Search Results (364)

This narrative literature review examines African American family fishing as a historically grounded practice of food provision, cultural continuity, place-based learning, and environmental stewardship, and considers its conceptual relationship to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The review synthesizes an analytical corpus of 41 works spanning history, fishing participation, food insecurity, food sovereignty, foodways, place attachment, environmental education, and social-ecological systems. The literature indicates that Black fishing cannot be understood as recreation alone; historically and contemporarily, it has connected food acquisition, family interaction, livelihood, cultural memory, and community identity. These functions are conceptually aligned with SDGs 2, 3, and 10 through plausible pathways involving culturally meaningful food access, family-centered outdoor activity, and attention to racial disparities in food security, environmental access, and institutional representation. Family fishing may also provide a place-based learning context relevant to SDG 4, while responsible harvesting, reduced waste, and ecological literacy may contribute to SDG 12. Repeated engagement with local waters may cultivate belonging and stewardship; freshwater relationships are most directly relevant to SDG 6, whereas coastal, estuarine, and marine contexts may contribute to SDG 14. These are interpretive alignments, not measured SDG outcomes. The review concludes that family-centered pilot initiatives may productively integrate cultural history, ecological education, food skills, mentorship, and community leadership, subject to feasibility testing and empirical evaluation. Contemporary family-level research is needed to examine harvest, food sharing, learning, health, access, and stewardship across generations. Full article

Workplace romance presents a paradoxical challenge for organizations, capable of enhancing employee engagement while simultaneously triggering destructive interpersonal dynamics. This study probes the darker contours of this phenomenon within Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding hospitality and travel sectors—a context where Vision 2030’s ambitious tourism agenda renders workplace social processes especially consequential for organizational sustainability. While prior research has predominantly examined either the benefits of workplace romance or its isolated negative outcomes, limited empirical attention has been devoted to understanding how romance-induced social mechanisms jointly translate into counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) and whether psychological resources can buffer these adverse effects. Integrating the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework with Conservation of Resources theory, this study develops and tests a model wherein workplace romance (WR) functions as a relational stimulus that elicits workplace ostracism (WO) and employee envy (EE), which subsequently foster CWBs, with organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) moderating the WR–WO and WR–EE linkages. Survey data from 434 employees across international hotels and travel agencies were analyzed using PLS-SEM, demonstrating robust measurement properties. The results reveal that higher levels of workplace romance are statistically associated with higher levels of workplace ostracism and employee envy, each of which shows a significant indirect association between workplace romance and counterproductive work behaviors. In the hypothesized order, workplace romance is associated with workplace ostracism and employee envy, and these variables jointly exhibit a serial indirect association with counterproductive work behaviors consistent with the proposed model, although this pattern should be interpreted as correlational rather than causal given the cross-sectional design. Furthermore, OBSE significantly attenuates the positive effects of WR on both WO and EE, underscoring its function as a protective psychological reservoir. While the cross-sectional, self-report design and single-country focus constitute notable limitations, they also underscore the imperative for multi-source, longitudinal investigations. Practically, these findings suggest that proactively managing workplace romance, mitigating ostracism and envy, and cultivating OBSE may support organizational efforts that are consistent with SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) within Saudi Arabia’s tourism-led development trajectory, even though these goals were not directly measured in this study. Full article

Active biomonitoring using moss bags provides a cost-effective alternative to traditional sensor-based air quality networks, directly supporting multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, including SDGs 3, 7, 11, and 13. However, the reliability of moss bag outputs is frequently challenged due to the wide-ranging variability in moss bag construction and exposure. To critically evaluate these disparities, this scoping review employed the PRISMA framework to synthesize 137 moss bag studies between 2005 and 2025 to assess the dominant moss bag parameter choices. The results revealed a ubiquitous lack of a “standardized operating protocol (SOP)” in almost every aspect of moss bag studies, which restricts the replicability of experiments. The preparatory stages revealed widespread “customization” of moss sampling methods; the use of water as the main moss cleaning–washing medium (~87% of the literature reviewed herein); drying at 105 °C (~80.7%); and a general preference for the Sphagnum species (74%). Regarding the constructional phases, preferences for cylindrical bag shapes (60% of the literature reviewed herein) and nylon mesh for the bag material (68%) were noted. However, the mesh aperture sizes (<1 to >10 mm²) and bag exposure duration (<4 to >10 weeks) exhibited ranges far too broad for cross-study replication. Less than 10% of the literature explicitly mentioned choices of moss packing density, bag elevation, irrigation, shading, and orientation. Reflections on the influences of environmental/meteorological variables on moss bag results were sparse. Less than 5.5% of the literature delved into any process-level discourses for parameter choices, while barely 2.8% of the literature attempted to establish SOPs for moss bags. Overall, this study highlights that much remains to be learned about the moss–pollutant interaction pathways, phytotoxicity, and chlorophyll damage, and that moss bag studies still need to be streamlined; they still lack clarity in their reporting of study designs/parameterization choices, which could collectively limit the future use of moss bags to support air quality policy and decision-making. Full article

Background: Carbon-based energy systems drive climate change with growing pressure on public health, yet research on mental health, climate change, and carbon-intensive industries remains fragmented. Objective: This scoping review mapped how mental health outcomes of climate change relate to the carbon-based matrix, identifying conceptual approaches, methodological trends, and research gaps aligned with planetary health and the SDGs. Methods: This review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, with searches in PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO. Results: From 232 records, 38 studies (2015–2025) were included across six clusters: eco-anxiety and distress (n = 14); extreme events and mental disorders (n = 9); air pollution and neuropsychological outcomes (n = 7); environmental justice and vulnerable populations (n = 10); green spaces and resilience (n = 6); and public policy and sustainable responses (n = 7). The carbon-based matrix was proximally linked to mental health in studies on air pollution and extractivism, and served as context in studies on extreme climate events, food insecurity, and climate uncertainty. Conclusions: An equitable transition away from carbon-intensive systems is a public health priority, with co-benefits for mental well-being aligned with the SDGs. Full article

Ethylene accumulation accelerates the ripening of climacteric fruits and may impair their postharvest quality. This study evaluated biochar produced from spent tea leaves and enclosed in cellulose sachets as a material for reducing ethylene concentration and preserving tomato quality during storage. The biochar was produced by pyrolyzing spent black tea leaves at 400 °C for 10 min. Tomatoes were stored for 18 days at 21 °C in sealed glass chambers containing sachets with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.5, or 10 g of biochar, with a treatment without biochar serving as the control. After 6, 12, and 18 days, ethylene concentration, microbiological quality, and selected physicochemical and antioxidant properties were evaluated. Biochar reduced ethylene accumulation in a mass-dependent manner, with the most pronounced effects generally observed in the 5–10 g range. The 10 g treatment reduced ethylene concentration by 41.1%, 37.8%, and 40.3% relative to the control after 6, 12, and 18 days, respectively. The lowest counts of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms, yeasts, and molds were generally observed in the 7.5 and 10 g treatments. The application of at least 5 g of biochar most effectively limited firmness loss; after 18 days, firmness ranged from 1.77 to 1.80 kgf in the 5–10 g treatments, compared with 1.00 kgf in the control. Higher biochar masses also favored the retention of titratable acidity, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity measured using the ABTS and FRAP assays. Overall, the beneficial effects on postharvest storage conditions and tomato quality became more evident with increasing biochar mass, particularly between 5 and 10 g. Sachets containing 7.5–10 g of spent-tea-leaf biochar showed the greatest potential as a simple passive system for controlling ethylene and preserving tomato quality. This approach combines waste valorization with the potential reduction in postharvest losses, supporting circular economy principles and Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12). Full article

This study analyses the presence of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the educational legislation and curricular materials of Spain and the United Kingdom, comparing their regulatory frameworks and evaluating the frequency of SDGs in textbook activities. A total of 555 activities from two secondary education geography textbooks were analysed using a non-experimental, descriptive-correlational, and cross-sectional design. The results show statistically significant differences between the countries regarding the incorporation of SDGs, with a higher prevalence in the Spanish textbook (66.0%) compared to the British one (41.9%), χ²(1) = 30.34, p < 0.001, φ = 0.234. An analysis of the co-occurrence structure among goals—conducted using the Jaccard coefficient and tested against a null model with fixed marginals and 1000 permutations—identifies three significant associations, corresponding to a social equity cluster, an environmental cluster, and a production-related cluster. The main finding reveals an inverse relationship: Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10) and Climate Action (SDG 13) coincide in only 4 activities, whereas 24.90 would be expected by chance (p = 0.002), and this pattern is replicated independently in both textbooks. The study concludes that the SDGs are incorporated in a fragmented manner, with a systematic dissociation between the social and environmental axes that transcends the two curricular contexts analysed. Full article

As the retail banking sector shifts toward automated lending, the black-box nature of high-performing machine learning models remains a significant barrier to regulatory transparency and institutional trust. A critical gap in existing literature is the lack of deployed frameworks that simultaneously optimize predictive accuracy, manage asymmetric financial risks, and provide actionable interpretability. To bridge this gap, this study aims to develop and evaluate a highly interpretable, ethically accountable ensemble machine learning framework for credit risk assessment. Utilizing a cross-sectional public dataset of over 45,000 generalized retail banking records, this research conducts a comprehensive comparative analysis of four diverse ensemble architectures: Bagging, Boosting, Stacking, and Voting. To address inherent class imbalance and evaluate risk tolerance, the models were integrated with Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) and Adaptive Synthetic Sampling (ADASYN) resampling techniques. While all architectures demonstrated high discriminative power, the SMOTE-balanced Bagging model emerged as the superior performer, achieving a peak Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.972 by establishing a safe operational threshold that strictly minimizes costly false approvals. Crucially, a SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) framework was applied across all four models to decode their internal logic. The SHAP analysis successfully validated that the ensembles prioritize core financial behavior, such as default history and loan-to-income ratios, while correctly assigning near-zero predictive weight to demographic traits like gender and education. By empirically proving that high-performance algorithms can be mathematically blind to demographic biases, this framework directly advances SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Furthermore, by resolving the performance-transparency trade-off, this study provides the accountable, feature-level justifications required for secure and sustainable financial inclusion (SDG 8). Full article

Green finance has emerged as a critical mechanism for aligning capital markets with climate and sustainability objectives, particularly as economies face mounting pressure to transition away from carbon-intensive growth models. In hydrocarbon-dependent regions such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), this transition poses distinctive challenges that require integrated institutional, policy, and financial frameworks. The global transition toward sustainable finance has gathered significant momentum, with green capital markets emerging as a central mechanism for channeling investment toward climate and development objectives. Hydrocarbon-dependent economies face a distinctive challenge in this transition, as they must reconcile resource-based growth models with rising pressures for environmental accountability and low-carbon diversification. This study develops an integrated theoretical framework to examine how Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) financial systems are transitioning toward green capital markets, drawing on institutional theory, environmental policy pathway analysis, and climate-finance alignment models. Using descriptive statistics from regional stock exchanges covering 2015–2024, the study maps key trends in sustainable asset growth, institutional investor preferences, and regulatory evolution across the GCC. Findings indicate progressive alignment with global ESG norms; sustainable asset valuations grew at 23.5% CAGR (UAE) and 18.7% CAGR (Saudi Arabia). A fixed-effects panel regression with panel-corrected standard errors is estimated across all six GCC economies; regulatory framework maturity emerges as the strongest predictor of green bond issuance (β = 0.47, p < 0.01). Cumulative green bond issuances reached USD 52.6 billion (2015–2024), with renewable energy accounting for 58.1% of the sectoral allocation and green transportation recording a 55.9% CAGR (2020–2024). Policy recommendations focus on GCC-wide harmonization of mandatory ESG disclosure, adoption of a unified green bond taxonomy, and expansion of concessional green financing mechanisms. Substantial cross-country heterogeneity is documented, driven by differences in energy policy commitment, financial market maturity, and institutional capacity. The proposed framework offers specific policy guidance to accelerate green financial integration in the GCC, emphasizing regulatory harmonization, institutional capacity-building, and alignment with SDG targets 7 and 13. The study contributes to the limited evidence base on green finance in hydrocarbon-dependent economies and provides a foundation for future empirical research. Given the small panel dimensions (N = 6 cross-sectional units; T = 10 years), this study is positioned as exploratory rather than confirmatory: the panel-regression estimates and the hypothesized institutional-to-policy-to-finance sequence are interpreted as associational patterns consistent with the proposed framework rather than as definitive causal tests, and the reported coefficients are offered as indicative magnitudes to be re-examined as longer GCC green-finance time series become available. Full article

Micro-credentials are reshaping higher education credentialing, yet existing models mostly link their components through one-way causality, while systems thinking pedagogy has developed largely around STEM and sustainability rather than higher education policy itself. This conceptual paper reframes the micro-credential ecosystem as a complex adaptive system governed by feedback loops, addressing both gaps at once. Following theory synthesis and model-building approaches and Sterman’s system dynamics modeling steps, a four-stage process integrates system dynamics, institutional theory, signaling theory, and adult learning theories. The study yields four testable propositions and one balancing loop, formalized in a single integrated causal loop diagram with defined polarities and delays: the bidirectional need–program link (P1), certification–design feedback (P2), demand–standardization network effect (P3), an ecosystem-level reinforcing loop (P4), and credential inflation as a balancing loop (B1). The coupling of the reinforcing and balancing loops frames credential inflation as a transferable sub-form of the Overshoot and Collapse archetype. The core loop is operationalized as a stock-flow structure, a three-level moderator architecture links the model to variable-based designs, and the framework maps onto SDGs 4, 8, and 10. Analysis of Meadows’s leverage points and a step-by-step design guide translate the model into policy and curriculum practice and into a teaching case for systems thinking. Full article

The global energy sector is undergoing rapid and, in many respects, irreversible transformation driven by the convergence of digital disruption, sustainability mandates, and shifting investor expectations. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and digital twin systems are fundamentally reshaping energy operations and strategic decision-making, while ESG governance quality and renewable energy adoption have emerged as two of the most consequential determinants of corporate financial competitiveness and equity valuation. Despite growing practitioner and regulatory interest in these dynamics, limited empirical evidence exists on how ESG governance, renewable adoption, and digital disruption jointly influence financial performance and environmental outcomes across multiple sectors simultaneously. This study addresses that gap using panel data from 26 large-cap US-listed firms across five sectors over 2015–2022 (N = 208 firm-year observations for Revenue/Market Cap/ROA models; N = 91 for the CO₂ model). A multi-method econometric framework is employed, comprising Fixed Effects and Random Effects panel regression with Hausman specification testing, Difference in Differences quasi-experimental analysis, and sequential OLS path analysis with HC3 robust standard errors. Three of four hypotheses are supported. ESG governance quality generates a significant market capitalisation premium of approximately 10–14% per unit Bloomberg ESG Score improvement, after controlling for firm size and R&D intensity; no significant revenue channel effect is found once firm size is properly accounted for. Renewable energy adoption shows a marginal association with market capitalisation at the 10% significance level (FE β = 0.019, p = 0.086; RE β = 0.016, p = 0.077), suggesting capital markets may price clean energy adoption as a forward-looking signal. ESG governance quality drives within-firm CO₂ emission reduction substantially more powerfully than renewable energy quantity alone, with the Fixed Effects estimator identifying a governance-led eco-efficiency mechanism. Firm profitability functions as a cross-model financial capacity moderator, enabling simultaneous ESG investment and environmental improvement. The findings carry direct implications for corporate managers, institutional investors, and policymakers aligned with SDG 7, SDG 9, and SDG 13. Full article

This study explores the role of arts-based educational interventions in fostering social mending and urban regeneration in disadvantaged urban contexts. The intervention consisted of participatory mosaic workshops designed to foster cooperation, inclusion, and civic engagement, culminating in the co-creation of public artworks installed in a degraded urban underpass and included 193 children aged 5–15 living in Tor Bella Monaca, a highly marginalized suburb of Rome (Italy). The analysis of the intervention used a mixed-methods approach, based on systematic observation, questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis. The findings indicate that the artistic process acted as a catalyst for both individual and collective transformation: at the individual level, participation enhanced relational skills, emotional expression, and sense of agency; at the community level, the intervention contributed to the reactivation of public space, increased social cohesion, and improved care for the urban environment. We interpret these outcomes through the capability approach, identifying art as a “conversion factor” linking individual capabilities to collective regeneration. The intervention aligns with SDGs 4, 10, 11, and 17 of the 2030 Agenda and supports the relevance of scalable, community-based models for inclusive and sustainable urban policies in deprived areas. Full article

Transport decarbonization through electric mobility depends not only on how many charging stations are deployed but where, and whether expansion balances accessibility, grid readiness, land-use protection and regional equity. Türkiye, targeting net-zero by 2053 with electric car sales exceeding 10% of the market in 2024, shows a highly uneven charging network: provincial provision ranges from 9.0 to 155.6 points per 100,000 inhabitants, with the least-served half of the population holding only 22.3% of installed capacity (Gini = 0.311). This study develops a GIS-based multi-criteria framework treating charging expansion as a sustainability-constrained planning problem. Six criteria, namely population, GDP, transformer and transmission-line proximity, road-network proximity, and city-centre proximity, were harmonized to a 100-m grid via fuzzy membership functions, with an exclusion mask protecting sensitive land uses. Three weighting scenarios were compared: equal weights (EVCSI-A), Random Forest-derived weights (EVCSI-B), and expert AHP weights (EVCSI-C). Road accessibility (41.12%) and economic capacity (29.84%) dominated existing placement, explaining ~71% of feature importance, stable across algorithms and bootstrap replicates. National results reveal an efficiency–equity trade-off: EVCSI-B concentrates suitability in metropolitan corridors, EVCSI-A preserves broader coverage, and EVCSI-C reinforces metropolitan bias. Central and Eastern Anatolia remain underserved. We recommend sustainability-constrained screening followed by grid-capacity verification, positioning EVCSI as a transferable equity-monitoring tool supporting SDG 7, 9, 11 and 13. Full article

Sustainable development is one of the most important challenges facing contemporary socio-economic policy, requiring consideration of the interdependencies among the environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Particular importance is attached to identifying synergies among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as recognizing these synergies enables more coherent and effective development efforts. The purpose of this article is to assess the level of implementation of SDG 12, “Responsible Consumption and Production” (SDG 12), and selected SDGs in European Union (EU) countries, as well as to identify systemic linkages between SDG 12 and selected SDGs and to assess the synergistic effects between them. The study was conducted for the years 2019 and 2023, using the TOPSIS method based on SDG indicators available in the Eurostat database, across the 10 analyzed goals. The results obtained made it possible to determine the degree of achievement of individual SDGs in the countries studied and to rank them according to their level of progress toward the analyzed goals. Furthermore, they made it possible to identify changes in the level of SDG achievement between 2019 and 2023. In both 2019 and 2023, the countries of Northern and Western Europe maintained leading positions in most rankings, while the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and some countries in Southern Europe continued to occupy relatively lower positions in the analyzed rankings. Synergies between SDG 12 and SDG 9 were identified in 2019, while in 2023, synergistic interactions were also observed between SDG 12 and SDG 8, as well as between SDG 12 and SDG 2. Full article

Vulnerable coastal urban margins face overlapping pressures from erosion, climate change, and plastic-waste accumulation. This study presents a screening-level numerical assessment of a hollow modular unit made of a recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET)–concrete composite, proposed for coastal slope protection and stabilisation in Chucuito, Callao, Peru. A limit-equilibrium baseline indicates that the unprotected slope is marginal to unstable under the site’s seismic demand, motivating the evaluation of a surface-protection concept through a parallel, one-way finite element analysis–computational fluid dynamics (FEA–CFD) framework applied at three slope angles (60°, 53°, 45°). The FEA structural-response screening indicates consistent trends across configurations under an equivalent impact load and the adopted basal restraint. For the hydraulic comparison, inlet velocities of 3, 5 and 7 m/s were anchored to the site-specific Delft3D inundation modelling (site maximum 5 m/s), with a conservative 10 m/s upper bound; relative to a rip-rap reference, the hollow configuration suggests midpoint run-up velocity reductions of approximately 52% at θ = 53° under the conservative scenario and ≈57% at 3 and 5 m/s, falling to ≈25% at 7 m/s with overlapping ranges and the simulated free surface exceeding the crest. The CFD free-surface elevations show order-of-magnitude consistency with an indicative EurOtop-based run-up benchmark used as a consistency check rather than as hydraulic validation. Independent of this hydraulic comparison, the hollow geometry saves ≈ 62% of the material volume relative to an equivalent solid concrete block, valorises ≈ 793 post-consumer PET bottles per unit at a 10% dosage, and suggests a 42–58% embodied-CO₂ reduction relative to the same solid-concrete reference, driven mainly by the hollow geometry rather than by the PET substitution itself. The results are internally consistent but not experimentally validated and are intended as a comparative baseline to guide subsequent experimental and field studies, in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 11, 12 and 13. Full article