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18 pages, 698 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Office Design Features and Future Organizational Change toward Supporting Sustainability

by Adel M. A. Binyaseen

Buildings 2024, 14(1), 260; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14010260 - 17 Jan 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2969

Organizational change, influenced by such factors as economics, information and communications technologies (ICTs), and users’ wellbeing, is essential for organizational effectiveness, productivity, and sustainability. Thus, there has been a call for urgent changes in workplace design features to respond to future change. This study is concerned with defining the level of change in design features that is needed in existing Saudi governmental workplaces to cope with future visions of sustainability, as well as controlling the cost of such redesigning. It is hypothesized that future challenges related to economics, ICTs, and users’ wellbeing would have a significant impact on the need to change existing workplace design features. Administrator workplaces in three buildings of Saudi organizations and their representative economic, ICT, and wellbeing trends were considered (n = 104, 95, 96). The average level of change in design features in each building was observed and reported. The most changed design features in buildings affected by economic, ICT, and wellbeing trends were minimizing of luxury workplaces, minimizing storage space, and improving thermal/lighting conditions, respectively. However, the most changed design features that were common to all three buildings were spatial and furniture layouts and minimizing storage space. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate)

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16 pages, 32782 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Identification of WRKY Transcription Factor Family and Its Expression Patterns in Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen

by Qing Zhu, Feifei Chen, Xu Hu, Haoyue Zheng, Yi Liu, Chunchan Fu, Shangqian Xie, Dunxi Li and Minqiang Tang

Agronomy 2023, 13(10), 2591; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13102591 - 10 Oct 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1767

Abstract

Dalbergia odorifera is a valuable material used in the crafting of luxury furniture, and the chemical constituents from heartwood possess significant medicinal value. The WRKY gene family, one of the most extensively studied gene families, plays an important role in plants. However, a comprehensive genome-wide identification of the WRKY gene family in D. odorifera has not been reported yet. In this study, a total of 99 WRKY genes were identified in D. odorifera. The DoWRKY genes were categorized into three primary groups with five subgroups. A collinearity analysis revealed 38 segmental duplications and 3 tandem duplications within the DoWRKY genes, indicating the pivotal role of segmental duplication in gene family expansion. Through the analysis of DoWRKY transcriptomic data across diverse tissues and under wounding stress, we found that only eight genes were universally expressed, while a subset displayed distinct tissue-specific patterns. Notably, DoWRKY41 was exclusively expressed in leaves; DoWRKY04 was solely in roots; and DoWRKY17, DoWRKY28, DoWRKY47, and DoWRKY67 were uniquely in flowers. Furthermore, we identified 24 WRKY proteins that tightly respond to wounding stress (20 upregulated; 4 downregulated). This comprehensive investigation offered valuable insights into the WRKY gene family of D. odorifera, serving as a foundational resource for forthcoming explorations into the functional roles of these genes amid wounding stress. Full article

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22 pages, 562 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability and Quality Management in the Italian Luxury Furniture Sector: A Circular Economy Perspective

by Marica Barbaritano, Laura Bravi and Elisabetta Savelli

Sustainability 2019, 11(11), 3089; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113089 - 31 May 2019

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 12223

Abstract

The growing attention paid to global environmental risks has gradually raised interest, both on the agendas of firms and governments towards the development of new business models such as Circular Economy. This study is focused on the luxury furniture industry and it is aimed at investigating how much furniture companies know about Circular Economy practices, what they specifically do for implementing them and what factors motivate, support or hinder their adoption. The role of product and process certifications in developing such sustainable practices is also analyzed, given their importance for implementing environmentally sustainable practices. The research method is based on a qualitative multiple case study carried out on four Italian companies operating in the luxury furniture industry. A worthy degree of awareness and knowledge of Circular Economy principles emerged from the analysis. Nevertheless, furniture companies analyzed are still little involved in Circular Economy practices, especially concerning reuse and recycle actions, which are particularly important within this perspective. Similarly, very little use of process and product certifications emerged from the study. Therefore, a potential gap seems to arise between the positive attitude towards Circular Economy practices and their actual implementation, which suggests useful implications for both institutions and managers involved in sustainable development processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Attitude towards Luxury Brands and Sustainable Development: New Challenges for Business)

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