Search Results (1,682)

Low block recovery in dimensional stone quarrying is commonly associated with complex fracture systems and inconsistent decision-making across the extraction chain. An integrated decision-support workflow is presented, linking rock-mass characterization and extraction planning. It combines discrete fracture network (DFN) modelling with block usability assessment and staged decision gates to reduce structural uncertainty. Application of the framework across seven-dimensional stone quarries indicated relative improvements ranging from approximately 8–12% in commercial block recovery compared with conventional quarrying approaches. These improvements were associated with enhanced fracture characterization, improved selection of extraction orientations, more effective assessment of block usability, and NDT-supported quality control. Full article

Bifurcaria bifurcata R. Ross 1958 is a perennial brown seaweed belonging to the Sargassaceae family and represents an underexploited marine bioresource with promising applications in the sustainable food and pharmaceutical sectors. To support its sustainable valorization as an alternative to synthetic additives, this study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the chemical composition, bioactivity, and mineral profile of B. bifurcata to support its valorization. The essential oil, obtained by hydrodistillation and characterized by GC—MS, revealed a rich chemical profile comprising 51 compounds, of which 42 were identified, accounting for 95.37% of the total composition. The major constituents included 2′-hydroxy-4′,5′-dimethylacetophenone (13.11%), benzene, 1-ethyl-3,5-dimethyl- (9.79%), 1,5,9-cyclododecatriene, 1,5,9-trimethyl- (8.57%), and benzene, 1-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methoxy- (8.52%). The essential oil exhibited moderate antioxidant activity under in vitro conditions, with a total antioxidant activity of 74.85 ± 2.78 mg E α-tocopherol/g and IC₅₀ values of 0.103 ± 0.004 (DPPH), 0.106 ± 0.002 (FRAP), and 2.672 ± 0.123 mg/mL (β-carotene bleaching assay). In addition, notable antibacterial activity was observed against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Listeria monocytogenes, with inhibition zones ranging from 10 to 12 mm. Mineral analysis of the seaweed powder highlighted its nutritional importance, with high levels of organic matter, proteins, and sugars, along with substantial concentrations of essential macroelements (K, Ca, Mg, and Na) and trace elements (Fe, Mn, and Zn). Overall, these findings demonstrate the potential of B. bifurcata as a sustainable marine resource for the development of natural antioxidants, antimicrobial agents, and mineral-rich ingredients, contributing to environmentally friendly food systems and green pharmaceutical applications. Full article

Modern supply chains have grown more intricate and globally widespread, often involving high consumption of single-use plastic materials for tertiary packaging. LLDPE stretch films represent a widely adopted solution, fully integrated into industrial automation systems and capable of providing effective load protection and pallet stability. However, large volumes of tertiary packaging consumed worldwide are associated with significant environmental impacts. In this context, it is necessary to rethink these systems from an ecodesign perspective, analyzing product design aspects such as usage conditions, film thickness, stretchability, and the presence of additional components. The present study evaluates, through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the environmental performance of five LLDPE stretch films for which primary industrial data were collected. A comparison based on 1 m² of film shows that the solution containing 30% recycled content, characterized by minimal thickness and a high pre-stretch ratio (200%), outperforms the solution with the highest recycled content. Furthermore, the elimination of the cardboard core and its replacement with reusable dispensers further contributes to impact reduction. These findings demonstrate that a system-based approach, which considers multiple parameters and prioritizes functional efficiency, enables a more substantial improvement in the environmental performance of stretch film packaging than merely increasing recycled content. Full article

This study investigates the moderating role of circular economy and cleaner production in shaping the relationship between green practices (renewable energy adoption, waste reduction, and resource efficiency) and sustainable development outcomes in manufacturing industries. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the integration of resource-based theory, industrial ecology, and systems thinking theory. The methodology is quantitative and employs a Likert scale questionnaire for data collection. The sample size is 242 managers from the manufacturing industry of Saudi Arabia. Partial least squared-structural equation modeling was used for the analysis of the data. The findings show that green practices, including resource efficiency, waste reduction and renewable energy adoption, have a positive and significant relationship with sustainability in manufacturing. The findings also reveal that cleaner production and circular economy have moderating roles in the relationship of resource efficiency, waste reduction and renewable energy adoption and sustainable development. This study has implications for policymakers, managers and industrialists to bring sustainability into the manufacturing industry. The findings also advance sustainable development goals (SDG-7, SDG-9, SDG-12, and SDG-13). Full article

This study employs sample data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2023, takes investment efficiency as a core indicator to measure corporate sustainable development, and adopts the difference-in-differences (DID) model to examine the impact of free trade zone policies on enterprise sustainable development. The research results show that the establishment of FTZs has significantly improved the level of enterprise sustainable development, and this conclusion has passed a series of robustness tests. In the mechanism analysis, the main paths of action include alleviating financing constraints, optimizing internal control, and reducing transaction costs. The heterogeneity analysis finds that there are different regional effects in FTZs, and the policy effects are more obvious in the eastern, western, provincial capital, sub-provincial, and non-coastal areas. This study deepens the understanding of the sustainable impact of FTZs on enterprises, presents how the interaction between institutions and the market promotes the efficiency improvement of different regions, and also provides key suggestions for enterprises to make wise investment decisions by using the policies of FTZs and find a sustainable development path. Full article

Protecting bee populations is essential to ensuring the sustainability of pollination as a unique ecosystem service. In this study, the authors used a questionnaire survey to examine how and to what extent visitors to an agricultural event in Hungary value bee pollination, as well as which factors influence decision-making in this regard. The authors treated willingness to pay as a binary outcome and used logistic regression to identify its determinants. All explanatory variables were categorical, including sociodemographic factors and consumer attitude variables. Robustness checks were conducted using bootstrap estimation and an alternative probit specification, both of which confirmed the results. Based on the results, respondents’ average willingness to pay is 3.45 EUR/household/month, which amounts to 41.40 EUR/year. This amount indicates public support for financing the protection of ecosystem services provided by bees and can be considered an estimate of such support. Among the explanatory variables, gender, household size, and attitudes toward the consumption of bee products were statistically significantly related to willingness to pay. At the same time, income and respondents’ awareness were only marginally significant. The authors have proposed measures to strengthen environmental responsibility among both consumers and producers, which would represent long-term progress in the preservation of ecosystem services. Full article

The world’s energy matrix faces challenges in replacing fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Pellet production is effective for the correct disposal of agricultural waste through the production of biofuels. The objective of this work was to produce and characterize pellets from blends of pine and coffee straw residues, in addition to their compliance with ISO 17225-6/2021. The biomasses were subjected to analysis of dry and wet base moisture, bulk density, upper and lower calorific value (HCV and LCV dry), immediate, structural and elemental chemistry, chloride content, and thermogravimetric behavior. The pellets were produced in nine blends with the Amandus Kahl pellet mill, model 14-175, being submitted to analysis of productivity, moisture in dry and wet base, HCV and LCV dry, chloride, immediate chemistry, hardness, diameter and length, durability and percentage of fines, the analyses were compared by the Scott-knott test at the level of 95% probability. The blends that presented the best overall performance were 100% pine and a mixture of 87.5% pine and 12.5% coffee straws, especially for the higher calorific value (20.65 and 20.65 MJ/kg), moisture (8.98 and 9.17%), and ash (0.22 and 1%), but had limitations regarding mechanical durability (96.74 and 97.12%). The use of blends in pellet production is promising to promote the sustainable use of agricultural waste and the generation of clean energy. Full article

Sacral objects are found across all major religions worldwide. The contemporary urban landscape, shaped by cultural, social, and utilitarian interdependencies, is enriched by places of worship, which strengthen social bonds and ensure the continuity of cultural heritage. In Poland, wayside shrines and crosses serve as sites of local religious practices, co-creating the genius loci as carriers of local history. Since the nineteenth century, they have been subjected to urbanisation pressure and may become incongruous with the transformed urban landscape, uprooted by evolving transport systems, spatial functions, and social needs. Relocation, as a preservation method, perpetuates historic shrines and crosses, while shaping new sacral landscape interiors and should therefore constitute a sustainable heritage preservation strategy. The article analyses this conservation strategy as applied in southern Kraków. Based on surveys, archival maps, orthophoto, press articles, the literature, and fieldwork, we pinpoint 25 relocated features out of 126 found across five city districts. Our literature and case study analysis identifies factors influencing the preservation of religious, landscape, social, and cultural functions. Despite altering original locations, a dramatic intervention into the urban fabric and local community space, relocation remains an effective tool for protecting historic substance and managing the landscape. Full article

This research adopts a model that has been developed around the Ecological Modernization and Resource Bless/Curse theories to offer practical insights on environmental sustainability. Data from 28 selected Caribbean and Latin American economies (grouped into 11 Small Island and Developing States (SIDSs) and 17 Large Continental Economies (LCEs)) for the period 2004 to 2024 is utilized in the analysis. ‘Method of Moments’ quantile regression and the two-stage least squares technique are employed for robust direct findings, while path analysis—a subset of structural equation modelling—is employed to examine the mediation and moderation relationships. Key findings shows that renewable energy is the key driver of sustainability in all Caribbean and Latin American economies regardless of the economy type. Consequently, digitalization and trade openness worsens environmental problems in the SIDSs. However, in the LCEs, digitalization advances sustainability up to a certain threshold, after which it becomes ineffective. Trade openness also tends to present a weak drive to sustainability in the LCEs. Green finance improves sustainability symmetrically in the SIDSs and asymmetrically in the LCEs as it only advances sustainability in highly environmentally stressed LCEs. The meditation role of green finance is significant in the SIDSs and insignificant in the LCEs, while the moderating role of institutional quality is insignificant in all Caribbean and Latin American economies. This study recommends channeling resources for supporting the development of green financial mechanisms for sustainable environments. Policy reforms that align economic efforts in advancing environmental sustainability can be adopted. Full article

This study investigates the ternary co-pyrolysis of Soma lignite (SL), a low-rank Turkish coal with high ash content, with two agricultural residues: pectin-rich sugar beet pulp (SBP) and lignin-rich peanut shell (PS). The primary objective is to clarify how biomass structure and blend composition control synergistic interactions, and how co-pyrolysis can upgrade the fuel properties of a low-quality coal while valorizing agro-industrial waste. Four SL:SBP:PS blends (80:10:10, 60:20:20, 40:30:30, and 20:40:40 wt.%) were tested by non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis at 10 °C min⁻¹ under nitrogen. Differential thermogravimetric curves were deconvolved into four pseudo-components representing pectin/hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin/early coal, and main coal/mineral fractions. Mass-based deviation indices ($\mathrm{\Delta }W$) and rate-based deviations ($\mathrm{\Psi }$) from the additive prediction were calculated in three temperature regions to detect synergy and antagonism. The results demonstrate that interactions are strongly composition-dependent. The 40:30:30 blend exhibits the most pronounced synergistic enhancement, with average $\mathrm{\Delta }W$ values of approximately −0.94 wt.% and −1.05 wt.% in the 350–500 °C and 500–650 °C ranges, respectively, while the 60:20:20 blend shows antagonistic behavior across all regions. For the 40:30:30 blend, the calculated higher heating value increases from 11.21 to 14.74 MJkg⁻¹, reflecting a gradual upgrading of the feed-mixture composition by biomass loading. Overall, the findings indicate that combining a pectin-rich, fast-devolatilising biomass with a lignin-rich, slower-decomposing biomass at an intermediate coal loading can shift mass loss to lower temperatures. This combination also produces measurable non-additive behaviour within the experimental noise level. In addition, it improves several feed-mixture indicators that are relevant to sustainable energy recovery from lignite-dominated regions. Full article

Dynamic material stock–flow analysis is widely used to assess long-lived built-environment systems, but data scarcity makes its application challenging because stock, inflow, and outflow evidence often do not form a coherent accounting structure. This study develops a reconstruction framework for dynamic material stock–flow modeling under fragmented and incomplete data conditions. The framework integrates data structure diagnosis, harmonization, historical inflow reconstruction, stock anchoring through calibration, dynamic reconstruction, and credibility assessment via empirical consistency checking, uncertainty propagation, and sensitivity analysis. The study uses Vietnam’s residential metabolism case to formalize and test a reconstruction methodology with incomplete historical inflow records, intermittent benchmark stock observations, heterogeneous classifications, and limited evidence on demolition outflows. Comparative results show that omitting historical inflow reconstruction distorts cohort depth and delayed outflow behavior, while omitting stock anchoring leads to persistent underestimation of stock levels relative to benchmarks. The analysis further shows that credible interpretation depends not only on internal stock–flow consistency, but also on compatibility with benchmarks and robustness under plausible parameter variation. The study concludes that, under data scarcity, dynamic stock–flow modeling should be approached as system reconstruction, providing a transparent and reproducible methodological basis for long-lived material systems. Full article

This document proposes integrative principles that articulate fully established and validated approaches—such as ethnobotany, One Health, circular bioeconomy, TRL, and Access and Benefit-Sharing—into an integrative model that shifts bioprospecting from a purely extractive model centered on the pharmaceutical industry to a more human-centered, circular, and biocultural paradigm. Through a historical analysis of the generations of bioprospecting (from 0.0 to 4.0), this work theorizes that technological advancement has paradoxically contributed to epistemic injustice. The proposed 5.0 framework integrates social validation tools and introduces the Epistemic Gap Score (EGS) as an exploratory heuristic tool that allows for visualizing the divergence or cohesion of bioprospecting a plant resource and the recognition of ancestral knowledge in a more humanistic manner. Through preliminary proof-of-concept, this study demonstrates the practical utility of the EGS for prioritizing plant species for bioprospecting, ensuring that the valorization of underutilized plant resources produces a tangible “epistemic return” and thereby promotes community autonomy and multisectoral benefits across the food, energy, and health systems. By focusing on zero-waste cycles and social reciprocity, Bioprospecting 5.0 reestablishes the role of plant resources as essential components of sustainable global development and ethical scientific practice. Full article

This paper investigates multiple shocks from climate policy uncertainty (CPU) and green finance (GF) to carbon prices (CAPs) using the joint impulse response function (jIRF) method. The empirical findings indicate that jIRF estimates of CPU and GF on CAPs are more accurate compared to the simple sum of generalized impulse response functions, primarily due to the consideration of cross-correlations among simultaneous shocks. This highlights GF’s potential to alleviate the effects of CPU over the entire study period. Moreover, this study focuses on the post-pandemic era and reveals a positive association between GF and CAPs, indicating the evolving role of ecological governance. A key contribution lies in the introduction of the jIRF, which captures the interdependencies among concurrent shocks and underscores the evolving role of GF both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study enhances the theoretical foundation of GF by illustrating its adaptation to changing macroeconomic conditions. Consequently, this study underscores the imperative for China to sustain economic growth, ensure consistency in climate policies, and bolster market-oriented reforms in green financing and carbon markets. Full article

Agricultural residues such as sugarcane bagasse have been explored as renewable precursors for activated carbon production. However, the environmental performance of activated carbon can be strongly influenced by energy-intensive thermal processing, chemical activation, and the functional unit used for interpretation. While several life cycle assessment studies have been reported for sugarcane bagasse-derived activated carbon, many rely on secondary data or focus primarily on production-stage impacts without incorporating adsorption performance. This study evaluates the environmental performance of laboratory-scale sugarcane bagasse-derived activated carbon produced using a process-based life cycle assessment under laboratory-scale conditions. The system boundary includes feedstock preparation, thermal conversion (pyrolysis), chemical activation, and post-treatment steps such as washing and neutralization. Under the product-based functional unit, climate change impacts were 5.11 and 4.89 kg carbon dioxide equivalent per kg activated carbon for potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide activation, respectively, while net energy demand was 115 and 110 MJ per kg activated carbon. Contribution analysis identified pyrolysis electricity as the dominant hotspot for climate change and energy demand, whereas chemical activation influenced toxicity- and resource-related categories. When adsorption performance was considered, potassium hydroxide activation showed improved results for selected indicators because of its higher methylene blue adsorption capacity; however, resource-related burdens remained higher than sodium hydroxide activation. Overall, the study demonstrates that laboratory-scale activated carbon assessments require cautious interpretation and that integrating adsorption performance with life cycle metrics provides a more decision-relevant basis for comparing biomass-derived adsorbents. Full article

Accurate runoff forecasting plays a critical role in sustainable flood risk management and climate-resilient water resources planning, particularly in plain river-network basins, where runoff processes are influenced by strong temporal variability and intensive human regulation. To address the limitations of existing data-driven models in representing short-term temporal variability and long-range dependencies, this study develops a dual-branch temporal convolutional network–transformer encoder (TCN–TE) forecasting framework for multi-station runoff prediction. The proposed model integrates a temporal convolutional network (TCN) with channel attention (CA) to extract local temporal patterns and adaptively reweight multivariate hydrological features, and a gated recurrent unit (GRU)-enhanced transformer encoder (TE) to improve long-range temporal dependency modeling. In addition, an autocorrelation-based analysis is conducted to quantitatively determine the effective memory length of the runoff system, providing a statistically grounded basis for input window selection. The model is evaluated using daily runoff and rainfall data from the Dongtiao River basin in eastern China, including seven runoff stations and two rainfall stations over the period 2012–2024. Forecasting results under multiple horizons (1, 3, 7, and 14 days) demonstrate that the proposed TCN-TE model consistently outperforms representative deep learning baselines in terms of $R^2$, RMSE, and MAE, with particularly significant improvements for medium- and long-term forecasts. The results suggest that the proposed model provides a useful data-driven multivariate forecasting framework for runoff prediction using multi-station hydrological observations. Full article