Sustainability Problems Research Articles

ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЕ ПОЖАРНОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ СЛОЖНЫХ ЭЛЕКТРОННО-УПРАВЛЯЕМЫХ ТЕРМОКАТАЛИТИЧЕСКИХ СИСТЕМ ДВИГАТЕЛЕЙ ВНУТРЕННЕГО СГОРАНИЯ: ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЕ ОСНОВЫ, ДИАГНОСТИРОВАНИЕ

The article is devoted to the theory and practice of diagnosing fire and emergency modes of operation of piston engines with neutralizers as part of vehicles with electronic and digital control of fuel supply processes. The concept of the work is multidisciplinary, updated on the analysis of problems of global environmental sustainability, fundamental and applied research on the kinetics and energy dynamics of the generation of useful and flammable excess heat in engines and neutralizers during the combustion of fuel hydrocarbons. Gorenje The paper proposes a diagnostic method based on instrumental gas analytical control of the exhaust gas composition of a piston engine in the free acceleration mode and the use of multiple regression equations for the relationship of the exhaust gas composition with fuel supply parameters.

Solution strategy for sustainable additive manufacturing design problem using Pythagorean fuzzy MCGDM methodology

To solve difficulties involving various groups’ decision-making problems, this work has been proposed to develop a logical aggregation approach to aggregate decision-makers’ crisp data into Pythagorean fuzzy numbers. By combining the established strategy with the Pythagorean fuzzy TOPSIS method, a hybrid Pythagorean fuzzy multiple criteria group decision-making methodology is presented. Based on fuzzy rules inference and the Takagi–Sugeno technique, a novel function is created to represent the degrees of uncertainty in decision-makers’ data. As an example, the material selection process in practical additive manufacturing designs is provided to show how the proposed methodology may be applied to actual applications. Sensitivity analysis is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested methodology. The outcomes demonstrate that the plan was successful in producing a PFN that accurately reflects the decision-maker’s knowledge.

Sustainable Stewardship of Egypt’s Iconic Heritage Sites: Balancing Heritage Preservation, Visitors’ Well-Being, and Environmental Responsibility

While sustainability is widely recognized as necessary for managing heritage sites, balancing preservation demands with tourism development pressures presents significant challenges. A critical gap in the existing research relates to understanding the recurring issues that undermine the long-term sustainability of prominent archaeological destinations in Egypt and visitor well-being. Specifically, more research is needed to identify the specific sustainability and visitor experience problems that persist across Egypt’s major archaeological sites despite ongoing management efforts. Addressing this knowledge gap could help inform strategies for these destinations to balance conservation priorities with tourism in a more sustainable manner that enhances visitors’ cultural exploration. This study contributes a novel multisite content analysis of over 4423 online reviews from TripAdvisor pertaining to three of Egypt’s premier archaeological destinations—Giza Pyramids, Al Mu’izz Street, and Saqqara. Using established text mining methodologies and algorithms within Voyant Tools, critical challenges were identified through word frequency, concept network, and trend analyses. Recurring issues documented included uncontrolled commercialization undermining the ambiance of historic locales, environmental degradation from inadequate waste management and tourism overflows, and overcrowding compromising visitor comfort, health and safety. Deficiencies in signage, transportation, and other tourist services were also prominent themes. The holistic evaluation of cross-cutting concerns faced at the diverse yet interrelated sites advanced the theoretical knowledge on cooperative governance models and competencies necessary for integrative heritage management. The recommendations center on collaborative stakeholder partnerships to reform commercial practices through licensing and enforcement, upgrading aging infrastructure to support sustainable tourism volumes, and implementing zoning and carrying capacity policies tailored to local community contexts. The proposed solutions aim to safeguard Egypt’s irreplaceable cultural treasures by addressing recurrent problems that undermine environmental, economic and socio-cultural sustainability if left unresolved, positioning its archaeological wonders for appreciation and study by present and future generations.

A novel two-phase approach for a sustainable p-hub median problem with multiple service levels and carbon cap-and trade policy under uncertainty

ABSTRACT To reduce the carbon emissions for society's sustainable development and satisfy customers' personalized delivery service, this paper addresses the cap-and-trade policy and multiple service levels into a p-hub median problem. In the hub network designing, single-assignment patterns between hubs and demand nodes, the choice of transportation mode for each O-D pair and the uncertainties of carbon emission and price are taken into account. Based on a fuzzy chance-constrained programming approach, a fuzzy mathematical model under an expected cost-minimization context with some fuzzy constraints is first presented. Then a two-phase approach is proposed to solve the proposed model. Finally, in view of the comparative analysis with small- and large-scale Turkish instances, serval managerial insights are finally obtained for government and logistics companies in the reduction of carbon emission and the hub network's total designing cost for the sustainable development.

Financial sustainability of higher education system

Purpose- Financial sustainability is vital for the higher education systems in the global competitive atmosphere of the world of 2020s. This paper reviews a comparative analysis between the budgets and expenditures of the Turkish and British higher education systems, beside a view on those of the OECD countries. This paper intends to clarify Turkish higher education system’s difficulties in financial sustainability to provide required academic standards due to increasing costs and number of students versus the economic strength of significant actors such as the United Kingdom in the globalized competition. For this reason, this paper advocates cost advantages provided by the application of effective online education model to acquire financial sustainability clarifying the rise of digital universities by the 2030s. Methodology-. The study employs a literature review aiming to perform a comparative analysis on the financial structures of Turkish and British higher education systems. Moreover, OECD data were also reflected. The aim was to identify the possible difficulties of Turkish higher education system in financial sustainability to provide required academic standards in the competitive global area and find a contemporary solution. Findings- The analysis reveals that the Turkish higher education system have disadvantages in providing financial sustainability under the conditions of increasing costs as well as number of students in order to reach the required standards in the global league. Notably, it is clearly seen that efective application of online education strategy is an opportunity to balance revenues and expenditures in this way. As a matter of the fact, the effect of digital transformation era and the attitude of Generation Z students have already prepared this atmosphere. Conclusion-. Governments highly financed higher education systems after 20th Century. However, financial problems emerged due to increasing number of students and increasing costs. Eventhough the budgets had continuously been increased, Turkish higher education system have realized lower expenditures in the OECD average. Problems in financial sustainability to provide required academic standards have clearly been noticed in the global competitive atmosphere while compared with the example of the United Kingdom. Over the Covid-19 crisis, universities successfully implemented hybrid education around the world increasing the effect of online systems forced by Generation Z’s perspective on embracing Digital Technologies. So, effective application of online education model appeared as a new opportunity for Turkish higher education system to provide financial sustainability decreasing costs and also efficiently compete in the global area. Indeed, blended learning in traditional universities and inevitable growth of digital higher education institutions named as University 5.0 will be seen after 2030s. Keywords: Higher education, university, financial sustainability, Turkiye, United Kingdom, online education JEL Codes: I22, I23, M10, M21

Renewable energy-based sustainable oilseed selection problem: a new integrated group decision model under dynamic uncertainty

Renewable energy-based sustainable oilseed selection problem: a new integrated group decision model under dynamic uncertainty

Toward Digitalization of Fishing Vessels to Achieve Higher Environmental and Economic Sustainability.

Fishing vessels need to adapt to and mitigate climate changes, but solution development requires better information about the environment and vessel operations. Even if ships generate large amounts of potentially useful data, there is a large variety of sources and formats. This lack of standardization makes identification and use of key data challenging and hinders its use in improving operational performance and vessel design. The work described in this paper aims to provide cost-effective tools for systematic data acquisition for fishing vessels, supporting digitalization of the fishing vessel operation and performance monitoring. This digitalization is needed to facilitate the reduction of emissions as a critical environmental problem and industry costs critical for industry sustainability. The resulting monitoring system interfaces onboard systems and sensors, processes the data, and makes it available in a shared onboard data space. From this data space, 209 signals are recorded at different frequencies and uploaded to onshore servers for postprocessing. The collected data describe both ship operation, onboard energy system, and the surrounding environment. Nine of the oceanographic variables have been preselected to be potentially useful for public scientific repositories, such as Copernicus and EMODnet. The data are also used for fuel prediction models, species distribution models, and route optimization models.

Navigating the Nexus between Rural Revitalization and Sustainable Development: A Bibliometric Analyses of Current Status, Progress, and Prospects

Achieving sustainable rural development is challenging. However, revitalizing the rural economy is one of the most suitable strategies to overcome sustainable development problems. The rural revitalization strategy aims to create an idealized sustainable development model for rural areas which can avoid the current crisis and utilize institutional advantages to overcome the survival challenges of mostly small-scale peasant economies. The logic of the rural revitalization strategy lies in its essential value implication and practical orientation for consolidating the foundation in rural areas, including its characteristics and its ability to realize long-term sustainable development. There is growing interest in research on rural revitalization and sustainable development, but the current status, trends, and progress are unknown. This study examines the most recent advancements in research patterns for rural revitalization and the promotion of sustainable development from 1995 to 2023. It accomplishes this by thoroughly evaluating and analyzing published scholarly material. We performed a bibliometric analysis of the literature obtained from the Scopus database using VOS Viewer software version 1.6.15. We examined a total of 403 articles and evaluated them, focusing on the precise terms “Rural Revitalization” and “Sustainable Development”. We found that post-2018, there has been a notable surge in the popularity and acceptance of research related to these topics. China ranks first in terms of publishing the greatest number of research articles. The journal Sustainability has published the most articles on sustainable development and rural revitalization, followed by Land and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The Journal of Rural Studies published the most cited document. Exciting research areas include the conservation of natural resources, ecosystem cities, and rural revitalization strategies. The research findings thoroughly evaluate academic output and propose thematic areas for further investigation.

The significance of sustainability in higher education: a view to the curricular proposal at a Colombian University

PurposeThis paper aims to identify how the faculties of a Colombian University have understood the concept of sustainability and the way they have embedded it into their training.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research was done using documentary and content analysis which allowed researchers to recognize features correlated to sustainability which are needed to promote and act for social equity, ecological care and economic development.FindingsIt was found that most faculties at the university do not conceptualize it; ergo, courses are designed neither for promoting sustainability nor sustainable education. Besides this, almost no level of integration was identified among faculties on this topic.Research limitations/implicationsMany people agree education for sustainability is a key action to overcome the complex challenges the planet is facing; nevertheless, the prejudice that training to solve sustainability problems is an exclusive task of certain disciplines is common. This misunderstanding reduces the possibilities of pursuing a sustainable future, considering that these issues affect all humankind and that they can only be solved through interdisciplinary and collaborative work.Practical implicationsThe paper also outlines some actions that Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) can take to consider sustainability issues, and they are as follows: identification of competencies to include in the curricula; recognition of the potential of integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) into the curricula by strengthening the competencies and capacities; strengthening the competencies and capacities of the academic staff through ESD training processes; articulation of research with the curricula in such a way that the results of research processes permeate the curricula.Social implicationsThis study has some limitations. For instance, regarding the survey, the size of the sample may seem too small, a bigger sample will allow better information for the results. Regarding the case studies, a greater diversity of programs could have provided a wider range of results. Despite these limitations, for UPB, the study shows a snapshot of the literature review and the articulation of sustainable development and climate change education (CCE) in all programs the university has. The implications of this paper and research are the following. First, it reiterates the importance of having within the same institution a common language to talk about sustainability. Second, it recognizes the competencies and skills that should considered when implementing ESD and CCE in curricula.Originality/valueThis idea corresponds to a lack of debate about what the term signifies and means. It is believed that, as sustainability has been highly researched in the past two decades, it is a cross-cutting element in any faculty proposal; however, due to the complexity of the term, it is understood differently by each member of the same academic community, affecting their ability to design a systemic and systematic curriculum that enables to educate for sustainable goals.

Spatial patterns of built structures co‐determine nations’ level of resource demand

AbstractSocieties’ use of material resources is increasingly recognized as a key factor behind sustainability problems. The mass of materials used per capita and year differs substantially between countries. However, a limited range of variables (mostly per‐capita gross domestic product [GDP]) were analyzed to explain this variation. Spatial patterns of cities influence their resource use, but the role of patterns of settlements and infrastructures as co‐determinants of national‐level material use is unknown, mainly due to lacking data to investigate their effects at that scale. Here we start closing this gap by systematically analyzing a broad set of potential determinants of national per‐capita material demand, including built structures. Material demand is represented by both production‐ and consumption‐based indicators. Among its potential determinants, we analyze eight novel indicators representing extent and spatial patterns of settlements and transport infrastructures in each country, along with GDP and other indicators considered so far. Analyzing 123 countries inhabited by 91% of the world population and accounting for 92% of world GDP, we show that built structures strongly co‐determine resource use. Indicators of extent and spatial patterns of built structures have substantial additional explanatory power beyond GDP and other conventional indicators for both production‐ and consumption‐based material flow indicators. The area of built‐up land per capita emerges as the strongest predictor, but several other indicators representing built structures are also highly relevant. Limiting built‐up land and designing spatial patterns of built structures hence deserve attention in attempts to reduce societies’ resource throughput.

Interpretable decision-making model with uncertain weights for sustainable digital economy

In recent years, sustainable digital economy development goals have received increasing attention because of the serious influence environment with the development of the rapid economy. Meanwhile, Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods are efficient ways to measure sustainable developments, which can controls environmental pollution and protects sustainability improvement. However, assessment results are unconvincing by using the common MCDM methods because various areas that caused pollution conditions are inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to design an interpretable MCDM method with uncertain weights for various areas evaluation. In particular, MCDM can be used to evaluate environmental sustainability development efficiently, and deep neural networks can supply credible weights to MCDM. Interpretability is used to understand key factors in the decision-making process. Referring to the national policy and urgent areas from central areas in China, six areas are conducted to assess the sustainable digital economy problem, which could be interpreted as demonstrating the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach. Besides, the experimental results demonstrate that the sustainable developmental level of Hubei is the best in the latest year.

Teaching action competence in education for sustainable development – a qualitative study on teachers’ ideas, opinions, attitudes and self-conceptions

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a policy guideline which has a significant impact on the teaching of geography in Germany. A central element of this model is to impart and develop in students a goal-oriented action competence to solve sustainability problems. However, action competence in ESD has not yet been scientifically defined or sufficiently researched. This raises the question of how teachers currently teach action competence to students as a central element of ESD. This article examines teachers’ understanding of ESD, action competence and their own role in this context. To this end, a literature-based model of geographical action competence in ESD is presented. Subsequently, a qualitative triangulated teacher study is presented, which is analysed with the help of the model. It is shown that teachers generally have a high level of knowledge about ESD and are highly motivated to teach action competence. However, it becomes clear that the teachers seem to differ in their understanding of sustainable action competence as well as in their understanding of their own role.

Sustainable decision making based on systems integration and decision support system promoting endorheic basin sustainability

Sustainability has become a target in official policy rhetoric. However, the gap between scientific investigation and practical decision-making poses a significant challenge in achieving sustainability, particularly in endorheic regions. Addressing this challenge requires the translation of scientific outcomes into available decision-making information. In this study, we propose a sustainable decision-making methodology, namely, decision rehearsal, that has four stages: the scientification of decision-making problems, the politicization of scientific knowledge, the translation of scientific findings into decision-making information, and the translation of decision-making information into policy action. Based on this theoretical framework, an ensemble artifact, referred to as the River Basin Sustainable Development Decision Support System (RSDSS), was designed, built and evaluated from a design science research perspective to address a class of sustainability problems in endorheic basins. This system integrates a watershed-integrated model, disaggregated sustainable development goals (SDGs), localized shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), and a sustainability assessment model, which can assist decision- and policy-makers in more deeply understand the impacts of different policy assumptions on the interactions between human and natural systems and watershed sustainability. Some related RSDSS cases are discussed to demonstrate the ability of the RSDSS to resolve complex watershed problems, which implies that the RSDSS can promote sustainable river basin management.

Research on sustainable collaborative scheduling problem of multi-stage mixed flow shop for crankshaft components

The crankshaft manufacturing process primarily comprises machining, single jacket, and double jacket stages. These stages collectively produce substantial carbon emissions, which significantly impact the environment. Low-carbon energy development and humanity's future are closely related. To promote the sustainable development of crankshaft manufacturing enterprises and improve the production efficiency of crankshafts, research on sustainable collaborative scheduling problems in multi-stage mixed flow shop for crankshaft components is conducted. In addition, the transportation process of related workpieces in the crankshaft manufacturing process, which generally have a large mass, also produces substantial carbon emissions. This paper constructs a multi-objective integer optimization model based on the manufacturing process characteristics of crankshaft components, with minimizing the maximum manufacturing time and carbon emissions as optimization objectives. Considering the complexity of the problem, a comprehensive algorithm integrating moth-flame optimization and NSGA-III is used to solve the mathematical model. Through case experiments, the integrated algorithm is compared and analysed with four classic multi-objective optimization algorithms: NSGA-III, NSGA-II, MOEA/D, and MOPSO. The experiments demonstrate that the algorithm presented in this paper offers significantly enhanced optimization efficiency in solving the problem under study compared to other algorithms. Moreover, this paper compares multi-stage collaborative scheduling and non-collaborative scheduling in the crankshaft manufacturing process, ultimately demonstrating that collaborative scheduling is more conducive to the sustainable development of manufacturing enterprises. The results indicate that the annual carbon emissions can reduce about 3.6 ton.

The Problem of Sustainabil ity in the Concept of A. A. Bogdanov (methodological aspect)

The Problem of Sustainabil ity in the Concept of A. A. Bogdanov (methodological aspect)

Сучасні проблеми фінансової стійкості територій у контексті збалансованого розвитку

The problem of ensuring the financial sustainability of territories is relevant in conditions of economic instability. Balanced development of territories involves the efficient use of financial resources, support for entrepreneurial activity, and stability of local budgets. This article examines the contemporary problems of financial sustainability of territories and provides recommendations for their balanced development. The aim of the article is to identify problems of financial sustainability of territories and develop recommendations for their balanced development. The study analyzes the factors influencing the financial sustainability of the territories and identifies mechanisms for increasing the financial stability of the regions. The pivotal factor is the development of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), which create jobs and foster economic growth. Support for SMEs includes access to finance, administrative support and skills development for entrepreneurs. The provision of credit guarantees, the development of microfinancing and the support of venture capital can increase the financial sustainability of SMEs. Simplification of business registration procedures, reduction of regulatory barriers and transparency of the tax system contribute to the development of entrepreneurial activity. It is noted that from 2021 to 2023 the number of enterprises in the Kharkiv region fluctuated due to hostilities. This has had a significant impact on economic activity and the business climate in the region. The analysis of the number of individual entrepreneurs also reflects negative trends. Many entrepreneurs were forced to close their businesses or relocate them to other regions. The hostilities have had a significant negative impact on the economic situation in the Kharkiv region, which affects the overall financial sustainability of the region. This highlights the need to support businesses to recover financial sustainability. The continuation of financial programs to support SMEs will help strengthen the financial sustainability of the region.

ОСНОВНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ ПРАКТИЧЕСКОЙ ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ КОНЦЕПЦИИ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ

The article discusses the main problems of the practical effectiveness of the management concept in modern conditions. The analysis of the main management concepts is carried out, which proves its ambiguity. The importance of institutions and their role in the management concept are analyzed and determined. The scientific novelty and practical significance of the work lies in the identification and substantiation of the problem of legality, the problem of efficiency, the problem of sustainability and the problem of publicity of the management concept. It is revealed that management is a key concept for understanding various management systems of companies in an institutional environment with many different active stakeholders.

Secure and sustainable food processing supply chain framework based on Hyperledger Fabric technology

Food processing supply chains are gradually facing the problem of incorporation and sustainability because of the complexity of many participants involved in the supply chain network. Customers are very aware of and particularly interested in the quality, safety, and provenance of food processing products. However, conventional supply chains, on the other hand, rely heavily on a third party for transactions and confidence. Traditional supply chain models only partially reveal information about an organization to other parties, which results in inadequate data and a communication gap. Although emails and printed papers offer some information, the capacity to provide utterly accurate visibility and traceability information is impossible since the items throughout the supply chain are difficult to trace. In this research, we provide a fully distributed method, Hyperledger Fabric, to establish a food processing supply chain system incorporating a Hyperledger Fabric framework designed to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach and analyze the main use cases needed in a food processing supply chain network.

Research and Recent Achievements in Agriculture and Biotechnology with Innovative Technologies Application

This paper brings together researchers, scientists and industry experts to present the latest achievements in the dynamically developing fields of agriculture and biotechnology. Special attention was paid to interdisciplinary cooperation, advanced technologies and data-based solutions aimed at solving problems of food security, environmental sustainability and agricultural efficiency. Key topics included precision farming, gene editing, advanced breeding techniques, and the transformative role of big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning in optimizing agricultural processes. In light of this, to address numerous challenges in agricultural culture, I have proposed and developed the idea of creating a game. The game “World of Agricultural Culture” will present users with a bright HD graphic design and exciting gameplay. The professional version of the simulator is focused on business management and development in the agricultural industry.This is an additional way to improve the infrastructure of the Russian Federation, despite the presence of international sanctions. Thus, the competitiveness and attractiveness of the state increases, contributing to the stable development of Russian agriculture and the elimination of negative risks in the foreign economic sphere of the agricultural sector. In the course of the conducted research, a high level of efficiency improvement in the agro-industrial sector of the economy was noted.

Quantitative assessment of the financial hardship in the euro area countries.

The article examines financial hardship (FH) that appears as one of the essential socio-economic-financial categories reflecting a financial burden on society and therefore having a significant impact on the social and economic development of the country. The purpose of this article is to propose and approve a methodology for the complex quantitative assessment of financial difficulty, which allows comparing countries one another. The novelty of the conducted research is manifested by the formed financial hardship adequately exposing a system of indicators and suggesting the transformation of incomparable indicators into the comparable ones. The paper proposes a methodology for the integrated assessment of financial hardship based on multi-criteria methods, which contributes to solving the problems of the social sustainability and economic development of the countries employing different research methods. The proposed methodology provides a possibility of moving to a higher level of research comparing the countries as a whole, in line to the current status of FH. The actual benefits of the carried out research arise from the opportunity to envisage targeted measures for increasing social sustainability subject to the specific situation of the financial hardship of the countries thus removing the burdens of further economic development.