Prospects for stronger calandria tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ells, C.E.; Coleman, C.E.; Hosbons, R.R.; Ibrahim, E.F.; Doubt, G.L.

1990-12-01

The CANDU calandria tubes, made of seam welded and annealed Zircaloy-2, have given exemplary service in-reactor. Although not designed as a system pressure containment, calandria tubes may remain intact even in the face of pressure tube rupture. One such incident at Pickering Unit 2 demonstrated the economic advantage of such an outcome, and a case can be made for increasing the probability that other calandria tubes would perform in a similar fashion. Various methods of obtaining stronger calandria tubes are available, and reviewed here. When the tubes are internally pressurized, the weld is the weak section of the tube. Increasing the oxygen concentration in the starting sheet, and thickening the weld, are promising routes to a stronger tube

Strategies of Building a Stronger Sense of Community for Sustainable Neighborhoods: Comparing Neighborhood Accessibility with Community Empowerment Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Te-I Albert Tsai

2014-05-01

Full Text Available New Urbanist development in the U.S. aims at enhancing a sense of community and seeks to return to the design of early transitional neighborhoods which have pedestrian-oriented environments with retail shops and services within walking distances of housing. Meanwhile, 6000 of Taiwan’s community associations have been running community empowerment programs supported by the Council for Cultural Affairs that have helped many neighborhoods to rebuild so-called community cohesion. This research attempts to evaluate whether neighborhoods with facilities near housing and shorter travel distances within a neighborhood would promote stronger social interactions and form a better community attachment than neighborhoods that have various opportunities for residents to participate in either formal or informal social gatherings. After interviewing and surveying residents from 19 neighborhoods in Taipei’s Beitou District, and correlating the psychological sense of community with inner neighborhood’s daily travel distances and numbers of participatory activities held by community organizations under empowerment programs together with frequencies of regular individual visits and casual meetings, statistical evidence yielded that placing public facilities near residential locations is more effective than providing various programs for elevating a sense of community.

The young and active travellers' attitudes towards sustainable leisure tourism

OpenAIRE

Lindholm, Lauha

2016-01-01

This bachelor thesis studies the travellers’ attitudes towards sustainable tourism. Due to the size of the topic a limitation was made to specify in young and active travellers attitudes and moreover to focus on the leisure tourism. Sustainability is a hot topic in all fields of business but it is not yet a standard. Sustainable business is business that takes the future in notice. Considering the fast growth of the tourism industry, sustainable development will be necessary and needed. ...

Bactericidal activity of LFchimera is stronger and less sensitive to ionic strength than its constituent lactoferricin and lactoferrampin peptides.

Science.gov (United States)

Bolscher, Jan G M; Adão, Regina; Nazmi, Kamran; van den Keybus, Petra A M; van 't Hof, Wim; Nieuw Amerongen, Arie V; Bastos, Margarida; Veerman, Enno C I

2009-01-01

The innate immunity factor lactoferrin harbours two antimicrobial moieties, lactoferricin and lactoferrampin, situated in close proximity in the N1 domain of the molecule. Most likely they cooperate in many of the beneficial activities of lactoferrin. To investigate whether chimerization of both peptides forms a functional unit we designed a chimerical structure containing lactoferricin amino acids 17-30 and lactoferrampin amino acids 265-284. The bactericidal activity of this LFchimera was found to be drastically stronger than that of the constituent peptides, as was demonstrated by the need for lower dose, shorter incubation time and less ionic strength dependency. Likewise, strongly enhanced interaction with negatively charged model membranes was found for the LFchimera relative to the constituent peptides. Thus, chimerization of the two antimicrobial peptides resembling their structural orientation in the native molecule strikingly improves their biological activity.

Female Psychology in August Strindberg’s The Stronger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anton Sutandio

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This research aimed to offer interpretations of August Strindberg’s The Stronger through the lens of female psychology. The Stronger is unique as it seemed very simple yet so intense and powerful with layers of interpretations. Written during 1888-1889, The Stronger, which only had two characters and only one speaking character, had become one of Strindberg’s shortest yet important plays during his career. The female psychology approach used in the analysis would cover the discussion of gender role, women’s self-esteem, competition for males, women’s friendships, ego style, and female psychology. It was an interdisciplinary research that combined structuralist, historical, biographical, and feminist approach to gain a better interpretation on the play. By referring to three different sources on the concept of female psychology, the analysis offered different and interesting interpretations on the nature and dynamics of the two female characters’ relationship. The Stronger has shown an enigmatic attraction in Strindberg’s authorship in which the readers could see the co-existence, collision, conflict, and merge of different paradigms concerning sex, gender, and sexuality.

Integrated farm sustainability assessment for the environmental management of rural activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stachetii Rodrigues, Geraldo; Aparecida Rodrigues, Izilda; Almeida Buschinelli, Claudio Cesar de; Barros, Inacio de

2010-01-01

Farmers have been increasingly called upon to respond to an ongoing redefinition in consumers' demands, having as a converging theme the search for sustainable production practices. In order to satisfy this objective, instruments for the environmental management of agricultural activities have been sought out. Environmental impact assessment methods are appropriate tools to address the choice of technologies and management practices to minimize negative effects of agricultural development, while maximizing productive efficiency, sound usage of natural resources, conservation of ecological assets and equitable access to wealth generation means. The 'system for weighted environmental impact assessment of rural activities' (APOIA-NovoRural) presented in this paper is organized to provide integrated farm sustainability assessment according to quantitative environmental standards and defined socio-economic benchmarks. The system integrates sixty-two objective indicators in five sustainability dimensions - (i) Landscape ecology, (ii) Environmental quality (atmosphere, water and soil), (iii) Sociocultural values, (iv) Economic values, and (v) Management and administration. Impact indices are expressed in three integration levels: (i) specific indicators, that offer a diagnostic and managerial tool for farmers and rural administrators, by pointing out particular attributes of the rural activities that may be failing to comply with defined environmental performance objectives; (ii) integrated sustainability dimensions, that show decision-makers the major contributions of the rural activities toward local sustainable development, facilitating the definition of control actions and promotion measures; and (iii) aggregated sustainability index, that can be considered a yardstick for eco-certification purposes. Nine fully documented case studies carried out with the APOIA-NovoRural system, focusing on different scales, diverse rural activities/farming systems, and contrasting

EDF Group: activity and sustainable development 2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

After a map illustrating the worldwide dimension of EDF, and an interview of the EDF's chairman, this report presents and comments some sustainable development indicators for EDF activity in 2010. Then, after a presentation of the world energy context, it presents and comments EDF's main activities: energy production and engineering, network management, trading. It presents and comments the operational performance of the company in different countries (France, United Kingdom, Italy, and other countries) and evokes additional activities. The next chapter deals with human resources and with innovation and R and D activities. The last chapter presents governance structures and financial results

Transforming Sustainability Development Education in Malaysian Schools through Greening Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Hanifah, Mahat; Shaharudin, Idrus; Mohmadisa, Hashim; Nasir, Nayan; Yazid, Saleh

2015-01-01

This article aims to evaluate the practice of sustainability among Malaysian Secondary Schools involved in the Sustainable Schools Program Environmental Award (SLAAS). The research attempts to identify the SLAAS effects on teachers' and students' behaviors after direct involvement with the activities of the program. The cluster sampling technique…

Sustained Activity in Hierarchical Modular Neural Networks: Self-Organized Criticality and Oscillations

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sheng-Jun; Hilgetag, Claus C.; Zhou, Changsong

2010-01-01

Cerebral cortical brain networks possess a number of conspicuous features of structure and dynamics. First, these networks have an intricate, non-random organization. In particular, they are structured in a hierarchical modular fashion, from large-scale regions of the whole brain, via cortical areas and area subcompartments organized as structural and functional maps to cortical columns, and finally circuits made up of individual neurons. Second, the networks display self-organized sustained activity, which is persistent in the absence of external stimuli. At the systems level, such activity is characterized by complex rhythmical oscillations over a broadband background, while at the cellular level, neuronal discharges have been observed to display avalanches, indicating that cortical networks are at the state of self-organized criticality (SOC). We explored the relationship between hierarchical neural network organization and sustained dynamics using large-scale network modeling. Previously, it was shown that sparse random networks with balanced excitation and inhibition can sustain neural activity without external stimulation. We found that a hierarchical modular architecture can generate sustained activity better than random networks. Moreover, the system can simultaneously support rhythmical oscillations and SOC, which are not present in the respective random networks. The mechanism underlying the sustained activity is that each dense module cannot sustain activity on its own, but displays SOC in the presence of weak perturbations. Therefore, the hierarchical modular networks provide the coupling among subsystems with SOC. These results imply that the hierarchical modular architecture of cortical networks plays an important role in shaping the ongoing spontaneous activity of the brain, potentially allowing the system to take advantage of both the sensitivity of critical states and the predictability and timing of oscillations for efficient information

Classroom Active Learning Complemented by an Online Discussion Forum to Teach Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Dengler, Mary

2008-01-01

This paper identifies some of the pedagogical benefits of an active learning course delivery complemented by an online discussion forum to teach sustainability by evaluating the case of a geography master's course. The potential benefits and some challenges of an active learning course delivery to teach sustainability in geography and related…

Challenges for sustainability of home based economic activities in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Factors accountable for successful and sustainable home based economic activities were determined. Impacts of home based economic activities were found to be significant in the education of the children, income security and social welfare of families. The study emphasized home economic entrepreneurial education, ...

BUILDING STRONGER STATE ENERGY PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kate Burke

2002-11-01

This technical progress report includes an update of the progress during the second year of cooperative agreement DE-FC26-00NT40802, Building Stronger State Energy Partnerships with the U.S. Department of Energy. The report also describes the barriers in conduct of the effort, and our assessment of future progress and activities.

The Educational Program "Zajedno Jaci" (Stronger Together) in Croatia

Science.gov (United States)

Spanja, Sanja

2011-01-01

In this paper, we explore intercultural learning undertaken through the educational program "Stronger Together." The program "Stronger Together" was created in 1998 in order to support and educate teachers working with children in post-war regions of Croatia using intercultural education and cooperative learning as tools for…

Stronger synergies

CERN Multimedia

Antonella Del Rosso

2012-01-01

CERN was founded 58 years ago under the auspices of UNESCO. Since then, both organisations have grown to become world leaders in their respective fields. The links between the two have always existed but today they are even stronger, with new projects under way to develop a more efficient way of exchanging information and devise a common strategy on topics of mutual interest.   CERN and UNESCO are a perfect example of natural partners: their common field is science and education is one of the pillars on which both are built. Historically, they share a common heritage. Both UNESCO and CERN were born of the desire to use scientific cooperation to rebuild peace and security in the aftermath of the Second World War. "Recently, building on our common roots and in close collaboration with UNESCO, we have been developing more structured links to ensure the continuity of the actions taken over the years," says Maurizio Bona, who is in charge of CERN relations with international orga...

Cognitive Neurostimulation: Learning to Volitionally Sustain Ventral Tegmental Area Activation.

Science.gov (United States)

MacInnes, Jeff J; Dickerson, Kathryn C; Chen, Nan-Kuei; Adcock, R Alison

2016-03-16

Activation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and mesolimbic networks is essential to motivation, performance, and learning. Humans routinely attempt to motivate themselves, with unclear efficacy or impact on VTA networks. Using fMRI, we found untrained participants' motivational strategies failed to consistently activate VTA. After real-time VTA neurofeedback training, however, participants volitionally induced VTA activation without external aids, relative to baseline, Pre-test, and control groups. VTA self-activation was accompanied by increased mesolimbic network connectivity. Among two comparison groups (no neurofeedback, false neurofeedback) and an alternate neurofeedback group (nucleus accumbens), none sustained activation in target regions of interest nor increased VTA functional connectivity. The results comprise two novel demonstrations: learning and generalization after VTA neurofeedback training and the ability to sustain VTA activation without external reward or reward cues. These findings suggest theoretical alignment of ideas about motivation and midbrain physiology and the potential for generalizable interventions to improve performance and learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sustained activity in hierarchical modular neural networks: self-organized criticality and oscillations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheng-Jun Wang

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Cerebral cortical brain networks possess a number of conspicuous features of structure and dynamics. First, these networks have an intricate, non-random organization. They are structured in a hierarchical modular fashion, from large-scale regions of the whole brain, via cortical areas and area subcompartments organized as structural and functional maps to cortical columns, and finally circuits made up of individual neurons. Second, the networks display self-organized sustained activity, which is persistent in the absence of external stimuli. At the systems level, such activity is characterized by complex rhythmical oscillations over a broadband background, while at the cellular level, neuronal discharges have been observed to display avalanches, indicating that cortical networks are at the state of self-organized criticality. We explored the relationship between hierarchical neural network organization and sustained dynamics using large-scale network modeling. It was shown that sparse random networks with balanced excitation and inhibition can sustain neural activity without external stimulation. We find that a hierarchical modular architecture can generate sustained activity better than random networks. Moreover, the system can simultaneously support rhythmical oscillations and self-organized criticality, which are not present in the respective random networks. The underlying mechanism is that each dense module cannot sustain activity on its own, but displays self-organized criticality in the presence of weak perturbations. The hierarchical modular networks provide the coupling among subsystems with self-organized criticality. These results imply that the hierarchical modular architecture of cortical networks plays an important role in shaping the ongoing spontaneous activity of the brain, potentially allowing the system to take advantage of both the sensitivityof critical state and predictability and timing of oscillations for efficient

When surging seas meet stronger rain: Nuclear techniques in flood management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quevenco, Rodolfo

2015-01-01

Unusually high rainfall in many parts of the world is a result of climate change, scientists say. Since warmer air can hold more water, the rationale goes, increased temperatures will increase the chances of stronger rainfall events. And when surging seas combine with stronger rain, the outcome is almost certain: floods. Floods are the most frequently occurring natural disasters, and south-east Asia is particularly vulnerable. Climate change and variability are expected to bring about increased typhoon activities, rising sea levels and off-season monsoon rains in southeast Asia and other regions. These can cause devastating floods in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. For the residents of these countries who have survived the ravages of major floods, the road to recovery can be long and arduous. As the flood water recedes, they have to contend with new forms of flood: floods of concern and worries as to how to rebuild their houses, their lives and their cities. Governments, too, face huge challenges in rebuilding roads, public buildings, infrastructure and natural resources destroyed or polluted by the flood.

Sustainable production of biologically active molecules of marine based origin.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Patrick M; Moane, Siobhan; Collins, Catherine; Beletskaya, Tanya; Thomas, Olivier P; Duarte, Alysson W F; Nobre, Fernando S; Owoyemi, Ifeloju O; Pagnocca, Fernando C; Sette, L D; McHugh, Edward; Causse, Eric; Pérez-López, Paula; Feijoo, Gumersindo; Moreira, Ma T; Rubiolo, Juan; Leirós, Marta; Botana, Luis M; Pinteus, Susete; Alves, Celso; Horta, André; Pedrosa, Rui; Jeffryes, Clayton; Agathos, Spiros N; Allewaert, Celine; Verween, Annick; Vyverman, Wim; Laptev, Ivan; Sineoky, Sergei; Bisio, Angela; Manconi, Renata; Ledda, Fabio; Marchi, Mario; Pronzato, Roberto; Walsh, Daniel J

2013-09-25

The marine environment offers both economic and scientific potential which are relatively untapped from a biotechnological point of view. These environments whilst harsh are ironically fragile and dependent on a harmonious life form balance. Exploitation of natural resources by exhaustive wild harvesting has obvious negative environmental consequences. From a European industry perspective marine organisms are a largely underutilised resource. This is not due to lack of interest but due to a lack of choice the industry faces for cost competitive, sustainable and environmentally conscientious product alternatives. Knowledge of the biotechnological potential of marine organisms together with the development of sustainable systems for their cultivation, processing and utilisation are essential. In 2010, the European Commission recognised this need and funded a collaborative RTD/SME project under the Framework 7-Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) Theme 2 Programme 'Sustainable culture of marine microorganisms, algae and/or invertebrates for high value added products'. The scope of that project entitled 'Sustainable Production of Biologically Active Molecules of Marine Based Origin' (BAMMBO) is outlined. Although the Union is a global leader in many technologies, it faces increasing competition from traditional rivals and emerging economies alike and must therefore improve its innovation performance. For this reason innovation is placed at the heart of a European Horizon 2020 Strategy wherein the challenge is to connect economic performance to eco performance. This article provides a synopsis of the research activities of the BAMMBO project as they fit within the wider scope of sustainable environmentally conscientious marine resource exploitation for high-value biomolecules. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predatory blue crabs induce stronger nonconsumptive effects in eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica than scavenging blue crabs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Avery E. Scherer

2017-02-01

Full Text Available By influencing critical prey traits such as foraging or habitat selection, predators can affect entire ecosystems, but the nature of cues that trigger prey reactions to predators are not well understood. Predators may scavenge to supplement their energetic needs and scavenging frequency may vary among individuals within a species due to preferences and prey availability. Yet prey reactions to consumers that are primarily scavengers versus those that are active foragers have not been investigated, even though variation in prey reactions to scavengers or predators might influence cascading nonconsumptive effects in food webs. Oysters Crassostrea virginica react to crab predators by growing stronger shells. We exposed oysters to exudates from crabs fed live oysters or fed aged oyster tissue to simulate scavenging, and to controls without crab cues. Oysters grew stronger shells when exposed to either crab exudate, but their shells were significantly stronger when crabs were fed live oysters. The stronger response to predators than scavengers could be due to inherent differences in diet cues representative of reduced risk in the presence of scavengers or to degradation of conspecific alarm cues in aged treatments, which may mask risk from potential predators subsisting by scavenging.

Protecting the Future: the Role of School Education in Sustainable Development--An Indian Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Bangay, Colin

2016-01-01

This paper explores the potential contribution of education to sustainable development. Drawing on recent evidence it argues that education could play a stronger role--a position reinforced by the new sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, securing this contribution will have to be achieved in an era where educational delivery will be…

ANDRA - Activity and sustainable development report 2011

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dupuis, Marie-Claude; Gonnot, Francois-Michel; Renauld, Valerie; Sanz, Carole

2012-07-01

This annual report addresses the following aspects: governance (missions, localizations, institutional partners, clients, Meuse/Haute-Marne land planning scheme, underground research laboratory, Cigeo project), human resources (accident prevention, salaried personnel, customer relationship management, next steps for the Cigeo project), public service missions (polluted sites, waste confinement in Pargny-sur-Saulx, the radium diagnosis operation, a remote declaration as a new service to prepare the national inventory for 2012), industrial activities (the industrial design phase of the Cigeo project, the Manche storage centre, the Aube storage centre), environmental activities (the Observatory of the environment, the weak impact of the storage centres, the evolution of analysis laboratory of the industrial directorate), scientific policy, technological researches, experiments and developments, international activity and relationships, sustainable development, dialogue, transparency and communication, future generations, and prospective

Minimizing the Impact of Mining Activities for Sustainable Mined-Out ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Minimizing the Impact of Mining Activities for Sustainable Mined-Out Area ... sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) in assessing environmental impact of ... Keywords: Solid mineral, Impact assessment, Mined-out area utilization, ...

Advancing a sustainable highway system : highlights of FHWA sustainability activities

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

FHWA is undertaking a significant amount of work related to sustainability across a number of program areas throughout the Agency. The purpose of this report is to showcase some of the ways in which FHWA is incorporating and embedding sustainability ...

Engineering Sustainability: A Technical Approach to Sustainability

OpenAIRE

Rosen, Marc A.

2012-01-01

Sustainability is a critically important goal for human activity and development. Sustainability in the area of engineering is of great importance to any plans for overall sustainability given 1) the pervasiveness of engineering activities in societies, 2) their importance in economic development and living standards, and 3) the significant impacts that engineering processes and systems have had, and continue to have, on the environment. Many factors that need to be considered and appropriate...

Sustainable Transportation Systems Research Group: Ongoing and Past Activities

OpenAIRE

Gkritza, Konstantina "Nadia"; Hurtado, Davis Chacon; Gkartzonikas, Christos; Ke, Yue; Losada, Lisa L

2017-01-01

This presentation describes the ongoing and past activities of the Sustainable Transportation Systems Research (STSR) group at Purdue University (https://engineering.purdue.edu/STSRG). The STSR group aims to achieve green, safe, efficient, and equitable transportation systems by studying and modeling transportation externalities, using state of the art statistical, econometric, and economic analysis tools.

Adaptations of upper trapezius muscle activity during sustained contractions in women with fibromyalgia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Falla, Deborah Lorraine; Andersen, Helle; Danneskiold-Samsøe, Bente

2010-01-01

a topographical map of the distribution of muscle activity. The pain level rated by the patients at the beginning of the sustained contraction was 5.9+/-1.5. The peak pain intensity for the control group following the injection of hypertonic saline was 6.0+/-1.6. During the sustained contractions, the EMG...

Inhibiting the Physiological Stress Effects of a Sustained Attention Task on Shoulder Muscle Activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Wixted, Fiona; O'Riordan, Cliona; O'Sullivan, Leonard

2018-01-11

The objective of this study was to investigate if a breathing technique could counteract the effects of hyperventilation due to a sustained attention task on shoulder muscle activity. The trend towards higher levels of automation in industry is increasing. Consequently, manufacturing operators often monitor automated process for long periods of their work shift. Prolonged monitoring work requires sustained attention, which is a cognitive process that humans are typically poor at and find stressful. As sustained attention becomes an increasing requirement of manufacturing operators' job content, the resulting stress experienced could contribute to the onset of many health problems, including work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). The SART attention test was completed by a group of participants before and after a breathing intervention exercise. The effects of the abdominal breathing intervention on breathing rate, upper trapezius muscle activity and end-tidal CO₂ were evaluated. The breathing intervention reduced the moderation effect of end-tidal CO₂ on upper trapezius muscle activity. Abdominal breathing could be a useful technique in reducing the effects of sustained attention work on muscular activity. This research can be applied to highly-automated manufacturing industries, where prolonged monitoring of work is widespread and could, in its role as a stressor, be a potential contributor to WRMSDs.

Sustainable Lifestyle Marketing of Individuals: the Base of Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mira Rakic

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This paper highlights the sustainable lifestyle marketing of an individual (SLMOI. The SLMOI is the activity, a set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating and maintaining the sustainable lifestyle of an individual (SLOI. The SLOI is an individual’s sustainability-oriented pattern of living represented by his or her activities, interests and opinions. The SLOI refers to a sustainable pattern of life (daily activities within the family, a sustainable pattern of consumption, a sustainable pattern of work and production (as employees in organizations and a sustainable pattern of behavior in the society and the environment they live in. The SLOI reflects an individual’s choices with respect to spending time, money and energy in accordance with the sustainable pattern of life. The SLOI stands for sustainable behavioral patterns on the basis of attitudes and values. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of the population towards sustainable lifestyles and the SLMOI (performed by different actors and behaviors on the basis of attitudes.Using a face-to-face questionnaire interview, the study was conducted on a sample of 400 citizens of Serbia. There are three key conclusions. First, the SLMOI leads to the SLOI, and the SLOI further leads to sustainability. Second, the creation and maintenance of the SLOI is a long-term process. Third, a holistic approach is needed as well as the engagement of numerous actors in that process of creating and maintaining the SLOI.

Women's political participation leads to stronger local economies ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2016-06-08

Jun 8, 2016 ... Under changes to India's constitution, Indian women are gaining a stronger ... Legal reforms are encouraging women to contribute to economic growth ... on a panel on empowering women entrepreneurs at IDRC in Ottawa.

Activity-based Sustainability Assessment of Highly Automated Manufacturing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rödger, Jan-Markus; Bey, Niki; Alting, Leo

Sustainability of technology is a multifaceted endeavor and a main requirement from industry is to make it a profitable business case with clearly defined targets. To achieve that, a new assessment framework and applicable method [1] is presented which has been developed closely with industry. It.......g. “transportation”) down to smallest production units by using activity-based target setting in a consistent way to lowers risks in the planning phase of products and production....

Sustainability of a physical activity and nutrition program for seniors.

Science.gov (United States)

Pasalich, M; Lee, A H; Jancey, J; Burke, L; Howat, P

2013-01-01

This prospective cohort study aimed to determine the impact of a low cost, home-based physical activity and nutrition program for older adults at 6 months follow-up. A follow-up survey was conducted 6 months after program completion via computer-assisted telephone interviewing. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Fat and Fibre Barometer were used to measure physical activity levels and dietary behaviours, respectively. Self-reported height, weight, waist and hip circumferences were obtained. Changes over three time points of data collection (baseline, post-program, follow-up) and differences between the intervention and control groups were assessed. The use of program materials was also evaluated. Community and home-based. Insufficiently active 60 to 70 year olds (n = 176, intervention and n = 198, control) residing in suburbs within the Perth metropolitan area. A sustained improvement was observed for the intervention group in terms of fat avoidance behaviours (p interaction = .007). Significant improvements were found for strength exercises, fibre intake, body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio at either post-program or follow-up, however the overall effect was not significant. At post-program, the intervention group increased time spent participating in moderate activity by 50 minutes (p > .05), which was followed by a significant decline at follow-up (p nutrition intervention resulted in a sustained improvement in fat avoidance behaviours and overall short-term gains in physical activity. Future studies for older adults are recommended to investigate gender-specific behavioural barriers as well as booster interventions which focus on physical activity.

Inhibiting the Physiological Stress Effects of a Sustained Attention Task on Shoulder Muscle Activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fiona Wixted

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate if a breathing technique could counteract the effects of hyperventilation due to a sustained attention task on shoulder muscle activity. Background: The trend towards higher levels of automation in industry is increasing. Consequently, manufacturing operators often monitor automated process for long periods of their work shift. Prolonged monitoring work requires sustained attention, which is a cognitive process that humans are typically poor at and find stressful. As sustained attention becomes an increasing requirement of manufacturing operators’ job content, the resulting stress experienced could contribute to the onset of many health problems, including work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs. Methods: The SART attention test was completed by a group of participants before and after a breathing intervention exercise. The effects of the abdominal breathing intervention on breathing rate, upper trapezius muscle activity and end-tidal CO2 were evaluated. Results: The breathing intervention reduced the moderation effect of end-tidal CO2 on upper trapezius muscle activity. Conclusions: Abdominal breathing could be a useful technique in reducing the effects of sustained attention work on muscular activity. Application: This research can be applied to highly-automated manufacturing industries, where prolonged monitoring of work is widespread and could, in its role as a stressor, be a potential contributor to WRMSDs.

The right of the stronger: The play Sisyphus and critias

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jordović Ivan

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The Focus of this study is the standpoint of the play Sisyphus and critias the leader of the thirty towards the right of the stronger. this is a question of constant interest in scientific circles, since its answer can serve as the indicator of the influence this famous theory has had. this interest has been encouraged by the fact that critias’ authorship of the play is questionable. however, the question of the author is not of primary importance for this article, because there are some arguments, among some well known ones, which were not considered and which Show that in this satire, regardless of the author and the purpose of this fragment, the right of the stronger is actually non-existant. the first argument to support this theory is that nomosphysis antithesis is nowhere explicitly mentioned although it is the crucial element of the right of the stronger. in addition there is no claim in the play that the exploitation of the strong by the week or by law accrued. the second argument is that despite the incapability of laws to prevent the secret injustice, they and their importance for the human society are depicted in a positive light. it should also be noted that, unlike callicles and glaucon, laws are created to stop the bad and not the good. the third argument is that the invention of religion is accepted as a positive achievement, which finally enables the overcoming of primeval times and lawlessness. the reflection of this argument is a positive characterization of the individual who invented the fear of gods. the fourth argument, which has not been taken into consideration so far is the way the supporters and opponents of lawlessness are described and marked as κακοί and έσξλοί in the satire only physically strong are considered as strong as opposed to callicles, where they are also spiritually superior. intelectually superior in Sisyphus is the inventor of the fear of gods who is also in favor of law and order. the fact

Women's political participation leads to stronger local economies ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Edgard Rodriguez - IDRC. Women attend a self-help group meeting near Hyderabad, India. Keenara Khanderia. Under changes to India's constitution, Indian women are gaining a stronger political voice. Legal reforms are encouraging women to contribute to economic growth and investments in community growth.

Suburbanization and sustainability in metropolitan Moscow.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Robert J; Nigmatullina, Liliya

2011-01-01

Although Soviet-era urban-growth controls produced relatively sustainable metropolitan development patterns, low-density suburban sprawl has accelerated markedly in modern Russia. Distinctive features of Moscow's development history are its greenbelt, which dates from 1935 and is becoming increasingly fragmented, proliferation of satellite cities at the urban fringe, conversion of seasonal dachas into full-time residences, the very exclusive Rublevo Uspenskoe Highway development, and today's crippling traffic congestion. The recent economic crisis has slowed development and actually increased the supply of “economy-class” single-family homes, for which there is much pent-up desire but insufficient credit availability to meet the demand. A renewed commitment to sustainability's triple bottom line—environmental quality, equity, and economic prosperity—will require greater government transparency and fairness, stronger planning controls, and an expanded public transportation system.

Targeting relationally integrated project teams for sustainable PPPs

OpenAIRE

Kumaraswamy, M. M.; Ling, F. Y. Y.; Anvuur, A. M.; Rahman, M. M.

2007-01-01

Purpose – This paper targets the development of comprehensive approaches to prequalifying teams for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Design/methodology/approach – Research outcomes from a study into “relationally integrated project teams” (RIPTs) were applied to necessarily longer-term PPP scenarios. A force field model was developed to visualise the importance of stronger relational forces between the many PPP participants for “sustainable RIPTs” (SRITs). A framework was conceptualised to...

Building Stronger State Energy Partnerships with the U.S. Department of Energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marks, Kate

2011-09-30

This final technical report details the results of total work efforts and progress made from October 2007 – September 2011 under the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) cooperative agreement DE-FC26-07NT43264, Building Stronger State Energy Partnerships with the U.S. Department of Energy. Major topical project areas in this final report include work efforts in the following areas: Energy Assurance and Critical Infrastructure, State and Regional Technical Assistance, Regional Initiative, Regional Coordination and Technical Assistance, and International Activities in China. All required deliverables have been provided to the National Energy Technology Laboratory and DOE program officials.

Sustainability and Science Learning: Perceptions from 8th Grade Students Involved with a Role Playing Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Freire, Sofia; Baptista, Mónica; Freire, Ana

2016-01-01

Raising awareness about sustainability is an urgent need and as such education for sustainability has gained relevancy for the last decades. It is acknowledged that science education can work as an important context for educating for sustainability. The goal of the present paper is to describe a role-playing activity about the construction of a…

Optimal Hierarchical Modular Topologies for Producing Limited Sustained Activation of Neural Networks

OpenAIRE

Kaiser, Marcus; Hilgetag, Claus C.

2010-01-01

An essential requirement for the representation of functional patterns in complex neural networks, such as the mammalian cerebral cortex, is the existence of stable regimes of network activation, typically arising from a limited parameter range. In this range of limited sustained activity (LSA), the activity of neural populations in the network persists between the extremes of either quickly dying out or activating the whole network. Hierarchical modular networks were previously found to show...

Applying sustainability theory to transport infrastructure assessment using a multiplicative ahp decision support model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pryn, Marie Ridley; Cornet, Yannick; Salling, Kim Bang

2015-01-01

report, which is used to validate the nested model of sustainability for countries operating under the paradox of affluence. This provides a theoretical rationale for prioritising longer-term ecological integrity over shorter-term economic concerns, in line with the stronger conceptualisation......It is generally expected that the three dimensions of the economy, society and the environment must be included in any measurable sustainability pathway. However, these do not provide much guidance as to how to prioritize impacts within and between the dimensions. A conceptualized approach...... to sustainability based on the nested model is therefore presented seeking to provide an alternative approach to sustainable transportation assessment, namely the SUSTAIN Decision Support System (DSS) model. This model is based on a review of basic notions of sustainability presented by the Brundtland Commission...

THE ACTIVE INTEGRATED CIRCULAR PROCESS – EXPRESSION OF MAXIMUM SYNTHESIS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Done Ioan

2015-06-01

Full Text Available "The accelerated pace of economic growth, prompted by the need to ensure reducing disparities between the various countries, has imposed in the last two decades the adoption of sustainable development principles, particularly as a result of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992 and the UNESCO Declaration in the fall of 1997. In specific literature, in essence, sustainable development is considered "an economic and social process that is characterized by a simultaneous and concerted action at global, regional and local level. Its objective is to provide living conditions both for the present and forth future. Sustainable development “encompasses the economic, ecological, social and political aspects, linked through cultural and spiritual relationships."(Coşea, 2007In Romania, achieving sustainable development is a major, difficult objective, because it must be done in terms of convergence to the demands of the economic, social, cultural and political context of the EU, and in terms of the completion of the transition to a functioning and competitive market economy. In this context, it is imposed the economic competitiveness through reindustrialization and not least, by harnessing the active integrated circular process. Gross value added and profit chain in the structures of active integrated circular process must reflect the interests of the forces involved(employers, employees and the statethereby forming the basis of respect for the correlation between sustainable development, economic growth and increasing national wealth. The elimination or marginalization of certain links in the value chain and profit causes major disruptions or bankruptcy, with direct implications for recognizing and rewarding performance. Essentially, the building of active integrated circular process will determine the maximization of the profit – the foundation of satisfying all economic interests.

Physical activity, sustained sedentary behavior, and pain modulation in women with fibromyalgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellingson, Laura D; Shields, Morgan R; Stegner, Aaron J; Cook, Dane B

2012-02-01

Fibromyalgia (FM) has been conceptualized as a disorder of the central nervous system, characterized by augmented sensory processing and an inability to effectively modulate pain. We previously reported that physical activity is related to brain processing of pain, providing evidence for a potential mechanism of pain management. The purpose of this study was to extend our work by manipulating pain modulation and determining relationships to both physical activity and sustained sedentary behavior. Eleven women with FM completed accelerometer measures of physical activity and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging of painful heat, administered alone and during distracting cognitive tasks. Results showed that physical activity was significantly (P sedentary time, significant negative relationships were observed in areas involved in both pain modulation and the sensory-discriminative aspects of pain including the DLPFC, thalamus, and superior frontal and pre- and post-central gyri. These results suggest that physical activity and sedentary behaviors are related to central nervous system regulation of pain in FM. Our results support a promising benefit of physical activity and highlight the potentially deleterious effects of sustained sedentary behavior for pain regulation in FM. Studies aimed at increasing physical activity or reducing sedentary behavior and determining the impact of these on pain regulation are warranted. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Education for sustainable development using indoor and outdoor activities

Science.gov (United States)

Žigon, Lenka

2016-04-01

Environmental education became an important part of our development in the last years. We put a lot of effort into a task how to improve students'values, skills, understanding and how to significantly enhance their learning and achievements regarding ecological problems. At the same time we also know that environmental learning is easier when our students have the opportunity to feel, see, touch, taste and smell the nature. Therefore teachers in my school develop regular access to the outdoors as a learning resource. Students understand the impact of their activities on the environment and they also like to participate in the nature protection. My school (Biotechnical Centre)is an example of educational centre where different research and development programes are strongly oriented to the sustainable development. Students are educated to become experts in biotechnology, agronomy, food technology and horticulture. At the same time they are educated how to care for the nature. The institution itself cooperates with different fields of economy (farms, food - baker industry, floristry, country design etc.). For these reasons the environmental education is an essential dimension of basic education focused on a sphere of interaction that lies at the root of personal and social development. We try to develop different outdoor activities through all the school year. These activities are: analyse the water quality; research waste water treatment plants; exploration of new food sources (like aquaponics - where fish and plants grow together); collecting plants with medical activities; care for the plants in the school yard; growing new plants in the poly tunnel; learning about unknown plants - especially when visiting national and regional parks; selling different things in the school shop - also for local citizens; participating in the world wide activity - "Keep the country tidy" etc. Students and teachers enjoy to participate in different outdoor activities; we both

A theory of working memory without consciousness or sustained activity

Science.gov (United States)

Trübutschek, Darinka; Marti, Sébastien; Ojeda, Andrés; King, Jean-Rémi; Mi, Yuanyuan; Tsodyks, Misha; Dehaene, Stanislas

2017-01-01

Working memory and conscious perception are thought to share similar brain mechanisms, yet recent reports of non-conscious working memory challenge this view. Combining visual masking with magnetoencephalography, we investigate the reality of non-conscious working memory and dissect its neural mechanisms. In a spatial delayed-response task, participants reported the location of a subjectively unseen target above chance-level after several seconds. Conscious perception and conscious working memory were characterized by similar signatures: a sustained desynchronization in the alpha/beta band over frontal cortex, and a decodable representation of target location in posterior sensors. During non-conscious working memory, such activity vanished. Our findings contradict models that identify working memory with sustained neural firing, but are compatible with recent proposals of ‘activity-silent’ working memory. We present a theoretical framework and simulations showing how slowly decaying synaptic changes allow cell assemblies to go dormant during the delay, yet be retrieved above chance-level after several seconds. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23871.001 PMID:28718763

Sustainable design training cards as a way to promote active learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasling, Karen Marie; Ræbild, Ulla

2017-01-01

to understand sustainability in a corporate organisation working with materials and products for the fashion market (authors, 2016). Here the training cards translate these findings to become operationalised in the organisation as a communication tool. The training cards were developed as a methods-focused side...... project that followed a design project conducted by two fashion designers running from August to December 2016. Based on an existing collection of sustainable training cards used in teaching, a draft version of the cards was introduced to the designers in September 2016. In the following months interviews...... and in teaching sustainability in fashion and textiles design education. In the paper we want to discuss, why and how training cards can promote active learning and be used to obtain knowledge on chosen and often complex topics in a simplified manner. This will be based on our experiences with the developed...

Sustainability and Organizational Change by Sustainable Crediting Therapy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragoş Ilie

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that one of the therapies to achieve sustainability and organizational change in the context of current challenges in the national economies is sustainable crediting. The research method is based on a survey of 30 commercial companies from various fields of activity that have or have not implemented, at the leadership level, the concept of sustainable crediting. The data collecting and processing approach has resulted in the determination of the main economic-financial indicators for a period of 5 years, indicators used by banks in relation with the credited organizations. The main results show that companies that have implemented the sustainable crediting concept are more able to achieve sustainability in their developed activity, as well as organizational change with positive effects on their business and on the company as a whole. The concept of sustainable crediting implies the capitalization of the commercial companies, the increase of the loan portfolio quality, the achievement of the financial balance and environmental protection

Assessment of Farming Systems for Sustainability of Farming Activities in the Mazandaran Province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Moumenihelali

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: One of the fundamental issues in the agricultural sector in Iran is the absence of optimal water and soil resources utilization and lack of new agricultural science and technology adoption through major prevailing transformations in agricultural land exploitation system. The studies conducted in the history of agricultural development in Iran cast light on the fact that the farming system’s role in the agricultural development in Iran is of great importance. And water and soil resources utilization has been one of the fundamental issues of agriculture which has enjoyed major consideration after the implementation of land restructuring. The agriculture farming systems are referred to as the focus of all activities related to sustainable agricultural development in Iran and it is believed that the shift and transition from traditional agriculture to modern and profitable agriculture through appropriate, improved and newly developed agricultural establishments are the major activities which can increase productivity and improve the overall performance of the agricultural sector and thus contribute to sustainable development more than any other factor. Hence, such significance will be more evident when the small and scattered farmlands in many cases have imposed some limitations in the application of agricultural techniques and machinery, equipping and developing the infrastructure and efficient use of resources with appropriate performance forcing agricultural policymakersto be always looking for ways to deal with it. Therefore, identifying the relative advantage of any farming system specified for each area and region in the country seems important. Accordingly, the Mazandaran province is regarded as one of the production hubs in producing crops such as rice, wheat and canola in the country playing a major role in supplying food. With a detailed analysis of research literature, the economic, ecological, social, technical and policy

Nuclear technology for sustainable development and FNCA activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Machi, Sueo

2004-01-01

Nuclear techniques have been contributing to sustainable development and human welfare through their applications in agriculture, health care, food supply, industry, water resources and environmental conservation. Nuclear techniques are more advantageous and/or complementary with other techniques to achieve goals. For many applications nuclear technique is more environmentally friendly because it does not need chemical agents to induce necessary reactions. This paper also illustrates successful applications of nuclear techniques and activities of the regional nuclear cooperation in Asia, FNCA (Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia) to achieve common goals with limited resources. (author)

Orientation of sustainable management of chemical company with international activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valéria da Veiga Dias

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The search for new business possibilities, either through international activities and capture niche markets appear as a distinct trend among organizations that target growth. For this growing number of organizations intent on investing in new issues related to values such as citizenship, ethics and environmental concerns. There is the adoption of a more responsive to the community or even the acceptance of responsibility for the impacts of their production processes, inserting themselves in what was initially called the Social Responsibility within the business context and developed the concept of Elkington (1998 generated a discussion about a new movement that was called a sustainable paradigm. It was observed generally that sustainable management is still very close to supporting tools and not as part of the construction of corporate strategy although it is possible to realize that they seek a greater involvement in this direction when they start to review their strategies. This question can be perceived at different levels between the companies, but which shows the issue is the lack of direct indicators for investment and sustainable return. Sustainable management proved to be a source of opportunity for overseas business for the companies studied, as preparation for work with environmental legislation, global requirements, raw materials and environmentally friendly processes organizations prepared to market in the global sphere, and Brazil note that the innovative products for their production process and / or alternative raw material still do not get the spotlight. Acting in a sustainable manner enables the development of strategies agreed with conscious posture and changes in cultural terms in general, which can create new opportunities for those who can keep up with the global business scenario.

The Strengthening of Development Capital and Governance towards Sustainable Livelihood in Coastal Areas of Medan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isfenti Sadalia

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The objective of the research is to analyze the potential and sustainable livelihood through the strengthening of development capital and governance applied to the sustainable livelihood of coastal community in Medan. The present research used descriptive quantitative method. The analysis was used to answer the hypothesis testing using Structural Equation Model or SEM to view relationship in the strengthening between development capital and governance towards the livelihood sustainability in coastal community. Furthermore, through this relationship, a model was then designed for sustainable livelihood development via the strengthening of development capital and governance. The results indicate that sustainable development and governance positively and significantly affect the development capital. However, the existing potential of development capital should be improved through community empowerment model to be better, stronger and more sustainable.

The Sustainability Cycle and Loop: models for a more unified understanding of sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Hay, Laura; Duffy, Alex; Whitfield, R I

2014-01-15

In spite of the considerable research on sustainability, reports suggest that we are barely any closer to a more sustainable society. As such, there is an urgent need to improve the effectiveness of human efforts towards sustainability. A clearer and more unified understanding of sustainability among different people and sectors could help to facilitate this. This paper presents the results of an inductive literature investigation, aiming to develop models to explain the nature of sustainability in the Earth system, and how humans can effectively strive for it. The major contributions are two general and complementary models, that may be applied in any context to provide a common basis for understanding sustainability: the Sustainability Cycle (S-Cycle), and the Sustainability Loop (S-Loop). Literature spanning multiple sectors is examined from the perspective of three concepts, emerging as significant in relation to our aim. Systems are shown to provide the context for human action towards sustainability, and the nature of the Earth system and its sub-systems is explored. Activities are outlined as a fundamental target that humans need to sustain, since they produce the entities both needed and desired by society. The basic behaviour of activities operating in the Earth system is outlined. Finally, knowledge is positioned as the driver of human action towards sustainability, and the key components of knowledge involved are examined. The S-Cycle and S-Loop models are developed via a process of induction from the reviewed literature. The S-Cycle describes the operation of activities in a system from the perspective of sustainability. The sustainability of activities in a system depends upon the availability of resources, and the availability of resources depends upon the rate that activities consume and produce them. Humans may intervene in these dynamics via an iterative process of interpretation and action, described in the S-Loop model. The models are briefly

Participatory processes and institutional debate activities as key complementary aspects for embedding sustainability in higher education

OpenAIRE

Esteban, F.; Ferrer Balas, Dídac; Barceló García, Miquel

2008-01-01

Introducing sustainable development into educational programs of universities tend to be approached under two complementary strategies: “top-down” and “bottom-up”. Top-down strategies promote the adaptation of the institutional framework to the new challenges that sustainable development generates into technical expertise areas. Bottom-up strategies focus on institutional activities oriented to convincing or supporting lecturers in integrating sustainable development in their d...

Towards transdisciplinarity in Arctic sustainability knowledge co-production: Socially-Oriented Observations as a participatory integrated activity

Science.gov (United States)

Vlasova, Tatiana; Volkov, Sergey

2016-09-01

The paper is an attempt to tie together main biogeophysical and social science projects under the auspice of interdisciplinary sustainability science development. Special attention is put to the necessity of the transdisciplinary knowledge co-production based on activities and problem-solutions approaches. It puts attention to the role of monitoring activities in sustainability interdisciplinary science and transdisciplinary knowledge evolution in the Arctic. Socially focused monitoring named Socially-Oriented Observations creating a transdisciplinary space is viewed as one of sources of learning and transformations towards sustainability making possible to shape rapid changes happening in the Arctic based on sustainability knowledge co-production. Continuous Socially-Oriented Observations integrating scientific, education and monitoring methods enables to define adaptation and transformation pathways in the Arctic - the most rapidly changing region of our planet. Socially-Oriented Observations are based on the existing and developing interdisciplinary scientific approaches emerged within natural science and social science projects, sustainable development and resilience concepts putting principle attention to building sustainable and resilient socio-ecological systems. It is argued that the Arctic sustainability science is a valuable component of the whole and broader system of the Arctic Sustainability knowledge co-produced with the help of transdisciplinary approaches integrating science, local/traditional knowledge, entrepreneurship, education, decision-making. Socially-Oriented Observations are designed to be a transdisciplinary interactive continuous participatory process empowering deliberate choices of people that can shape the changes and enable transformation towards sustainability. Approaches of Socially-Oriented Observations and methods of implementation that have been developed since the IPY 2007/2008 and being practiced in different regions of the

Teaching Sustainability Using an Active Learning Constructivist Approach: Discipline-Specific Case Studies in Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Kalamas Hedden

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present our rationale for using an active learning constructivist approach to teach sustainability-related topics in a higher education. To push the boundaries of ecological literacy, we also develop a theoretical model for sustainability knowledge co-creation. Drawing on the experiences of faculty at a major Southeastern University in the United States, we present case studies in architecture, engineering, geography, and marketing. Four Sustainability Faculty Fellows describe their discipline-specific case studies, all of which are project-based learning experiences, and include details regarding teaching and assessment. Easily replicated in other educational contexts, these case studies contribute to the advancement of sustainability education.

Banking Activity for Sustainable Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ion Stancu

2006-08-01

Full Text Available he corporations gain a power of influence, unthinkable years ago; they have acquired more and more rights and, in some way, govern the life of billions of peoples and of the earth in general. With every right, comes though the responsibility of the conservation and development of the environment in which the corporations act. The banking system has a major role to play in the evolution of the international framework, given its position on the economic stage. Some important banking groups realized this fact and made important steps in the area. The case study of the Holland banking group ABN AMRO proves the complexity of the introduction of sustainable development in the core of the financial business. The implementation is neither easy nor cheap. It implies essential changes in the bank management, in the way to determine the financial policies, in how to choose the clients, the employees, the suppliers etc. Led in an efficient way, sustainable banking implies innovation, creativity and, implicitly, new gains, through creating new products and opening new markets. The international banking community proved, through leading examples (ABN AMRO Bank, HSBC Group, Rabobank Group, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup etc. that it understands the importance, the necessity and also the viability of the sustainable development.

Assessing Sustainability Transition in the US Electrical Power System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen McCauley

2010-02-01

Full Text Available This paper examines sustainability transition dynamics in the US electricity system, drawing on the socio-technical systems approach. We view system change as unfolding along several critical dimensions and geographical scales, including dynamics in the environment, science, civil society, discourse, and state regulatory institutions, as well as in capital and technology formations. A particular emphasis is given to the interaction of discourses, policy networks, and institutions. We trace four distinct regimes which have characterized the evolution of this discourse-network-institutional nexus over the last century. The research examines dynamics that present a challenge to the incumbent energy regime based on fossil fuels, nuclear and hydropower, and demonstrates how the actor-network supporting renewables and energy efficiency has grown stronger and more capable of moving toward a sustainability transition than at any time since the sustainable energy movement began a generation ago.

LHC Season 2: A stronger machine

CERN Multimedia

Dominguez, Daniel

2015-01-01

1) New magnets / De nouveaux aimants 2) Stronger connections / Des jonctions électriques renforcées 3) Safer magnets / Des aimants plus sûrs 4) Higher energy beams / Des faisceaux d’énergie plus élevée 5) Narrower beams / Des faisceaux plus serrés 6) Smaller but closer proton packets / Des groupes de protons plus petits mais plus rapprochés 7) Higher voltage / Une tension plus haute 8) Superior cryogenics / Un système cryogénique amélioré 9) Radiation-resistant electronics / Une électronique qui résiste aux radiations 10) More secure vacuum / Un vide plus sûr

Lower-Body Muscle Structure and Jump Performance of Stronger and Weaker Surfing Athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Secomb, Josh L; Nimphius, Sophia; Farley, Oliver R; Lundgren, Lina; Tran, Tai T; Sheppard, Jeremy M

2016-07-01

To identify whether there are any significant differences in the lower-body muscle structure and countermovement-jump (CMJ) and squat-jump (SJ) performance between stronger and weaker surfing athletes. Twenty elite male surfers had their lower-body muscle structure assessed with ultrasonography and completed a series of lower-body strength and jump tests including isometric midthigh pull (IMTP), CMJ, and SJ. Athletes were separated into stronger (n = 10) and weaker (n = 10) groups based on IMTP performance. Large significant differences were identified between the groups for vastus lateralis (VL) thickness (P = .02, ES = 1.22) and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) pennation angle (P = .01, ES = 1.20), and a large nonsignificant difference was identified in LG thickness (P = .08, ES = 0.89). Furthermore, significant differences were present between the groups for peak force, relative peak force, and jump height in the CMJ and SJ (P Stronger surfing athletes in this study had greater VL and LG thickness and LG pennation angle. These muscle structures may explain their better performance in the CMJ and SJ. A unique finding in this study was that the stronger group appeared to better use their strength and muscle structure for braking as they had significantly higher eccentric peak velocity and vertical displacement during the CMJ. This enhanced eccentric phase may have resulted in a greater production and subsequent utilization of stored elastic strain energy that led to the significantly better CMJ performance in the stronger group.

Integrating Sustainability into the Marketing Curriculum: Learning Activities that Facilitate Sustainable Marketing Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Borin, Norm; Metcalf, Lynn

2010-01-01

In response to political, social, and competitive forces, many firms are developing sustainable marketing strategies. Marketing educators can play an important role in assisting these firms by developing curricula that build the knowledge and skills required to enable marketing graduates to contribute to sustainable marketing efforts. Marketing…

Public Policy Environment: legalization and judicial activism for sustainable development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Belinda Pereira da Cunha

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the phenomenon of judicialization of environmental public policies, from the "lens" judicial activism, making sure that we can include the existence of this phenomenon in the treatment of these policies. In our post-modern era we have seen increasingly the role of the judiciary. Thus, it sought to address this issue of judicial activism against such contemporary issues as the environment, seeking to understand how the judiciary behaves in relation to environmental issues, which no longer has time to waive or give up the protection of natural resources and compliance with the principle of sustainable development. The methodology used was a literature review and secondary data collection. It was noticed a different activism in the face of environmental issues.

Active postoperative acromegaly: sustained remission after discontinuation of somatostatin analogues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Alvarez-Escola

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In patients with active acromegaly after pituitary surgery, somatostatin analogues are effective in controlling the disease and can even be curative in some cases. After treatment discontinuation, the likelihood of disease recurrence is high. However, a small subset of patients remains symptom-free after discontinuation, with normalized growth hormone (GH and insulin-like growth factor (IGF1 levels. The characteristics of patients most likely to achieve sustained remission after treatment discontinuation are not well understood, although limited evidence suggests that sustained remission is more likely in patients with lower GH and IGF1 levels before treatment withdrawal, in those who respond well to low-dose treatment, in those without evidence of adenoma on an MRI scan and/or in patients who receive long-term treatment. In this report, we describe the case of a 56-year-old female patient treated with lanreotide Autogel for 11 years. Treatment was successfully discontinued, and the patient is currently disease-free on all relevant parameters (clinical, biochemical and tumour status. The successful outcome in this case adds to the small body of literature suggesting that some well-selected patients who receive long-term treatment with somatostatin analogues may achieve sustained remission.

The Influence of Board of Directors, Independent Board of Commissioners, Leverage, and Corporate Activities To Disclosure of Sustainability Report.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eria Nissa Awalia

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This research was intended to examine the influences of board of directors, board of independent commissioner, leverage, and activity of company toward sustainability report disclosure. Sustainability Report Disclosure is the dependent variable sinthis research were measured by GRIG 3.1 Content Index and Checklists. For the independent variables in this research, using board of directors were measured by sum of directors meetings, board of in dependent commissioner were measured by proportion of independent commissioner, leverage were measured by debt to equity, activity of company were measured by total asset turnover. This research uses secondary data which is financial statement. and sustainability report from Indonesian Stock Exchange Listed Companies in 2010-2012. While the sampling method used was purposive sampling method which is overall 39 observations. This research uses multiple regression method to test the hypothesis with SPSS computer program. From the analysis performed in this research, it can be concluded that board of directors, and leverage have no significant influence to sustainability report disclosure. The other hand activity of company has positive influence and significant to sustainability report disclosure. And Board of independent commissioner has negative influence and significant to sustainability reporting disclosure.

Towards a new paradigm: Activity level balanced sustainability reporting.

Science.gov (United States)

Samudhram, Ananda; Siew, Eu-Gene; Sinnakkannu, Jothee; Yeow, Paul H P

2016-11-01

Technoeconomic paradigms based economic growth theories suggest that waves of technological innovations drove the economic growth of advanced economies. Widespread economic degradation and pollution is an unintended consequence of such growth. Tackling environmental and social issues at firm levels would help us to overcome such issues at macro-levels. Consequently, the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting approach promotes firm level economic, environmental and social performances. Incorporating Zink's (2014) 3-pillar presentation model, this paper indicates that economic, social and environmental performances tend to be reported at firm level. All three pillars are not covered evenly at the activity levels. Thus, a loophole is identified whereby excellent environmental performance at activity levels could potentially leave poor social performance undisclosed. A refinement of the TBL paradigm, whereby all three pillars are covered at the activity level, is suggested, to enhance sustainability reporting. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sustainability standards for bioenergy-A means to reduce climate change risks?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schubert, Renate; Blasch, Julia

2010-01-01

The paper discusses the importance of standards for sustainable bioenergy production. Sustainability of bioenergy production is crucial if bioenergy is supposed to contribute effectively to climate change mitigation. First, a brief overview of current bioenergy policies and of initiatives and legislation for bioenergy sustainability are given. Then, the authors show that under free market conditions undersupply of sustainable bioenergy will prevail. Two types of market failures are identified: information asymmetry and externalities in bioenergy production. Due to these market failures bioenergy is less sustainable than it could be. It is shown that mandatory certification and subsequent labeling can help to overcome the information asymmetry and lead to a more efficient market outcome since consumers can choose products according to their preferences. The authors conclude, however, that the existence of production externalities asks for stronger market intervention, for example in the form of binding minimum standards or taxes. The paper discusses the efficiency and feasibility of such policy measures and shows that mandatory certification combined with binding minimum standards can be an adequate policy choice to regulate the bioenergy market.

Motor unit recruitment and bursts of activity in the surface electromyogram during a sustained contraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Zachary A; Terry, Mary E; Mendez-Villanueva, Alberto; Litsey, Jane C; Enoka, Roger M

2008-06-01

Bursts of activity in the surface electromyogram (EMG) during a sustained contraction have been interpreted as corresponding to the transient recruitment of motor units, but this association has never been confirmed. The current study compared the timing of trains of action potentials discharged by single motor units during a sustained contraction with the bursts of activity detected in the surface EMG signal. The 20 motor units from 6 subjects [recruitment threshold, 35.3 +/- 11.3% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force] that were detected with fine wire electrodes discharged 2-9 trains of action potentials (7.2 +/- 5.6 s in duration) when recruited during a contraction that was sustained at a force below its recruitment threshold (target force, 25.4 +/- 10.6% MVC force). High-pass filtering the bipolar surface EMG signal improved its correlation with the single motor unit signal. An algorithm applied to the surface EMG was able to detect 75% of the trains of motor unit action potentials. The results indicate that bursts of activity in the surface EMG during a constant-force contraction correspond to the transient recruitment of higher-threshold motor units in healthy individuals, and these results could assist in the diagnosis and design of treatment in individuals who demonstrate deficits in motor unit activation.

The Open Access Association? EAHIL's new model for sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

McSean, Tony; Jakobsson, Arne

2009-12-01

To discover a governance structure and a business model for the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) which will be economically sustainable in the medium term, arresting a long-term gradual decline in membership numbers and implementing new revenue streams to sustain association activity. Reviewed survival strategies of other professional associations, investigated potential of emerging interactive web technologies, investigated alternative revenue streams based around the 'franchise' of the annual EAHIL conferences and workshops. A fully worked-through and costed alternative structure was produced, based on abolition of the subscription, web-based procedures and functions, increased income from advertising and sponsorship and a large measure of member participation and engagement. Statutes and Rules of Procedure were rewritten to reflect the changes. This plan was put through the Association's approval cycle and implemented in 2005. The new financial model has proved itself sustainable on the basis of the first 2 years' operations. The long-term gradual decline in membership was reversed, with membership numbers trebling across the EAHIL region. The software worked with minimal problems, including the online electoral process. With no identified precedent from other professional associations, the changes represented a considerable risk, which was justifiable because long-term projections made it clear that continuing the traditional model was not viable. The result is a larger, healthier association with a stronger link to its membership. Long-term risks include the high level of member commitment and expertise. There are also important questions about scalability-diseconomies of scale probably limit the applicability of the overall open access model to larger associations.

The Future of the Mississippi Delta: Shifting Baselines, Diminishing Resilience, and Growing Non-Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Day, J.

2017-12-01

Ecosystems and human communities of the Mississippi delta developed with predictable basin inputs, stable sea level, and as an open system with a high degree of interaction among drainage basin inputs, deltaic plain, and the coastal sea. Human activity changed altered the coast and lowered predictability. Management has become very energy intensive and dependent on cheap resources with more hard engineering and less ecological engineering. Pervasive alteration of the basin and delta and global change have altered the baseline and change is accelerating. Climate change projections include not only sea-level rise, but also more stronger hurricanes, increased large river floods, and more intense rainfall events and droughts. A sustainable Mississippi is outside of the boundaries of the current CMP.

Sustainability needs communication - German ICT-industry's strategy to promote sustainability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tobias, M. [German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media - BITKOM, Berlin (Germany); Pongratz, S. [Motorola Advanced Technology Center, Taunusstein (Germany)

2004-07-01

Information and communication technologies (ICT) lay the basis for the information society and have therefore a daily influence on almost everybody. This involves certain requirements regarding the purpose of a sustainable development as for example energy use, careful use of resources, and global compliance with social standards. However, ICT applications and their integration into business processes as well as daily private life also offer enormous potential for shaping sustainable development. Based on this realization, active companies and their associations are to play an important role in promoting new approaches for Sustainability. To this reason the German ICT-Association BITKOM together with some of the most active players in this field founded a new workgroup for International Environmental Policy and Sustainability. Main targets are the communication of an orientation towards sustainability within the own branch as well as the usage of ICT-products and services to enable sustainable development on a society basis. This covers political activities, publication of guidelines and brochures as well as the discussion of new approaches with scientists and NGOs. By critically questioning the approach within the own branch the process of a transparent communication shall be initiated, by which everybody will be able to contribute his specific part to the whole ''sustainability-puzzle''. (orig.)

Faster-higher-stronger -- greener

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, A.

2000-01-01

The Toronto Olympic Bid Committee is reported to have adopted a strong environmental orientation in its bid to bring the 2008 Olympic Games to Toronto. In a recent address, the President of the Committee outlined details of the bid's environmental component which emphasizes the role of sustainable development within the Olympics and the consequences of this orientation on the design, construction and operation of facilities. The Toronto Bid Committee has gained inspiration and momentum for its 'green bid' from the host city of the 2000 Olympic Games, Sidney, Australia, which has won widespread praise for its efforts to clean up Homebush Bay, a brownfield site long seen as a liability for the city. The Toronto Bid Committee is making itself accountable for: creating the healthiest possible conditions for the athletes, visitors and residents; designing for sustainability; protecting, restoring and enhancing human and natural habitats; conserving resources and minimizing the ecological impact of the Games; promoting innovative, technically proven Canadian environmental technology; and fostering environmental awareness and education. The Committee intends to make the environment a priority and not just an afterthought in the bidding process. It hopes to develop specific goals and where possible, quantifiable targets in non-polluting designs for all Olympic housing and sports facilities. Wherever possible renewable power such as wind, solar and fuel cells will be used, and cleaner fuels such as natural gas where green power is not a viable option

Sustainable Biofuels Development Center

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reardon, Kenneth F. [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)

2015-03-01

The mission of the Sustainable Bioenergy Development Center (SBDC) is to enhance the capability of America’s bioenergy industry to produce transportation fuels and chemical feedstocks on a large scale, with significant energy yields, at competitive cost, through sustainable production techniques. Research within the SBDC is organized in five areas: (1) Development of Sustainable Crops and Agricultural Strategies, (2) Improvement of Biomass Processing Technologies, (3) Biofuel Characterization and Engine Adaptation, (4) Production of Byproducts for Sustainable Biorefining, and (5) Sustainability Assessment, including evaluation of the ecosystem/climate change implication of center research and evaluation of the policy implications of widespread production and utilization of bioenergy. The overall goal of this project is to develop new sustainable bioenergy-related technologies. To achieve that goal, three specific activities were supported with DOE funds: bioenergy-related research initiation projects, bioenergy research and education via support of undergraduate and graduate students, and Research Support Activities (equipment purchases, travel to attend bioenergy conferences, and seminars). Numerous research findings in diverse fields related to bioenergy were produced from these activities and are summarized in this report.

Novel bio-active lipid nanocarriers for the stabilization and sustained release of sitosterol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lacatusu, I; Badea, N; Stan, R; Meghea, A

2012-01-01

In this work, new stable and efficiently bio-active lipid nanocarriers (NLCs) with antioxidant properties have been developed for the transport of active ingredients in food. The novel NLCs loaded with β-sitosterol/β-sitosterol and green tea extract (GTE) and prepared by a combination of natural oils (grape seed oil, fish oil and squalene) and biological lipids with food grade surfactants, were physico-chemically examined by DLS, TEM, electrokinetic potential, DSC and HPLC and found to have main diameters less than 200 nm, a spherical morphology, excellent physical stability, an imperfect crystalline lattice and high entrapment efficiency. The novel loaded-NLCs have demonstrated the potential to develop a high blocking action of chain reactions, trapping up to 92% of the free-oxygen radicals, as compared to the native β-sitosterol (AA%=36.5). Another advantage of this study is associated with the quality of bio-active NLCs based on grape seed oil and squalene to manifest a better sitosterol—sustained release behaviour as compared to their related nanoemulsions. By coupling both in vitro results, i.e. the enhanced antioxidant activity and superior release properties, this study emphasizes the sustainability of novel bio-active nanocarriers to gain specific bio-food features for development of functional foods with a high applicability spectrum. (paper)

Sustainability in Transport Planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gudmundsson, Henrik; Greve, Carsten

Contribution to session J: Joint University Sustainability Initiatives. This session will provide an inspiring overview of interdisciplinary research and teaching activities on sustainability bridging DTU, KU, and CBS, and introduce the joint collaboration Copenhagen Sustainability Initiative (COSI...

Sustainability Activities In The Mining Sector: Current Status And Challenges Ahead Limestone Mining In Nusakambangan

Science.gov (United States)

Ayuningrum, Theresia Vika; Purnaweni, Hartuti

2018-02-01

Potential Karst area in Nusakambangan has an important role in maintaining the balance of nature. But with the existence of mining activities, will automatically change the environmental conditions there. In order for the utilization of resources to meet the rules of optimization between the interests of mining and sustainability of the environment so in every mining sector activities required a variety of environmental studies. The purpose of this study is to find out how the analysis of environmental management due to limestone mining activities in Nusakambangan so that it can be known the management of mining areas are optimal, wise based on ecological principles, and sustainability. In qualitative research methods, data analysis using description percentage, with the type of data collected in the form of primary data and secondary data.

Sustained attention in language production: an individual differences investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Jongman, Suzanne R; Roelofs, Ardi; Meyer, Antje S

2015-01-01

Whereas it has long been assumed that most linguistic processes underlying language production happen automatically, accumulating evidence suggests that these processes do require some form of attention. Here we investigated the contribution of sustained attention: the ability to maintain alertness over time. In Experiment 1, participants' sustained attention ability was measured using auditory and visual continuous performance tasks. Subsequently, employing a dual-task procedure, participants described pictures using simple noun phrases and performed an arrow-discrimination task while their vocal and manual response times (RTs) and the durations of their gazes to the pictures were measured. Earlier research has demonstrated that gaze duration reflects language planning processes up to and including phonological encoding. The speakers' sustained attention ability correlated with the magnitude of the tail of the vocal RT distribution, reflecting the proportion of very slow responses, but not with individual differences in gaze duration. This suggests that sustained attention was most important after phonological encoding. Experiment 2 showed that the involvement of sustained attention was significantly stronger in a dual-task situation (picture naming and arrow discrimination) than in simple naming. Thus, individual differences in maintaining attention on the production processes become especially apparent when a simultaneous second task also requires attentional resources.

Physical activity, obesity and mortality: does pattern of physical activity have stronger epidemiological associations?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bauman, Adrian E.; Grunseit, Anne C.; Rangul, Vegar

2017-01-01

Background: Most studies of physical activity (PA) epidemiology use behaviour measured at a single time-point. We examined whether 'PA patterns' (consistently low, consistently high or inconsistent PA levels over time) showed different epidemiological relationships for anthropometric and mortality...... and time 3, and sport and active travel at times 1 and 2 with BMI, waist, hip circumference and mortality (death from coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD)) were compared to 'PA patterns' spanning multiple time points. PA pattern classified participants' PA as either 1) inactive......: The moderately and highly active groups for PA at times 1 and 3 had up to 1.7 cm lower increase in waist circumference compared with the inactive/low active group. Across 'PA patterns', 'active maintainers' had a 2.0 cm lower waist circumference than 'inactive/low maintainers'. Waist circumference was inversely...

Assessment of the Impact of Business Activity in Sustainability Terms. Empirical Confirmation of Its Determination in Spanish Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Luisa Pajuelo Moreno

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Because the issue of sustainability presents urgent problems crucial to the future of mankind, there has been serious discussion of the role accounting should play. In this context, a new line of research, still at a relatively unexplored, embryonic stage, has arisen, which tries to establish measurement of business sustainability and so compensate for the lack of information currently existing about the net impact of the company’s activity. Full Cost Accounting could allow sustainability to be translated into the language of business, together with analysis and comparison of its progress, so it might be the most appropriate vehicle for more participatory, democratic accounting, with greater dialogue, giving the accountant a much more active role, this being necessary in order to generalize the research, development and use. To analyze the current situation, a survey of 192 Spanish companies was carried out to obtain at first hand the perception of strategic positioning adopted with regard to Sustainable Development, measurement of the contribution of business activity to its achievement and the rendering of accounts carried out.

Activity-Based Costing Using Multicriteria Drivers: An Accounting Proposal to Boost Companies Toward Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heitor F. Marinho Neto

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Recognizing that natural environment is reaching its maximum limits in providing resources and diluting the waste generated by human production systems, efforts toward more sustainable production systems are mandatory to secure the development of future generations. For this purpose, changing the productivity model adopted by companies that are almost exclusively rooted on circulating money to generate profit, named business as usual, is an important issue. In this sense, an alternative would be establishing the relationship of stocks and flows of energy, material, and information with environmental, economic and social outcomes, thus resulting in new accounting approaches. This work aims to propose an activity-based costing (ABC based on multicriteria drivers including economic, emissions, and emergy (with an “m” values. The proposed ABC costing allocates each one of the multicriteria drivers into a specific part of the sustainability conceptual model, in an attempt to embrace a holistic perspective and allow for a sustainable-based decision, rather than considering purely economic drivers. The goal programming (GP method is considered so as to support a decision based on multicriteria aspects. Results show that the proposed accounting approach known as ABCsustain allows for decisions toward a company's sustainability by acting on both the amount and kind of a company's product that should be managed, as well as on the effective increase of a specific company's activity or process. The proposed ABCsustain could make the insertion of environmental issues into companies strategic planning more effective. It is expected that environmental issues go beyond a simple diagnoses and begin to be considered as action in factum in the companies' decisions toward achieving a more sustainable world system.

A comparison between effectiveness of three types of music on memory activity and sustained attention in schizophrenic patients

OpenAIRE

Narges bahmany; Karamatollah Zandi ghashghaee; Sadrollah Khosravi

2014-01-01

Background: schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder in which a lot of cognitive functions including memory, attention, motor skills, executive functions and intelligence are compromised. Numerous empirical studies showed that schizophrenic patients have problem in sustain retention and memory activity. The objective of this study was a comparison between effectiveness of three types of music on memory activity and sustain retention in schizophrenic patients. Material and Methods: A total of 6...

A Stronger Reason for the Right to Sign Languages

Science.gov (United States)

Trovato, Sara

2013-01-01

Is the right to sign language only the right to a minority language? Holding a capability (not a disability) approach, and building on the psycholinguistic literature on sign language acquisition, I make the point that this right is of a stronger nature, since only sign languages can guarantee that each deaf child will properly develop the…

Clay Nanoparticles Elicit Long-Term Immune Responses by Forming Biodegradable Depots for Sustained Antigen Stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Weiyu; Zuo, Huali; Li, Bei; Duan, Chengcheng; Rolfe, Barbara; Zhang, Bing; Mahony, Timothy J; Xu, Zhi Ping

2018-05-01

Nanomaterials have been widely tested as new generation vaccine adjuvants, but few evoke efficient immunoreactions. Clay nanoparticles, for example, layered double hydroxide (LDH) and hectorite (HEC) nanoparticles, have shown their potent adjuvanticity in generating effective and durable immune responses. However, the mechanism by which clay nanoadjuvants stimulate the immune system is not well understood. Here, it is demonstrated that LDH and HEC-antigen complexes form loose agglomerates in culture medium/serum. They also form nodules with loose structures in tissue after subcutaneous injection, where they act as a depot for up to 35 d. More importantly, clay nanoparticles actively and continuously recruit immune cells into the depot for up to one month, and stimulate stronger immune responses than FDA-approved adjuvants, Alum and QuilA. Sustained antigen release is also observed in clay nanoparticle depots, with 50-60% antigen released after 35 d. In contrast, Alum-antigen complexes show minimal antigen release from the depot. Importantly, LDH and HEC are more effective than QuilA and Alum in promoting memory T-cell proliferation. These findings suggest that both clay nanoadjuvants can serve as active vaccine platforms for sustained and potent immune responses. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Environmental Public Policies: Legalization and Judicial Activism for Sustainable De-velopment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Belinda Pereira Cunha

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the phenomenon of judicialization of environmental public policies, from the "lens" judicial activism, making sure that we can include the existence of this phenomenon in the treatment of these policies. In our post-modern era we have seen increasingly the role of the judiciary. Thus, we intend to address this issue of judicial activism against such contemporary issues as the environment, seeking to understand how the judiciary behaves in relation to environmental issues, which no longer has time to waive or give up the protection of natural resources and compliance with the principle of sustainable development.

Intermediaries as Innovating Actors in the Transition to a Sustainable Energy System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Backhaus

2010-07-01

Full Text Available In transitions of large sociotechnical systems, intermediary organisations can emerge as mediators in between several actor groups and facilitate communication and collaboration towards common goals. They can support the establishment of new actor networks and the articulation and alignment of interests to bring about desired changes. In this article, current efforts towards a more sustainable energy system serve as an exemplary context of intermediary work. The field under scrutiny, demand side management, aims to decrease energy consumption. Unfortunately, the role and work of intermediaries as implementers of demand side management projects often remains underappreciated.
Research into the reasons of successes and failures of intermediary work and a theoretical corroboration for their practical work can help intermediaries to improve their programme designs and implementation strategies. The EC FP7-funded Changing Behaviour project aims to support intermediaries with strategic activities to improve demand side management programmes and bring about lasting behavioural changes. Paying more attention to context, stakeholders, monitoring, evaluation and learning enables the development of tailor-made, widely supported projects with higher chances of success.
In addition to practical support for their work, intermediaries can benefit from stronger policy support. Understanding and appreciation of their work as contribution to policy implementation, e.g. towards energy saving targets, could motivate such support. A stable policy and financial environment with long-term implementation plans and funding schemes provides a fertile ground for intermediary activities. Active participation of policy actors in demand side management programmes can create networks sustaining longer-lasting change.

A comparison between effectiveness of three types of music on memory activity and sustained attention in schizophrenic patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Narges bahmany

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Background: schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder in which a lot of cognitive functions including memory, attention, motor skills, executive functions and intelligence are compromised. Numerous empirical studies showed that schizophrenic patients have problem in sustain retention and memory activity. The objective of this study was a comparison between effectiveness of three types of music on memory activity and sustain retention in schizophrenic patients. Material and Methods: A total of 60 schizophrenic patients (30 males , 30 females 18-48 years old were selected from available sampling frame. Participants were otherwise healthy except for schizophrenia. Wechsler Memory Scale and cognitive diagnostic battery Kay test were taken from all subjects. Then patients were randomly divided into three experimental groups (Iranian classic, western classic and pop music and three control groups. There were 10 participants (5 male, 5 female in each group. After taking these tests, music therapy course was performed on experimental groups. After music therapy sessions were completed, tests were taken again from groups. Results: Covariance analysis results indicated that music therapy is overall effective on memory activity. But type of music had no effect in improving memory activity. There wasn’t significant difference between groups considering type of music. Furthermore, covariance analysis showed that music therapy is totally effective on sustain retention and type of music is effective in this intervention. Pop music had the most effectiveness on schizophrenic patients in improving sustain retention. Conclusion: Performing music therapy improves memory and retention. More over, using pop music particularly has the most effect in improving sustain retention in schizophrenic patients.

Stronger vection in junior high school children than in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Shirai, Nobu; Imura, Tomoko; Tamura, Rio; Seno, Takeharu

2014-01-01

Previous studies have shown that even elementary school-aged children (7 and 11 years old) experience visually induced perception of illusory self-motion (vection) (Lepecq et al., 1995, Perception, 24, 435-449) and that children of a similar age (mean age = 9.2 years) experience more rapid and stronger vection than do adults (Shirai et al., 2012, Perception, 41, 1399-1402). These findings imply that although elementary school-aged children experience vection, this ability is subject to further development. To examine the subsequent development of vection, we compared junior high school students' (N = 11, mean age = 14.4 years) and adults' (N = 10, mean age = 22.2 years) experiences of vection. Junior high school students reported significantly stronger vection than did adults, suggesting that the perceptual experience of junior high school students differs from that of adults with regard to vection and that this ability undergoes gradual changes over a relatively long period of development.

Self-sustainability of a research reactor facility with neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chilian, C.; Kennedy, G.

2010-01-01

Long-term self-sustainability of a small reactor facility is possible because there is a large demand for non-destructive chemical analysis of bulk materials that can only be achieved with neutron activation analysis (NAA). The Ecole Polytechnique Montreal SLOWPOKE Reactor Facility has achieved self-sustainability for over twenty years, benefiting from the extreme reliability, ease of use and stable neutron flux of the SLOWPOKE reactor. The industrial clientele developed slowly over the years, mainly because of research users of the facility. A reliable NAA service with flexibility, high accuracy and fast turn-around time was achieved by developing an efficient NAA system, using a combination of the relative and k0 standardisation methods. The techniques were optimized to meet the specific needs of the client, such as low detection limit or high accuracy at high concentration. New marketing strategies are presented, which aim at a more rapid expansion. (author)

Sustainable Transportation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hall, Ralph P.; Gudmundsson, Henrik; Marsden, Greg

2014-01-01

The transportation system is the backbone of economic and social progress and the means by which humans access goods and services and connect with one another. Yet, as the scale of transportation activities has grown worldwide, so too have the negative environmental, social, and economic impacts...... that relate to the construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure and the operation or use of the different transportation modes. The concept of sustainable transportation emerged in response to these concerns as part of the broader notion of sustainable development. Given the transportation...... sector’s significant contribution to global challenges such as climate change, it is often said that sustainable development cannot be achieved without sustainable transportation....

Sustained-release progesterone vaginal suppositories 1--development of sustained-release granule--.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakayama, Ayako; Sunada, Hisakazu; Okamoto, Hirokazu; Furuhashi, Kaoru; Ohno, Yukiko; Ito, Mikio

2009-02-01

Progesterone (P) is an important hormone for the establishment of pregnancy, and its administration is useful for luteal insufficiency. Considering the problems of commercially available oral and injection drugs, hospital-formulated vaginal suppositories are clinically used. However, since the half-life of P suppositories is short, it is difficult to maintain its constant blood concentration. To sustain drug efficacy and prevent side-effects, we are attempting to develop sustained-release suppositories by examining the degree of sustained-release of active ingredients. In this study, we examined the combinations of granulation methods and release systems for the preparation of sustained-release granules of P, and produced 13 types of sustained-release granules. We also examined the diameter, content, and dissolution of each type of granules, and confirmed that the sustained-release of all types of granules was satisfactory. Among the sustained-release granules, we selected granules with a content and a degree of sustained-release suitable for sustained-release suppositories.

MULTI-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS LEARNED FROM ROUND TABLE INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huub Mudde

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Over a period of three years, Bogor Agricultural University/Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB and Maastricht School of Management (MsM have been executing the multi-annual project Round Table Indonesia, www.roundtableindonesia.net. This project aimed at contributing to the improvement of a sustainable business and investment climate in the Indonesian agricultural sector, by strengthening the knowledge capacity, formulating concrete investment opportunities, and facilitating partnerships. As a result, IPB and MsM have developed courses on sustainable business development and facilitated business projects in poultry, mangosteen, palm oil, shrimps, and tourism. All projects are based on in-depth value chain analyses and roundtable meetings with key stakeholders of government, private sector, academia, and civil society. Linking education and applied research with business development will lead to a stronger and more sustainable Indonesian agricultural sector, being of crucial importance for the Indonesian development as a whole.Keywords: Round Table Indonesia, Sustainable Business Development, Value Chain, Agricultural Sector, IPB, MSM

Aloe vera in active and passive regions of electronic devices towards a sustainable development

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Zhe Xi; Sreenivasan, Sasidharan; Wong, Yew Hoong; Cheong, Kuan Yew

2017-07-01

The increasing awareness towards sustainable development of electronics has driven the search for natural bio-organic materials in place of conventional electronic materials. The concept of using natural bio-organic materials in electronics provides not only an effective solution to address global electronic waste crisis, but also a compelling template for sustainable electronics manufacturing. This paper attempts to provide an overview of using Aloe vera gel as a natural bio-organic material for various electronic applications. Important concepts such as responses of living Aloe vera plant towards electrical stimuli and demonstrations of Aloe vera films as passive and active regions of electronic devices are highlighted in chronological order. The biodegradability and biocompatibility of Aloe vera can bring the world a step closer towards the ultimate goal of sustainable development of electronic devices from "all-natural" materials.

The Impact of Sustainable Development Technology on a Small Economy-The Case of Energy-Saving Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xiding; Huang, Qinghua; Huang, Weilun; Li, Xue

2018-02-08

We investigated the impact of a sustainable development technology on the macroeconomic variables in a small economy utilizing a case study with a stochastically improving energy saving technology and a stochastically increasing energy price. The results show the technological displacement effects of energy saving technology are stronger, but there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns to physical capital. However, the energy saving technology's displacement effects might not affect the conditions under which the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler (HLM) effect holds. The effects of rising energy prices on bonds are stronger, and there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns, but the conditions under which the HLM effect holds are different.

The Impact of Sustainable Development Technology on a Small Economy—The Case of Energy-Saving Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiding Chen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We investigated the impact of a sustainable development technology on the macroeconomic variables in a small economy utilizing a case study with a stochastically improving energy saving technology and a stochastically increasing energy price. The results show the technological displacement effects of energy saving technology are stronger, but there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns to physical capital. However, the energy saving technology’s displacement effects might not affect the conditions under which the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler (HLM effect holds. The effects of rising energy prices on bonds are stronger, and there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns, but the conditions under which the HLM effect holds are different.

The Impact of Sustainable Development Technology on a Small Economy—The Case of Energy-Saving Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Qinghua; Huang, Weilun; Li, Xue

2018-01-01

We investigated the impact of a sustainable development technology on the macroeconomic variables in a small economy utilizing a case study with a stochastically improving energy saving technology and a stochastically increasing energy price. The results show the technological displacement effects of energy saving technology are stronger, but there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns to physical capital. However, the energy saving technology’s displacement effects might not affect the conditions under which the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler (HLM) effect holds. The effects of rising energy prices on bonds are stronger, and there are more ambiguous instantaneous returns, but the conditions under which the HLM effect holds are different. PMID:29419788

Individuals with more severe depression fail to sustain nucleus accumbens activity to preferred music over time.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, Lisanne M; Skerrett, Kristy A; DelDonno, Sophie R; Patrón, Víctor G; Meyers, Kortni K; Peltier, Scott; Zubieta, Jon-Kar; Langenecker, Scott A; Starkman, Monica N

2018-05-30

We investigated the ability of preferred classical music to activate the nucleus accumbens in patients with Major depressive disorder (MDD). Twelve males with MDD and 10 never mentally ill male healthy controls (HC) completed measures of anhedonia and depression severity, and listened to 90-second segments of preferred classical music during fMRI. Compared to HCs, individuals with MDD showed less activation of the left nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Individuals with MDD showed attenuation of the left NAcc response in later compared to earlier parts of the experiment, supporting theories that MDD involves an inability to sustain reward network activation. Counter intuitively, we found that NAcc activity during early music listening was associated with greater depression severity. In whole-brain analyses, anhedonia scores predicted activity in regions within the default mode network, supporting previous findings. Our results support theories that MDD involves an inability to sustain reward network activation. It also highlights that pleasant classical music can engage critical neural reward circuitry in MDD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Regular exercisers have stronger pelvic floor muscles than nonregular exercisers at midpregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bø, Kari; Ellstrøm Engh, Marie; Hilde, Gunvor

2018-04-01

Today all healthy pregnant women are encouraged to be physically active throughout pregnancy, with recommendations to participate in at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity on most days of the week in addition to performing strength training of the major muscle groups 2-3 days per week and also pelvic floor muscle training. There is, however, an ongoing debate whether general physical activity enhances or declines pelvic floor muscle function. The objectives of the study were to compare vaginal resting pressure, pelvic floor muscle strength, and endurance in regular exercisers (exercise ≥30 minutes 3 or more times per week) and nonexercisers at midpregnancy. Furthermore, another objective was to assess whether regular general exercise or pelvic floor muscle strength was associated with urinary incontinence. This was a cross-sectional study at mean gestational week 20.9 (±1.4) including 218 nulliparous pregnant women, with a mean age of 28.6 years (range, 19-40 years) and prepregnancy body mass index of 23.9 kg/m 2 (SD, 4.0). Vaginal resting pressure, pelvic floor muscle strength, and pelvic floor muscle endurance were measured by a high-precision pressure transducer connected to a vaginal balloon. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Urinary Incontinence Short Form was used to assess urinary incontinence. Differences between groups were analyzed using an independent-sample Student t test. Linear regression analysis was conducted to adjust for prepregnancy body mass index, age, smoking during pregnancy, and regular pelvic floor muscle training during pregnancy. The significance value was set to P ≤ .05. Regular exercisers had statistically significant stronger (mean 6.4 cm H 2 O [95% confidence interval, 1.7-11.2]) and more enduring (mean 39.9 cm H 2 Osec [95% confidence interval, 42.2-75.7]) pelvic floor muscles. Only pelvic floor muscle strength remained statistically significant, when adjusting for possible confounders. Pelvic floor

LAWS AND PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL VALUE IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreea CONSTANTINESCU

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Each extension of the scope of laws and principles that allow both mathematical and statistical remodeling as well as reaffirming the appropriateness of proven methods, stirs up a special study interest. The ever-expanding computational power of laws of power offers to the scientific universe possibility of new approach to the crucial relationship between quantity and quality, between micro and macro dimensions. Boosting broadening the use of quasi-universal value theories in research in order to deepen the analysis of sustainable development indicators can lead to a greater understanding of all aspects of this area and to facilitate understanding of the arguments which underlie any responsible decision making. This assumption underlies the logical conclusion that sustainability becomes even stronger as it benefits from scientific arguments support resulting from research. Although we have confined ourselves in drafting some coordinates for application of each method presented to particular issues of sustainable development, this research theme will be strengthened and pursued through appropriate extensive analysis.

Using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to Assess and Plan for Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Mainor, Avia; Moreland-Russell, Sarah; Maier, Ryan C.; Brossart, Laura; Luke, Douglas A.

2014-01-01

Implementing and growing a public health program that benefits society takes considerable time and effort. To ensure that positive outcomes are maintained over time, program managers and stakeholders should plan and implement activities to build sustainability capacity within their programs. We describe a 3-part sustainability planning process that programs can follow to build their sustainability capacity. First, program staff and stakeholders take the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to measure their program’s sustainability across 8 domains. Next, managers and stakeholders use results from the assessment to inform and prioritize sustainability action planning. Lastly, staff members implement the plan and keep track of progress toward their sustainability goals. Through this process, staff can more holistically address the internal and external challenges and pressures associated with sustaining a program. We include a case example of a chronic disease program that completed the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool and engaged in program sustainability planning. PMID:24456644

No difference in the level of physical activity between children who have or have never sustained a fracture.

Science.gov (United States)

Randsborg, P-H; Røtterud, J H

2017-12-01

This study investigates whether children with an acute fracture have a different level of physical activity compared to children who have never sustained a fracture, as measured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for older children (PAQ-C). The PAQ-C scores of 683 children (295 girls) aged 6-12 years (mean age 9.4 years) who presented to our institution with an acute fracture were compared to the PAQ-C scores of 151 random children (81 girls) aged 6-12 years (mean 9.1 years) in the same area who had never sustained a fracture. Multivariate regression analysis was employed, controlling for age and gender. The mean PAQ-C score of the children who presented to the institution with an acute fracture was 2.85 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.80-2.91). For the children who had never sustained a fracture, the mean PAQ-C score was 2.78 (95% CI, 2.69-2.87). If there is a true difference in the level of physical activity between children who have or have never sustained a fracture, the PAQ-C questionnaire is not sensitive enough to identify it. © 2016 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Specificities of sustainable tourism planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jegdić Vaso

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In the past two decades, companies have been mentioning achievement of sustainability in their activities as a target of companies, governments and non-profit organizations, although measuring the degree to which an organization conducts its activities in a sustainable manner, can be very difficult. Sustainable tourism development requires a process of planning and management that will unite the interests of various stakeholders in a sustainable and strategic way. It requires an understanding of the meaning of sustainable development and guiding values for promoting sustainable tourism. The paper points to the importance of cross-sector partnerships and the roles of different stakeholders in the planning of sustainable tourism projects. Special importance is given to the community of which a willingness to understand the impacts of tourism industry is expected, as well as various procedures of engagement in participatory planning, consensus building and conflict resolution among all stakeholders. The aim of this research is to find an optimal model of planning of sustainable tourism projects that would take into consideration the interests of all stakeholders and reflect the specificities imposed by the acceptance of the concept of sustainable development by all participants in the project.

ORNL Annual Sustainability Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lapsa, Melissa Voss [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Nichols, Teresa A. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2014-02-01

As described in this report, we have made substantial progress across the 25 roadmaps of the Sustainable Campus Initiative. The report also outlines our plans to continue integrating sustainable practices into the planning, execution, and evaluation of all ORNL activities. We appreciate your interest in our journey to sustainability, and we welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Sustained antimicrobial activity and reduced toxicity of oxidative biocides through biodegradable microparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Sofokleous, Panagiotis; Ali, Shanom; Wilson, Peter; Buanz, Asma; Gaisford, Simon; Mistry, Dharmit; Fellows, Adrian; Day, Richard M

2017-12-01

The spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens requires new treatments. Small molecule precursor compounds that produce oxidative biocides with well-established antimicrobial properties could provide a range of new therapeutic products to combat resistant infections. The aim of this study was to investigate a novel biomaterials-based approach for the manufacture, targeted delivery and controlled release of a peroxygen donor (sodium percarbonate) combined with an acetyl donor (tetraacetylethylenediamine) to deliver local antimicrobial activity via a dynamic equilibrium mixture of hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid. Entrapment of the pre-cursor compounds into hierarchically structured degradable microparticles was achieved using an innovative dry manufacturing process involving thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) that circumvented compound decomposition associated with conventional microparticle manufacture. The microparticles provided controlled release of hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid that led to rapid and sustained killing of multiple drug-resistant organisms (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli) without associated cytotoxicity in vitro nor intracutaneous reactivity in vivo. The results from this study demonstrate for the first time that microparticles loaded with acetyl and peroxygen donors retain their antimicrobial activity whilst eliciting no host toxicity. In doing so, it overcomes the detrimental effects that have prevented oxidative biocides from being used as alternatives to conventional antibiotics. The manuscript explores a novel approach to utilize the antimicrobial activity of oxidative species for sustained killing of multiple drug-resistant organisms without causing collateral tissue damage. The results demonstrate, for the first time, the ability to load pre-cursor compounds into porous polymeric structures that results in their release and conversion into oxidative species in a

University involvement in sustainability initiatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lehmann, Martin; Christensen, Per; Thrane, Mikkel

2007-01-01

With an outset in the case of Aalborg University, the linkages (actual, potential and missing) between academic work in research & education and sustainability initiatives are explored. The focus is both on the university's core activities as a provider of research and education and on the univer......With an outset in the case of Aalborg University, the linkages (actual, potential and missing) between academic work in research & education and sustainability initiatives are explored. The focus is both on the university's core activities as a provider of research and education...... and on the university's activities as an organisation, i.e. its own operation and its accounting for this. Sustainability is defined as a continuous process requiring balance between (the emergence of) problems and our ability and capability to solve them. Some core questions that this paper seeks to answer are: "How...... is Sustainable Development understood at executive level at the university? How (if at all) is sustainable development integrated in the core activities of the university? How is the university attached to ‘real life outside the ivory tower', e.g. through the establishing of Public-Private-Academic Partnerships...

Sustainability Smarts: Best Practices for College Unions and Student Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Stringer, Elizabeth

2008-01-01

Colleges and universities around the world are enacting sustainable initiatives. Some are signing the American College and University President's Climate Committment, while others are being recognized by STARS (Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment, & Rating System). Despite what level of dedication to sustainability an institution might have, it…

Alkali-Activated Mortars for Sustainable Building Solutions: Effect of Binder Composition on Technical Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnese Attanasio

2018-02-01

Full Text Available There is a growing interest in the construction sector in the use of sustainable binders as an alternative to ordinary Portland cement, the production of which is highly impacting on the environment, due to high carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption. Alkali-activated binders, especially those resulting from low-cost industrial by-products, such as coal fly ash or metallurgical slag, represent a sustainable option for cement replacement, though their use is more challenging, due to some technological issues related to workability or curing conditions. This paper presents sustainable alkali-activated mortars cured in room conditions and based on metakaolin, fly ash, and furnace slag (both by-products resulting from local sources and relevant blends, aiming at their real scale application in the building sector. The effect of binder composition—gradually adjusted taking into consideration technical and environmental aspects (use of industrial by-products in place of natural materials in the view of resources saving—on the performance (workability, compressive strength of different mortar formulations, is discussed in detail. Some guidelines for the design of cement-free binders are given, taking into consideration the effect of each investigated alumino-silicate component. The technical feasibility to produce the mortars with standard procedures and equipment, the curing in room conditions, the promising results achieved in terms of workability and mechanical performance (from 20.0 MPa up to 52.0 MPa, confirm the potential of such materials for practical applications (masonry mortars of class M20 and Md. The cement-free binders resulting from this study can be used as reference for the development of mortars and concrete formulations for sustainable building materials production.

SCOPEOUT: sustainability and spread of quality improvement activities in long-term care- a mixed methods approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Cranley, Lisa A; Hoben, Matthias; Yeung, Jasper; Estabrooks, Carole A; Norton, Peter G; Wagg, Adrian

2018-03-12

Interventions to improve quality of care for residents of long-term care facilities, and to examine the sustainability and spread of such initiatives, remain a top research priority. The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the extent to which activities initiated in a quality improvement (QI) collaborative study using care aide led teams were sustained or spread following cessation of the initial project and to identify factors that led to its success. This study used an exploratory mixed methods study design and was conducted in seven residential long-term care facilities in two Canadian provinces. Sustainability and spread of QI activities were assessed by a questionnaire over five time points for 18 months following the collaborative study with staff from both intervention with non-intervention units. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with care managers at six and 12 months. QI team success in applying the QI model was ranked as high, medium, or low using criteria developed by the research team. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and General Estimating Equations were used to analyze the data. Interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis. In total, 683 surveys were received over the five time periods from 476 unique individuals on a facility unit. Seven managers were interviewed. A total of 533 surveys were analyzed. While both intervention and non-intervention units experienced a decline over time in all outcome measures, this decline was significantly less pronounced on intervention units. Facilities with medium and high success ranking had significantly higher scores in all four outcomes than facilities with a low success ranking. Care aides reported significantly less involvement of others in QI activities, less empowerment and less satisfaction with the quality of their work life than regulated care providers. Manager interviews provided evidence of sustainability of QI activities on the intervention units in four of

Sustainable Consumption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Røpke, Inge

2015-01-01

The intention of this chapter is to explore the role of consumption and consumers in relation to sustainability transition processes and wider systemic transformations. In contrast to the individualistic focus in much research on sustainable consumption, the embeddedness of consumption activities...... in wider social, economic and technological frameworks is emphasised. In particular, the chapter is inspired by practice theory and transition theory. First, various trends in consumption are outlined to highlight some of the challenges for sustainability transitions. Then, it is discussed how consumption...... patterns are shaped over time and what should be considered in sustainability strategies. While discussions on consumption often take their point of departure in the perspective of the individual and then zoom to the wider context, the present approach is the opposite. The outline starts with the basic...

States agree on stronger physical protection regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

Full text: Delegates from 89 countries agreed on 8 July to fundamental changes that will substantially strengthen the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM). IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei welcomed the agreement in saying 'This new and stronger treaty is an important step towards greater nuclear security by combating, preventing, and ultimately punishing those who would engage in nuclear theft, sabotage or even terrorism. It demonstrates that there is indeed a global commitment to remedy weaknesses in our nuclear security regime.' The amended CPPNM makes it legally binding for States Parties to protect nuclear facilities and material in peaceful domestic use, storage as well as transport. It will also provide for expanded cooperation between and among States regarding rapid measures to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, mitigate any radiological consequences of sabotage, and prevent and combat related offences. The original CPPNM applied only to nuclear material in international transport. Conference President Dr. Alec Baer said 'All 89 delegations demonstrated real unity of purpose. They put aside some very genuine national concerns in favour of the global interest and the result is a much improved convention that is better suited to addressing the nuclear security challenges we currently face.' The new rules will come into effect once they have been ratified by two-thirds of the 112 States Parties of the Convention, expected to take several years. 'But concrete actions are already taking place around the world. For more than 3 years, the IAEA has been implementing a systematic Nuclear Security plan, including physical protection activities designed to prevent, detect and respond to malicious acts,' said Anita Nillson, Director of the IAEA's Office of Nuclear Security. The Agency's Nuclear Security Fund, set up after the events of 9/11, has delivered $19.5 million in practical assistance to 121 countries

Iron-Catalyzed C-O Bond Activation: Opportunity for Sustainable Catalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Bisz, Elwira; Szostak, Michal

2017-10-23

Oxygen-based electrophiles have emerged as some of the most valuable cross-coupling partners in organic synthesis due to several major strategic and environmental benefits, such as abundance and potential to avoid toxic halide waste. In this context, iron-catalyzed C-O activation/cross-coupling holds particular promise to achieve sustainable catalytic protocols due to its natural abundance, inherent low toxicity, and excellent economic and ecological profile. Recently, tremendous progress has been achieved in the development of new methods for functional-group-tolerant iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions by selective C-O cleavage. These methods establish highly attractive alternatives to traditional cross-coupling reactions by using halides as electrophilic partners. In particular, new easily accessible oxygen-based electrophiles have emerged as substrates in iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, which significantly broaden the scope of this catalysis platform. New mechanistic manifolds involving iron catalysis have been established; thus opening up vistas for the development of a wide range of unprecedented reactions. The synthetic potential of this sustainable mode of reactivity has been highlighted by the development of new strategies in the construction of complex motifs, including in target synthesis. The most recent advances in sustainable iron-catalyzed cross-coupling of C-O-based electrophiles are reviewed, with a focus on both mechanistic aspects and synthetic utility. It should be noted that this catalytic manifold provides access to motifs that are often not easily available by other methods, such as the assembly of stereodefined dienes or C(sp 2 )-C(sp 3 ) cross-couplings, thus emphasizing the synthetic importance of this mode of reactivity. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

From Corporate Social Responsibility to Corporate Sustainability: Features of Financing Sustainable Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasylchuk Irуna P.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The theoretical basis of the concepts of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development are studied. It is revealed that scientists mainly distinguish two main stages in the evolution of the concept of corporate social responsibility. There argued the expediency of singling out the third stage of the development of the concept (version CSR 2.0, which is characterized by the integration of the theoretical and practical foundations of the concepts of CSR and sustainable development as well as by their implementation into activities of corporations. The presence of the necessary prerequisites for singling out the new stage in the evolution of these concepts (version CSR 3.0, which is based on the provisions of the collaborative theory and provides for the cooperation of social enterprises and sustainable corporations in achieving the goals of sustainable development, is revealed, its expediency is justified. The determinant of the stage is the use of opportunities for sustainable development, the dominant is the social orientation, and its content is characterized by the slogan “doing common good to do common well”. Using generalization, there identified the features of the established models of sustainable development of corporations by key aspects (goals, principles, methods. On this basis, the features of approaches to financing sustainable development at the macro and micro levels are determined, and the principles for financing the activities of corporations in the new conditions are defined. It is concluded that achieving sustainability requires an effective system of financing corporate measures aimed at sustainable development, for the creation of which in Ukraine it is necessary to use the experience of “best practices” at the national, local and corporate levels.

Partnering for a greener community, Virginia Tech, the Town of Blacksburg, and Sustainable Blacksburg present Sustainability Week 2008

OpenAIRE

Harris, Jennifer

2008-01-01

Virginia Tech, the Town of Blacksburg and Sustainable Blacksburg have partnered to present Sustainability Week 2008, Oct. 20 through 25. During Sustainability Week more than 20 activities, events and tours, focused on building and sustaining a greener community, have been scheduled.

Sustainable housing as part of sustainable development - visions and experiences from Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

2010-01-01

The paper discusses different approaches to sustainable development with main focus on sustainable housing, but also local climate activities with focus on transportation, food and local businesses are discussed. The focus in the paper is mainly on experiences from Denmark. The paper starts out...... with a short introduction to theoretical approaches to analyses of sustainable housing and other sustainability initiatives as innovation processes. Afterwards some social and political characteristics of Denmark are presented and one of the recent sustainability initiatives in Denmark, the climate plan from...... the Danish Society of Engineers is described. The second part of the paper discusses Danish sustainable housing strategies focusing on new houses and refurbishment of existing houses. Finally some recent experiences from a local climate cooperation between a technical university, a municipal administration...

Dual fluorescent molecular substrates selectively report the activation, sustainability and reversibility of cellular PKB/Akt activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Duanwen; Bai, Mingfeng; Tang, Rui; Xu, Baogang; Ju, Xiaoming; Pestell, Richard G; Achilefu, Samuel

2013-01-01

Using a newly developed near-infrared (NIR) dye that fluoresces at two different wavelengths (dichromic fluorescence, DCF), we discovered a new fluorescent substrate for Akt, also known as protein kinase B, and a method to quantitatively report this enzyme's activity in real time. Upon insulin activation of cellular Akt, the enzyme multi-phosphorylated a single serine residue of a diserine DCF substrate in a time-dependent manner, culminating in monophospho- to triphospho-serine products. The NIR DCF probe was highly selective for the Akt1 isoform, which was demonstrated using Akt1 knockout cells derived from MMTV-ErbB2 transgenic mice. The DCF mechanism provides unparalleled potential to assess the stimulation, sustainability, and reversibility of Akt activation longitudinally. Importantly, NIR fluorescence provides a pathway to translate findings from cells to living organisms, a condition that could eventually facilitate the use of these probes in humans.

Intermittent but not sustained hypoxia activates orexin-containing neurons in mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamaguchi, Keiji; Futatsuki, Takahiro; Ushikai, Jumpei; Kuroki, Chiharu; Minami, Toshiaki; Kakihana, Yasuyuki; Kuwaki, Tomoyuki

2015-01-15

Hypothalamic orexin-containing neurons are activated by CO2 and contribute to hypercapnic ventilatory activation. However, their role in oxygen-related regulation of breathing is not well defined. In this study, we examined whether an experimental model mimicking apnea-induced repetitive hypoxemia (intermittent hypoxia [IH]) activates orexin-containing neurons. Mice were exposed to IH (5×5min at 10% O2), intermittent hyperoxia (IO; 5×5min at 50% O2), sustained hypoxia (SH; 25min at 10% O2), or sham stimulation. Their brains were examined using double immunohistochemical staining for orexin and c-Fos. The results indicated that IH (25.8±3.0%), but not SH (9.0±1.5%) activated orexin-containing neurons when compared to IO (5.5±0.6%) and sham stimulation (5.9±1.4%). These results correlate with those of our previous work showing that IH-induced respiratory long-term facilitation is dependent on orexin-containing neurons. Taken together, orexin contributes to repetitive hypoxia-induced respiratory activation and the hypoxic activation of orexin-containing neurons is pattern dependent. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Promoting healthy eating, active play and sustainability consciousness in early childhood curricula, addressing the Ben10™ problem: a randomised control trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Skouteris, Helen; Edwards, Susan; Rutherford, Leonie; Cutter-MacKenzie, Amy; Huang, Terry; O'Connor, Amanda

2014-06-03

This paper details the research protocol for a study funded by the Australian Research Council. An integrated approach towards helping young children respond to the significant pressures of '360 degree marketing' on their food choices, levels of active play, and sustainability consciousness via the early childhood curriculum is lacking. The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of curriculum interventions that educators design when using a pedagogical communication strategy on children's knowledge about healthy eating, active play and the sustainability consequences of their toy food and toy selections. This cluster-randomised trial will be conducted with 300, 4 to 5 year-old children attending pre-school. Early childhood educators will develop a curriculum intervention using a pedagogical communication strategy that integrates content knowledge about healthy eating, active play and sustainability consciousness and deliver this to their pre-school class. Children will be interviewed about their knowledge of healthy eating, active play and the sustainability consequences of their food and toy selections. Parents will complete an Eating and Physical Activity Questionnaire rating their children's food preferences, digital media viewing and physical activity habits. All measures will be administered at baseline, the end of the intervention and 6 months post intervention. Informed consent will be obtained from all parents and the pre-school classes will be allocated randomly to the intervention or wait-list control group. This study is the first to utilise an integrated pedagogical communication strategy developed specifically for early childhood educators focusing on children's healthy eating, active play, and sustainability consciousness. The significance of the early childhood period, for young children's learning about healthy eating, active play and sustainability, is now unquestioned. The specific teaching and learning practices used by early

Conceptualising sustainability assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pope, Jenny; Annandale, David; Morrison-Saunders, Angus

2004-01-01

Sustainability assessment is being increasingly viewed as an important tool to aid in the shift towards sustainability. However, this is a new and evolving concept and there remain very few examples of effective sustainability assessment processes implemented anywhere in the world. Sustainability assessment is often described as a process by which the implications of an initiative on sustainability are evaluated, where the initiative can be a proposed or existing policy, plan, programme, project, piece of legislation, or a current practice or activity. However, this generic definition covers a broad range of different processes, many of which have been described in the literature as 'sustainability assessment'. This article seeks to provide some clarification by reflecting on the different approaches described in the literature as being forms of sustainability assessment, and evaluating them in terms of their potential contributions to sustainability. Many of these are actually examples of 'integrated assessment', derived from environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA), but which have been extended to incorporate social and economic considerations as well as environmental ones, reflecting a 'triple bottom line' (TBL) approach to sustainability. These integrated assessment processes typically either seek to minimise 'unsustainability', or to achieve TBL objectives. Both aims may, or may not, result in sustainable practice. We present an alternative conception of sustainability assessment, with the more ambitious aim of seeking to determine whether or not an initiative is actually sustainable. We term such processes 'assessment for sustainability'. 'Assessment for sustainability' firstly requires that the concept of sustainability be well-defined. The article compares TBL approaches and principles-based approaches to developing such sustainability criteria, concluding that the latter are more appropriate, since they avoid many

Polycomb-group genes sustaining the stem cell activity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takihara, Yoshihiro

2006-01-01

Polycomb-group genes (PcG) have a role in constituting the cellular memory mechanisms through which the once expressed phenotypes during development are transmitted thereafter and this review describes, together with authors' findings of sustaining hematopoietic stem cell activity by the PcG products, what molecular bases, involving the control of histone code, are concerned in the memory. Recent investigations have gradually elucidated the outline of epigenetic control mechanisms of the memory: messages are set up as a histone code in the chromatin and the PcG complex recruited by recognition of the code regulates the chromatin structure leading to DNA transcription and maintenance of the phenotype. Proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells ex vivo will be possible if exact and detailed mechanisms for PcG are made clear in future. Such ex vivo techniques are especially awaited for marrow remodeling treatment of hematopoietic failure induced by radiation exposure. (T.I.)

A New Agenda for Sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard Nielsen, Kurt

Two decades after the Brundtland Commission's Report "Our Common Future" adopted the concept of 'sustainable development', this book provides a renewal of the concept exploring the potential for new practices and fields for those involved in sustainability activity. The book addresses a number...... on sustainability. The material dealt with in the book offers a wide variety of perspectives on sustainability and reflects the importance of interdisciplinary and transdiciplinary work in the field. Suggesting targets for future analytical and political efforts in achieving global sustainability, this book offers...

ECO-SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ROMANIAN TOURISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MARIANA BĂLAN

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In a changing world, the development of eco-sustainable tourism is manifested in the form of interaction of elements compatible with each other in various dimensions: economic, environmental, human, technological, environmental, ethical, etc. Through eco-sustainable tourism aims to satisfy the present needs of tourists in favor and not in detrimental to the interests of future generations, along with educating them in the spirit of reducing negative environmental impacts. This paper provides a brief overview of the tourism - ecology - sustainable development relationship, by highlighting the evolutionary theoretical considerations regarding the concept of tourism, the need for sustainable tourism development, the ecology as a priority in the development and integration of tourism activities within the coordinates the eco-sustainable development. It also discusses the main indicators used to characterize the tourism activities in Romania in the context of eco-sustainable development.

Stronger misdirection in curved than in straight motion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge eOtero-Millan

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Illusions developed by magicians are a rich and largely untapped source of insight into perception and cognition. Here we show that curved motion, as employed by the magician in a classic sleight of hand trick, generates stronger misdirection than rectilinear motion, and that this difference can be explained by the differential engagement of the smooth pursuit and the saccadic oculomotor systems. This research moreover exemplifies how the magician’s intuitive understanding of the spectator’s mindset can surpass that of the cognitive scientist in specific instances, and that observation-based behavioral insights developed by magicians are worthy of quantitative investigation in the neuroscience laboratory.

Local people's knowledge with regard to land use activities in southwest Madagascar - Conceptual insights for sustainable land management.

Science.gov (United States)

Fritz-Vietta, Nadine V M; Tahirindraza, H Stone; Stoll-Kleemann, Susanne

2017-09-01

Environmental conditions in the Mahafaly Plateau region in southwest Madagascar are harsh, with a long dry season and a short rainy season. The local people's land use capabilities and skills are adapted to these conditions. Nevertheless, they are currently confronted by drastic climatic changes, including longer dry seasons, which have resulted in food and water scarcities. It is therefore essential to ensure sustainable land management in the region. At present, the main land use activities are agriculture, livestock farming, natural resource collection including timber and non-timber forest products, and the practice of local customs. Land use activities have always resulted in land conversion, yet over time this ecological transformation also leads to the accumulation of knowledge. The aim of the present article is therefore twofold. First, it aims to examine local people's knowledge with regard to land use activities and the transmission of this knowledge from one generation to the next; second, it considers the extent to which local people's knowledge may contribute to the development of sustainable land management. Our research is based on more than 80 qualitative interviews with local inhabitants of the Mahafaly Plateau region. Our analysis of local people's knowledge identifies four categories: ecological knowledge, knowledge related to natural resource usage, knowledge of names, and the interconnection between knowledge and belief. Furthermore, these knowledge categories provide conceptual insights for sustainable land management. Along with the long-term persistence of natural resources and their functions and the satisfaction of basic needs through resource usage, both the recognition of mental images as a regulating mechanism and the maintenance of the relation between the natural and the supernatural world have a role to play in sustainable land management in the study area. Local knowledge transmission processes serve to foster ongoing learning and

Bell inequalities stronger than the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality for three-level isotropic states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Tsuyoshi; Imai, Hiroshi; Avis, David

2006-01-01

We show that some two-party Bell inequalities with two-valued observables are stronger than the CHSH inequality for 3x3 isotropic states in the sense that they are violated by some isotropic states in the 3x3 system that do not violate the CHSH inequality. These Bell inequalities are obtained by applying triangular elimination to the list of known facet inequalities of the cut polytope on nine points. This gives a partial solution to an open problem posed by Collins and Gisin. The results of numerical optimization suggest that they are candidates for being stronger than the I 3322 Bell inequality for 3x3 isotropic states. On the other hand, we found no Bell inequalities stronger than the CHSH inequality for 2x2 isotropic states. In addition, we illustrate an inclusion relation among some Bell inequalities derived by triangular elimination

Sustainability Science Needs Sustainable Data!

Science.gov (United States)

Downs, R. R.; Chen, R. S.

2013-12-01

Sustainability science (SS) is an 'emerging field of research dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability: meeting the needs of present and future generations while substantially reducing poverty and conserving the planet's life support systems' (Kates, 2011; Clark, 2007). Bettencourt & Kaur (2011) identified more than 20,000 scientific papers published on SS topics since the 1980s with more than 35,000 distinct authors. They estimated that the field is currently growing exponentially, with the number of authors doubling approximately every 8 years. These scholars are undoubtedly using and generating a vast quantity and variety of data and information for both SS research and applications. Unfortunately we know little about what data the SS community is actually using, and whether or not the data that SS scholars generate are being preserved for future use. Moreover, since much SS research is conducted by cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional teams, often scattered around the world, there could well be increased risks of data loss, reduced data quality, inadequate documentation, and poor long-term access and usability. Capabilities and processes therefore need to be established today to support continual, reliable, and efficient preservation of and access to SS data in the future, especially so that they can be reused in conjunction with future data and for new studies not conceived in the original data collection activities. Today's long-term data stewardship challenges include establishing sustainable data governance to facilitate continuing management, selecting data to ensure that limited resources are focused on high priority SS data holdings, securing sufficient rights to allow unforeseen uses, and preparing data to enable use by future communities whose specific research and information needs are not yet known. Adopting sustainable models for archival

Comparing the International Knowledge Flow of China’s Wind and Solar Photovoltaic (PV Industries: Patent Analysis and Implications for Sustainable Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan Zhou

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Climate-relevant technologies, like wind and solar energy, are crucial for mitigating climate change and for achieving sustainable development. Recent literature argues that Chinese solar firms play more active roles in international knowledge flows, which may better explain their success in international markets when compared to those of Chinese wind firms; however, empirical evidence remains sparse. This study aims to explore to what extent and how do the international knowledge flows differ between China’s wind and solar photovoltaic (PV industries? From a network perspective, this paper develops a three-dimensional framework to compare the knowledge flows in both explicit and tacit dimensions: (i inter-country explicit knowledge clusters (by topological clustering of patent citation network; (ii inter-firm explicit knowledge flow (patent citation network of key firms; and, (iii inter-firm tacit knowledge flow (by desktop research and interviews. The results show that China’s PV industry has stronger international knowledge linkages in terms of knowledge clustering and explicit knowledge flow, but the wind power industry has a stronger tacit knowledge flow. Further, this study argues that the differences of global knowledge links between China’s wind and solar PV industries may be caused by technology characteristics, market orientation, and policy implementation. This suggests that these industries both have strong connections to global knowledge networks, but they may involve disparate catch-up pathways that concern follower-modes and leader-modes. These findings are important to help us understand how China can follow sustainable development pathways in the light of climate change.

QUALITY MILESTONES OF THE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomescu Ada Mirela

2014-12-01

Full Text Available At this stage there are numerous studies about how tourism activity is related and affects the environment. The purpose of this paper is to examine theoretically, and to analyse activities that occur in hotels, linking this activity to the principles and activities that reduce the tourism negative environmental impact. When we have the objective to discuss sustainable development we must balance between a trilogies that enclose the following three concepts: economic, social/ equity and ecology/environment. In fact in our opinion we agree that “sustainable development is a fractal” concept. Sustainable development is examined here, specifically - taking account of the activity of accommodation in hotels, and also the frame that such activity must integrates. The principles of sustainable development are the most important factors beside clients` expectations, such that to maintain a standard that not only is high, so the coefficients satisfy tourists, but to suit the requirements sustainability, which in this instance means rationalization repeated on different levels and plans (this concerns to energy consumption, water, to waste disposal, etc.. The relationship between tourism and the environment is particular complex, since these two factors are interrelated, and each of them is, at their turn characterised by complexity and variability. The fundamental premise for a friendly, high quality tourism is harmony on the one hand, with the operators (for sustainable development and secondly with tourists (for a correct use of the facilities. As a syntagma, this can mean: the promotion and adoption of "green behaviour". It is believed today that more and more hoteliers should adopt this behaviour, an ecological framework in which hotel has the benefits of normal economic activity, showing competitiveness, but customer satisfaction in the highest grade (quality remains the central plan in spite of rigors required by the so-called: "green behaviour

Inhibition of proteases activity in intestine needs a sustainable acidic environment rather than a transient.

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Chang; Xing, Jin-Feng; Ge, Zhi-Qiang

2017-10-01

α-Chymotrypsin (α-CT) and trypsin are important components of the enzymatic barrier. They could degrade the therapeutic proteins and peptides, inhibit their activity consequently, and thereby reduce their oral bioavailability. Acidic agents, as one type of indirect protease inhibitors, have shown proof of concept in clinical trials. We report here the inactivated proteases due to acid influence can be reactivated immediately by environmental pH recovery regardless of how long the inactivation last. To keep the inactivation time of proteases for 4-5 h, we designed and prepared a sustained-release tablet containing citric acid (CA) which can effectively reduce the pH below 5.0 and maintain it for 5 h in the dissolution-reaction medium. The activity of α-CT and trypsin was quantified by analyzing the residual amount of their respective substrates BTEE and TAME. More than 80% of the substrates were survived in 5.0 h of incubation, whereas the common tablet inhibited the proteases activity for only two hours in the same experimental medium. It indicates that the sustained-release tablet loaded with CA can efficiently inhibit the α-CT and trypsin activity longer than the common tablet. The results will be beneficial for designing and formulating the peroral administration of peptide and protein drugs.

Sustainability and Organizational Change

OpenAIRE

Sitnikov, Catălina

2012-01-01

The relevant and, above all, remarkable feature of sustainability is due to its "duality": on the one hand, it is an indispensable element within the companies even if, on the other hand, it increases the costs of many activities and processes. Facing the challenge of sustainability will determine and create, in the coming years, emerging organizational forms. If ten years ago, many managers clearly expressed their doubts regarding the financial feasibility of sustainability, today, they admi...

On sustainable development of population and national economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, X

1995-01-01

This article offers a strategy for achieving sustainable development of population and the national economy in China. It is argued that economic growth and population growth must be in balance and coordinated. In 1993 it was estimated that a national economic growth rate of 4.03-4.60% was needed in order to balance the natural population growth rate of 1.15% at the existing standard of living. When the national economy grows faster than population in the life expectancy time period, overpopulation can be checked. Population must be balanced with sufficient means for subsistence. The key measure of sustainable development is the ratio between the size of the working-age population and the means of production. The number of people in the labor force is positively related to fixed assets and negatively related to the labor force's technical equipment. China's problems include weak industrial fixed assets, a surplus labor force, and slow growth in industrial and agricultural productivity. Potential solutions are to shift employment from a cultivation-oriented rural economy to a diversified rural economy, to increase the pace of change to an industrial and commercial economy, and to increase the pace of change to nonmaterial production and to raising employment efficiency. Solutions are dependent upon improvement in the quality of population, which means increased levels of education. China still has 181,610,00 people who are illiterate or semi-illiterate among the working-age population. Sustainable development also relies on active promotion of social support for the elderly by a pension system, family support, and reemployment of the elderly. Surplus labor should be absorbed by the service industry. Population structure and economic development are more advanced in coastal areas that have 41% of total population. Inland areas should develop labor-intensive, technology-intensive, and investment-intensive industries. Northwest areas need an educated population

Sustainability Report: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 2003 -- 2004

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2004-09-01

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Sustainability Report for 2003-2004 highlights the Laboratory's comprehensive sustainability activities. These efforts demonstrate NREL's progress toward achieving overall sustainability goals. Sustainability is an inherent centerpiece of the Laboratory's work. NREL's mission--to develop renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices and transfer knowledge and innovations to address the nation's energy and environmental goals--is synergistic with sustainability. The Laboratory formalized its sustainability activities in 2000, building on earlier ideas--this report summarizes the status of activities in water use, energy use, new construction, green power, transportation, recycling, environmentally preferable purchasing, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental management.

Sustained apnea induces endothelial activation.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichhorn, Lars; Dolscheid-Pommerich, Ramona; Erdfelder, Felix; Ayub, Muhammad Ajmal; Schmitz, Theresa; Werner, Nikos; Jansen, Felix

2017-09-01

Apnea diving has gained worldwide popularity, even though the pathophysiological consequences of this challenging sport on the human body are poorly investigated and understood. This study aims to assess the influence of sustained apnea in healthy volunteers on circulating microparticles (MPs) and microRNAs (miRs), which are established biomarkers reflecting vascular function. Short intermittent hypoxia due to voluntary breath-holding affects circulating levels of endothelial cell-derived MPs (EMPs) and endothelial cell-derived miRs. Under dry laboratory conditions, 10 trained apneic divers performed maximal breath-hold. Venous blood samples were taken, once before and at 4 defined points in time after apnea. Samples were analyzed for circulating EMPs and endothelial miRs. Average apnea time was 329 seconds (±103), and SpO 2 at the end of apnea was 79% (±12). Apnea was associated with a time-dependent increase of circulating endothelial cell-derived EMPs and endothelial miRs. Levels of circulating EMPs in the bloodstream reached a peak 4 hours after the apnea period and returned to baseline levels after 24 hours. Circulating miR-126 levels were elevated at all time points after a single voluntary maximal apnea, whereas miR-26 levels were elevated significantly only after 30 minutes and 4 hours. Also miR-21 and miR-92 levels increased, but did not reach the level of significance. Even a single maximal breath-hold induces acute endothelial activation and should be performed with great caution by subjects with preexisting vascular diseases. Voluntary apnea might be used as a model to simulate changes in endothelial function caused by hypoxia in humans. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sustainability dilemmas in emerging economies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rama K. Jayanti

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Increasing evidence of climate change is forcing businesses to play an active role in reducing sustainability burdens and preserving resources for future generations. Extant research on sustainability has an exclusive focus on developed countries with stringent environmental regulations and activist scrutiny. Emerging markets present interesting dilemmas since rapid mass urbanisation aimed at raising standards of living poses concomitant threats to environmental health. This round table aimed to showcase best practices in sustainability within the Indian business context. Insights from the discussion regarding sustainability dilemmas provide a fertile ground for bench marking global sustainability best practices.

How long can austerity persist? The factors that sustain fiscal consolidations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Lodge

2013-06-01

Full Text Available To put public debt on a sustainable path, many governments face the task of enacting large fiscal consolidation followed by years of sustained primary surpluses. By estimating hazard functions for the duration of consolidations, we analyse the features of past consolidation efforts across a panel of advanced economies. Our contribution is to identify the factors that help to start and sustain consolidations, separately discussing governments’ “commitment” to the cause as well as their “capacity” for action. Our analysis suggests that longer consolidations are initiated when public debt is high, fiscal deficits are large, the interest burden heavy and long-term sovereign bond yields elevated. However, we also find that a countries’ “capacity” to change course is important. Higher initial private sector savings, a stronger external balance, a competitive position and stable financial conditions appear to provide more scope for governments to sustain longer-lasting consolidations. Once we have controlled for the initial macroeconomic conditions, there is a lesser role for governments’ commitment as reflected in factors such as the composition and the pace of the fiscal adjustment or the political cycle in explaining the duration of consolidation. However, commitment to permanent, rather than temporary, fiscal adjustment is key.

Measurement in Sustainable Building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hale, Lara

2018-01-01

Measurement is a necessary aspect of planning and constructing buildings. However, recent attempts to integrate the social dimension of sustainable building into building design and specifications demand measurement of non-technical qualities, such as well-being. The Active House Alliance, in lieu...... and continued provision of sustainable buildings to market demand....

CEA sustainable development report 2007

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

The CEA, a prominent player in research development and innovation, is active in three main domains: energy, health care and information technology, defense and security. This annual report presents the CEA activities in the domain of the sustainable development. The first part is devoted to the environment preservation policy (energy, water, air, chemistry, wastes, transport, buildings). The second part shows the dynamic governance in the domain of the risks management. The last part presents the CEA activities of research for the sustainable development. (A.L.B.)

Modeling Factors with Influence on Sustainable University Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oana Dumitrascu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this paper is to present the factors with influence on the sustainable university management and the relationships between them. In the scientific approach we begin from a graphical model, according to which the extracurricular activities together with internal environmental factors influence students’ involvement in such activities, the university attractiveness, their academic performance and their integration into the socially-economic and natural environment (components related with sustainable development. The model emphasizes that individual performances, related to students’ participation in extracurricular activities, have a positive influence on the sustainability of university management. The results of the study have shown that the university sustainability may be influenced by a number of factors, such as students’ performance, students’ involvement in extracurricular activities or university’s attractiveness and can in turn influence implicitly also the sustainability of university management. The originality of the paper consists in the relationships study using the modeling method in general and informatics tools of modeling in particular, as well as through graphical visualization of some influences, on the sustainability university management.

Factors Affecting Entrepreneurship and Business Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Tur-Porcar

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for society, and the creation of business ventures is one area where sustainability is critical. We examined the factors affecting actions that are designed to foster business sustainability. These factors are related to the environment, behavior, human relations, and business activity. Based on questionnaire responses from experts, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP method was used to rank sustainable business criteria according to their importance for entrepreneurs starting sustainable businesses. The results indicate that the most important drivers of sustainable entrepreneurship are behavioral factors and business factors. Ethical principles and values, together with competitive intelligence, are crucial for undertaking actions that lead to sustainability.

Sustainable Agricultural Marketing Initiatives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakan Adanacıoğlu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Sustainable marketing is a holistic approach that puts equal emphasis on environmental, social equity, and economic concerns in the development of marketing strategies. The purpose of the study is to examine and discuss the sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives practiced throughout the World and Turkey, and to put forth suggestions to further improve the performance of agricultural marketing initiatives in Turkey. Some of the sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives practiced around the world are carried out through civil organizations. Furthermore; some of these initiatives have also launched by farmers, consumers, food processors and retailers. The long-term strategies to increase these initiatives should be determined due to the fact that examples of successful sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives are inadequate and cannot be spread in Turkey. In this context, first of all, the supports provided by the government to improve agricultural marketing systems, such as EU funds for rural development should be compatible with the goals of sustainable marketing. For this purpose, it should be examined whether all proposed projects related to agricultural marketing meet the social, economic, and environmental principles of sustainable marketing. It is important that supporting organizations, especially civil society organisations, should take an active role for faster dissemination and adoption of sustainable agricultural marketing practices in Turkey. These organizations may provide technical assistance in preparing successful project proposals and training to farm groups. In addition, the other organizations, such as local administrations, producers' associations, cooperatives, can contribute to the success of sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives. The use of direct marketing strategies and vertical integration attempts in sustainable agricultural marketing initiatives that will likely be implemented in Turkey is

Sustaining Participatory Design Initiatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Ole Sejer; Dindler, Christian

2014-01-01

While many participatory design (PD) projects succeed in establishing new organisational initiatives or creating technology that is attuned to the people affected, the issue of how such results are sustained after the project ends remains an important challenge. We explore the challenge...... these various forms of sustainability may be pursued in PD practice and how they can become a resource in reflecting on PD activities. Finally, we discuss implications for PD practice, suggesting that a nuanced conception of sustainability and how it may relate to PD practice are useful resources for designers...... of sustaining PD initiatives beyond the individual project and discuss implications for PD practice. First, based on current PD literature, we distinguish between four ideal typical forms of sustainability: maintaining, scaling, replicating and evolving. Second, we demonstrate from a case study how...

NASA Ames Environmental Sustainability Report 2011

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, Ann H.

2011-01-01

The 2011 Ames Environmental Sustainability Report is the second in a series of reports describing the steps NASA Ames Research Center has taken toward assuring environmental sustainability in NASA Ames programs, projects, and activities. The Report highlights Center contributions toward meeting the Agency-wide goals under the 2011 NASA Strategic Sustainability Performance Program.

Is Sustainable Remediation Now a Self-Sustaining Process? an International Progress Report

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, J. W. N.

2014-12-01

Sustainable remediation - the consideration of environmental, social and economic factors associated with soil and groundwater risk-management options, to help select the best overall solution - has been a rapidly evolving topic in recent years. The first published reference[1] to 'sustainable remediation' was in the title of a 1999 conference paper by Kearney et al., (1999), but activity really accelerated in the middle-late 2000's, with establishment of a number of collaborative sustainable remediation groups and fora, and increased publication rates in the peer reviewed literature (Fig 1). Figure 1. Journal paper publications with search term 'sustainable remediation' (SCOPUS survey, 17 July 2014) This presentation will review the international progress of sustainable remediation concept development and application in regulatory and corporate decision-making processes. It will look back at what has already been achieved, provide an update on the latest initiatives and developments, and look forward to what the future of sustainable remediation might look like. Specifically it will describe: Sustainable remediation frameworks: synergies and international collaboration; Latest guidance and tools developed by the various sustainable remediation organisations (SuRFs), including the SuRF-UK Best Management Practices and Tier 1 Briefcase; Best practice standard development by ASTM and ISO; Regulatory acceptance of sustainable remediation, including incorporation into legislation, and the NICOLE - Common Forum Joint statement on 'risk-informed and sustainable remediation' in Europe; Examples of corporate adoption of sustainable remediation principles. The presentation will conclude with a look forward to a vision of sustainable remediation in 2020.

Sustainability and Competitiveness of Tourism

OpenAIRE

Angelkova, Tanja; Koteski, Cane; Jakovlev, Zlatko; Mitreva, Elizabeta

2011-01-01

Tourism is an activity that can have a really big impact on sustainable development. Sustainability of tourism involves extensive cooperation between tourist companies, tourist destinations and national, regional and local authorities in order to cover a broad group of challenges and at the same time to remain competitive. Opportunities for sustainable tourism development and preservation of its competitiveness, largely influenced by the quality of the environment, preserved and attractive...

Mapping Research Activities and Technologies for Sustainability and Environmental Studies--A Case Study at University Level

Science.gov (United States)

Hara, Keishiro; Uwasu, Michinori; Kurimoto, Shuji; Yamanaka, Shinsuke; Umeda, Yasushi; Shimoda, Yoshiyuki

2013-01-01

Systemic understanding of potential research activities and available technology seeds at university level is an essential condition to promote interdisciplinary and vision-driven collaboration in an attempt to cope with complex sustainability and environmental problems. Nonetheless, any such practices have been hardly conducted at universities…

Corporate Sustainability Management and Environmental Ethics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schuler, Douglas; Rasche, Andreas; Etzion, Dror

2017-01-01

This article reviews four key orientations in environmental ethics that range from an instrumental understanding of sustainability to one that acknowledges the intrinsic value of sustainable behavior (i.e., sustainable resource use, conservation and preservation, rights-based perspectives, and deep...... ecology). It then shows that the current scholarly discourse around corporate sustainability management—as reflected in environment management (EM), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate political activity (CPA)—mostly favors an instrumental perspective on sustainability. Sustainable...... business practices are viewed as anthropocentric and are conceptualized as a means to achieve competitive advantage. Based on these observations, we speculate about what corporate sustainability management might look like if it applied ethical orientations that emphasize the intrinsic value of nature...

Sustained availability of trimethoprim in drinking water to achieve higher plasma sulphonamide-trimethoprim antibacterial activity in broilers.

Science.gov (United States)

Sumano, H; Hernandez, L; Gutierrez, L; Bernad-Bernad, M J

2005-02-01

(1) In order to make trimethoprim (TMP) available to broilers throughout the day, a sustained release formulation (SRF) of the drug in the form of granules was added to the water tank that supplies drinking water. (2) Broilers were initially dosed with sulphachloropiridazine-TMP (SCP-TMP 5:1) and then further medicated throughout the day, achieving in the end a dose of 30 mg/kg each of SCP and TMP (group A). Group B received a preparation with the same dose of SCP and TMP (1:1) as group A, but administered as a single dose without the SRF of TMP. Group C received the customary SCP-TMP 5:1 preparation (30 and 6 mg/kg, respectively). Water tanks were completely consumed in 3 to 4 h. (3) Broilers were bled at different times and concentration of antibacterial activity in serum determined by correlating the composite antibacterial activity of SCP and TMP with actual concentrations of these drugs by means of a microbiological agar diffusion assay. (4) Time vs serum concentrations of activity were higher in group B; the increments in the maximum serum concentration for group B over groups A and C being 39 and 67%, respectively. (5) However, the sustained concentration of activity over time, measured as the area under the cu)rve, was highest in group A. Group B had higher values for area under the curve than group C. (6) An additional dose of TMP to achieve 30 mg/kg of both SCP and TMP improves the serum concentration of this combination over the customary 5:1 proportion. The best values for sustaining antibacterial activity were obtained using a 1:1 ratio as in group A. The use of a SRF as in group A may translate into better clinical results.

Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE): results from two feasibility pilot studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Rebecca E; Parker, Nathan H; Soltero, Erica G; Ledoux, Tracey A; Mama, Scherezade K; McNeill, Lorna

2017-03-10

Low physical activity (PA) and fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in early childhood are continued public health challenges. This manuscript describes outcomes from two pilot studies for Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE), a program designed to increase PA and F&V consumption among 3 to 5 year old children. SAGE was developed using community-based participatory research (CBPR) and delivered to children (N = 89) in early care and education centers (ECEC, N = 6) in two US cities. Children participated in 12 one-hour sessions that included songs, games, and interactive learning activities involving garden maintenance and taste tests. We evaluated reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and potential for maintenance of SAGE following the RE-AIM framework. Reach was evaluated by comparing demographic characteristics among SAGE participants and residents of target geographic areas. Efficacy was evaluated with accelerometer-measured PA, F&V consumption, and eating in the absence of hunger among children, parenting practices regarding PA, and home availability of F&V. Adoption was evaluated by the number of ECEC that participated relative to the number of ECEC that were recruited. Implementation was evaluated by completion rates of planned SAGE lessons and activities, and potential for maintenance was evaluated with a parent satisfaction survey. SAGE reached ECEC in neighborhoods representing a wide range of socioeconomic status, with participants' sociodemographic characteristics representing those of the intervention areas. Children significantly increased PA during SAGE lessons compared to usual lessons, but they also consumed more calories in the absence of hunger in post- vs. pre-intervention tests (both p nutrition guidelines for young children. SAGE successfully translated national PA guidelines to practice for young children but was less successful with nutrition guidelines. High adoption and implementation and favorable parent

Sustainability Assessment Using a Unit-based Sustainability ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

need to balance economic growth and social progress with environmental concerns ... They play a special role in seeking solutions to societal ... development, and also helps to establish the current status of sustainability work in progress. .... departments, units and/or facets of university life (e.g. student activities or estates ...

Ship Acquisition of Shipping Companies by Sale & Purchase Activities for Sustainable Growth: Exploratory Fuzzy-AHP Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keun-Sik Park

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Strengthening sale and purchase (S&P capacity has become a fundamental requirement for sustainable growth and corporate competitiveness in the modern shipping market. However, there is a lack of research related to S&P and its priority when shipping companies attempt to implement ship acquisition through S&P activities. To fill this gap, this paper conducts an empirical analysis to analyze priority factors during the acquisition of second-hand ships from the perspective of shipping companies. Business criteria are considered to be the most important factors in the analysis of the priority of ship acquisition and investment in shipping companies. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first exploration covering Korean shipping companies’ ship acquisition through S&P activities. This study is expected to contribute to the better understanding of the role of S&P in ensuring the sustainability of shipping companies and to provide stakeholders with valuable insights.

Ergonomics and environmental sustainability: a case study of raft fisherman activity at Ponta Negra Beach, Natal-RN.

Science.gov (United States)

Celestino, Joyce Elanne Mateus; Bispo, Cristina de Souza; Saldanha, Maria Christine Werba; Mattos, Karen Maria da Costa

2012-01-01

This paper aims to present the significance of methods used by the Ergonomic Analysis of Work for the construction of the scenario of craft fishing with rafts, held by 42 fishermen on the beach of Ponta Negra, Natal - RN; and relate the knowledge in ergonomics to environmental aspects / impacts, aiming the sustainability in this activity. This research is characterized as a case study, of the descriptive and exploratory type and of applied nature. To collect data, we used observational methods, in order to expand information about the activity, and interaction, as conversational action and photographic/videos records to clarify points not covered by observation. It was observed problematic as the reduction of fishing productivity, alterations of the sea, difficulty in docking the rafts, and inadequate waste disposal, noting that this activity needs care regarding the use of the environment. The obtained results contributed to the organization of environmental education workshops, seeking to enhance good individual / collective environmental practices focused on the sustainability of the environment in which they live. Add the need for proposals aimed for managing the activity, involving fishermen, institutions and society, to ensure the improvement of the environment, hence the quality of life of the population.

Cultural heritage and sustainable development in SUIT

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Algreen-Ussing, Gregers; Hassler, Uta; Kohler, Niklaus

2002-01-01

The position paper is composed of 18 thesis, which are presented in four groups: Cultural Heritage, Momuments and Public Space, Active Conservation and Sustainable Development.......The position paper is composed of 18 thesis, which are presented in four groups: Cultural Heritage, Momuments and Public Space, Active Conservation and Sustainable Development....

Application of nuclear technology for sustainable development, and IAEA activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Machi, Sueo

1998-01-01

The role of radiation and isotopes for sustainable development in improving agriculture, industry and environmental conservation is presented. The radiation and isotope technology can increase productivity in a sustainable way. The IAEA programmes encompass mutation breeding, soil fertility and crop production, animal production, food irradiation, agrochemicals and insect pest control using nuclear technology

Socio-Cultural Factors and Intention towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei-Loon KOE

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In order to rectify environmental degradation, government has encouraged sustainable management among businesses. In addition, researchers have also suggested a new breed of study called “sustainable entrepreneurship”, which links sustainability management to entrepreneurial activities. However, the participation of entrepreneurial firms in sustainability management is still far from satisfactory. Past studies also have found that SMEs are less active in sustainabilty initiatives and many issues related to the intention of firms for sustainability entrepreneurship is still unanswered. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the influence of socio-cultural factors on intention towards sustainable entrepreneurship among SMEs. A total of 404 SMEs in Malaysia were surveyed by using questionnaire. Based on the statistical analyses performed, this study found that three socio-cultural factors, namely time orientation, sustainability orientation and social norm significantly influenced intention towards sustainable entrepreneurship among SMEs. Thus, in order to develop true sustainable entrepreneurs in the country, the effects of non-economic factors such as socio-cultural factors should not be underestimated. Lastly, some recommendations for future researchers have also been put forth in this paper.

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leontina Beţianu

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Sustainability tends to become in the new millennium the most important characteristic of economic and social development. The possibility to ensure economic development in the context of a reasonable use of raw materials, energy and natural resources in general and to decrease the impact of all human activities on the environment makes the essence of the sustainable development of these activities.

Sustainability Assessment and Reporting in Agriculture Sector

OpenAIRE

Edward Kassem; Oldřich Trenz; Jiří Hřebíček; Oldřich Faldík

2017-01-01

Sustainability assessment is a mainstream business activity that demonstrates the link between the organization’s strategy and commitment to a sustainable global economy. Sustainability indicators describe the environmental, social, economic and governance performance of Small and Medium‑sized Businesses/Enterprises (SMB/SME). Unfortunately, their implementations in the Czech Republic show a low level of engagement in sustainability assessment. The paper presents the results of the authors’ r...

Y-12 Site Sustainability Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sherry, T D; Kohlhorst, D P; Little, S K

2011-12-01

The accomplishments to date and the long-range planning of the Y-12 Energy Management and Sustainability and Stewardship programs support the DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) vision for a commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability and to achievement of the Guiding Principles. Specifically, the Y-12 vision is to support the Environment, Safety and Health Policy and the DOE Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan (SSPP) while promoting overall sustainability and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Table ES.2 gives a comprehensive overview of Y-12's performance status and planned actions. B&W Y-12's Energy Management mission is to incorporate renewable energy and energy efficient technologies site-wide and to position Y-12 to meet NNSA energy requirement needs through 2025 and beyond. During FY 2011, the site formed a sustainability team (Fig. ES.1). The sustainability team provides a coordinated approach to meeting the various sustainability requirements and serves as a forum for increased communication and consistent implementation of sustainability activities at Y-12. The sustainability team serves as an information exchange mechanism to promote general awareness of sustainability information, while providing a system to document progress and to identify resources. These resources are necessary to implement activities that support the overall goals of sustainability, including reducing the use of resources and conserving energy. Additionally, the team's objectives include: (1) Foster a Y-12-wide philosophy to conserve resources; (2) Reduce the impacts of production operations in a cost-effective manner; (3) Increase materials recycling; (4) Use a minimum amount of energy and fuel; (5) Create a minimum of waste and pollution in achieving Y-12-strategic objectives; (6) Develop and implement techniques, technologies, process modifications, and programs that support sustainable acquisition; (7) Minimize the

Experimental Standards in Sustainability Transitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hale, Lara Anne

In this thesis I address how experimental standards are used in the new governance paradigm to further sustainability transitions. Focusing on the case of the Active House standard in the building sector, I investigate experimental standards in three research papers examining the following dynamics......: (1) the relationship between commensuration and legitimacy in the formulation and diffusion of a standard’s specifications; (2) the role of awareness in standardizing green default rules to establish sustainable consumption in buildings; and (3) the significance of focus on humans in the development...... of technological standards for sustainable building. Launching from a critical realist social ontology, I collected ethnographic data on the Active House Alliance, its cofounder VELUX, and three of their demonstration building projects in Austria, Germany, and Belgium over the course of three years from 2013...

Problem Based Learning and sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pizzol, Massimo; Løkke, Søren; Schmidt, Jannick Højrup

and challenges that the PBL model offers for developing five key competences in sustainability: (i) system thinking, (ii) interpersonal competence, (iii) anticipatory competence, (iv) strategic competence, (v) normative competences. The study draws on the experiences from PBL activities performed at Aalborg...... University (AAU), Denmark, and focuses on the teaching of Life Cycle Assessment as a method for sustainability assessment. The objective is providing recommendations for future LCA teaching and learning. PBL activites performed at AAU were evaluated critically to detemine to what extent they addressed...... of how PBL-approaches were used to develop five specific competences in sustainability. It is concluded that -for the case fo LCA teaching at AAU- the PBL model included activities to develop system thinking, interpersonal competence, and normative competence. However, the PBL approach should...

Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stelian Brad

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Economic growth and sustainable development are important issues for social prosperity. Sustainable development strives for moderate and responsible use within the economic activity of the limited resources of our planet, whereas economic growth does not limit the resource exploitation and energy, being mainly focused on productivity increase. From this perspective, both conceptual and operational contradictions occur between the two pillars of prosperity. This paper looks to these contradictions and proposes some streams of intervention such as economic growth and environmental sustainability to operate in harmony. A structured framework for innovative problem solving is considered in this respect. Results of this research show that it is possible to induce smart measures in the economic system for directing businesses towards new paradigms where economic growth is possible without negative effects on environmental sustainability.

Sustainability and Organizational Change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catălina Sitnikov

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The relevant and, above all, remarkable feature of sustainability is due to its "duality": on the one hand, it is an indispensable element within the companies even if, on the other hand, it increases the costs of many activities and processes. Facing the challenge of sustainability will determine and create, in the coming years, emerging organizational forms. If ten years ago, many managers clearly expressed their doubts regarding the financial feasibility of sustainability, today, they admit the importance of sustainability for the competitive advantage of the companies they manage. Currently, companies have great opportunities to support build a sustainable global economy, becoming one of the solutions to the most pressing societal challenges. Whether it is about reducing pollution, global warming, reducing use of water resources and other limited resources or ensuring a better work environment for employees throughout the supply chain, there are many things that companies can and should do.

Sustainable development in agriculture: is it really sustainable?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, S.R.K.; Srinivas, K.; Kumar, L.R.; Gupta, H.S.

2005-01-01

Indian agriculture has achieved remarkable success in the food grain production due to inception of 'rainbow revolution', which made the country self-sufficient in food production. Sustainable agriculture (SA) is an ongoing process, in which people take actions leading to development of agriculture that meets their current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It advocates avoiding all those actions, which reduce the ability of future generations to meet out the present generations. It is based on the optimal interaction between clean environment, healthy economy, and vital society by avoiding trade-off of problems to other regions on to the future. Moreover, sustainable agriculture is the function of people's progress and nature's capacity. In fact, SA commits us to considering the long-term effect and to recognize our place within the ecosystem. It encourages a continuous reflection on the implications of human activity on the ecosystem. Empirical evidences shows that in the race of self-sufficiency in food grain production, we compromised a lot on social and environmental fronts. The aftermath of green revolution is not so sustainable as it showed reverse side too, in the form of environmental degradation and ecological imbalances. Such threats have led to the need for promoting sustainable development in agriculture. Due to several unsustainable activities which resulted in resource degradation in the form of top soil loss, ground water depletion and forest degradation. The average soil loss is estimated to be over 16 tonnes/ha/year. The ground water depletion resulted in several blocks as 'grey blocks' and 'dark blocks'. This happened mainly due to increase in number of tube-wells and free supply of electricity making the cost of pumping water very low. Rate of human induced land degradation is very high. Out of total geographical area of 329.0 million ha, 187 million ha (57.0 %) are reported to have degraded, of

The Necessity of Public Relations for Sustainable Mining Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Hyunbock; Ji, Sangwoo

2015-04-01

This paper reports research about the necessity of image making for sustainable mine developments in the Republic of Korea. One of the big risks in mining activities is mining area residents opposing mine developments and operations. Analysis of the media reports on disputes between mining companies and residents can determine causes of opposing mine developments, dispute process, and influences of disputes on processes of mining projects. To do this, civil complaints from 2009 to 2012 and 24 media reports since 2000 on opposing mining activities are analyzed. And, to analyze difficulties of mining companies, the survey is conducted to target to mining companies. 57 representatives of mining companies are participated in the survey. The result of analysis cited that the major reasons of anti-mining activities are environmental degradation and reduced agricultural productivity. And specifically because of water pollution (50%), crop damages (33%), and mining dust pollution (21%), communities of mining area are against mine developments and operations. However, 25% of residents have experience of the damage caused by mining activities and the remaining 75% of residents opposing mining activities simply have anxiety about mining pollution. In the past, construction-oriented, environment-unfriendly mining projects had lasted. And while mine reclamation had been postponed in abandoned mines, mining area residents had suffered from mining pollution. So, mining area residents are highly influenced by the prejudice that mining activities are harmful to mining area communities. Current mining projects in South Korea, unlike the past mining activity, focus on minimizing environmental damage and contributing to mining area communities financially. But, in many case of disputes between mining companies and mining area residents, the both cannot reach an agreements because of the negative prejudice. Moreover, some communities categorically refuse any mining activity. On the

Environmental concerns of supply chain sustainability (SCS)

Science.gov (United States)

Mokhtar, Mohd Faiz; Omar, Badrul; Nor, Nik Hisyamudin Muhd; Pauzi, Nur Fazlinda Mohd; Hasan, Sulaiman; Mohamed, W. A. Wan

2017-04-01

Environment concern is one important aspect for supply chain sustainability (SCS). Nowadays, company's activities give a lot of impact on the environment. Through these activities, there are other SCS issue of environment were identified. In this paper, the proposed SCS issue of environmental concern will be determined from Corporate Sustainability Report (CSR). Using a total weightage of 0.333 (after dividing into three aspects of sustainability), each proposed issues will be classified according to the company activities in order to determined weightage for each issue. Those weightages then will be used in developing of score metric for SCS in design phase. Result shows that the carbon footprint is the major concern for SCS of environment while environmental management system is a lowest concern for SCS environment.

The Future of Sustainable Development: Welcome to the European Journal of Sustainable Development Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc A. Rosen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development is an objective for humanity of crucial importance to how we develop and evolve. It is also a rapidly growing discipline that is becoming increasingly applied in numerous areas, reflecting humanity's desire to ensure its activities can be sustained into the future and do not adversely affect the ecology or environment. Sustainable development is often defined based on the 1987 statement of the World Commission on Environment and Development (i.e., the Brundtland Commission. In that milestone document, sustainable development was defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." But new definitions are being developed as the discipline expands and becomes more multidisciplinary and complex.

SUSTAINABLE AND DESIGN BUILDING PROCESSES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvio F. R. MOTTA

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The article presents a historical revision of the sustainable development and the sustainable in the constructed environment. It describes the main concepts and practices for implantation of the sustainable in the civil construction. These concepts and practices are reviewed from the perspective of the dialectic method, the general theory of systems and the theories of creative processes. These concepts are also analyzed from the perspective of quality management. The article proposes a model based on the dialectic, in which sustainability is considered an open system and a search inventive. The implantation of the sustainable in projects, companies and design processes are considered as main strategy. A vertical insertion of the sustainable in the process is proposal. In this vertical insertion, the sustainable is presents in all the phases and activities of the process. The model is organized to promote the external creative solutions to the process, through the promotion of research centers. Tools of selection of possibilities and practical are suggested, considering the characteristic dialectics proposals. The article concludes that sustainable is a cultural change in the processes, practical and management current.

Consumer Culture, Sustainability and Business Practice: How Companies can Promote the Symbolic Value of Sustainability in Consumption Activities?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Verônica Macário de Oliveira

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Discussions on sustainability began recently to focus on the consumption patterns of contemporary society as a major causative factors of social and environmental problems. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss some opportunities that companies have to influence these changes consumption patterns towards sustainability, taking as a basis the view discussed in studies of Rindova and Ravasi (2008 who consider firms as producers of culture. To this end, we performed a theoretical essay. The results show that companies can influence the formation of specific cultures with the symbolic construction of sustainable practices, contributing to the formation of a culture of sustainable consumption. This occurs from innovation in their ways of working, considering that evoke meanings that products appear to be influenced by strategic choices of producers, such as the concepts and philosophies of design (Ravasi; Rindova, 2008, which includes the development new technologies and practices (Michaelis, 2003 based on the principles of eco-efficiency (Barber, 2008; Clark, 2008, as well as changes in values and discourses that shape the cultures of business, government, media and civil society (Michaelis, 2003, also aligned with the ethical principles and shared environmental responsibility (Tukkeret al, 2008.

Stronger interference from distractors in the right hemifield during visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlei, Christophe; Kerzel, Dirk

2018-03-01

The orientation-bias hypothesis states that there is a bias to attend to the right visual hemifield (RVF) when there is spatial competition between stimuli in the left and right hemifield [Pollmann, S. (1996). A pop-out induced extinction-like phenomenon in neurologically intact subjects. Neuropsychologia, 34(5), 413-425. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(95)00125-5 ]. In support of this hypothesis, stronger interference was reported for RVF distractors with contralateral targets. In contrast, previous studies using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) found stronger interference from distractors in the left visual hemifield (LVF). We used the additional singleton paradigm to test whether this discrepancy was due to the different distractor features that were employed (colour vs. orientation). Interference from the colour distractor with contralateral targets was larger in the RVF than in the LVF. However, the asymmetrical interference disappeared when observers had to search for an inconspicuous colour target instead of the inconspicuous shape target. We suggest that the LVF orienting-bias is limited to situations where search is driven by bottom-up saliency (singleton search) instead of top-down search goals (feature search). In contrast, analysis of the literature suggests the opposite for the LVF bias in RSVP tasks. Thus, the attentional asymmetry may depend on whether the task involves temporal or spatial competition, and whether search is based on bottom-up or top-down signals.

The Integration Role of European Defense Procurement in Achieving a More Competitive and Stronger European Defense Equipment Market

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

and systems, even monopolistic ) essence of the supply side of the defense market . There are only a few suppliers that can meet today’s complex...DEFENSE PROCUREMENT IN ACHIEVING A MORE COMPETITIVE AND STRONGER EUROPEAN DEFENSE EQUIPMENT MARKET by Kiril O. Angelov June 2015 Thesis Advisor...COMPETITIVE AND STRONGER EUROPEAN DEFENSE EQUIPMENT MARKET 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 6. AUTHOR(S) Kiril O. Angelov 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND

At Home with Sustainability: From Green Default Rules to Sustainable Consumption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lara Anne Hale

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Although it is often assumed that default rules affect change without awareness, this paper suggests that contrast with the default and transition into conscious adoption of the default design may be the starting point to establish long-term changes in consumer behavior. Despite the rooting of default rules in subconscious decision-making, this research finds that, ultimately, awareness drives the demand necessary for the creation of sustainable consumption. Whereas direct appeal to individuals has a disappointing level of influence on sustainability choices, it is understood that green consumers do come from somewhere. Green default rules offer interesting prospects for sidestepping the drawbacks of direct marketing to individuals. Under green default rules, behavior is guided by a default, such as utilities automatically sending customers renewables-sourced instead of fossil-fuel-based energy. To act otherwise requires additional effort and is less likely. Motivated by a need to understand how defaults might bridge standards and sustainable consumption, I investigate how organizational processes potentially lead from standardized green default rules to individual awareness that can spread and facilitate sustainable consumption. This paper examines the Active House sustainable building demonstrations in Europe in order to understand how (1 communications and market creation and (2 responsible, user-centered experimentation are organized to move from defaults to sustainable consumption.

Bistability Analysis of Excitatory-Inhibitory Neural Networks in Limited-Sustained-Activity Regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ni Yun; Wu Liang; Wu Dan; Zhu Shiqun

2011-01-01

Bistable behavior of neuronal complex networks is investigated in the limited-sustained-activity regime when the network is composed of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. The standard stability analysis is performed on the two metastable states separately. Both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show consistently that the difference between time scales of excitatory and inhibitory populations can influence the dynamical behaviors of the neuronal networks dramatically, leading to the transition from bistable behaviors with memory effects to the collapse of bistable behaviors. These results may suggest one possible neuronal information processing by only tuning time scales. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

Targeted Delivery and Sustained Antitumor Activity of Triptolide through Glucose Conjugation.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Qing-Li; Minn, Il; Wang, Qiaoling; Xu, Peng; Head, Sarah A; Datan, Emmanuel; Yu, Biao; Pomper, Martin G; Liu, Jun O

2016-09-19

Triptolide, a key ingredient from the traditional Chinese medicinal plant thunder god vine, which has been used to treat inflammation and autoimmune diseases for centuries, has been shown to be an irreversible inhibitor of the XPB subunit of the transcription factor TFIIH and initiation of RNA polymerase II mediated transcription. The clinical development of triptolide over the past two decades has been limited by its toxicity and low water solubility. Herein, we report the development of a glucose conjugate of triptolide, named glutriptolide, which was intended to target tumor cells overexpressing glucose transporters selectively. Glutriptolide did not inhibit XPB activity in vitro but demonstrated significantly higher cytotoxicity against tumor cells over normal cells with greater water solubility than triptolide. Furthermore, it exhibited remarkable tumor control in vivo, which is likely due to sustained stepwise release of active triptolide within cancer cells. These findings indicate that glutriptolide may serve as a promising lead for developing a new mechanistic class of anticancer drugs. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Implementation of Corporate Sustainability in the European Automotive Industry: An Analysis of Sustainability Reports

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Martina Sukitsch

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The acceptance of corporate sustainability implementation and sustainability reporting has continued to grow steadily in recent years. This is particularly true for companies in the automotive industry. Increasing regulatory demands, for example, with respect to CO2 emissions, are one clear reason for this. In this paper the sustainability reports of 14 manufacturers in the European automotive industry are analyzed with respect to issues of corporate sustainability implementation. This entails content analysis of sustainability reports from 2012, and of their earliest available equivalents. The analysis of corporate sustainability implementation in the selected companies is provided with the purpose to help understand how manufacturers in the European automotive industry implement corporate sustainability. Results confirm the importance of specific policy instruments in implementation, such as the use of environmental management systems and standards, and of related changes in organizational structures. The latter include suitable adaptation of corporate strategy, philosophy, objectives, measures, and activities, as well as the need to integrate stakeholders in the adjustment process. The analysis shows that while companies are well-aware of the significance of sustainability for their industry, some tend to be leaders, and others laggards, as far as implementation is concerned.

Why Did Zika Not Explode in Cuba? The Role of Active Community Participation to Sustain Control of Vector-Borne Diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro, Marta; Pérez, Dennis; Guzman, Maria G; Barrington, Clare

2017-08-01

As the global public health community develops strategies for sustainable Zika prevention and control, assessment of the Cuban response to Zika provides critical lessons learned. Cuba's early and successful response to Zika, grounded in the country's long-standing dengue prevention and control program, serves as a model of rapid mobilization of intersectoral efforts. Sustaining this response requires applying the evidence generated within the Cuban dengue program that active community participation improves outcomes and is sustainable and cost-effective. There is also a need for implementation science efforts to assess the transferability of lessons learned from Zika prevention and control to other pathogens and from one context to another in addition to how to take these efforts to scale.

Indicators for sustainable tourism: The case of Cambodia

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Nhep Tinat

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Most research on tourism in Cambodia so far has focused on growth. There is very limited research on indicators for sustainability. A failure to create indicators for sustainable tourism may lead to short-term growth but the country will suffer in the long run. Sustainability really matters in tourism especially in a new destination like Cambodia. Cambodia has no clear indicators determining tourism sustainability. Cambodia’s tourism is remarkably flourishing, but behind this growth some challenges exist: Cultural and environmental impacts, economic leakage, sex tourism, drug trafficking and disease transmission. These concern tourism sustainability. This research intends to fill a significant gap regarding challenges hampering sustainable tourism, particularly creating indicators, by studying the activities of Cambodia’s tourism. The aim is to contribute to developing more comprehensive policies and measures that address problems by drawing on the activities and perspectives of the country’s tourism stakeholders: These include public and private actors, NGOs, local people and tourists.

Towards sustainable food production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aramyan, Lusine H; Hoste, Robert; van den Broek, Willie

2011-01-01

continuous innovation of supply chain network structures, reconsideration of business processes, relocation of logistics infrastructures and renewed allocation of chain activities to these infrastructures in order to achieve sustainable performances. This paper presents a scenario analysis of the spatial...... of pigs, processing of pork and pork consumption, is used to analyse the scenarios. The results reveal major opportunities for reductions in cost as well as in CO2 equivalent emissions if a European sector perspective is taken and some chain activities are relocated to other countries. However......, as minimizing costs will not always lead to an optimal reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions, a differentiated strategy is needed for the European pork sector to move towards more sustainable production...

Prothrombin fragment 1+2 in urine as an indicator of sustained coagulation activation after total hip arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borris, L.C.; Breindahl, M.; Ryge, C.

2007-01-01

Purpose: Prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 measured in spot urine (uF1 + 2) is an indicator of thrombin generation. We examined whether measured levels of uF1 + 2 can be used to differentiate between patients who do and do not acquire sustained coagulation activation after total hip arthroplasty (THA...

Slovenian Mediterrananean and sustainable development

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Mitja Bricelj

2002-12-01

Full Text Available Regional approach based on physical, social and economic characteristics of particular landscape what is basic input for sustainable development. The case Slovenian Mediterranean and sustainable development demonstrate public participation in the process of preparation of coastal management plan. For this process new forms of knowledge transfer to relevant public is needed to get their active position about different.

A QUEST for sustainable continuing professional development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Birgitte Lund

2017-01-01

on a large-scale, long-term Danish CPD project for which all the activities were created with these consensus criteria in mind. The overall purpose has been to develop a sustainable model for CPD that acknowledges teachers’ situated learning in professional learning communities (PLCs), supports bottom...... organized by the local PLC, and individual enactments in the teachers’ own classrooms. This “rhythm” has now been institutionalized, and even though the project has come to an end, there is still networking across schools and PLC activities continue in all five municipalities. In order to assess...... experiencing changes in collaboration and classroom practice. Furthermore there seems to be a delayed correlation between schools with the most sustained PLC activities and student outcomes. Factors supporting sustainability are discussed, these include scaffolding the teachers’ collaborative inquiries...

Sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chein-Chi; DiGiovanni, Kimberly; Mei, Ying; Wei, Li

2016-10-01

This review on Sustainability covers selected 2015 publications on the focus of Sustainability. It is divided into the following sections : • Sustainable water and wastewater utilities • Sustainable water resources management • Stormwater and green infrastructure • Sustainability in wastewater treatment • Life cycle assessment (LCA) applications • Sustainability and energy in wastewater industry, • Sustainability and asset management.

Supply Chain Sustainability: a Retailer Perspective

OpenAIRE

ROWELL, James

2011-01-01

Since the publication of 'The Greening of Wal-Mart's Supply Chain' (Plambeck, 2007) the subject of sustainability has gained a clear focus in organisations' supply chain activities. (The Sustainable Business, EFMD, 2010) In fact the 2007 paper reported on Walmart's ambitions as outlined by CEO Lee Scott, in 2005. That plan was titled Sustainability 360. Based on information published by Walmart since 2007, this article discusses the organisational context of these initiatives and focuses on t...

Supply chain planning with sustainability considerations: an integrative framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Yang; Akkerman, Renzo; Birkved, Morten

2011-01-01

This paper proposes a modelling framework for combining supply chain planning and sustainability assessment, illustrating how sustainability assessments of logistic activities can be improved by supply chain planning input, and supply chain planning can in turn make use of the results from sustai...... produced on industrial scale, studying several important planning decisions like temperature treatments and choice of packaging materials.......This paper proposes a modelling framework for combining supply chain planning and sustainability assessment, illustrating how sustainability assessments of logistic activities can be improved by supply chain planning input, and supply chain planning can in turn make use of the results from...

Sustainability and Agenda 21: teaching sustainability ideology and landscape design practice

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David Jones

2000-03-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the 'Issues in Landscape Sustainability' subject/project that has been devised by Adelaide University's School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design. It has been successfully run in the townships of Strathalbyn (University of Adelaide 1997, Loxton (University of Adelaide 1998, Port Broughton (University of Adelaide 1999a, and Lobethal (University of Adelaide 2000. The subject/project was recently recognised by the Royal Australian Planning Institute (SA Group with a Student Project Award in their 1999 State Awards of Excellence: 'Issues in Landscape Sustainability' is a project that introduces tertiary students to concepts of urban design, community planning, and landscape design with economic implications, woven around the concept of sustainability as contained in the State Government's Agenda 21 Strategy (Anon 1999 p 19. Agenda 21 is about devising policy and practical ideas to address sustainability objectives in communities. This project has focused upon rural communities as a vehicle to involve community and municipal representatives actively, to expose students to both theory and practice, and to serve as an introduction to landscape design principles at a medium level.

The social sustainability of entrepreneurship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerregaard, Toke; Lauring, Jakob

2012-01-01

Sustainable entrepreneurship is attracting increasing attention in entrepreneurship literature. Social sustainable entrepreneurship is often conceived as entrepreneurial processes that generate social value. In this chapter we illuminate how small business entrepreneurs in a developing country...... engage in activities of importance for social sustainability and development as they undertake entrepreneurial ventures. We present the findings from an ethnographic field study that examines the strategies used by small entrepreneurs in an area of extreme resource scarcity to navigate co-existing social...... and market logics. The cases elucidate how the entrepreneurs cope with and exploit such co-existing logics through their sphere-straddling ventures to ensure sustainability during changes from an economy based on traditional exchange relationships to a situation with an emerging market economy. The chapter...

Sustainable Development Policies as Indicators and Pre-Conditions for Sustainability Efforts at Universities: Fact or Fiction?

Science.gov (United States)

Leal Filho, Walter; Brandli, Luciana Londero; Becker, Deisi; Skanavis, Constantina; Kounani, Aristea; Sardi, Chrysoula; Papaioannidou, Dimitra; Paço, Arminda; Azeiteiro, Ulisses; de Sousa, Luiza Olim; Raath, Schalk; Pretorius, Rudi Wessel; Shiel, Christine; Vargas, Valeria; Trencher, Gregory; Marans, Robert W.

2018-01-01

Purpose: There is a widely held belief that sustainable development (SD) policies are essential for universities to successfully engage in matters related to sustainability, and are an indicator of the extent to which they are active in this field. This paper aims to examine the evidence which currently exists to support this assumption. It…

Towards Sustainable Growth Business Models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kamp-Roelands, N.; Balkenende, J.P.; Van Ommen, P.

2012-03-15

The Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC) has the following objectives: The DSGC aims to pro-actively drive sustainable growth business models along three lines: (1) Shape. DSGC member companies aim to connect economic profitability with environmental and social progress on the basis of integrated sustainable growth business models; (2) Share. DSGC member companies aim for joint advocacy of sustainable growth business models both internationally and nationally; and (3) Stimulate. DSGC member companies aim to stimulate and influence the policy debate on enabling sustainable growth - with a view to finding solutions to the environmental and social challenges we are facing. This is their first report. The vision, actions and mission of DSGC are documented in the Manifesto in Chapter 2 of this publication. Chapter 3 contains an overview of key features of an integrated sustainable growth business model and the roadmap towards such a model. In Chapter 4, project examples of DSGC members are presented, providing insight into the hands-on reality of implementing the good practices. Chapter 5 offers an overview of how the Netherlands provides an enabling environment for sustainable growth business models. Chapter 6 offers the key conclusions.

The Impact of Integrated Practices of Lean, Green, and Social Management Systems on Firm Sustainability Performance—Evidence from Chinese Fashion Auto-Parts Suppliers

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Lin Wu

2015-03-01

Full Text Available To better satisfy various stakeholders, firms are seeking integrated practices that can enhance their sustainability performance, also well known as the Triple Bottom Line (3BL. The fashion industry exhibits potential conflicts with the spirit of sustainability because of the waste created by high levels of demand uncertainty and the extant usage of resources in production. Literature suggests that selected stand-alone practices of lean, green, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR management systems have a positive impact on firm sustainability performance. However, how the combination of selected practices from these three management systems impacts the 3BL remains unclear. Based on case studies, we build an integrated sustainable practices model incorporating the most popular lean, green, and social practices and develop propositions for future tests. Our framework suggests the implementation of integrated practices would have a stronger influence on 3BL performance than individual practice implementation.

Analogues of the Frog-skin Antimicrobial Peptide Temporin 1Tb Exhibit a Wider Spectrum of Activity and a Stronger Antibiofilm Potential as Compared to the Parental Peptide

Science.gov (United States)

Grassi, Lucia; Maisetta, Giuseppantonio; Maccari, Giuseppe; Esin, Semih; Batoni, Giovanna

2017-04-01

The frog skin-derived peptide Temporin 1Tb (TB) has gained increasing attention as novel antimicrobial agent for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant and/or biofilm-mediated infections. Nevertheless, such a peptide possesses a preferential spectrum of action against Gram-positive bacteria. In order to improve the therapeutic potential of TB, the present study evaluated the antibacterial and antibiofilm activities of two TB analogues against medically relevant bacterial species. Of the two analogues, TB_KKG6A has been previously described in the literature, while TB_L1FK is a new analogue designed by us through statistical-based computational strategies. Both TB analogues displayed a faster and stronger bactericidal activity than the parental peptide, especially against Gram-negative bacteria in planktonic form. Differently from the parental peptide, TB_KKG6A and TB_L1FK were able to inhibit the formation of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms by more than 50% at 12 μM, while only TB_KKG6A prevented the formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms at 24 μM. A marked antibiofilm activity against preformed biofilms of both bacterial species was observed for the two TB analogues when used in combination with EDTA. Analysis of synergism at the cellular level suggested that the antibiofilm activity exerted by the peptide-EDTA combinations against mature biofilms might be due mainly to a disaggregating effect on the extracellular matrix in the case of S. aureus, and to a direct activity on biofilm-embedded cells in the case of P. aeruginosa. Both analogues displayed a low hemolytic effect at the active concentrations and, overall, TB_L1FK resulted less cytotoxic towards mammalian cells. Collectively, the results obtained demonstrated that subtle changes in the primary sequence of TB may provide TB analogues that, used alone or in combination with adjuvant molecules such as EDTA, exhibit promising features against both planktonic and biofilm cells of medically relevant

Transscleral sustained vasohibin-1 delivery by a novel device suppressed experimentally-induced choroidal neovascularization.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hideyuki Onami

Full Text Available We established a sustained vasohibin-1 (a 42-kDa protein, delivery device by a novel method using photopolymerization of a mixture of polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, triethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and collagen microparticles. We evaluated its effects in a model of rat laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV using a transscleral approach. We used variable concentrations of vasohibin-1 in the devices, and used an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting to measure the released vasohibin-1 (0.31 nM/day when using the 10 μM vasohibin-1 delivery device [10VDD]. The released vasohibin-1 showed suppression activity comparable to native effects when evaluated using endothelial tube formation. We also used pelletized vasohibin-1 and fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled 40 kDa dextran as controls. Strong fluorescein staining was observed on the sclera when the device was used for drug delivery, whereas pellet use produced strong staining in the conjunctiva and surrounding tissue, but not on the sclera. Vasohibin-1 was found in the sclera, choroid, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE, and neural retina after device implantation. Stronger immunoreactivity at the RPE and ganglion cell layers was observed than in other retinal regions. Significantly lower fluorescein angiography (FA scores and smaller CNV areas in the flat mounts of RPE-choroid-sclera were observed for the 10VDD, VDD (1 μM vasohibin-1 delivery device, and vasohibin-1 intravitreal direct injection (0.24 μM groups when compared to the pellet, non-vasohibin-1 delivery device, and intravitreal vehicle injection groups. Choroidal neovascularization can be treated with transscleral sustained protein delivery using our novel device. We offer a safer sustained protein release for treatment of retinal disease using the transscleral approach.

RTE - Activity and sustainable development report 2012 - In line with the future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

RTE, an independent subsidiary of EDF, is the French electricity transmission system operator. It is a public service company responsible for operating, maintaining and developing the high and extra high voltage network. It guarantees the reliability and proper operation of the power network. RTE transports electricity between electricity suppliers (French and European) and consumers, whether they are electricity distributors or industrial consumers directly connected to the transmission system. The mission of RTE is to balance the electricity supply and demand in real time. This publication gathers in a single document the 2012 Activity and Sustainable development report of RTE, the Management report with the consolidated financial statements, and the Report from the chairman of the supervisory board

Stronger effects of Roundup than its active ingredient glyphosate in damselfly larvae.

Science.gov (United States)

Janssens, Lizanne; Stoks, Robby

2017-12-01

Pesticides are causing strong decreases in aquatic biodiversity at concentrations assumed safe by legislation. One reason for the failing risk assessment may be strong differences in the toxicity of the active ingredient of pesticides and their commercial formulations. Sublethal effects, especially those on behaviour, have been largely ignored in this context, yet can be equally important as lethal effects at the population and ecosystem levels. Here, we compared the toxicity of the herbicide Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate on survival, but also on ecologically relevant sublethal traits (life history, behaviour and physiology) in damselfly larvae. Roundup was more toxic than glyphosate with negative effects on survival, behaviour and most of the physiological traits being present at lower concentrations (food intake, escape swimming speed) or even only present (survival, sugar and total energy content and muscle mass) following Roundup exposure. This confirms the toxicity of the surfactant POEA. Notably, also glyphosate was not harmless: a realistic concentration of 2mg/l resulted in reduced growth rate, escape swimming speed and fat content. Our results therefore indicate that the toxicity of Roundup cannot be fully attributed to its surfactant, thereby suggesting that also the new generation of glyphosate-based herbicides with other mixtures of surfactants likely will have adverse effects on non-target aquatic organisms. Ecotoxicological studies comparing the toxicity of active ingredients and their commercial formulations typically ignore behaviour while the here observed differential effects on behaviour likely will negatively impact damselfly populations. Our data highlight that risk assessment of pesticides ignoring sublethal effects may contribute to the negative effects of pesticides on aquatic biodiversity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emergent pedagogy of sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Husted, Mia; Frøkjær, Thorleif

of societal life. Most often, the experimental activities tends to favor learning about responsible behavior, but the intension was formation of critical curiosity. While the difficulties to find pedagogical forms to present sustainability frustrate the participating pedagogues, the teachers teaching student.......S. Nielsen, N. Sriskandarajah, & E. Gunnarsson (eds) (2016). Commons, Sustainability, Democratization: Action Research and the Basic Renewal of Society. New York. RoutledgeLewin, K. (1948). Resolving Social Conflicts. New York, Harper and RowSachs, W. (1999). Planet dialectics. Explorations in Environment...

Utilising the Potential of Design Briefs in Sustainable Packaging Development

OpenAIRE

ten Klooster, Roland; de Koeijer, Bjorn

2016-01-01

Sustainable considerations in the development of product-packaging combinations require activities on both the strategic and operational level. As part of a company’s vision, the strategic level of development targets the desired implementation of sustainability considerations. The activities of the multidisciplinary teams of marketers, designers and engineers, which specifies the achieved sustainability in finished packaging concepts, largely determines the operational level of product-packa...

Novel Injectable Pentablock Copolymer Based Thermoresponsive Hydrogels for Sustained Release Vaccines.

Science.gov (United States)

Bobbala, Sharan; Tamboli, Viral; McDowell, Arlene; Mitra, Ashim K; Hook, Sarah

2016-01-01

The need for multiple vaccinations to enhance the immunogenicity of subunit vaccines may be reduced by delivering the vaccine over an extended period of time. Here, we report two novel injectable pentablock copolymer based thermoresponsive hydrogels made of polyethyleneglycol-polycaprolactone-polylactide-polycaprolactone-polyethyleneglycol (PEG-PCL-PLA-PCL-PEG) with varying ratios of polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactide (PLA), as single shot sustained release vaccines. Pentablock copolymer hydrogels were loaded with vaccine-encapsulated poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles (PLGA-NP) or with the soluble vaccine components. Incorporation of PLGA-NP into the thermoresponsive hydrogels increased the complex viscosity of the gels, lowered the gelation temperature, and minimized the burst release of antigen and adjuvants. The two pentablock hydrogels stimulated both cellular and humoral responses. The addition of PLGA-NP to the hydrogels sustained immune responses for up to 49 days. The polymer with a higher ratio of PCL to PLA formed a more rigid gel, induced stronger immune responses, and stimulated effective anti-tumor responses in a prophylactic melanoma tumor model.

Learning challenges and sustainable development: A methodological perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Seppänen, Laura

2017-01-01

Sustainable development requires learning, but the contents of learning are often complex and ambiguous. This requires new integrated approaches from research. It is argued that investigation of people's learning challenges in every-day work is beneficial for research on sustainable development. The aim of the paper is to describe a research method for examining learning challenges in promoting sustainable development. This method is illustrated with a case example from organic vegetable farming in Finland. The method, based on Activity Theory, combines historical analysis with qualitative analysis of need expressions in discourse data. The method linking local and subjective need expressions with general historical analysis is a promising way to overcome the gap between the individual and society, so much needed in research for sustainable development. Dialectically informed historical frameworks have practical value as tools in collaborative negotiations and participatory designs for sustainable development. The simultaneous use of systemic and subjective perspectives allows researchers to manage the complexity of practical work activities and to avoid too simplistic presumptions about sustainable development.

Sustaining Exploration in Mature Basins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bayo, A.

2002-01-01

Exploration is a business like any other business driven by opportunity, resources and expectation of profit. Therefore, exploration will thrive anywhere the opportunities are significant, the resources are available and the outlook for profit (or value creation) is good. To sustain exploration activities anywhere, irrespective of the environment, there must be good understanding of the drivers of these key investment criteria. This paper will examine these investment criteria as they relate to exploration business and address the peculiarity of exploration in mature basin. Mature basins are unique environment that lends themselves a mix of fears, paradigms and realities, particularly with respect to the perception of value. To sustain exploration activities in a mature basin, we need to understand these perceptions relative to the true drivers of profitability. Exploration in the mature basins can be as profitable as exploration in emerging basins if the dynamics of value definition-strategic and fiscal values are understood by operators, regulators and co ventures alike. Some suggestions are made in this presentation on what needs to be done in addressing these dynamic investment parameters and sustaining exploration activities in mature basins

Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Reiter, Johannes G; Hilbe, Christian; Rand, David G; Chatterjee, Krishnendu; Nowak, Martin A

2018-02-07

Direct reciprocity is a mechanism for cooperation among humans. Many of our daily interactions are repeated. We interact repeatedly with our family, friends, colleagues, members of the local and even global community. In the theory of repeated games, it is a tacit assumption that the various games that a person plays simultaneously have no effect on each other. Here we introduce a general framework that allows us to analyze "crosstalk" between a player's concurrent games. In the presence of crosstalk, the action a person experiences in one game can alter the person's decision in another. We find that crosstalk impedes the maintenance of cooperation and requires stronger levels of forgiveness. The magnitude of the effect depends on the population structure. In more densely connected social groups, crosstalk has a stronger effect. A harsh retaliator, such as Tit-for-Tat, is unable to counteract crosstalk. The crosstalk framework provides a unified interpretation of direct and upstream reciprocity in the context of repeated games.

Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE: results from two feasibility pilot studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca E. Lee

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Low physical activity (PA and fruit and vegetable (F&V consumption in early childhood are continued public health challenges. This manuscript describes outcomes from two pilot studies for Sustainability via Active Garden Education (SAGE, a program designed to increase PA and F&V consumption among 3 to 5 year old children. Methods SAGE was developed using community-based participatory research (CBPR and delivered to children (N = 89 in early care and education centers (ECEC, N = 6 in two US cities. Children participated in 12 one-hour sessions that included songs, games, and interactive learning activities involving garden maintenance and taste tests. We evaluated reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and potential for maintenance of SAGE following the RE-AIM framework. Reach was evaluated by comparing demographic characteristics among SAGE participants and residents of target geographic areas. Efficacy was evaluated with accelerometer-measured PA, F&V consumption, and eating in the absence of hunger among children, parenting practices regarding PA, and home availability of F&V. Adoption was evaluated by the number of ECEC that participated relative to the number of ECEC that were recruited. Implementation was evaluated by completion rates of planned SAGE lessons and activities, and potential for maintenance was evaluated with a parent satisfaction survey. Results SAGE reached ECEC in neighborhoods representing a wide range of socioeconomic status, with participants’ sociodemographic characteristics representing those of the intervention areas. Children significantly increased PA during SAGE lessons compared to usual lessons, but they also consumed more calories in the absence of hunger in post- vs. pre-intervention tests (both p < .05. Parent reports did not suggest changes in F&V consumption, parenting PA practices, or home F&V availability, possibly due to low parent engagement. ECEC had moderate

ANDRA - National Radioactive Waste Management Agency. Activity report and sustainable development 2013. Financial report 2013

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

Created in 1979 within the CEA, the National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA) was established by the December 1991 Waste Act as a public body in charge of the long-term management of all radioactive waste, under the supervision of the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea (formerly the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Environment), and the Ministry of Research. Its 3 basic missions were extended and their funding secured through the 2006 Planning Act: - a R and D mission to propose safe long-term solution for radioactive waste without current disposal system; this mission includes long-term storage, since the 2006 Planning Act, in order to propose interim solutions while final ones are being studied; - an industrial mission concerning, on one hand, waste acceptance criteria and control and, on the other hand, siting, construction, operation, closure and monitoring of repositories. This mission includes as well a public service mission in terms of i) collection of waste of the 'small-scale nuclear activities' producers or owners (including the so-called 'household' radioactive waste, i.e. waste owned by private individuals) and ii) clean-up and rehabilitation of orphan polluted sites; - an information mission, notably through the regular publication of the National Inventory of radioactive materials and waste. This mission includes as well an active policy of dialogue with stakeholders both at national and local level. This document is the activity and Sustainable Development Report, with the financial report, of the Andra for the year 2013

Tabriz Bazaar: sustainability and human comfort

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nassehzadeh Tabriz, Shahram [Master of Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Miyaneh Branch (Iran, Islamic Republic of)], email: sh_nassehzadeh@m-iau.ac.ir; Fard, Fariborz Mahdavi Tabatabaei [SABAT TARH CO. (Iran, Islamic Republic of)], email: sabat_arc@yahoo.com

2011-07-01

Sustainable developments in energy and the environment have become a main focus of many groups. The built environment has a great influence on environmental sustainability generally. Solutions that respond to the impact of human activities on the environment in urban areas are required. On one hand, averting resource depletion and environmental degradation caused by facilities and infrastructures over their life cycle is a principal goal. On the other hand, it is also a principal goal to create livable, comfortable, safe and productive built environments. Tabriz bazaar, in Iran, is an example of sustainable architecture. It is designed to be suited to the local climate and urban texture with spaces that are varied and have a strong connection to open space. The bazaar plays a significant role in creation of safe urban space as a cultural, social, commercial, educational and sanitarian area. It connects different activities and different people in a safe place. The purpose of this paper is to determine the sustainability of the Tabriz bazaar and the effect that the character of this commercial area has on the quality of human life.

Sustainable mining management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tejera Oliver, J. L.

2009-01-01

Mining activities are carried out by the older man and have provided resources, since ancient times, for their development and progress. With the discovery of fire will show the first metals that have marked the civilizations of copper, bronze and iron, and is the prehistory of the Stone Age tools that man has made from the exploitation of quarries first. The industrial revolution of the nineteenth century is linked to coal and steel, and could not conceiver of todays society without oil and gas, without silicon and coltan. But the mines are often aggressive and, despite their need and what they contribute to the development are answered by the societies where are made. during recent years there has been growing international efforts to try to make the minimum requirements of sustainable exploitation (European Directives, GMI, GRI, etc.) In AENOR, and within the Technical Committee of Standardization 22 Mining and Explosives, chaired by AITEMIN, was established the subcommittee 3, chaired by IGME, where, with the participation of all stake holders, have developed some standards on sustainable mining management sustainable mining that will be a tool available to mining companies to demonstrate their sustainable use to Society. (Author)

University Sustainability Reporting: Taking Stock of Transparency

Science.gov (United States)

Bice, Sara; Coates, Hamish

2016-01-01

This paper interrogates the case for improved and broadened public sustainability reporting by universities, and explores whether and how global performance measures capture the institutional attitudes and activities pertinent to universities' contributions to sustainability. The analysis explores all stand-alone, English language reports produced…

Can sustained arousal explain the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eriksen Hege R

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract We present an integrative model of disease mechanisms in the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, unifying empirical findings from different research traditions. Based upon the Cognitive activation theory of stress (CATS, we argue that new data on cardiovascular and thermoregulatory regulation indicate a state of permanent arousal responses – sustained arousal – in this condition. We suggest that sustained arousal can originate from different precipitating factors (infections, psychosocial challenges interacting with predisposing factors (genetic traits, personality and learned expectancies (classical and operant conditioning. Furthermore, sustained arousal may explain documented alterations by establishing vicious circles within immunology (Th2 (humoral vs Th1 (cellular predominance, endocrinology (attenuated HPA axis, skeletal muscle function (attenuated cortical activation, increased oxidative stress and cognition (impaired memory and information processing. Finally, we propose a causal link between sustained arousal and the experience of fatigue. The model of sustained arousal embraces all main findings concerning CFS disease mechanisms within one theoretical framework.

Sustainable diets within sustainable food systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Meybeck, Alexandre; Gitz, Vincent

2017-02-01

Sustainable diets and sustainable food systems are increasingly explored by diverse scientific disciplines. They are also recognised by the international community and called upon to orient action towards the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the fulfilment of sustainable development goals. The aim of the present paper is to briefly consider some of the links between these two notions in order to facilitate the operationalisation of the concept of sustainable diet. The concept of sustainable diet was defined in 2010 combining two totally different perspectives: a nutrition perspective, focused on individuals, and a global sustainability perspective, in all its dimensions: environmental, economic and social. The nutrition perspective can be easily related to health outcomes. The global sustainability perspective is more difficult to analyse directly. We propose that it be measured as the contribution of a diet to the sustainability of food systems. Such an approach, covering the three dimensions of sustainability, enables identification of interactions and interrelations between food systems and diets. It provides opportunities to find levers of change towards sustainability. Diets are both the results and the drivers of food systems. The drivers of change for those variously involved, consumers and private individuals, are different, and can be triggered by different dimensions (heath, environment, social and cultural). Combining different dimensions and reasons for change can help facilitate the transition to sustainable diets, recognising the food system's specificities. The adoption of sustainable diets can be facilitated and enabled by food systems, and by appropriate policies and incentives.

Utilising the Potential of Design Briefs in Sustainable Packaging Development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

ten Klooster, Roland; de Koeijer, Bjorn

2016-01-01

Sustainable considerations in the development of product-packaging combinations require activities on both the strategic and operational level. As part of a company’s vision, the strategic level of development targets the desired implementation of sustainability considerations. The activities of the

Stronger multilayer acrylic dielectric elastomer actuators with silicone gel coatings

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, Gih-Keong; La, Thanh-Giang; Sheng-Wei Foong, Ervin; Shrestha, Milan

2016-12-01

Multilayer dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) perform worst off than single-layer DEAs due to higher susceptibility to electro-thermal breakdown. This paper presents a hot-spot model to predict the electro-thermal breakdown field of DEAs and its dependence on thermal insulation. To inhibit the electrothermal breakdown, silicone gel coating was applied as barrier coating to multilayer acrylic DEA. The gel coating helps suppress the electro-thermally induced puncturing of DEA membrane at the hot spot. As a result, the gel-coated DEAs, in either a single layer or a multilayer stack, can produce 30% more isometric stress change as compared to those none-coated. These gel-coated acrylic DEAs show great potential to make stronger artificial muscles.

 Bank sustainability reporting within GRI-G4 Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Kundid Novokmet

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Sustainability accounting, with its final output – sustainability reporting, is a new field of accounting focused on evaluating and following up activities regarding a firm’s governance, environmental issues and social inclusion and interaction. Among several standardized frameworks, companies worldwide often choose the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. Since the year 2000, GRI Guidelines have evolved and currently the fourth generation is in use. The aim of this study is to assess the latest form of sustainability reporting within an integrated report in the banking industry using the UniCredit Group, which operates in 15 countries, as an example. Sustainability reporting will soon become mandatory in the European Union (EU for large companies, listed companies and publicinterest entities (e.g. banks with an average of at least 500 employees, starting from the year 2018 (for activities in 2017. This paper is focused on a content analysis of the recent bank sustainability reporting with a critical review on this matter.

Environmental management as a pillar for sustainable development.

Science.gov (United States)

Mikulčić, Hrvoje; Duić, Neven; Dewil, Raf

2017-12-01

There is a growing concern about how to minimize the impact of human activities on the environment. Already nowadays, in some places adaptation efforts are needed in order to avoid the irreversibility of negative human activities. Due to climate changes, and corresponding environmental and social changes, there is a great need for a more sustainable development of mankind. Over the years, research studies that analyzed the sustainable development of different communities with a multi-disciplinary approach, stressed the necessity of preserving the environment for next generations. Therefore, responsible and conscientious management of the environment is a pillar of the sustainable development concept. This review introduction article provides an overview of the recent top scientific publications related to sustainable development that mostly originated from previous SDEWES conferences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spectral intensity dependence an isotropy of sources stronger than 0.1 Jy at 2700 MHz

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balonek, T.J.; Broderick, J.J.; Condon, J.J.; Crawford, D.F.; Jauncey, D.L.

1975-01-01

The 1000-foot (305 m) telescope of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center was used to measure 430 MHz flux densities of sources stronger than 0.1 Jy at 2700 MHz. Distributions of the resulting two-point spectral indices α (430, 2700) of sources in the intensity range 0.1less than or equal toS<0.35 Jy were compared with α (318, 2700) distributions of sources stronger than 0.35 Jy at 2700 MHz. The median normal-component spectral index and fraction of flat-spectrum sources in the faintest sample do not continue the previously discovered trend toward increased spectral steepening of faint sources. This result differs from the prediction of simple evolutionary cosmological models and therefore favors the alternative explanation that local source-density inhomogeneities are responsible for the observed intensity dependence of spectral indices

National strategy for sustainable development: 5. report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

After an introduction on the assessment and perspectives of the French national strategy for a sustainable development, this report presents actions which are associated with different themes: social dimension of the sustainable development, the citizen as an actor of sustainable development, territories, economic activities, companies and consumers, climate change and energy, transports, agriculture and fishery, prevention of risks, pollutions and other hazards for health and the environment, an exemplary State, research and innovation, international action

Kazan period of life-sustaining activity of professor V.I. Ra-zumovsky — a pioneer of Russian neurosurgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danilov V.I.

2012-06-01

Full Text Available There were presented historical data of life-sustaining activity of professor V. I. Razumovsky — a pioneer of Russian neurosurgery, who began to perform and then was performing systematically neurosurgical operations in the Kazan clinic under the guidance of outstanding neurologists V. M. Bekhterev and L. O. Darkshevich.

University engagement and regional sustainability initiatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lehmann, Martin; Christensen, Per; Thrane, Mikkel

2009-01-01

With an outset in ‘sustainability' defined as a continuous process requiring balance between (the emergence of) problems and our ability and capability to solve them using four distinct capitals available, i.e. natural, production, human and intellectual, and social capital, a model of universities...... University, Denmark, the linkages (actual, potential and missing) between academic work in research and education and sustainability initiatives are explored. The focus is both on the university's core activities as a provider of research and education and on the university's activities as an organisation, i...... societal benefit would be the ability to better cope with emerging problems endangering the sustainable development of our societies. It is concluded that Aalborg University with its long tradition for project-based and problem-oriented learning in fact has every opportunity to be able to lead by example...

Strategy and your stronger hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Geoffrey A

2005-12-01

There are two kinds of businesses in the world, says the author. Knowing what they are--and which one your company is--will guide you to the right strategic moves. One kind includes businesses that compete on a complex-systems model. These companies have large enterprises as their primary customers. They seek to grow a customer base in the thousands, with no more than a handful of transactions per customer per year (indeed, in some years there may be none), and the average price per transaction ranges from six to seven figures. In this model, 1,000 enterprises each paying dollar 1 million per year would generate dollar 1 billion in annual revenue. The other kind of business competes on a volume-operations model. Here, vendors seek to acquire millions of customers, with tens or even hundreds of transactions per customer per year, at an average price of relatively few dollars per transaction. Under this model, it would take 10 million customers each spending dollar 8 per month to generate nearly dollar 1 billion in revenue. An examination of both models shows that they could not be further apart in their approach to every step along the classic value chain. The problem, though, is that companies in one camp often attempt to create new value by venturing into the other. In doing so, they fail to realize how their managerial habits have been shaped by the model they've grown up with. By analogy, they have a "handedness"--the equivalent of a person's right- or left-hand dominance--that makes them as adroit in one mode as they are awkward in the other. Unless you are in an industry whose structure forces you to attempt ambidexterity (in which case, special efforts are required to manage the inevitable dropped balls), you'll be far more successful making moves that favor your stronger hand.

Sustainability partnerships and viticulture management in California.

Science.gov (United States)

Hillis, Vicken; Lubell, Mark; Hoffman, Matthew

2018-07-01

Agricultural regions in the United States are experimenting with sustainability partnerships that, among other goals, seek to improve growers' ability to manage their vineyards sustainably. In this paper, we analyze the association between winegrape grower participation in sustainability partnership activities and practice adoption in three winegrowing regions of California. Using data gathered from a survey of 822 winegrape growers, we find a positive association between participation and adoption of sustainable practices, which holds most strongly for practices in which the perceived private benefits outweigh the costs, and for growers with relatively dense social networks. We highlight the mechanisms by which partnerships may catalyze sustainable farm management, and discuss the implications of these findings for improving sustainability partnerships. Taken together, we provide one of the most comprehensive quantitative analyses to date regarding the effectiveness of agricultural sustainability partnerships for improving farm management. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Workshops in Dutch sustainable building design practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zeiler, W.; Quanjel, E.M.C.J.; Borsboom, W.A.

2009-01-01

Within the present context of the Dutch Sustainable Building Practice it is hard for the different involved building design disciplines to give a good answer to sustainability. Especially this is the case for the application solar energy either in passive or active form. As traditional methods did

Responsible marketing for sustainable tourism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jegdić Vaso

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The biggest challenge associated with the concept of sustainable tourism is its operationalisation and perception as a process to be applied through development plans, projects and ongoing activities of tour operators. The traditional approach to marketing, focused on a limited idea of maximising profit businesses, was not able to respond to a number of social and environmental requirements imposed by the concept of sustainable development. This paper discusses the ways in which marketing could play a more important role in the sustainable development of tourism. This refers to the determination of consumer needs and preferences, the formation of certain products and pricing, product information and advertising to consumers of their benefits in a sustainable manner, as well as adequate distribution channels used by businesses to deliver products to consumers. Environmental and social marketing are now being confirmed as important elements of a much broader marketing perspective. In order to develop tourism with sustainable outcomes, responsible marketing can be crucial. The concept of marketing mix for sustainable tourism was used as a starting point to explore the specific role of responsible marketing in tourism.

Changes in bacteria composition and efficiency of constructed wetlands under sustained overloads: A modeling experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Boano, F; Rizzo, A; Samsó, R; García, J; Revelli, R; Ridolfi, L

2018-01-15

The average organic and hydraulic loads that Constructed Wetlands (CWs) receive are key parameters for their adequate long-term functioning. However, over their lifespan they will inevitably be subject to either episodic or sustained overloadings. Despite that the consequences of sustained overloading are well known (e.g., clogging), the threshold of overloads that these systems can tolerate is difficult to determine. Moreover, the mechanisms that might sustain the buffering capacity (i.e., the reduction of peaks in nutrient load) during overloads are not well understood. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of sudden but sustained organic and hydraulic overloads on the general functioning of CWs. To that end, the mathematical model BIO_PORE was used to simulate five different scenarios, based on the features and operation conditions of a pilot CW system: a control simulation representing the average loads; 2 simulations representing +10% and +30% sustained organic overloads; one simulation representing a sustained +30% hydraulic overload; and one simulation with sustained organic and hydraulic overloads of +15% each. Different model outputs (e.g., total bacterial biomass and its spatial distribution, effluent concentrations) were compared among different simulations to evaluate the effects of such operation changes. Results reveal that overloads determine a temporary decrease in removal efficiency before microbial biomass adapts to the new conditions and COD removal efficiency is recovered. Increasing organic overloads cause stronger temporary decreases in COD removal efficiency compared to increasing hydraulic loads. The pace at which clogging develops increases by 10% for each 10% increase on the organic load. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Corporate Sustainability Indexes: FTSE 4 Good Index Report on Nestle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gülay Keskin

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Corporate sustainability and economic business activities are focused on the social and environmental impacts. In this sense, the economic activity created by the businesses is to pursue social and environmental impacts, and producing information related to these effects is essential for the formation of structure for a sustainable business. Sustainability indices are structures edited on first generation sustainability indicators, which are structures constructed in order to share information with consumers and businesses. The most important benefits are improvements in transparency without the need for regulation of the sustainability index, better understanding of the social and environmental impact of companies and the guidance for arrangements to minimize the negative side effects of company activities. FTSE4Good is a responsible investment index designed to help investors identify companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards. It is the only index of its kind since it includes specific criteria on the responsible marketing of breast milk substitutes.

Responsible marketing for sustainable tourism

OpenAIRE

Jegdić Vaso

2014-01-01

The biggest challenge associated with the concept of sustainable tourism is its operationalisation and perception as a process to be applied through development plans, projects and ongoing activities of tour operators. The traditional approach to marketing, focused on a limited idea of maximising profit businesses, was not able to respond to a number of social and environmental requirements imposed by the concept of sustainable development. This paper discusses the ways in which marketing cou...

Community Development to Feed the Family in Northern Manitoba Communities: Evaluating Food Activities based on Their Food Sovereighnty, Food Security, and Sustainable Livelihood Outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Ashraful Alam

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article explores food-related activities and their impacts on sustainable livelihood assets, food sovereignty, and food security, and provides insight for future food-related community development. Analysis is based on community food assessments conducted in 14 Northern Manitoba communities and included a food security survey, price survey, and interviews. The lack of community control over development in First Nation and other Northern remote and rural communities in Northern Manitoba is found to undermine both food sovereignty and sustainable livelihoods, while creating high levels of food insecurity. According to logit models, sharing country foods increases food sovereignty and sustainable livelihoods, and has a stronger relationship to food security than either road access to retail stores in urban centres or increased competition between stores. The model predicts that rates of food insecurity for a community with a country foods program and with access to public transit and roads at 95% would be lower than the Canadian average of 92%.RÉSUMÉCet article explore les activités relatives à l’alimentation et leur impact sur les biens durables ainsi que sur la souveraineté et la sécurité alimentaires tout en ouvrant des perspectives sur le développement communautaire futur relatif à l’alimentation. L’analyse se fonde sur une recherche menée dans quatorze communautés du nord du Manitoba et comprend un premier sondage sur la sécurité alimentaire, un second sondage sur les prix, et des entrevues. Le manque de contrôle du développement dans les communautés reculées du nord du Manitoba, tant autochtones que non-autochtones, mine à la fois la souveraineté alimentaire et les moyens d’existence durables tout en provoquant de hauts niveaux d’insécurité alimentaire. Selon un modèle Logit, le partage d’aliments locaux permet une souveraineté alimentaire et une autonomie durable tout en ayant un meilleur impact sur la

Proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance: The mediating effect of sustainability control systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Wijethilake, Chaminda

2017-07-01

This study examines to what extent corporations use sustainability control systems (SCS) to translate proactive sustainability strategy into corporate sustainability performance. The study investigates the mediating effect of SCS on the relationship between proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance. Survey data were collected from top managers in 175 multinational and local corporations operating in Sri Lanka and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). SCS were observed to only partially mediate the relationship between proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance. The mediating effect of SCS is further examined under three sustainability strategies; environmental and social strategies reveal a partial mediation, while the economic strategy exhibits no mediation. The study also finds that (i) a proactive sustainability strategy is positively associated with SCS and corporate sustainability performance and (ii) SCS are positively associated with corporate sustainability performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing sustainable remediation frameworks using sustainability principles.

Science.gov (United States)

Ridsdale, D Reanne; Noble, Bram F

2016-12-15

The remediation industry has grown exponentially in recent decades. International organizations of practitioners and remediation experts have developed several frameworks for integrating sustainability into remediation projects; however, there has been limited attention to how sustainability is approached and operationalized in sustainable remediation frameworks and practices - or whether sustainability plays any meaningful role at all in sustainable remediation. This paper examines how sustainability is represented in remediation frameworks and the guidance provided for practical application. Seven broad sustainability principles and review criteria are proposed and applied to a sample of six international remediation frameworks. Not all review criteria were equally satisfied and none of the frameworks fully met all criteria; however, the best performing frameworks were those identified as sustainability remediation frameworks. Intra-generational equity was addressed by all frameworks. Integrating social, economic and biophysical components beyond triple-bottom-line indicators was explicitly addressed only by the sustainable remediation frameworks. No frameworks provided principle- or rule-based guidance for dealing with trade-offs in sustainability decisions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sexual harassment and emotional and behavioural symptoms in adolescence: stronger associations among boys than girls.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaltiala-Heino, Riittakerttu; Fröjd, Sari; Marttunen, Mauri

2016-08-01

To study the associations between subjection to sexual harassment and emotional (depression) and behavioural (delinquency) symptoms among 14-to-18-year-old adolescents, and gender differences within these associations. 90,953 boys and 91,746 girls aged 14-18 participated in the School Health Promotion Study (SHPS), a school-based survey designed to examine the health, health behaviours, and school experiences of teenagers. Experiences of sexual harassment were elicited with five questions addressing five separate forms of harassment. Depression was measured by the 13-item Beck Depression Inventory and delinquency with a modified version of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD) instrument. Data were analysed using cross-tabulations with Chi-square statistics and logistic regression. All sexual harassment experiences studied were associated with both depression (adjusted odds ratios varied from 2.2 to 2.7 in girls and from 2.0 to 5.1 in boys) and delinquency (adjusted odds ratios 3.1-5.0 in girls and 1.7-6.9 in boys). Sexual name-calling had a stronger association with depression and with delinquency in girls (adjusted odds ratios, respectively, 2.4 and 4.2), than in boys (adjusted odds ratios, respectively, 2.0 and 1.7), but otherwise stronger associations with emotional and behavioural symptoms were seen in boys. Subjection to sexual harassment is associated with both emotional and behavioural symptoms in both girls and boys. The associations are mostly stronger for boys. Boys subjected to sexual harassment may feel particularly threatened regarding their masculinity, and there may be less support available for boys traumatised due to sexual harassment.

Roadmapping towards Sustainability Proficiency in Engineering Education

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez-Andara, Alejandro; Río-Belver, Rosa María; Rodríguez-Salvador, Marisela; Lezama-Nicolás, René

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to deliver a roadmap that displays pathways to develop sustainability skills in the engineering curricula. Design/methodology/approach: The selected approach to enrich engineering students with sustainability skills was active learning methodologies. First, a survey was carried out on a sample of 189 students…

Sustainability Assessment and Reporting in Agriculture Sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edward Kassem

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Sustainability assessment is a mainstream business activity that demonstrates the link between the organization’s strategy and commitment to a sustainable global economy. Sustainability indicators describe the environmental, social, economic and governance performance of Small and Medium‑sized Businesses/Enterprises (SMB/SME. Unfortunately, their implementations in the Czech Republic show a low level of engagement in sustainability assessment. The paper presents the results of the authors’ research in sustainability assessment of SMB/SMEs in the agriculture sector of the Czech Republic. An appropriate set of key performance indicators (KPIs in four dimensions (economy, environment, social and governance was developed to suit the SMB/SMEs sustainability assessment in the agriculture sector. A set of KPIs is proposed to help SMB/SMEs to avoid the barriers of sustainability assessment. These indicators are based mainly on Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture, Global Reporting Initiatives Frameworks and on current research state‑of‑the‑art. They have been created following the analysis of a number of agricultural enterprises over the world, particularly within European countries.

Is Environmental Dematerialization An Active Factor Of The Sustainable Development?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florin Razvan BĂLĂȘESCU

2012-09-01

Full Text Available As it is known, sustainable development reveals economic, social and ecologic aspects circumscribed to the sustainability of the stock of natural capital and to the energy matter entropic flows which affects the relation environment-economy-society in terms of externalities and of the socio-industrial metabolism. Thus, taking into account the principles of the technical-economic rationality and integrative socio-ecologic complexity, dematerialization is a concept, an instrument and a vector carrying socio-economic values based on the natural and social sciences. In this framework environmental dematerialization reveals the issue of socio- economic energetic centres - a result of relationship between nature and human rational sensible free will determinism.

Sustainability and specialisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Cairns Jr.

2004-05-01

Full Text Available Society depends heavily on its major universities and independent research organisations for new ideas. Arguable, sustainable use of the planet will require conceptual paradigms unprecedented in human history. Educational systems, especially major universities and research organisations, must produce students in all phases of the educational continuum who are capable of transdisciplinary activities. A much larger group of such students will be required to implement these new undertakings. Until the perception of the need for transdisciplinary education becomes widespread, nothing significant is likely to happen. One major obstacle is the lack of employment for transdisciplinary individuals. A commitment to sustainable use of the planet will provide employment and make better use of increasingly scarce resources.

Traditional formwork system sustainability performance: experts’ opinion

Science.gov (United States)

Taher Al-ashwal, Mohammed; Abdullah, Redzuan; Zakaria, Rozana

2017-11-01

The traditional formwork system is one of the commonly used systems in concrete construction. It is considered as one of the least observed activities in term of sustainability performance. In this paper, the sustainability performance of the traditional formwork has been assessed by using a multi-criteria assessment tool to facilitate the decision on the sustainability performance measurement. A quantitative five Likert scale survey study using judgemental sampling is employed in this study. A sample of 93 of engineering construction experts, with different fields including contractors, developers, and consultants in the Malaysian context has made the body of the collected primary data. The results show variety in the distribution of the respondents’ working experience. The sustainability performance is considered moderately sustainable by the experts with only given 40.24 % of the overall total score for the three sustainable categories namely environmental, social and economic. Despite the finding that shows that the economic pillar was rated as the most sustainable aspect in comparison to the environmental and social pillars the traditional formwork system sustainability still needs enhancement. Further incorporation of the social and environmental pillars into the concrete construction the sustainability performance of traditional formwork system could be improved.

Sustainability on-the-go

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kampf, Constance Elizabeth

on sustainability-- The Good Guide, Carrotmob and Colalife. Each organization demonstrates a web presence through social media that are available on mobile devices. This paper examines the mobile space as a space for examining the potential impacts of a technology mediated interaction focused on sustainability...... as an extension of consumer identity and conscience. Using Gee’s focus on the connection between language use, technology and context as part of identities in interaction, this paper also explores the potential and implications of mobile technologies for the communication of sustainable values. Technology...... is approached through the tension between McLuhan’s notion of physical extension and as E.T Hall’s description of technology as an extension of cultural practice. (Rogers 2000). Conclusions include understanding the shift to mobile technology as offering a space in which consumer identity plays an active role...

The new economy is stronger than you think.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahlman, W A

1999-01-01

Many policy makers at the Fed contend that the new economy is a fragile bubble--and that with the "irrational exuberance" of the capital markets, the sky is going to fall on the U.S. economy. That couldn't be further from the truth, according to William Sahlman. As long as the government doesn't interfere, he argues, the economy is sturdy, resilient, and raring to grow. The new economy is strong for several reasons. First, it is based on a business model that works. Any business system that relentlessly drives out inefficiency, forces intelligent business-process reengineering, and gives customers more of what they want will be sustainable. Second, it is built on America's admiration for entrepreneurs and its tolerance for failure, not to mention its easy access to capital. Third, the new economy is attracting the best and brightest minds in the country. And finally, says Sahlman, the new economy is strong because it is spreading. It may be primarily an American phenomenon now, but in a few short years it will start to show its effects everywhere, making the whole world a more productive place. Still, Sahlman believes, the road ahead is not without potholes and sharp curves. But that is what the new economy is all about, he maintains--companies attacking the status quo and entrenched players, companies experimenting to find new technologies that improve or replace earlier ones. Such activity presents no cause for alarm. The economic, social, and cultural factors undergirding the new economy are rock solid. It's simply a matter of letting them stand.

Modulating Reward Induces Differential Neurocognitive Approaches to Sustained Attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Esterman, Michael; Poole, Victoria; Liu, Guanyu; DeGutis, Joseph

2017-08-01

Reward and motivation have powerful effects on cognition and brain activity, yet it remains unclear how they affect sustained cognitive performance. We have recently shown that a variety of motivators improve accuracy and reduce variability during sustained attention. In the current study, we investigate how neural activity in task-positive networks supports these sustained attention improvements. Participants performed the gradual-onset continuous performance task with alternating motivated (rewarded) and unmotivated (unrewarded) blocks. During motivated blocks, we observed increased sustained neural recruitment of task-positive regions, which interacted with fluctuations in task performance. Specifically, during motivated blocks, participants recruited these regions in preparation for upcoming targets, and this activation predicted accuracy. In contrast, during unmotivated blocks, no such advanced preparation was observed. Furthermore, during motivated blocks, participants had similar activation levels during both optimal (in-the-zone) and suboptimal (out-of-the-zone) epochs of performance. In contrast, during unmotivated blocks, task-positive regions were only engaged to a similar degree as motivated blocks during suboptimal (out-of-the-zone) periods. These data support a framework in which motivated individuals act as "cognitive investors," engaging task-positive resources proactively and consistently during sustaining attention. When unmotivated, however, the same individuals act as "cognitive misers," engaging maximal task-positive resources only during periods of struggle. Published by Oxford University Press 2016.

Sustainable Enterprise Excellence and the Continuously Relevant and Responsible Organization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edgeman, Rick; Bøllingtoft, Anne; Eskildsen, Jacob Kjær

2013-01-01

Innovation and sustainability are critical to the design, activities, results, and financial viability of organizations. These support one another, with “sustainable innovation” addressing economic sustainability, and “innovating for sustainability” addressing societal and environmental...... sustainability. Both sustainable innovation and innovation for sustainability have gained traction as partial means of confronting economic, environmental and societal challenges. Although garnering footholds is promising, the growth rate of these challenges has thus far exceeded trajectory, scale, and velocity...... issues surrounding enterprise innovation and sustainability efforts and capabilities. Innovation and sustainability of the necessary trajectory, scale, and velocity are strategically integrated to deliver what we refer to as innovating sustainability. This provides an accelerated means path toward...

Key elements of a sustainable nuclear business case

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naidoo, D [Nuclear Consultants International - South Africa and AMEC Nuclear - United Kingdom, 20-35th Avenue, Umhlatuzana, Chatsworth, Durban (South Africa)

2008-07-01

The argument for nuclear power generation grows stronger internationally. Its increasing acceptance is attributable to scarcity of fossil fuel resources and environmental concerns. However, the potential implementation of nuclear power plants to solve our energy need has become an economic issue. The relatively high capital costs, the need to internalise all waste disposal and decommissioning costs are perceived barriers to the expansion of the nuclear industry. South Africa has embarked on an ambitious plan to provide 20 GW of electricity through the use of nuclear power by 2025. The success of the governments drive to stabilise electricity supply shall depend on the socio-economic conditions prevalent in the country over the stipulated period, but more specifically on the execution of a sustainable nuclear business model beyond the initial nuclear plant construction phases. This paper shall examine briefly, the key elements of a nuclear business case within the South African context. (authors)

Key elements of a sustainable nuclear business case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naidoo, D

2008-01-01

The argument for nuclear power generation grows stronger internationally. Its increasing acceptance is attributable to scarcity of fossil fuel resources and environmental concerns. However, the potential implementation of nuclear power plants to solve our energy need has become an economic issue. The relatively high capital costs, the need to internalise all waste disposal and decommissioning costs are perceived barriers to the expansion of the nuclear industry. South Africa has embarked on an ambitious plan to provide 20 GW of electricity through the use of nuclear power by 2025. The success of the governments drive to stabilise electricity supply shall depend on the socio-economic conditions prevalent in the country over the stipulated period, but more specifically on the execution of a sustainable nuclear business model beyond the initial nuclear plant construction phases. This paper shall examine briefly, the key elements of a nuclear business case within the South African context. (authors)

Stress-restress evokes sustained iNOS activity and altered GABA levels and NMDA receptors in rat hippocampus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harvey, Brian H; Oosthuizen, Frasia; Brand, Linda

2004-01-01

. The NOS isoform involved, and the role of stress-mediated corticosterone release in NOS activation, was verified with the administration of selective iNOS and nNOS inhibitors, aminoguanidine (50 mg/kg/day i.p.) and 7-nitroindazole (12.5 mg/kg/day i.p.), and the steroid synthesis inhibitor, ketoconazole...... (24 mg/kg/day i.p.), administered for 21 days prior to and during the stress procedure. RESULTS: Stress evoked a sustained increase in NOS activity, but reduced NMDA receptor density and total GABA levels. Aminoguanidine or ketoconazole, but not 7-nitroindazole or saline, blocked stress-induced NOS...

Corporate Sustainability Reporting in the BIST Sustainability Index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burcu Demirel

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In recent years, there is a growing focus on corporate operations especially since the publication of the first environmental reports in 1989. Companies have started to publish information about its environmental, social and sustainability policies. The study examines the sustainability reporting elements of Borsa Istanbul Sustainability Index (BIST in Turkey and to evaluate which elements is most vital in this context. This study will begin with the sustainability reporting that will be examined under the roof of corporation sustainability and end with the examination of sustainability reports of 15 firms, which are included in the BIST Sustainability Index in Turkey, and a content analysis. The reports of companies under study were taken from special web site and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative database of companies. Being the first study in examining the sustainability report of companies in BIST Sustainability Index, it is expected to contribute in literature about sustainability reporting recently started to gain importance in Turkey. Overall our findings suggest that the sustainability index established in Turkey is still in development stage, but the enterprises in the endeavor are working day by day to develop the sustainability qualities.

Survival and sustainability. Environmental concerns in the 21st century

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goekcekus, Hueseyin; Tuerker, Umut [Near East Univ., Nicosia, North Cyprus (Turkey). Dept. of Civil Engineering; LaMoreaux, James W. (eds.) [P.E. LaMoreaux and Associates, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States)

2011-07-01

The International Conference on Environment: Survival and Sustainability, held at the Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus 19-24 February 2007, dealt with environmental threats and proposed solutions at all scales. The 21 themes addressed by the conference fell into four broad categories; Threats to Survival and Sustainability; Technological Advances towards Survival and Sustainability; Activities and Tools for Social Change; Defining Goals for Sustainable Societies. Activities and tools that move the society towards greater sustainability were emphasized at the conference. These included environmental law and ethics, environmental knowledge, technology and information systems, media, environmental awareness, education and lifelong learning, the use of literature for environmental awareness, the green factor in politics, international relations and environmental organizations. The breadth of the issues addressed at the conference made clear the need for greatly increased interdisciplinary and international collaboration the survival and sustainability concept. The exchanges at the conference represent a step in this direction. (orig.)

Public health program capacity for sustainability: a new framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Schell, Sarah F; Luke, Douglas A; Schooley, Michael W; Elliott, Michael B; Herbers, Stephanie H; Mueller, Nancy B; Bunger, Alicia C

2013-02-01

Public health programs can only deliver benefits if they are able to sustain activities over time. There is a broad literature on program sustainability in public health, but it is fragmented and there is a lack of consensus on core constructs. The purpose of this paper is to present a new conceptual framework for program sustainability in public health. This developmental study uses a comprehensive literature review, input from an expert panel, and the results of concept-mapping to identify the core domains of a conceptual framework for public health program capacity for sustainability. The concept-mapping process included three types of participants (scientists, funders, and practitioners) from several public health areas (e.g., tobacco control, heart disease and stroke, physical activity and nutrition, and injury prevention). The literature review identified 85 relevant studies focusing on program sustainability in public health. Most of the papers described empirical studies of prevention-oriented programs aimed at the community level. The concept-mapping process identified nine core domains that affect a program's capacity for sustainability: Political Support, Funding Stability, Partnerships, Organizational Capacity, Program Evaluation, Program Adaptation, Communications, Public Health Impacts, and Strategic Planning. Concept-mapping participants further identified 93 items across these domains that have strong face validity-89% of the individual items composing the framework had specific support in the sustainability literature. The sustainability framework presented here suggests that a number of selected factors may be related to a program's ability to sustain its activities and benefits over time. These factors have been discussed in the literature, but this framework synthesizes and combines the factors and suggests how they may be interrelated with one another. The framework presents domains for public health decision makers to consider when developing

Analysing the sustainability of the entities quoted on the B.S.E. using accounting sustainability measures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florentin Caloian

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In order to ensure a sustainable development of an entity, a sustainability accounting report, trustfulness and proper made is mandatory for financial users. As a fact, the entities have to reveal social and environment information in order to increase the creditworthiness in the activity they realized. The purpose of this research is to point out how the sustainability accounting report influences the financial performance of the companies, by quantifying the social and environment elements in a score variable. The analysis is done upon the societies that are listed on the first category of Bucharest Stock of Exchange and tries to identity the way through which sustainable development can be ensured. The results are based on a linear regression model and find a direct positive correlation between the score variable and the financial performance of the companies

Standardization by ISO to Ensure the Sustainability of Space Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, A.; Lazare, B.; Oltrogge, D.; Stokes, H.

2013-08-01

The ISO / Technical Committee 20 / Sub-committee 14 develops debris-related standards and technical reports to mitigate debris and help ensure mission and space sustainability. While UN Guidelines and the IADC Guidelines encourage national governments and agencies to promote debris mitigation design and operation, the ISO standards will help the global space industry promote and sustain its space-related business. In this paper the scope and status of each ISO standard is discussed within an overall framework. A comparison with international guidelines is also provided to demonstrate the level of consistency. Finally, as a case study, the ISO standards are applied to a CubeSat mission, thus demonstrating their usability on a relatively recent and popular class of satellite.

ICT for environmental sustainability. Green ICT roadmap

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahola, J.; Ahlqvist, T.; Ermes, M.; Myllyoja, J.; Savola, J.

2010-03-15

This report presents a VTT roadmap on ICT for environmental sustainability, based on the assessments and evaluations made by VTT technology experts. We adopt a broad and systemic view to the issue; in other words, we believe that ICT's effectiveness depends on mutual understanding and changing the system level activities, i.e. the complex web of behaviour of people, institutions, organisations and political jurisdictions, like nation-states. We use the term ICT for environmental sustainability or environmentally sustainable ICT, instead of green ICT, and defined it as: The optimal use of ICT for managing the environmental sustainability of societal activities. The roadmap is divided into three themes. Empowering people means using ICT to raise people's awareness of the environmental impact of their actions and to channel their behaviour in a more environmentally-friendly direction. Extending natural resources involves reducing the use of diverse environmentally unsustainable resources through ICT-based solutions. Optimising systems refers to minimising the environmental load of diverse systems by optimising their operation. As a synthesis, we identified four focal topics within the roadmap themes that are most promising for further investigation. These are: (1) environmentally sustainable consumption, (2) smart energy and buildings, (3) lifecycle efficient production, and (4) optimised and adaptive networks. (orig.)

Feasibility of Conducting a Randomized Trial to Promote Healthy Eating, Active Play and Sustainability Awareness in Early Childhood Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Heather; Skouteris, Helen; Edwards, Susan; Rutherford, Leonie Margaret; Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy; O'Connor, Amanda; Mantilla, Ana; Huang, Terry TK; Lording, Kate Marion; Williams-Smith, Janet

2016-01-01

We sought to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a preschool/kindergarten curriculum intervention designed to increase 4-year-old children's knowledge of healthy eating, active play and the sustainability consequences of their food and toy choices. Ninety intervention and 65 control parent/child…

Mitigation/Adaptation: landscape architecture meets sustainable energy transition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stremke, S.

2009-01-01

Mitigation of climate change and adaptation to renewable energy sources are among the emerging fields of activity in landscape architecture. If landscape architects recognize the need for sustainable development on the basis of renewable energy sources, then how can we contribute to sustainable and

The Experientiality of Sustainability: Living with Our Choices

Science.gov (United States)

Pritchard, M.

2015-12-01

In an age when the escalating impact of human activity on the global environment has begun to threaten the long-term survival of humanity, increasing focus is being brought to bear on the scientific, social, economic, political, and cultural ramifications of the various courses of action open to individuals and societies across the globe. The intentional and intelligent modification of human behavior to balance environmental impact with human wellbeing is seen as the key to entering what Jeffrey Sachs has called the 'Age of Sustainable Development'. There are mechanisms, legal, socio-cultural, religious, economic, and technological that may ameliorate to varying degrees the environmental impact of human activity. These mechanisms are explored at length in the literature and assessed by their capacity to encourage or compel compliant behavior. They rely heavily on individual and collective choices based on rational self-interest, which is in turn informed by knowledge. The role of education in facilitating sustainable human activity is a key feature of many contributions to the literature. The alarming shortcoming in these discussions is the absence of an effective approach to learned sustainability that may achieve the necessary changes in human behavior and particularly adult choices with respect to daily acts of consumption. Sustainable practices and choices are most effectively produced through immersion in experientially based learning programs aimed at elementary and secondary school students. The experience of sustainable living during the critical phase of personal identity formation is the key to shaping behavior, and not just imparting knowledge. This AGU education session, ED041: Teaching Sustainability and Human Impact through Collaborative Teaching Methods, explores the principles on which such experiential immersion learning contributes to genuine sustainable behaviors and choices through targeted, intelligently designed residential programs.

Organising a safe space for navigating social-ecological transformations to sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Laura; Karpouzoglou, Timothy; Doshi, Samir; Frantzeskaki, Niki

2015-05-28

The need for developing socially just living conditions for the world's growing population whilst keeping human societies within a 'safe operating space' has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and management regimes that guide human responses in areas such as urban ecology, public health, resource security (e.g., food, water, energy access), economic development and biodiversity conservation. However, such systemic transformations necessitate experimentation in public arenas of exchange and a deepening of processes that can widen multi-stakeholder learning. We argue that there is an emergent potential in bridging the sustainability transitions and resilience approaches to create new scientific capacity that can support large-scale social-ecological transformations (SETs) to sustainability globally, not just in the West. In this article, we elucidate a set of guiding principles for the design of a 'safe space' to encourage stronger interactions between these research areas and others that are relevant to the challenges faced. We envisage new opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration that will develop an adaptive and evolving community of practice. In particular, we emphasise the great opportunity for engaging with the role of emerging economies in facilitating safe space experimentation.

Stakeholder Thinking in Sustainability Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gjerdrum Pedersen, Esben Rahbek; Hove Henriksen, Morten; Frier, Claus

2013-01-01

Purpose – The objective of the paper is to describe and discuss how the biotech company Novozymes integrates stakeholder thinking into everyday sustainability practices. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on first-hand experiences as well as secondary information from Novozymes' sta...... to make sense of stakeholder thinking. Originality/value – The contribution of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of how various stakeholder relations management methods can be used in practice to integrate sustainability in an organisation.......' stakeholder-oriented sustainability activities. Findings – The paper illustrates how a company is striving to transform the general stakeholder principles into concrete, manageable actions. Moreover, the paper describes some of the needs, challenges, and paradoxes experienced by an organisation that is trying...

Sustainable Palm Oil Production For Bioenergy Supply Chain

OpenAIRE

Ng, Wai Kiat

2009-01-01

A bioenergy supply chain is formed by many parts which from the raw material, biomass feedstock until the distribution and utilisation. The upstream activity is always managed in a sustainable way in order to be capable enough to support the downstream activity. In this dissertation, the sustainable production of palm oil is focused and researched through problem identification and solving by using the operation management perspective and practices. At first, the global biomass industry is st...

Sustainable bio kerosene: Process routes and industrial demonstration activities in aviation biofuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiaramonti, David; Prussi, Matteo; Buffi, Marco; Tacconi, Daniela

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Routes to aviation biofuels are examined, focusing on drop-in biofuels, capable of high blend levels with fossil kerosene. • Industrial demonstration activities are reported. • Used cooking oil is considered as alternative sustainable biomass feedstock for paraffinic fuel production. - Abstract: Alternative fuels are expected to play a major role in EU in the coming years due European Directives on the promotion of renewable energies and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in transports. However, while in road transports a variety of possible renewable fuels (mainly biofuels, but also electricity) can be considered, in aviation only high quality paraffinic biofuels can be adopted. This means that biomass must be converted through advanced processes into pure hydrocarbon fuels, fully compatible with the existing systems. The aviation sector is responsible for the 2% of the world anthropogenic CO 2 emissions and the 10% of the fuel consumption: airlines’ costs for fuel reach 30% of operating costs. In addition, the aviation traffic is expected to double within 15 years from 2012, while fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions should double in 25 years. Thus, more than 2 billion people and 40 Mt of good/cargo will have to be moved every year. In this context, the EU Flightpath set a target of 2 Mt per year for aviation alternative fuel by 2020 (i.e. 4% of annual fuel consumption). New processes towards bio-hydrocarbons are being developed, demonstrated and soon industrialized. The present work explores the possible routes from biomass feedstock to sustainable paraffinic fuels, either through bio or thermo-chemical processes, as well as discusses those more mature, focusing on industrial demonstration initiatives. In fact, while the number of possible options towards paraffinic biofuel production is very large, and covers both thermochemical and biochemical routes, as well as hybrid one, only two pathways are today ready for testing a significant

Language Education for Sustainable Development

Science.gov (United States)

Zygmunt, Tomasz

2016-01-01

Nowadays, education for sustainable development starts covering wider and wider spheres of interest and human activity. Out of the three main spheres of interest, such as environmental, economic, and socio-cultural, the first two mentioned here seem to be given more attention than the sphere of socio-cultural activity. In this respect, the aim of…

The Stability, Sustained Release and Cellular Antioxidant Activity of Curcumin Nanoliposomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xing Chen

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Curcumin is a multifunctional and natural agent considered to be pharmacologically safe. However, its application in the food and medical industry is greatly limited by its poor water solubility, physicochemical instability and inadequate bioavailability. Nanoliposome encapsulation could significantly enhance the solubility and stability of curcumin. Curcumin nanoliposomes exhibited good physicochemical properties (entrapment efficiency = 57.1, particle size = 68.1 nm, polydispersity index = 0.246, and zeta potential = −3.16 mV. Compared with free curcumin, curcumin nanoliposomes exhibited good stability against alkaline pH and metal ions as well as good storage stability at 4 °C. Curcumin nanoliposomes also showed good sustained release properties. Compared with free curcumin, curcumin nanoliposomes presented an equal cellular antioxidant activity, which is mainly attributed to its lower cellular uptake as detected by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. This study provide theoretical and practical guides for the further application of curcumin nanoliposomes.

How to use composite indicator and linear programming model for determine sustainable tourism.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziaabadi, Maryam; Malakootian, Mohammad; Zare Mehrjerdi, Mohammad Reza; Jalaee, Seied Abdolmajid; Mehrabi Boshrabadi, Hosein

2017-01-01

The tourism industry which is one of the most dynamic economic activities in today's world plays a significant role in the sustainable development. Therefore, in addition to paying attention to tourism, sustainable tourism must be taken into huge account; otherwise, the environment and its health will be damaged irreparably. To determine the level of sustainability in this study, indicators of sustainable tourism were first presented in three environmental health, economic and social aspects. Then, the levels of sustainable tourism and environmental sustainability were practically measured in different cities of Kerman Province using a composite indicator, a linear programming model, Delphi method and the questionnaire technique. Finally, the study cities (tourist attractions) were ranked. Result of this study showed that unfortunately the tourism opportunities were not used appropriately in these cities and tourist destinations, and that environmental aspect (health and environmental sustainability) had very bad situations compared to social and economic aspects. In other words, environmental health had the lowest levels of sustainability. The environment is a place for all human activities like tourism, social and economic issues; therefore, its stability and health is of great importance. Thus, it is necessary to pay more attention to sustainability of activities, management and environmental health in planning sustainable development in regional and national policy.

2010-2014: A Comparative Evolution of Sustainability Reporting and Its Assurance in Europe and the U.S.A.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tînjală Diana-Maria

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The concept of sustainability has evolved to encompass environmental, social and governance issues regarding corporate behaviour. For the last few years, stakeholders have begun putting pressure on companies to report on sustainability issues. Several national and international regulations and standards have been adopted to guide companies in their reporting. To ensure the accuracy and comparability of non-financial data needed for the stakeholders' decision making process, there is an increasing preference for the external assurance of sustainability reporting. The internationally recognized CSR report assurance standards are the International Standard on Assurance Engagements, ISAE 3000, and AccountAbility's AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS. This study focuses on the evolution of corporate sustainability reporting, using two non-financial indicators: ESG reporting, and Assurance of ESG reporting. The data for the study is based on content analysis of both CSR reports and corporate websites, courtesy of Sustainalytics. We assessed the evolution of the two indicators from June 2010 to February 2014, for 50 listed European companies and 50 American ones. The comparative approach illustrates the different evolutions of sustainability in Europe and the USA, emphasising the need for stronger regulations and guidelines in the USA, similar to those already implemented in European Countries. For the selected time period, US companies are shown to be worse reporters than European ones, having a negligible number of reports externally verified.

It is not easy being green: increasing sustainable public procurement behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grandia, J.; Steijn, A.J.; Kuipers, B.S.

2015-01-01

To achieve greater sustainability, governments need to continuously adapt their purchasing activities to innovations in the market. Sustainable procurement is a decision-making process in which the decisions of procurers determine if the full potential of sustainable procurement is used. The

It is not easy being green: increasing sustainable public procurement behaviour

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Grandia (Jolien); A.J. Steijn (Bram); B.S. Kuipers (Ben)

2015-01-01

markdownabstractTo achieve greater sustainability, governments need to continuously adapt their purchasing activities to innovations in the market. Sustainable procurement is a decision-making process in which the decisions of procurers determine if the full potential of sustainable procurement is

Integrating Norm Activation Model and Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Sustainable Transport Behavior: Evidence from China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuwei; Sheng, Hong; Mundorf, Norbert; Redding, Colleen; Ye, Yinjiao

2017-12-18

With increasing urbanization in China, many cities are facing serious environmental problems due to continuous and substantial increase in automobile transportation. It is becoming imperative to examine effective ways to reduce individual automobile use to facilitate sustainable transportation behavior. Empirical, theory-based research on sustainable transportation in China is limited. In this research, we propose an integrated model based on the norm activation model and the theory of planned behavior by combining normative and rational factors to predict individuals' intention to reduce car use. Data from a survey of 600 car drivers in China's three metropolitan areas was used to test the proposed model and hypotheses. Results showed that three variables, perceived norm of car-transport reduction, attitude towards reduction, and perceived behavior control over car-transport reduction, significantly affected the intention to reduce car-transport. Personal norms mediated the relationship between awareness of consequences of car-transport, ascription of responsibility of car-transport, perceived subjective norm for car-transport reduction, and intention to reduce car-transport. The results of this research not only contribute to theory development in the area of sustainable transportation behavior, but also provide a theoretical frame of reference for relevant policy-makers in urban transport management.

Integrating Norm Activation Model and Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Sustainable Transport Behavior: Evidence from China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuwei Liu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available With increasing urbanization in China, many cities are facing serious environmental problems due to continuous and substantial increase in automobile transportation. It is becoming imperative to examine effective ways to reduce individual automobile use to facilitate sustainable transportation behavior. Empirical, theory-based research on sustainable transportation in China is limited. In this research, we propose an integrated model based on the norm activation model and the theory of planned behavior by combining normative and rational factors to predict individuals’ intention to reduce car use. Data from a survey of 600 car drivers in China’s three metropolitan areas was used to test the proposed model and hypotheses. Results showed that three variables, perceived norm of car-transport reduction, attitude towards reduction, and perceived behavior control over car-transport reduction, significantly affected the intention to reduce car-transport. Personal norms mediated the relationship between awareness of consequences of car-transport, ascription of responsibility of car-transport, perceived subjective norm for car-transport reduction, and intention to reduce car-transport. The results of this research not only contribute to theory development in the area of sustainable transportation behavior, but also provide a theoretical frame of reference for relevant policy-makers in urban transport management.

Interdependences between sustainable development and sustainable economy

OpenAIRE

Emilia Mioara CÂMPEANU; Carmen Valentina RĂDULESCU

2014-01-01

Sustainable development and sustainable economy are mostly used concepts. Understanding clearly their meaning allows their use in an appropriate context and, therefore, their boundaries in terms of theoretical and practical approaches on which occasion it can be given their interdependencies. The paper aim is to analyze the interdependences between sustainable development and sustainable economy.

Educating Engineers for Sustainable Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Myrdal, Christina Grann; Holgaard, Jette Egelund

In this paper, we explore the potentials of designing engineering education activities for sustainability development based on how environmental concerns are integrated into product development processes in a company context. First we draw on a case study from the Danish company Grundfos Management...... A/S and based on their experience with product development practise and competence development of product developers, we propose a set of competences to be addressed in engineering education for sustainable development (EESD). Furthermore, we use the problem based learning philosophy as a base...

Sustainable Soil Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Green, Ole; Evgrafova, Alevtina; Kirkegaard Nielsen, Søren

management strategies, which consider the site- and field-specific parameters and agricultural machinery’s improvements, it is possible to maximize production and income, while reducing negative environmental impacts and human health issues induced by agricultural activities as well as improving food......Linket til højre henviser til rapporten i trykt format til download. This report provides an overview on new technologies for integrate sustainable and resilient management practices in arable ecosystems for advanced farmers, consultants, NGOs and policy makers. By following sustainable soil...... and soil quality in short- and long-terms. This report also illustrates the importance to combine a system approach for plant production by assessing field readiness, managing in-field traffic management, implementing the sitespecific controlled as well as sensor-controlled seedbed preparation, seeding...

Continuation of Health Behaviors: Psychosocial Factors Sustaining Drinking Water Chlorination in a Longitudinal Study from Chad

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Lilje

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Behavior that has changed following promotion campaigns is usually not maintained at its initial level. Psychosocial factors for initiating behavior are often not the same as for the continuation of health behaviors such as water treatment and are much less understood. Better knowledge of factors for behavioral continuation would help to improve programs, both in the design of strategies for sustainable behavior change and by defining stronger criteria for the evaluation of sustainability. This study compared the mindsets of caregivers who continuously performed household drinking water treatment over time with individuals that stopped doing so in a population sample from Chad. Several factors from health psychology based on the Risks, Attitudes, Norms, Abilities, and Self-Regulation (RANAS model were used to compare the two groups and examine their differing development. Normative factors such as others’ behavior, personal obligation, social support and discourse, perceived self-efficacy convictions, action control, and intention best discriminated between the two groups and developed significantly more positively over time for continuers of water treatment. These factors should be considered when designing future interventions intended to lead to sustainable behavior change.

The Cogema Group and the sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

This document presents the COGEMA Group commitment to sustainable development. Through this commitment, COGEMA is pursuing a policy of ''global performance'' allying economic progress, social progress and protection of the environment, in all its activities. This report points out the many contributions that COGEMA activities make to sustainable development: monitoring of the environment and of releases from its facilities; progress in Research and Development (treatment of liquid and gas effluents, optimized recycling of spent nuclear materials and reduction of their volume, etc.); certification; support for local economic development in the areas around the Group sites, not only in France, but also abroad, as at the mines in Canada and Niger; a strong policy of openness and transparency in its nuclear activities and ongoing dialogue with NGO. The document lays the bases for a number of indicators that can be used as of next year to measure the Group contribution to meeting the challenges of sustainable development. More-detailed statistical data are also presented in the annual environmental reports from the industrial sites in the COGEMA Group. (A.L.B.)

Integrating sustainability in Engineering Education in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Ulrik; Valderrama Pineda, Andres Felipe; Remmen, Arne

2013-01-01

How to include sustainability in engineering education is currently the main concern among engineering educators. In one way or another, engineering educators are increasingly addressing sustainability issues in the courses they teach, the programs they design and run, the institutional activities...... to be a broader social concern to be taken across programs or eventually in specialised new professional endeavours? To further this discussion, in the second part of this paper we examine how environmental, energy and sustainability we will present some details of the design of the Master Engineering programs...... on Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Design at Aalborg University in Denmark. These programs claim to have developed effective strategies for educating robust engineers capable of dealing with the complexities of the needed calculations and the modelling of physical processes and at the same time able to cope...

Catalyst: reimagining sustainability with and through fine art

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Connelly

2016-12-01

Full Text Available How might we begin to explore the concept of the "sustainable city" in a world often characterized as dynamic, fluid, and contested? Debates about the sustainable city are too often dominated by a technological discourse conducted among professional experts, but this technocratic framing is open to challenge. For some critics, sustainability is a meaningless notion, yet for others its semantic pliability opens up discursive spaces through which to explore interconnections across time, space, and scale. Thus, while enacting sustainability in policy and practice is an arduous task, we can productively ask how cultural imaginations might be stirred and shaken to make sustainability accessible to a wider public who might join the conversation. What role, we ask, can and should the arts play in wider debates about sustainability in the city today? We explore a coproduced artwork in the northeast of England in order to explain how practice-led research methods were put into dialogue with the social sciences to activate new perspectives on the politics, aesthetics, and practices of sustainability. The case is presented to argue that creative material experimentations can be used as an active research inquiry through which ideas can be tested without knowing predefined means or ends. The case shows how such creativity acts as a catalyst to engage a heterogeneous mix of actors in the redefinition of urban spaces, juxtaposing past and present, with the ephemeral and the (seemingly durable.

Daytime warming has stronger negative effects on soil nematodes than night-time warming

OpenAIRE

Yan, Xiumin; Wang, Kehong; Song, Lihong; Wang, Xuefeng; Wu, Donghui

2017-01-01

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, that is, stronger warming during night-time than during daytime. Here we focus on how soil nematodes respond to the current asymmetric warming. A field infrared heating experiment was performed in the western of the Songnen Plain, Northeast China. Three warming modes, i.e. daytime warming, night-time warming and diurnal warming, were taken to perform the asymmetric warming condition. Our results showed that the daytime and diurnal warming treatmen...

A Human Capital Framework for a Stronger Teacher Workforce. Advancing Teaching--Improving Learning. White Paper

Science.gov (United States)

Myung, Jeannie; Martinez, Krissia; Nordstrum, Lee

2013-01-01

Building a stronger teacher workforce requires the thoughtful orchestration of multiple processes working together in a human capital system. This white paper presents a framework that can be used to take stock of current efforts to enhance the teacher workforce in school districts or educational organizations, as well as their underlying theories…

The Relationship between Concern for Environmental Sustainability and the Capacity for Wisdom and Other Factors among Postgraduate Business Students

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McKenna, Bernard; Sigurjonsson, Olaf; Arnardottir, Audur

-term planetary sustainability. Other variables were considered. Students were more inclined to the New Ecological Paradigm [NEP], with a significant strong correlation between the level of wisdom and environmental concern. Stronger NEP and wisdom scores were positively correlated with subjective wellbeing...... and psychological wellbeing. Although there was no correlation between gender and wisdom, there was a positive correlation between wisdom and those with children as well as those who are partnered, suggesting the importance of experience in wisdom formation. Gender also did not correlate with environmental concern...

Sustainable Innovation, Management Accounting and Control Systems, and International Performance

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Ernesto Lopez-Valeiras

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This study analyzes how Management Accounting and Control Systems (MACS facilitate the appropriation of the benefits of sustainable innovations in organizations. In particular, this paper examines the moderating role of different types of MACS in the relationships between sustainable innovation and international performance at an organizational level. We collected survey data from 123 Spanish and Portuguese organizations. Partial Least Square was used to analyze the data. Results show that the effect of sustainable innovations on international performance is enhanced by contemporary rather than traditional types of MACS. Overall our findings show that MACS can help managers to develop and monitor organizational activities (e.g., costumer services and distribution activities, which support the appropriation of the potential benefits from sustainable innovation. This paper responds to recent calls for in-depth studies about the organizational mechanism that may enhance the success of sustainable innovation.

A stronger patch test elicitation reaction to the allergen hydroxycitronellal plus the irritant sodium lauryl sulfate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heydorn, S; Andersen, K E; Johansen, J D

2003-01-01

Household and cleaning products often contain both allergens and irritants. The aim of this double-blinded, randomized, paired study was to determine whether patch testing with an allergen (hydroxycitronellal) combined with an irritant [sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)] cause a stronger patch test...

From EcoDesign to Industrial Metabolism: Redefinition of Sustainable Innovation and Competitive Sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taps, Stig B.; Brunø, Thomas Ditlev; Nielsen, Kjeld

2013-01-01

evaluation of the most commonly tools and techniques in use and suggests a redefinition of the concept of EcoDesign by integrating End-of-Life activities to gain industrial metabolism. This approach takes a broader innovation perspective, necessary to construct a sustainable innovation community...

Fathers see stronger family resemblances than non-fathers in unrelated children's faces.

Science.gov (United States)

Bressan, Paola; Dal Pos, Stefania

2012-12-01

Even after they have taken all reasonable measures to decrease the probability that their spouses cheat on them, men still face paternal uncertainty. Such uncertainty can lead to paternal disinvestment, which reduces the children's probability to survive and reproduce, and thus the reproductive success of the fathers themselves. A theoretical model shows that, other things being equal, men who feel confident that they have fathered their spouses' offspring tend to enjoy greater fitness (i.e., leave a larger number of surviving progeny) than men who do not. This implies that fathers should benefit from exaggerating paternal resemblance. We argue that the self-deceiving component of this bias could be concealed by generalizing this resemblance estimation boost to (1) family pairs other than father-child and (2) strangers. Here, we tested the prediction that fathers may see, in unrelated children's faces, stronger family resemblances than non-fathers. In Study 1, 70 men and 70 women estimated facial resemblances between children paired, at three different ages (as infants, children, and adolescents), either to themselves or to their parents. In Study 2, 70 men and 70 women guessed the true parents of the same children among a set of adults. Men who were fathers reported stronger similarities between faces than non-fathers, mothers, and non-mothers did, but were no better at identifying childrens' real parents. We suggest that, in fathers, processing of facial resemblances is biased in a manner that reflects their (adaptive) wishful thinking that fathers and children are related.

Sustainability performance evaluation: Literature review and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Büyüközkan, Gülçin; Karabulut, Yağmur

2018-07-01

Current global economic activities are increasingly being perceived as unsustainable. Despite the high number of publications, sustainability science remains highly dispersed over diverse approaches and topics. This article aims to provide a structured overview of sustainability performance evaluation related publications and to document the current state of literature, categorize publications, analyze and link trends, as well as highlight gaps and provide research recommendations. 128 articles between 2007 and 2018 are identified. The results suggest that sustainability performance evaluation models shall be more balanced, suitable criteria and their interrelations shall be well defined and subjectivity of qualitative criteria inherent to sustainability indicators shall be considered. To address this subjectivity, group decision-making techniques and other analytical methods that can deal with uncertainty, conflicting indicators, and linguistic evaluations can be used in future works. By presenting research gaps, this review stimulates researchers to establish practically applicable sustainability performance evaluation frameworks to help assess and compare the degree of sustainability, leading to more sustainable business practices. The review is unique in defining corporate sustainability performance evaluation for the first time, exploring the gap between sustainability accounting and sustainability assessment, and coming up with a structured overview of innovative research recommendations about integrating analytical assessment methods into conceptual sustainability frameworks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sustained activation of STAT5 is essential for chromatin remodeling and maintenance of mammary-specific function

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xu, Ren; Nelson, Celeste M.; Muschler, John L.; Veiseh, Mandana; Vonderhaar, Barbara K.; Bissell, Mina J.

2009-06-03

Epithelial cells, once dissociated and placed in two-dimensional (2D) cultures, rapidly lose tissue-specific functions. We showed previously that in addition to prolactin, signaling by laminin-111 was necessary to restore functional differentiation of mammary epithelia. Here, we elucidate two additional aspects of laminin-111 action. We show that in 2D cultures, the prolactin receptor is basolaterally localized and physically segregated from its apically placed ligand. Detachment of the cells exposes the receptor to ligation by prolactin leading to signal transducers and activators of transcription protein 5 (STAT5) activation, but only transiently and not sufficiently for induction of milk protein expression. We show that laminin-111 reorganizes mammary cells into polarized acini, allowing both the exposure of the prolactin receptor and sustained activation of STAT5. The use of constitutively active STAT5 constructs showed that the latter is necessary and sufficient for chromatin reorganization and {beta}-casein transcription. These results underscore the crucial role of continuous laminin signaling and polarized tissue architecture in maintenance of transcription factor activation, chromatin organization, and tissue-specific gene expression.

Sustaining an Effective ABC-ABM System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary COKINS

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to describe the Activity- Based Costing (ABC and Activity-Based Management (ABM system and techniques to sustain them as a permanent and repeatable production reporting system, not just for one-off analysis. A comparison is made between ABC/ABM modeling software that extracts source data and business systems that include ABC/ABM modeling features. There are presented the stages of updating, running and rerunning the ABC/ABM system. The resulting information calculated and provided by the ABC/ABM system are analyzed and interpreted in terms of a multidimensional data analysis. The article ends with the authors' conclusions about the benefits of continued operation of sustaining the ABC/ABM system.

Association of blood antioxidants status with visual and auditory sustained attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiraseb, Farideh; Siassi, Fereydoun; Sotoudeh, Gity; Qorbani, Mostafa; Rostami, Reza; Sadeghi-Firoozabadi, Vahid; Narmaki, Elham

2015-01-01

A low antioxidants status has been shown to result in oxidative stress and cognitive impairment. Because antioxidants can protect the nervous system, it is expected that a better blood antioxidant status might be related to sustained attention. However, the relationship between the blood antioxidant status and visual and auditory sustained attention has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of fruits and vegetables intake and the blood antioxidant status with visual and auditory sustained attention in women. This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 healthy women (20-50 years) who attended the sports clubs of Tehran Municipality. Sustained attention was evaluated based on the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test using the Integrated Visual and Auditory (IVA) software. The 24-hour food recall questionnaire was used for estimating fruits and vegetables intake. Serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were measured in 90 participants. After adjusting for energy intake, age, body mass index (BMI), years of education and physical activity, higher reported fruits, and vegetables intake was associated with better visual and auditory sustained attention (P attention (P visual and auditory sustained attention after adjusting for age, years of education, physical activity, energy, BMI, and caffeine intake (P visual and auditory sustained attention is associated with a better blood antioxidant status. Therefore, improvement of the antioxidant status through an appropriate dietary intake can possibly enhance sustained attention.

Can engineering solutions really provide a sustainable future?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boisen, Anja

2014-01-01

Sustainability is a word which is very often (mis)used in various public debates. In engineering, however, it is perhaps easier to define the term, then in other academic fields. We advocate the principle that only those activities, which can be sustained for at least a few centuries using known...

There Is No Such Thing as Sustainable Tourism: Re-Conceptualizing Tourism as a Tool for Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianna Moscardo

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Increased global concern about sustainability has placed pressure on businesses to justify the value of their products and services beyond personal profit and to take responsibility for the negative impacts of their activities. Tourism is particularly susceptible to this pressure, given its generally poor track record in terms of negative social, cultural and environmental impacts, and the lack of compelling evidence of benefits for either the individual tourist or destination communities. While the management of tourism impacts and the relationship between tourism and sustainability have been paid considerable attention by tourism academics, there is little evidence of any significant change in tourism practice. This paper will argue that this lack of change reflects problems in the way tourism academics have conceptualized sustainable tourism. After reviewing these problems with sustainable tourism, this paper will offer an alternative framework for sustainable tourism that focuses on the concept of quality-of-life, recognizes the complexity of tourism within local and global systems, adheres to the principles of responsible tourism, and explicitly assesses the value of tourism as one tool, amongst many, for sustainability. One potential application of the framework will be demonstrated with a case study of tourism development on Magnetic Island in Australia.

Energy and sustainable development: issues and options

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Appert, O.

2001-01-01

Future development needs to be sustainable in all of its dimensions if it is to continue to fully contribute to human welfare. In the achievement of this objective, the manner in which energy is produced and consumed is of crucial importance. In the wake of these insights, first attempts begin to provide concrete options for steps towards sustainability in the energy sector. Two criteria can be identified for developing sustainable development policies. First, such policies need to strike a balance between the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, environmental and social - acknowledging that all three are intrinsically linked. Second, policies in the energy sector need to reduce exposure to large-scale risks and improve the resilience of the energy system through active risk management and diversification. (authors)

Conflict between Water Policy and Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Barros, A. F.

2001-05-01

Recent developments in the area of water policy have focussed around the concepts of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The goal of this activity has been to improve the efficiency of the potential worldwide investment of \\$80 billion per year into the water sector, and to lobby for more expenditure to meet the rapidly expanding demands placed upon water resources worldwide. Unfortunately, there is no definitive and widely accepted definition of IWRM and this fuels the long-standing feeling amongst the scientific community that water policy studies and institutions shortchange sustainability considerations, including those dealing scientific understanding of hydrology and aquatic ecosystems. This is made more difficult because the concepts used in describing sustainability are themselves diffuse and can be contradictory. The nature of understanding of the essential elements of sustainable development and those of the policy community are basically different. Policy has to be general, descriptive, and immediate-sustainability is just the opposite; it must be specific, analytical, and take a long perspective. No one on either side of the divide would claim that the other activities are not important, but bridging the divide is extremely difficult and rare. Typically, policy studies try to incorporate the bureaucratic concepts of water management and institutional reforms without considering the analytical work associated with long-term sustainability of water resources. Furthermore, water resource problems are characterized by high levels of complexity and require a strong interdisciplinary mix of approaches. Unfortunately, what is known and what is likely in the near future are subject to wide interpretation by different observers. This paper examines the conflict between the demands of water policy, which is essentially short-term and narrowly focused with the demands of sustainability, which are long-term and broadly based.

Do External or Internal Technology Spillovers Have a Stronger Influence on Innovation Efficiency in China?

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Xionghe Qin

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this study, we bridge an important gap in the literature by comparing the extent to which external technology spillovers, as indicated by foreign direct investment (FDI, and internal technology spillovers, as indicated by university-institute-industry cooperation (UIC, influence innovation efficiency in China. We divide the innovation process into two sequential stages, namely the knowledge creation and technology commercialization stages, and employ a network data envelopment analysis approach to measure innovation efficiency at each stage. The spatial analysis of the distribution of knowledge creation efficiency and technology commercialization efficiency reveals the heterogeneity of innovation efficiency at the provincial level. Then, a panel data regression is used to analyze the effect of FDI and UIC on innovation efficiency at each stage, using data from 2009 to 2015 for 30 provinces in China. By comparing FDI with UIC, we find that FDI has a higher coefficient and stronger significance level at the knowledge creation stage, while only industry-institute linkages exhibit a stronger association with innovation efficiency at the technology commercialization stage.

Incorporating Sustainability into Engineering and Chemical Education Using E-Learning

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Edmond Sanganyado

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to develop e-learning activities that could facilitate the integration of sustainability concepts and practices in engineering and chemical education. Using an online learning management system (LMS, undergraduate students in an applied chemistry program at a public university in Zimbabwe participated in an online discussion on the role of chemical reaction engineering in achieving environmental sustainability goals. In the second activity, the students were instructed to prepare a design report for a cost-effective and innovative wastewater treatment plant for a rural hospital. The design report was evaluated through peer review online. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on the two online activities to evaluate student engagement, quality of responses and the incorporation of sustainability into their learning. In the online discussion, 97 comments were made averaging 120 words per comment. Furthermore, the students averaged 3.88 comments, with the majority of comments exhibiting simple and complex argumentation, a deep reflection and widespread use of terms associated with sustainability such as recycling, pollution, waste and the environment. Furthermore, the evaluation of peer reviews revealed that participants demonstrated they could identify the strengths and shortcomings in the design reports. Therefore, this study demonstrated that e-learning, particularly peer review and online discussion, could help chemistry and engineering students appreciate the need for chemical and engineering activities that encourage sustainable development.

Grassland Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Deborah U. Potter; Paulette L. Ford

2004-01-01

In this chapter we discuss grassland sustainability in the Southwest, grassland management for sustainability, national and local criteria and indicators of sustainable grassland ecosystems, and monitoring for sustainability at various scales. Ecological sustainability is defined as: [T]he maintenance or restoration of the composition, structure, and processes of...

Sustainability and public health nutrition at school: assessing the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in Vancouver schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Jennifer L; Velazquez, Cayley E; Ahmadi, Naseam; Chapman, Gwen E; Carten, Sarah; Edward, Joshua; Shulhan, Stephanie; Stephens, Teya; Rojas, Alejandro

2015-09-01

To describe the development and application of the School Food Environment Assessment Tools and a novel scoring system to assess the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in elementary and secondary schools. The cross-sectional study included direct observations of physical food environments and interviews with key school personnel regarding food-related programmes and policies. A five-point scoring system was then developed to assess actions across six domains: (i) food gardens; (ii) composting systems; (iii) food preparation activities; (iv) food-related teaching and learning activities; and availability of (v) healthy food; and (vi) environmentally sustainable food. Vancouver, Canada. A purposive sample of public schools (n 33) from all six sectors of the Vancouver Board of Education. Schools scored highest in the areas of food garden and compost system development and use. Regular integration of food-related teaching and learning activities and hands-on food preparation experiences were also commonly reported. Most schools demonstrated rudimentary efforts to make healthy and environmentally sustainable food choices available, but in general scored lowest on these two domains. Moreover, no schools reported widespread initiatives fully supporting availability or integration of healthy or environmentally sustainable foods across campus. More work is needed in all areas to fully integrate programmes and policies that support healthy, environmentally sustainable food systems in Vancouver schools. The assessment tools and proposed indicators offer a practical approach for researchers, policy makers and school stakeholders to assess school food system environments, identify priority areas for intervention and track relevant changes over time.

Social Sustainability of Shopping Streets in Ankara

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Özge YALÇINER ERCOŞKUN

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Shopping streets are integral parts of public spaces in traditional shopping areas of Central Business Districts (CBD. Furthermore, as modern shopping venues, shopping centers offer advantages for modern lifestyles with spacious shopping areas, variety of commercial and social activities, and economic value of their investments. These advantages act in favor of shopping centers and improve the level of shopping street social sustainability and its relevant concepts. The aim of this study is to analyze the main shopping streets of Ankara, using the concepts of social sustainability. In this study, these concepts, such as locality, identity, vitality, viability, sense of place, conviviality, meaning and local characteristics of the shopping streets are investigated. For the first time, the retail unit locations in Ankara, their brands and their business types, are illustrated on thematic land use maps using Geographical Information Systems (GIS software. Next, population activities and consumer spatial behavior are observed and marked on maps that are also referred to as social sustainability maps. The results of the study can be useful in formulating strategies within the framework of social sustainability, which is a relatively new concept.

MODELING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCTIC REGION OF RUSSIA

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K. N. Kikkas

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article describes a model of six econometric equations, designed for the analysis of the sustainability of development in the Arctic region of the Russian Federation - Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The article analyzes the spheres of human activity in the Chukchi Autonomous District: social, industrial, natural resources. Each sphere is estimated indicators. The theoretical views of various researchers on sustainable development and defi nes the concept of sustainable development of the spheres of human activity in the Arctic region. Under the sustainable development of the Arctic region of space refers to such changes in the indices of spheres of human activity in the region, which increase the potential for human development. The numerical value of the potential of human development is estimated Human Development Index. The article describes the methodological principles of constructing a model of six equations econometric analysis of the sustainable development of the Arctic region. Each of the six equations presented in the form of ADL-model, because it allows us to estimate the dependence of ADL values of the spheres of human activity in the region from the current and past values of the series of other indicators. Selected endogenous and exogenous variables for the model. We discuss the algorithm for fi nding the model parameters. On the basis of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug are six coeffi cients of econometric equations. The analysis of the results of the decision model. Methodological principles and results of the decision model can be used to develop strategies for sustainable development of the municipality, a separate Arctic, or a combination of all the Arctic regions of Russia.

Sustainable Development and Sustainable Growth: Conceptual Plane or Points on a Conceptual Plain?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ulhøi, John Parm; Madsen, Henning

The world's natural resources are being battered on all fronts. Human activities which consume such resources need to be reconsidered in a way which will allow the regenerative capacity of these assets to function. In view of the potential danger of the concept of sustainable development (SD...

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH THROUGH EXTERNAL TRADE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentina Vasile

2016-12-01

Full Text Available A country’s economic growth is directly influenced by the external trade activity, which is considered by the majority of economists as one of the main engines of a country. How international trade can contributes to a sustainable development of a country depends broadly on the economic policies as well as on global and regional strategies to support the actions for this objective. The high level political meeting of United Nations Organization’s Member States in September 2015 has as aim the adoption of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes global economic, social and environmental goals. Any strategy or global policy influences, of course, in a direct way the international trade activities, by how these measures affect or determine relations between states to achieve the sustainable development objectives. Being involved in all sectors of economic and social life to achieve these noble goals, foreign trade is of course on the list of key areas as well as on the list of the domains being influenced by the global strategy adopted in the framework of the largest summit of its kind in the history of the United Nations. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of external trade activity of Romania, taking into account the characteristics of companies involved in exports and imports of goods in Romania as well as to identify the key areas to be further developed for a sustainable development of national economy based on export activity. Romania's sustainable development can be achieved in the medium and long term by complementary and converging actions such as increased expenditure on research and development field, attracting as a priority the Greenfield investments, increasing productivity of national capital (human, natural, technological or ensure the efficiency at microeconomic and macroeconomic level. Increasing the share of products and activities using a small amount of energy and material resources but which

Compatibility of Corporate Sustainability with a Cost Leadership Strategy

OpenAIRE

Bouvrain, Stanislas; Sarka, Darius

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND Exploring literature about corporate sustainability and cost leadership strategy and to study the collusion of the two concepts through the case of Ikea. AIM Researching whether firms can align corporate sustainability approach to doing business on the imperatives of a cost leadership strategy. The contribution aims to provide guidance on choosing appropriate sustainability activities within the context of cost leadership strategy. Furthermore, it should be noted that this paper se...

Indicators of sustainable capacity building for health research: analysis of four African case studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Bates, Imelda; Taegtmeyer, Miriam; Squire, S Bertel; Ansong, Daniel; Nhlema-Simwaka, Bertha; Baba, Amuda; Theobald, Sally

2011-03-28

Despite substantial investment in health capacity building in developing countries, evaluations of capacity building effectiveness are scarce. By analysing projects in Africa that had successfully built sustainable capacity, we aimed to identify evidence that could indicate that capacity building was likely to be sustainable. Four projects were selected as case studies using pre-determined criteria, including the achievement of sustainable capacity. By mapping the capacity building activities in each case study onto a framework previously used for evaluating health research capacity in Ghana, we were able to identify activities that were common to all projects. We used these activities to derive indicators which could be used in other projects to monitor progress towards building sustainable research capacity. Indicators of sustainable capacity building increased in complexity as projects matured and included- early engagement of stakeholders; explicit plans for scale up; strategies for influencing policies; quality assessments (awareness and experiential stages)- improved resources; institutionalisation of activities; innovation (expansion stage)- funding for core activities secured; management and decision-making led by southern partners (consolidation stage).Projects became sustainable after a median of 66 months. The main challenges to achieving sustainability were high turnover of staff and stakeholders, and difficulties in embedding new activities into existing systems, securing funding and influencing policy development. Our indicators of sustainable capacity building need to be tested prospectively in a variety of projects to assess their usefulness. For each project the evidence required to show that indicators have been achieved should evolve with the project and they should be determined prospectively in collaboration with stakeholders.

Climate change, energy, sustainability and pavements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gopalakrishnan, Kasthurirangan; Steyn, Wynand JvdM; Harvey, John

2014-01-01

Provides an integrated perspective on understanding the impacts of climate change, energy and sustainable development on transportation infrastructure systems. Presents recent technological innovations and emerging concepts in the field of green and sustainable transportation infrastructure systems with a special focus on highway and airport pavements. Written by leading experts in the field. Climate change, energy production and consumption, and the need to improve the sustainability of all aspects of human activity are key inter-related issues for which solutions must be found and implemented quickly and efficiently. To be successfully implemented, solutions must recognize the rapidly changing socio-techno-political environment and multi-dimensional constraints presented by today's interconnected world. As part of this global effort, considerations of climate change impacts, energy demands, and incorporation of sustainability concepts have increasing importance in the design, construction, and maintenance of highway and airport pavement systems. To prepare the human capacity to develop and implement these solutions, many educators, policy-makers and practitioners have stressed the paramount importance of formally incorporating sustainability concepts in the civil engineering curriculum to educate and train future civil engineers well-equipped to address our current and future sustainability challenges. This book will prove a valuable resource in the hands of researchers, educators and future engineering leaders, most of whom will be working in multidisciplinary environments to address a host of next-generation sustainable transportation infrastructure challenges.

Climate change, energy, sustainability and pavements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gopalakrishnan, Kasthurirangan [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States). Dept. of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering; Steyn, Wynand JvdM [Pretoria Univ. (South Africa). Dept. of Civil Engineering; Harvey, John (ed.) [California Univ., Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

2014-07-01

Provides an integrated perspective on understanding the impacts of climate change, energy and sustainable development on transportation infrastructure systems. Presents recent technological innovations and emerging concepts in the field of green and sustainable transportation infrastructure systems with a special focus on highway and airport pavements. Written by leading experts in the field. Climate change, energy production and consumption, and the need to improve the sustainability of all aspects of human activity are key inter-related issues for which solutions must be found and implemented quickly and efficiently. To be successfully implemented, solutions must recognize the rapidly changing socio-techno-political environment and multi-dimensional constraints presented by today's interconnected world. As part of this global effort, considerations of climate change impacts, energy demands, and incorporation of sustainability concepts have increasing importance in the design, construction, and maintenance of highway and airport pavement systems. To prepare the human capacity to develop and implement these solutions, many educators, policy-makers and practitioners have stressed the paramount importance of formally incorporating sustainability concepts in the civil engineering curriculum to educate and train future civil engineers well-equipped to address our current and future sustainability challenges. This book will prove a valuable resource in the hands of researchers, educators and future engineering leaders, most of whom will be working in multidisciplinary environments to address a host of next-generation sustainable transportation infrastructure challenges.

Peptide-MHC class I stability is a stronger predictor of CTL immunogenicity than peptide affinity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harndahl, Mikkel Nors; Rasmussen, Michael; Nielsen, Morten

2012-01-01

Peptide-MHC class I stability is a stronger predictor of CTL immunogenicity than peptide affinity Mikkel Harndahla, Michael Rasmussena, Morten Nielsenb, Soren Buusa,∗ a Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark b Center for Biological Seq...... al., 2007. J. Immunol. 178, 7890–7901. doi:10.1016/j.molimm.2012.02.025...

Sustainable Approach to Nanomaterials and Nano-Catalysts

Science.gov (United States)

Our recent activity on sustainable chemical synthesis activity involving benign alternatives, such as the use of supported reagents, and greener reaction medium in aqueous or solvent-free conditions is summarized. The synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, coupling reactions, and a...

Enforcement costs: some humanitarian alternatives to stronger patent rights.

Science.gov (United States)

Trotter, Andrew

2012-01-01

Diseases that cause comparatively few problems in developed countries kill millions of people in the Third World each year. In many cases, people die because they cannot afford the medication needed to save their lives. In others, there are simply no drugs available because there are no wealthy western patients to justify pharmaceutical companies investing in a cure. This reveals a deep-seated problem within the patent system and the pharmaceutical industry that emphasises markets and profits at the expense of health and global welfare. Global efforts have seen substantial improvements in access to medicines in isolated areas, but with international agreements driving towards stronger patent protection and the expiry date for the TRIPS grace period fast approaching, it is time to consider alternatives which will allow the patent system to work for the humanitarian cause rather than against it. This paper considers two such problems in the patent system and pharmaceutical industry - prohibitive pricing and misdirected incentives - to offer a mode of regulation and enforcement that will support both a viable pharmaceutical industry and the human right to health and medication.

Spatial Attention Is Attracted in a Sustained Fashion toward Singular Points in the Optic Flow

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shuo; Fukuchi, Masaki; Koch, Christof; Tsuchiya, Naotsugu

2012-01-01

While a single approaching object is known to attract spatial attention, it is unknown how attention is directed when the background looms towards the observer as s/he moves forward in a quasi-stationary environment. In Experiment 1, we used a cued speeded discrimination task to quantify where and how spatial attention is directed towards the target superimposed onto a cloud of moving dots. We found that when the motion was expansive, attention was attracted towards the singular point of the optic flow (the focus of expansion, FOE) in a sustained fashion. The effects were less pronounced when the motion was contractive. The more ecologically valid the motion features became (e.g., temporal expansion of each dot, spatial depth structure implied by distribution of the size of the dots), the stronger the attentional effects. Further, the attentional effects were sustained over 1000 ms. Experiment 2 quantified these attentional effects using a change detection paradigm by zooming into or out of photographs of natural scenes. Spatial attention was attracted in a sustained manner such that change detection was facilitated or delayed depending on the location of the FOE only when the motion was expansive. Our results suggest that focal attention is strongly attracted towards singular points that signal the direction of forward ego-motion. PMID:22905096

Carbohydrate administration during a day of sustained aerobic activity improves vigilance, as assessed by a novel ambulatory monitoring device, and mood.

Science.gov (United States)

Lieberman, Harris R; Falco, Christina M; Slade, Steven S

2002-07-01

The brain requires a continuous supply of glucose to function adequately. During aerobic exercise, peripheral glucose requirements increase and carbohydrate supplementation improves physical performance. The brain's utilization of glucose also increases during aerobic exercise. However, the effects of energy supplementation on cognitive function during sustained aerobic exercise are not well characterized. The effects of energy supplementation, as liquid carbohydrate, on cognitive function during sustained aerobic activity were examined. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subjects design was used. Young, healthy men (n = 143) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups. The groups received either a 6% (by vol) carbohydrate (35.1 kJ/kg), 12% (by vol) carbohydrate (70.2 kJ/kg), or placebo beverage in 6 isovolumic doses, and all groups consumed 2 meals (3200 kJ). Over the 10-h study, the subjects performed physically demanding tasks, including a 19.3-km road march and two 4.8-km runs, interspersed with rest and other activities. Wrist-worn vigilance monitors, which emitted auditory stimuli (20/h) to which the subjects responded as rapidly as possible, and a standardized self-report mood questionnaire were used to assess cognitive function. Vigilance consistently improved with supplemental carbohydrates in a dose-related manner; the 12% carbohydrate group performed the best and the placebo group the worst (P Mood-questionnaire results corroborated the results from the monitors; the subjects who received carbohydrates reported less confusion (P = 0.040) and greater vigor (P = 0.025) than did those who received the placebo. Supplemental carbohydrate beverages enhance vigilance and mood during sustained physical activity and interspersed rest. In addition, ambulatory monitoring devices can continuously assess the effects of nutritional factors on cognition as individuals conduct their daily activities or participate in experiments.

Harmonic-resonator-based triboelectric nanogenerator as a sustainable power source and a self-powered active vibration sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jun; Zhu, Guang; Yang, Weiqing; Jing, Qingshen; Bai, Peng; Yang, Ya; Hou, Te-Chien; Wang, Zhong Lin

2013-11-13

A harmonic-resonator-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is presented as a sustainable power source and an active vibration sensor. It can effectively respond to vibration frequencies ranging from 2 to 200 Hz with a considerably wide working bandwidth of 13.4 Hz. This work not only presents a new principle in the field of vibration energy harvesting but also greatly expands the applicability of TENGs. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Sustainable development - the ICC business charter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santaholma, J.

1992-01-01

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) prepared and approved, in November 1990, the ''Business Charter for Sustainable Development; a set of principles for environmental management''. Environmental protection is a necessary part of sustainable development but, too often, the performance of business is seen by society as inadequate. Improved environmental performance is essential if business is to regain public trust, reduce the pressures on governments to over-legislate, and strengthen the business voice in debate on public policy. The Charter has been prepared as a major pro-active business initiative by enterprises around the world. This is timely in view of the extensive international debate on environmental issues and the widespread acceptance of the ''Sustainable Development'' concept. Sustainable development involves meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Although the objective of the Charter is that the widest range of enterprises as organizations commit themselves to improving their environmental performance in accordance with the Principles of the Charter, an individual branch of industry may also meet the goals of the Charter. The paper evaluates how the practices implemented in the field of nuclear energy are in harmony with the principles. The conclusion is that nuclear is in the avant garde within the wide spectrum of industrial activities. This conclusion should assist nuclear energy to improve its public acceptance. (author)

Sustainability benefits and challenges of inter-organizational collaboration in bio-based business

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nuhoff-Isakhanyan, Gohar; Wubben, Emiel F.M.; Omta, S.W.F.

2016-01-01

Bio-based businesses are often considered to be sustainable. However, they are also linked to sustainability challenges such as deforestation and soil erosion. Encouraged to exploit innovative solutions and enhance sustainability, organizations engaged in bio-based activities extensively explore

Consumer perceptions on sustainable practices implemented in foodservice organizations in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Ju, Seyoung; Chang, Hyeja

2016-02-01

Sustainable practices in foodservice organizations including commercial and noncommercial ones are critical to ensure the protection of the environment for the future. With the rapid growth of the foodservice industry, wiser usage of input sources such as food, utilities, and single use packaging should be reconsidered for future generations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the customer's perceptions on sustainable practices and to identify the relationship among sustainable practices, social contribution and purchase intention. The study was conducted using content analyses by reviewing articles on sustainable food service practices published domestically and abroad. Thereafter, data were collected with a face-to-face survey using a questionnaire and analyzed with factor analyses and multiple regressions. Sustainable practices classified with factor analysis consisted of 6 dimensions of green food material procurement, sustainable food preparation, green packaging, preservation of energy, waste management, and public relations on green activity, with a total of 25 green activities in foodservice operations. Consumers were not very familiar with the green activities implemented in the foodservice unit, with the lowest awareness of "green food material procurement (2.46 out of 5 points)", and the highest awareness of "green packaging (3.74)" and "waste management (3.28). The factors influencing the perception of social contribution by foodservice organizations among 6 sustainable practice dimensions were found to be public relations on green activity (β = 0.154), waste management (β = 0.204) and sustainable food preparation (β = 0.183). Green packaging (β = 0.107) and the social contribution of the foodservice organization (β = 0.761) had strong relationships with the image of the organization. The purchase intentions of customers was affected only by the foodservice image (β = 0.775). The results of this study suggest that sustainable practices by

Sustainability; Sustentabilidade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-10-15

This chapter analyses the production chain of ethanol, considering the impacts on the quality of the air, water supplies, soil occupation and biodiversity, and the efforts for the soil preservation. It is pointed out the activities of the production cycle and use of bio ethanol due to great uncertainties as far the environmental impacts is concerning and that will deserve more attention in future evaluations. At same time, the chapter highlights another activities where the present acknowledge is sufficient to assure the control and/or prediction of consequences of the desired intervention on the environment media to accommodate the sugar and ethanol production expansion. The consideration is not conservative but to promote the sustainable development.

Textiles and clothing sustainability sustainable technologies

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This is the first book to deal with the innovative technologies in the field of textiles and clothing sustainability. It details a number of sustainable and innovative technologies and highlights their implications in the clothing sector. There are currently various measures to achieve sustainability in the textiles and the clothing industry, including innovations in the manufacturing stage, which is the crux of this book.

Becoming Stronger at Broken Places: A Model for Group Work with Young Adult from Divorced Families.

Science.gov (United States)

Hage, Sally M.; Nosanow, Mia

2000-01-01

Describes a model for group work with young adults from divorced families using an 8-session psychoeducational group intervention. Goals include reducing isolation, establishing connectedness, and building a stronger sense of identify. By educating young adults on topics such as assertiveness, communication skills, and self-esteem, it will give…

Examining sustainability in a hospital setting: case of smoking cessation.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Sharon; Pieters, Karen; Mullen, Kerri-Anne; Reece, Robin; Reid, Robert D

2011-09-14

The Ottawa Model of Smoking Cessation (OMSC) is a hospital-based smoking cessation program that is expanding across Canada. While the short-term effectiveness of hospital cessation programs has been documented, less is known about long-term sustainability. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand how hospitals using the OMSC were addressing sustainability and determine if there were critical factors or issues that should be addressed as the program expanded. Six hospitals that differed on OMSC program activities (identify and document smokers, advise quitting, provide medication, and offer follow-up) were intentionally selected, and two key informants per hospital were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Key informants were asked to reflect on the initial decision to implement the OMSC, the current implementation process, and perceived sustainability of the program. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted and themes related to problem definition, stakeholder influence, and program features emerged. Sustainability was operationalized as higher performance of OMSC activities than at baseline. Factors identified in the literature as important for sustainability, such as program design, differences in implementation, organizational characteristics, and the community environment did not explain differences in program sustainability. Instead, key informants identified factors that reflected the interaction between how the health problem was defined by stakeholders, how priorities and concerns were addressed, features of the program itself, and fit within the hospital context and resources as being influential to the sustainability of the program. Applying a sustainability model to a hospital smoking cessation program allowed for an examination of how decisions made during implementation may impact sustainability. Examining these factors during implementation may provide insight into issues affecting program

Exchange protein directly activated by cAMP mediates slow delayed-rectifier current remodeling by sustained β-adrenergic activation in guinea pig hearts.

Science.gov (United States)

Aflaki, Mona; Qi, Xiao-Yan; Xiao, Ling; Ordog, Balazs; Tadevosyan, Artavazd; Luo, Xiaobin; Maguy, Ange; Shi, Yanfen; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Nattel, Stanley

2014-03-14

β-Adrenoceptor activation contributes to sudden death risk in heart failure. Chronic β-adrenergic stimulation, as occurs in patients with heart failure, causes potentially arrhythmogenic reductions in slow delayed-rectifier K(+) current (IKs). To assess the molecular mechanisms of IKs downregulation caused by chronic β-adrenergic activation, particularly the role of exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac). Isolated guinea pig left ventricular cardiomyocytes were incubated in primary culture and exposed to isoproterenol (1 μmol/L) or vehicle for 30 hours. Sustained isoproterenol exposure decreased IKs density (whole cell patch clamp) by 58% (P<0.0001), with corresponding decreases in potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily E member 1 (KCNE1) mRNA and membrane protein expression (by 45% and 51%, respectively). Potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1 (KCNQ1) mRNA expression was unchanged. The β1-adrenoceptor antagonist 1-[2-((3-Carbamoyl-4-hydroxy)phenoxy)ethylamino]-3-[4-(1-methyl-4-trifluoromethyl-2-imidazolyl)phenoxy]-2-propanol dihydrochloride (CGP-20712A) prevented isoproterenol-induced IKs downregulation, whereas the β2-antagonist ICI-118551 had no effect. The selective Epac activator 8-pCPT-2'-O-Me-cAMP decreased IKs density to an extent similar to isoproterenol exposure, and adenoviral-mediated knockdown of Epac1 prevented isoproterenol-induced IKs/KCNE1 downregulation. In contrast, protein kinase A inhibition with a cell-permeable highly selective peptide blocker did not affect IKs downregulation. 1,2-Bis(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate-AM acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA-AM), cyclosporine, and inhibitor of nuclear factor of activated T cell (NFAT)-calcineurin association-6 (INCA6) prevented IKs reduction by isoproterenol and INCA6 suppressed isoproterenol-induced KCNE1 downregulation, consistent with signal-transduction via the Ca(2+)/calcineurin/NFAT pathway. Isoproterenol induced nuclear NFATc3/c4

QUALITY MILESTONES OF THE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

OpenAIRE

Tomescu Ada Mirela

2014-01-01

At this stage there are numerous studies about how tourism activity is related and affects the environment. The purpose of this paper is to examine theoretically, and to analyse activities that occur in hotels, linking this activity to the principles and activities that reduce the tourism negative environmental impact. When we have the objective to discuss sustainable development we must balance between a trilogies that enclose the following three concepts: economic, social/ equity and ecolog...

Perceptions of Sustainable Marketing Management by Export Companies in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoran I Čajka

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The present research paper deals with perceptions of sustainable marketing management in the strategies of export companies in Serbia. The objectives in this paper are manifold. They are to emphasize the importance of green marketing management in export activities of domestic companies which pursue their green management plan; to evaluate the company’s share in specific marketing segments, and to highlight the significance of successful green marketing management in modern business. Domestic green-oriented companies, which export their products to many different countries, look into the possibility of increasing their sales volumes. The findings in the paper support the hypotheses that domestic companies are perceptive of sustainable marketing issues in their business activities, and sustainable marketing management is becoming an important factor in business activities of modern companies.

ECO-INNOVATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

RATIU Mariana

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Eco-innovation is any form of innovation resulting in or aiming at significant and demonstrable progress towards the goal of sustainable development, through reducing impacts on the environment, enhancing resilience to environmental pressures, or achieving a more efficient and responsible use of natural resources. States and governments of the world, different institutions and organizations actively involved and aware in public policies, strategies and actions, reaffirm their commitments and reassess actions in order to achieve a truly sustainable development. In the common vision and the resolutions and other documents of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, the words "environment", "innovation", "green economy" appear very often and almost always along the same context, to achieve the objectives of the sustainable development. The objectives of EU's Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, are being implemented through a number of Flagship Initiatives addressing the main challenges, like “Innovation for a sustainable Future - The Eco-innovation Action Plan (EcoAP”. Eco-innovation Observatory developed the Eco-Innovation index, the first tool to assess and illustrate eco-innovation performance across the EU Member States. Like in all fields, in textiles and leather field, eco-innovation is present and there are a lot of tools available that measure environmental damage and help manufacturers and brands become more sustainable. Eco-innovation is not just a trendy concept but a reality and a necessity nowadays, a way to achieve a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations.

A new framework for sustainable hydropower development project

Science.gov (United States)

Johan, Kartina; Turan, Faiz Mohd; Gani, Nur Syazwani Abdul

2018-03-01

This project studies on the establishment of a new framework for sustainable hydropower development. A hydropower development is listed as one of the prescribed activities under the Environmental Quality Order 1987. Thus, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines must be referred to comply with the Department of Environment (DoE) requirements. In order to execute EIA, an assessment tool that will be utilized in the final evaluation phase must be determined. The selected assessment tool that will be used is Systematic Sustainability Assessment(SSA) which is a new integrated tool to evaluate the sustainability performance. A pilot run is conducted in five different departments within the Energy Company to validate the efficiency of the SSA tool. The parameters to be evaluated are constructed aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to maintain the sustainability features. Consequently, the performance level of the sustainability with respect to People, Planet and Profit (3P’s) is able to be discovered during evaluation phase in the hydropower development for continuous improvement.

A quality improvement project sustainably decreased time to onset of active physical therapy intervention in patients with acute lung injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Dinglas, Victor D; Parker, Ann M; Reddy, Dereddi Raja S; Colantuoni, Elizabeth; Zanni, Jennifer M; Turnbull, Alison E; Nelliot, Archana; Ciesla, Nancy; Needham, Dale M

2014-10-01

Rehabilitation started early during an intensive care unit (ICU) stay is associated with improved outcomes and is the basis for many quality improvement (QI) projects showing important changes in practice. However, little evidence exists regarding whether such changes are sustainable in real-world practice. To evaluate the sustained effect of a quality improvement project on the timing of initiation of active physical therapy intervention in patients with acute lung injury (ALI). This was a pre-post evaluation using prospectively collected data involving consecutive patients with ALI admitted pre-quality improvement (October 2004-April 2007, n = 120) versus post-quality improvement (July 2009-July 2012, n = 123) from a single medical ICU. The primary outcome was time to first active physical therapy intervention, defined as strengthening, mobility, or cycle ergometry exercises. Among ICU survivors, more patients in the post-quality improvement versus pre-quality improvement group received physical therapy in the ICU (89% vs. 24%, P quality improvement versus pre-quality improvement group, there was a shorter median (interquartile range) time to first physical therapy (4 [2, 6] vs. 11 d [6, 29], P quality improvement period was associated with shorter time to physical therapy (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval], 8.38 [4.98, 14.11], P quality improvement period. The following variables were independently associated with a longer time to physical therapy: higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (0.93 [0.89, 0.97]), higher FiO2 (0.86 [0.75, 0.99] for each 10% increase), use of an opioid infusion (0.47 [0.25, 0.89]), and deep sedation (0.24 [0.12, 0.46]). In this single-site, pre-post analysis of patients with ALI, an early rehabilitation quality improvement project was independently associated with a substantial decrease in the time to initiation of active physical therapy intervention that was sustained over 5 years. Over the entire pre

CEA sustainable development report 2007; CEA rapport developpement durable 2007

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

The CEA, a prominent player in research development and innovation, is active in three main domains: energy, health care and information technology, defense and security. This annual report presents the CEA activities in the domain of the sustainable development. The first part is devoted to the environment preservation policy (energy, water, air, chemistry, wastes, transport, buildings). The second part shows the dynamic governance in the domain of the risks management. The last part presents the CEA activities of research for the sustainable development. (A.L.B.)

The sustainable company: new challenges and strategies for more sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor DANCIU

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The sustainability becomes a model of development only if countries, industries, businesses and citizens become sustainable. The contribution of the business to a promising future should come from a fully integrated sustainability in its DNA and strategies.This paper focuses on the needed sustainable strategies for scaling up the contribution of the companies to sustainable development in the future. At the beginning, we analyze the main theoretical points of view on sustainability. Then, we explain how companies could achieve the sustainability by following the steps of a difficult process and the present performances in sustainability of large companies around the world. Finally, we suggest four strategies that businesses could design and implement in order to scaling up their sustainability in the future.The research has two important conclusions on sustainability in business. One is that the sustainability pays off if it is integrated in the DNA of the companies. The other conclusion says that the companies will succeed to make the needed transformation for achieving a better sustainability in the future only if they design and perform strategies focused on improving sustainability.

Water sector fund (CT-hi dro) and wastewater reuse activities: initiatives to promote environment ally sustainable development in Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leitao, S.A.M.

2005-01-01

The Brazilian Water Sector Fund (CT-Hidro) is presented as an innovative mechanism to foster the scientific and technological sector of the country as well as a model instrument to promote environmentally sustainable development in Brazil and in other developing countries. CT-Hidro is shown as an instrument that provides support for scientific and technological development research activities in the following areas: experimental technological development, scientific and technological research projects, development of basic industrial technology and implantation of research infrastructure. CT-Hidro is presented as a key mechanism to finance wastewater reuse projects as an imperative action to fight poverty and promote social inclusion in Brazil. The concept of wastewater reuse for beneficial purposes is presented. Its growing importance as an essential part of the planning of the integrated and sustainable water resources management is also evidenced. In this perspective, the need for sanitation, wastewater treatment and its reuse in agriculture for food production are presented as imperative measures that must be taken in Brazil in order to promote sustainable development, fight poverty, improve public health conditions and enhance environmental quality in the country. (author)

Exploring work-related issues on corporate sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Brunoro, C M; Bolis, I; Sznelwar, L I

2015-01-01

In a research project about work-related issues and corporate sustainability conducted in Brazil, the goal was to better understand how work-related issues were addressed in the corporate context. Particularly, there are some specific initiatives that serve as guides to organizational decisions, which make their performance indicators for the context of corporate sustainability. 1) To explore the presence of work-related issues and their origins in corporate sustainability approach, analyzing a) corporate disclosures; b) sustainability guidelines that are identified as relevant in corporate disclosures; c) documents that are related to sustainable development and also identified as key-documents for these guidelines and initiatives. 2) To present the activity-centered ergonomics and psychodynamics of work contributions to work-related issues in a corporate sustainability approach. An exploratory study based on multiple sources of evidence that were performed from 2012 to 2013, including interviews with companies that engaged in corporate sustainability and document analysis using the content analysis approach. Work-related issues have been presented since the earliest sustainable development documents. It is feasible to construct an empirical framework for work-related issues and corporate sustainability approaches. 1) Although some authors argue that corporate sustainability has its roots based only on the environmental dimension, there is strong empirical evidence showing that social dimension aspects such as work-related issues have been present since the beginning. 2) Some indicators should be redesigned to more precisely translate the reality of some workplaces, particularly those indicators related to organizational design and mental health.

No sustained attention differences in a longitudinal randomized trial comparing mindfulness based stress reduction versus active control.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donal G MacCoon

Full Text Available Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR is a secular form of meditation training. The vast majority of the extant literature investigating the health effects of mindfulness interventions relies on wait-list control comparisons. Previous studies have found that meditation training over several months is associated with improvements in cognitive control and attention.We used a visual continuous performance task (CPT to test the effects of eight weeks of mindfulness training on sustained attention by comparing MBSR to the Health Enhancement Program (HEP, a structurally equivalent, active control condition in a randomized, longitudinal design (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01301105 focusing on a non-clinical population typical of MBSR participants. Researchers were blind to group assignment. 63 community participants were randomized to either MBSR (n = 31 or HEP (n = 32. CPT analyses were conducted on 29 MBSR participants and 25 HEP participants. We predicted that MBSR would improve visual discrimination ability and sustained attention over time on the CPT compared to HEP, with more home practice associated with greater improvements. Our hypotheses were not confirmed but we did find some evidence for improved visual discrimination similar to effects in partial replication of other research. Our study had sufficient power to demonstrate that intervention groups do not differ in their improvement over time in sustained attention performance. One of our primary predictions concerning the effects of intervention on attentional fatigue was significant but not interpretable.Attentional sensitivity is not affected by mindfulness practice as taught in MBSR, but it is unclear whether mindfulness might positively affect another aspect of attention, vigilance. These results also highlight the relevant procedural modifications required by future research to correctly investigate the role of sustained attention in similar samples.ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT

Sustainable Architecture in the Context of Regional Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Sołkeiewicz-Kos, Nina

2017-10-01

The relationship between man and the surrounding cultural environment directs attention in urban and architectural design to the realm of interdisciplinary research. As a result, they should create architectural and urban solutions which provide aesthetic satisfaction. They should also generate social bonds, a sense of identity and maintain the specificity of the local building environment, where tradition and the context of surroundings is the starting point for creating a sustainable living environment. Presented problems focus on the analysis of formal, functional and spatial solutions, in which materials and technology were selected in an optimal way. The continuation of the subject concerns the relationship between the use of the local urban, architectural, material and technological solutions and the quality of the cultural space that meets the principles of sustainable development. Adaptation and transformation of old techniques and traditional materials to create contemporary designs is one of the forms of experimentation encountered in contemporary architecture. Its economic, social and ecological aspects are realised in the form of: satisfying the needs of the local community, renewal and maintenance of modern standards of the surrounding buildings, use of local materials and available space. This means striving to design and transform the space already in use, while reducing the impact on the environment. Analysed buildings and urban spaces are an attempt to answer: whether the strategies applied in the field of architectural, technological and material solutions provide the identification of the place and meet the users’ expectations?

Environmental management and sustainable development in Yugoslavia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simic, J.

2002-01-01

All problems have happened in Yugoslavia in last decade have not destroyed wishes to work, to invent and create in field of the environmental protection. This statement gives short survey of experiences in field of the environmental protection and sustainable development in Yugoslavia. The main objective is to emphasize the importance of sustainable development with its four components - economic, environmental, social and cultural. Having in mind that environmental protection is not job taker but a job maker that activity must take priority in near and further future. We wish to point very important role of international cooperation on the way of sustainable development on the Balkan. (author)

Organising a Safe Space for Navigating Social-Ecological Transformations to Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Pereira

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The need for developing socially just living conditions for the world’s growing population whilst keeping human societies within a ‘safe operating space’ has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and management regimes that guide human responses in areas such as urban ecology, public health, resource security (e.g., food, water, energy access, economic development and biodiversity conservation. However, such systemic transformations necessitate experimentation in public arenas of exchange and a deepening of processes that can widen multi-stakeholder learning. We argue that there is an emergent potential in bridging the sustainability transitions and resilience approaches to create new scientific capacity that can support large-scale social-ecological transformations (SETs to sustainability globally, not just in the West. In this article, we elucidate a set of guiding principles for the design of a ‘safe space’ to encourage stronger interactions between these research areas and others that are relevant to the challenges faced. We envisage new opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration that will develop an adaptive and evolving community of practice. In particular, we emphasise the great opportunity for engaging with the role of emerging economies in facilitating safe space experimentation.

Organising a Safe Space for Navigating Social-Ecological Transformations to Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Laura; Karpouzoglou, Timothy; Doshi, Samir; Frantzeskaki, Niki

2015-01-01

The need for developing socially just living conditions for the world’s growing population whilst keeping human societies within a ‘safe operating space’ has become a modern imperative. This requires transformative changes in the dominant social norms, behaviours, governance and management regimes that guide human responses in areas such as urban ecology, public health, resource security (e.g., food, water, energy access), economic development and biodiversity conservation. However, such systemic transformations necessitate experimentation in public arenas of exchange and a deepening of processes that can widen multi-stakeholder learning. We argue that there is an emergent potential in bridging the sustainability transitions and resilience approaches to create new scientific capacity that can support large-scale social-ecological transformations (SETs) to sustainability globally, not just in the West. In this article, we elucidate a set of guiding principles for the design of a ‘safe space’ to encourage stronger interactions between these research areas and others that are relevant to the challenges faced. We envisage new opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration that will develop an adaptive and evolving community of practice. In particular, we emphasise the great opportunity for engaging with the role of emerging economies in facilitating safe space experimentation. PMID:26030471

Competitiveness and sustainability of HRM activities in Croatia –CRANET survey results

OpenAIRE

Nina Pološki Vokić

2015-01-01

The aim of the paper is to assess whether HRM practices in Croatia, as the newest European Union (EU) member country with only cca 20 years of free market economy which implies the change in the HRM philosophy, is heading towards more competitive or more sustainable HRM. In the theoretical part of the paper the characteristics of competitive HRM and sustainable HRM are provided. In the empirical part of the paper, using CRANET methodology, the survey of HRM practices in Croatia has been condu...

BUILDING INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MONTENEGRO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bosiljka Vuković

2010-01-01

Full Text Available There are many proofs confirming the importance of sustainable development for Montenegro. Shared international challenges, global economic crisis, and, particularly, the country's natural characteristics emphasize that sustainable development is the only way ahead. In 2002 Montenegro formed the National Council for Sustainable Development; in 2005 the Office for Sustainable Development was established, and the National Strategy of Sustainable Development was adopted in 2007. With these developments, Montenegro created the most advanced institutional basis for sustainable development in its region. After carefully observing the functioning of national sustainable development institutions, however, the Office for Sustainable Development embarked upon the process of their reform in 2008. As a result, the Council was fundamentally reformed, having its membership downsized and composition transformed. Two Annual Reports on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy have been completed and the process of defining sustainable development indicators commenced in co-operation with the United Nations. This paper critically examines the evolution of the set-up of the Montenegrin sustainable development system, presents the advantages and disadvantages of the government-anchored Council. Based on the lessons learnt, it presents recommendations for policy makers on promoting and enforcing sustainable development. The paper argues that only by effectively co-ordinating all segments of society and ensuring genuine participation of outside-government stakeholders, the countries can ensure that sustainable development principles are incorporated in national and local policies. The independence and pro-activeness in approach of sustainable development institutions is essential in ensuring the supremacy of sustainable practices in decision-making. Considering the similarities in historic, economic and social developments of the former socialist

Sustainability evaluation of Sicily's lemon and orange production: an energy, economic and environmental analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Pergola, M; D'Amico, M; Celano, G; Palese, A M; Scuderi, A; Di Vita, G; Pappalardo, G; Inglese, P

2013-10-15

The island of Sicily has a long standing tradition in citrus growing. We evaluated the sustainability of orange and lemon orchards, under organic and conventional farming, using an energy, environmental and economic analysis of the whole production cycle by using a life cycle assessment approach. These orchard systems differ only in terms of a few of the inputs used and the duration of the various agricultural operations. The quantity of energy consumption in the production cycle was calculated by multiplying the quantity of inputs used by the energy conversion factors drawn from the literature. The production costs were calculated considering all internal costs, including equipment, materials, wages, and costs of working capital. The performance of the two systems (organic and conventional), was compared over a period of fifty years. The results, based on unit surface area (ha) production, prove the stronger sustainability of the organic over the conventional system, both in terms of energy consumption and environmental impact, especially for lemons. The sustainability of organic systems is mainly due to the use of environmentally friendly crop inputs (fertilizers, not use of synthetic products, etc.). In terms of production costs, the conventional management systems were more expensive, and both systems were heavily influenced by wages. In terms of kg of final product, the organic production system showed better environmental and energy performances. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

RTE - Activity and sustainable development report 2014. Management report consolidated financial statements 2014

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

After an interview of RTE's CEO, an overview of governance issues within the company, and a presentation of its business model, the activity report addresses the various aspects of RTE activities during 2014: grid expertise, a fair and balanced service, performance at the right price, cooperation between all players, a long term commitment, and perspectives. It also focuses on the corporate aspects: collective intelligence, workforce involvement, safety culture. The management report contains financial and legal information (significant events of 2014, economic environment, business and results, financing, financial structure, outlook for 2015, risk analysis), company information (employment, work organisation, labour relations, health and safety, training, diversity and equal opportunities, compliance with International Labour Organisation conventions), environmental information (general environmental policy, pollution and waste management, sustainable use of resources, climate change, protection and development of biodiversity), and societal information (local, economic and social impact of RTE's business, relations with people and organisations concerned by RTE's business, out-sourcing and suppliers, fair practices, other action to promote human rights). The third report presents the supervisory board (members and missions, operation, committees), the Executive Board (members and remuneration principles), the operation of general assemblies. It describes the internal control of RTE (organisation, actors), presents the policy of risk management and control, activities of audit and control within RTE. It finally presents external controls made by different public bodies

Towards Sustainable ASEAN Port Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Vietnamese Ports

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeyeon Roh

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Sustainability agendas are challenging port authorities around the world to find ways of operating and managing their ports efficiently and effectively in terms of economic, social, as well as environmental development. In this respect, governments in ASEAN countries have been implementing various green activities seeking to reduce the environmental impact of shipping and related activities. In this connection, most studies in the existing literature mainly focus on the environmental aspects of sustainable development and have not clearly explained what sustainable port development exactly entails. Furthermore, most of these studies emphasized on the impact of port development and overlooked what factors influence sustainable port development. To address these gaps, this research aim to explore the main factors shaping sustainable port development. This was conducted through a comprehensive review of related literature as well as confirmatory in-depth interviews with port authorities. As a result, findings from this research would help identify key elements of sustainable port development from port authorities’ perspective. The challenges, opportunities and managerial implications for Vietnamese ports are also discussed accordingly.

Role of Biocatalysis in Sustainable Chemistry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sheldon, Roger A; Woodley, John M.

2018-01-01

Based on the principles and metrics of green chemistry and sustainable development, biocatalysis is both a green and sustainable technology. This is largely a result of the spectacular advances in molecular biology and biotechnology achieved in the past two decades. Protein engineering has enabled...... successfully been applied, for example, in the industrial synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients. In addition to the use of protein engineering, other aspects of biocatalysis engineering, such as substrate, medium, and reactor engineering, can be utilized to improve the efficiency and cost...

Climate change, energy, sustainability and pavements

CERN Document Server

Gopalakrishnan, Kasthurirangan; Harvey, John

2014-01-01

Climate change, energy production and consumption, and the need to improve the sustainability of all aspects of human activity are key inter-related issues for which solutions must be found and implemented quickly and efficiently.  To be successfully implemented, solutions must recognize the rapidly changing socio-techno-political environment and multi-dimensional constraints presented by today's interconnected world.  As part of this global effort, considerations of climate change impacts, energy demands, and incorporation of sustainability concepts have increasing importance in the design,

Approaches to defining deltaic sustainability in the 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Day, John W.; Agboola, Julius; Chen, Zhongyuan; D'Elia, Christopher; Forbes, Donald L.; Giosan, Liviu; Kemp, Paul; Kuenzer, Claudia; Lane, Robert R.; Ramachandran, Ramesh; Syvitski, James; Yañez-Arancibia, Alejandro

2016-12-01

Deltas are among the most productive and economically important of global ecosystems but unfortunately they are also among the most threatened by human activities. Here we discuss deltas and human impact, several approaches to defining deltaic sustainability and present a ranking of sustainability. Delta sustainability must be considered within the context of global biophysical and socioeconomic constraints that include thermodynamic limitations, scale and embeddedness, and constraints at the level of the biosphere/geosphere. The development, functioning, and sustainability of deltas are the result of external and internal inputs of energy and materials, such as sediments and nutrients, that include delta lobe development, channel switching, crevasse formation, river floods, storms and associated waves and storm surges, and tides and other ocean currents. Modern deltas developed over the past several thousand years with relatively stable global mean sea level, predictable material inputs from drainage basins and the sea, and as extremely open systems. Human activity has changed these conditions to make deltas less sustainable, in that they are unable to persist through time structurally or functionally. Deltaic sustainability can be considered from geomorphic, ecological, and economic perspectives, with functional processes at these three levels being highly interactive. Changes in this functioning can lead to either enhanced or diminished sustainability, but most changes have been detrimental. There is a growing understanding that the trajectories of global environmental change and cost of energy will make achieving delta sustainability more challenging and limit options for management. Several delta types are identified in terms of sustainability including those in arid regions, those with high and low energy-intensive management systems, deltas below sea level, tropical deltas, and Arctic deltas. Representative deltas are ranked on a sustainability range

Incorporating Sustainability into Site Closure - A Field Example

Science.gov (United States)

Austrins, L. M.; West, J.

2013-12-01

Long term management of former chemical production facilities can be a costly and time consuming element of site closure, however, implementation of creative measures to introduce sustainability and reduce the need for onsite presence can be successfully incorporated into the site closure process. A case study demonstrating this involves a facility located in Sarnia, Ontario, which was an active multi chemical production facility from the 1940s, until it was decommissioned and sold between 2005 and 2010. The facility consisted of 322 acres of production areas. Several elements which allowed for reduced onsite presence and lower management costs were incorporated into the site decommissioning plan, including; phased remediation planning, and selection of sustainable components as part of remediation, surface water management, and groundwater management. The sustainability and management modifications were successfully negotiated and approved by the local regulatory agency. Due to the size and complexity of the site, a holistic approach for the facility was needed and included the development of a comprehensive decision matrix. Each remediation alternative incorporated sustainable practices. Ex-situ remediation consisted of excavation of contaminated subsurface medium and consolidation at a 4.7 acre onsite soil treatment area designed specifically for the site closure process. In-situ remediation consisted of injection of amendment into the native soils using hydraulic fracture and injection. When the plant was an active operating facility, groundwater management required active pumping and groundwater treatment through a series of carbon treatment units. Active pumping has been replaced by passive hydraulic control through the use of tree plantations.

The sustainable project management: A review and future possibilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.K. Chawla

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Sustainability in project operations such as financial, social and environmental sustainability is one of the most prominent issues of the present times to address. The increased focus on sus-tainable business operations has changed the viewpoint of researchers and corporate community towards the project management. Today sustainability in business operations along with sustain-ability of natural and environmental resources are of paramount significance which has further caused a huge impact on conception, planning, scheduling and execution of the project manage-ment activities. In this paper, a literature review between 1987 and 2018 on different issues af-fecting the sustainability in project management is carried out. The present study also identifies and discusses the future possibilities to apply computational procedures in order to estimate and optimize the sustainability issues in the management of projects, for example the computational evolutionary algorithms can be applied to formulate the multi-objective decision-making problem after considering critical factors of sustainability in the projects and then yielding optimized solu-tions for the formulated problem to achieve sustainability in the projects. A new integrated framework with the inclusion of feedback function for assessment of each decision and actions taken towards the sustainability of the projects is also identified and presented.

Sustainable flood risk management – What is sustainable?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørup, Hjalte Jomo Danielsen; Brudler, Sarah; Lerer, Sara Maria

2016-01-01

Sustainable flood risk management has to be achieved since flood protection is a fundamental societal service that we must deliver. Based on the discourse within the fields of risk management and sustainable urban water management, we discuss the necessity of assessing the sustainability of flood...... risk management, and propose an evaluation framework for doing so. We argue that it is necessary to include quantitative sustainability measures in flood risk management in order to exclude unsustainable solutions. Furthermore, we use the concept of absolute sustainability to discuss the prospects...... of maintaining current service levels without compromising future generation’s entitlement of services. Discussions on the sustainability of different overall flood risk schemes must take place. Fundamental changes in the approaches will require fundamental changes in the mind-sets of practitioners as well...

Health promotion and sustainability programmes in Australia: barriers and enablers to evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, Rebecca; Kingsley, Jonathan

2017-08-01

In an era characterised by the adverse impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, health promotion programmes are beginning to actively link human health with environmental sustainability imperatives. This paper draws on a study of health promotion and sustainability programmes in Australia, providing insights to evaluation approaches being used and barriers and enablers to these evaluations. The study was based on a multi-strategy research involving both quantitative and qualitative methods. Health promotion practitioners explained through surveys and semi-structured interviews that they focused on five overarching health and sustainability programme types (healthy and sustainable food, active transport, energy efficiency, contact with nature, and capacity building). Various evaluation methods and indicators (health, social, environmental, economic and demographic) were identified as being valuable for monitoring and evaluating health and sustainability programmes. Findings identified several evaluation enablers such as successful community engagement, knowledge of health and sustainability issues and programme champions, whereas barriers included resource constraints and competing interests. This paper highlights the need for ecological models and evaluation tools to support the design and monitoring of health promotion and sustainability programmes.

Areva and sustainable development 2003 summary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

This document is a summary of the 2003 report on the sustainable development of the world nuclear industry leader, Areva. The 2002 report helped establish the status of Areva entities sustainable development performance and identity areas for improvement. The 2003 report presents the continuous improvement process, including accomplishments and projects initiated as well as difficulties encountered and ground yet to be covered. Two new tools support this process. The Areva Way self assessment model allows each unit to assess its own performance against the sustainable development commitments and the Areva values charter lays down ethical principles of action and rules of conduct. Over the coming months, the Group will devote considerable effort to extending the sustainable development initiative to the activities resulting from the acquisition of Alstom Transmission and Distribution operations in early 2004. (A.L.B.)

External governance and the EU policy for sustainable biofuels, the case of Mozambique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Lucia, Lorenzo

2010-01-01

Growing demand for transport biofuels in the EU is driving an expansion of the industry in developing countries. Large-scale production of energy crops for biofuel, if mismanaged, could cause detrimental environmental and social impacts. The aim of this study is to examine whether the newly adopted EU Directive 2009/28/EC and its sustainability certification system can effectively ensure sustainable production of biofuels outside the EU. Mozambique, a least developed country with biofuels ambitions, is selected as empirical case. The effectiveness of the EU policy in analysed employing ideal models of external governance (hierarchical, market and network governance) as analytical framework. The findings show that the EU attempts to impose its rules and values on sustainable biofuels using its leverage through trade. The market approach adopted by the EU is expected to produce only unstable (subject to abrupt changes of market prices and demand) and thin (limited to climate and biodiversity issues) policy results. Stronger emphasis on a network oriented approach based on substantial involvement of foreign actors, and on international policy legitimacy is suggested as a way forward. - Research highlights: →The EU attempts to impose its rules and values on sustainable biofuels using its leverage through trade. →The market approach adopted by the EU is expected to produce only unstable (subject to abrupt changes of market prices and demand) and thin (limited to climate and biodiversity issues) policy results.→In order to promote simultaneously stable and substantial impacts, the EU governance approach based on market access should be integrated with a network mode of governance based on policy legitimacy.

Facility for sustained positive affect as an individual difference characteristic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola S. Schutte

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A series of studies investigated a proposed new individual difference characteristic or trait, facility for sustained positive affect, consisting of tendencies that allow individuals to maintain a high level of positive mood. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in the creation of a measure, the self-congruent and new activities (SANA scale which identified two core aspects of sustainable positive affect, engaging in self-congruent activities and engaging in new activities. A higher level of facility for sustainable affect, as operationalized by the SANA scale, was associated with maintenance of positive mood for a month, fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, less negative affect, and more life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, work satisfaction, mindfulness, personal expansion and growth, and emotional intelligence. The results provided initial evidence that facility to maintain positive affect may be an emotion-related individual difference characteristic.

Theoretical and substantive concept of sustainable close-to-nature managed progress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dušan Plut

2005-12-01

Full Text Available Implementation of the principles of sustainability in the economic, social and environmental field means that organisation and (material operation of a society is permanently adapted to the environment. Sustainable close-to-naturemanaged development, or in a broader sense progress, means permanent (sustainable and simultaneous improvement of material, social and environmental quality of life, thus a permanent raise of the welfare in its broader sense of all inhabitants within the capacities (limitations of the environment. The opportunity of geography is to take an active part in the realisation of close-to-nature managed patterns of the spatial organisation of human activity.

Sustainability in Chemical Engineering Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Glassey, Jarka; Haile, Sue

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a concentrated strategy to embed sustainability teaching into a (chemical) engineering undergraduate curriculum throughout the whole programme. Innovative teaching approaches in subject-specific context are described and their efficiency investigated. Design/methodology/approach: The activities in…

In roots of Arabidopsis thaliana, the damage-associated molecular pattern AtPep1 is a stronger elicitor of immune signalling than flg22 or the chitin heptamer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Poncini

Full Text Available Plants interpret their immediate environment through perception of small molecules. Microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs such as flagellin and chitin are likely to be more abundant in the rhizosphere than plant-derived damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs. We investigated how the Arabidopsis thaliana root interprets MAMPs and DAMPs as danger signals. We monitored root development during exposure to increasing concentrations of the MAMPs flg22 and the chitin heptamer as well as of the DAMP AtPep1. The tissue-specific expression of defence-related genes in roots was analysed using a toolkit of promoter::YFPN lines reporting jasmonic acid (JA-, salicylic acid (SA-, ethylene (ET- and reactive oxygen species (ROS- dependent signalling. Finally, marker responses were analysed during invasion by the root pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. The DAMP AtPep1 triggered a stronger activation of the defence markers compared to flg22 and the chitin heptamer. In contrast to the tested MAMPs, AtPep1 induced SA- and JA-signalling markers in the root and caused a severe inhibition of root growth. Fungal attack resulted in a strong activation of defence genes in tissues close to the invading fungal hyphae. The results collectively suggest that AtPep1 presents a stronger danger signal to the Arabidopsis root than the MAMPs flg22 and chitin heptamer.

Sustainability of Physical Activity Promoting Environments and Influences on Sustainability Following a Structural Intervention in Residential Children's Homes

Science.gov (United States)

Dominick, Gregory M.; Tudose, Alina; Pohlig, Ryan T.; Saunders, Ruth P.

2016-01-01

Research examining sustainability of health promotion programs within organizational settings is limited. The Environmental Interventions in Residential Children's Homes (ENRICH) was a structural intervention that trained Wellness Teams (WTs) within residential children's homes (RCH) to target environmental changes that promote physical activity…

Sustainable energy in Baltic States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klevas, Valentinas; Streimikiene, Dalia; Grikstaite, Ramute

2007-01-01

Integration of New Member States to the European Union has created a new situation in the frame of implementation of the Lisbon strategy and EU Sustainable Development. The closure of Ignalina NPP is the biggest challenge to the energy sector development of the Baltic States. The Baltic States have quite limited own energy resources and in the Accession agreement with the EU Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have verified their targets to increase the share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources (RES-E) by the year 2010. A wider use of renewable energy and increase of energy efficiency can make a valuable contribution to meeting the targets of sustainable development. The article presents a detailed overview of the present policies and measures implemented in the Baltic States, aiming to support the use of RES and the increase of energy efficiency. The review of possibilities to use the EU Structural Funds (SF) for the implementation of sustainable energy projects in the Baltic States was performed.The use of regional social-economic-environmental indicators is the main key to integrate sustainable energy development at the program deployment level. The indicators to be used should describe the contribution of energy programs to the sustainable development, medium- and long-term trends and inter-relationship between them and the typical energy indicators (saved toe, improved energy efficiency, percentage of RES). Municipalities may play a considerable role by promoting sustainable energy since local authorities are fulfilling their functions in the energy sector via a number of roles. The Netherlands' example shows that municipalities may act as facilitators by implementing national environmental policy and increasing energy efficiency in an integral part of these activities. The guidelines for Lithuanian local sustainable energy development using the SF co-financing have been presented

Textiles and clothing sustainability sustainable fashion and consumption

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This is the first book to introduce and explain the concept of sustainable consumption with reference to the clothing sector. It uses various case studies to detail sustainable consumption behavior in the industry. Consumption is a key issue and is a major driver when it comes to sustainability in any industry, including clothing sector. Several studies which have highlighted the need for sustainable consumption in the clothing sector are discussed in this book.

In vitro activity of flomoxef in comparison to other cephalosporins.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, C; Simon, M; Plieth, C

1988-01-01

Flomoxef and cefazolin had nearly the same activity against staphylococci, which was stronger than that of other cephalosporins. Against Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, cefotaxime and cefazolin were more active than flomoxef, but the other cephamycins were less active than flomoxef. In comparison to the other cephalosporins, latamoxef and flomoxef had higher activity against Branhamella catarrhalis, whereas cefotaxime, latamoxef and cefotetan were more active against Haemophilus influenzae. Flomoxef was the only drug exhibiting activity against Clostridium difficile. The activity of flomoxef and latamoxef against Bacteroides fragilis was stronger than that of the other cephalosporins, but Bacteroides bivius was resistant to each of these antibiotics.

Sustainable markets for sustainable energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Millan, J.; Smyser, C.

1997-12-01

The author discusses how the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is involved in sustainable energy development. It presently has 50 loans and grants for non conventional renewable energy projects and ten grants for efficiency programs for $600 and $17 million respectively, representing 100 MW of power. The IDB is concerned with how to create a sustainable market for sustainable energy projects. The IDB is trying to work with government, private sector, NGOs, trading allies, credit sources, and regulators to find proper roles for such projects. He discusses how the IDB is working to expand its vision and objectives in renewable energy projects in Central and South America.

The bigger, the stronger? Insights from muscle architecture and nervous characteristics in obese adolescent girls.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Vicencio, S; Coudeyre, E; Kluka, V; Cardenoux, C; Jegu, A-G; Fourot, A-V; Ratel, S; Martin, V

2016-02-01

Young obese youth are generally stronger than lean youth. This has been linked to the loading effect of excess body mass, acting as a training stimulus comparable to strength training. Whether this triggers specific adaptations of the muscle architecture (MA) and voluntary activation (VA) that could account for the higher strength of obese subjects remains unknown. MA characteristics (that is, pennation angle (PA), fascicle length (FL) and muscle thickness (MT)) and muscle size (that is, anatomical cross-sectional area (ACSA)) of the knee extensor (KE) and plantar flexor (PF) muscles were evaluated in 12 obese and 12 non-obese adolescent girls (12-15 years). Maximal isometric torque and VA of the KE and PF muscles were also assessed. Results revealed higher PA (Pmuscles in obese girls. Moreover, obese individuals produced a higher absolute torque than their lean counterparts on the KE (224.6±39.5 vs 135.7±32.7 N m, respectively; Pmuscles (73.3±16.5 vs 44.5±6.2 N m; Pmuscles (r=0.45-0.55, P<0.05-0.01). MVC was also correlated with VA (KE: r=0.44, P<0.05; PF: r=0.65, P<0.001) and segmental lean mass (KE: r=0.48, P<0.05; PF: r=0.57, P<0.01). This study highlighted favorable muscular and nervous adaptations to obesity that account for the higher strength of obese youth. The excess of body mass supported during daily activities could act as a chronic training stimulus responsible for these adaptations.

HANFORD SITE SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM RICHLAND WASHINGTON - 12464

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

FRITZ LL

2012-01-12

In support of implementation of Executive Order (EO) 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance, the Hanford Site Sustainability Plan was developed to implement strategies and activities required to achieve the prescribed goals in the EO as well as demonstrate measurable progress in environmental stewardship at the Hanford Site. The Hanford Site Sustainability Program was developed to demonstrate progress towards sustainability goals as defined and established in Executive Order (EO) 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance; EO 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy and Transportation Management, and several applicable Energy Acts. Multiple initiatives were undertaken in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 to implement the Program and poise the Hanford Site as a leader in environmental stewardship. In order to implement the Hanford Site Sustainability Program, a Sustainability Plan was developed in conjunction with prime contractors, two U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Offices, and key stakeholders to serve as the framework for measuring progress towards sustainability goals. Based on the review of these metrics and future plans, several activities were initiated to proactively improve performance or provide alternatives for future consideration contingent on available funding. A review of the key metric associated with energy consumption for the Hanford Site in FY 2010 and 2011 indicated an increase over the target reduction of 3 percent annually from a baseline established in FY 2003 as illustrated in Figure 1. This slight increase was attributed primarily from the increased energy demand from the cleanup projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in FY 2010 and 2011. Although it is forecasted that the energy demand will decrease commensurate with the completion of ARRA projects, several major initiatives were launched to improve energy efficiency.

An Analytical Assessment of Assurance Practices in Social Environmental and Sustainable Reporting in the United Kingdom and North America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annisa Melissa Manurung

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to continue and extend previous studies in evaluating the extent to which current assurance practices promote transparency and accountability to stakeholders. This is carried out by conducting an empirical analysis of the content of assurance statements accompanying a sample of non-financial reports short-listed for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA U.K. Sustainability Reporting Award and the CERES-ACCA Sustainability Reporting Award from 2006 to 2008. The findings of this study show that several new trends in social, environmental and sustainability assurance can be observed. Firstly, accountants tend to limit their intended readership to management only and state a disclaimer for other potential readers. This diminishes the transparency and stakeholder accountability of the reporting. Secondly, there is even stronger evidence that management has the control over the scope of the assurance engagement and over what information gets publicly disclosed. The evidence is shown in the fact that in many assurance statements prepared by accountants, only selected parts of the reports are being assured, with no indication that it is not management who selects these parts. Finally, the recent practices of assurance engagements represented by the sample in this study have not improved the transparency and stakeholder accountability of social, environmental and sustainable reporting. Similar to the two previous studies, we assert that a generally accepted standard is needed to promote assurance statements that add meaningful values to the reliability of social, environmental and sustainability reporting.

Companies’ contribution to sustainability through global supply chains

Science.gov (United States)

Thorlakson, Tannis; de Zegher, Joann F.; Lambin, Eric F.

2018-01-01

Global supply chains play a critical role in many of the most pressing environmental stresses and social struggles identified by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Responding to calls from the global community, companies are adopting a variety of voluntary practices to improve the environmental and/or social management of their suppliers’ activities. We develop a global survey of 449 publicly listed companies in the food, textile, and wood-products sectors with annual reports in English to provide insight into how the private sector contributes to advancing the SDGs via such sustainable-sourcing practices. We find that while 52% of companies use at least one sustainable-sourcing practice, these practices are limited in scope; 71% relates to only one or a few input materials and 60.5% apply to only first-tier suppliers. We also find that sustainable-sourcing practices typically address a small subset of the sustainability challenges laid out by the SDGs, primarily focusing on labor rights and compliance with national laws. Consistent with existing hypotheses, companies that face consumer and civil society pressure are associated with a significantly higher probability of adopting sustainable-sourcing practices. Our findings highlight the opportunities and limitations of corporate sustainable-sourcing practices in addressing the myriad sustainability challenges facing our world today. PMID:29440420

Sustainable rural development and cross-border cooperation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stojanović Žaklina

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The concept of sustainable rural development comprises three aspects - social, economical and ecological. They are supposed to act in synergy, but, at the same time, these aspects are supposed to be competitive. Agriculture, as a traditional activity of rural economy, contributes to the sustainable development of rural areas only if there is an adequate resources management. If not, there will be a significant degradation of rural environment. These are the reasons why sustainable agriculture development is emphasized since it maximizes productivity and minimizes negative effects on nature and human resources. In this context, one should observe the connection between agriculture and tourism existing in the EU, where the application of sustainable agricultural development concept produces external effects connected to biodiversity protection and environment in rural areas. These become a good foundation for the development of rural and ecotourism. EU enlargement induced diversification of support programmes that EU gives to the candidate countries, as well as to those who are just entering the process of stabilization and association to the EU. Through cross-border cooperation projects, many goals can be accomplished, among which aspiration for promotion of sustainable economical and social development in border regions is one of the leading. Knowing that these regions are usually passive and underdeveloped, the projects of cross-border cooperation could induce development of those activities in local economy, which could bring better living conditions and economic prosperity on the one hand, and protection of environment on the other. Examples of this kind of projects in Serbia can usually be found in rural and ecotourism development.

Gaz de France 2006 sustainable development report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

A major European energy utility, the Gaz de France Group produces, purchases, transports, distributes and sells natural gas, electricity and related services for its residential, corporate and local government customers. this report presents the actions implemented by the group to incorporate sustainable development into its strategy. From the point of view of risks and opportunities, the group analyzes what it takes to ensure development that respects people and the environment, and it implements them in all its business lines and management systems. Content: Gaz de France, portrait of a major energy utility, highlights of 2006, challenges and strategy (defining strategy and sustainable development policy, specific risks and opportunities, activities of the Gaz de France group: challenges, impact for stakeholders, transparency and independence in governing), ranking and implementing (defining sustainable development policy: reviewing priorities, meeting all the challenges, publicizing and defending positions, increasing awareness, overseeing and monitoring results), results of the 2004-2006 sustainable development action plan, dialogue and action with stakeholders, performance assessment, performance in response to challenges: energy challenges (guaranteeing regular supplies, controlling atmospheric emissions, promoting energy conservation, developing renewable energy), industrial challenges (ensuring health and safety, limiting the overall environmental impact of group activities), social responsibility challenges (advocating corporate social responsibility, promoting human rights and fighting corruption, encouraging commitment to solidarity, promoting regional development through local initiatives, reconciling acquisitions, procurement and sustainable development, ensuring transparency in natural gas rates, providing shareholders with quality information, promoting diversity, a source of enrichment, making working conditions a performance factor), indicators and

Why is the radial flow in central pA collisions stronger than in AA?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalaydzhyan, Tigran; Shuryak, Edward

2014-01-01

Both the transverse size and entropy density per area in central pA collisions is smaller than in central AA, and yet the radial flow is stronger. We propose an explanation to this puzzle. Using a weak attraction between strings through the σ-meson exchange, fitted to the lattice data, we find collective implosion of the “spaghetti” multi-string state. Collectivization of the sigma field of the strings is the QCD analog of the black hole formation occurring in holographic models

Textiles and clothing sustainability sustainable textile chemical processes

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This book highlights the challenges in sustainable wet processing of textiles, natural dyes, enzymatic textiles and sustainable textile finishes. Textile industry is known for its chemical processing issues and many NGO’s are behind the textile sector to streamline its chemical processing, which is the black face of clothing and fashion sector. Sustainable textile chemical processes are crucial for attaining sustainability in the clothing sector. Seven comprehensive chapters are aimed to highlight these issues in the book.

E-waste: A Challenge for Sustainable Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Sahadat Hossain

2015-01-01

Conclusions. Sustainability is being prioritized for all development activities by integrating societal, economic, environmental, technological, cultural, and gender perspectives. Considering the adverse potential eco-toxicological impacts and diverse health effects of e-waste, an urgent global multilateral agreement is needed addressing its management (i.e., handling, storage, transportation, recycling, and final disposal, whether by land filling or incineration. Due to the global nature of the issue and the difficulty of establishing sustainable and environmentally sound processing of e-waste in low-income countries, multinational negotiation and collaboration is the only realistic solution. Furthermore, comprehensive global e-waste management and policies could help to off-set the hazards of e-waste and are the best approach for achieving sustainable development.

A vision on methodology for integrated sustainable urban development: bequest

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bentivegna, V.; Curwell, S.; Deakin, M.; Lombardi, P.; Mitchell, G.; Nijkamp, P.

2002-01-01

The concepts and visions of sustainable development that have emerged in the post-Brundtland era are explored in terms laying the foundations for a common vision of sustainable urban development (SUD). The described vision and methodology for SUD resulted from the activities of an international

Agri-food supply chains and sustainability-related issues: evidence from across the Scottish agri-food economy

OpenAIRE

Leat, Philip M.K.; Lamprinopoulou-Kranis, Chrysa; Revoredo-Giha, Cesar; Kupiec-Teahan, Beata

2011-01-01

This paper examines the influence of agri-food supply chains on the sustainability-related activities and decisions of Scottish farmers, as well as the treatment of sustainability issues by food processors and retailers themselves. It is based on 8 whole chain case studies covering some of Scotland’s major agricultural products. The cases identify differing levels of understanding and activities related to sustainability, but widespread acknowledgement that sustainability involves the develop...

Examining sustainability in a hospital setting: Case of smoking cessation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reece Robin

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Ottawa Model of Smoking Cessation (OMSC is a hospital-based smoking cessation program that is expanding across Canada. While the short-term effectiveness of hospital cessation programs has been documented, less is known about long-term sustainability. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand how hospitals using the OMSC were addressing sustainability and determine if there were critical factors or issues that should be addressed as the program expanded. Methods Six hospitals that differed on OMSC program activities (identify and document smokers, advise quitting, provide medication, and offer follow-up were intentionally selected, and two key informants per hospital were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Key informants were asked to reflect on the initial decision to implement the OMSC, the current implementation process, and perceived sustainability of the program. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted and themes related to problem definition, stakeholder influence, and program features emerged. Results Sustainability was operationalized as higher performance of OMSC activities than at baseline. Factors identified in the literature as important for sustainability, such as program design, differences in implementation, organizational characteristics, and the community environment did not explain differences in program sustainability. Instead, key informants identified factors that reflected the interaction between how the health problem was defined by stakeholders, how priorities and concerns were addressed, features of the program itself, and fit within the hospital context and resources as being influential to the sustainability of the program. Conclusions Applying a sustainability model to a hospital smoking cessation program allowed for an examination of how decisions made during implementation may impact sustainability. Examining these factors during

Exploring Gamification Techniques and Applications for Sustainable Tourism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adina Letiţia Negruşa

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Tourism is perceived as an appropriate solution for pursuing sustainable economic growth due to its main characteristics. In the context of sustainable tourism, gamification can act as an interface between tourists (clients, organisations (companies, NGOs, public institutions and community, an interface built in a responsible and ethical way. The main objective of this study is to identify gamification techniques and applications used by organisations in the hospitality and tourism industry to improve their sustainable activities. The first part of the paper examines the relationship between gamification and sustainability, highlighting the links between these two concepts. The second part identifies success stories of gamification applied in hospitality and tourism and reviews gamification benefits by analysing the relationship between tourism organisations and three main tourism stakeholders: tourists, tourism employees and local community. The analysis is made in connection with the main pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. This study is positioning the role of gamification in the tourism and hospitality industry and further, into the larger context of sustainable development.

FOREIGN TRADE TEACHING ACTIVITY: DECIDING BETWEEN COST AND SUSTAINABILITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiano Henrique Antonelli da Veiga

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The world debate focused on preserving the environment, such a s that held during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20, in conjunction with Brazil’s growing foreign trade requires a study of all these topics in management courses. The central premise of this paper is to investigate the systematization of trade concepts through the use of business games. Two asymmetric scenarios for exporting and importing teams were developed using action research and qualitative data analysis. The longitudinal study was conducted on four separate, sequential classes from the Foreign Trade discipline of two universities from southern Brazilian. The students were able to discuss a variety of foreign trade topics and interact autonomously among themselves using business games that stimulate business negotiations through role playing dynamics, demonstrating that this teaching strategy can be used as a foreign trade teaching support tool. The final proposal was to change the game scenarios to focus on the decision between lowest costs and sustainable manufacturing processes without losing the aspects developed previously. The results showed that students’ decisions are more linked to their prior personal environmental concepts than to competition strategies developed for the company.

Cultural differences in human brain activity: a quantitative meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Shihui; Ma, Yina

2014-10-01

Psychologists have been trying to understand differences in cognition and behavior between East Asian and Western cultures within a single cognitive framework such as holistic versus analytic or interdependent versus independent processes. However, it remains unclear whether cultural differences in multiple psychological processes correspond to the same or different neural networks. We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis of 35 functional MRI studies to examine cultural differences in brain activity engaged in social and non-social processes. We showed that social cognitive processes are characterized by stronger activity in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, lateral frontal cortex and temporoparietal junction in East Asians but stronger activity in the anterior cingulate, ventral medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral insula in Westerners. Social affective processes are associated with stronger activity in the right dorsal lateral frontal cortex in East Asians but greater activity in the left insula and right temporal pole in Westerners. Non-social processes induce stronger activity in the left inferior parietal cortex, left middle occipital and left superior parietal cortex in East Asians but greater activations in the right lingual gyrus, right inferior parietal cortex and precuneus in Westerners. The results suggest that cultural differences in social and non-social processes are mediated by distinct neural networks. Moreover, East Asian cultures are associated with increased neural activity in the brain regions related to inference of others' mind and emotion regulation whereas Western cultures are associated with enhanced neural activity in the brain areas related to self-relevance encoding and emotional responses during social cognitive/affective processes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A template for integrated community sustainability planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Christopher; Hanna, Kevin; Dale, Ann

2009-08-01

This article describes a template for implementing an integrated community sustainability plan. The template emphasizes community engagement and outlines the components of a basic framework for integrating ecological, social and economic dynamics into a community plan. The framework is a series of steps that support a sustainable community development process. While it reflects the Canadian experience, the tools and techniques have applied value for a range of environmental planning contexts around the world. The research is case study based and draws from a diverse range of communities representing many types of infrastructure, demographics and ecological and geographical contexts. A critical path for moving local governments to sustainable community development is the creation and implementation of integrated planning approaches. To be effective and to be implemented, a requisite shift to sustainability requires active community engagement processes, political will, and a commitment to political and administrative accountability, and measurement.

Why Does Sleep Slow-Wave Activity Increase After Extended Wake? Assessing the Effects of Increased Cortical Firing During Wake and Sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Alexander V; Funk, Chadd M; Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V; Nir, Yuval; Tononi, Giulio; Cirelli, Chiara

2016-12-07

During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, cortical neurons alternate between ON periods of firing and OFF periods of silence. This bi-stability, which is largely synchronous across neurons, is reflected in the EEG as slow waves. Slow-wave activity (SWA) increases with wake duration and declines homeostatically during sleep, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. One possibility is neuronal "fatigue": high, sustained firing in wake would force neurons to recover with more frequent and longer OFF periods during sleep. Another possibility is net synaptic potentiation during wake: stronger coupling among neurons would lead to greater synchrony and therefore higher SWA. Here, we obtained a comparable increase in sustained firing (6 h) in cortex by: (1) keeping mice awake by exposure to novel objects to promote plasticity and (2) optogenetically activating a local population of cortical neurons at wake-like levels during sleep. Sleep after extended wake led to increased SWA, higher synchrony, and more time spent OFF, with a positive correlation between SWA, synchrony, and OFF periods. Moreover, time spent OFF was correlated with cortical firing during prior wake. After local optogenetic stimulation, SWA and cortical synchrony decreased locally, time spent OFF did not change, and local SWA was not correlated with either measure. Moreover, laser-induced cortical firing was not correlated with time spent OFF afterward. Overall, these results suggest that high sustained firing per se may not be the primary determinant of SWA increases observed after extended wake. A long-standing hypothesis is that neurons fire less during slow-wave sleep to recover from the "fatigue" accrued during wake, when overall synaptic activity is higher than in sleep. This idea, however, has rarely been tested and other factors, namely increased cortical synchrony, could explain why sleep slow-wave activity (SWA) is higher after extended wake. We forced neurons in the mouse cortex to fire

Puntacana Ecological Foundation and the Scaling of Sustainable Tourism Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen M. Uzzo

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The terms "sustainable tourism," "ecotourism," "sustainable development," and "sustainability" have all been applied to various aspects of the global tourism industry to indicate that operators in those industries have accounted for the environmental, social, and economic impacts of their endeavors on the geographical regions within which they function. However, there has been increasing criticism that models for sustainable tourism do not account well for the long-term impacts of resort operations and how they scale in terms of local and regional economies, environmental footprint, and effect on local culture. The case of the Puntacana Ecological Foundation is cited here as a successful example of how locally focused, adaptive, and integrated sustainability efforts may provide useful models for the scaling of durable sustainable tourism activities in other regions and globally.

Cardiac-Specific SOCS3 Deletion Prevents In Vivo Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury through Sustained Activation of Cardioprotective Signaling Molecules.

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Takanobu Nagata

Full Text Available Myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI adversely affects cardiac performance and the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Although myocardial signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT 3 is potently cardioprotective during IRI, the inhibitory mechanism responsible for its activation is largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the myocardial suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS-3, an intrinsic negative feedback regulator of the Janus kinase (JAK-STAT signaling pathway, in the development of myocardial IRI. Myocardial IRI was induced in mice by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery for 1 h, followed by different reperfusion times. One hour after reperfusion, the rapid expression of JAK-STAT-activating cytokines was observed. We precisely evaluated the phosphorylation of cardioprotective signaling molecules and the expression of SOCS3 during IRI and then induced myocardial IRI in wild-type and cardiac-specific SOCS3 knockout mice (SOCS3-CKO. The activation of STAT3, AKT, and ERK1/2 rapidly peaked and promptly decreased during IRI. This decrease correlated with the induction of SOCS3 expression up to 24 h after IRI in wild-type mice. The infarct size 24 h after reperfusion was significantly reduced in SOCS3-CKO compared with wild-type mice. In SOCS3-CKO mice, STAT3, AKT, and ERK1/2 phosphorylation was sustained, myocardial apoptosis was prevented, and the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1 was augmented. Cardiac-specific SOCS3 deletion led to the sustained activation of cardioprotective signaling molecules including and prevented myocardial apoptosis and injury during IRI. Our findings suggest that SOCS3 may represent a key factor that exacerbates the development of myocardial IRI.

Winning the sustainable development debate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ritch, John; Cornish, Emma

2002-01-01

on a vast scale Access to energy - and in particular, electricity - will be critical if the world is to achieve these human goals. Access to clean electricity - and on a vast scale - will be necessary if the world is to meet the twin challenges of human need and environmental security. Anti-nuclear forces, which have held sway in the Kyoto process thus far, argue that nuclear energy is a dying technology and assert passionately that it has no place in tomorrow's sustainable development agenda. These ideologically driven arguments ignore underlying realities both as to what is feasible and what is actually occurring. Today, nuclear power plants are operational in countries comprising 64% of the world's population, and new power reactors are in the planning or construction stage in countries representing no less than 50% of the world's population. Among the latter are the world's two largest developing countries, China and India, which alone represent 40% of humankind and about half the developing world. With active nuclear reactor construction under way as we speak, these leading nations have already made nuclear power a part of their sustainable development strategies for the 21st century. Winning the sustainable development debate - This presentation will share information materials about sustainable development. It will describe the work of the World Nuclear Association Sustainable Development Strategy Group, its preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and how participants to PIME can get involved. (author)

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECT

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K. M. Alilova

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Aim. The aim is to consider the relationship of philosophy and education; the article also reviews the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD, a global model for a special educational activity. We also discuss the features of the philosophical approach to the issue of sustainable development. Discussion. In research, we use the method of socio-natural approach, a new educational paradigm that combines the theory and concept of training and education within the anthropocentric approach based on humanistic philosophical ideas which laid the basis for understanding the person as the subject of life, history and culture. We analyzed environmental and educational aspects of sustainable development in the current context. In order to address these challenges, philosophy produces new concepts, theories and paradigms. It is necessary to work on people's motivation and values, develop their cooperation skills, teach civic engagement and democratic by action rather than words. Only a highly educated society can generate environmental paradigm and implement the strategy of sustainable development. Conclusions. We recommend transferring research outcomes into practice in schools starting with elementary school, as well as in vocational schools and universities. Clarifying the essence of the concept of education for sustainable development is possible through philosophical understanding of its genesis and ideas.

Butyrate-Loaded Chitosan/Hyaluronan Nanoparticles: A Suitable Tool for Sustained Inhibition of ROS Release by Activated Neutrophils

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sacco, Pasquale; Decleva, Eva; Tentor, Fabio

2017-01-01

that butyrate inhibits neutrophil ROS release in a dose and time-dependent fashion. Given the short half-life of butyrate, chitosan/hyaluronan nanoparticles are next designed and developed as controlled release carriers able to provide cells with a long-lasting supply of this SCFA. Notably, while the inhibition...... of neutrophil ROS production by free butyrate declines over time, that of butyrate-loaded chitosan/hyaluronan nanoparticles (B-NPs) is sustained. Additional valuable features of these nanoparticles are inherent ROS scavenger activity, resistance to cell internalization, and mucoadhesiveness. B-NPs appear...

Sustainable Disruptions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Silje Alberthe Kamille; Kjær, Lykke Bloch

2016-01-01

Since 2012 the Sustainable Disruptions (SD) project at the Laboratory for Sustainability at Design School Kolding (DK) has developed and tested a set of design thinking tools, specifically targeting the barriers to economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable business development....... The tools have been applied in practice in collaboration with 11 small and medium sized companies (SMEs). The study investigates these approaches to further understand how design thinking can contribute to sustainable transition in a business context. The study and the findings are relevant to organizations...... invested in the issue of sustainable business development, in particular the leaders and employees of SMEs, but also to design education seeking new ways to consciously handle and teach the complexity inherent in sustainable transformation. Findings indicate that the SD design thinking approach contributes...

Sustainable development and energy resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steeg, H.

2000-01-01

(a) The paper describes the substance and content of sustainability as well as the elements, which determine the objective. Sustainability is high on national and international political agendas. The objective is of a long term nature. The focus of the paper is on hydrocarbon emissions (CO 2 ); (b) International approaches and policies are addressed such as the Climate change convention and the Kyoto protocol. The burden for change on the energy sector to achieve sustainability is very large in particular for OECD countries and those of central and Eastern Europe. Scepticism is expresses whether the goals of the protocol and be reached within the foreseen timeframe although governments and industry are active in improving sustainability; (c) Future Trends of demand and supply examines briefly the growth in primary energy demand as well as the reserve situation for oil, gas and coal. Renewable energy resources are also assessed in regard to their future potential, which is not sufficient to replace hydrocarbons soon. Nuclear power although not emitting CO 2 is faced with grave acceptability reactions. Nevertheless sustainability is not threatened by lack of resources; (d) Energy efficiency and new technologies are examined vis-a-vis their contribution to sustainability as well as a warning to overestimate soon results for market penetration; (e) The impact of liberalization of energy sectors play an important role. The message is not to revert back to command and control economies but rather use the driving force of competition. It does not mean to renounce government energy policies but to change their radius to more market oriented approaches; (f) Conclusions centre on the plea that all options should be available without emotional and politicized prejudices. (author)

Sustainable development and energy resources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steeg, H

2002-01-01

(a) The paper describes the substance and content of sustainability as well as the elements, which determine the objective. Sustainability is high on national and international political agendas. The objective is of a long term nature. The focus of the paper is on hydrocarbon emissions (CO 2 ); (b) International approaches and policies are addressed such as the climate change convention and the Kyoto protocol. The burden for change on the energy sector to achieve sustainability is very large in particular for OECD countries and those of central and Eastern Europe. Scepticism is expresses whether the goals of the protocol and be reached within the foreseen timeframe although governments and industry are active in improving sustainability; (c) Future trends of demand and supply examines briefly the growth in primary energy demand as well as the reserve situation for oil, gas and coal. Renewable energy resources are also assessed in regard to their future potential, which is not sufficient to replace hydrocarbons soon. Nuclear power although not emitting CO 2 is faced with grave acceptability reactions. Nevertheless sustainability is not threatened by lack of resources; (d) Energy efficiency and new technologies are examined vis-a-vis their contribution to sustainability as well as a warning to overestimate soon results for market penetration; (e) The impact of liberalization of energy sectors play an important role. The message is not to revert back to command and control economies but rather use the driving force of competition. It does not mean to renounce government energy policies but to change their radius to more market oriented approaches; (f) Conclusions centre on the plea that all options should be available without emotional and politicized prejudices. (author)

Smart Sustainable Islands VS Smart Sustainable Cities

Science.gov (United States)

Pantazis, D. N.; Moussas, V. C.; Murgante, B.; Daverona, A. C.; Stratakis, P.; Vlissidis, N.; Kavadias, A.; Economou, D.; Santimpantakis, K.; Karathanasis, B.; Kyriakopoulou, V.; Gadolou, E.

2017-09-01

This paper has several aims: a) the presentation of a critical analysis of the terms "smart sustainable cities" and "smart sustainable islands" b) the presentation of a number of principles towards to the development methodological framework of concepts and actions, in a form of a manual and actions guide, for the smartification and sustainability of islands. This kind of master plan is divided in thematic sectors (key factors) which concern the insular municipalities c) the creation of an island's smartification and sustainability index d) the first steps towards the creation of a portal for the presentation of our smartification actions manual, together with relative resources, smart applications examples, and, in the near future the first results of our index application in a number of Greek islands and e) the presentation of some proposals of possible actions towards their sustainable development and smartification for the municipalities - islands of Paros and Antiparos in Greece, as case studies.

SMART SUSTAINABLE ISLANDS VS SMART SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. N. Pantazis

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper has several aims: a the presentation of a critical analysis of the terms “smart sustainable cities” and “smart sustainable islands” b the presentation of a number of principles towards to the development methodological framework of concepts and actions, in a form of a manual and actions guide, for the smartification and sustainability of islands. This kind of master plan is divided in thematic sectors (key factors which concern the insular municipalities c the creation of an island’s smartification and sustainability index d the first steps towards the creation of a portal for the presentation of our smartification actions manual, together with relative resources, smart applications examples, and, in the near future the first results of our index application in a number of Greek islands and e the presentation of some proposals of possible actions towards their sustainable development and smartification for the municipalities - islands of Paros and Antiparos in Greece, as case studies.

Sustainable Table | Welcome to Sustainable Table

Science.gov (United States)

Sustainable Seafood Industrial Agriculture Industrial Livestock Production Antibiotics Hormones rBGH Animal , safeguarding animal welfare and supporting local communities. Questions to Ask Asking questions is the best way Livestock Husbandry Sustainable Crop Production Innovative Agriculture New Farmers Organic Agriculture Local

Transport Canada's sustainable development action plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-09-30

Transport Canada's sustainable development strategy, tabled in the House of Commons in December 1997, sets out the direction for the Department to integrate environmental concerns with safety and efficiency in developing policies and programs and in carrying out its day-to-day activities. While recognizing that moving towards sustainable development is a long-term undertaking, the department is determined to turn 'words' into 'work'. The action plan outlined in this document is organized according to the challenges laid out in the original Sustainable Development Strategy document. Accordingly, the department shall endeavour to minimize risk of environmental damage from transportation accidents; promote greening of operations in the transportation sector; reduce emissions of hazardous substances from transportation sources; promote education and awareness on sustainable transportation; refine sustainable performance indicators; and develop and promote the application of cleaner transportation systems and transportation technologies. The bulk of the report is devoted to brief summaries of progress achieved in each of these areas to date.

Subsidence monitoring network: an Italian example aimed at a sustainable hydrocarbon E&P activity

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M. C. Dacome

2015-11-01

Full Text Available According to the Italian law in order to start-up any new hydrocarbon exploitation activity, an Environmental Impact Assessment study has to be presented, including a monitoring plan, addressed to foresee, measure and analyze in real time any possible impact of the project on the coastal areas and on those ones in the close inland located. The occurrence of subsidence, that could partly be related to hydrocarbon production, both on-shore and off-shore, can generate great concern in those areas where its occurrence may have impacts on the local environment. ENI, following the international scientific community recommendations on the matter, since the beginning of 90's years, implemented a cutting-edge monitoring network, with the aim to prevent, mitigate and control geodynamics phenomena generated in the activity areas, with a particular attention to conservation and protection of environmental and territorial equilibrium, taking care of what is known as "sustainable development". The current ENI implemented monitoring surveys can be divided as: – Shallow monitoring: spirit levelling surveys, continuous GPS surveys in permanent stations, SAR surveys, assestimeter subsurface compaction monitoring, ground water level monitoring, LiDAR surveys, bathymetrical surveys. – Deep monitoring: reservoir deep compaction trough radioactive markers, reservoir static (bottom hole pressure monitoring. All the information, gathered through the monitoring network, allow: 1. to verify if the produced subsidence is evolving accordingly with the simulated forecast. 2. to provide data to revise and adjust the prediction compaction models 3. to put in place the remedial actions if the impact exceeds the threshold magnitude originally agreed among the involved parties. ENI monitoring plan to measure and monitor the subsidence process, during field production and also after the field closure, is therefore intended to support a sustainable field development and an

Subsidence monitoring network: an Italian example aimed at a sustainable hydrocarbon E&P activity

Science.gov (United States)

Dacome, M. C.; Miandro, R.; Vettorel, M.; Roncari, G.

2015-11-01

According to the Italian law in order to start-up any new hydrocarbon exploitation activity, an Environmental Impact Assessment study has to be presented, including a monitoring plan, addressed to foresee, measure and analyze in real time any possible impact of the project on the coastal areas and on those ones in the close inland located. The occurrence of subsidence, that could partly be related to hydrocarbon production, both on-shore and off-shore, can generate great concern in those areas where its occurrence may have impacts on the local environment. ENI, following the international scientific community recommendations on the matter, since the beginning of 90's years, implemented a cutting-edge monitoring network, with the aim to prevent, mitigate and control geodynamics phenomena generated in the activity areas, with a particular attention to conservation and protection of environmental and territorial equilibrium, taking care of what is known as "sustainable development". The current ENI implemented monitoring surveys can be divided as: - Shallow monitoring: spirit levelling surveys, continuous GPS surveys in permanent stations, SAR surveys, assestimeter subsurface compaction monitoring, ground water level monitoring, LiDAR surveys, bathymetrical surveys. - Deep monitoring: reservoir deep compaction trough radioactive markers, reservoir static (bottom hole) pressure monitoring. All the information, gathered through the monitoring network, allow: 1. to verify if the produced subsidence is evolving accordingly with the simulated forecast. 2. to provide data to revise and adjust the prediction compaction models 3. to put in place the remedial actions if the impact exceeds the threshold magnitude originally agreed among the involved parties. ENI monitoring plan to measure and monitor the subsidence process, during field production and also after the field closure, is therefore intended to support a sustainable field development and an acceptable exploitation

Sustainable cities and energy policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Capello, R.; Nijkamp, P.; Pepping, G.

1999-01-01

This book starts out with the optimistic perspective that modern cities can indeed play a strategic role in the necessary pathway to sustainable development, with particular emphasis on the opportunities offered by local energy and environmental initiatives. Our study aims to demonstrate that an urban sustainability policy has many socio-economic benefits, while it also seeks to identify the critical success and failure factors of sustainable city innovations. After a comprehensive review of various opportunities and experiences, attention is focused particularly on renewable energy resources which may offer new potential for the active involvement of local authorities. The study also highlights major impediments regarding the adoption and implementation of renewable energies, in particular, the development of advanced energy-environmental technology in a world dominated by natural (public) monopolies and/or monopolistic competition elements. In this context both theoretical and empirical elements are discussed, as well as institutional aspects. The theory and methodology is tested by a thorough empirical investigation into local renewable energy initiatives in three European countries, viz. Greece, Italy and The Netherlands. Based on an extensive data base, various statistical models are estimated in order to identify the key elements and major driving forces of sustainable development at the city level. And finally, the study is concluded with a long list of applicable and operational policy guidelines for urban sustainability. These lessons are largely based on meta-analytic comparative studies of the various initiatives investigated. (orig.)

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN PETROȘANI DEPRESSION

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Ciprian NIMARĂ

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the past 60 years, tourism has become one of the most profitable industries, being in continuous development, which tends, however, to be a risky investment when this activity is dependent on climate, because not all years are successful and not all regions are up to the standards imposed by competition. Petrosani Depression is a territory with a real tourism potential waiting to be exploited, especially now, when the economic constraints are increasingly felt, due to the increasing reduction of activity in the mining field. Thus, we believe that tourism is an economic alternative integrated into the sustainable development of the micro-region. This paper aims to present the fundamental characteristics of tourism in this area, identifying the major problems and propose solutions to overcoming obstacles encountered in the development of sustainable tourism in Petrosani Depression.

Understanding the motivational perspectives of sustainability: A case of biogas production

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Marco Pereira Querol

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Despite the importance of the expectations and visions of the actors involved in sustainable innovations, only the societal, motivational perspective is usually considered. The fact that local actors may have different multi-motivations is typically overlooked. The aim of this study is to examine and understand the multi-motivational perspectives in a sustainable production project. First, we introduce the concept of the object and analyze the case of a biogas production project as a mediating activity for making swine production more sustainable. We argue that the object of the activity, as manifested in motivational perspectives, shapes the way in which biogas production (BP systems are implemented. The article concludes by discussing how the concept of object can be used to explore the actual and future possibilities of using artifacts for increasing the sustainability of production.

Sustainable growth in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andreini, P.

1993-01-01

The measures till now adopted did not stop environmental deterioration in Europe and the growth of economic activities in the future will make the situation more and more heavy. The European Communities (EEC) Cabinet launched a long term program for a sustainable growth in Europe, which could conciliate economic needs with environmental protection. This paper presents the first part of the program

Evaluation of carrying capacity and territorial environmental sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuseppe Ruggiero

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Land use has a great impact on environmental quality, use of resources, state of ecosystems and socio-economic development. Land use can be considered sustainable if the environmental pressures of human activities do not exceed the ecological carrying capacity. A scientific knowledge of the capability of ecosystems to provide resources and absorb waste is a useful and innovative means of supporting territorial planning. This study examines the area of the Province of Bari to estimate the ecosystems’ carrying capacity, and compare it with the current environmental pressures exerted by human activities. The adapted methodology identified the environmentally sustainable level for one province.

The Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB): A Tool for ...

Science.gov (United States)

The MSSB is the first and only decision support tool containing information from scientific literature and technical reports that can be used to develop and implement sustainability initiatives. The MSSB is designed to assist individuals and communities in understanding the impacts that the four key dimensions of sustainability - Land Use, Buildings and Infrastructure, Transportation, and Materials Management - can have on human health, the economy, the built environment and natural environments. The MSSB has the following capabilities: a. Displays and describes linkages between the four major sustainability concepts (Land Use, Buildings and Infrastructure, Transportation, and Materials Management) and their subordinate concepts. b. Displays and lists literature sources and references (including weblinks where applicable) providing information about each major sustainability concept and its associated subordinate concepts. c. Displays and lists quantitative data related to each major sustainability concept and its associated subordinate concepts, with weblinks where applicable.The MSSB serves as a ‘visual database’, allowing users to: investigate one or more of the four key sustainability dimensions; explore available scientific literature references, and; assess potential impacts of sustainability activities. The MSSB reduces the amount of time and effort required to assess the state of sustainability science and engineering research pertaining

Sustained Spatial Attention in Touch: Modality-Specific and Multimodal Mechanisms

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Chiara F. Sambo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Sustained attention to a body location results in enhanced processing of tactile stimuli presented at that location compared to another unattended location. In this paper, we review studies investigating the neural correlates of sustained spatial attention in touch. These studies consistently show that activity within modality-specific somatosensory areas (SI and SII is modulated by sustained tactile-spatial attention. Recent evidence suggests that these somatosensory areas may be recruited as part of a larger cortical network,also including higher-level multimodal regions involved in spatial selection across modalities. We discuss, in turn, the following multimodal effects in sustained tactile-spatial attention tasks. First, cross-modal attentional links between touch and vision, reflected in enhanced processing of task-irrelevant visual stimuli at tactuallyattended locations, are mediated by common (multimodal representations of external space. Second, vision of the body modulates activity underlying sustained tactile-spatial attention, facilitating attentional modulation of tactile processing in between-hand (when hands are sufficiently far apart and impairing attentional modulation in within-hand selection tasks. Finally, body posture influences mechanisms of sustained tactile-spatial attention, relying, at least partly, on remapping of tactile stimuli in external, visuallydefined, spatial coordinates. Taken together, the findings reviewed in this paper indicate that sustained spatial attention in touch is subserved by both modality-specific and multimodal mechanisms. The interplay between these mechanisms allows flexible and efficient spatial selection within and across sensory modalities.

Entropy Analysis of the Coupled Human–Earth System: Implications for Sustainable Development

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Weifang Shi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Finding the basic physical foundation contributing to sustainable development is significantly useful in seeking ways to build an enduring human future. This paper introduces the dissipative structure theory to analyze the entropy budgets of the whole coupled human–Earth system and the key processes of the subsystems, and then presents the formulas to calculate these entropy budgets. The results show that the total net negative entropy of the coupled human–Earth system from exchange with space is sufficient, but only about 0.0042% of it is available for sustaining the life activities of the whole coupled system and the quantity of this portion is also not more than sufficient compared with the requirement of human life activities. In addition, the rate of negative entropy consumption by human subsystem from fossil fuels for sustaining modern civilization is too large, nearly a half of the negative entropy rate obtained by photosynthesis on the Earth, which indicates that entirely substituting biomass fuels for fossil fuels may be infeasible. The strategies for sustaining human life activities and modern civilization are proposed in the study, which would provide valuable information for humans to realize sustainable development.

Do unfavourable alcohol, smoking, nutrition and physical activity predict sustained leisure time sedentary behaviour? A population-based cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nooijen, Carla F J; Möller, Jette; Forsell, Yvonne; Ekblom, Maria; Galanti, Maria R; Engström, Karin

2017-08-01

Comparing lifestyle of people remaining sedentary during longer periods of their life with those favourably changing their behaviour can provide cues to optimize interventions targeting sedentary behaviour. The objective of this study was to determine lifestyle predictors of sustained leisure time sedentary behaviour and assess whether these predictors were dependent on gender, age, socioeconomic position and occupational sedentary behaviour. Data from a large longitudinal population-based cohort of adults (aged 18-97years) in Stockholm responding to public health surveys in 2010 and 2014 were analysed (n=49,133). Leisure time sedentary behaviour was defined as >3h per day of leisure sitting time e.g. watching TV, reading or using tablet. Individuals classified as sedentary at baseline (n=9562) were subsequently categorized as remaining sedentary (n=6357) or reduced sedentary behaviour (n=3205) at follow-up. Lifestyle predictors were unfavourable alcohol consumption, smoking, nutrition, and physical activity. Odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were calculated, adjusting for potential confounders. Unfavourable alcohol consumption (OR=1.22, CI:1.11-1.34), unfavourable candy- or cake consumption (OR=1.15, CI:1.05-1.25), and unfavourable physical activity in different contexts were found to predict sustained sedentary behaviour, with negligible differences according to gender, age, socioeconomic position and occupational sedentary behaviour. People with unfavourable lifestyle profiles regarding alcohol, sweets, or physical activity are more likely to remain sedentary compared to sedentary persons with healthier lifestyle. The impact of combining interventions to reduce leisure time sedentary behaviour with reducing alcohol drinking, sweet consumption and increasing physical activity should be tested as a promising strategy for behavioural modification. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Property company's sustainability goals.

Science.gov (United States)

Ormsby, Kim

2014-11-01

In a keynote presentation on the second morning of this year's Healthcare Estates conference, Kim Ormsby (pictured), national corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability manager at NHS Property Services, discussed how, as part of its broader goals of 'supporting the NHS in delivering clinical services', and 'helping to enhance the experience' of patients visiting its buildings, the organization would continue to pursue and embed in its activities sustainable policies wherever and whenever possible, encouraging both its staff and tenants to take a similar approach. In an informative address, she highlighted some of the key steps the property company had already taken to encourage a proactive approach. Echoing the sentiments of Day One keynote speaker, Julian Hartley (see pages 55-60), she argued that one of the fundamentals to success was wide-ranging staff engagement.

RELEVANCE OF ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS USED IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SORINA-GEANINA MĂRGĂRIT (STĂNESCU

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The interaction between environmental, economic and social factors influences the ecological balance and generates the change of living conditions and those of socio-economic development. One of the essential conditions for building a sustainable economic development is the identification and implementation of active or voluntary instruments to influence economic and social activity towards ensuring their sustainability. In this paper, we intend to introduce the tools used in the process of sustainable development, which have a key role in adopting an environmentally responsible behavior. The results of this study are represented by the drafting of the advantages and disadvantages of using these economic and financial instruments. The purpose of this paper is to present the evolution of costs for environmental protection and the relevance of instruments used at the national level in environmental protection.

How Earth Educators Can Help Students Develop a Holistic Understanding of Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Curren, R. R.; Metzger, E. P.

2017-12-01

With their expert understanding of planetary systems, Earth educators play a pivotal role in helping students understand the scientific dimensions of solution-resistant ("wicked") challenges to sustainability that arise from complex interactions between intertwined and co-evolving natural and human systems. However, teaching the science of sustainability in isolation from consideration of human values and social dynamics leaves students with a fragmented understanding and obscures the underlying drivers of unsustainability. Geoscience instructors who wish to address sustainability in their courses may feel ill-equipped to engage students in investigation of the fundamental nature of sustainability and its social and ethical facets. This presentation will blend disciplinary perspectives from Earth system science, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology to: 1) outline a way to conceptualize sustainability that synthesizes scientific, social, and ethical perspectives and 2) provide an overview of resources and teaching strategies designed to help students connect science content to the socio-political dimensions of sustainability through activities and assignments that promote active learning, systems thinking, reflection, and collaborative problem-solving.

Ecotourism – model of sustainable tourist development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirela Stefanica

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In the last years, the tendency in the tourism industry was that of return towards nature and towards the authentic cultural values. Among all the forms of tourism, ecotourism distinguishes itself through the strongest connection with the natural and cultural environment, representing the most valuable form of manifestation of sustainable tourism, with the fastest growth rhythm worldwide. Integrated in the sustainable development, ecotourism involves activities that directly contribute to the nature protection and to keeping the old human creations unaltered.

Towards sustainable mobile systems configurations: Application to a tuna purse seiner.

Science.gov (United States)

García Rellán, A; Vázquez Brea, C; Bello Bugallo, P M

2018-08-01

Fishing is one of the most important marine activities. It contributes to both overfishing and marine pollution, the two main threats to the ocean environment. In this context, the aim of this work is to investigate and validate methodologies for the identification of more sustainable operating configurations for a tuna purse seiner. The proposed methodology is based on a previous one applied to secondary industrial systems, taking into account the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control focus, developed for the most potentially industrial polluting sources. The idea is to apply the same type of methodologies and concepts used for secondary industrial punctual sources, to a primary industrial mobile activity. This methodology combines two tools: "Material and Energy Flow Analysis" (a tool from industrial metabolism), and "Best Available Techniques Analysis". The first provides a way to detect "Improvable Flows" into de system, and the second provides a way to define sustainable options to improve them. Five main Improvable Flows have been identified in the selected case study, the activity of a purse seiner, most of them related with energy consumption and air emission, in different stages of the fishing activity. Thirty-one Best Available Techniques candidates for the system have been inventoried, that potentially could improve the sustainability of the activity. Seven of them are not implemented yet to the case study. The potential improvements of the system proposed by this work are related to energy efficiency, waste management, prevention and control of air emissions. This methodology demonstrates to be a good tool towards sustainable punctual systems, but also towards sustainable mobile systems such as the fishing activity in oceans, as the tuna purse seiner validated here. The practical application of the identified technologies to fishing systems will contribute to prevent and reduce marine pollution, one of the greatest threats of today's oceans

Dissociable influences of auditory object vs. spatial attention on visual system oscillatory activity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jyrki Ahveninen

Full Text Available Given that both auditory and visual systems have anatomically separate object identification ("what" and spatial ("where" pathways, it is of interest whether attention-driven cross-sensory modulations occur separately within these feature domains. Here, we investigated how auditory "what" vs. "where" attention tasks modulate activity in visual pathways using cortically constrained source estimates of magnetoencephalograpic (MEG oscillatory activity. In the absence of visual stimuli or tasks, subjects were presented with a sequence of auditory-stimulus pairs and instructed to selectively attend to phonetic ("what" vs. spatial ("where" aspects of these sounds, or to listen passively. To investigate sustained modulatory effects, oscillatory power was estimated from time periods between sound-pair presentations. In comparison to attention to sound locations, phonetic auditory attention was associated with stronger alpha (7-13 Hz power in several visual areas (primary visual cortex; lingual, fusiform, and inferior temporal gyri, lateral occipital cortex, as well as in higher-order visual/multisensory areas including lateral/medial parietal and retrosplenial cortices. Region-of-interest (ROI analyses of dynamic changes, from which the sustained effects had been removed, suggested further power increases during Attend Phoneme vs. Location centered at the alpha range 400-600 ms after the onset of second sound of each stimulus pair. These results suggest distinct modulations of visual system oscillatory activity during auditory attention to sound object identity ("what" vs. sound location ("where". The alpha modulations could be interpreted to reflect enhanced crossmodal inhibition of feature-specific visual pathways and adjacent audiovisual association areas during "what" vs. "where" auditory attention.

Techno-ecological synergy: a framework for sustainable engineering.

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Bakshi, Bhavik R; Ziv, Guy; Lepech, Michael D

2015-02-03

Even though the importance of ecosystems in sustaining all human activities is well-known, methods for sustainable engineering fail to fully account for this role of nature. Most methods account for the demand for ecosystem services, but almost none account for the supply. Incomplete accounting of the very foundation of human well-being can result in perverse outcomes from decisions meant to enhance sustainability and lost opportunities for benefiting from the ability of nature to satisfy human needs in an economically and environmentally superior manner. This paper develops a framework for understanding and designing synergies between technological and ecological systems to encourage greater harmony between human activities and nature. This framework considers technological systems ranging from individual processes to supply chains and life cycles, along with corresponding ecological systems at multiple spatial scales ranging from local to global. The demand for specific ecosystem services is determined from information about emissions and resource use, while the supply is obtained from information about the capacity of relevant ecosystems. Metrics calculate the sustainability of individual ecosystem services at multiple spatial scales and help define necessary but not sufficient conditions for local and global sustainability. Efforts to reduce ecological overshoot encourage enhancement of life cycle efficiency, development of industrial symbiosis, innovative designs and policies, and ecological restoration, thus combining the best features of many existing methods. Opportunities for theoretical and applied research to make this framework practical are also discussed.

Modern Biotechnology—Potential Contribution and Challenges for Sustainable Food Production in Sub-Saharan Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Jane Morris

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Modern biotechnology, including the application of transgenic techniques to produce Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs, can play a significant role in increasing agricultural production in a sustainable way, but its products need to be tailored for the developing world. In sub-Saharan Africa, the capacity to develop GMOs and ensure they meet stringent regulatory requirements is somewhat limited. Most African governments contribute little to science and technology either financially or through strong policies. This leaves the determination of research and development priorities in the hands of international funding agencies. Whereas funding from the United States is generally supportive of GM technology, the opposite is true of funding from European sources. African countries are thus pulled in two different directions. One alternative to this dilemma might be for countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region to develop stronger South-South collaborations, but these need to be supported with adequate funding. African governments as well as external funding agencies are urged to consider the important role that biotechnology, including GM technology, can play in contributing to sustainable development in Africa, and to provide adequate support to the development of capacity to research, develop and commercialize GMOs in the region.

A Study on the Relationship between Design Elements of Outdoor Leisure Spaces and Types of Leisure Activities in Sustainable Community Development - A Case Study on Tainan, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, J. H.; Zhang, H.

2018-01-01

Sustainable community development encompasses three aspects: “Lifestyle”, “Production” and “Ecology”. Among them, “Lifestyle” is closest to people and reflects basic human needs. Creating outdoor spaces that encourage residents to engage in leisure activities will not only provide them with spiritual sustenance but also fulfil one of the key criteria in sustainable community development. This study explores the relationship between design elements of outdoor leisure spaces and types of leisure activities from residents' perspective with the goal to inform future spatial planning. The study collected 365 valid questionnaires from Tainan residents. Factor analysis was used to extract factors from design elements of outdoor leisure spaces, and regression analysis was applied to understand the effect level. The result shows design elements have positive effect on the types of leisure activities. In addition, different elements exert different influences on the choice of activities.

Sustainable development and the oil and gas industry. A tense relationship?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harkink, E.

2003-12-01

The behaviour of a multinational company stems from strategic considerations. With the globalisation of our economy and society as a whole, information became easier retrievable. Companies had to expand their organisational scope. Consequently, the pressure on companies to act responsibly mounted over the years. Companies have gradually come to realise that they have to fulfil a societal duty and started a slow move towards sustainability. This pressure is particularly high on the international oil and gas companies that provide the whole world with energy. Corporate sustainable development can only be realised when every organisational activity takes notice of the demands of the concept. To comply with these demands a company needs to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. Sustainable development requires a company to take its economic, environmental and social responsibilities seriously. This paper assesses the attitude of 26 international oil and gas companies with respect to sustainable development. For this purpose, an attitude test model was developed that qualifies the companies' level of sustainability along 5 predefined levels. Increased sustainability is related to better care for the companies' impact. The companies' annual reports of the year 2000 were used as main source of information. On average the industry reached an overall sustainability score of 2.84. This score represents an attitude that goes beyond compliance, but has not yet reached the level of pro-activeness. The companies' attitude towards the environment is worse, with an average score of 2.56. Most companies do not take it much further than is needed to secure their licence to operate. In comparison, West-European companies have the best attitude towards sustainable development, followed by Canada, America, Australia and Russia. The influence of home country characteristics is statistically

Companies' contribution to sustainability through global supply chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Thorlakson, Tannis; de Zegher, Joann F; Lambin, Eric F

2018-02-27

Global supply chains play a critical role in many of the most pressing environmental stresses and social struggles identified by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Responding to calls from the global community, companies are adopting a variety of voluntary practices to improve the environmental and/or social management of their suppliers' activities. We develop a global survey of 449 publicly listed companies in the food, textile, and wood-products sectors with annual reports in English to provide insight into how the private sector contributes to advancing the SDGs via such sustainable-sourcing practices. We find that while 52% of companies use at least one sustainable-sourcing practice, these practices are limited in scope; 71% relates to only one or a few input materials and 60.5% apply to only first-tier suppliers. We also find that sustainable-sourcing practices typically address a small subset of the sustainability challenges laid out by the SDGs, primarily focusing on labor rights and compliance with national laws. Consistent with existing hypotheses, companies that face consumer and civil society pressure are associated with a significantly higher probability of adopting sustainable-sourcing practices. Our findings highlight the opportunities and limitations of corporate sustainable-sourcing practices in addressing the myriad sustainability challenges facing our world today. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Business models for sustainable energy development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kolk, A.; van den Buuse, D.

2013-01-01

Business-led approaches to accessing energy in development countries are becoming key factors to sustainable market development. Given the major challenges in this market, companies will blend commercial and donor-funded activities, while simultaneously finding innovative ways to bring renewable

Sustainability Tools Inventory Initial Gap Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

This report identifies a suite of tools that address a comprehensive set of community sustainability concerns. The objective is to discover whether "gaps" exist in the tool suite’s analytic capabilities. These tools address activities that significantly influence resource consu...

Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with Sustainability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mathis Wackernagel

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The UN’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs are the most significant global effort so far to advance global sustainable development. Bertelsmann Stiftung and the sustainable development solutions network released an SDG index to assess countries’ average performance on SDGs. Ranking high on the SDG index strongly correlates with high per person demand on nature (or “Footprints”, and low ranking with low Footprints, making evident that the SDGs as expressed today vastly underperform on sustainability. Such underperformance is anti-poor because lowest-income people exposed to resource insecurity will lack the financial means to shield themselves from the consequences. Given the significance of the SDGs for guiding development, rigorous accounting is essential for making them consistent with the goals of sustainable development: thriving within the means of planet Earth.

Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with Sustainability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wackernagel, Mathis; Hanscom, Laurel; Lin, David

2017-01-01

The UN’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) are the most significant global effort so far to advance global sustainable development. Bertelsmann Stiftung and the sustainable development solutions network released an SDG index to assess countries’ average performance on SDGs. Ranking high on the SDG index strongly correlates with high per person demand on nature (or “Footprints”), and low ranking with low Footprints, making evident that the SDGs as expressed today vastly underperform on sustainability. Such underperformance is anti-poor because lowest-income people exposed to resource insecurity will lack the financial means to shield themselves from the consequences. Given the significance of the SDGs for guiding development, rigorous accounting is essential for making them consistent with the goals of sustainable development: thriving within the means of planet Earth.

Making the Sustainable Development Goals Consistent with Sustainability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wackernagel, Mathis, E-mail: mathis.wackernagel@footprintnetwork.org; Hanscom, Laurel; Lin, David [Global Footprint Network, Oakland, CA (United States)

2017-07-11

The UN’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) are the most significant global effort so far to advance global sustainable development. Bertelsmann Stiftung and the sustainable development solutions network released an SDG index to assess countries’ average performance on SDGs. Ranking high on the SDG index strongly correlates with high per person demand on nature (or “Footprints”), and low ranking with low Footprints, making evident that the SDGs as expressed today vastly underperform on sustainability. Such underperformance is anti-poor because lowest-income people exposed to resource insecurity will lack the financial means to shield themselves from the consequences. Given the significance of the SDGs for guiding development, rigorous accounting is essential for making them consistent with the goals of sustainable development: thriving within the means of planet Earth.

Collaborative procurement for developing a sustainable campus

Science.gov (United States)

Nifa, Faizatul Akmar Abdul; Rahim, Syukran Abdul; Rani, Wan Nurul Mardiah Wan Mohd; Ismail, Mohd. Noorizhar

2016-08-01

It is particularly challenging to achieve sustainability in campus universities, where a high volume of users and activities has made it more imperative to promote green buildings that reduce energy and water consumption while having a minimal carbon footprint. At present, the frameworks for sustainable campus have seldom focused on the project procurement method which would improve construction team integration in developing the physical aspect of campus development. Therefore, in response to that challenge, this paper investigates how the delivery team, responsible for the design and construction of a project, can be integrated to work together more efficiently and more using the collaborative procurement method known as partnering. This paper reports part of a previous research and sets the base for ongoing research on the critical factors in partnering for sustainable campus development. The outcome or result of this study will meet and support the requirement for construction, maintenance, and operation process for universities towards sustainable building/campus in the future.

Sustainable Marketing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dam, van Y.K.

2017-01-01

In this article, three different conceptions of sustainable marketing are discussed and compared. These different conceptions are referred to as social, green, and critical sustainable marketing. Social sustainable marketing follows the logic of demand-driven marketing management and places the

Recycling of Sustainable Co-Firing Fly Ashes as an Alkali Activator for GGBS in Blended Cements.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yann-Hwang; Huang, Ran; Tsai, Chia-Jung; Lin, Wei-Ting

2015-02-16

This study investigates the feasibility of co-firing fly ashes from different boilers, circulating fluidized beds (CFB) or stokers as a sustainable material in alkali activators for ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS). The mixture ratio of GGBS and co-firing fly ashes is 1:1 by weight. The results indicate that only CF fly ash of CFB boilers can effectively stimulate the potential characteristics of GGBS and provide strength as an alkali activator. CF fly ash consists of CaO₃ (48.5%), SiO₂ (21.1%), Al₂O₃ (13.8%), SO₃ (10.06%), Fe₂O₃ (2.25%) and others (4.29%). SA fly ash consists of Al₂O₃ (19.7%), SiO₂ (36.3%), Fe2O3 (28.4%) and others (15.6%). SB fly ash consists of Al₂O₃ (15%), SiO₂ (25.4%), Zn (20.6%), SO₃ (10.9%), Fe₂O₃ (8.78%) and others (19.32%). The mixtures of SA fly ash and SB fly ash with GGBS, respectively, were damaged in the compressive strength test during seven days of curing. However, the built up strength of the CF fly ash and GGBS mixture can only be maintained for 7-14 days, and the compressive strength achieves 70% of that of a controlled group (cement in hardening cement paste). The strength of blended CF fly ash and GGBS started to decrease after 28 days, and the phenomenon of ettrigite was investigated due to the high levels of sulfur content. The CaO content in sustainable co-firing fly ashes must be higher than a certain percentage in reacting GGBS to ensure the strength of blended cements.

RESEARCH ALGORITHM FOR BUSINESS ENTERPRISE ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY INDICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. V. Kouznetsov

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract. It is recommended that organizational sustainability of a business enterprise be assessed on the basis of a system of indices brought down in the article to characterize to what extent an option of the company organizational structure contributes to gaining higher final activity results. The indices may be used as efficiency criteria for options of the company organizational structure and management system. It is reasonable to assess each index from the viewpoint of its impact on the business company organizational and economic sustainability and to try either to eliminate the negative impact or to strengthen the positive role with respect of this sustainability.

Challenges of sustainable development in the mining and metallurgy sector in Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Bluszcz

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to present the degree of involvement of Polish companies from the mining and metallurgical industry in activities for sustainable development. Various initiatives, which aim to promote sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR are discussed. ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR and it forms the basis for sustainable development. The paper also presents problems of integrated reporting of CSR activities and an index of socially responsible companies which is the Respect Index, introduced by the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Two presented companies from the analysed sector are listed by the Respect Index.

Sustainable crop models for fruit, vegetable and flower quality productions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inglese Paolo

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Sustainable development is a paradigm that has evolved over the time, since the ideas of socially acceptable and compatible development, on which it was originally based, are now supported by the more recent notions of ecological equilibria and production process economy, both of which need to be also preserved. Environmental and health safety, rational use of the natural resources and technological tools, upkeep of high social growth rates and respect of a social equity are the basis of the sustainability for any production process, including the agriculture. The new globalization framework has penalized small farms and, at the same time, has put serious constraints to the development of stronger economic systems (medium/large farms, as well. As consequence, the EU has outlined several strategic programs to support small agricultural systems in marginal areas by: 1 strengthening all the quality- related aspects of agricultural production, including nutritional and cultural traits associated to local, typical and in some cases to neglected crops; 2 improving traditional cultural practices by adapting the cropping cycles and fomenting new partnerships between the different parts of the production chain, as for example; promotion of small horticultural chains. Specific political actions for the horticultural production sector have also been developed. Some of these policies are specifically addressed to preserve the biodiversity and to create quality labels certifying typical and/or organic products. All of these are possible strategies that may counteract and cope with the globalization process and increase the competitiveness of many production systems especially those performed by local and small entrepreneurs. New sustainable development models are required by both the market and the implicit requirements of the production system, inside a context on which Europe must face with new emerging economies with lower production costs, by increasing

Sustainability in Business

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tollin, Karin; Vej, Jesper

2012-01-01

How do companies integrate sustainability into their strategy and practices, and what factors explain their approach? In this paper a typology of sustainability strategies is presented as well as a conceptual framework relating sustainability at the company level to the functional level of market...... managers' mindsets, a framework addressing sustainability from four organisational learning schools was designed and followed......How do companies integrate sustainability into their strategy and practices, and what factors explain their approach? In this paper a typology of sustainability strategies is presented as well as a conceptual framework relating sustainability at the company level to the functional level...... of marketing. The central contribution of the typology is a strategic and managerial view on sustainability. Furthermore, the typology shows that sustainability in business is enacted from different areas of competences and fields in the literature (e.g. supply chain management, corporate branding, value...

The Reality of Sustaining Community-Based Sport and Physical Activity Programs to Enhance the Development of Underserved Youth: Challenges and Potential Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Whitley, Meredith A.; Forneris, Tanya; Barker, Bryce

2015-01-01

Many community-based sport and physical activity programs take a positive youth development approach when operating in underserved communities around the world (Forneris, Whitley, & Barker, 2013). However, one of the biggest challenges for these programs is sustainability (Lindsey, 2008). The purpose of this article is to present the 3…

Nursing unit leaders' influence on the long-term sustainability of evidence-based practice improvements.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleiszer, Andrea R; Semenic, Sonia E; Ritchie, Judith A; Richer, Marie-Claire; Denis, Jean-Louis

2016-04-01

To describe how actions of nursing unit leaders influenced the long-term sustainability of a best practice guidelines (BPG) program on inpatient units. Several factors influence the initial implementation of evidence-based practice improvements in nursing, with leadership recognized as essential. However, there is limited knowledge about enduring change, including how frontline nursing leaders influence the sustainability of practice improvements over the long term. A qualitative descriptive case study included 39 in-depth interviews, observations, and document reviews. Four embedded nursing unit subcases had differing levels of program sustainability at 7 years (average) following implementation. Higher levels of BPG sustainability occurred on units where formal leadership teams used an integrated set of strategies and activities. Two key strategies were maintaining priorities and reinforcing expectations. The coordinated use of six activities (e.g., discussing, evaluating, integrating) promoted the continuation of BPG practices among staff. These leadership processes, fostering exchange and learning, contributed to sustainability-promoting environments characterized by teamwork and accountability. Unit leaders are required to strategically orchestrate several overlapping and synergistic efforts to achieve long-term sustainability of BPG-based practice improvements. As part of managing overall unit performance, unit leaders may influence practice improvement sustainability by aligning vision, strategies, and activities. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Health and sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Kjӕrgård, Bente; Land, Birgit; Bransholm Pedersen, Kirsten

2014-09-01

In the present article, we explore how sustainable development strategies and health promotion strategies can be bridged. The concept of the 'duality of structure' is taken as our starting point for understanding the linkages between health promotion and sustainable development, and for uncovering the structural properties or conditions which either enable or constrain sustainable public health initiatives. We argue that strategies towards health promotion are not sufficiently integrated with strategies for sustainable development, and thus political strategies aimed at solving health problems or sustainability problems may cause new, undesired and unforeseen environmental or health problems. First, we explore how the relation between health and sustainability is articulated in international policy documents. Next, we develop a model for understanding the relation between health promotion and sustainability. Third, we use examples from agriculture and food production to illustrate that health and sustainability are mutually enabling and constraining. We conclude that while the renewed focus on food security and food inequalities has brought the health and sustainability dimensions of the food system onto the political agenda, the conceptualization of duality between health and sustainability could be a new platform for a critical and theoretical stance towards the market-oriented food system strategy. Thinking along the lines of duality means that the integration of health promotion strategies and sustainable development strategies cannot be based on an approach to integration in which either health or sustainability is given precedence over the other. From a duality perspective, integration means conceiving sustainability from a health perspective and health from a sustainability perspective. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

An Analysis of the Recent Eurozone Recovery: is It Sustainable?

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Ivo Pezzuto

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the topic of the surprise European Economy recovery in 2017 and its possible implications. The article aims to provide a broad and comprehensive understanding of the triggering factors that have contributed to this unexpected economic revival and to the slow and uneven economic recovery in Europe after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession. The article also aims to highlight the potential downside risks related to the still unsolved structural issues that caused the debt overhang and macroeconomic imbalances in Europe in the past decade. Thus, the European Union and the Eurozone seem to be on course for a potential brighter future in the years to come but internal and external risks might still undermine the path to sustained growth, full economic recovery, and stronger integration in the region unless proper political, economic, fiscal, and monetary governance and policies are assured to make the euro area more resilient to future systemic shocks.

Evaluation of the sustainability of contrasted pig farming systems: breeding programmes.

Science.gov (United States)

Rydhmer, L; Gourdine, J L; de Greef, K; Bonneau, M

2014-12-01

The sustainability of breeding activities in 15 pig farming systems in five European countries was evaluated. One conventional and two differentiated systems per country were studied. The Conventional systems were the standard systems in their countries. The differentiated systems were of three categories: Adapted Conventional with focus on animal welfare, meat quality or environment (five systems); Traditional with local breeds in small-scale production (three systems) and Organic (two systems). Data were collected with a questionnaire from nine breeding organisations providing animals and semen to the studied farming systems and from, on average, five farmers per farming system. The sustainability assessment of breeding activities was performed in four dimensions. The first dimension described whether the market for the product was well defined, and whether the breeding goal reflected the farming system and the farmers' demands. The second dimension described recording and selection procedures, together with genetic change in traits that were important in the system. The third dimension described genetic variation, both within and between pig breeds. The fourth dimension described the management of the breeding organisation, including communication, transparency, and technical and human resources. The results show substantial differences in the sustainability of breeding activities, both between farming systems within the same category and between different categories of farming systems. The breeding activities are assessed to be more sustainable for conventional systems than for differentiated systems in three of the four dimensions. In most differentiated farming systems, breeding goals are not related to the system, as these systems use the same genetic material as conventional systems. The breeds used in Traditional farming systems are important for genetic biodiversity, but the small scale of these systems renders them vulnerable. It is hoped that, by

Collaboration and Sustainable Agri-Food Suply Chain: A Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prima Dania Wike Agustin

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Maintaining collaboration among the entire stages in the agri-food supply chain to achieve sustainability is complex. All the stakeholders involved in the activities have to prioritize their financial benefits without putting aside social development and environmental responsibilities. Some scholars have paid attention to this topic. The objective of this paper is to review current research on sustainable supply chain and collaboration model in agri-food industry. Sustainability aspects that consist of economic, environment, and social and the model of sustainable supply chain in agri-food industry are analyzed. Moreover, collaboration in sustainable agri-food supply chain management is also studied thoroughly from vertical and horizontal perspectives. The result shows that there are few studies focusing on the integrated collaboration to achieve sustainable supply chain system. Additionally, not all sustainable aspects are covered thoroughly. The scholars pays more attention to economic and environmental aspects than social aspects. Furthermore, some studies only focus on one type of collaboration in sustainable agri-food supply chain. Often, these studies do not even consider all elements in the triple bottom line.

SUSTAINABILITY IN AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS: SOCIO-ECONOMICAL INDICATORS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omar Daniel

2009-09-01

Full Text Available It is wide the discussion involving the importance of production adjustment activities in general, to the concept of sustainable development. Among the agricultural activities, the agroforestry systems have been considered sustainable, coming as alternatives to the intensive systems of agricultural production. To monitor the sustainability of agricultural activities, includings  AF,  the  literature  emphasizes  the  biophysical  indicators,  in  detriment  of  the  socio-economical ones. Seeking to define a list of socio-economical indicators that can be adapted to the several models recommendations of  AF a study was developed, supported by specialists and technicians and wide literature review. The conclusions were: the categories related  to the operation of the systems had the largest number of indicators in the socioeconômic component, with larger concentration in the endogenous operations of the system, followed by the endogenous and exogenous resources; the largest number of indicators suggested in the category operation of the system was in the descriptors health and nutrition, employment, habitation and sanity and economic analysis; in the category operation of exogenous systems, there were certain larger number of indicators for the descriptors commercialization and rural infrastructure; practically there was no difference among the number of indicators obtained for the agroforestry systems with and without the animal component.

Environmental Impact Assessment Of Tourism And Environment Sensitive Sustainable Tourism Model

OpenAIRE

Gündüz, Fuat

1999-01-01

The basis of sustainable development is formed by sustaining environmental resources and values without losing their characteristics. In addition to production processes, tourism activity is the phenomenon that spoils ecological balances. The factors that form tourism sector are natural resources and socio-cultural and historical accumulations. The sustainability of tourism sector and development depends on the protection of all types of environmental values. In order to protect environmental...

A study on the determination of the natural park's sustainable tourism potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Cetin, Mehmet; Zeren, Ilknur; Sevik, Hakan; Cakir, Cansel; Akpinar, Huseyin

2018-02-23

The surface site of Yesilyuva Nature Park encompasses natural, social, economic, and cultural characteristics and has become a marker of the region's natural and cultural heritage. To support the preservation of this site, promotional activities should be planned. In this study, because of tourism and related opinions of residents and visitors alike in terms of their natural determination, an important cultural and historical feature is aimed at evaluating the tourism potential of Yesilyuva Nature Park. This framework is designed to establish prospective tourism sustainability. As a result, Yesilyuva Nature Park's natural and cultural properties have been determined to be suitable for sustainable tourism activities using geographic information systems (GIS). This protection in the field, which balances sustainability and landscape design, will provide for the development of tourism activities. In the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis and survey, residents and visitors reported that the most important feature of the Yesilyuva Nature Park was its natural beauty. Visitors often come to observe traditional and natural life and to engage in tourism activities. All the data, which includes maps derived from GIS, represents landscape planning for sustainable tourism areas in Yesilyuva Nature Park.

Public-Private Partnerships and Sustainable Regional Innovation Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lehmann, Martin; Christensen, Per; Johnson, Bjørn

-private partnerships. The role of universities if and when actively participating in ‘life outside the ivory tower’ is addressed. These partnerships are also discussed in a regional context. With point of departure in innovation theory, we combine ‘sustainable development’ with the Regional System of Innovation...... approach to propose a new concept – Sustainable Regional Innovation System – in which regional initiatives such as Public-Private(-Academic) Partnerships play an integrated role, not least in the context of ‘learning and innovation for sustainable development’. Two cases are presented to underline...... be playing in public-private partnerships for sustainable development, and the links and benefits this may provide towards universities fulfilling their first (science) and second (education) missions. In this paper, the first part is dedicated to the discussion and clarification of the concept of public...

BAS-drive trait modulates dorsomedial striatum activity during reward response-outcome associations.

Science.gov (United States)

Costumero, Víctor; Barrós-Loscertales, Alfonso; Fuentes, Paola; Rosell-Negre, Patricia; Bustamante, Juan Carlos; Ávila, César

2016-09-01

According to the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, behavioral studies have found that individuals with stronger reward sensitivity easily detect cues of reward and establish faster associations between instrumental responses and reward. Neuroimaging studies have shown that processing anticipatory cues of reward is accompanied by stronger ventral striatum activity in individuals with stronger reward sensitivity. Even though establishing response-outcome contingencies has been consistently associated with dorsal striatum, individual differences in this process are poorly understood. Here, we aimed to study the relation between reward sensitivity and brain activity while processing response-reward contingencies. Forty-five participants completed the BIS/BAS questionnaire and performed a gambling task paradigm in which they received monetary rewards or punishments. Overall, our task replicated previous results that have related processing high reward outcomes with activation of striatum and medial frontal areas, whereas processing high punishment outcomes was associated with stronger activity in insula and middle cingulate. As expected, the individual differences in the activity of dorsomedial striatum correlated positively with BAS-Drive. Our results agree with previous studies that have related the dorsomedial striatum with instrumental performance, and suggest that the individual differences in this area may form part of the neural substrate responsible for modulating instrumental conditioning by reward sensitivity.

Sustainable feedback: students’ and tutors’ perceptions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geitz, Gerry; Joosten-ten Brinke, Desirée; Kirschner, Paul A.

2018-01-01

Feedback has been shown to substantially influence students’ learning. However, not everything characterized as feedback is effective. Sustainable feedback places students in an active role in which they generate and use feedback from peers, self or others and aims at developing lifelong learning

Towards sustainability in offshore oil and gas operations

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, M. Ibrahim

Human activities are causing irreversible damage to the natural world and threaten our ability to sustain future generations. According to Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005, sixty percent of world pristine habitats are destroyed or disturbed and species extinction rate is 100-1000 times higher than the normal background rate. One of the main reasons of these problems is the use of unsustainable technology. In this dissertation, the essential features of the modern technology development are discussed and a new single-parameter screening criterion is proposed. This criterion will allow the development of truly sustainable technologies. Previously developed technologies, particularly the ones developed after the industrial revolution, are evaluated based on the new criterion. The root cause for unsustainability of these technologies especially in the energy sector is discussed. The proposed criterion is applied to the petroleum sector. Petroleum hydrocarbons are considered to be the lifeblood of the modern society. Petroleum industry that took off from the golden era of 1930's never ceased to dominate all aspects of our society. Until now, there is no suitable alternative to fossil fuel and all trends indicate continued dominance of the petroleum industry in the foreseeable future. Even though petroleum operations have been based on solid scientific excellence and engineering marvels; only recently it has been discovered that many of the practices are not environmentally sustainable. Practically all activities of hydrocarbon operations are accompanied by undesirable discharges of liquid, solid, and gaseous wastes, which have enormous impacts on the environment. Consequently, reducing environmental impact is the most pressing issue today and many environmentalist groups are calling for curtailing petroleum operations altogether. There is clearly a need to develop a new management approach in hydrocarbon operations. This approach will have to be environmentally

A Cognitive Perspective on the Business Case for Corporate Sustainability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hockerts, Kai

2015-01-01

This paper proposes that a cognitive perspective on corporate sustainability and competitiveness might allow new insights into the question of the business case. The paper explores how respondents from 12 firms make sense of their firm's investments in corporate sustainability activities...... by analyzing the mental models evoked. The interviews showed that a business case perspective emerged as the dominant logic. A subsequent analysis of the content of the knowledge schemas that were elicited surfaced four dimensions of corporate sustainability induced competitive advantages: risk reduction......). Respondents from firms with higher perceived performance drew on more complex mental models to represent the links between corporate sustainability and competitiveness....

The role of culture in implementing the concept of sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Bakri, M.

2018-03-01

Environment degradation urges human to live in a sustaining way both for production and consumption mode. It covers any sector of human life include architecture. People are competing to implement the concept of sustainability using the latest technology while the culture has begun to be forgotten. Bearing in mind that by examining the culture related or daily activities, the sustainable development can be implemented with a solid base and fully accepted by the society. Hence, the benefit of sustainable development can be felt by the inhabitant sooner. The aim of this research is examining the local culture in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and Gozo, Maltese Islands which has sustainability concept. The local culture can be a starting point in implementing the notion of sustainability through daily basis approach. This research uses the qualitative method and collects the data through observation and literature review. The result has shown that some of the cultures in selected area have sustainability values which can be developed further in term of the implementation of sustainable development. Thus, related to the sustainable development, the practitioners can shift to the deep-rooted local value rather than apply an alien concept in society.

Assessing the Role of College as a Sustainability Communication Channel

Science.gov (United States)

Lertpratchya, Alisa P.; Besley, John C.; Zwickle, Adam; Takahashi, Bruno; Whitley, Cameron Thomas

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of higher education institution as a sustainability communication channel. The theory of planned behavior was used to examine the degree to which a student's tenure at a large university with active and visible sustainability initiatives is associated with changes in views about…

Contributing variables for sustainable livelihood status of the char women in Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Al-Amin

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of the study was to determine the contribution of variables to the sustainable livelihood status of char women. The sustainable livelihood status of a char woman was measured by computing a “sustainable livelihood status score” which is considering six major aspects of her livelihoods: food security, ability to provide family education, health and sanitation, shelter and family assets, clothing condition and social upliftment. Data were collected from 200 randomly selected char women by using interview schedule in two Upazilla of Jamalpur district in Bangladesh during November 2006 to March 2007. More than two-fifths (67.5 per cent of the char women were found under “medium sustainable livelihood status” compared to more than one-fifth (20.5 per cent of them belongs to ‘low sustainable livelihood status’ and only 12 per cent to “high sustainable livelihood status”. Pearson correlation test depicted that out of 16 variables, 13 had significant positive relationships with the sustainable livelihood status. Results of stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that five variables namely, annual income, agricultural knowledge, income generating activities, family education and organizational participation contributed significantly which combindly explained 76.3 per cent of total variation to the sustainable livelihood status. Path analysis indicated that these variables had both direct and indirect effects to the sustainable livelihood status. Women who had more annual income, better agricultural knowledge, participation in income generating activities, more family education and more organizational participation were found to better sustainable livelihood status in char area. Government or concern other authorities need to give attention to these variables for any sustainable livelihood upliftment programme.

ANDRA - National Radioactive Waste Management Agency. Annual sustainable development and activity report 2011. Management report and financial statements 2011

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

Created in 1979 within the CEA, the National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA) was established by the December 1991 Waste Act as a public body in charge of the long-term management of all radioactive waste, under the supervision of the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea (formerly the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Environment), and the Ministry of Research. Its 3 basic missions were extended and their funding secured through the 2006 Planning Act: - a R and D mission to propose safe long-term solution for radioactive waste without current disposal system; this mission includes long-term storage, since the 2006 Planning Act, in order to propose interim solutions while final ones are being studied; - an industrial mission concerning, on one hand, waste acceptance criteria and control and, on the other hand, siting, construction, operation, closure and monitoring of repositories. This mission includes as well a public service mission in terms of i) collection of waste of the 'small-scale nuclear activities' producers or owners (including the so-called 'household' radioactive waste, i.e. waste owned by private individuals) and ii) clean-up and rehabilitation of orphan polluted sites; - an information mission, notably through the regular publication of the National Inventory of radioactive materials and waste. This mission includes as well an active policy of dialogue with stakeholders both at national and local level. This document is the activity and Sustainable Development Report, with the management and financial statements report, of the Andra for the year 2011

ANDRA - National Radioactive Waste Management Agency. Annual sustainable development and activity report 2012. Management report and financial statements 2012

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

Created in 1979 within the CEA, the National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA) was established by the December 1991 Waste Act as a public body in charge of the long-term management of all radioactive waste, under the supervision of the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea (formerly the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Environment), and the Ministry of Research. Its 3 basic missions were extended and their funding secured through the 2006 Planning Act: - a R and D mission to propose safe long-term solution for radioactive waste without current disposal system; this mission includes long-term storage, since the 2006 Planning Act, in order to propose interim solutions while final ones are being studied; - an industrial mission concerning, on one hand, waste acceptance criteria and control and, on the other hand, siting, construction, operation, closure and monitoring of repositories. This mission includes as well a public service mission in terms of i) collection of waste of the 'small-scale nuclear activities' producers or owners (including the so-called 'household' radioactive waste, i.e. waste owned by private individuals) and ii) clean-up and rehabilitation of orphan polluted sites; - an information mission, notably through the regular publication of the National Inventory of radioactive materials and waste. This mission includes as well an active policy of dialogue with stakeholders both at national and local level. This document is the activity and Sustainable Development Report, with the management and financial statements report, of the Andra for the year 2012

Survey on Impact of Public push on Sustainability marketing mix and Sustainability marketing mix on Sustainability marketing success

OpenAIRE

iman mousavian; bahram kheiry; vahidreza mirabi

2014-01-01

Partaking the movement in reaching a more sustainable planet, organizations should reconsider their marketing strategies according to the social and environmental impacts. Even though, attaining sustainability would become a serious challenge for them, but there exist no other options for the third millennium. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the Impact of public push on the sustainability marketing mix, as well as the effect of sustainability marketing mix on sustainability m...

Sustainable Chemical Processes and Products. New Design Methodology and Design Tools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Korevaar, G.

2004-01-01

The current chemical industry is not sustainable, which leads to the fact that innovation of chemical processes and products is too often hazardous for society in general and the environment in particular. It really is a challenge to implement sustainability considerations in the design activities

From Sustainability-as-usual to Sustainability Excellence in Local Bioenergy Business

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heli Kasurinen

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Bioenergy business operators can significantly contribute to the sustainability of bioenergy systems. While research has addressed the maturity of corporate responsibility for sustainability, the maturity levels of bioenergy business have not been determined. The objectives of this research were to characterise the maturity levels of bioenergy corporate responsibility for sustainability and outline an approach by which companies can operate at the most mature sustainability excellence level. Literature, three workshops attended by bioenergy experts and a case study on biobutanol production in Brazil were used to develop the maturity model and approach. The results characterise the profitability, acceptability, and sustainability orientation maturity levels through sustainability questions and methods, and list the components of a systemic, holistic approach. Although the shift of business mindset from sustainability-as-usual to sustainability excellence is challenging, a systemic approach is necessary to broadly identify sustainability questions and a multitude of methods by which they can be answered.

Earthworms, pesticides and sustainable agriculture: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Datta, Shivika; Singh, Joginder; Singh, Sharanpreet; Singh, Jaswinder

2016-05-01

The aim of this review is to generate awareness and understand the importance of earthworms in sustainable agriculture and effect of pesticides on their action. The natural resources are finite and highly prone to degradation by the misuse of land and mismanagement of soil. The world is in utter need of a healthy ecosystem that provides with fertile soil, clean water, food and other natural resources. Anthropogenic activities have led to an increased contamination of land. The intensification of industrial and agricultural practices chiefly the utilization of pesticides has in almost every way made our natural resources concave. Earthworms help in a number of tasks that support many ecosystem services that favor agrosystem sustainability but are degraded by exhaustive practices such as the use of pesticides. The present review assesses the response of earthworm toward the pesticides and also evaluates the relationship between earthworm activity and plant growth. We strictly need to refresh and rethink on the policies and norms devised by us on sustainable ecology. In an equivalent way, the natural resources should be utilized and further, essential ways for betterment of present and future livelihood should be sought.

The impact of green logistics-based activities on the sustainable monetary expansion indicators of Oman

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alshubiri, Faris

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine green logistic activities by three axes (financial economic, social and environment activities) and how these activities affect on sustainable monetary expansion indicators as an evidence of Sultanate of Oman. Design/methodology/approach: This study began by definition elements of logistic green and how evolution of this concept in recent years. This concept analyzed after survey of previous studies on green logistic. The independent variables of green logistic are includes of three components of financial economic , social and environment and applies these components to clarify the impact on expansionary monetary policy indicators ( broad , narrow and reserve money ) as a important signals in determining a country's economy. This study used data published in statistical annual report of central bank of Oman as representative of country economic of sultanate of Oman from the period 2008 to 2015. Findings: The results found two variables of government support to electricity sector (GSE) and subsidy on soft loans to private sector and housing (SSLPH) based on environment activities are statistical significant 1% and 5%. Only one variable of transport and communication (TC) in financial economic activates is statistical significant at 1% and 5% , but all variables community, social and personal (CSP) , cultural and religious affairs (CRA) and social security and welfare (SSW) in social activities are statistical significant at 1% 5% and 10% , finally , also the multiple regression test run of all variables of green logistics activities and each monetary expansion indicators and found there are a statistical significant at 1% and 5%, .The study recommends that should be attention with financial economic activities as a quantitative standard contributes to build the green logistic by diagnosed the priorities and existing economic and financial system that contributes of sustainable development system in the country

The impact of green logistics-based activities on the sustainable monetary expansion indicators of Oman

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alshubiri, Faris

2017-07-01

The purpose of this study is to examine green logistic activities by three axes (financial economic, social and environment activities) and how these activities affect on sustainable monetary expansion indicators as an evidence of Sultanate of Oman. Design/methodology/approach: This study began by definition elements of logistic green and how evolution of this concept in recent years. This concept analyzed after survey of previous studies on green logistic. The independent variables of green logistic are includes of three components of financial economic , social and environment and applies these components to clarify the impact on expansionary monetary policy indicators ( broad , narrow and reserve money ) as a important signals in determining a country's economy. This study used data published in statistical annual report of central bank of Oman as representative of country economic of sultanate of Oman from the period 2008 to 2015. Findings: The results found two variables of government support to electricity sector (GSE) and subsidy on soft loans to private sector and housing (SSLPH) based on environment activities are statistical significant 1% and 5%. Only one variable of transport and communication (TC) in financial economic activates is statistical significant at 1% and 5% , but all variables community, social and personal (CSP) , cultural and religious affairs (CRA) and social security and welfare (SSW) in social activities are statistical significant at 1% 5% and 10% , finally , also the multiple regression test run of all variables of green logistics activities and each monetary expansion indicators and found there are a statistical significant at 1% and 5%, .The study recommends that should be attention with financial economic activities as a quantitative standard contributes to build the green logistic by diagnosed the priorities and existing economic and financial system that contributes of sustainable development system in the country

Y-12 Site-Sustainability Plan 2010

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sherry, T. D.; Kohlhorst, D. P.; Little, S. K.

2010-12-01

The accomplishments to date and the long-range planning of the Y-12 National Security Complex Energy Management program support the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) vision for a commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability and to achievement of the guiding principles. The site is diligently working toward establishing and prioritizing projects to reach the goals that Executive Orders 13514 and 13423 set forth. Y-12 is working to communicate its sustainment vision through procedural, engineering, operational, and management practices. The site will make informed decisions that are based on the application of the fi ve guiding principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings (HPSBs) to the maximum extent possible. Current limitations in achievement of the goals lie in the existing Future Years National Security Program funding profiles. Y-12 will continue to execute energy projects as funding becomes available or as they can be accomplished incrementally within existing funding profiles. All efforts will be made to integrate energy initiatives with ongoing site mission objectives. Figures ES.1-ES.4 show some examples of sustainability activities at the Y-12 Complex.

Role of Biocatalysis in Sustainable Chemistry.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheldon, Roger A; Woodley, John M

2018-01-24

Based on the principles and metrics of green chemistry and sustainable development, biocatalysis is both a green and sustainable technology. This is largely a result of the spectacular advances in molecular biology and biotechnology achieved in the past two decades. Protein engineering has enabled the optimization of existing enzymes and the invention of entirely new biocatalytic reactions that were previously unknown in Nature. It is now eminently feasible to develop enzymatic transformations to fit predefined parameters, resulting in processes that are truly sustainable by design. This approach has successfully been applied, for example, in the industrial synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients. In addition to the use of protein engineering, other aspects of biocatalysis engineering, such as substrate, medium, and reactor engineering, can be utilized to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness and, hence, the sustainability of biocatalytic reactions. Furthermore, immobilization of an enzyme can improve its stability and enable its reuse multiple times, resulting in better performance and commercial viability. Consequently, biocatalysis is being widely applied in the production of pharmaceuticals and some commodity chemicals. Moreover, its broader application will be further stimulated in the future by the emerging biobased economy.