The vulnerability of atoll countries to sea level rise underscores the pivotal connection between climate change and migration. This study examines the multifaceted challenges faced by such countries, including land loss, economic disruption, water contamination, and increased vulnerability to extreme weather events, and potential adaptation strategies, such as migration to developed countries and other islands, land reclamation, and floating platform development. The situation of the Maldives, particularly the creation of the artificial island of Hulhumalé, is explored as a case study. Hulhumalé is designed to alleviate congestion while addressing concerns about rising sea levels. This study employed a questionnaire survey and analyzed the data using importance analysis of permutation features and structural equation modeling following the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney tests. The results revealed that the key factors influencing resident satisfaction after migration were clean housing, resilience to natural disasters, sports facilities, and environmental quality. Adaptation strategies must be tailored to each country’s unique circumstances, considering the interconnectedness of environmental and socioeconomic factors in addressing climate-induced migration. Considering Hulhumalé as a model for climate change adaptation, concerted global action is necessary to mitigate the impacts of climate change and ensure the security and well-being of vulnerable populations.

Cultivated land intensive utilization (CLIU) exhibits spatial heterogeneity that is influenced by both natural and anthropogenic factors, with land dissected into different scale systems; however, CLIU has not yet been systematically explored. This study takes the Beibu Gulf urban agglomeration, a national-level model area for integrated land and sea development in China, as an example to investigate the spatial heterogeneity of CLIU and explore its driving factors through multiple econometrical and geographical methods, including identifying its underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that (1) the CLIU index is 0.334, its Gini coefficient is 0.183, and its comprehensive level has a low intensity and obvious spatial nonequilibrium characteristics. Hypervariable density (50.33%) and the intraprovincial gap (45.6%) are the main sources. (2) Among the independent effects of single factors, the multiple cropping index (0.57), labor force index (0.489), and intensification of construction land (0.375) exert the most influence on CLIU spatial variation. The interaction effects of two factors primarily manifested as nonlinear enhancements, with the interaction between the labor force index and multiple cropping index being particularly noteworthy (0.859). (3) The geographically weighted regression coefficients reveal that temperature (0.332), multiple cropping index (0.211), and labor force index (0.209) have relatively large and positive impacts on CLIU, while slope (−0.1), precipitation (−0.087), and population urbanization (−0.039) have relatively small and negative impacts; all factors exhibit spatial nonstationarity. The spatial heterogeneity of CLIU in the Beibu Gulf urban agglomeration is characterized by patterns’ nonequilibrium and factors’ nonstationarity. The driving mode of multiple factors on CLIU is manifested as follows: natural factors of cropland utilization provide basic guarantees, internal factors of CLIU provide positive enhancement, and external factors of land intensive utilization provide auxiliary promotion.

Rural revitalization is an indispensable part of sustainable economic development in China. This paper proposes a new index to capture and assess rural revitalization (RR) in terms of five dimensions, namely, thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity. Using spatial and cluster analyses on annual data of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities of China from 2010 to 2020, we find that: (1) China’s RR is growing year by year during the sample period, yet the overall level of RR is still low, with a national average of merely 0.47 in 2020, and that of the top province Jiangsu only 0.64; (2) The spatial distribution of RR in eastern provinces show high and high (HH) agglomeration, while that in northeastern and western provinces exhibit low and low (LL) agglomeration; and (3) The development level of RR is highly heterogeneous, suggesting that development disparities exist, and deserve the government’s attention. The study suggests some strategies for improving RR in China. In particular, the study sheds light on how to promote RR effectively for local governments to achieve sustainable economic development.

Few studies have investigated sustainable management in the semiconductor industry. Consequently, this study analyzed the characteristics of companies excelling in sustainable management in the semiconductor industry using chief executive officer messages. It compared high- and low-performing groups to identify leading sustainable firms. Centrality analysis was conducted to extract keywords, which were mapped to the sustainability criteria to conduct network analysis. The results showed that the high-performing group emphasized sustainable development across the semiconductor industry ecosystem, while the low-performing group focused on internal sustainability aspects. This underscores the need for effective sustainable development in the semiconductor industry that extends beyond individual company efforts and embraces industry solidarity. Thus, this study presents a methodology that can be applied to similar studies in industries beyond semiconductors.

The response surface regression model of plant-growing ecological concrete is established based on the factors of the water–binder ratio, fly ash content, and design porosity, with 28-day compressive strength, connectivity porosity, and pH value as response variables. Based on optimizing the mix proportion with the regression model, different dosages of acetic acid are used as excitation agents to increase the compressive strength and reduce the alkalinity of plant-growing ecological concrete to enhance its service life and vegetation performance. The results show that the compressive strength of plant-growing ecological concrete with a water–binder ratio of 0.3, a fly ash content of 26%, and a design porosity of 22% was 10.32 MPa, the connectivity porosity was 20.00%, and the pH value was 11. After the addition of acetic acid at 0.4% of the mass of the cementitious material, the compressive strength increased by 40.29%, and the pH value decreased by 6.33%. This study proposes a cost-effective means and provides data support for the engineering application of plant-growing ecological concrete.

With the ever-increasing threat of climate change and global warming, ways to make energy intensive buildings, such as cold storage warehouses essential for food preservation, more sustainable need to be found. Some refrigerated warehouse owners may be unaware or unsure of the benefits obtainable from implementing sustainable practices and technologies. To search for innovations that could inform the owners and managers of cold storage warehouses about how to enhance their sustainability, convergent interviewing of subject matter experts was conducted. The resulting practices and processes were organized into a hierarchy that ranged from essential to best practices that can be implemented to improve the sustainability of refrigerated warehouses. Examples of these practices and technologies include ideal refrigeration systems, racking methods, and insulation types. To encourage the use of sustainable practices and technologies, more reporting on successful or unsuccessful applications of practices and technologies needs to be communicated. Applying change diagnostic tools such as convergent interviewing enables a practical and industry focused set of outcomes to be determined that can help drive change towards more sustainable cold storage warehouses in Australia.

Water is one of the most precious resources and is essential to agricultural output; the biggest user of water is the agricultural sector. Several societal sectors are impacted by the problem of climate change, including agriculture, water resources, and irrigation water demand. A key element in determining sustainable crop production potential is choosing the right cultivars at the right time of year to plant. The dates on which maize is sown are greatly impacted by high summer temperatures and low spring temperatures. Water stress and the timing of sowing can have a significant impact on maize crop yield and water use efficiency. As a result, figuring out the ideal irrigation volume and sowing dates depending on local conditions is essential. A split plot layout was used to create a randomized complete block design for an experiment with five sowing dates (A, B, C, D, and E) and six hybrids (KWS3376, Xinyu 65, KWS9384, Huamei No. 1, Xinyu 102, and Heyu 187). All sowing dates and hybrids had a significant impact on the yield and yield-contributing features (leaf length, ear diameter, grain number per spike, grain breadth, hundred-grain weight, etc.) of maize crops according to the data analysis. A higher grain yield with yield features, such as ear length, number of grains per ear, and hundred-grain weight, was obtained with early-season sowing. Delayed seeding resulted in a lower crop yield. The seasonally delayed seeding of maize reduces yield and yield characteristics. Xinyu 65 produced the highest yield and yield component values of any hybrid. For improved yield and yield traits in the examined area, the study recommended planting maize hybrid Xinyu 65 early in the growing season.

A circular economy is defined as a socially responsible, policy-driven model of business or enterprise operations that contributes to more sustainable society for both current and future generations. Although the implementation of circularity principles in the economy is a long process, the impact it creates on sustainability is long-term, and its benefits will be felt by all future generations. Therefore, the development of circularity in the European Union’s economy must progress, and more and more organizations should implement it as a good practice. The object of the article is the cooperation of civil sector outsourced services and the country’s military forces in the field of reverse logistics. Using a qualitative research methodology, the article demonstrates the potential for the country’s military forces to support the European Union’s circular economy initiative in the context of sustainability. This includes reducing the consumption of natural resources by increasing the value of the closed-loop supply chain and keeping products suitable for consumption as long as possible. Considering the fact that there is limited information dissemination within the military sector, this research presents one of the few opportunities to examine the integration of civilian and military sector efforts for sustainable development from a practical and scientific perspective. The conducted research demonstrates that the closed-loop supply chain and the military’s reverse logistics processes take place but are not fully integrated into one whole. They lack a unified whole directed towards a common goal when reverse logistics activities are correlated to closed-loop supply chain and national circular economy goals, as well as ensuring sustainability. Outsourced services are available and used in the military, in many cases even for reverse logistics activities (repair, storage, transportation, modernization, etc.). This research made it possible to prepare a conceptual model for the organization of the military’s reverse logistics using outsourced services, thereby ensuring the creation of a sustainable supply chain.

The presence of students with disabilities in Higher Education (HE) is increasing. However, the permanence and success of these students at university is not granted. In this study, the voices of 119 faculty members from 10 Spanish universities who had been identified by their students with disabilities as inclusive were heard. For this purpose, a qualitative methodology was chosen, using the semi-structured individual interview as the instrument for data gathering. Two interviews were conducted with each participant to analyse the main areas of inclusive pedagogy (beliefs, knowledge, designs and actions). The results show the participants’ conceptions of disability, as well as their main motivations for carrying out inclusive pedagogy, such as their professional vocation and their previous experiences with people with disabilities. The article ends with a series of conclusions that outline the profile of an inclusive faculty member. This information can help universities to improve their faculty training programs to obtain a more inclusive teaching staff, which can be translated into more sustainable and inclusive university systems.

The rapid emergence of e-commerce in Vietnam has resulted in significant pressure on freight traffic and the environment, particularly in urban areas. Automated delivery stations (ADSs), also known as smart lockers or parcel lockers, offer a promising solution to improve the sustainability of last-mile delivery systems. However, the adoption of such a sustainable alternative by Vietnamese customers is inadequately understudied. This study primarily aims to investigate factors impacting Vietnamese customers’ acceptance of these automated delivery points. Utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM), a survey following convenience sampling was carried out in Vietnam to assess recent experiences at automated delivery stations. The results showed that innovativeness and location convenience positively influenced consumer intention to use ADS, while perceived time pressure had no impact on consumer intention to use automatic delivery systems. This study provides valuable insights to e-commerce companies to customize their services to match customer preferences, which will optimize last-mile delivery options and thereby promote sustainable practices.