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Sustainability, Volume 8, Issue 11

2016 November - 129 articles

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Articles (129)

  • Article
  • Open Access
16 Citations
8,960 Views
25 Pages

23 November 2016

Water pollution has become a global problem and its impact on the health of the human population is growing day by day. This study aims to assess the pollution of the Cibin River (Romania) by a physicochemical analysis. Water samples have been collec...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilience to Natural and Man-Made Disasters)
  • Article
  • Open Access
1,048 Citations
83,231 Views
18 Pages

Implementation of Circular Economy Business Models by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): Barriers and Enablers

  • Vasileios Rizos,
  • Arno Behrens,
  • Wytze Van der Gaast,
  • Erwin Hofman,
  • Anastasia Ioannou,
  • Terri Kafyeke,
  • Alexandros Flamos,
  • Roberto Rinaldi,
  • Sotiris Papadelis and
  • Corrado Topi
  • + 1 author

23 November 2016

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly aware of the benefits of closing loops and improving resource efficiency, such as saving material costs, creating competitive advantages, and accessing new markets. At the same time, however,...

  • Article
  • Open Access
12 Citations
10,298 Views
25 Pages

23 November 2016

Innovative technology has made it possible to dramatically change the social and economic environment. In particular, 5G mobile communication technology that radically improves the performance of current technology can renew urban infrastructure, pub...

(This article belongs to the Section Energy Sustainability)
  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
6,038 Views
17 Pages

22 November 2016

Due to the multiple impacts of landform effects, spatial heterogeneity and land use policies, farmland dynamics in mountainous areas are complicated. This study investigated farmland dynamics based on land use data from a typical mountainous area, Pa...

  • Article
  • Open Access
30 Citations
7,276 Views
12 Pages

Capturing Agroecosystem Vulnerability and Resilience

  • Jeroen C. J. Groot,
  • José Cortez-Arriola,
  • Walter A. H. Rossing,
  • Ricardo D. Améndola Massiotti and
  • Pablo Tittonell

22 November 2016

Vulnerability and resilience are two crucial attributes of social-ecological systems that are used for analyzing the response to disturbances. We assess these properties in relation to agroecosystem buffer capacity and adaptive capacity, which depend...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Agriculture)
  • Article
  • Open Access
8 Citations
5,796 Views
23 Pages

22 November 2016

The Energy Performance Certification (EPC) of existing residential buildings has been designed to introduce energy efficiency as a comparative criterion for real-estate purchase choices, which should influence real-estate market value and stimulate e...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Energy Regions—Drivers and Barriers to the Implementation of Low Carbon Technologies at a Regional Scale)
  • Article
  • Open Access
7 Citations
6,865 Views
17 Pages

Airline Sustainability Modeling: A New Framework with Application of Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling

  • Hashem Salarzadeh Jenatabadi,
  • Peyman Babashamsi,
  • Datis Khajeheian and
  • Nader Seyyed Amiri

22 November 2016

There are many factors which could influence the sustainability of airlines. The main purpose of this study is to introduce a framework for a financial sustainability index and model it based on structural equation modeling (SEM) with maximum likelih...

  • Article
  • Open Access
79 Citations
25,085 Views
25 Pages

Sustainability and Convergence: The Future of Corporate Governance Systems?

  • Daniela M. Salvioni,
  • Francesca Gennari and
  • Luisa Bosetti

22 November 2016

In today’s world, a sustainable approach to corporate governance can be a source of competitive advantage and a long-term success factor for any firm. Sustainable governance requires that the board of directors considers economic, social and environm...

(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
8,707 Views
18 Pages

22 November 2016

Though uncertainties of input variables may have significant implications on building simulations, they are quite often not identified, quantified, or included in building simulations results. This paper considers climatic deterministic, uncertainty,...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Assessments of Buildings)
  • Article
  • Open Access
61 Citations
21,258 Views
13 Pages

22 November 2016

Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has enacted a food waste recycling policy since 2003 as an alternative of landfill and incineration for the final disposal of municipal solid waste. Recycled food waste is currently seen as a val...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Waste Management and Utilization)
  • Article
  • Open Access
75 Citations
9,715 Views
19 Pages

21 November 2016

In fast-growing cities, especially large cities in developing countries, land use types are changing rapidly, and different types of land use are mixed together. It is difficult to assess the land use types in these fast-growing cities in a timely an...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Urban and Rural Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
6,178 Views
19 Pages

20 November 2016

In the context of energy crisis, environmental pollution, and energy abandoning in the large-scale centralized clean energy generation, distributed energy has become an inevitable trend in the development of China’s energy system. Distributed photovo...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Photovoltaic Electricity)
  • Article
  • Open Access
30 Citations
14,302 Views
14 Pages

The Ethical City: A Rationale for an Urgent New Urban Agenda

  • Brendan F. D. Barrett,
  • Ralph Horne and
  • John Fien

19 November 2016

The ethical city, in contrast to many other adjectives used to describe our cities, implies an approach to urban development that is about doing the right thing for and by urban citizens. Acknowledging the rich traditions of urban development studies...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Urban and Rural Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
28 Citations
10,086 Views
13 Pages

Reputation, Game Theory and Entrepreneurial Sustainability

  • Juan Pineiro-Chousa,
  • Marcos Vizcaíno-González and
  • M. Ángeles López-Cabarcos

19 November 2016

Abstract: This manuscript provides a novel approach to reputational management as a driver of entrepreneurial sustainability, using game theory to integrate three dimensions of reputation. First, if the entrepreneur perceives reputation as a risk sou...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurial Sustainability: New Innovative Knowledge)
  • Review
  • Open Access
40 Citations
7,317 Views
25 Pages

19 November 2016

The interest of scientists and companies in understanding the business implications of environmental investment is timely; however, a dilemma remains at the firm level: is the environment a “strategic competitive factor”, as in the “Porter point of v...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurial Sustainability: New Innovative Knowledge)
  • Article
  • Open Access
48 Citations
8,944 Views
25 Pages

Emerging Development Pathways of Urban Livestock Production in Rapidly Growing West Africa Cities

  • Regina Roessler,
  • Serge E. Mpouam,
  • Tichaona Muchemwa and
  • Eva Schlecht

19 November 2016

In this study, we try to capture the degree of specialization or integration, and of intensification or extensification, of (peri-) urban livestock production, along with the factors that influence such decisions and their impact on natural resource...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture and Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
31 Citations
11,983 Views
14 Pages

18 November 2016

With the improvement of China’s high-speed rail network, there have been many economic and social benefits for local residents. Based on a questionnaire conducted in stations on the Beijing-Shanghai line, and through an analysis of high-speed rail pa...

  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
5,361 Views
15 Pages

18 November 2016

Fresh water and arable land are essential for agricultural production and food processing. However, managing conflicting demands over water and land can be challenging for business leaders, environmentalists and other stakeholders. This paper charact...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How does Market Demand for Sustainability Shape Business Strategies? Exploring Innovation Paths in Agribusiness)
  • Article
  • Open Access
26 Citations
7,424 Views
14 Pages

18 November 2016

We explored the process of urbanization in a mountainous area to seek a sustainable urbanization strategy. Previous urbanization research has mainly focused on flat terrain and coastal areas, and urbanization in mountainous areas remains poorly under...

  • Article
  • Open Access
9 Citations
9,571 Views
18 Pages

18 November 2016

This study explores how earlier (vs. later) adopters of innovation differ in time perception and creative attitudes, comparing Chinese and US college students. Research on the perception of time and creative attitudes is useful to understand how sust...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Open Innovation Capabilities of Firms for Value Chain Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
23 Citations
6,396 Views
17 Pages

18 November 2016

Income status is an important variable that is strongly associated with certain commuting behaviours of workers. This paper presents new evidence on how polycentric development impacts on workers’ commuting behaviour among various income groups in Be...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Urban and Rural Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
23 Citations
5,549 Views
15 Pages

18 November 2016

A large amount of cultivated lands in China is occupied by vacant residential areas, thereby wasting land resources and placing local food security at risk. Therefore, transforming vacant rural residential land back to its previous form is urgently r...

  • Article
  • Open Access
25 Citations
5,532 Views
32 Pages

18 November 2016

Accurate quantification and characterization of a wind energy potential assessment and forecasting is significant to optimal wind farm design, evaluation and scheduling. However, wind energy potential assessment and forecasting remain difficult and c...

  • Article
  • Open Access
26 Citations
6,888 Views
12 Pages

18 November 2016

A pilot regional carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) has been implemented in China for more than two years. An investigation into the impacts of different factors on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission allowance prices provides guidance for price-making i...

(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
9,705 Views
18 Pages

18 November 2016

Increases in agricultural commodity price triggered by ethanol production and other socioeconomic conditions have dramatically affected land uses and agronomic practices in the U.S. This study used crop-specific land cover data from the U.S. Departme...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land and Food Policy)
  • Article
  • Open Access
15 Citations
6,371 Views
10 Pages

18 November 2016

Swap is a financial contract between two counterparties who agree to exchange one cash flow stream for another, according to some predetermined rules. When the cash flows are fixed rate interest and floating rate interest, the swap is called an inter...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Economic and Management Systems: Perspectives of Uncertainty and Data Driven Optimization)
  • Article
  • Open Access
64 Citations
10,800 Views
16 Pages

17 November 2016

Spring Festival travel rush is a phenomenon in China that population travel intensively surges in a short time around Chinese Spring Festival. This phenomenon, which is a special one in the urbanization process of China, brings a large traffic burden...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Urban and Rural Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
38 Citations
11,423 Views
20 Pages

17 November 2016

In automotive and electronics supply chains, sustainability assessment is gaining increasing importance. More stringent regulations and growing customer pressure are driving the change towards more environmentally, socially and economically responsib...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Supply Chain Management)
  • Article
  • Open Access
19 Citations
22,289 Views
17 Pages

16 November 2016

Urban megaprojects change the city in various ways over a long period of time. These changes may be very clear and calculable, but it is the changes that follow which are unpredictable and extensive. Especially in fast-changing cities like Seoul, Kor...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Urban and Rural Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
31 Citations
6,238 Views
13 Pages

Assessment of Reclamation Treatments of Abandoned Farmland in an Arid Region of China

  • Haichang Yang,
  • Fenghua Zhang,
  • Yun Chen,
  • Tingbao Xu,
  • Zhibo Cheng and
  • Jing Liang

16 November 2016

Reclamation of abandoned farmland is crucial to a sustainable agriculture in arid regions. This study aims to evaluate the impact of different reclamation treatments on abandoned salinized farmland. We investigated four artificial reclamation treatme...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Agriculture)
  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
6,177 Views
21 Pages

16 November 2016

The objective of this study is to seek better policy options for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in Korea’s international aviation industry by analyzing economic efficiency and environmental effectiveness with a system dynamics (SD) model. Ac...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Monitoring and Sustainable Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
52 Citations
8,427 Views
12 Pages

16 November 2016

This paper evaluates life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of different biomass feedstock categories (agriculture residues, dedicated energy crops, forestry, industry, parks and gardens, wastes) independently on biomass-only (biomass...

  • Article
  • Open Access
11 Citations
6,693 Views
18 Pages

16 November 2016

Recently, land use and land cover change have received increased attention, and an approach is required that can assess agricultural land use intensity on a general basis. This study demonstrated the usefulness of a tool for characterizing and assess...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Mountains Region)
  • Article
  • Open Access
41 Citations
9,688 Views
16 Pages

16 November 2016

Over the past decades, urban growth boundaries (UGBs) have been regarded as effective tools applied by planners and local governments to curb urban sprawl and guide urban smart growth. The UGBs help limit urban development to suitable areas and prote...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Ecosystems and Society in the Context of Big and New Data)
  • Article
  • Open Access
6 Citations
6,001 Views
20 Pages

15 November 2016

Recent theoretical analysis and empirical studies have emphasized that firms’ innovation could significantly improve export growth. However, the positive effect of innovation on exports is likely to change due to unstable domestic offsetting for inno...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development of Chinese Economy—In Search of New Sources of Growth: A Sustainable Approach)
  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
6,782 Views
18 Pages

15 November 2016

While urbanization brings economic and social benefits, it also causes water pollution and other environmental ecological problems. This paper provides a theoretical framework to quantitatively analyze the dynamic relationship between water resource...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Urban and Rural Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
23 Citations
8,278 Views
21 Pages

Land Degradation Monitoring in the Ordos Plateau of China Using an Expert Knowledge and BP-ANN-Based Approach

  • Yaojie Yue,
  • Min Li,
  • A-xing Zhu,
  • Xinyue Ye,
  • Rui Mao,
  • Jinhong Wan and
  • Jin Dong

13 November 2016

Land degradation monitoring is of vital importance to provide scientific information for promoting sustainable land utilization. This paper presents an expert knowledge and BP-ANN-based approach to detect and monitor land degradation in an effort to...

  • Article
  • Open Access
31 Citations
7,188 Views
15 Pages

12 November 2016

Developing public transportation and giving priority to buses is a feasible solution for improving the level of public transportation service, which facilitates congestion alleviation and prevention, and contributes to urban development and city sust...

(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Engineering and Science)
  • Article
  • Open Access
44 Citations
15,888 Views
21 Pages

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

  • Ana María González,
  • Harrison Sandoval,
  • Pilar Acosta and
  • Felipe Henao

12 November 2016

Rapid population growth and increasing concern related to improving the living standards in impoverished communities without damaging the natural environment have drawn attention to the adoption of renewable energy systems (RES) around the world. Des...

(This article belongs to the Section Energy Sustainability)
  • Article
  • Open Access
2 Citations
5,392 Views
18 Pages

Computational Fluid Dynamic Modelling of Thermal Periodic Stabilized Regime in Passive Buildings

  • Fabio Nardecchia,
  • Benedetta Mattoni,
  • Francesca Pagliaro,
  • Lucia Cellucci,
  • Fabio Bisegna and
  • Franco Gugliermetti

12 November 2016

The periodic stabilized regime is the condition where the temperature of each point of a certain environment varies following a periodic law. This phenomenon occurs in many practical applications, such as passive or ancient buildings not equipped wit...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 16th CIRIAF National Congress – Sustainable Development, Environment and Human Health Protection)
  • Article
  • Open Access
48 Citations
9,242 Views
10 Pages

A Pro-Environmental Reasoned Action Model for Measuring Citizens’ Intentions regarding Ecolabel Product Usage

  • Reny Nadlifatin,
  • Shu-Chiang Lin,
  • Yulia Puspa Rachmaniati,
  • Satria Fadil Persada and
  • Mohammad Razif

11 November 2016

Ecolabel products are one approach towards environmental sustainability. Ecolabel programs have been socialized by governments all over the world to reduce environmental harm caused by the daily life cycles of the products that citizens use. The pres...

(This article belongs to the Section Environmental Sustainability and Applications)
  • Article
  • Open Access
53 Citations
13,250 Views
15 Pages

Optimization of Cellulase and Xylanase Production by Micrococcus Species under Submerged Fermentation

  • Ziyanda Mmango-Kaseke,
  • Kunle Okaiyeto,
  • Uchechukwu U. Nwodo,
  • Leonard V. Mabinya and
  • Anthony I. Okoh

11 November 2016

This paper reports on the optimization of culture conditions for cellulase and xylanase production by bacterial isolate from lignocellulosic biomass. The bacterial isolate was screened for cellulase and xylanase production on carboxyl methyl cellulos...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Solid Waste Management)
  • Article
  • Open Access
53 Citations
9,201 Views
16 Pages

11 November 2016

A tailored model for the assessment of environmental benefits achievable by “light-weighting” in the automotive field is presented. The model is based on the Fuel Reduction Value (FRV) coefficient, which expresses the Fuel Consumption (FC) saving inv...

  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
8,873 Views
15 Pages

Marketing Green Fertilizers: Insights into Consumer Preferences

  • Johannes Dahlin,
  • Verena Halbherr,
  • Peter Kurz,
  • Michael Nelles and
  • Carsten Herbes

11 November 2016

In an effort to support the long-term viability of the bioenergy industry through an end market for digestate, we investigated purchasing preferences for fertilizer product features in the home gardening market. We conducted a discrete choice experim...

(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
5,271 Views
13 Pages

11 November 2016

Presently, China’s social development is facing the dilemma of supporting economic growth and reducing emissions. Therefore, it is crucial to analyse productivity growth and examine its relationship with influencing factors in China. This study evalu...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution Monitoring and Sustainable Development)
  • Article
  • Open Access
100 Citations
12,152 Views
17 Pages

A Meta-Model of Inter-Organisational Cooperation for the Transition to a Circular Economy

  • Alessandro Ruggieri,
  • Alessio Maria Braccini,
  • Stefano Poponi and
  • Enrico Maria Mosconi

10 November 2016

The transition to a circular economy bodes well for a future of environmentally sustainable growth and economic development. The implications and advantages of a shift to a circular economy have been extensively demonstrated by the literature on the...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quality and Innovation for a Circular Economy and a Sustainable Future)
  • Article
  • Open Access
18 Citations
5,612 Views
20 Pages

10 November 2016

Behavior that has changed following promotion campaigns is usually not maintained at its initial level. Psychosocial factors for initiating behavior are often not the same as for the continuation of health behaviors such as water treatment and are mu...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development of Sanitation, Water Supply and Solid Waste in Low-and Middle Income Settings)
  • Article
  • Open Access
24 Citations
5,548 Views
15 Pages

10 November 2016

Coupled with green house effects, the urban heat island is occurring more frequently, and thus is becoming a serious social problem. In order to elicit policy implications, the current study assesses the economic values on the heat island-mitigating...

(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
  • Article
  • Open Access
75 Citations
10,513 Views
14 Pages

Consumers’ Sense of Farmers’ Markets: Tasting Sustainability or Just Purchasing Food?

  • Elisa Giampietri,
  • Dieter B. A. Koemle,
  • Xiaohua Yu and
  • Adele Finco

10 November 2016

Sustainable food consumption has attracted widespread attention over the last decades by scholars, policy makers and consumers. In line with this, farmers’ markets (FMs) have the potential to encourage sustainable agricultural production and consumpt...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue How does Market Demand for Sustainability Shape Business Strategies? Exploring Innovation Paths in Agribusiness)
  • Article
  • Open Access
4 Citations
6,893 Views
14 Pages

10 November 2016

Despite the growing importance of identifying new business items for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), most previous studies focus on conglomerates. The paucity of empirical studies has also led to limited real-life applications. Hence, this study...

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Open Innovation Capabilities of Firms for Value Chain Development)

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