. , Aksan Serdar , Öztürk Bayram
Published: March 2022

Sediment, notothenioid fish, and moss samples were collected from the vicinity of Galindez Island, Antarctic Peninsula during the austral autumn of 2016 and 2017. Pesticide, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH), and dioxin-like Polychlorinated Biphenyl (dl-PCB) concentrations were measured using High-Resolution Gas and Liquid Chromatography. Pollutant concentrations were below detection limits in sediment and moss samples. However, pesticides, PAH, and dl-PCB congeners were detected in the muscle tissue of fishes. Pesticide concentrations varied between 0.46 and 12.2 ng/g-dw, and Mecarbam was the dominant compound. Kresoxim-methyl, Mecarbam, Procymidone, Pyridaben, and Quinoxyfen were reported in the muscle tissue of the fishes, for the first time from the Antarctic. PCB-118, PCB-105, and PCB-156 were dominant dl-PCBs. The ∑12-dl-PCB concentration was 160,929 pg/g-dw, and WHO-TEQ-total dl-PCB was 8.30 pg/g-dw in Trematomus bernachii, over the consumable limit in fishes according to the European Commission. The PCB-126 concentration was 36 pg/g-dw in the muscle tissue of fish, the first reported from the Antarctic. Phenanthrene was the dominant PAH congener. The ∑16-PAH concentration was 22.5 ng/g-dw. PAH sources were local and petrogenic in the fishes, likely after long-term bioaccumulation. The flow rate is rather low around Galindez Island; accordingly, contaminant removal takes time and may demonstrate long-lasting effects including bioaccumulation in the marine food web.
An Abductive Analysis of Debates on the Impact of the Sharing Economy: A Systematic Review in a Sustainable Framework
Authors: Wang Dan , Yan Liang , Ruan Fangli , Zeng Xiaohuang
Published: March 2022

The sharing economy (SE) is a new production and consumption model that improves social efficiency through the usage-based acquisition of idle resources. Owing to its friendly economic and environmental attributes, the SE spans various regions, industries, and backgrounds worldwide. Given the complex and controversial outputs of the SE, there is an unmet need to perform a comprehensive and systematic survey of its impacts. We systematically review the recent studies of the multi-dimensional effects of the SE, including its profound impacts on the economy, society, and environment, from the WoS database via NVivo. A comparison of the positive, negative, and conditional attitudes among each dimension and an abductive analysis of the contradictions’ underlying causes by deconstructing each conclusion into the cognitive background, empirical path, and supporting evidence is implemented to sort out the current debates. It is shown that the impacts on the social dimension are most debated, while the influences on the environment reach the strongest consensus. Notably, the effects on the economy are mostly hierarchical. Furthermore, the differences in the ontologically guiding ideology of sustainable development, the definitions of the SE, socioeconomic backgrounds, individual preferences, group interests, and empirical approaches co-trigger the varied conclusions and disputes. Hence, this study promotes a systematic and dialectical understanding of the SE’s benefits and pitfalls, which is of significance to fundamental investigations and practical applications.
Sustainable Consumption Research and the Role of Marketing: A Review of the Literature (1976–2021)
Authors: Haider Murtaza , Shannon Randall , Moschis George P.
Published: March 2022

There is a causal relationship between existential dangers to our biosphere and our unsustainable consumption practices. For more than three decades, academics and researchers have explored ideas to make consumption practices sustainable. Still, a practical and widely accepted solution to the problem is missing. This review aims for a theoretical and structural understanding of the literature to identify future avenues for marketing, to explore and increase its contribution to consumption sustainability research. The review used bibliometric and integrative review methods to synthesize knowledge. The review found that sustainable consumption research has proliferated since 2015, indicating a heightened interest in the field. There are four major schools of thought in sustainable consumption research, employing three interdependent micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis to understand consumption practices. By focusing on individual consumption behaviors, this review recommends that consumption sustainability be repositioned as a means of attaining a better quality of life for consumers. It involves reforming the consumer mindset toward progress based on pro-social and pro-ecological choices, training consumers in mindful consumption practices, and providing them with an infrastructure for consuming with a mindful mindset. It is recommended that marketing should refine itself as a pro-social discipline, with consumer well-being as its primary goal, and to become a leader in reshaping quality of life in terms of non-financial standards.
Optimal Mowing Regime in Enhancing Biodiversity in Seasonal Floodplains along Engineered Channels
Authors: Leung Tsz Kin Calvin , So Ken Ying Kin , Shum Bond Ting Wing , Hau Billy Chi Hang
Published: March 2022

The vegetation grown on grasscretes along channelized rivers have been regularly mown in Hong Kong. However, no baseline information on the relationship between different mowing regimes and the biodiversity of such riverbed vegetation is available. We therefore carried out a manipulative experiment along a channelized river to test the effect of mowing frequency and intensity on the abundance and species richness of terrestrial biodiversity. We conducted point counts and transect counts to survey birds, butterflies and Odonates, night surveys for amphibians and reptiles, quadrat surveys for vegetation and sweep net and pan traps for other macroinvertebrates. The results from Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) showed a taxon-specific effect of mowing regime. Bird species richness was significantly suppressed in plots mown with high frequency. Both butterfly abundance and species richness were greatly enhanced by low intensity and low frequency mowing. Odonate abundance, and the abundance and species richness of other macroinvertebrates remained high whenever a portion of vegetation was retained as refuge. Amphibians and reptiles did not prefer to utilize the vegetation grown on grasscretes, and thus showed no impact from different mowing regimes. The overall species richness of vegetation was not affected by mowing regimes, but the domination of tall invasive Brachiaria mutica was suppressed by any mowing activity. To cater for the need of most taxa, we propose a mosaic mowing regime, in which most parts along the channelized river could be mown infrequently to 600 mm tall while some of the patches remain unmown.
Exergoeconomics as a Cost-Accounting Method in Thermal Grids with the Presence of Renewable Energy Producers
Authors: Catrini Pietro , Testasecca Tancredi , Buscemi Alessandro , Piacentino Antonio
Published: March 2022

Thermal grids are efficient, reliable, and sustainable technologies for satisfying the thermal demands of buildings. The capability to operate at a low temperature allows not only for the integration of heat produced by renewable energy sources but also for the storage of surplus electricity from the grid via “power to heat” technologies. Besides, in the future, heat consumers are expected to behave increasingly as “prosumers”, supplying in some periods heat produced by renewable energy plants on site. In this scenario, it is important to propose a method for the cost allocation among producers connected to the grid. In this regard, this paper proposes Exergoeconomics as a possible tool for rational cost assignment. To show the capabilities of the method, some operating scenarios are compared for a cluster of five buildings of the tertiary sector interconnected by a thermal grid. Based on exergoeconomic indicators, such as the exergy and exergoeconomic unit costs, insights into the cost formation process of the heat consumed by users are provided. Sensitivity analyses of heat unit cost to design and operating variables are also performed. Results show that in the presence of distributed producers, the heat unit cost could be approximately 33% lower than in the case of centralized production, due to the lower amount of irreversibility generated. Capital investment accounts for 20–28% of the heat unit cost.
Luxury Tourism Consumption in the Accommodation Sector: The Mediation Role of Destination Brand Love for Potential Tourists
Authors: Morando Martina , Platania Silvia
Published: March 2022

The present study aims to investigate the determinants of luxury hotel choice, while also analyzing hotels’ ability to promote their related destination. The relationship between Destination Brand Love, and the antecedent factors which determine the choices of potential tourists in the Italian territory were studied. Four hundred and seventy-eight potential tourists were recruited via an online questionnaire, which indicated their love for a non-visited destination. Structural equation modeling was used for model estimation. This study contrasts with the previous literature and shows that potential tourists formed a strong bond with a destination brand, demonstrating that Destination Brand Love was not only a post-travel bond. The findings prompted important suggestions relating to symbolic consumption and the emotional aspects of a luxury hotel experience. The predictors (Desire, Attitude Toward Act, Subjective Norms, and CBI) emerged as good antecedents for behavioral intention. Moreover, it emerged that Destination Brand Love mediates the relationship between predictors, behavioral intentions, and loyalty. This study improves the sparse literature on Destination Brand Love, and it offers a new perspective on the luxury hotel sector in the Italian territory. Incorporating potential tourists into Destination Brand Love studies could have both theoretical and practical value, and it also provides advantages for territory marketing.
The Dynamic Evolution Law of Coal Mine Workers’ Behavior Risk Based on Game Theory
Authors: Lu Jifeng , Liu Weihua , Yu Kai , Zhou Lujie
Published: March 2022

In the safety production system of coal mining enterprises, the income of workers affects the evolution of group behavior and then affects risky behaviors. Due to the nonlinearity and chaos of group behavior, its evolution is long and complex. This study investigated the dynamic evolution process of coal miners’ group behavior to explore the law of group safety behavior and effectively promoted the safety of group behavior. First, a questionnaire survey was conducted on the influencing factors of coal mine workers’ group safety behavior. Then, based on the results of the questionnaire, the coefficients of the influencing factors were obtained, and the game model was established. Finally, the game income was simulated and analyzed. The results showed that the income of workers was positively correlated with the safety of group behavior. Safety performance could effectively improve the level of group safety behavior. The safety management system of coal mining enterprises was further improved and expanded and was applied. The statistical analysis of the violations showed that the results of this study could be used to influence the risky group behavior of coal mine workers and improve the level of coal mine safety production.
Policy Processes in the Institutionalisation of Private Forestry in the Republic of North Macedonia
Authors: Stojanovski Vladimir
Published: March 2022

As a result of recent political changes in North Macedonia, economic practice in the country has moved away from the communist model that was dominated by state ownership. As a part of this movement, the National Association of Private Forest Owners was founded to support the sustainable management of private forests and as an instrument to help overcome the new challenges faced by this new interest group and government policy in local forestry. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to understand the enabling and constraining aspects of North Macedonian forest policy on the institutionalisation of private forestry. The findings show that some socialist structures and practices related to forest management activities on private forest land still exist. The attempts to strengthen private forestry by introducing more modern forms of institutionalisation can be seen in the country’s Law on Forests amendment from 2011 initiating the denationalisation of forest management activities on private forest land and introducing private licenced bodies for such. With further amendments in 2014, the policy largely returned to how it was when the country was a part of Yugoslavia, influencing the progress of the institutionalisation of private forestry to remain symbolic. Integrating solutions to private forestry problems and concerns into the broader forest policy domain requires a deep understanding of private forestry rational principles and a strong political will to do so. Effective national forest policy coordination is one of the solutions.
E-Mentoring Pilot Program in Academic Internships: Effectiveness in Improving Participants’ Competencies
Authors: Tinoco-Giraldo Harold , Torrecilla Sánchez Eva María , García-Peñalvo Francisco J.
Published: March 2022

This research is interested in the role that mentoring can play as a strategy for academic and professional support in the academic internships of undergraduate students of a marketing program in a Colombian university, aiming to validate an e-mentoring model to stimulate the acquisition of professional competencies in students of academic internships. Thus, a quantitative approach-related group pre-posttest experimental type study (a pilot study) was carried out to validate the e-mentoring program. The sample consisted of 18 mentees with their respective 18 mentors, who were evaluated in three different phases (pretest mentee, posttest mentees, and posttest mentors). The results showed positive results, especially in four distinctive competencies (project management, problem-solving, autonomous work, and teamwork). On the other hand, the mentors confirmed elements associated with high satisfaction with the e-mentoring program through its design, purpose, the training provided, and the level of professional, logistical, and technological support.
Large-Scale Marine Protected Areas by Decree: Lessons Learned from the Creation of the Revillagigedo Marine Park
Authors: Saenz-Arroyo Andrea , Camacho-Valdez Vera
Published: March 2022

The increasing speed of the establishment of large-scale marine protected areas (LSMPA) on a global scale has generated intense debate among the scientific community. In this paper, we revise the declaration of the Revillagigedo Marine Park, the largest marine reserve in North America, and propose a framework to assess the potential costs and benefits of having a competitive or a cooperative strategy between the tuna fishing industry and the conservation sector. By framing scenarios in a simple model of the prisoner dilemma and using multicriteria analysis with Delphos—an open-source multicriteria program developed by NGOs for this purpose—we show how conservationists and fishers might have a potential benefit of competing for marine spaces, but not as much as they could gain if they collaborate. Our ultimate goal with this paper is to retrieve the lessons learned in this process to propose a step-by-step process that helps to improve the creation of LSMPAs in the future, thus helping improve the outcome of marine conservation on a global scale.
Big Data Applications in Food Supply Chain Management: A Conceptual Framework
Authors: Margaritis Ioannis , Madas Michael , Vlachopoulou Maro
Published: March 2022

The paper provides a systematic review and analysis of the current literature on big data (BD) applications in the context of food supply chain management (FSCM) in order to categorize the state-of-the-art research trends exploring the adoption and implementation of big data analytics (BDA) across different segments of food supply chain (FSC). The use of BDA brings the digital transformation of FSCs closer providing sustainable implications and added value to their operation. Harnessing BD’s potential is becoming more and more relevant in addressing the constantly evolving complexities in food systems. However, the field of BD applications in the FSCM domain is severely fragmented and relatively “primitive”. The present research is one of the earliest attempts to recognize and present a comprehensive analysis for the BD applications across different segments of FSC proposing a conceptual framework that illustrates the role of BD in a data-driven FSCM environment. For the purposes of our research, we adopted the systematic literature review (SLR) method aiming at the identification of the dominant categories and themes within the research area. Based on the SLR findings, we propose a conceptual framework that captures the interconnection between FSC performance and BD applications by using the input-process-output (IPO) model within a data-driven FSCM context. The main research contribution lies on the thematic classification of relevant research, the conceptualization of this fragmented field, the development of a conceptual framework, and the presentation of a future research agenda pertaining to BD applications in a data-driven FSCM context.
Circular Environmental Impact of Recycled Building Materials and Residential Renewable Energy
Authors: Papadaki Dimitra , Nikolaou Dimitrios A. , Assimakopoulos Margarita N.
Published: March 2022

Building materials, due to their mass and energy-consuming production processes, drastically increase the embodied energy of construction. This study assesses circularity processes for the construction industry with a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a case study located in a large cosmopolitan city. The research concludes that a significant decrease in environmental impacts results from a shift to recycled materials in the construction phase, as well as from changing the landfill disposal method to recycling. In particular, it was found that the use of recycled building materials (such as recycled cement, metal, concrete, or glass) during the construction phase and recycling disposal methods lead to an overall decrease of impact up to 65%. This work also underlines the importance of circularity in renewable energy production systems. In both wind and solar systems, most of the environmental impact caused during the production phase are paid back during the second year of their life due to the energy gains of the renewable energy system. However, the recovery of metal depletion requires 667 years. This result provides evidence of the emerging need for integrating circular processes regarding recycling and reusing materials in construction and also in the energy-generating sector.
Recovering from a Major Aviation Disaster: The Airlines’ Family Assistance Centre
Authors: Brown Loraine , Efthymiou Marina , McMullan Caroline
Published: March 2022

An aviation disaster with mass fatalities can overwhelm an organisation and impact the lives of thousands. The response to such crises can determine the future of the organisation and, more importantly, it can have a lasting effect on the victims’ friends and families. This paper identifies and analyses airlines’ legal requirements and duty of care in relation to the operation of a family assistance centre (FAC). The case study of flight MH370 was used, and interviews with key figures in the aviation industry who have experienced disaster first-hand were conducted. The study highlighted that subtle differences in response significantly impact the quality of care provided. The research also outlined the importance of training and preparedness. Choosing the right people to work in the FACs and to care for friends and families is integral. The study concluded that the speed and accuracy of communication with friends and family are critical factors in the success of any response.