Sustained Focus Research Articles

Time trends in opioid use for patients undergoing hip fracture surgery in 1997-2018: A Danish population-based cohort study.

Although opioids are a mainstay for perioperative pain management in hip fracture patients, no studies have described changes in opioid use over the last two decades. The aim of this study was to describe time trends in opioid use in a population-based cohort of patients undergoing a first-time hip fracture surgery during 1997-2018. Opioid-naïve hip fracture patients >55 years old were identified in Danish medical databases (n = 115,962). By 2-year calendar periods, we calculated prevalence rates (PR) of opioid use in the four quarters after surgery (Q1-Q4). Corresponding prevalence rate ratios (PRR) with 1997-1998 as a reference were estimated with 95% confidence intervals. Further, we calculated the median morphine milligram equivalents (MME) for each quarter. For Q1, the PR of opioid use increased from 29% in 1997-1998 to 78% in 2017-2018 corresponding to a PRR of 2.7 (2.6-2.8). For Q4, the PR was 15% in 1997-1998, peaked in 2003-2004 and then decreased, but stayed high at 13% in 2017-2018. The median MME did not increase when comparing 2017-2018 with 1997-1998, irrespective of the quarter. Tramadol was most frequently used in 1997-1998 shifting to oxycodone in 2017-2018. The PRs of opioid use in Q1 after surgery increased substantially from 1997 to 2018, but this did not translate into increased opioid use up to 1 year after hip fracture surgery or higher dosage. Our findings underline the importance of sustained focus on opioid tapering, dosage and use of opioids with the lowest potential for addiction and other adverse events. Overall, opioid use in Q1 after hip fracture surgery increased 2.7 times from 1997 to 2018, but the doses and opioid use up to 1 year after surgery remained stable. Compared to elderly, younger patients were more likely to use opioid in Q1, while the tendency was opposite in Q2-Q4. The most used opioid type changed from tramadol to oxycodone. Our findings underline the importance of personalized opioid tapering and doses, and use of opioids with the lowest potential for addiction and other adverse events.

Project Awakesure: Intelligent Drowsiness Detection Using Eye Tracking

Being sleepy or drowsy is referred to as being drowsy. A person who is sleepy may feel exhausted or lethargic and struggle to stay awake. People who are sleepy tend to be less attentive and may even nod off, though they can still be awakened. An increasing number of vocations nowadays call for sustained focus. In order for drivers to respond quickly to unexpected incidents, they must maintain a watchful eye on the road. Many road incidents are directly caused by tired drivers. In order to drastically lower the frequency of fatigue-related auto accidents, it is crucial to develop technologies that can identify and alert a driver to a poor psychophysical state. However, there are many challenges in developing systems that can quickly and accurately recognize a driver's signs of fatigue. Using vision-based technology is one technological option for implementing driver fatigue monitoring systems. The available driver drowsiness detection systems are described in this article. Here, we are assessing the driver's level of sleepiness utilizing his visual system. The automated system for preventing accidents and monitoring sleepy drivers developed for this study is based on detecting variations in the length of eye blinks. Our recommended technique makes use of the eyes' postulated horizontal symmetry property to identify visual changes in eye positions. Our novel approach precisely positions a standard webcam in front of the driver's seat to identify eye blinks. It will identify the eyeballs based on a specific EAR (Eye Aspect Ratio).

Love, Consciousness, Energy, and Matter: The Heart’s Vital Role in Coherence and Creation

The focus of this work is the heart’s vital role in creation. How the heart, when in a state of unconditional love, generates a coherent field of psychoenergetic connection, which enables mind and spirit to shape reality. Of the research I draw on, two are studies of monumental importance—Margins of Reality (26) and Some Science Adventures with Real Magic (5). These works show, unambiguously, the crucial role unconditional love plays in psychic phenomena, such as intuitive perception and focused intention. Of import, in the latter, William Tiller and his associates (5) document how focused intention can induce change in physical reality, when cocooned in an envelope of heart coherence. This prompts creation of a ‘new’ dimension of order in the quantum vacuum, and also enables access to its ginormous store of ‘free’ energy to power the change. Electrophysiological evidence suggests this is a Hyper State of coherence which, in the ECG spectrum, extends as a harmonic series likely, via multiscale entanglement, to the quantum domain. To explain the psychoenergetic processes involved in psychic interactions, the principles of classical and quantum holography are used. In essence, attentional/intentional focus, when mediated by sustained heart coherence, creates a phase-conjoined-adaptive-resonant (PCAR) channel of nonlocal communication. Through this channel, holographically encoded information about remote/future events (intuition) is received, or focused intention is transmitted. It is postulated that such will-induced change—psi-formation—occurs by way of oscillatory entrainment. In this process the target’s system is frequency-pulled, via sustained intentional focus, to the image of order holographically encoded in the agent’s intention. A set of equations delineate the relations among the key factors involved in these psycho energetic processes of creation. These point to a basic equation expressing the creation relations among the fundamental constituents of reality: Love, Consciousness, Energy, and Matter.

Long-Term Effects of External Sulfate Attack on Low-Carbon Cementitious Materials at Early Age

Placed in a sulfate-rich environment, concrete reacts with sulfate ions, influencing the long-term durability of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. This external sulfate attack (ESA) degrades the cement paste through complex and coupled physicochemical mechanisms that can lead to severe mechanical damage. In common practice, RC structures are generally exposed to sulfate at an early age. This early exposition can affect ESA mechanisms that are generally studied on pre-cured specimens. Moreover, current efforts for sustainable concrete construction focus on replacing clinker with supplementary cementitious materials, requiring a 90-day curing period, which contradicts real-life scenarios. Considering all these factors, the objective of this study is to explore ESA effects at an early age on cement-blended paste samples using various low-carbon formulations. The characterization techniques used demonstrated that the reference mix (100% CEM I) exhibits the weakest resistance to sulfate, leading to complete deterioration after 90 weeks of exposure. This is evident through the highest mass gain, expansion, cracking, formation of ettringite and gypsum, and sulfate consumption from the attacking solution. Conversely, the ternary mix, consisting of CEM I, slag, and metakaolin, demonstrates the highest resistance throughout the entire 120 weeks of exposure. All the blended pastes performed well in the sulfate environment despite being exposed at an early age. It can be recommended to substitute clinker with a limited quantity of metakaolin, along with blast furnace slag, as it is the most effective substitute for clinker, outperforming other combinations.

Sustainability‐oriented innovation in manufacturing firms: Implementation and evaluation framework

AbstractIn this paper, complementary perspectives from innovation management capabilities (IMC), the natural resource‐based view (NRBV) and the social resource‐based view (SRBV) are revisited in order to lay the theoretical foundation for developing evaluation framework for sustainability‐oriented innovation (SOI). Six dimensions of SOI are identified, as innovation focus, sustainability focus, integration intra‐organisation, integration inter‐organisation, ambidexterity, and emphasis on physical life cycle — which then lead to developing the key parameters for the evaluation framework. The proposed framework is validated through analysis of 25 cases from the manufacturing sector in Indonesia. Data were primarily collected through semi‐structured interviews and analysed using a polar diagram. This approach offered a comprehensive understanding of the qualitative data by assessing all six SOI dimensions simultaneously, presenting an effective visualisation of the firms' approach to SOI. The findings suggest that the majority of firms tend to adopt an operational optimisation approach when developing their SOI, while only a few opt for organisational transformational, and none choose the system building approach. This research paper makes a significant contribution to literature by introducing transition phases among SOI approaches, which were previously not explored in literature. The framework developed in this study would provide valuable support to practitioners in implementation and enhancement of their SOI practices.

Representations of obesity in Australian and UK news coverage: A diachronic comparison

In both Australia and the UK, the number of adults living with obesity has been increasing over the last 30 years (AIHW, 2023; Baker, 2023). Although policy has emphasised ‘community-based interventions’ in Australia (AIHW, 2017) and ‘system-wide approaches’ in the UK (Ulijaszek and McLennan, 2016) for overcoming the challenges of obesity, previous research has shown that media representations have been dominated by representations promoting individual responsibility (e.g., Kim & Willis, 2007). In this paper, we report our observations of representations documented in corpora of media coverage from Australia and the UK between 2008-2017. The corpora amount to 16.4 million tokens and 36 million tokens, respectively. We identify key semantic domains for each year of the corpora and discuss both consistent and shifting themes in the data. Our findings show that the Australian coverage provides a more sustained focus on responses to obesity at the societal level, referring to practices in the food industry and differences between communities that can lead to health disparities. By comparison, while there is an increase in the amount of coverage in the UK press referring to obesity, the content became more narrowly focussed on food consumption and weight loss over the study period. The findings demonstrate how media coverage contributes to public understanding of how to respond to the challenges of obesity.

Implementing a new living concept for persons with dementia in long-term care: evaluation of a quality improvement process

BackgroundImproving quality of nursing home care for residents is a constant focus of stakeholders involved within quality improvement projects. Though, achieving change in long-term care is challenging. Process evaluations provide insight into the nature, exposure and experiences of stakeholders and influencing mechanisms for implementation. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the process and facilitating and hindering mechanisms of implementing a quality improvement project that seeks to create a dementia-friendly community with a nursing home at its core.MethodsFor the process evaluation we planned a case study design with an ethnographic approach. Various research methods were used: qualitative observations, focus groups, interviews and questionnaires for various stakeholders and document review. Data collection and analyses in this study is based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.ResultsFour main lessons were learned. Firstly, nursing staff are crucial to achieve more freedom for residents. Secondly, high-impact changes in daily care need strong and sustainable focus from the care organisation. Thirdly, dementia-friendly societies should be deployed from multiple actors, which entails long-term collaborations with external stakeholders. Fourthly, the transition to a dementia-friendly society requires meeting spaces for and a focus on both residents and people from the community. Consequently, local residents are shifting from external to internal stakeholders, extending beyond the regular involvement of informal carers and volunteers within the nursing home.ConclusionsNursing homes are part of the local community and provide opportunities to collaborate on a dementia-friendly society. However, the change that is required (promoting freedom, residents’ autonomy and the redesign of care processes) is complex and influenced by various mechanisms. Understanding these mechanisms can benefit other care organisations that strive to implement a similar initiative.

The Implementation of a Problem Formulation Project with a Sustainability Focus

The problem formulation stage of engineering design is an important aspect, however little time is spent teaching our students how to do this or providing time to practice. Students need to practice expert-like skills and behaviours involved in researching and understanding ill-defined problems, as opposed to textbook problems with clear solution paths. This paper describes the implementation of a project that focuses on the tasks of researching and understanding a problem in sustainability using known campus sustainability problems from the University’s sustainability office. Three current opportunities were selected as problem domains based on their open-ended nature and ease of understanding at a basic level. To evaluate the activity, a survey was given to students before taking part in the activity, and again at the completion to assess whether there were any changes after completing the project. The instructor guided approach allowed the students to practice the problem formulation stage of the engineering design process in a supportive environment. The use of open-ended ill-defined relevant campus sustainability problems provided an opportunity to interview stakeholders. It was found that the structure of the project was successful in meeting the intended activity outcomes.

Analysis of Competitiveness in the Domestic Semiconductor Cluster Using Entropy Technique: Based on the GEM-ESG Model

Purpose - The study aims to conduct an empirical analysis of semiconductor cluster integrated competitiveness with a focus on the GEM-ESG model. Specifically, the study seeks to compare and analyze the development factors of semiconductor clusters in different regions. The results of the empirical study will reveal a clear concentration phenomenon in the semiconductor industry clusters of some regions.
 Design/Methodology/Approach - Previous research has established the factors influencing the competitive advantage of industrial clusters. The study collected competitive indicators from major South Korean cities and regions, incorporating these into the GEM model, and exploring ESG indicators relevant to the semiconductor industry. The study utilized Entropy Technique analysis to empirically assess the competitiveness of the South Korean semiconductor cluster and conduct comparative testing of the research findings.
 Findings - The results revealed a concentration phenomenon in the semiconductor industry clusters of Yongin and Chungbuk Province. Additionally, the study highlighted the importance of factors such as “groundings (G)”, “enterprise management (E)”, “market conditions (M)”, and ESG practices in determining competitiveness.
 Research Implications - Through empirical analyses, the study emphasizes the significance of GEM and ESG factors in the analysis of industrial clusters, particularly in contributing to long-term sustainability and competitive advantage focusing on the collaboration and alignment of ESG values.

Innovation and Networks in the Bioeconomy: A Case Study from the German Coffee Value Chain

The transition to a circular bioeconomy requires innovation across many sectors, but social dynamics within a sector’s network may affect innovation potential. We investigate how network dynamics relate to the perceptions and adoption of bioeconomy innovation using a case study from the food processing sector. Our case study of the German coffee value chain represents a technologically advanced sector with a strong sustainability focus and potential for residue valorization, which is an important dimension of a sustainable circular bioeconomy. We identify three distinct views (pioneers, traditional and limited users) related to residue valorization, map linkages between actors using social network analysis, and highlight barriers to innovation. We collected data through an online survey and semi-structured interviews with key actors in the coffee roasting sector. Within the social network analysis, we find that public waste managers are closely linked to the most influential actors, state actors such as the customs and tax offices can quickly interact with others in the network and promote the spread of information (highest closeness centrality) and specific roasters play an important role as intermediaries for efficient communication (highest betweenness centrality). Finally, we identify four main barriers including the structure of the coffee network, inconsistencies in federal waste regulations, economies of scale, and visions of sustainability. To support a sustainable bioeconomy, we recommend that policy makers revise the primary regulatory frameworks for waste (e.g., German Recycling Act) to clarify how to classify food residues, their disposal structures and broaden their use streams.

Blended learning at scale: co-designing a large postgraduate finance course

PurposeThis paper aims to identify and evaluate resolutions to key learning and teaching challenges in very large courses that involve practical mathematics, such as foundational finance.Design/methodology/approachA design-based research approach is used across three semesters to iteratively identify practical problems within the course and then develop and evaluate resolutions to these problems. Data are collected from both students and teachers and analysed using a mixed-method approach.FindingsThe results indicate that key learning and teaching challenges in large foundational finance courses can be mitigated through appropriate consistency of learning materials; check-your-understanding interactive online content targeting foundational concepts in the early weeks; connection points between students and the coordinator to increase teacher presence; a sustained focus on supporting student achievement within assessments; and signposting relevance of content for the broader program and professional settings. Multiple design iterations using a co-design approach were beneficial to incrementally improve the course and consider multiple perspectives within the design process.Practical implicationsThis paper develops a set of design principles to provide guidance to other practitioners who seek to improve their own courses.Originality/valueThe use of design-based research and mixed-method approaches that consider both student and teacher perspectives to examine the design of very large, foundational finance courses is novel.

Towards a more equitable ELT practice: Practicing queer inquiry in Thailand's university language classrooms

AbstractDespite the sustained focus towards inclusive language teaching and queer pedagogy in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and language education in recent years, employing an inclusive pedagogical practice and having language teaching resources that respect the gender identity among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) students remain a challenge in many English language teaching (ELT) classrooms throughout the world. Employing an auto‐ethnomethodological approach, in this article the authors present their teaching practice experience in an attempt to queer their ELT classroom and provide a safe space for all gender identities in learning the language through a queer‐informed language teaching framework in an ELT classroom at a university in Thailand. It is the goal of this inquiry to add to the empirical evidence for gender inclusivity in an ELT classroom. Additionally, this study offers language practitioners consideration for having a queer‐informed classroom where there is diversity, inclusion, and engagement and where students are free to discuss their sexual identities, adding to the growing influence of gender perspective and inclusivity in heteronormative language education.

Professional Learning Supporting Multilingual Children’s Social and Emotional Development in Diverse Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Settings

AbstractThis research examined the conditions under which codesigned approaches to educator professional learning in multilingual, birth to five settings were accessible and supportive of children’s social and emotional development across diverse types of Australian early childhood services. The research sites, in the suburbs of a capital city, comprised a long day childcare center, two short term informal community creches for birth to 5-year-old children of migrants and refugees attending English classes, and a family hub short term informal community creche for children of Afghan refugees. Professional learning mentors visited the participating sites eight times for 2 h every 2 weeks for 16 Weeks in 2021, demonstrating resources and strategies to assist young children to identify their own and others’ emotions and engage with social settings. Over 20 weeks, 97 participants provided data, commencing before and extending after the professional learning program. Participants included professional learning mentors, staff and volunteers, parents, and children via observation. Using Reggio Emilia principles, the research identified that professional learning, flexibly delivered over time, enabled educators and volunteers to build their social and emotional development knowledge, and to try resources and strategies with children in their care. Recruiting educators who shared children’s home or community languages, in addition to professional learning, supported multilingual children to engage with emotional literacy resources, while still developing spoken English. The research affirmed that educators, volunteers, parents, and children benefitted from a sustained focus on children’s social and emotional development in the early childhood education and care settings.

A Framework of Hybrid Method for Developing Optimal Sustainable Product Strategies and Sustainable Product Roadmap

The success of sustainable product strategies is widely recognized as pivotal to the successful development of sustainable products. Despite some existing research on sustainable product strategies, there is a notable lack of investigation into the tools necessary for their effective development. To address this gap, our study aims to (1) introduce a methodological framework that systematically shapes sustainable product strategy, incorporating key technologies like a Sustainable Product Strategies Focus Group (SPSFG), Brainstorming, Weighted Decision Matrix (WDM), and Genetic Algorithm (GA); (2) demonstrate the practical application of this framework through the example of 3C products; and (3) contribute theoretically by proposing a tool for creating sustainable product strategies that integrates management principles, providing a practical guide for the development of control systems and tools. This study also maps out implications for the future of sustainable 3C products. The development of optimal sustainable product strategies across various sectors requires a comprehensive hybrid approach. This method combines diverse methodologies to create a robust framework addressing unique challenges in health systems, education, environment, industry, agriculture, energy, and resource management. Leveraging quantitative analysis, qualitative assessment, and systems thinking, the hybrid approach provides a nuanced understanding of interdependencies within these sectors. Integrating data-driven insights and qualitative considerations facilitates sustainable strategies, optimizing resource utilization for long-term environmental, social, and economic benefits. This holistic methodology enables a more effective response to interconnected challenges in health systems, education, environmental preservation, industry, agriculture, energy, and resource management, promoting a more sustainable future.

Assessing human and environmental health in global diets from a perspective of economic growth

Food consumption can significantly impact both human and environmental health. As economies grow, a global dietary transition is underway. Assessing the sustainability of diets and identifying potential risks of global diets in relation to economic growth are prerequisites for countries to implement targeted dietary interventions. However, existing studies assessing dietary sustainability focus primarily on present performance, not considering the potential future transitions in dietary patterns triggered by economic growth. We propose a two-dimensional “status quo-income elasticity” assessment framework to identify potential risks to diet-related human and environmental health in different countries as their economies expand. Our evaluation of diet sustainability in 141 countries encompasses three aspects: nutritional intake, disease risk, and environmental impact. We first assessed the nutrient supply and diet-related disease risk in each country based on their food consumptions. We then employed an Environmental Extended Multi-Regional Input-Output model to account for the environmental impacts. Additionally, an econometric model was constructed to gauge the income elasticity of each indicator to reflect the marginal change associated with economic growth. We found that some high-income countries with declining intakes of quality nutrients such as vitamins and minerals may face potential risks of inadequate intakes in the future. However, the future appears relatively optimistic. Although high-income countries currently have a high dietary environmental footprint, their diet-related environmental pressures (particularly carbon emissions and air pollution) will be somewhat mitigated with economic growth due to their substantial negative elasticity. Our assessment results can assist countries in designing tailored dietary interventions from an economic development perspective to promote economic growth, improve human health, and enhance environmental sustainability synergistically.

Voyage Out, Voyage Up?

In studies of the Black-British Bildungsroman, “race” and/or gender tend to take the front seat, even if class rarely goes unmentioned as yet another obstacle in the narrated formation of upwardly mobile subjectivities of post-migration. However, there is no critical consensus about the political and affective concerns that drive these appropriations of the Bildungsroman genre for imagining post-migrant experiences of (de)marginalisation. While Mark Stein has influentially emphasised the symbolic agency represented in and exerted by such “novels of transformation”, others have noted the ambiguities that resonate in narratives of post-migrant upward mobility. Intervening in this debate with a sustained focus on class, I reread two texts rarely discussed in these generic terms – Zadie Smith’s White Teeth (2000) and NW (2012) – against the backdrop of neoliberal meritocracy and its cruel optimism. Both novels stage post-migrant achievement against all intersectional odds in politically conflicted and literarily productive ways that challenge the good-life fantasy of upward mobility conventionalised in the Black-British Bildungsroman as a demarginalising, socially transformative genre. I argue that Smith’s novels unmake the cruel optimism of post-migrant success stories by remaking the Bildungsroman as most contradictory of modern symbolic forms.

Assessing engineering students’ attitudes towards corporate social responsibility principles

ABSTRACT Ethical and sustainable thinking is an important competence in the engineering education to support students’ abilities to act and perform in a responsible manner in corporate contexts, and consequently contribute to a sustainable future. This paper investigates engineering students’ attitudes towards ethical and sustainable thinking focusing on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles in the context of entrepreneurship courses as a part of larger research project. Engineering students from a Finnish and an Estonian university (N = 342) responded to a self-assessment survey. The students’ attitudes towards CSR principles were assessed both on the enterprise level and the individual level as expectations of potential future employees. The findings indicate that engineering students acknowledge the need to take into account responsible thinking and that it is important for enterprises to be both socially and environmentally responsible in their activities. The self-assessment tool of ethical and sustainable thinking associated with the entrepreneurship competence model and CSR principles can be helpful in practice when university teachers wish to support and assess their students’ attitudes towards CSR principles among other entrepreneurship competencies when creating new course content.

Preface

1st International Conference on Sustainable Energy Sources, Technologies, and System (ICSESTS-2023) Organised by Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India 3rd August 2023 to 5th August 2023 Theme: Advancing Sustainable Energy This is the first mega event titled as International Conference on Sustainable Energy Sources, Technologies, and System” coined as ICSESTS-2023 which was organized at Lovely Professional University, Punjab from 3rd August 2023 to 5th August 2023. The theme of conference was ‘Advancing Sustainable Energy’ which is highly relevant and in line with several initiatives of the Indian government towards sustainable energy and focusing on sustainable development goals SDG-3, SDG-6, SDG-7, SDG-9, SDG-11, SDG-12, SDG-13, and SDG-15. In this conference, there were total 17 keynote addresses wherein 12 Top 2% Scientists listed by Stanford University delivered their talks on issues related to Advancing Sustainable Energy theme from India, UK, China, USA, Egypt, Brazil, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Sharjah, Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. This event was crucial for all including developing and developed countries as they face the challenge of ensuring reliable and affordable energy supply to meet their increasing energy demands. The proposed event aimed at bringing together world energy leaders along with Indian experts including academicians from institutes of national repute, scientist from reputed Research and Development labs and Industry experts to deliberate and intervene in various topics related to sustainable energy. Organizing secretary and Convener Prof. Ravinder Kumar and Dr. Sumit Kumar also expressed their views with eminent speakers on advancements in sustainable energy. Researchers from more than 20 countries participated in this conference to share their research findings. The conference theme was divided under four major tracks, namely -1. Advances in renewable energy conversion technologies and processes.2. Sustainability in agriculture and climate change.3. IoT for sustainable development.4. Sustainable materials for energy conversion and storage.List of Conference Organizing Committee, Editor’s Message, Eminent Speakers, Peer Review Statement are available in this pdf.

Revisiting ‘Accuracy’ in Formal Grounded Theory: Ambiguities and Opportunities

This study attempts to address the ‘scant attention’ (to use Barney Glaser’s words) given to formal grounded theory by revisiting and reformulating the concept of accuracy (interchangeably used with accurate descriptions and empirical evidence) which Glaser blames to be the reason behind grounded theorists neglecting formal grounded theorizing. A novel concept called pragmatic accuracy is introduced to meet the requirements of formal grounded theorizing. Pragmatic accuracy by supplementing inductive reasoning with abductive places methodological self-consciousness at the center of formal grounded theorizing as there is a continual need for scrutinizing the core assumptions of a researcher and those of their participants’. This study does not entirely reject Glaser’s approach of shunning accuracy. Rather it teases out the contradiction between Glaser’s words and practice towards qualitative descriptions and shows how he, in a coauthored formal grounded theory, recognizes the importance of empirical references and explanatory definitions. Along with Glaser, Charmaz’ and Kearney’s views on accuracy are also unpacked and brought in harmony with the requirements of formal grounded theorizing. A case is made through pragmatic accuracy to encourage a sustained focus on the inclusion of empirical content in an emerging formal theory to increase its applicability and generalizability. The reformulated pragmatic accuracy also offers two lengths for formal grounded theories, article-length and book-length, depending upon the requirements of the topic and the researcher.

A solution approach for decision-making on vessel fleet sustainability focusing on alternative fuels in a life-cycle basis

International Maritime Organization has launched a set of different regulatory frameworks focusing on maritime pollution prevention mechanisms and practicing different solution approaches. A multi-dimensional life-cycle analysis on vessels and maritime fuels (fossil & alternative low carbon fuels) can make an important contribution to the IMO's long-term carbon neutrality target for 2050. A typical vessel's operational profile contributes on approx. 80% of greenhouse gas emissions and 50% of total costs respectively during its lifetime. Therefore, the investigation of ships operational benchmarks following a lifecycle analysis approach could create suitable decision-making support tools for different optimization problems regarding alternative green fuels. This paper proposes a solution approach to evaluate current vessel fleet operational benchmarks for different ship categories and provide a decision-making support mechanism to tackle important operational problems during ship's lifetime. The proposed approach contains an evaluation mechanism to determine the suitable economic and environmental key performance indicators necessary to properly evaluate the multi-dimensional sustainability of the examined case studies with respect to the IMO (MARPOL) environmental regulations.