Sustainable Capacity Research Articles

COMMUNITY, GOVERNMENT, AND MEDIA PARTNERSHIP PARTICIPATION (TRIPLE HELIX) IN INCREASING THE EXISTENCE OF CITIIS GALUNGGUNG TOURISM

This research aims to increase the partnership participation of local communities, local government, and media (triple helix) in increasing the existence of Citiis Galunggung tourism. The method used in this research is a case study research method with a qualitative approach. Data collection techniques were carried out through interviews with three-helix actors, and focus group discussions (FGD) regarding partnership participation between the community, government, and media to increase the existence of Citiis Galunggung tourism. The research results show that there are three patterns of partnership participation carried out by the community, government, and media (triple helix) which are running optimally, however, we found the need for a more structured sustainable support capacity from these three helix actors so that the existence of Citiis Galunggung tourism can be maximized.

Aligning the Global Delta Risk Index with SDG and SFDRR global frameworks to assess risk to socio-ecological systems in river deltas

River deltas globally are highly exposed and vulnerable to natural hazards and are often over-exploited landforms. The Global Delta Risk Index (GDRI) was developed to assess multi-hazard risk in river deltas and support decision-making in risk reduction interventions in delta regions. Disasters have significant impacts on the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, despite the strong interlinkage between disaster risk reduction and sustainable development, global frameworks are still developed in isolation and actions to address them are delegated to different institutions. Greater alignment between frameworks would both simplify monitoring progress towards disaster risk reduction and sustainable development and increase capacity to address data gaps in relation to indicator-based assessments for both processes. This research aims at aligning the GDRI indicators with the SDGs and the Sendai Framework for Disaster and Risk Reduction (SFDRR). While the GDRI has a modular indicator library, the most relevant indicators for this research were selected through a delta-specific impact chain designed in consultation with experts, communities and stakeholders in three delta regions: the Red River and Mekong deltas in Vietnam and the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) delta in Bangladesh and India. We analyse how effectively the 143 indicators for the GDRI match (or not) the SDG and SFDRR global frameworks. We demonstrate the interconnections of the different drivers of risk to better inform risk management and in turn support delta-level interventions towards improved sustainability and resilience of these Asian mega-deltas.

Using the Sustainable Development Capacity of Key Counties to Guide Rural Revitalization in China.

Counties are the basic unit for addressing unbalanced development in a region, revitalizing rural areas, and promoting the integrated development of urban and rural areas. Despite the importance of county-level research, few studies have been conducted research at such a small scale. To address this gap in knowledge, this study constructs an evaluation system to measure the county sustainable development capacity (CSDC) of counties in China, identify constraints to development, and provide policy suggestions to promote the counties' long-term stable development. Specifically, the CSDC indicator system was based on the regional theory of sustainable development and included economic aggregation capacity, social development capacity, and environmental carrying capacity. This framework was applied to 103 key counties to receive assistance in pursuing rural revitalization in 10 provinces in western China. The AHP-Entropy Weighting Method and TOPSIS model were employed to inform the scores of CSDC and its secondary indicators, and ArcGIS 10.8 was used to portray the spatial distribution of CSDC and to classify these key counties into categories that guided specific policy recommendations. The results demonstrate a high degree of unbalanced and inadequate development in these counties and that rural revitalization efforts can be targeted to increase the speed of development. It is crucial to follow the recommendations that conclude this paper to promote sustainable development in areas that have been lifted out of poverty and to revive rural areas.

System Dynamics Theory Applied to Differentiated Levels of City–Industry Integration in China

The development of city–industry integration is crucial for modern cities and is a core element of city competitiveness enhancement and sustainable development. This study considers system dynamics theory to examine city–industry integration and constructs an index system to measure the degree of integration. For this purpose, 31 regions in China (including provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government) are considered as research samples. Objective evaluation methods such as factor analysis and entropy methods are applied to evaluate the target value. The research results reveal a wide gap in the levels of city–industry integration in various regions of China. Furthermore, the Middle East outperforms the Western and Northeastern regions. Accordingly, the advantages of the Central and Eastern regions should be combined, and a leading and radiation-driven role should be played. Moreover, capital investment in the Western and Northeastern regions should be increased, and emphasis should be placed on local characteristics. Moreover, urban economic development, industrial transformation, and industrial upgrading should be promoted, and the sustainable development capacity of cities should be enhanced.

Sustainability evaluations on material consumption for terawatt‐scale manufacturing of silicon‐based tandem solar cells

AbstractHigh‐efficiency silicon‐based tandem solar cells will likely drive the push towards terawatt (TW) scale PV manufacturing on the pathway to net zero emissions by 2050. In this work, we provide a comprehensive analysis of material consumption and sustainability issues for future tandem solar cells. First, we analyse the material consumption and sustainable manufacturing capacity of a variety of potential candidates for the top cell in a silicon‐based tandem cell. We show that III‐V, CIGS and CdTe are not suitable to support TW‐scale manufacturing. Perovskites thus present the most sustainable approach, as long as indium is not required in the cell structure. Next, we turn our attention to the silicon bottom cell architecture by comparing PERC, TOPCon and SHJ. Although tandem cells can generally reduce silver consumption relative to single junction silicon cells due to the more favourable JMP/VMP ratio, the PERC cell architecture could allow for significantly reduced Ag consumption compared with both TOPCon and SHJ by relying on Al for the rear p‐type contact. In order to drive a rapid shift towards TW‐scale manufacturing, a rapid upscaling compared with the current production capacity is needed. The results presented herein highlight the need for careful consideration of sustainability issues when designing future high‐efficiency tandem cells that will help the world mitigate the dangers of climate change.

Long-Term Water Management Model for Preserving Sustainable Useful Capacity of Reservoirs

In this study, we present a long-term water management model which can be an important tool for the ordinary management of a reservoir. The model can be made simple and applicable in a graphic form. The key point of the model is that the sedimentation rate of solids can be modeled according to a power law. The basic equation of the model is tested using bathymetric surveys of different dams located in different parts of the world. Robustness and predictive power are evaluated both numerically and by comparison with satellite results. Then the model is transformed into the form of a management plot and applied to the real case of the Camastra dam.

Accuracy analysis of farmer behaviour based on big data and efficient video transmission: A convolutional neural network approach

AbstractThe behaviour analysis of farmers is very important to gradually improve the sustainable production capacity of the land and promote the economics reasonable increasement. How to effectively extract video features and identify human behaviour is a current research hotspot. In this paper, the authors propose a convolutional neural network model based on the deformable convolution including a residual module and an attention module. The model fuses and encodes video spatial features on the time axis and extracts semantic information. The authors combine the attention mechanism to extract local and global features in the video, which are used to calculate spatial features and micro‐motion features, respectively. Temporal attention mechanism fuses each micro‐motion feature of video to extract higher‐level semantic features of motion. Next, the authors describe their proposed model based on deep learning. First, the authors introduce a video frame sampling method based on the TRN algorithm. Second, they design a feature extraction and fusion model based on the ResNet model and the attention mechanism that extract local and global features in videos. Finally, the authors classify and identify the extracted video features through the classifier. The authors’ approach shows comparable performance on publicly available datasets.

Student achievement trajectories in Ontario: Creating and validating a province-wide, multi-cohort and longitudinal database.

Longitudinal data that tracks student achievement over many years are crucial for understanding children's learning and for guiding effective policies and interventions. Despite being Canada's most populous province, Ontario lacks such large-scale and longitudinal data on student learning. Linking datasets across cohorts requires rigorous linkage protocols, flexible handling of complex cohort structures, methods to validate linked datasets, and viable organizational partnerships. We linked administrative data on early child development and educational achievement and merged two datasets on characteristics of students' neighborhoods and schools. We developed a linkage protocol and validated how the resulting database could be generalized to Ontario's student population. Two main individual-level data sources were linked: 1) the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a school readiness assessment of all Ontario public school kindergartners that is administered in three-year cycles, and 2) Ontario's Educational Quality and Assessment Office's (EQAO) math and reading assessments in grades 3, 6, 9, and 10. To compensate for their lack of a common personal identification number, a deterministic linkage process was developed using several administrative variables. A school-level and a neighborhood-level dataset were also later linked. We examined differences between unlinked and linked cases across several variables. We successfully linked 50% of the EDI's 374,239 cases, 86,778 of which contained all five datapoints, creating a database tracking achievement for multiple cohorts from kindergarten through grade 10, with covariates for their development, demographics, affect, neighborhoods, and schools. Analyses revealed only negligible differences between linked and unlinked cases across several demographic measures, while small differences were detected across a neighborhood socioeconomic index and some measures of child development. In conclusion, we recommend the filling of key voids in sustainable research capacity by creating representative data through linkage protocols and data verification.

A hydro-environmental optimization for assessing sustainable carrying capacity

The present study proposes an applicable method to determine the population carrying capacity of urban areas in which ecological impacts of river ecosystem as the source of water supply and sustainable population growth are linked. A multiobejctive optimization method was developed in which two objectives were considered: 1) minimizing the fish population loss as the environmental index of the river ecosystem and 2) minimizing the difference between initial population carrying capacity and the sustainable population carrying capacity. The ecological impacts of the river ecosystem were assessed through the potential fish population as an environmental index using several artificial intelligence and regression models. Based on case study results, the initial plan of development is not reliable because ecological impacts on the river ecosystem are remarkable. The proposed method is able to reduce the ecological impacts. However, the sustainable population carrying capacity is considerably lower than the initial planned population. It is needed to reduce the planned population more than 45% in the case study. Habitat loss is less than 35% which means the optimization model is able to find an optimal solution for balancing environmental requirements and humans’ needs. In other words, the optimization model balances the needs of environment and water supply by reducing 45% of population and decreasing habitat loss to 35%.

Spatial Vitality Evaluation and Coupling Regulation Mechanism of a Complex Ecosystem in Lixiahe Plain Based on Multi-Source Data

[Purpose] With the acceleration of China’s urbanization process and the construction of the metropolitan area, the polarization phenomenon (Matthew effect) between cities and cities, cities and villages, and villages and villages has become increasingly prominent, and the relationship between urban and rural construction elements such as economy, society, nature, and population has become increasingly complex. However, due to the huge differences between cities and villages, it is difficult to use a unified “measuring ruler” to compare them horizontally and vertically in the space–time dimension. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate and measure the spatial vitality of each administrative unit in the region from the perspective of urban development, that is, the sustainable development capacity of space. [Method] Taking Lixiahe Plain as the research object, based on the multi-source data such as POI, night-time light, and land use/cover, on the one hand, the spatial vitality evaluation system of the complex ecosystem is constructed, and the vitality levels and types of different township units are divided. On the other hand, the coupling degree model, coupling degree coordination degree model, spatial correlation analysis, and exploratory space–time data analysis are used to analyze the complex relationship and dynamic evolution characteristics of interaction stress among the spatial vitality of township units. [Conclusion] (1) The spatial vitality status is generally good, but there are great differences among regions, and the trend of fluctuant declines from west to east, and the spatial vitality type is a mainly vigorous type and development type. (2) There is a strong spatial dependence among the subsystems of the township units in the region. The spatial structure of the township units in the central area is more dynamic, while the spatial structure of the surrounding towns is more stable. (3) The 136 township units are divided into 4 different types of villages and towns, namely, coordinated evolution type, maladjustment evolution type, overall invariant type, and stable invariant type, which is conducive to putting forward their own development strategies.

Critical barriers to sustainable capacity strengthening in global health: a systems perspective on development assistance.

Background: Development assistance for health (DAH) is an important mechanism for funding and technical support to low-income countries. Despite increased DAH spending, intractable health challenges remain. Recent decades have seen numerous efforts to reform DAH models, yet pernicious challenges persist amidst structural complexities and a growing number of actors. Systems-based approaches are promising for understanding these types of complex adaptive systems. This paper presents a systems-based understanding of DAH, including barriers to achieving sustainable and effective country-driven models for technical assistance and capacity strengthening to achieve better outcomes Methods: We applied an innovative systems-based approach to explore and map how donor structures, processes, and norms pose challenges to improving development assistance models. The system mapping was carried out through an iterative co-creation process including a series of discussions and workshops with diverse stakeholders across 13 countries. Results: Nine systemic challenges emerged: 1) reliance on external implementing partners undermines national capacity; 2) prioritizing global initiatives undercuts local programming; 3) inadequate contextualization hampers program sustainability; 4) decision-maker blind spots inhibit capacity to address inequities; 5) power asymmetries undermine local decision making; 6) donor funding structures pose limitations downstream; 7) program fragmentation impedes long-term country planning; 8) reliance on incomplete data perpetuates inequities; and 9) overemphasis on donor-prioritized data perpetuates fragmentation. Conclusions: These interconnected challenges illustrate interdependencies and feedback loops manifesting throughout the system. A particular driving force across these system barriers is the influence of power asymmetries between actors. The articulation of these challenges can help stakeholders overcome biases about the efficacy of the system and their role in perpetuating the issues. These findings indicate that change is needed not only in how we design and implement global health programs, but in how system actors interact. This requires co-creating solutions that shift the structures, norms, and mindsets governing DAH models.

Remote Global Radiation Oncology Education and Training: A Pathway to Increase Access to High-Quality Radiation Therapy Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

There is a vital need to train radiation therapy professionals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to develop sustainable cancer treatment capacity and infrastructure. LMICs have started to introduce intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), which is the standard of care in high-income countries, because of improved outcomes and reduced toxicities. This work reports the efficacy of a complementary asynchronous plus synchronous virtual-training approach on improving radiation therapy professions' self-confidence levels and evaluating participants' attitudes toward asynchronous and synchronous didactic hands-on learning in 3 LMICs. Training was provided to 37 participants from Uganda, Guatemala, and Mongolia, which included 4 theoretical lectures, 4 hands-on sessions, and 8 self-guided online videos. The 36-day training focused on IMRT contouring, site-specific target/organ definition, planning/optimization, and quality assurance. Participants completed pre- and postsession confidence surveys on a 0 to 10 scale, which was converted to a 5-point Likert rating scale to evaluate the training outcomes. The pros and cons of the 3 different training formats were compared. The participants included 15 (40.5%) radiation oncologists, 11 (29.7%) medical physicists, 6 (16.2%) radiation therapists, and 5 (13.5%) dosimetrists. Approximately 50% had more than 10 years of radiation therapy experience, 70.8% had no formal IMRT training, and only 25% had IMRT at their institutions. The average experience and confidence levels in using IMRT at baseline were 3.2 and 2.9, which increased to 5.2 and 4.9 (P < .001) after the theoretical training. After the hands-on training, the experience and confidence levels further improved to 5.4 and 5.5 (P < .001). After the self-guided training, the confidence levels increased further to 6.9 (P < .01). Among the 3 different training sessions, hands-on trainings (58.3%) were most helpful for the development of participants' IMRT skills, followed by theoretical sessions with 25%. After completing the training sessions, Uganda and Mongolia started IMRT treatments. Remote training provides an excellent and feasible e-learning platform to train radiation therapy professionals in LMICs. The training program improved the IMRT confidence levels and treatment delivery. The hands-on trainings were most preferred.

Land Administration As-A-Service: Relevance, Applications, and Models

The ‘as-a-Service’ (aaS) concept of the IT sector is suggested to reduce upfront and ongoing costs, enable easier scaling, and make for simpler system upgrades. The concept is explored in relation to the domain of land administration, with a view to examining its relevance, application, and potential adaptation. Specifically, these aspects are analysed against the long-standing problem of land administration system maintenance. Two discrete literature reviews, a comparative analysis, and final modelling work constitute the research design. Of the 35 underlying land administration maintenance issues identified, aaS is found to directly respond to 15, indirectly support another 15, and provide no immediate benefit to 5. Most prominent are the ability of aaS to support issues relating to financial sustainability, continuous innovation, and human capacity provision. The approach is found to be already in use in various country contexts. It is articulated by the UNECE as one of four scenarios for future land administration development. In terms of adaptation, the 4-tier framework from Enterprise Architecture—consisting of Business, Application, Information, and Technology layers—is used to model and describe five specific aaS approaches: (i) On Premises; (ii) Basic Outsourcing; (iii) Public Private Partnership; (iv) Fully Privatised; and (v) Subscription. Several are more theoretical in nature but may see future adoption. Each requires further development, including case analyses, to support more detailed definitions of the required underlying legal frameworks, financial models, partnerships arrangements, data responsibilities, and so on. Decisions on the appropriate aaS model, and the application of aaS more generally, are entirely dependent on the specific country context. Overall, this work provides a platform for land administration researchers and practitioners to analyse the relevance and implementation options of the aaS concept.

Factors Affecting the Successful Implementation of a Digital Intervention for Health Financing in a Low-Resource Setting at Scale: Semistructured Interview Study With Health Care Workers and Management Staff.

Digital interventions for health financing, if implemented at scale, have the potential to improve health system performance by reducing transaction costs and improving data-driven decision-making. However, many interventions never reach sustainability, and evidence on success factors for scale is scarce. The Insurance Management Information System (IMIS) is a digital intervention for health financing, designed to manage an insurance scheme and already implemented on a national scale in Tanzania. A previous study found that the IMIS claim function was poorly adopted by health care workers (HCWs), questioning its potential to enable strategic purchasing and succeed at scale. This study aimed to understand why the adoption of the IMIS claim function by HCWs remained low in Tanzania and to assess implications for use at scale. We conducted 21 semistructured interviews with HCWs and management staff in 4 districts where IMIS was first implemented. We sampled respondents by using a maximum variation strategy. We used the framework method for data analysis, applying a combination of inductive and deductive coding to organize codes in a socioecological model. Finally, we related emerging themes to a framework for digital health interventions for scale. Respondents appreciated IMIS's intrinsic software characteristics and technical factors and acknowledged IMIS as a valuable tool to simplify claim management. Human factors, extrinsic ecosystem, and health care ecosystem were considered as barriers to widespread adoption. Digital interventions for health financing, such as IMIS, may have the potential for scale if careful consideration is given to the environment in which they are placed. Without a sustainable health financing environment, sufficient infrastructure, and human capacity, they cannot unfold their full potential to improve health financing functions and ultimately contribute to universal health coverage.

The Transition of Co-management Practices in a Marine Protected Area: A View from the Bajau Seafaring Nomadic Community in Indonesia

Customary communities with nature-based livelihoods have ways of knowing and living with their environment that they are best situated to manage. One example of such a group that lives in coastal and small island areas is the semi-nomadic Bajau people. At present, most of them have been sedentary in coastal areas and several Marine Protected Areas (MPA) such as Wakatobi National Park (WNP). They are rarely incorporated into the MPA management system. This research aims to investigate the transitional pattern of co-management in MPA from the view of the Bajau as a maritime-oriented people. This ethnographic study was carried out in five Bajau villages in WNP, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Interviews and participatory mapping were employed as research methods among related stakeholders to explore the many perspectives on these issues. WNP is starting to put the concept of co-management into practice, yet they face several challenges. However, Bajau communities there face cultural degradation and institutional complexities in inter- and intragroup relations, especially in promoting coastal and marine management. The documented pillars of the Bajau community indicate socio-ecological constraints on their involvement in the co-management transition of WNP. Administration, governance, sustainable resource management, capacity building, locality, and other issues can be addressed via a participatory model, but there will be difficulties to resolve on many levels for this model to prove optimally effective. To justify the need for WNP, Bajau sacred areas as part of traditional ecological knowledge have the prospect of being incorporated into marine co-management schemes.

Understanding dehydration of Prussian white: from material to aqueous processed composite electrodes for sodium-ion battery application

Understanding dehydration of Prussian white systems to enable processability of water-based electrodes for sustainable and high capacity sodium-ion batteries.

The migration process from commercial to open-source learning management system for sustainable capacity building in primary healthcare service

Data migration could be a complex yet necessary activity during the lifecycle of an information system. All the e-Learning resources and activity material for all the available courses were migrated from a commercial platform to the free and open-source Moodle platform to ensure the availability of necessary features such as ability to monitor progress of learners, assessing the learning and to ensure sustainability. The migration process was methodically planned and executed, preserving the integrity of the data and rectifying omissions, errors, and inconsistencies. Utilising the existing Moodle e-Learning platform of the Ministry of Health as a shared resource is a practical and more long-lasting method of delivering e-Learning materials with the goal of enhancing the competence of healthcare professionals.

INDONESIAN HALAL MSME OPEN INNOVATION WITH ISLAMIC FINTECH ADOPTION

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has led to the development of Islamic FinTech innovations to meet the needs of the Muslim community. This study analyzes the factors that determine the adoption of Sharia FinTech by halal MSME owners. The study utilized an exploratory method based on an online survey of halal MSME owners with 319 samples. The PLS-SEM analysis technique was chosen to prove the research hypothesis. This research finds that variables such as religiosity, Islamic financial literacy, and perception of risk affect the intention to adopt Islamic FinTech. The UTAUT2 variable has a positive effect on knowledge of Sharia FinTech adoption, while the adoption of Islamic FinTech positively impacts the sustainability of halal MSME businesses. The study recommends strengthening the infrastructure of the Sharia FinTech system and enhancing the value of financial services for halal MSMEs. Integrating Sharia FinTech into business operations can also enhance brand image and increase the sustainable business capacity of halal MSMEs. These insights can help develop effective strategies for Islamic FinTech innovation.

Digital Transformation Drives Sustainable Innovation Capability Improvement in Manufacturing Enterprises: Based on FsQCA and NCA Approaches

In recent years, digital technologies represented by the Internet, cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence have developed rapidly and become a strong driving force for economic development. They have effectively driven manufacturing enterprises to innovate their production methods and management models and enhance their innovation capabilities. The improvement of the sustainable innovation capability of manufacturing enterprises is a complex system, which requires various types of collaborative coupling of digital transformation. Therefore, this paper constructs a comprehensive framework of sustainable innovation capability based on Complex System View, using 20 manufacturing enterprises in Dalian, China, as a sample to analyze the driving effects of digital transformation on the improvement of the sustainable innovation capability of manufacturing enterprises by using a mixture of NCA and QCA methods. The findings are: (1) A single type of digital transformation does not constitute a necessary condition for high sustainable innovation capacity, and the digital transformation of service, model and organization play a more universal role in generating high sustainable innovation capability in manufacturing enterprises; and (2) The combination of three paths can make various types of digital transformations couple and interact to achieve the high sustainable innovation capability of manufacturing enterprises in Liaoning Province, including the Pure Product Digital Transformation Driving Path, Model + Organization Digital Transformation Driving Path, and Comprehensive Digital Transformation Driving Path. In this paper, four conditional configurations are found to lead to non-high sustainable innovation capability, which can be summarized as the Process Digitalization Deficiency Type and Organization Digitalization Limitation Type. The findings of this paper have important theoretical and practical implications for making scientific and reasonable digital transformation decisions to improve the sustainable innovation capability of manufacturing enterprises.

‘They’ll be the ones that’s looking after it’ – unravelling institutional factors that shape children’s participation in urban planning for informal settlements

ABSTRACT Sustainable Development Goal target 11.3 calls for ‘inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and capacities for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries’, yet children are systematically excluded from decision-making in urban planning structures, particularly in vulnerable settings. This case study examines the factors that shape children’s participation in urban planning processes for the revitalisation of water infrastructure in the Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) program in Suva, Fiji. This study aims to answer the research question ‘What are the factors that shape how children participate in informal settlement revitalisation in Suva, Fiji?’ The study utilises a qualitative case study to investigate the factors that underpin and reinforce structural, political, and economic systems of children’s exclusion. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 32 RISE staff and supporters to examine the individual, organisational and societal factors that shape children’s participation in the revitalisation of water infrastructure across 12 informal settlements. First, a typology of children’s participation is identified using definitions of children’s participation as a foundation. An institutional logics framework is then used as a conceptual lens to develop a children’s participation logic for RISE. The findings contribute to discourse on children’s participation in the context of urban planning in informal settlements and critically examine the barriers that perpetuate exclusion of children from these processes.