World, Volume 3, Issue 3 (September 2022) – 21 articles

It is not simple to consider the world from only one side, but analyzing all sides can cloud comprehension without reaching deep insight found at the core. In a word as a whole, there is potential for telling the whole world in one word, i.e., data, leading to interpretations as phenomena and paradigms at the core of this review. The tug of war between the two sides explains that data represent the world, or vice versa, and present a fundamental view that systems or subsystems frame the world, even though they are encoded and composed of culture, rules, or approaches such as the threshold of democracy. When the COVID-19 pandemic posed a threat, human efforts contributed to finding potentially answers to questions presented by the world: what, who, where, when, why, and how (5 wh); a calling in the form of a challenge, where facts show something. All these questions resulted in research, education, and service activities, with their respective data frameworks producing results. This paper aims to reveal the meaning of the outcomes through an observation from an outside perspective. Therefore, like COVID-19 and its vaccines, the assertion of convexity and concave contradictions in the treatment of data leads to a mutually conjugate treatment of data. In this regard, statistics and artificial intelligence play separate and complementary roles. Full article

Agriculture is a vital sector in Morocco through its contribution to the gross domestic product (13%) and workforce (30%). However, the sector faces important sustainability challenges due to Morocco’s dependence on rain-fed crops for 90% of the production and its vulnerability to climate change. In this context, organic agriculture presents itself as a promising alternative to valorize production and mitigate climate change effects. This article describes the dynamics and development of the organic agriculture niche in Morocco through the lens of the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions. The MLP is a widely used framework that bases its analysis on transitions being the result of the interaction of niches, socio-technical regimes, and socio-technical landscape. Results of the literature review and semi-structured interviews show that, although the organic niche is relatively well established (11,000 ha of organic land area in 2019), it is still developing at a slower rate than expected due to multiple setbacks. While organic farming does solve many sustainability challenges that Moroccan agriculture faces, it still lacks the infrastructure and human capital to succeed as a niche. All in all, organic farming is still in the first transition stages and can follow a multitude of pathways before becoming relevant in the current agri-food system. Full article

Today, life cycle assessment (LCA) is the most widely used approach to model and calculate the environmental impacts of products and processes. The results of LCAs are often said to be deterministic, even though the real-life applications are uncertain and vague. The uncertainty, which may be simply ignored, is one of the key factors influencing the reliability of LCA outcomes. Numerous sources of uncertainty in LCA are classified in various ways, such as parameter and model uncertainty, choices, spatial variability, temporal variability, variability between sources and objects, etc. Through a scoping review, the present study aims to identify and assess the frequency with which LCA studies reflect the uncertainty and what are the tools to cope with the uncertainty to map the knowledge gaps in the field to reveal the challenges and opportunities to have a robust LCA model. It is also investigated which database, methodology, software, etc., have been used in the life cycle assessment process. The results indicate that the most significant sources of uncertainty were in the model and process parameters, data variability, and the use of different methodologies and databases. The probabilistic approach or stochastic modeling, using numerical methods such as Monte Carlo simulation, was the dominating tool to cope with the uncertainty. There were four dominant LCA methodologies: CML, ReCiPe, IMPACT 2002+, and TRACI. The most commonly used LCA software and databases were SimaPro^® and Ecoinvent^®, respectively. Full article

Australia’s construction industry throughout the last two decades has seen an increase in the number of women pursuing careers. The percentage it has increased by between 1998 and 2020 is a disappointing 0.2% despite the research, strategies, and initiatives the Australian Government has implemented during the interval. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and support the legislative notion of required gender percentages on tendering documents and how this change could increase the number of women in public projects. A systematic literature review of scholarly sources from the database Scopus was applied to develop a thematic analysis of women in the industry. The results found four themes: underrepresentation, barriers to career, education pathways, and opportunities for employment. These themes reinforced the need to introduce legislation such as gender requirements for public projects. Connections made were that gender legislation would increase the number of job opportunities, more jobs would encourage all levels of education to promote women in construction, more women in construction would improve their underrepresentation, and thus make women-centric problems in the workforce a more common issue and more likely to improve. The paper concludes that to see an increase in the number of women in Australia’s construction industry, the government must take enforceable legislative change. This change must start by creating legislation that requires organisations that want to tender with the government to have a minimum percentage of women in any proposed public works submission before it can be awarded. Full article

The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the worst global crisis, having a considerable influence on the economy of individual states and whole regions. The present paper focuses on the evaluation of macroeconomic indicators influencing the economic development of selected EU countries due to the pandemic situation. The evaluation focuses on the Visegrad group countries through the TOPSIS method, providing a way to find out the best and the worst economic situation of the evaluated countries. Based on the results of the selected indicators in the countries, we found the trend of the economic development in the analyzed period, characterized by development disparities. According to the analyzed data, we constructed the order of the economic development in the countries. The results serve for the prediction of the economic development in the EU due to the pandemic situation from the perspective of the GDP and employment trend, as well as for the creation of future monetary and fiscal policies in the states. The results could also serve for possible scenarios of future pandemic impacts on the economies. Full article

Corporate training is currently more flexible and acts as an accelerator in the field of training. The object of the current research is the system of education in corporate universities. The purpose of the work is to analyze the possibilities and experience of evaluating the effectiveness of training at a corporate university in order to identify tools that can be used to evaluate various performance indicators and to determine which of them can be transferred to other educational organizations. Possible shortcomings of the implementation of corporate training in the format of a corporate university as a separate legal entity are shown. To achieve this goal, we have identified suitable tools for evaluating the effectiveness of corporate training and evaluating its applicability in practice. As a result, the authors determined that the assessment of the effectiveness of corporate training in terms of indicators of the 1st and 2nd levels of the Kirkpatrick methodology can be easily carried out using various tools. Corporate universities usually use the necessary surveys during and after training for this purpose. The authors proposed to apply various methods of post-program support using appropriate educational technologies and mandatory assessment of participants sometime after training. Full article

In smallholder dairy-cattle farming, identifying positive deviants that attain outstanding performance can inform targeted improvements in typical, comparable farms under similar environmental stresses. Mostly, positive deviants are identified subjectively, introducing bias and limiting generalisation. The aim of the study was to objectively identify positive deviant farms using the Pareto-optimality ranking technique in a sample of smallholder dairy farms under contrasting stressful environments in Tanzania to test the hypothesis that positive deviant farms that simultaneously outperform typical farms in multiple performance indicators also outperform in yield gap, productivity and livelihood benefits. The selection criteria set five performance indicators: energy balance ≥ 0.35 Mcal NEL/d, disease-incidence density ≤ 12.75 per 100 animal-years at risk, daily milk yield ≥ 6.32 L/cow/day, age at first calving ≤ 1153.28 days and calving interval ≤ 633.68 days. Findings proved the hypothesis. A few farms (27: 3.4%) emerged as positive deviants, outperforming typical farms in yield gap, productivity and livelihood benefits. The estimated yield gap in typical farms was 76.88% under low-stress environments and 48.04% under high-stress environments. On average, total cash income, gross margins and total benefits in dairy farming were higher in positive deviants than in typical farms in both low- and high-stress environments. These results show that the Pareto-optimality ranking technique applied in a large population objectively identified a few positive deviant farms that attained higher productivity and livelihood benefits in both low- and high-stress environments. However, positive deviants invested more in inputs. With positive deviant farms objectively identified, it is possible to characterise management practices that they deploy differently from typical farms and learn lessons to inform the uptake of best practices and extension messages to be directed to improving dairy management. Full article

Globalization has taken place for several decades and the world has become a connected place. As researchers are on the frontline to explore world (or global) issues, it is crucial to understand what research has been done and what the emerging topics relating to social, political, economic, and environmental dimensions are. This study investigates the trend and emerging topics of world (or global) issues using a bibliometric approach. A literature search using Scopus identified 1201 related documents, including journal articles, review articles, conference articles, books, and book chapters published during the period 1975–2022. Bibliometric data were analyzed using Scopus tools and VOSviewer software. Results show that the number of publications on world (or global) issues has increased over the last five decades, particularly after 2001. Two major streams of research were identified based on co-occurrence of keywords. They were “sustainable development and climate change”, and “environmental protection, economics, and politics”. Additionally, corporate social responsibility, governance approach, and COVID-19 were identified as emerging keywords in recent years. Full article

With the changes that have taken place in energy-related technologies, the United States has been less affected by the geopolitical risks associated with the supply of fossil fuel energy resources, especially crude oil. When the price of oil is low, the geopolitical situation of U.S. energy contrasts with that of other oil-producing countries, which are facing financial pressure due to low oil prices and a high domestic energy demand. Many other countries have been supplying crude oil compared to half a century ago, reducing the strategic importance of major oil exporters, such as key OPEC members in the Persian Gulf. The shale oil revolution in the United States and the transition of energy in countries around the world to more sustainable energy sources, especially renewable energy, have reduced the importance of security in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf for U.S. politicians, which will be intensified in the future. Especially from the middle of the Carter administration period, U.S. politicians saw the security of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf as a prerequisite for securing energy supplies for the U.S. economy, but that has changed. Despite the disruption of Russia’s fossil fuel energy supply, as one of the main energy suppliers, due to sanctions from February 2022, the global energy carriers’ prices are relatively under control. Energy transition is one of the main contributors to lowering the impact of fossil fuel energy supply disruptions on the global economy. Full article

Energy is a pivotal element for overall development. Therefore, affordable and clean energy for all (Sustainable Development Goal 7) is one of the important elements. Despite a suitable approach, Kyrgyzstan lags behind to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Improving access to energy can significantly impact the progress of many other sustainable development targets. However, access to reliable, sustainable, and adequate energy is a crucial task in rural Kyrgyzstan. Taking into consideration the energy situation and the importance of the availability of energy services, the overarching aim of the presented article is to map the potential of improving rural energy services to foster overall sustainable development goals. The article presents the most relevant information about rural energy usage behaviour based on three primary pillars: energy demand, energy carrier, and energy sources. In addition, the presented research article synthesises the key driving factors which have a direct or indirect impact on the energy services in rural areas. The summarised data displays a deep insight into a variety of complex and dynamic household energy consumption patterns. The article provides a potential solution nexus to foster improved energy services in rural Kyrgyzstan and therefore to foster the overall sustainable development in Kyrgyzstan. The findings of the article help to formulate a strategy to design rural energy services for policy makers and stockholders. Full article

This study identifies how aid has contributed to economic and social development in recipient African countries. Spatial panel models were employed for the analysis, considering spatial autocorrelation of panel data between 42 countries and nine years from 2005 to 2013. Based on the regression results, the aid itself had a weak impact on recipients’ GDP per capita and Human Development Index. On the other hand, according to the interaction term, aid promoted economic and social development along with affirmative government efficiency. The efficient and centralized administrative system and civic accountability also improved the aggregated well-being level in Africa. Full article

Many measures of international policies and support have dictated developing countries to upscale land areas of intact forestry, special biodiversity conservation site, and other wild reserves to half the land territory of the nation by 2050 for resulting environmental, and other benefits to global societies. The international initiations and work urged scholars to assess the potential impacts of the aggressive policy on forest-based communities and especially those living in institutionally and geo ecologically vulnerable areas. This study compiled the impacts of such international policy interventions on diverse affairs of the local community and national economies in Nepal and drew some conclusions on the well-being future of such forest-based communities. It explained that the international interventions in managing community-based resources induced serious disturbances in many local systems and resulted in vicious circles of emigration, income losses, social problems, psychological stresses, and food insecurities. The interventions have placed some communities and especially indigenous ethnic groups in the position either to be displaced from their ancestors’ homelands or suffer for generations. This study also explained some reinforcing phenomena that emerged from the external interventions which have placed situations of the resource impacting local communities adversely for years. It also investigated whether support of international agencies in policy formation and implementation for resource management safeguards the well-being of the resource-based communities. The agencies resulted in the best environmental and other benefits to foreign societies which have aggravated the misery of local communities, particularly the poor people, women, and indigenous ethnic communities. The adverse impacts on the local societies are not repercussions (accidentally or unknowingly happened). All these findings infer that the international policies of upscaling forests and wilderness areas or making conservation areas in half of their land territory, especially in developing societies for the global benefit, may place the lives of the forest-based communities in peril of suffering for generations or extirpating. Full article

The confinement measures implemented to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 disrupted daily life and increased the risk of poor mental and physical health. The COVID-19 pandemic also resulted in unprecedented disruptions to healthcare access due to both supply and demand factors, creating barriers to disease management. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the factors that influenced views on coping with confinement measures. For this study, we used data from the Eurobarometer 93.1. The sample consisted of 1016 individuals aged 15 years and over. The sample design was multi-staged and random (probability). For the purpose of the study, a multinomial logistic regression model was fitted and used views on the experience of coping with confinement measures as the outcome variable. Several demographic, health-related, and economic factors were used as independent variables. According to the results, residents of more densely populated areas, females, and individuals who consider their personal health an important issue had more negative views of their experience during confinement measures. This was also true for individuals from financially worse-off households. The study results indicate a direct influence of economic and health-related factors on the experience of coping with the implemented confinement measures. Full article

Governments played an essential role in mitigating the social, political, health and economic impact and outcomes of COVID-19. Most literature limits the role of the state at the national level by focusing on the pandemic’s impact on economic growth, unemployment, poverty and state responses. This approach neglects the role played by subnational governments in managing the pandemic. In response to this predicament, this article explores the territorial socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and the responses adopted by subnational governments through the case studies of eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and KwaDukuza Local Municipality in South Africa. A territorial understanding of the pandemic and responses is important because of the spatial dimensions of the pandemic. Methodologically, the article utilises data from a survey conducted with informal workers in the two municipalities. The article shows the diverging impact and responses from the two municipalities, and how pre-existing socio-economic structures reinforced prevailing challenges. The article argues that a territorial understanding of the pandemic allows governments to adopt targeted interventions to enhance the effectiveness of responses to the different spatial dimensions of the pandemic. Full article

We explore the interplay between the three missions of the modern university (teaching, research, and ‘third mission’: education, scientific productivity, and socio-economic interaction with non-academic environments), with a focus on the Italian public university. We execute a path analysis compliant with the isomorphic ‘one-size-fits-all’ university management framework, revisited under a stakeholder approach in light of students’ needs and expectations. We investigate the impact of the university’s knowledge-based missions on student outcome: student satisfaction and early job placement (data from nearly 400,000 respondents per year from 2011–2014) epitomizing both educational effectiveness/attractiveness and competitiveness. Although performances do not appear to all be correlated with each other, there is a positive relationship between research and third mission quality, and finally between the socio-economic mission and student satisfaction. This kind of mission-related evaluation can shape the institutional decisions (government policy and funding) and influence management priorities or behavior by revealing the way the quality of academic productivity and knowledge transfer to communities can create value from the point of view of the core stakeholder (university students). Our findings across missions offer a new perspective, while the innovative structural method helps to reconcile the three institutional goals in one big picture. Full article

Ease of doing business with municipalities and within municipal areas refers to the simplicity, effortlessness, and extent to which private enterprises can establish and conduct their business. It is influenced by multiple factors such as the conduciveness of the statutory and regulatory framework and the effectiveness of municipal structures and processes, in order to reduce bureaucratic red tape for the simplification of administrative processes such as the registration of business property, the issuing of permits, and access to electricity. Municipalities thus play a significant role in attracting and retaining business investment by establishing a conducive climate for business growth and local economic development. The aim of this article was to analyze the findings of a survey that was conducted to pinpoint business investment pull and push factors in selected municipalities in South Africa. By means of semi-structured interviews, a survey was undertaken with seven target groups. The obtained data were then triangulated with a desktop analysis of sampled businesses (i.e., case studies) that had relocated, mainly due to municipal service delivery failures. The survey revealed the underlying factors that lead to ease of doing business weaknesses, uncovered winning strategies to attract business investment, and proposed measures to enhance municipal business retention praxis. Full article

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its member countries are potentially vulnerable to external disturbances, including environmental, economic, and social shocks. Regional policy emphasizes interventions to ensure long-term growth and development in the face of potential disturbance. Current emphasis is placed on mitigating the impact of climate change, including the creation of the SADC Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. However, the need for long-term adaptation and associated policy is evident to reduce regional vulnerabilities. Research is an important source of evidence to support policymaking, with specific importance to institutions in developing regions such as the SADC and during times of global change and disruption. SADC development policy related to resilience outcomes ought to be informed by research. This paper investigates the extent to which existing research supports regional resilience policymaking. Objectives include investigating available research on resilience in the SADC, identifying potential limitations, and delineating areas of future research to be considered by researchers that contribute to knowledge and evidence creation. A bibliometric review and selective content review of existing research were utilized. Relevant publications for the aforesaid analysis were delineated using the source concepts “resilience”, “adaptation”, “adaptability”, and “Southern African Development Community” (or “SADC”). Using the SCOPUS database, bibliometric data of 65 publications were imported into the VOSviewer application (v.1.6.17). Keyword occurrences and network and overlay visualizations were applied to identify the research themes underlying current research. The findings, which were supported by the selective content review, indicate that existing research focuses primarily on environmental and social disturbances, while the applicable regional planning scale and development policy are considered to a limited extent. Areas of future research ought to create evidence that is thematically relevant to policy areas and applicable to policy interventions, which necessitates increased research on economic disturbances, a broadening of existing themes to the appropriate regional planning scale, and consideration of explicit regional development objectives and policy. Transdisciplinarity ought to be central to future research on the diverse disturbances facing the region, while researchers ought to leverage knowledge-creation opportunities catalyzed by SDG implementation. Full article

With a generation of more than 2 million metric tons per year, Brazil is the largest producer of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Latin America. However, Brazil does not have its own way for treating printed circuit boards, a key component present in this type of waste. In this context, the processing of these components would allow the extraction of metals with high added value, mainly copper, silver, gold, and palladium. The purpose of this research is to design a conceptual treatment route, based on the integration of technologies described in the literature. After creating the route design, a mass and energy balances were performed, considering two printed circuit board source as raw material: (Case A) Wasted equipment in general; (Case B) Using only cell phones. For both cases, the treatment of 2 t·h⁻¹ was considered. In addition, cost estimates and plant sensitivity analysis were carried out. For 15 years of plant production, the calculated Capex was USD 2,002,682, where an internal return rate of 140.1% and 3933.0% was obtained for Case A and B, respectively, and a net present value of USD 44,403,373 and USD 3,210,393,496 for Case A and B, respectively. Additionally, it was observed that Case A has a great sensitivity to the variation of the processing volume. Based on the present findings, this theoretical research has the potential to be a nucleation point in the design of a future industrial plant dedicated to the recycling of printed circuit boards, as well as to understand the key variables for the processing these components, based on Brazilian circumstances. Additionally, the project presents the hypothetical investment required for the creation of such conceptual plant, which is a crucial piece of information for potential investors. Full article

Urbanization is one of man’s greatest challenges. Its handling requires a better understanding of orderliness in the demographic–socioeconomic–entrepreneurial domain of human settlements. Operating business enterprises are manifestations of successful entrepreneurship, which is the characteristic of interest here. Non-linear entrepreneurial proportionalities can be detected through the use of log–log regressions (power law analyses). Such analyses revealed many entrepreneurial proportionalities in datasets of a large number of U.S. counties. This enabled the examination of the temporal and geographic sensitivities of three entrepreneurial types: total entrepreneurship (expressed in total enterprise numbers), new entrepreneurship (the ability to successfully start enterprises of types not yet present), and existing entrepreneurship (the ability to start more enterprises of types already present). Stress testing of the entrepreneurial proportionalities during a period of economic growth (2000 to 2007) followed by a period of economic decline (the so-called Great Recession from 2007 to 2010) enabled the examination of a hypothesis that suggested that the entrepreneurial proportionalities are not temporally or geographically sensitive. The hypothesis is accepted for new and existing entrepreneurship. Total entrepreneurship is geographically sensitive, but not temporally. There is apparently no lack of entrepreneurship in human settlements. Their total entrepreneurship (expressed as total enterprise numbers) appears to be a function of their population sizes and prosperity/poverty levels. Full article

This research explores the nexus between COVID-19 and the livelihoods of easy-bike (three-wheeler human hauliers) drivers using a case study of Rangpur City, Bangladesh. Although easy-bike has become a prevalent form of paratransit among city-dwellers in medium-sized cities in Bangladesh, many passengers are now avoiding such paratransit to maintain health and safety guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has negatively affected easy-bike drivers’ income in many medium-sized cities. To conduct this study, we collected primary data from the field, with the health and safety guidelines recommended by the government of Bangladesh in consideration. The results demonstrate a decreasing number of trips due to government policy changes under the COVID-19 pandemic, influencing people’s earnings associated with this transit system. We summarized the data to capture the attention of policymakers, who may need to introduce any foreseeable action to assist workers of different professions in need of economic assistance in cities outside of the capital city in Bangladesh. Moreover, we suggest the need to consider these urban transport workers as a vulnerable group for livelihood assistance within the country. Full article