Sustainable Development Decisions Research Articles

Sustainable development of biorefineries: integrated assessment method for co-production pathways

An integrated assessment method for co-production pathways can give reliable results to decision makers for sustainable development of biorefineries.

Expert assessment systems to support decision-making for sustainable development of complex technological and socio-economic facilities

In this paper, we investigate problems of decision making in management systems for the sustainable development of complex technological and socio-economic facilities. We show both the limitations of traditional expert systems and decision support systems, and the necessity of using expert evaluation technologies to find possible development strategies. Based on that we substantiate the need of creating a new class of systems, i.e. Automated eXpert Assessment Systems, and propose their organizational structure and design principles. We substantiate the level of automation of the work performed during the examinations and describe the composition of models and computer programs we recommend for creating effective automated expert assessment systems and corresponding technology. In the paper, we give examples of using the proposed method for various areas of human activity, in the management of urban infrastructure and e-learning at the universities, and show the effectiveness of the developed approach.

Environmental impact of poultry production systems on surface water: monitoring the Taquari-Antas basin, southern Brazil

ABSTRACT The research evaluated the impact of poultry farming on the quality of surface waters in a mountainous area of southern Brazil, in order to collect data and assist in the decision-making for sustainable development. The study monitored 13 spots for two years in the sub-basins with intense poultry activity. The water samples were submitted to physicochemical and microbiological analyses in order to assess the Water Quality Index (WQI). The data were analysed by principal component analysis and Pearson’s correlation. Some zones are able to receive future investments and could serve as a basis for the installation of new agricultural units. Others require greater attention from the environmental control agencies.

The Impacts of Green Innovation Input and Channel Service in a Dual-Channel Value Chain.

This paper constructs a dual-channel value chain composed of one altruistic manufacturer and one altruistic retailer, where the manufacturer makes green innovation input for green products and sells its green products to its customers through both the direct channel and the traditional channel, the retailer provides channel service for customers and sells green products through the traditional channel. We consider two scenarios in which the manufacturer and the retailer make decentralized and centralized decisions, respectively. We develop two dynamic game models for the two scenarios and analyze the dynamic behaviors of the two dynamic game models using bifurcation diagram, LLE (largest Lyapunov exponent) and attraction of basin, etc. We find that the stability region in decentralized decision model is greater than that of centralized decision, and narrow with increase of service value, green innovation input. In the decentralized decision model, the stability of the system decreases with the altruistic behavior increasing. With the price adjustment speed increasing, the dual-channel green value chain system enters into chaotic state through flip bifurcation or N-S bifurcation. In the stable state, the manufacturer and the retailer can obtain the maximum utility with the appropriate value of green innovation input. In the chaotic state, the utilities of the manufacturer and retailer are greatly affected and significantly reduced. This study will provide good guidance for sustainable development decision-making of dual-channel green value chain.

Incorporating Literature And Big Questions Into Non-Literature Courses

Location: JC Room G During the 2018 fall semester, GMU School of Business instructors found that an interdisciplinary approach through the integration of literature and business produced new insights among our students on ethical decision-making in two courses we feature in the Business Foundations Area. Specifically, we learned that these narratives enhanced student understanding of the complex ethical questions surrounding stakeholder involvement and sustainable development decisions. In Business and Society, a course designed to introduce students to the complex relationships among large US corporations and a broad range of stakeholders, we experienced good results incorporating the novel March by Congressman John Lewis. Through its depiction of the social and emotional life of a young African American living in the segregated South, this narrative provides alternative representations of the modern business enterprise and what it represented to minority Americans in terms of doctrines of prosperity and economic opportunity We incorporated a discussion and written assignment of the first of his three graphic novels in a class session we feature on the ethics of relationships between businesses and consumers. Many students were surprised from this first-person narrative of the extent of the limitations African-Americans faced as consumers and how recently these were in place in the United States. Other students gained new insights into the impact of the boycotts John Lewis and colleagues organized. In a second course, Business 200: Global Environment of Business, we introduced on a trial basis the novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid to present competing views of ethical gray areas as they pertain to sustainable development in the developing world. Previously, we had focused exclusively on the visionary tale of sustainable development in the developed world as presented in the book Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough. We found that comparing and contrasting the ethical decision-making in a developing world economy with that of a developed world exposed students to visions and values of others within the context of their own aspirations and values. In addition, we noticed that the introduction of the second book enriched the dialogue between our US-born and foreign-born students—many of whom spent childhood years in a developing-world setting—concerning what constitutes ethical decision making, what sustainable development goals can be addressed in the short term and long term, and how business leader decision-making and obligations might align and differ in the two diverse settings.

Land Use/Land Cover Mapping using Geospatial Technology for Environmental Management

The aim of the attempt was to study the Land use/Land cover attributes for environmental management planning for socio economic growth of study area. Evaluation of Land Resources in given study area by Remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies help to generate the spatial information to study the current conditions deliberate to the past conditions data and estimate the future requirements. The IRS-P6 satellite Imagery and Survey of India toposheets data, visual interpretation technique, Arc/Info and Arc View GIS software’s are used to prepare the final Land use/Land cover information. This data is useful for environment and natural resources development management. This type of land information study helps to prepare the Land and water Resources Action plans for conservation of suitable cropping patterns, and improved productivity of the study area and to provide the primary requirements of farmers, to enhance their background conditions and help to develop or enhance decision makers for sustainable development.

Analysing Stakeholder Consensus for a Sustainable Transport Development Decision by the Fuzzy AHP and Interval AHP

In any public service development decision, it is essential to reach the stakeholders’ agreement to gain a sustainable result, which is accepted by all involved groups. In case this criterion is violated, the impact of the development will be less than expected due to the resistance of one group or another. Concerning public urban transport decisions, the lack of consensus might cause lower utilisation of public vehicles, thus more severe environmental damage, traffic problems and negative economic impacts. This paper aims to introduce a decision support procedure (applying the current MCDM techniques; Fuzzy and Interval AHP) which is capable of analysing and creating consensus among different stakeholder participants in a transport development problem. The combined application of FAHP and IAHP ensures that the consensus creation is not only based on an automated computation process (just as in IAHP) but also on the consideration of specific group interests. Thus, the decision makers have the liberty to express their preferences in urban planning, along with the consideration of numerical results. The procedure has been tested in a real public transport improvement decision as a follow-up project, in an emerging city, Mersin, Turkey. Results show that by the application of the proposed techniques, decision-makers can be more aware of the conflicts of interests among the involved groups, and they can pay more attention to possible violations.

Sustainability in Building Construction – A Multilevel Approach

Sustainability in Building Construction – A Multilevel Approach

Multi-Objective and Multi-Attribute Optimization for Sustainable Development Decision Aiding

Optimization is considered as a decision-making process to get the most out of available resources for the best attainable results. Many real-world problems are multi-objective or multi-attribute problems that naturally involve several competing objectives that are required to be optimized simultaneously, while respecting some constraints or selecting among feasible discrete alternatives. In this Special Issue, 19 research papers co-authored by 88 researchers from 14 different countries explore aspects of multi-objective or multi-attribute modelling and optimization in crisp or uncertain environments by suggesting multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) and multi-objective decision-making (MODM) approaches. The papers elaborate the approaches on the state-of-the-art case studies in selected areas of applications related to sustainable development decision aiding in engineering and management, including construction, transportation, infrastructure development, production, and organization management.

Sustainable Urban Transport Development by Applying a Fuzzy-AHP Model: A Case Study from Mersin, Turkey

Sustainable development decisions generally require citizen participation in the decision process to avoid public resistance and objections in the long term. Because of the involvement of non-experts, the uncertainty of the decision is increased, and this must be considered in the decision-making process. This paper aims to introduce a sustainable urban transport development problem in which citizens are involved to allow them to express their preferences for improving certain elements of the public bus system. To mitigate the uncertainty of the non-expert evaluations, a fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model has been created and applied. Since the objective of the research is to provide a suitable framework for transport development tenders, only the criteria weights have to be determined; thus, an alternative level has not been applied. The model has been tested on the urban bus transport system of a large Turkish city: Mersin. Based on the application, citizen preference weights could be associated with certain elements of the supply quality; thus, government development source allocation decisions could be supported. The fuzzy-AHP model ensures that the final development implications will meet public demand for bus system improvement in the city.

Spatio⁻Temporal Relationship and Evolvement of Socioeconomic Factors and PM2.5 in China During 1998⁻2016.

A comprehensive understanding of the relationships between PM2.5 concentration and socioeconomic factors provides new insight into environmental management decision-making for sustainable development. In order to identify the contributions of socioeconomic development to PM2.5, their spatial interaction and temporal variation of long time series are analyzed in this paper. Unary linear regression method, Spearman’s rank and bivariate Moran’s I methods were used to investigate spatio–temporal variations and relationships of socioeconomic factors and PM2.5 concentration in 31 provinces of China during the period of 1998–2016. Spatial spillover effect of PM2.5 concentration and the impact of socioeconomic factors on PM2.5 concentration were analyzed by spatial lag model. Results demonstrated that PM2.5 concentration in most provinces of China increased rapidly along with the increase of socioeconomic factors, while PM2.5 presented a slow growth trend in Southwest China and a descending trend in Northwest China along with the increase of socioeconomic factors. Long time series analysis revealed the relationships between PM2.5 concentration and four socioeconomic factors. PM2.5 concentration was significantly positive spatial correlated with GDP per capita, industrial added value and private car ownership, while urban population density appeared a negative spatial correlation since 2006. GDP per capita and industrial added values were the most important factors to increase PM2.5, followed by private car ownership and urban population density. The findings of the study revealed spatial spillover effects of PM2.5 between different provinces, and can provide a theoretical basis for sustainable development and environmental protection.

A Regional Sustainable Intensive Land Use Evaluation Based on Ecological Constraints: A Case Study in Jinan City

Intensive development is a sign of human social progress, and moderate intensification is a continuously pursued goal. However, how to conduct a moderately intensive land use evaluation remains a challenge. To solve this problem, this research proposes the concept of sustainable intensification variable and develops a sustainable intensification variable model to determine the appropriate interval of regional intensive land use and evaluate the intensification of land use. The evaluation method of the sustainable intensification variable model is based on the principle and method of the intensification variable, and the regional sustainable development evaluation factors in the model are revised based on rational land use and ecological constraints. To verify the rationality of the model and systematically evaluate the intensification of land use in the city of Jinan, this method was tested using land use data and social economic data on Jinan from 2001, 2011, and 2015. The results show that the model has a high accuracy in judging the moderately intensive interval of regional land use and evaluating intensive land use, and has important reference value for regional sustainable development decision-making.

Understanding Rationality in Sustainable Development Decision-Making: Unfolding the Motivations for Action

In sustainable development (SD), the rationality behind decision-making is non-trivial because it deals with, among others, inter-temporal issues in complex systems. Choosing the rational thing to do and coping with the tradeoffs of short and long-term outcomes are demanding because of the uncertainty regarding future preferences and the consequences of today’s actions. If decisions are poorly made, there could be terrible consequences for humanity. One way to understand the rationality behind the SD decision-making process is to study the motivations to act. However, the motivations to engage in SD are insufficiently discussed in the literature. This paper aims to analyze those motivations in the context of rational decision-making with different time frames by making them explicit. A framework is proposed to identify motivations by systematizing the sample literature on why SD is important, what SD is, and how SD is practiced. The fear of harm from possible overshoot and collapse is proposed as the main driver for the motivations to act. Such fear shapes understandings of the inter-temporal effects of today’s decisions, suggesting the use of different types of rationalities according to the time frame considered.

Evaluation of Decision-Making for the Optimal Value of Sustainable Enterprise Development under Global 100 Index Thinking

This study seeks the best economic returns of a company’s sustainable business process, employs the Triple Bottom Line Model using the Global 100 Index as the decision variable, and follows the Geometric Brownian Motion, so as to determine the optimal timing for the input of environmental and social costs. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that when the average growth rate of the Global 100 Index is low, the optimal timing for the company’s input of environmental costs and social costs can be obtained. Analysis of the numerical example shows that, based on the financial value of the economic factor, companies should invest in environmental costs as soon as possible. This study replaces the conventional net present value model with the options evaluation model, uses the Global 100 Index as the threshold for decision-making evaluation to provide a more complete decision-making evaluation reference for enterprises, and makes up for the gap in recent research regarding investment time and decision variables. The study results introduce potential strategic value evaluations into the evaluation model of long-term uncertain sustainable operation value, which is more appropriate for the evaluation of the real sustainable operation value. It also provides implementation strategies for decision-makers to mitigate risks under uncertain environments and is the major difference and value of the Real Options Approach (ROA) to supplement Net Present Value (NPV) principles. The results of this study provide a reference for the sustainable development decision-making of corporate sustainability and feasibility and offer an important link in the value chain of food industry operations and management.

Small Things Matter: The Value of Rapid Biodiversity Surveys to Understanding Local Bird Diversity Patterns in Southcentral Mindanao, Philippines

Rapid assessment biodiversity surveys are usually employed when resources or time is limited. In terrestrial ecosystems, birds are important ecological indicators of ecosystem health. Our study used rapid inventories to show that species differ across habitat types; species richness and rarity were higher in pristine habitats (native and restored areas) while nonprotected habitats (e.g., plantations and orchards) mainly had common and nonendemic species. Our findings demonstrate the importance of collective local biodiversity studies in elucidating species diversity patterns, though is equally important to bolster regional conservation prioritization. We hope that our findings will benefit future decision-making for sustainable development and conservation planning.

Sustainable Urban Transport Planning Considering Different Stakeholder Groups by an Interval-AHP Decision Support Model

Sustainable urban transport requires smart and environmentally-friendly technical solutions. It also needs to meet the demands of different user groups, including current and potential future users, in order to avoid opposition of the citizens and to support sustainable development decisions. While these requirements are well-known, conducting full surveys of user needs and preferences are tedious and costly, and the interests of different user groups may be contradictory. We therefore developed a methodology based on the prevalent Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is capable of dealing with the inconsistencies and uncertainties of users’ responses by applying an Interval Analytic Hierarchy Process (IAHP) through comparing the results of passengers to reference stakeholder groups. For a case study in Mersin, a coastal city in southern Turkey with 1.7 Million inhabitants, three groups were surveyed with questionnaires: 40 users of the public transport system, 40 non-users, and 17 experts. Based on interval pairwise comparison matrices, consisting of whole judgments of all groups, the IAHP methodology could attain a consensual preference ranking for a future public transportation system between the three groups. A sensitivity analysis revealed that the factor ranking was very stable.

Understanding bike sharing travel patterns: An analysis of trip data from eight cities

As a new mobility option, bike sharing is gaining popularity around the world. Understanding the travel patterns of bike sharing trips can provide fundamental basis for researchers to model the use of bike sharing and the associated multi-modal transportation systems, inform bike sharing system design and operation, and guide policy decisions for sustainable transportation development. Using bike sharing trip data from eight cities in the United States, we analyzed the distributions of trip distance and trip duration for bike sharing trips for commuting and touristic purposes. Our results show that both the trip distance and duration follows a lognormal distribution in larger bike sharing systems (e.g., in Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, and New York), while the distribution for smaller systems varies among Weibull, gamma, and lognormal because the systems’ geographical boundary restricts the movement of users. Our analysis of the long trips also show that the trip distance and duration also displays a power law decay in the larger systems.

Economics and Environmental Change: The Challenges We Face, by Clement A.Tisdell. Published by Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2017, pp. 256, ISBN: 978‐1782549628, AU$175.00 (Hardcover).

Economics and Environmental Change: The Challenges We Face, by Clement A.Tisdell. Published by Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2017, pp. 256, ISBN: 978‐1782549628, AU$175.00 (Hardcover).

Mapping Surficial Materials in Nunavut using RADARSAT-2 C-HH and C-HV, Landsat-8 OLI, DEM and Slope Data

The Canadian Arctic is currently subject to increased mapping activities for providing better knowledge to assist in making informed decisions for sustainable development. Surficial material maps are one of the required maps. For an area located in Nunavut, we produced a map with 21 surficial material classes by applying a non-parametric classifier, Random Forests (RF), to a combination of RADARSAT-2 C-HH and C-HV with Landsat-8 OLI, digital elevation model, and slope data. We also tested the All-polygon and Sub-polygon scripts of RF. Validation accuracies were determined by comparing the resulting maps to more than 1000 field sites. By adding RADARSAT-2 dual-polarized images, the classification overall accuracy increases from 90.6% to 96.4% with the Sub-polygon script and from 92.8% to 98.1% with the All-polygon script. The overall validation accuracy increases from 76.3% to 88.9% with the Sub-polygon script and from 76.4% to 93.3% with the All-polygon script. With the All-polygon script, the validation accuracies are above 85% for all classes, except the user’s accuracy of gravelly till (76.7%) and the producer’s accuracy of sand and gravel with vegetation (70%), both classes being confused with thin till over bedrock.

Supply chain strategy decisions for sustainable development using an integrated multi‐criteria decision‐making approach

AbstractThe evaluation and selection of strategies for sustainable development in manufacturing supply chains are critical tasks for the decision‐maker because of the complexity involving various criteria. This paper deals with the prioritization of critical sustainability criteria and the sustainability strategy selection (SSS) using an integrated weighting approach. This approach consists of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the subjective and objective weight integrated approach (SOWIA) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) and is found to be effective for solving this multi‐criteria decision‐making problem. The proposed methodology is applied to solve a real‐time supply chain decision‐making issue of an Indian manufacturing industry. From a sustainability perspective, the results indicate the second strategy set as the best among the given alternatives, with an objective factor of 0.5. The robustness of the results has been analysed to identify the uncertainty in the final ranking. The consistency of the final ranking has been evaluated based on different objective factor values. The novelty of this paper pertains to addressing the most relevant SSS problem involved in a manufacturing supply chain and in establishing a hybrid approach for solving it. This approach offers a flexible provision for decision‐makers to incorporate the appropriate level of subjectivity and objectivity into their decisions based on their degree of expertise. This study is unique and carries a high originality value, as it offers a new structured and flexible approach to solving the SSS problem.