Search Results (4,371)

Rapid urban growth in Latin America challenges municipal solid waste (MSW) management. This study models landfill-gas (LFG) energy recovery and carbon-credit generation in the Cuernavaca metropolitan area, Mexico. A landfill receiving 3.93 × 10⁶ Mg of MSW over ten years would generate 2.65 × 10⁵ Mg of CH₄ over a 21-year horizon with the US EPA LandGEM defaults, and 1.51–1.85 × 10⁵ Mg with parameters derived from the regional waste composition and climate. Accounting explicitly for gas-collection efficiency (75%), cover oxidation, methane slip and biogenic CO₂, enclosed flaring reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by 66.7%, and staged gas-engine generation (12 MW) reduces them by 71.8%, delivering 1.12 × 10⁶ MWh of electricity. Collection efficiency governs the percentage reduction, whereas the gas-generation parameters govern the absolute methane and energy. At 0.075 USD kWh⁻¹, 1.8 million USD MW⁻¹ and a 10% discount rate, the net present value is 15.7 million USD with full carbon crediting (7.6–12.7 million USD with regional parameters) and 4.1 million USD without credits. Viability without credits is conditional. It is lost below 0.065 USD kWh⁻¹, above 2.08 million USD MW⁻¹, when collection starts two years after deposition, or when the project bears delivered-supply network charges. Credit revenue falls from 32.4 to 2.3 million USD if regulatory flaring defines the baseline. Gas engines offer the best compromise; fuel cells are financially unviable. Full article

The village fund (fundusz sołecki) in Poland is a participatory governance mechanism for local community engagement and addressing community needs. It is organised voluntarily by municipalities within auxiliary administrative units, which most commonly cover individual villages. Residents prepare proposals for small-scale projects that involve activities or investments in public spaces within their administrative units. After formal verification, these projects must be implemented by the municipal office in the following financial year. This study aims to examine the geographical dynamics of village fund introduction across Poland, assess their significance for local communities, and identify their opportunities and constraints. Our analysis utilised national data from Statistics Poland, data obtained from a case study municipal office, and telephone interviews with village administrators. Local projects, despite their small scale, can positively contribute to the implementation of SDGs in rural regions, especially SDG 3, 11, and 16. They can enhance residents’ well-being through the development of safe and inclusive public spaces, social inclusion in local planning, and activities that engage and integrate local communities. However, successful implementation requires a baseline level of social activity to foster cooperation among residents during the project preparation phase. Village funds alone are an insufficient incentive for participatory governance in exceptionally passive communities. In such cases, traditional community development approaches involving professional facilitators may yield better results. Full article

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) carrying thermal-infrared (TIR) and multispectral (MS) sensors have become established instruments of archaeological prospection. Both are indirect, surface-proxy methods: they record radiance emitted or reflected by the ground surface or the plant canopy, and reach buried features only through the anomalies those features induce at the surface. This systematic review, reported in accordance with PRISMA 2020, maps that literature. Scopus, OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar and Google Scholar were searched on 27 July 2026 with a single Boolean string and no filters (590 records); an exploratory track using two large-language-model (LLM)-assisted deep-research assistants (Claude, Anthropic; ChatGPT, OpenAI) returned 168 further records. After deduplication, 380 unique records were screened by one reviewer and 22 further publications were added through citation searching; 132 publications, corresponding to 122 distinct research projects, were included. Sensor deployment is governed by surface regime: thermal-only studies operate on bare or arid surfaces in 47.6% of cases against 5.2% for multispectral-only studies (p < 0.001), confirming that two physically distinct detection pathways coexist in this literature. Thermal instruments identifiable as radiometric are the majority from 2017 onward, at 73–80% of determinable cases; 77.2% of multispectral studies (88.6% of those for which the array is identifiable) fly red-edge-capable hardware. Ground-geophysical integration increased from 0% in 2013–2016 to 5.9% in 2017–2020 and 26.4% in 2021–2026; the increase between the latter two periods was significant (Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.012). Reporting completeness, however, does not improve (mean 1.82, 2.68, 2.30 of 4; p = 0.029), and reporting of acquisition month falls from 64.7% in 2017–2020 to 31.0% in 2021–2026 (χ² = 10.15, p = 0.0014). Platforms migrated to factory-integrated systems, with DJI (Da-Jiang Innovations, Shenzhen, China) equipping 59% of identified platforms. A minimal reporting standard is proposed. Full article

The article contributes to the discussion on the determinants of local governments’ engagement in energy transition-related investment. It aims at identifying the position of the energy transition among the development priorities of local authorities and at assessing the extent to which this factor is associated with actual and planned municipal investment activity in the area of local energy transition. The analysis uses data collected through surveys conducted in cooperation with the Statistical Office in Rzeszów between 2023 and 2025 among all municipalities (160) in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. Differences in investment activity among municipalities with varying approaches to energy transition were examined using the Mann–Whitney U, Pearson’s chi-square (χ²), and exact Fisher (or FFH) tests. The results suggest that municipalities that prioritised the energy transition allocated a slightly higher share of their investment expenditure to related projects, particularly renewable energy installations, and planned higher future spending in this area. Nevertheless, the research indicates that prioritisation is particularly relevant for planned investments, for which differences between groups were statistically significant, whereas no statistically significant differences were observed for realised investments. The findings highlight the need for a reorientation of the national and EU support, including greater emphasis on raising local environmental awareness of the energy transition benefits. Full article

The protection of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) has now evolved from a conventional mode based on project application and inventory management to a new stage of spatial, networked, and regionally integrated governance. China is moving from list-based management toward spatial governance. This study examines ICH spatial patterns, potential corridor configurations, and regional resource characteristics within an integrated analytical framework. This study examined 3610 sub-items of national ICH across the country. We employed the nearest-neighbor index (NNI) and kernel density estimation (KDE) to characterize the spatial distribution of ICH, the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model to identify potential corridor networks, and Ward’s hierarchical clustering to classify provincial ICH resource structures. The findings indicate that: (1) National ICH items exhibit significant spatial clustering (NNI = 0.317), with differences in spatial distribution across the five batches and a greater representation of central, western, and border regions in later batches. (2) Potential corridors form an interconnected network in eastern China and exhibit a linear, bead-like pattern in western China, broadly corresponding to the spatial gradient of lower resistance in the east and higher resistance in the west. (3) Ward’s hierarchical clustering identifies six groups of provincial-level regions with distinct ICH category-frequency profiles. Their spatial distributions are not necessarily contiguous, indicating that similar resource profiles may occur in geographically separated regions. (4) The potential corridor network and provincial ICH resource groups reveal regional differences in the resource characteristics associated with corridor configurations. Eastern corridors connect regions with diverse ICH resources, whereas western corridors predominantly link more dispersed source regions across provinces with different resource profiles. These findings provide a spatial reference for the coordinated protection of ICH across administrative boundaries and the spatial organization of cultural heritage resources, offering insights for the planning of national cultural parks and the integrated development of ICH and tourism. Full article

Cultural sustainability in intangible cultural heritage (ICH) design requires contemporary visual innovation to retain cultural meaning and involve heritage holders. This study examines how generative AI capability relates to culturally grounded innovation using cross-sectional data from 542 matched designer–inheritor dyads in Guangyuan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling, multi-group analysis, necessary-condition analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis were applied. Generative AI-enabled visual design capability was positively associated with ICH visual design innovation, directly and indirectly through heritage knowledge integration, cultural visual translation and the theoretically ordered knowledge integration–visual translation pathway. Higher designer–inheritor collaboration quality was associated with stronger relationships between AI capability and both knowledge integration and visual translation. Point estimates followed the proposed heritage-context differences, but the group contrasts were not statistically supported. Necessary-condition and configurational analyses identified combinations of technological, cultural and relational capabilities, with limited configurational coverage and sensitivity to calibration. Integrating the dynamic capabilities and knowledge-boundary perspectives, the study distinguishes knowledge interpretation from visual enactment and locates collaboration quality within these capability relationships. The findings inform culturally sustainable use of GenAI by connecting visual exploration with verified heritage knowledge, continued inheritor participation and cultural-boundary governance. Design teams should document cultural sources and permissions, involve inheritors in interpretation and review, and assess cultural recognizability alongside novelty. These project-level associations identify capabilities relevant to cultural sustainability; long-term heritage transmission and safeguarding outcomes require further investigation. Full article

Underground construction creates a distinct carbon-governance problem because excavation, support, lining, logistics, programme and cost depend on ground conditions, while the related carbon budget may be administered through a separate record. Existing tunnel-carbon studies improve measurement, and standard-form initiatives address carbon management, but the reviewed literature does not provide an event-level procedure connecting carbon-budget adjustment to geotechnical risk administration. This article uses structured document analysis and a targeted integrative review of 39 legal, institutional, technical and methodological sources to develop a dual-baseline carbon-geotechnical governance framework for international underground construction contracts. The framework coordinates six interfaces: dependency mapping, common event identification, control attribution, coordinated assessment, decision authority and integrated verification. Four hypothetical pathways test internal coherence. A worked illustration applies frozen factors to five activity classes and produces a gross variance of 783,440 kg CO2e, assumed avoided emissions of 36,400 kg CO2e and a residual variance of 747,040 kg CO2e. Sensitivity bounds preserve the direction, but not the magnitude, of that illustrative result. These figures are scenario inputs rather than project findings. The framework separates technical verification from entitlement and liability, which remain dependent on the incorporated contract, mandatory rules, evidentiary treatment and governing law. Project-based and cross-jurisdictional testing is therefore required. Full article

Dynamic disturbances induced by blasting excavation of the later-excavated tunnel in closely spaced tunnels may propagate through the inter-tunnel rock pillar and induce significant vibration and stress responses in the lining of the first-excavated tunnel. To investigate the spatial response characteristics and governing factors of the first-excavated tunnel lining, a three-dimensional blast-dynamics model was established based on the Zhongliangshan Tunnel project. The axial and circumferential distributions of peak particle velocity (PPV) and maximum principal tensile stress were analyzed, and the effects of rock-mass grade, charge weight per blasthole, and tunnel clear spacing were evaluated. The relationship between PPV and maximum principal tensile stress was further examined, and the relative variability of the lining responses under different governing factors was evaluated using the coefficient of variation (CV). The results show that the lining response is concentrated mainly near the face of the later-excavated tunnel, with the blast-facing haunch and shoulder exhibiting the strongest vibration and tensile-stress responses. Both PPV and maximum principal tensile stress decrease with increasing axial distance from the face, with generally faster attenuation behind the face than ahead of it. As the rock-mass condition deteriorates from Grade III to Grade V, both response indices increase overall. Increasing tunnel clear spacing significantly reduces both responses, with the most pronounced reduction occurring when the spacing increases from 1 to 3 m, whereas increasing the charge weight per blasthole generally intensifies the lining response. PPV is strongly correlated with maximum principal tensile stress. The CV analysis shows that tunnel clear spacing produces the greatest relative variability in both response indices within the investigated parameter ranges. For PPV, the response variability follows the order of tunnel clear spacing > charge weight per blasthole > rock-mass grade, whereas for maximum principal tensile stress, the order is tunnel clear spacing > rock-mass grade > charge weight per blasthole. These findings provide a basis for blasting-parameter optimization and safety control of existing linings in closely spaced tunnel construction. Full article

This study investigates the challenges associated with dockless bike-sharing systems through a systematic literature review combined with a case study of the Integra UFRJ project, implemented at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The research aims to understand how operational, spatial, governance, and sustainability-related issues affect the implementation and management of dockless systems in complex urban environments. The methodology involved a bibliometric and systematic review of 366 publications indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, followed by the empirical analysis of a real-world bike-sharing system operating as a living laboratory on Ilha do Fundão. The results indicate that the literature is strongly concentrated on planning and operational aspects, while topics such as corrective actions, governance, monitoring, and end-of-life management remain underexplored. The Integra UFRJ case study indicated that unrestricted dockless operation generated problems related to vandalism, theft, and improper parking, requiring the adoption of a hybrid model based on georeferenced virtual stations, real-time monitoring, operational teams, and adaptive governance strategies. The study suggests that combining technological monitoring, spatial organization, and human operational support may represent a relevant management approach for addressing challenges related to safety, operational organization, and long-term sustainability. Full article

Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) share a GCC context, strong solar resources, financing capacity, and renewable energy ambitions, yet their deployment trajectories differ markedly. Treating renewable energy deployment as an infrastructure delivery problem, this study examines this variation through a structured comparison of legal, procurement, project, and statistical records updated through August 2026. The empirical evidence base comprises 41 unique records, including 13 used for the institutional classifications and 28 used to document contextual conditions, deployment measures, and project milestones. By the end of 2025, IRENA reported total national renewable power capacity of 7907 MW in the UAE and 114 MW in Kuwait. These national aggregates have a broader statistical scope than the utility-scale, public grid projects examined in the project-level analysis. Drawing on governance and policy implementation literature, the study develops an implementation capacity framework comprising institutional coordination, implementation processes, and accountability. Both cases use competitive independent power producer procurement, long-term buyer-backed offtake arrangements, and formal monitoring and review arrangements. The differences concern the timing and location of binding decisions and the continuity of project delivery arrangements. Across the UAE arrangements examined, renewable energy procurement operates through identifiable emirate-level sector entities and established procurement chains, whereas Kuwait’s renewable procurement operates through a statutory chain involving the relevant public entity, the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects, a multiministerial Higher Committee, and ministerial approval. Project progression is also more readily traceable through designated sector entities in the UAE. The selected utility-scale projects span different stages and schedule outcomes across the two cases; they do not constitute complete national project inventories, and neither case is treated as uniformly successful or constrained. The institutional patterns are associated with contrasting deployment trajectories, but their effects cannot be isolated from differences in system scale, administrative and investor structures, electricity pricing, grid conditions, and project characteristics. The study’s principal contribution is a delivery-specific framework that operationalizes implementation capacity through common, observable indicators assessed separately from commissioning and installed capacity outcomes. It shows that similar IPP and long-term offtake instruments do not necessarily constitute equivalent project delivery systems because they may operate through different decision making, approval, coordination, and accountability structures. Full article

The Japanese government plans to establish up to 1000 hydrogen refuelling stations (HRSs) to transform Japan’s transportation sector. However, the high initial capital cost remains the biggest challenge for this plan, with JPY 500 million as the estimated capital cost per station. To address this challenge, this study proposes a co-location-based strategy through integration of hydrogen and conventional petrol stations that may reduce initial capital costs and support station placement. Hyogo Prefecture is selected as the case study, and a spatial selection model is developed to identify candidate locations for future hydrogen stations. Three types of centroid-based placement are used in this study: (1) the mean coordinates-based centroids of existing petrol stations, (2) census data-based population-weighted centroids, and (3) industrial-area-based centroids. Hydrogen demand is estimated using the projected number of both passenger and commercial fuel cell vehicle (FCV) adoptions and hydrogen consumption rates. The greedy algorithm is utilised to determine station placements. Results indicate that different types of centroid-based placement affect the spatial distribution and characteristics of the selected stations, with industrial-area-based centroids favouring sites located in the vicinity of major industrial or logistics areas. Meanwhile, petrol station-based and population-weighted centroids favour sites within residential areas. The geodesic distances represent the proximity between centroids under different definitions and selected sites. The three centroid definitions provide alternative site selection processes based on spatial and demand characteristics. This study provides a screening framework for phased development of hydrogen refuelling station infrastructure and supports sustainable transport policy development in the future. Full article

Algorithmic personalisation holds a central place in platform studies, where it has been described as the outcome of classification, profiling and adaptation to inferred preference. That vocabulary proves insufficient once what the system attributes is no longer a stable property of the subject but a condition with a beginning, an internal articulation into stages and an end, since the platform must then hold a model of how the attribution will change and distribute content in accordance with it. My focus falls on this form of temporal organisation, and I develop the concept of algorithmic gestation through five jointly necessary features: inference of an emerging biographical state, stage-sensitive temporal sequencing, progressive stabilisation of an algorithmic identity, anticipatory presentation of practices and needs, and normative prescription indexed to the projected trajectory. The argument rests on a nine-month digital autoethnography carried out during my own pregnancy, in which I documented the reconfiguration of an Instagram feed, and it sits within a feminist STS genealogy that treats obstetric visualisation, prenatal diagnosis, self-tracking and intensive mothering as layers which accumulate rather than succeed one another. The material proves consistent with four of the five features and required revision of the fifth, since stabilisation of identity appears to operate as subordination of earlier configurations rather than as their replacement. I argue that algorithmic inference constitutes the most recent layer of reproductive governance, set apart by the absence of a threshold, by the absence of disclosure and by its address to a subject identified in advance of any account she gives of herself, and that platform power extends beyond the management of visibility to the organisation of biographical time. Full article

The constitutional duty to consult has become one of the central principles governing Crown–Indigenous relations in Canada. Although constitutional and administrative law scholarship has extensively analyzed the duty’s doctrinal framework, this article asks how Indigenous treaty philosophies can illuminate its jurisprudential purpose as an expression of continuing relationships. This article explores that question by examining how Indigenous relational understandings of treaties illuminate the development of consultation jurisprudence. Through an analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decisions in Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests), 2004, Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia (Project Assessment Director), 2004, and Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Minister of Canadian Heritage), 2005, it argues that, despite arising in markedly different legal contexts, these decisions converge in recognizing that Indigenous relationships with traditional territories persist beyond reserve boundaries and continue to generate reciprocal obligations on the part of the Crown. Read through Indigenous treaty philosophies, consultation emerges as more than a procedural doctrine regulating governmental decision-making. It can also be understood as a contemporary legal expression of the enduring relationships established between Indigenous nations and the Crown. Rather than suggesting that Canadian courts have adopted Indigenous understandings of treaties, the article argues more modestly that Indigenous treaty philosophies reveal an interpretive dimension of consultation jurisprudence that helps illuminate how the duty to consult may be understood more consistently with the constitutional commitment to reconciliation. Full article

Freshwater systems, including urban streams and groundwater, are increasingly affected by climate change through altered precipitation, rising temperatures, droughts, floods, and changing water demand. This narrative review synthesizes evidence on how these pressures modify groundwater–stream connectivity and the resulting ecological, conservation, and sustainability implications in urban environments. The literature shows that groundwater supports baseflow, thermal buffering, hyporheic exchange, and habitat persistence, but that urbanization can simultaneously reduce natural recharge and create new anthropogenic recharge pathways. Studies of urban streams document flashier hydrographs and ecological degradation under conventional urbanization, whereas infiltration-focused low-impact development has been shown in some catchments to increase baseflow and reduce seasonal variability. Climate change adds further pressure: global modelling projects substantial warming of shallow groundwater by 2100, while long-term stream studies show taxon-specific community responses to warming and extreme events. Major knowledge gaps include limited long-term paired groundwater–stream observations, scale mismatches among hydrology, ecology, and governance, and underrepresentation of arid, semi-arid, tropical, and Global South cities. Addressing these gaps requires coupled hydrological–ecological research, functional indicators, and context-specific nature-based and hybrid management strategies that maintain or restore groundwater–stream connectivity as a component of urban freshwater resilience. Full article

The digital euro has moved from a general central-bank digital currency (CBDC) concept to a concrete Eurosystem project, situated between public digital cash, private payment innovation, and crypto-asset competition. This article develops a documentary and policy matrix analysis of the digital euro as a potential form of public digital cash in the euro area. The study applies manual thematic coding to a 37-item corpus of central-bank reports, EU regulatory materials, Slovak and Central European survey evidence, and selected studies in the cryptocurrency, stablecoin, CBDC and privacy-engineering literature. The revised methodology distinguishes the analysis from prospective scenario forecasting: it does not predict a single future or apply morphological scenario construction. Still, it translates official scenario drivers into comparable design orientations and governance requirements. The analysis assesses four design orientations: privacy-oriented, adoption-oriented, financial-stability-oriented, and innovation-oriented digital euro designs. The findings show that the digital euro should not be evaluated as a cryptocurrency substitute, but as regulated public-money infrastructure designed to preserve access to central-bank money in an increasingly digital payment environment. The analysis identifies five persistent design tensions: complementarity with cash versus fears of substitution, privacy protection versus anti-money-laundering compliance, payment sovereignty versus private-sector innovation, financial stability safeguards versus user attractiveness, and technical resilience versus implementation cost. Slovak and euro-area evidence indicates that awareness and potential use remain conditional on trust, privacy, communication and existing payment habits. At the same time, the Bulgarian euro-changeover context illustrates the importance of institutional trust in Central Europe. The article contributes to FinTech research by linking digital-euro governance to stablecoin regulation under MiCA, payment sovereignty, privacy-enhancing technologies, offline secure elements and adoption risk. Full article