Search Results (919)

Occupational exposure to sharps waste represents a critical challenge for public health systems, directly affecting healthcare workers’ safety, institutional costs, and environmental sustainability. This study aimed to analyze sharps waste management practices and to structure improvement actions for biosafety governance in Brazilian Emergency Care Units (ECUs) through the application of the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and DMAIC method (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control). A single multiple-case study was conducted across three public units in different regions of Brazil, combining direct observation, regulatory checklists based on ANVISA Resolution No. 222/2018 (RDC), and cause–and–effect (5M) analysis. The diagnostic phase identified recurrent nonconformities in labeling, documentation, and internal transport routes, primarily due to managerial and behavioral gaps. Based on these findings, the DMAIC framework supported the development of a low-cost, evidence-based action plan that outlined proposed interventions, including visual checklists, standardized internal routes, and key performance indicators (KPIs), intended to strengthen biosafety traceability and occupational safety. The se proposed actions are expected to support continuous learning, staff engagement, and a culture of shared responsibility for safe practices. Overall, the study provides a structured basis for future implementation and empirical validation of continuous improvement initiatives, aimed at enhancing public health governance and occupational safety in resource-constrained healthcare environments. Full article

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), formalized by Calthorpe and Poticha in 1993, emerged to counter urban sprawl, reduce car dependency, and revitalize historical community centers. Rooted in “new urbanism”, TOD emphasizes integrated regional land-use planning and high-capacity public transportation. In the Middle East, TOD implementation remains understudied, particularly regarding heritage integration and social equity in arid climates. Doha’s rapid social and economic transformation presents both opportunities and risks: growth offers urban revitalization yet threatens to displace communities and dilute cultural identity. Shifts in urban planning have aimed to address sustainability, connectivity, and heritage preservation. This study examines Msheireb Downtown Doha (MDD) to assess how TOD can restore historic districts while managing gentrification, enhancing accessibility and promoting inclusiveness. A mixed-methods approach was applied, including 12 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (Qatar Rail, Msheireb Properties, Ministry of Municipality and Environment), purposive surveys of 80 urban users, site observations, and spatial mapping. Using the Node-Place-People (NPP) model, the study evaluates TOD effectiveness across transportation connectivity (node), built environment quality (place), and equity metrics (people). The findings show that MDD successfully implements fundamental TOD principles through its design, which enhances connectivity, walkability, social inclusiveness, and heritage preservation. However, multiple obstacles remain: the “peripheral island effect” limits benefits to the core, pedestrian–vehicular balance is unresolved, and commercial gentrification is on the rise. This research provides evidence-based knowledge for GCC cities pursuing sustainable urban regeneration by demonstrating both the advantages of TOD and the necessity for critical, context-sensitive implementation that focuses on social equity together with physical transformation. Full article

This research simulates Aswan City’s urban transportation dynamics utilizing the Multi-Agent Transport Simulation (MATSim) framework. As a fast-expanding urban center, Aswan has many transportation difficulties that require extensive modeling toward sustainable mobility solutions. MATSim, recognized for its agent-based methodology, offers a detailed portrayal and analysis of individual travel behaviors and their interactions within the metropolitan transportation system. This study compiled and combined many databases, including demographic data, road infrastructure, public transit plans, and travel demand trends. These data are altered to produce a realistic digital clone of Aswan’s transportation system. Simulated scenarios analyze the consequences of several actions, such as increased public transit scheduling, traffic flow management, and the adoption of alternative transport modes, on minimizing congestion and boosting accessibility. Pilot findings show that MATSim effectively captures the distinct features of Aswan’s transportation network and offers practical insights for decision-makers. The results identified some opportunities to improve mobility and promote sustainable urban growth in developing cities. This study emphasized the importance of agent-based simulations in designing future transportation systems and urban infrastructure. Full article

This case study in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, addresses the urban problem of the degradation of road corridors used by public transport, affecting the accessibility, safety, and efficiency of urban mobility. To address this issue, a multi-criteria methodology based on MIVES (Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessments) was applied, combined with the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method, allowing the evaluation of 20 key urban roads using a hierarchical set of indicators linked to infrastructure, accessibility, and mobility. The assessment was operationalized through the Transport Infrastructure Condition Index (TICI), which yielded results ranging from 0.32 to 0.88, reflecting significant contrasts in the road’s upkeep and maintenance conditions. The lowest scores were associated with deficiencies in universal accessibility, cycling infrastructure, signage, and adaptations for people with reduced mobility, highlighting structural limitations in sustainability and urban inclusion. The model facilitates the prioritization of road interventions based on urgency and criticality, becoming a useful tool for guiding public investment decisions. Its comprehensive approach and replicability make it a valuable methodological alternative for other Latin American contexts, where pressure to improve urban services coexists with budgetary constraints, contributing to more efficient and sustainable strategic planning of public transportation. Full article

Higher education institutions face a critical methodological challenge in pursuing net-zero commitments: Within the amount ofhe emissions related to Scope 3, including indirect emissions from water consumption, waste disposal, business travel, and mobility, employees commuting represents 50–92% of campus carbon footprints, yet reliable quantification remains elusive due to fragmented data collection and governance silos. The present research investigates how purposeful integration of the Home-to-Work Commuting Plan (HtWCP)—mandatory under Italian Decree 179/2021—into the Climate Neutrality Plan (CNP) could constitute an innovative strategy to enhance emissions accounting rigor while strengthening institutional governance. Stemming from the University of Genoa case study, we show how leveraging mandatory HtWCP survey infrastructure to collect granular mobility behavioral data (transportation mode, commuting distance, and travel frequency) directly addresses the GHG Protocol-specified distance-based methodology for Scope 3 accounting. In turn, the CNP could support the HtWCP in framing mobility actions into a wider long-term perspective, as well as suggesting a compensation mechanism and paradigm for mobility actions that are currently not included. We therefore establish a replicable model that simultaneously advances three institutional dimensions, through the operationalization of the Avoid–Shift–Improve framework within an integrated workflow: (1) methodological rigor—replacing proxy methodologies with actual behavioral data to eliminate the notorious Scope 3 data gap; (2) governance coherence—aligning voluntary and regulatory instruments to reduce fragmentation and enhance cross-functional collaboration; and (3) adaptive management—embedding biennial feedback cycles that enable continuous validation and iterative refinement of emissions reduction strategies. This framework positions universities as institutional innovators capable of modeling integrated governance approaches with potential transferability to municipal, corporate, and public administration contexts. The findings contribute novel evidence to scholarly literature on institutional sustainability, policy integration, and climate governance, whilst establishing methodological standards relevant to international harmonization efforts in carbon accounting. Full article

The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), known as Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), has emerged as a transformative paradigm for enabling intelligent, data-driven, and context-aware decision-making in urban environments to reduce the carbon footprint of mobility and industry. This review examines the conceptual foundations, and state-of-the-art developments of AIoT, with a particular emphasis on its applications in smart cities and its relevance to climate change management. AIoT integrates sensing, connectivity, and intelligent analytics to provide optimized solutions in transportation systems, energy management, waste collection, and environmental monitoring, directly influencing urban sustainability. Beyond urban efficiency, AIoT can play a critical role in addressing the global challenges and management of climate change by (a) precise measurements and autonomously remote monitoring; (b) real-time optimization in renewable energy distribution; and (c) developing prediction models for early warning of climate disasters. This paper performs a literature review and bibliometric analysis to identify the current landscape of AIoT research in smart city contexts. Over 1885 articles from Web of Sciences and over 1854 from Scopus databases, published between 1993 and January 2026, were analyzed. The results reveal a strong and accelerating growth in research activity, with publication output doubling in the most recent two years compared to 2023. Waste management and air quality monitoring have emerged as leading application domains, where AIoT-based optimization and predictive models demonstrate measurable improvements in operational efficiency and environmental impact. Altogether, these support faster and more effective decisions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring the sustainable use of resources. The reviewed studies reveal rapid advancements in edge intelligence, federated learning, and secure data sharing through the integration of AIoT with blockchain technologies. However, significant challenges remain regarding scalability, interoperability, privacy, ethical governance, and the effective translation of research outcomes into policy and citizen-oriented tools such as climate applications, insurance models, and disaster alert systems. By synthesizing current research trends, this article highlights the potential of AIoT to support sustainable, resilient, and citizen-centric smart city ecosystems while identifying both critical gaps and promising directions for future investigations. Full article

Maritime transportation accounts for approximately 80 percent of global trade volume, with modern vessels increasingly reliant on Software-Defined Radio (SDR) technologies for communication and navigation. However, the very flexibility and reconfigurability that make SDRs advantageous also introduce complex radio frequency vulnerabilities exposing ships to threats that jeopardize vessel security, and this disrupts global supply chains. This survey paper systematically examines the security landscape of maritime SDR systems through a threat modeling lens. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we analyzed 84 peer-reviewed publications (from 2002 to 2025) and applied the STRIDE framework to identify and categorize maritime SDR threats. We identified 44 distinct threat types, with tampering attacks being most prevalent (36 instances), followed by Denial of Service (33 instances), Repudiation (30 instances), Spoofing (23 instances), Information Disclosure (24 instances), and Elevation of Privilege (28 instances). These threats exploit vulnerabilities across device, software, network, message, and user layers, targeting critical systems including Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Automatic Identification Systems, Very High Frequency or Digital Selective Calling systems, Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems, and National Marine Electronics Association 2000 networks. Our analysis reveals that maritime SDR threats are multidimensional and interdependent, with compromises at any layer potentially cascading through entire maritime operations. Significant gaps remain in authentication mechanisms for core protocols, supply chain assurance, regulatory frameworks, multi-layer security implementations, awareness training, and standardized forensic procedures. Further analysis highlights that securing maritime SDRs requires a proactive security engineering that integrates secured hardware architectural designs, cryptographic authentications, adaptive spectrum management, strengthened international regulations, awareness education, and standardized forensic procedures to ensure resilience and trustworthiness. Full article

To address the limitations of conventional social force models in simulating high-density pedestrian crowds, this study proposes an enhanced model that incorporates visual perception constraints, group-type labeling, and collective avoidance mechanisms. Pedestrian trajectories were extracted from a bidirectional commercial street scenario using OpenCV, with YOLOv8 and DeepSORT employed for multiple object tracking. Analysis of pedestrian grouping patterns revealed that 52% of pedestrians walked in pairs, with distinct avoidance behaviors observed. The improved model integrates three key mechanisms: a restricted 120° forward visual field, group-type classification based on social relationships, and an exponentially formulated inter-group repulsive force. Simulation results in MATLAB R2023b demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms conventional approaches in multiple aspects: speed distribution (error < 8%); spatial density overlap (>85%); trajectory similarity (reduction of 32% in Dynamic Time Warping distance); and avoidance behavior accuracy (82% simulated vs. 85% measured). This model serves as a quantitative simulation tool and decision-making basis for the planning of pedestrian spaces, crowd organization management, and the optimization of emergency evacuation schemes in high-density pedestrian areas such as commercial streets and subway stations. Consequently, it contributes to enhancing pedestrian mobility efficiency and public safety, thereby supporting the development of a sustainable urban slow transportation system. Full article

This study introduces the Sustainable Urban Mobility Maturity Model (SUM-MM) to assess and enhance the maturity of sustainable urban mobility in cities. The SUM-MM comprises 3 main dimensions (enablers, sustainability, and transport modes) and 11 sub-dimensions (strategic and spatial planning, organization and human resources, information and communication technologies, environment, economy, social, walking, micromobility, public transport, paratransit systems, and multimodal integration), evaluated at 5 levels (beginner, initial, integrated, managed, and mature). Developed through a literature review and validated using a questionnaire-based expert opinion method, the model was tested in Konya, Türkiye. The results show that Konya’s overall maturity falls between integrated and managed, with significant variability across sub-dimensions. The enablers dimension demonstrated the highest maturity, driven by strong organizational and technological capabilities, whereas the transport modes dimension had the lowest—particularly in paratransit systems. The SUM-MM serves as both a benchmarking tool and a policy guidance framework, facilitating targeted strategies for sustainable urban mobility improvements. Unlike existing smart city or transport maturity models, the SUM-MM specifically focuses on sustainable urban mobility, offering a structured, operational, and decision-oriented framework for policy-makers and city administrations. The results can be used by local and national authorities to support comparative benchmarking, strategic planning, and the prioritization of sustainable urban mobility investments. Full article

Aquatic environments have been a critical source of nutrition for millennia, with wild fisheries supplying protein and nutrients to populations worldwide. A notable shift has occurred in recent decades with the expansion of aquaculture, now representing a fast-growing sector in food production. Aquaculture plays a key role in mitigating the depletion of wild fish stocks and addressing issues related to overfishing. Despite its potential benefits, the sustainability of both wild and farmed aquatic food systems is challenged by anthropogenic pollution. Contaminants from agricultural runoff, industrial discharges, and domestic effluents enter freshwater systems and eventually reach marine environments, where they may be transported globally through ocean currents. Maintaining water quality is paramount to food safety, environmental integrity, and long-term food security. In addition to conventional seafood products such as fish and shellfish, foods such as those derived from microalgae are gaining attention in Western markets for their high nutritional value and potential functional properties. These organisms have been consumed in Asia for generations and are now being explored as sustainable foods and ingredients as an alternative source of protein. Contaminants in aquatic food products include residues of agrochemicals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), as well as brominated flame retardants and heavy metals. Public and scientific attention has intensified around plastic pollution, particularly microplastics and nanoplastics, which are increasingly detected in aquatic organisms and are the subject of ongoing toxicological and ecological risk assessments. While the presence of these hazards necessitates robust risk assessment and regulatory oversight, it is important to balance these concerns against the health benefits of aquatic foods, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, high-quality proteins, vitamins, and trace elements. Furthermore, beyond direct human health implications, the environmental impact of pollutant sources must be addressed through integrated management approaches to ensure the long-term sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and the food systems they support. This review covers regulatory frameworks, risk assessments, and management issues relating to aquatic environments, including the impact of climate change. It aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for researchers, policymakers, food businesses who harvest food from aquatic systems and other stakeholders. Full article

Sustainable transport innovation often faces funding gaps, as traditional public and private sources rarely support early-stage or high-risk initiatives. Crowdfunding, enabled by digital transformation, is emerging as a complementary financing mechanism for this sector. This study presents a literature review combined with bibliometric mapping to examine the evolving research landscape on crowdfunding in transport. Three research questions guide the analysis: RQ1—What are the dominant research areas at the intersection of crowdfunding and transport? RQ2—What types of transport projects are financed via crowdfunding? RQ3—What research gaps and future directions emerge for transport innovation financing? Findings reveal three core research areas: (1) Sustainability and finance, (2) Fintech and blockchain, and (3) Management and consumer behavior. We propose a typology of crowdfunded transport projects comprising five categories: (1) Large-scale transport infrastructure, (2) Sustainable local mobility, (3) Innovative start-ups, (4) New business models, and (5) Advanced systems and technologies. This demonstrates crowdfunding’s versatility beyond traditional infrastructure, supporting high-risk innovations critical for decarbonization and technological transformation. The study highlights domain-specific challenges—such as integrating PPP models with digital finance and ensuring investor protection—and emphasizes crowdfunding’s role as an enabler of low-carbon transition aligned with global climate strategies (EU Green Deal, SDGs). Despite its potential, investor safety remains a major concern. Policy implications include sandbox regulation, standardized risk assessment, and operationalizing PPP–crowdfunding hybrids to unlock large-scale and innovative transport projects. Full article

Road transport systems are central to sustainable mobility and the energy transition because they account for a large share of final energy use and remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels. With more than 90% of transport energy still supplied by petroleum-based fuels, improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in road networks has become a strategic priority. This review compares Australia, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom to examine how road-design standards and emerging digital technologies can improve energy performance across planning, design, operations, and maintenance. Using Australia’s Austroads Guide to Road Design, Hong Kong’s Transport Planning and Design Manual (TPDM), and the UK’s Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) as core reference frameworks, we apply a rubric-based document analysis that codes provisions by mechanism type (direct, indirect, or emergent), life-cycle stage, and energy relevance. The findings show that energy-relevant outcomes are embedded through different pathways: TPDM most strongly supports urban operational efficiency via coordinated/adaptive signal control and public-transport prioritization; DMRB emphasizes strategic-network flow stability and whole-life carbon governance through managed motorway operations and life-cycle assessment requirements; and Austroads provides context-sensitive, performance-based guidance that supports smoother operations and active travel, with implementation varying by jurisdiction. Building on these results, the paper proposes an AI-enabled benchmarking overlay that links manual provisions to comparable energy and carbon indicators to support cross-jurisdictional learning, investment prioritization, and future manual revisions toward safer, more efficient, and low-carbon road transport systems. Full article

This paper is dedicated to analysing sustainability and digitalisation in the transport systems of the European Union (EU) and Ukraine, with a particular focus on three representative subsectors: freight rail, urban public transport and last-mile postal logistics. It explores how technological innovation, operational efficiency and environmental responsibility interact within these sectors under distinct institutional and economic conditions: mature, market-based systems in the EU and resilience-driven systems in wartime Ukraine. This study applies a comparative, descriptive–analytical methodology using secondary data drawn from corporate sustainability reports, official statistics and sectoral databases for 2022. Quantitative KPls were complemented with a qualitative assessment of digitalisation maturity to ensure cross-country comparability. Through a comparative analysis of KPIs, such as freight volumes, emissions intensity, revenue efficiency and digital maturity, this study identifies structural and policy gaps that hinder progress toward sustainable mobility. This study develops a multi-dimensional framework combining operational, financial, environmental and digital indicators. In this paper, digital integration refers to the degree to which transport operators embed digital tools such as tracking, data management and automation into their core processes, while environmental efficiency denotes the ability to deliver transport services with minimal resource consumption and carbon emissions per operational unit. Institutional resilience is understood here as the capacity of transport organisations and governing institutions to maintain functionality, adapt and recover under crisis or systemic stress, which is particularly relevant for Ukraine’s wartime context. The findings demonstrate that while EU operators lead in transparency, digital integration and environmental performance, Ukrainian actors exhibit rapid adaptive innovation and significant potential for technological leapfrogging during reconstruction. This paper concludes that the EU must overcome regulatory inertia and infrastructure fatigue, while Ukraine should institutionalise resilience and transparency. Full article

Against the global backdrop of urbanization and sustainable development, urban parks—key public spaces for carbon sequestration, heat island mitigation, and public health promotion—have made their service performance a critical metric for evaluating urban human settlement quality. However, traditional evaluations relying on static questionnaires and aggregate indicators often fail to capture the spatiotemporal dynamics of park usage and complex supply–demand relationships. To address this gap, this study developed a three-dimensional dynamic evaluation model (“Vitality Level, Demand Matching, Service Supply”) for 59 urban parks in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, integrating multi-source data (mobile phone signaling, POIs, park vectors, demographic statistics). The model includes nine indicators (e.g., Temporal Activity Difference, Vitality Stability Index) with weights determined via the entropy weight method. Empirical results show: (1) Gongshu’s park service performance presents a “core-periphery” spatial disparity, with high-performance parks concentrated in central areas (e.g., West Lake Culture Square) due to convenient transportation and diverse functions; (2) Performance levels vary significantly between weekdays and weekends, with higher stability on weekdays and more pronounced supply–demand mismatches on weekends; (3) Time-series cross-validation and Monte Carlo simulations confirmed the model’s robustness. This framework shifts park research from “static quantitative description” to “dynamic performance diagnosis,” providing a scientific basis for refined planning and efficient management of parks in high-density cities. Full article

Sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have substantially reshaped the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), owing not only to their glucose-lowering properties but also to their consistent cardiovascular and renal protective effects. Beyond their initial metabolic indication, these agents have emerged as disease-modifying therapies across a broad spectrum of cardiometabolic and renal conditions. Building on the clinical success of first-generation SGLT2 inhibitors, such as empagliflozin and dapagliflozin, next-generation SGLT2-based therapies have been developed with the aim of refining pharmacological selectivity, optimizing pharmacokinetic profiles, and expanding therapeutic applicability beyond diabetes. These innovations include dual SGLT1/SGLT2 inhibition, alternative dosing strategies, and molecular designs tailored to specific clinical phenotypes, such as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). This narrative review critically evaluates the evolving landscape of next-generation SGLT2 inhibitors, with a focus on structural and pharmacokinetic innovations, transporter selectivity, glucose-independent mechanisms, and emerging clinical implications. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science, encompassing publications from inception to March 2025. Eligible sources included randomized clinical trials, observational studies, meta-analyses, and authoritative reviews published in English. Available evidence indicates that, while conventional SGLT2 inhibitors confer robust and reproducible cardiorenal benefits, newer agents may further extend therapeutic potential through incretin-related effects, modulation of extra-renal pathways, and disease-specific cardiac and renal mechanisms. Nevertheless, evidence supporting incremental clinical benefit beyond established SGLT2 inhibitors remains limited and heterogeneous, particularly for recently developed compounds. Overall safety profiles appear broadly consistent within the class, although long-term data for next-generation agents are still evolving. Key limitations of the current evidence base include reliance on emerging or indirect mechanistic data, heterogeneity in study populations and clinical endpoints, and the relative scarcity of large, outcome-driven trials for newer SGLT2-based therapies. Future research should prioritize mechanism-driven clinical trials, precision-oriented patient stratification, and head-to-head comparative studies to more clearly define the role of next-generation SGLT2 inhibitors in cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic disease management. Full article