The infectious pneumonia caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread rapidly worldwide, crippling the global tourism industry’s development and operations. In Hong Kong, where tourism is a pillar industry, the hotel industry is essential to maintaining a stable economy. Facing multiple forms of pressure, the industry’s status deserves close attention. More than 200 hotels in Hong Kong were taken as the research set in this study. A Python-based web crawler was used to collect daily hotel prices from various online travel agencies. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation analysis, and descriptive analysis were employed to study hotels’ room rate fluctuations over time. Results indicated that room rates across hotels in Hong Kong were primarily influenced by holidays and festivities prior to COVID-19, whereas rates tended to decline after the outbreak. Data analysis based on hotels’ star ratings revealed that 5-star hotels were relatively less affected by COVID-19 while 4- and 4.5-star hotels were most seriously affected. District-level analysis also showed that hotel room rates were differentially influenced by the virus: Hong Kong’s Islands district was hit hardest, followed by Kowloon. These findings offer valuable implications for hotel managers and relevant government departments in making rational decisions based on the current market state. Full article

Researchers developing pervious pavements over the past few decades have commendably demonstrated long-term run-off reduction using a diverse collection of materials. Today, pervious pavements are widely recognized as a low impact development technique and a type of green infrastructure, and installations are proliferating throughout the United States and worldwide. The entire field of pervious pavements though, is being profoundly stunted by three persistent problems: conflicting nomenclature, flawed testing standards, and the absence of a holistic green design framework. This study examines each problem and proposes novel solutions. On nomenclature, a multi-channeled study of the terms “pervious”, “permeable”, and “porous” considers each word’s etymology and usage in the academic literature, in ASTM International standards, and by (U.S.-based) governmental entities. Support is found for using pervious pavements (i.e., “through” the “road”) as the over-arching category of all water passable pavements, branching down into porous pavements (i.e., “full of pores”, including porous asphalt and porous concrete) and permeable pavements (i.e., “containing passages”, often between paver units). ASTM International standards are shown to insufficiently account for the impact of paver unit size on infiltration rate, warranting the development of a more reliable testing method featuring variable infiltration ring size, shape, and placement. Finally, a ten-part holistic green design framework is elucidated for use in assessing candidate pavements and engineering new pavements, contextualizing the latest pervious pavement research and illuminating a brighter path forward. Full article

A large part of the global brick manufacturing industry has evolved based on knowledge transmitted from generation to generation without developing a consistent scientific approach. The purpose of this article is to contribute to this approach by discussing the state-of-the-art and future trends of the design and construction of artisan brick kilns (ABK). The methodology proposed for this study is based on a systematic literature review whereby main question is: What research exists on brick kilns? Based on the results of this review, it is recommended that appropriate emerging technologies that should be incorporated to ABKs for either medium or small enterprises should be: mechanical fans, envelope thermal insulation, organic waste of uniform size as fuel, automatic control of process variables and computer simulations of phenomenological processes. This should be accompanied by technical training for the brick-makers and greater access to financing funds. The technologies reviewed throughout the paper will allow for a more thermally efficient design of kilns, which will emit less hazardous greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants. Full article

This study explores the decision-making process of tourists visiting Guilin, China as an ecotourism destination. An extended model of goal-directed behavior with the inclusion of place attachment and destination image is employed to understand tourists’ revisit intention. This study finds several substantial variables that contribute to leading the behavioral intention of tourists. Results reveal that tourist attitude, positive anticipated emotion, and perceived behavioral control positively influence desire. Tourist desire to visit a destination is an important predictor of behavioral intention, and desire plays a substantial mediating role between attitude, positive anticipated emotion, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention. The image of an ecotourism destination is an important antecedent of attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. The destination image indirectly influences behavioral intention through attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Destination image also has a direct effect on place attachment, which in turn influences behavioral intention. Findings provide a theoretical framework of understanding tourist behavior and contribute guidelines for developing sustainable ecotourism for central and local governments. Full article

Contemporary society demands a university education based on active and participatory educational models that enable the development of competences, with digital competence being amongst the most demanded ones. This work presents the results of an educational innovation at the university level. It intends to analyse whether the implementation of an active methodology supported by technological tools in a virtual classroom contributes to students’ digital development. A quantitative methodology with a pre-experimental pretest-posttest design was used. The sample comprised 30 students studying the Curriculum Design module on the Biology and Geology Specialism of the Master’s in Teacher Training at the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja. The results show an improvement in the five areas of the digital competence specified by the Common Framework for Teachers’ Digital Competence (MCCDD) established by Spain’s National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training (INTEF), with a large effect size. It is concluded that the educational experiment implemented has enabled an increment in the level of digital competence of future teachers. Full article

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is prioritized in UN sustainable development goals (SDG) target 12.3 to contribute to “ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”. It is expected to significantly improve global food security and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Identifying “hotspots” from different perspectives of sustainability helps to prioritize the food items for which interventions can lead to the largest reduction of FLW-related impacts. Existing studies in this field have limitations, such as having incomplete geographical and food commodity coverage, using outdated data, and focusing on the mass of FLW instead of its nutrient values. To provide renewed and more informative insights, we conducted a global hotspot analysis concerning FLW with its associated GHG emissions and protein losses using the most recent data (the new FAO Food Balance Sheets updated in 2020). The findings of this research are that there were 1.9 Gt of FLW, 2.5 Gt of associated GHG emissions, and 0.1 Gt of associated protein losses globally in 2017. The results of the FLW amounts, GHG emissions, and protein losses per chain link are given on the scale of the entire world and continental regions. Next to this, food items with relatively high FLW, GHG emissions, and protein losses are highlighted to provide the implications to policymakers for better decision making. For example, fruits and vegetables contribute the most to global FLW volumes, but the product with the highest FLW-associated GHG emissions is bovine meat. For bovine meat, FLW-associated GHG emissions are highest at the consumer stage of North America and Oceania. Oil crops are the major source of protein losses in the global food chain. Another important finding with policy implications is that priorities for FLW reduction vary, dependent on prioritized sustainability criteria (e.g., GHG emissions versus protein losses). Full article

This study contributes to the employability skills debate by investigating how students’ self-perceived 21st century skills relate to the self-perceived fit between their higher education curriculum and their future labor market for a sustainable entry to this labor market. Survey data from 4670 fourth-year students over a period of four years were analyzed. Furthermore, out of this group, 83 students were monitored longitudinally over their full educational student careers. Results showed a positive relationship between students’ self-perceived 21st century skills and their self-perceived “education-future labor market fit”. Among more recent cohorts, a significant improvement in their self-perceived 21st century skills was found. Overall, this study indicated that in order to deliver “employable” graduates, students need to be thoroughly trained in 21st century skills, and their development should be retained and expanded. This is one of the few studies that uses a vast amount of both cross-sectional and longitudinal data on skills and labor market perspectives among new graduates. Full article

Architecture and urbanism in the Arabian Gulf region, and specifically in the State of Qatar, offer many scenes to observe the loss of urban identity and cultural heritage in the various components of the built environment, including residential architecture. Many people attribute this to rapid development in globalization and the adoption of Western standardization in planning and design practice. Conversely, in the field of architectural sociology, scholars argue that socio-cultural factors such as privacy, gender segregation, and hospitality are the important variables for determining the spatial form of Islamic residential architecture. This research study aims to investigate the degree to which the shaping of the spatial form in a sample of Qatari vernacular courtyard houses embeds socio-cultural factors based on morphological analysis of human behavior and activities in domestic space. The study utilizes space syntax analysis to explore the spatial connectivity of four Qatari vernacular courtyard houses related to domestic functions as a realization of inhabitants’ system of activities and a manifestation of culture as a way of life. The study’s findings shed light on the spatial formation of Qatari vernacular courtyard houses as a realization of socio-cultural imperatives, thus reflecting the essence of societal formation in the domestic architecture of old Qatari settlements. The insights from this research study can help to contribute to a cultural heritage-framework for the preservation of distinctive Qatari Vernacular Residential Architecture based on the analytical criteria of housing spatial form, socio-cultural factors, and the interrelation between both. Full article

Political frameworks and policies have a strong influence on the institutional ecosystem and on governance patterns, which in turn shape the operational space of civil society initiatives. This article aims to explore the social and institutional conditions and policy initiatives that foster or hinder social innovation and the pathways leading from social innovation to institutional change through to actual impacts on policies and political frameworks, in order to understand how policymakers can encourage and enable social innovation. The article builds on an extensive empirical background to develop a heuristic model to facilitate decision making for a policy environment propitious for the emergence of social innovation. The resulting model sets up a triadic configuration of (i) a committed core of key actors, (ii) the benevolent shadow of hierarchy represented by public actors, and (iii) multifunctional and malleable intermediary support structures for a successful development of social innovation initiatives. The model is discussed and validated by reference to three in-depth case studies from differing institutional settings. We conclude that policy should recognize that social innovation will achieve most when the triadic relationships between the state, intermediary organizations, and local actors are working together synergistically. Full article

Plants and natural products have played a significant role in curing and preventing a variety of ailments occurring in humans and animals, and continue to provide new bioactive leads for researchers in therapeutic discovery. This study was conducted with the aim to identify and document local healers’ practices of treating human diseases and quantitatively document indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants, as well as to highlight the species of public interest for bioprospecting potential. A total of 17 field tours were carried out in 12 regions of Jasrota hill and its adjoining areas of Himalaya. Informants (113) were interviewed using semi-structured interviews and discussions and local guided collections. The results were analyzed using ethnobotanical indices—use-reports (URs) and the informant consensus factor (ICF)—and the data were statistically analyzed. The ethnopharmacological uses of 121 plant species belonging to 105 genera and 53 families were reported for use as medicine for treating 93 types of ailments. A total of 4987 URs were mentioned by 113 informants. Fabaceae (90.09%) and Asteraceae (6.62%) were the most represented families. Herbs (46.28%) were the primary sources of medicine, decoction (33.88%) was the most common use method for utilization, and leaves (43.80%) were the most frequently used plant parts. The ICF values ranged from 0.667 to 0.974, with the highest number of species (1314UR, 55 species) being used for the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments (GIA), followed by dermatological disorders (38 species). This result showed that the exchange of knowledge could be evident among the different communities, and their medicinal uses and practices could be correlated. Full article

This paper examines the effects of management functions on the performance of diverse teams working on projects in the Information Technology (IT) industry, as well as the impact of their performance on organizational sustainable performance. Grounded on organizational management and work team management specific empirical studies and literature, we clarified the content of management functions in the framework of teamwork and acknowledged manners to express the performance of teams distinguished through diversity, as well the most relevant positive effects of team results on organizational performance. On the above basis, we built the online questionnaire. The study involved 189 respondents, who work either in Romania or in the Czech Republic on IT field specific projects. Empirical results show that, individually, some management functions are connected with co-workers’ and teams’ performance, while others are not, but considered together, in interdependence with joint effects, they influence the team’s performance and the organization’s performance from the perspective of its sustainable strategic competencies. Full article

The capital structure decision is one of the most vital financial decisions of the corporation that consists of determining the optimal combination of equity and debt for the companies that would reduce the cost of capital. The examination of the capital structure has always gained importance especially in the theoretical and empirical studies while there is no study of the relationship between the environmental, social, and governance (ESG), the ownership structure, and the cost of capital. In this context, this paper aims to examine the potential impacts of the ESG disclosure and ownership structure on the cost of capital by using a sample of 30 companies listed on the UAE financial markets (Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange and Dubai Financial Market) during the period 2010–2019. The data show that there is an increasing trend in the different non-financial corporate disclosures. The empirical results of various models show that the ESG disclosure, the insider and the institutional ownerships have negative and significant impacts on the cost of capital. Furthermore, the environmental and the governance disclosures reduce the cost of capital. This paper demonstrates the strong role played by the ESG disclosure and the ownership structure in reducing the cost of capital for the companies. These results would encourage the companies in implementing the best practices of the non-financial disclosures and regulating their corporate governance mechanisms. Full article

Eating behaviors and food consumption motivations have been important research topics in consumer, nutrition, and food literature. This study aims to examine the impact of some key factors (i.e., nationalism, materialism, cultural values, and promotion focus) on the consumption of traditional food and fast food in an emerging market. Using a sample data of 691 urban consumers in China, results of structural equation modeling reveal that nationalism appears to be an important predictor of traditional personal value, while materialism is a major factor that enhances modern personal value. Additionally, promotion focus has a positive mediating effect on the relationship between traditional personal value and traditional food purchase intention and that between modern personal value and fast food purchase intention. Notably, the total effect of modern personal value on fast food purchase intention is stronger than the total impact of traditional personal value on traditional food purchase intention. This study provides fresh insights into motivations for traditional food and fast food consumption in China and have important implications for food marketers and policymakers who aim at promoting favorable eating behaviors. Full article

Atmospheric plastic pollution is now a global problem. Microplastics (MP) have been detected in urban atmospheres as well as in remote and pristine environments, showing that suspension, deposition and aeolian transport of MP should be included and considered as a major transport pathway in the plastic life cycle. This work reports an up to date review of the experimental estimation of deposition rate of MP in rural and urban environment, also analyzing the correlation with meteorological factors. Due to the limitations in sampling and instrumental methodology, little is known about MP and nanoplastics (NP) with sizes lower than 50 µm. In this review, we describe how NP could be transported for longer distances than MP, making them globally present and potentially more concentrated than MP. We highlight that it is crucial to explore new methodologies to collect and analyze NP. Future research should focus on the development of new technologies, combining the existent knowledge on nanomaterial and atmospheric particle analysis. Full article

This paper analyzes the effects of: (i) Food values on their related benefits (hedonic and utilitarian); (ii) both kinds of benefits on attitudes toward eating hamburgers; and (iii) attitudes on purchase intention. To this end, we adapted the food values scale to the context of fast-food hamburger restaurants. Data were collected from a survey of 512 Mexican consumers and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that the strongest influences are those exerted by food values, first, on hedonic benefits and, second, on utilitarian benefits. In contrast, the weakest influence is that exerted by utilitarian benefits on attitudes, followed by that exerted by hedonic benefits on attitudes. Among other findings, this study highlights the importance consumers give to the taste and safety of food, as well as the greater importance given to hedonic benefits compared to utilitarian ones. These findings have several important implications for managers in the industry. Full article