Search Results (94,785)

The water–energy–food nexus (WEF nexus) is central to sustainable development in arid regions. However, research on nexus evolution based on water consumed during food and energy production remains limited. In this study, the evolutionary patterns and influencing mechanisms of the WEF nexus in an arid region are investigated from a water footprint perspective, taking the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin in China as a case study. The results show that from 2010 to 2021, the crop water footprint in the study area exhibited distinct varietal differences, with the highest values for legumes and the lowest for tubers, and a spatial pattern characterized by higher values in the north and lower values in the south. The energy–water footprint underwent a structural shift from grey water dominance to blue water dominance in 2015. The coupling coordination degree of the WEF nexus gradually improved from moderate imbalance to mild imbalance. The core obstacle in the water subsystem shifted from water quantity shortage to an imbalance in water use structure, while that in the energy subsystem moved from supply-side constraints to consumption-side constraints. The food subsystem was constrained by rigid factors related to arable land and ecological conditions. Consequently, the core constraint of the WEF nexus has transitioned from independent bottlenecks within individual subsystems to cross-system coupling constraints. Regulating the water footprint on both the production and consumption sides is conducive to the sustainability of the WEF nexus. The findings of this study enrich the regional empirical evidence of the nexus theory and provide a reference for research and practice concerning the optimal allocation of regional resources. Full article

Justice has received more and more attention in the management of tourist destinations, but its function in cultural heritage situations is still insufficiently investigated. This research investigates the supportive attitudes of the residents towards the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)-related festivals by using an integrated framework including the perceived justice, festival identity and perceived economic benefits. A quantitative study was conducted based on 552 returned valid questionnaires. After reliability and validity tests, structural equation modeling, bootstrap mediation analysis, and multi-group structural equation modeling were employed to test the research hypotheses. The results indicate that all three aspects of the perceived justice have a positive effect on the festival identity of the residents, which consequently enhances their support for the development of the festival. These findings broaden the justice-based views in tourism research and offer useful suggestions for promoting fair and community-supported festival tourism development. Full article

Population growth in urban food systems has led to a decline in food resources and the emergence of social imbalances, while consumers’ shift toward a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, against the backdrop of a growing carbon footprint and negative health impacts, highlights the need to promote fish-based products as part of a balanced diet, alongside the implementation of circular strategies for utilizing byproducts from processing, which has led to increased interest in reformulating these products in accordance with the principles of the circular bioeconomy. Aquaculture and the agri-food industry generate a large amount of byproducts that are underutilized, even though they could be extremely useful as functional food ingredients. Recycling these streams into ingredients is an effective way to reduce food waste, make better use of resources, and lessen the environmental impact of food systems. In this context, by-products can be strategically incorporated into food reformulation processes, where their bioactive compounds simultaneously improve both the nutritional value and the technological function of foods. However, such approaches can only be effectively utilized if there is a coordinated framework that ensures food safety, supports scalable processing technologies, and complies with regulatory standards. This analysis takes an integrated approach to examine how specific processing strategies, quality control measures, and risk assessment protocols can work together to ensure nutritional optimization, guarantee food safety, and promote circular use. This paper also addresses how these interconnected systems contribute to maintaining public health and increasing consumer confidence, particularly in urban food systems. By highlighting these connections, the research offers a clearer operational perspective on applying circular economy principles to sustainable food production. Even with these opportunities, issues related to scalability, regulatory compliance, and the limited number of applied studies remain major challenges. In this context, this paper examines how the coordinated implementation of these mechanisms can contribute to public health, strengthen consumer confidence, and facilitate the transition to sustainable urban food systems. Finally, this paper offers a clearer operational perspective on how the principles of the circular economy can be effectively put into practice by harmonizing nutrition, safety, and value-added recovery. Full article

Existing runway incursion risk approaches can estimate risk under specified conditions but have limited ability to represent how runway protection constraints weaken across operational stages. This study develops an integrated System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA)–Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) framework to examine how safety-constraint degradation propagates across predefined operational stages toward runway incursion risk. A Dynamic Causal Translation Logic (DCTL) provides principle-guided organization of STPA-derived artifacts into a traceable single-slice Bayesian Network (BN), which is subsequently extended across semantic stages through selected inter-slice transitions and sequential evidence updating. The model was parameterized using 66 manually coded runway incursion-related reports from the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). Intra-slice conditional probability tables (CPTs) were estimated and calibrated from these reports, while transition CPTs used expert-informed first-order Markov assumptions. The 2023 runway incursion event at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) was used as a single case-informed demonstration of staged inference and does not constitute independent or cross-case validation. Posterior updating indicated weakened unobserved monitoring and verification constraints, higher unsafe control action likelihood, and sustained tendencies toward runway occupancy conflict and Category B severity. Scenario-based analysis showed that alternative safety-constraint states produced distinct local changes in downstream hazard and Category B posterior probabilities under their respective stage-specific conditioning settings. The framework supports tracing safety-constraint degradation and stage-specific runway safety management. Full article

Wine lees (WL) are one of the main byproducts generated during winemaking and are usually disposed of in landfills or incorporated into the soil as an organic amendment; nevertheless, these practices can have negative environmental impacts. Reusing agro-industrial byproducts is a key step toward more sustainable production cycles, and WL represent a promising alternative for formulating culture media for the production of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) biomass, microorganisms widely used in the food and wine industries. In this work, we aim to evaluate the ecotoxicity of WL using a bioassay with zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos and to analyze their potential as a source of nitrogen and growth factors for the production of UNQLp 11 Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strain biomass in whey permeate. Trials conducted with zebrafish showed that embryos exposed to WL exhibited increased mortality in a concentration-dependent response and the appearance of sublethal effects, such as alterations in embryonic development. Regarding WL biotechnological application, the results obtained confirm that the growth of Lpb. plantarum depends largely on the composition of the culture medium. Whey permeate media (WP) without supplementation showed nutritional limitations, reflected in lower cell counts. While supplementation with WL significantly improved bacterial growth, in some cases reaching values comparable to those obtained with MRS. The results demonstrated that WL can act as an efficient nutrient source, with the potential to replace commercial yeast extract in Lpb. plantarum culture media. Full article

Digitalization is reshaping environmental governance by enabling real-time data collection, information sharing, and coordinated regulatory action. However, how heterogeneous enterprise digitalization modes, compliance-oriented digitalization, and deep digitalization affect multi-actor digital collaborative governance for carbon mitigation and pollution reduction remain underexplored. This study develops a tripartite evolutionary game model involving the government, enterprises, and the public. The model distinguishes enterprises’ digitalization modes and examines how government digital regulation, enterprise carbon mitigation and pollution reduction strategies, and public participation co-evolve under different cost–benefit conditions. Through numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, the study identifies critical factors of stakeholders’ strategies and proposes possible evolution paths for digital collaborative governance. The results show that (1) the system can evolve toward an ideal stable equilibrium: government digital regulation, enterprise carbon mitigation and pollution reduction, and active public participation; there is a high probability that enterprises will adopt a deep level of digitalization. (2) Subsidies for deep digitalization can increase the probability of enterprise deep digitalization, but excessive subsidies may increase fiscal pressure and destabilize government digital regulation. Compared with subsidy intensity, the additional benefits of digital collaborative governance accruing to enterprises are more important in promoting the transition from compliance-oriented to deep digitalization. (3) Public participation and government digital regulation both contribute to the stability of digital collaborative governance. Higher public participation significantly accelerates system convergence, while government digital regulation remains sustainable when digital collaborative governance benefits can offset construction and operating costs. These findings clarify the conditional logic of digital collaborative governance and offer actionable policy implications. Full article

With the global low-carbon transition and increasing wind and photovoltaic penetration, virtual power plant (VPP) scheduling increasingly requires coordinated low-carbon operation, resource management, and long-term stability. Existing studies often treat demand response (DR) resources as passive adjustable capacity, but insufficiently consider how satisfaction variation, fatigue accumulation, and scheduling experience under continuous dispatch feed back into subsequent response behavior. Meanwhile, the coordination among electricity, gas, carbon, and green certificate markets and market incentives reflecting the low-carbon value of power-to-gas (P2G) remain underexplored. To address these issues, this paper introduces a response-willingness feedback mechanism that feeds the satisfaction and fatigue accumulation of the demand response aggregator (DRA) back into subsequent deliverable DR capacity and scheduling behavior. A virtual power plant operator (VPPO)–DRA bi-level optimal scheduling model is then formulated under a Carbon–Green Certificate Coordinated P2G Incentive Mechanism, characterizing the Stackelberg interaction between the VPPO and the DRA. A hierarchical solution framework integrating CMA-ES, dynamic programming, and Gurobi is developed. Deterministic comparisons showed that the model maintained VPP profitability while improving DR sustainability and renewable accommodation. Under ex post stress testing, the fixed nominal day-ahead VPPO strategy maintained feasibility in all 200 cases and positive VPP profit in 94.0%. Full article

As higher education institutions respond to societal transformation and institutional reform, academic staff wellbeing is increasingly relevant to the conditions that sustain teaching quality, research productivity, and service performance. This study, the second phase of a research project, evaluated Academic Staff Wellbeing (ASW) as a reflective–reflective second-order construct and examined its relationships with Job Satisfaction (JS) and Academic Performance (AP), including JS mediation. A cross-sectional questionnaire with closed- and open-ended items was completed by 119 academic staff at a single Saudi university. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with 5000 bootstrap resamples was complemented by structured interviews with eight faculty members and a focus group with eight academic leaders; qualitative evidence was analyzed thematically and integrated at the interpretation stage. The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. ASW explained 74.3% of the variance in JS and, together with JS, 36.1% of the variance in AP. ASW was strongly associated with JS and significantly associated with AP, whereas the JS–AP relationship and the indirect ASW–JS–AP relationship were not significant (β = 0.125, 95% bias-corrected confidence interval [−0.185, 0.474]). Qualitative findings highlighted leadership, institutional support, workload, resources, professional development, workplace quality, and recognition as organizational mechanisms. Within the limitations of a cross-sectional, single-institution design and self-reported academic performance, these findings suggest that ASW may function as a multidimensional institutional condition supporting teaching, research, and service performance through multiple organizational pathways rather than primarily through job satisfaction alone. Full article

Sustainable cultivated-land governance requires spatial information that is accurate, traceable, and suitable for expert review. This study developed a human-in-the-loop GeoAI–GIS workflow that transforms high-resolution semantic segmentation outputs into image-derived land-cover objects, transparent review priorities, and structured spatial evidence records. The Cultivated Land Information Management Transformer (CLIM-Former), trained on LoveDA and transferred to Gaofen-2 imagery of Mancheng District without target-area fine-tuning, provided the semantic basis for downstream object construction. Connected-component analysis generated measurable objects with semantic, geometric, locational, contextual, and provenance attributes, while interpretable rules prioritized objects for review and deterministic templates produced standardized records and verification case sheets. Across three training seeds, the guard-enabled downstream configuration achieved a mean mIoU of 56.27 ± 0.10% and an agriculture IoU of 63.12 ± 0.90%. In a reproducible 100-tile subset, 3352 objects were retained, and 1705 were prioritized. Expert acceptance was 83.00% for 100 sampled prioritized objects and 37.00% for 100 non-prioritized controls, corresponding to a 2.24-fold enrichment with a 95% confidence interval of 1.71–2.94 and a significant between-group difference according to Fisher’s exact test at p < 0.001. The generated records achieved 100% key information coverage, 95.05% factual consistency, and a mean suitability score of 4.28/5. The workflow provides a transparent and reviewable link between remote-sensing interpretation and cultivated-land information management while preserving expert authority over management decisions. Full article

As health services shift to digital delivery, older adults face practical online risks, including operational errors, difficulty interpreting clinical information, unclear privacy consent procedures, and telecommunications fraud. Existing empirical work mostly adopts questionnaire and interview designs to document older adults’ real-world digital usage, yet few studies systematically analyze policy documents as an external intervention system and assess how they address four core usage barriers: limited digital proficiency, constrained service access, weak sustained participation, and individualized online safety threats. This paper analyzes 1008 policy records extracted from the Peking University Legal Database covering 2007–2025, and develops a four-dimensional analytical framework split into B1 (Digital Capacity and Age-Friendly Support), B2 (Digital Health Management Support), B3 (Home- and Community-Based Care Support), and B4 (Institutional Care and Risk Governance). The analytical toolkit combines a Capability–Opportunity–Motivation–Behavior (COM-B) diagnostic model, an M1–M4 intervention-mechanism coding protocol, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, and two indices: the Digital Adaptation Policy Orientation Index (DAPOI) and the Behavioral Intervention Diversity Index (BIDI). Coding outputs reveal a pronounced structural imbalance in policy allocation for older adults’ digital health in China: community and institutional governance clauses (B3, B4) dominate the corpus, while person-centred support including one-on-one operational coaching, clinical data interpretation guidance and offline manual backup channels accounts for a marginal share of all coded entries (B1, B2). Age-friendly digital policies issued circa 2020 serve primarily short-term emergency adjustments instead of permanent institutional arrangements. Built on full-text policy coding outputs, this work defines policy-supported digital resilience as a holistic protective system formed by coordinated institutional clauses. Every result reported is sourced exclusively from supply-side policy records, which provides policy-level evidence for subsequent behavioral research on older adults’ digital risk management and digital welfare construction. Full article

Background/Objectives: Chronic inflammation sustained by cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) underlies many human diseases, while the cardiovascular liabilities of coxibs have renewed interest in plant-derived alternatives. This study characterised the volatile composition of Corymbia citriodora essential oil under two distillation regimes and identified constituents able to inhibit human COX-2 and iNOS. Methods: Oils obtained by steam distillation (SD) and microwave-assisted steam distillation (MSD) were profiled by GC–MS/MS. All identified constituents were screened with SASA Vina against human COX-2 (PDB: 5KIR, 3LN1), ovine COX-1 (4COX) and human iNOS (3E7G), with native-ligand re-docking validating each protocol (RMSD 0.39–0.84 Å). The lead compound underwent density functional theory (B3LYP/3-21G/CPCM), 100 ns all-atom molecular dynamics, MM/GBSA and MM/PBSA decomposition, and pkCSM ADMET prediction. Results: Sixty-three constituents were identified (99.85% SD; 99.97% MSD). MSD enriched oxygenated monoterpenes (93.23% versus 88.27%), citronellal rose from 38.24% to 48.41%. (Z,Z,Z)-1,5,9,9-Tetramethyl-1,4,7-cycloundecatriene ranked highest at COX-2 (−8.0 to −8.2 kcal/mol) and also bound COX-1 (−8.8 kcal/mol) and iNOS (−6.8 kcal/mol). DFT indicated high kinetic stability (ΔE = 6.12 eV; η = 3.06 eV) and purely non-covalent hydrophobic binding. The COX-2 complex remained stable over 100 ns (Cα RMSD 0.17 ± 0.02 nm), with MM/GBSA and MM/PBSA binding energies of −23.98 and −21.95 kcal/mol and Val523 as the principal hotspot. ADMET prediction returned 96.61% human intestinal absorption and no mutagenicity, hepatotoxicity or hERG I blockade. Conclusions: MSD offers a faster route to a citronellal-enriched oil, and C. citriodora hydrocarbon sesquiterpenes emerge as chemically stable, multi-target COX-2/iNOS scaffolds. Comparable binding at COX-1 indicates that isoform selectivity remains to be established; in vitro enzymatic and cell-based validation is therefore required. Full article

Multi-objective optimization has become an indispensable tool for solving engineering design and manufacturing problems involving multiple conflicting objectives. This paper presents a novel parameter-less multi-objective optimization (MOO) framework that combines the strengths of evolutionary MOO techniques with the parameter-free search philosophy of the Jaya and Rao algorithms. The proposed framework incorporates non-dominated sorting, elite archiving, and crowding-distance mechanisms to achieve an effective balance between convergence and diversity while eliminating the need for algorithm-specific control parameters. The proposed framework is first validated on sixteen widely used unconstrained benchmark problems comprising five ZDT, seven DTLZ, two IDTLZ, and two SDTLZ test suites using the maximum number of function evaluations reported in the literature. Its performance is evaluated using five widely accepted quality indicators, namely Generational Distance (GD), Inverted Generational Distance (IGD), Hypervolume (HV), Spacing (SP), and Spread (SD). The benchmark results demonstrate that the proposed framework produces competitive Pareto-optimal fronts and exhibits excellent convergence, diversity, and solution distribution compared with several state-of-the-art evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms. The practical applicability of the proposed framework is demonstrated through five representative manufacturing optimization problems involving Selective Laser Melting, Microwave Hybrid Heating, Sustainable Machining, Wire Electrical Discharge Machining, and Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing. These case studies encompass additive, thermal, subtractive, and many-objective manufacturing optimization problems with conflicting performance measures. The generated Pareto-optimal solutions are subsequently ranked using the recently developed BHARAT (Best Holistic Adaptable Ranking of Attributes Technique) multi-attribute decision-making method to identify the most suitable compromise solutions. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed parameter-less MOO framework provides a simple approach with competitive convergence, diversity, and decision-support capabilities for complex manufacturing optimization problems. Full article

The growing environmental impact of petroleum-based plastic packaging has accelerated the development of biodegradable materials from renewable resources. In this study, cellulose extracted from wheat straw was regenerated into biodegradable films using calcium-ion crosslinking and glycerol plasticization. A Box–Behnken experimental design optimized cellulose content (0.35–0.5 g), calcium chloride concentration (200–800 nm), and glycerol concentration (0.5–1.5%) to produce films with balanced mechanical and barrier properties. The optimized film was characterized for its physicochemical, mechanical, optical, antioxidant, and biodegradation properties and evaluated for fresh grape packaging. The film exhibited favorable mechanical strength of 30.82 ± 4.70 MPa, controlled water vapor permeability of 0.59 ± 0.06 10⁻¹⁰ gm⁻¹ s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹, elongation at break of 4.36 ± 0.35%, moderate transparency of 22.95 ± 0.65% mm⁻¹ at 600 nm, and ultraviolet light-blocking capability, allowing only 9.57 ± 1.44% of UV-B at 300 nm, and an IC₅₀ value of 0.33, indicating moderate antioxidant potential, with 35% biodegradation after 37 days at a soil moisture of 24%. During ambient storage, grapes packaged with the film reached 15% weight loss by 13 days, while slowing changes in total soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, total phenolic content, and vitamin C, and delaying visible quality deterioration. Compared with the uncovered control, packaged grapes maintained acceptable quality for approximately six additional days, reaching 15 days of storage. Unlike conventional polystyrene film, which promoted excessive gas accumulation and fruit cracking, the wheat straw cellulose film provided a semipermeable barrier that balanced moisture and gas exchange. The systematic optimization of these formulations, followed by comprehensive characterization of the optimized films, demonstrates the potential of wheat straw cellulose as a functional material for developing cellulose films as sustainable, biodegradable packaging materials for extending the postharvest quality of fresh produce. Full article

This paper examines how biophilic design intersects with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) amid disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, considering human–nature interactions as an individual-scale link between well-being and sustainability. Biophilic design—the integration of natural elements into the built environment—reflects well-being through human–nature interactions and connects social–ecological system dynamics and sustainability interdependencies. Drawing on evidence that pandemic-induced psychological stressors transformed people–environment relations, this study developed a conceptual framework linking selected SDG targets to the 14 biophilic design patterns and examined these relationships using data from a Europe-wide survey conducted in early 2023. It complements research on SDG interdependencies, which is mainly conducted at the system or policy level, by introducing individual experiences. NMI analysis identified a central cluster of strong statistical interdependencies among SDGs related to energy efficiency (SDG 7), infrastructure (SDG 9), and resource use (SDG 12), while SDGs associated with cities (SDG 11) and terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15) showed weaker and more diffuse interdependencies. The observed interdependencies were strongest for SDGs represented by survey variables that reflect direct, everyday experiences of the built environment, such as indoor environmental quality, access to natural light, ventilation, contact with vegetation, and the use of natural materials, whereas SDGs represented by indirect or broader ecological dimensions exhibited weaker statistical associations. Not all conceptually linked SDGs were reflected equally in individual experiences; only a subset of potential interdependencies showed strong statistical—association. This study demonstrates that the pattern of SDG interdependencies depends on the analytical scale at which sustainability is examined. The study reinforces the value of the SDG framework as an analytical structure for sustainability science, enabling interdisciplinary investigations of complex interactions among environmental, social, and built-environment dimensions beyond policy implementation assessment. Full article

Air transport improves accessibility and can make travel more affordable, but it also increases environmental burdens and pressure on tourism destinations, dimensions that are still often examined separately. This study develops the Air Transport Sustainability Tension Score, a framework for individual routes that identifies where mobility benefits and sustainability burdens coexist across European air connections. The analysis covers 11,065 directed routes and integrates accessibility, relative affordability derived from expected fares, environmental burden, and destination tourism pressure. Accessibility and relative affordability form the benefit dimension, while environmental activity and tourism pressure form the burden dimension. Their harmonic aggregation limits compensation and assigns high scores when both dimensions remain elevated. Relative affordability was derived from expected fares generated for each route through five-fold cross-validation with Ridge regression, Random Forest, CatBoost, and XGBoost. Each prediction therefore came from a model that excluded the corresponding observation during training. Among the evaluated fixed model configurations, XGBoost performed best, achieving a mean absolute price error of EUR 28.58 and an $R^2$ of 0.6871 on the logarithmic price scale. TreeSHAP was then used to interpret the model predictions. The environmental activity proxy correlated strongly with the strict CO₂ score derived from fleet information on 3622 routes. Across the sensitivity analyses, the broad route ordering remained comparatively stable, although exact membership in the upper decile was more sensitive to methodological choices. The primary upper decile contained 1107 routes. Monte Carlo weight variation retained 580 routes and the complete specification multiverse retained 506, with 421 supported by both procedures. Two route archetypes revealed distinct empirical profiles involving strong connectivity and environmental activity or greater tourism pressure at destinations. The framework provides an interpretable basis for differentiated air transport and destination management without automatically classifying routes as sustainable or unsustainable. Full article