Search Results (2,837)

Because residential lawn irrigation represents a significant amount of urban water demand, homeowners play a central role in promoting sustainable and resilient communities. Understanding the motivations underlying their lawn watering decisions can help promote desirable and sustainable conservation behaviors. Using survey data from 500 Texas homeowners, this study compared attitudinal, normative, and contextual factors and lawn water conservation intentions across irrigation types. It also examined the relative contribution of these factors, alongside demographic and residential characteristics, in predicting lawn watering conservation intentions. Homeowners mainly relied on environmental and regulatory factors—rainfall, drought conditions, and water-use restrictions for lawn watering decisions. Social factors were rarely considered. Conservation intentions were strongest for routine low-effort practices (e.g., morning watering) and weakest for more technical tasks (e.g., smart irrigation controllers). Automatic irrigators reported the strongest intentions for technology-based practices; they scored significantly higher on contextual factors and social and institutional norms (p < 0.05). Hierarchical regression was significant, explaining 28% of the variance in conservation intentions (adjusted R² = 0.26, F(12, 463) = 14.68, p < 0.001). Social and institutional norms (β = 0.20, p = 0.002), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.18, p < 0.001), and age (β = −0.23, p < 0.001) were the strongest predictors of conservation intention. Water bill rate considerations (β = 0.10, p = 0.043) and residential setting (β = −0.08, p = 0.046) were also significant. Attitudes towards lawn water preservation, aesthetics, HOA rules, environmental and regulatory norms, sex, ownership status, and HOA membership were not significant. Extension programming should combine technical assistance and norm-based strategies to encourage residential water conservation and promote sustainable urban water management in drought-prone communities. Full article

The growing demand for natural aggregates and continued stockpiling of steel slag have increased interest in using steel slag aggregate (SSA) in road engineering. However, delayed hydration of free calcium oxide (f-CaO) and free magnesium oxide (f-MgO), porous and rough surfaces, and the potential release of hazardous elements constrain its long-term application. This review compares aging treatment, surface modification, direct carbonation, microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP), and combined treatments from a raw-material heterogeneity and defect-oriented perspective. Their effectiveness is strongly condition-dependent. Aging treatment can control volume expansion, but reaction depth and treatment uniformity remain limited. Surface modification can reduce water absorption and improve interfacial performance but cannot eliminate internal expansive phases. Direct carbonation and MICP can stabilize reactive phases, refine pore structures, and reduce the mobility of some elements, but are limited by mass transfer and equipment requirements, and by mineralization uniformity and ammonium by-product management, respectively. Combined treatments can address multiple defects but increase process complexity, resource consumption, and quality-control requirements. Because material properties and evaluation methods vary among studies, reported performance gains should not be directly used for technology ranking. Instead, technology selection should follow the framework of “raw-material characteristics–dominant defects–preferred technology–engineering boundaries”. From a life-cycle perspective, sustainability depends on balancing resource and environmental benefits against additional treatment burdens. Near-term implementation should integrate raw-material classification, process monitoring, long-term durability and dynamic leaching verification, and the progressive incorporation of key performance and environmental indicators into road-material specifications and engineering acceptance criteria. Full article

Sustainable business models (SBMs) describe how organizations create, deliver, and capture value while simultaneously generating economic, environmental, and social benefits for a broad set of stakeholders. Although the field has expanded rapidly since the late 2000s, the literature remains conceptually dispersed: definitions proliferate, design tools and archetypes coexist without integration, and findings on the link between sustainability practices and firm performance remain inconsistent. To address this fragmentation, this study conducts a PRISMA 2020-guided systematic literature review of foundational and recent contributions published between 2008 and 2025. Of 300 records identified through database searching, 30 studies met the eligibility criteria and were synthesized qualitatively; these are interpreted together with complementary theoretical and methodological literature. Rather than reporting bibliometric indicators, the review synthesizes the field across three dimensions: the evolution of the SBM concept, its dominant design logics and archetypes, and its contemporary thematic landscape. The findings trace a progression from foundational triple-bottom-line conceptualization, through archetype- and tool-based design approaches such as the Triple-Layered Business Model Canvas and pattern taxonomies, toward digitally enabled, circular, and resilience-oriented models. These patterns are interpreted through complementary theoretical lenses—the resource-based and natural-resource-based views, dynamic capabilities, information-processing theory, and stakeholder theory. The review consolidates these insights into an integrative conceptual framework that links theoretical foundations, value-design dimensions, enabling capabilities, and triple-bottom-line outcomes. It further discusses implications for managers and outlines a research agenda emphasizing digital and circular enablers, longitudinal designs, and the under-examined context of emerging markets, with an applied emphasis on Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Full article

The increasing importance of climate change, natural resource constraints, and sustainability-related risks has created a growing need for quantitative measures that connect environmental performance with economic and financial decision-making. Existing environmental and ESG indicators provide valuable assessments of sustainability conditions, but they are generally designed as ranking or reporting measures rather than dynamic financial indices suitable for risk modeling, portfolio analysis, and long-term economic evaluation. This paper proposes a sovereign-level environmental wealth framework that translates environmental performance into financially interpretable time-series indices. Using fourteen World Development Indicators (WDIs) covering environmental conditions and environmentally relevant economic characteristics for ten major economies, we construct Dollar Environmental Financial Indices (DEFIs). The proposed framework combines standardized environmental information with economic capacity, represented by GDP per capita, to measure the economic value associated with national environmental performance. The resulting indices are not intended to represent directly traded financial securities, but rather synthetic environmental wealth benchmarks that allow sustainability-related risks to be analyzed using established tools from financial economics. We further construct a Global Dollar Environmental Financial Index (GDEFI), which represents the common global component of environmental performance and serves as a benchmark for evaluating systematic environmental exposure across countries. Using robust regression, dynamic econometric models, and volatility analysis, we estimate environmental beta coefficients and examine how country-level environmental conditions respond to global environmental movements. Estimated environmental betas range from $-0.708$ (Australia) to $1.617$ (China), while the explanatory power of the global benchmark reaches an adjusted $R^2$ of $0.886$ for the United Kingdom, demonstrating substantial cross-country heterogeneity in environmental exposure, risk dynamics, and resilience. To demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed framework, we apply risk-adjusted performance measures, including Jensen’s alpha, Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, and the Rachev ratio, together with mean–variance and CVaR-based portfolio optimization methods. These analyses show that environmental exposures exhibit distinct risk–return and tail-risk characteristics, highlighting potential diversification benefits in sustainability-oriented decision frameworks. Maximum-likelihood factor analysis further indicates that a three-factor structure provides an adequate representation of the common variation in environmental performance across countries. Finally, we provide a conceptual illustration of how environmental index-based derivatives could support future sustainability risk management. While DEFIs are not currently tradable assets, the proposed framework establishes a bridge between environmental measurement and financial modeling by allowing environmental risk to be evaluated through the analytical tools traditionally applied to financial markets. Full article

Tourism is carbon-intensive, with transport and mobility driving much of its greenhouse-gas emissions, yet destination-level evidence on carbon hotspots and decarbonization from a supply-chain perspective remains scarce, especially in developing regions. This study examines low-carbon tourism supply chain management in seven purposively selected provinces of Northeastern Thailand (Isan) using a qualitative-dominant convergent mixed-methods design that integrates demand- and supply-side evidence. A visitor survey yielded 74 open-ended responses (60 complete questionnaires), alongside seven semi-structured key-informant interviews with tourism supply chain operators across the seven provinces. Quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, and qualitative data with thematic analysis using qualitative data analysis software, drawing on code-frequency and co-occurrence analysis; the two strands were triangulated in joint displays. Visitors reported moderate satisfaction (grand mean 3.91 on a five-point scale) but rated environmental management and safety lowest, engaging with sustainability through visible service cues rather than emissions. Key informants identified perceived carbon hotspots, carrying capacity, and seasonality as dominant concerns, attributing the destination’s footprint chiefly to transport dependence (informant-reported estimates ranging from approximately 80% to nearly 100% private-car arrivals, amid limited public transport) and accommodation energy; these hotspots reflect stakeholder perceptions rather than measured emissions, as no carbon accounting, environmentally extended input–output analysis, or life-cycle assessment was conducted. Integration revealed a demand–supply perception gap and five proposed, interdependent low-carbon pathways: coordinated mobility, accommodation energy efficiency, strengthened local procurement, carrying-capacity and waste management, and multi-stakeholder governance. The findings offer a developing-region, supply-chain-oriented basis for future tourism decarbonization research and practice. Full article

Introduction: Managing recurrent congenital tracheoesophageal fistula (rTEF) is clinically challenging. Repeat thoracotomy is technically demanding due to dense adhesions and carries high morbidity, whereas outcomes of conventional endoscopic interventions vary, and sustained closure may be difficult to achieve in complex recurrent fistulas. We report the use of bronchoscopy-guided intratracheal suturing in a refractory case. Case Presentation: A 17-year-old male with a history of congenital TEF experienced multiple recurrences despite two thoracotomies and one endoscopic clipping attempt. The procedure was performed under general anesthesia without endotracheal intubation, and superimposed high-frequency jet ventilation was used for airway management. Following electrocautery treatment of the visible tracheal-side margins, four interrupted absorbable sutures were placed through tissues adjacent to the fistula opening under bronchoscopic guidance. Tightening of the sutures approximated the visible fistula margins. The procedure lasted 62 min with no complications. Follow-up bronchoscopy, methylene blue testing, and esophagography at 2 weeks showed no evidence of fistula leakage, indicating early technical closure. At the 3-month telephone follow-up, the patient remained asymptomatic and reported normal oral intake and physical activity. These findings suggest early technical success; longer objective follow-up is required to assess durability. Conclusions: In this highly selected adolescent, bronchoscopy-guided intratracheal suturing was technically feasible and achieved early fistula closure without a perioperative complication. Longer objective follow-up after loss of suture tensile strength is required to determine whether closure can be maintained without mechanical suture support. Full article

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) remains a major public health challenge in Africa, where limited healthcare access and the high cost of conventional therapies sustain reliance on African traditional medicine (ATM). This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy, mechanisms of action, and safety of African polyherbal formulations for T2D management. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines, following a protocol registered with PROSPERO (CRD420251168831). We searched PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for studies published between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2024. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. Polyherbal formulations consistently improved glycaemic control, insulin sensitivity, antioxidant status, and lipid profiles. Meta-analysis of 10 preclinical studies demonstrated a significant reduction in fasting blood glucose compared with that of diabetic controls (SMD = −5.22, 95% CI: −5.55 to −4.89; p < 0.001; I² = 93.88%). Proposed mechanisms included β-cell protection, stimulation of insulin secretion, inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase, and attenuation of oxidative stress. Safety data were limited and inconsistently reported. Human evidence was limited to one quasi-experimental clinical study and one acute human OGTT study. African polyherbal formulations demonstrate promising antidiabetic potential; however, methodological heterogeneity, limited phytochemical characterisation, inadequate safety assessment, and scarce clinical evidence highlight the need for standardised preclinical studies and well-designed clinical trials to support evidence-based integration into healthcare. Full article

Regenerative agriculture is increasingly promoted as a pathway towards sustainable food production, climate resilience, and the restoration of soil ecosystem functions. However, evidence on the actual uptake of regenerative practices and the factors influencing their adoption remains limited. This study compared the self-reported prevalence of 17 soil-health-oriented regenerative practices among farmers in Poland, Germany, and Belarus using a questionnaire survey conducted in 2025 (N = 150). The survey also examined farmers’ motivations, perceived barriers, knowledge sources, and definitions of regenerative agriculture. Adoption frequencies were assessed using a five-point Likert scale and analysed using non-parametric statistical methods. Several practices, including crop rotation and soil pH management, were widely implemented across all three countries and showed only slight variation. In contrast, more complex, system-based practices, such as agroforestry, biological soil monitoring, and crop–livestock integration, showed lower and more variable levels of adoption. Additional subgroup analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of the observed cross-country patterns. Although some associations weakened after stratification, many significant differences persisted. Across all countries, improving soil health was the primary motivation for adopting regenerative agriculture, whereas financial constraints and limited equipment access were the main barriers. Digital media served as the primary source of knowledge about regenerative agriculture across the surveyed countries, although in Belarus, peers and neighbours also represented a highly important source of information. Farmers in all three countries expressed a preference for online communication channels for further learning about regenerative agriculture; however, Polish and Belarusian farmers prefer social media, whereas German farmers preferred webinars and dedicated websites. In-person training sessions also attracted considerable interest among Polish and Belarusian farmers, but were the least preferred information source among German respondents. On the basis of these results, targeted investment support and direct financial incentives appear to be key priorities for promoting the further uptake of regenerative agriculture across all surveyed countries. However, communication and knowledge-transfer strategies are likely to require greater adaptation to country-specific preferences, although digital media are likely to represent the most effective primary channel for disseminating information on regenerative agriculture. Full article

Rainfall–runoff pollution poses a major challenge to urban water quality management, particularly in rapidly developing regions. However, its spatial variability and source characteristics remain inadequately understood. This study investigates the types, concentrations, and sources of pollutants in rainfall runoff across different urban land-use settings, with the aim of providing insights for more effective water management strategies. By quantifying pollutant occurrence frequencies, comparing reported event mean concentrations, and summarizing literature-reported pollution sources, we evaluated the spatial heterogeneity of runoff contamination from a descriptive perspective. The compiled literature data showed descriptive differences in reported pollution levels among land-use types, with relatively high pollutant concentrations frequently reported in residential and traffic areas. These differences should be interpreted as functional-area-based patterns rather than continuous geographic spatial distributions. Pollutants such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids (SS), and total nitrogen (TN) frequently exceeded China’s Class V surface water quality standards. Atmospheric deposition and surface litter were the most frequently reported pollution sources, while traffic-related activities were frequently associated with elevated heavy metal concentrations in the reviewed studies. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted, land-use-specific pollution control strategies that not only reduce runoff pollution but also improve source-control efficiency for sustainable urban water management. This study offers valuable insights that may be transferable to other urban environments worldwide, with important implications for policy development and urban resilience in the face of increasing environmental pressures. Full article

Background/Objectives: Glioblastoma (GBM) remains one of the most aggressive primary brain malignancies, with limited therapeutic progress over the past two decades. Systemic administration of temozolomide (TMZ) is a pillar of clinical management but is constrained by poor brain penetration, short half-life, and systemic toxicity. Localized drug delivery systems represent a compelling approach to address these limitations. We report the development and evaluation of an injectable poly(sebacic acid–ricinoleic acid) poly(anhydride-ester) (pSARA) gel for sustained intratumoral delivery of TMZ. Methods: The pSARA gel was synthesized using a one-pot melt polycondensation technique, and its in vitro release dynamics were assessed using spectrophotometry. In vivo efficacy of the TMZ-loaded pSARA gel was evaluated as a monotherapy and as an adjuvant to radiation or surgical resection using an orthotopic 9L gliosarcoma rat model. Results: The formulation exhibits shear-thinning behavior, enabling syringe-based administration, and undergoes surface erosion in aqueous environments to achieve controlled drug release. In vivo, the TMZ-loaded pSARA significantly prolonged survival compared to controls and outperformed paclitaxel-loaded formulations. Furthermore, combination therapy with radiation or surgical resection demonstrated combined survival benefits, including long-term survivors. Conclusions: These findings highlight the translational potential of pSARA-based local delivery systems as an adjunct or alternative to systemic chemotherapy in GBM treatment. Full article

Current interest in the use of medicinal plants for the prevention and management of various diseases has increased significantly due to the need to identify effective, safe, and sustainable natural agents. Glechoma hederacea L., a perennial species belonging to the Lamiaceae family, has traditionally been used in European folk medicine for the treatment of respiratory, inflammatory, and digestive disorders. Modern research has highlighted a complex phytochemical profile dominated by phenolic acids, flavonoids, and volatile compounds that have been associated with a variety of biological activities. Experimental studies have reported antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and cytoprotective effects. The present review summarizes current data regarding the phytochemical composition and biological properties of Glechoma hederacea, with particular emphasis on its potential applications in oral hygiene products and complementary dental therapy. Full article

Background: Lean Management (LM) is recognized for its significant potential to improve efficiency and quality in healthcare. However, despite its promise, widespread and sustainable adoption across healthcare organizations remains paradoxically limited, with many initiatives failing to move beyond localized, short-term successes. This study examines the systemic barriers that hinder the long-term integration of LM in healthcare settings, to understand why a gap persists between its theoretical potential and practical reality. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. A search of Scopus, Emerald Insight, PubMed/MEDLINE databases and Google Scholar was performed to identify peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2015 and 2025. The review focused on studies addressing the adoption, implementation, or sustainability of LM in healthcare. Data on measurement frameworks, influencing factors, and reported barriers were extracted and synthesized to develop an explanatory model. Results: The synthesis of the ten included studies yields three thematic clusters, each documented in the reviewed evidence and, in this analysis, connected as mutually reinforcing loops: (1) the Measurement–Accountability Gap, (2) the Tools–Philosophy Disconnect, and (3) the Complexity–Resistance Cycle. The proposed connections among these clusters are elaborated in the Discussion. Conclusions: The principal contribution is the synthesis of these previously reported barriers into an integrated conceptual model in which they are connected as mutually reinforcing mechanisms rather than treated as independent factors, offering healthcare leaders a structured perspective for interpreting the pattern of limited sustained adoption. Full article

Background: The fall armyworm, S. frugiperda, is a globally threatening insect pest of agricultural crops, including in Thailand. Symbiotic bacteria in the genera Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus, which are derived from entomopathogenic nematodes, can produce diverse bioactive compounds with insecticidal activities. However, no study on Thai isolates of these symbiotic bacteria against S. frugiperda has been reported, leading to a significant gap in local biopesticide development. Methods: Two symbiotic bacterial isolates, X. miraniensis (bMH16.1_TH) and P. akhurstii (bSBR11.1_TH), were isolated from Thai entomopathogenic nematodes and cultured in LB broth at 10⁸ CFU/mL. Three bacterial fractions, i.e., whole-cell suspension, cell supernatant, and cell pellet, were prepared from each isolate. Insecticidal bioassays were conducted by topical application on second- and fifth-instar larvae of S. frugiperda (10 larvae × 5 replicates per treatment, CRD). Larval mortality was recorded daily for seven days, and median lethal time (LT₅₀) was calculated. Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA with Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (p < 0.05). Results: The results indicated that both bacterial isolates caused significantly higher larval mortality than controls across all treatments (p < 0.05). X. miraniensis (bMH16.1_TH) showed higher virulence, achieving ~80% mortality of second-instar larvae within 24 h and 100% by day three. Whole-cell suspensions consistently produced the fastest and highest mortality with the lowest LT₅₀ values in both larval stages. Second-instar larvae were significantly more susceptible than fifth-instar larvae. The shortest LT₅₀ was recorded in second-instar larvae treated with X. miraniensis supernatant at 0.616 days, while fifth-instar larvae generally showed higher LT₅₀ values across all treatments. Conclusions: Our comparative study demonstrated that the insecticidal efficacy varied between the two symbiotic bacterial isolates and among their fractions. Whole-cell suspensions of X. miraniensis (bMH16.1_TH) produced the highest larval mortality and the smallest LT₅₀ values, particularly against early-instar larvae. These findings demonstrated that local symbiotic bacteria are promising candidates to be developed as sources of biopesticides against this insect pest. In addition, characterizing active insecticidal compounds, evaluating field efficacy, and assessing safety to non-target organisms need to be further studied to support integration of these biopesticides in sustainable pest management programs. Full article

Understanding residents’ and tourists’ public space perceptions and satisfaction was essential for the sustainable planning and tourism development of historic towns. However, limited attention has been paid to the different perceptions between the two groups, as well as the nonlinear relationship between public space perception and satisfaction. Taking Fenghuang Ancient Town as the study area, this study used independent sample t-tests to examine the differences between residents and tourists. The XGBoost-SHAP model was further applied to identify key influencing factors and nonlinear interaction mechanisms affecting satisfaction. The results showed that: (1) residents perceived higher public awareness, space openness, and accessibility, whereas tourists reported higher crowd density and business prosperity; (2) color harmony most strongly influenced residents’ satisfaction, while spatial comfort had the strongest influence on tourists’ satisfaction; (3) color harmony and spatial comfort positively affected satisfaction, whereas space openness (residents) and crowd density (tourists) showed U-shaped relationships; and (4) for residents, the strongest interaction was between color harmony and business prosperity (0.015), while for tourists it was between spatial comfort and color harmony (0.038). These findings provided evidence-based guidance for sustainable public space planning and cultural heritage tourism management, contributing to inclusive governance and the long-term sustainability of historic towns. Full article

Coastal shipping systems experience complex functional degradation and recovery under port congestion, extreme weather, channel restrictions, and environmental constraints. To support sustainable maritime governance and port management, this paper proposes an AIS–MRV consistency-enhanced dynamic network assessment framework. The framework converts vessel trajectories into a dynamic maritime traffic network composed of ports, anchorages, fairways, and traffic corridors, and it constructs normal-state baselines by region, time window, and vessel type. It jointly measures system functionality, resilience loss, recovery time, network efficiency, anchorage congestion, route deviation, and an AIS-derived green operational penalty. It also compares AIS-derived green activity proxies with MRV annual CO₂ reports to assess external consistency. The short-term real-AIS experiment identifies 70 traffic nodes and produces comparable functionality curves and Resilience–Green Index values for five representative port regions. The DGX full-year AIS baseline experiment processes 365 daily AIS files and generates 22.76 million vessel-hour records. Under network-parameter perturbations, the Spearman correlations of the $Q^{*}$ time series range from 0.900 to 1.000, and the Spearman correlation of the five-region RGI ranking remains 1.000. The Los Angeles/Long Beach event window shows a standardized functionality difference of −0.076 relative to spatial controls, with a bootstrap 95% confidence interval of [−0.090, −0.023]. The five regions show an index range of 0.3168–0.8391, and Puget Sound remains the top-ranked region in 86.27% of 10,000 random weight perturbations. The MRV consistency test indicates a moderate positive correlation between the AIS vessel-size proxy and annual CO₂ emissions, while the size-weighted AIS activity proxy is also positively correlated with reported emissions. The framework provides a reproducible basis for identifying vulnerable shipping segments, assessing traffic recovery, and supporting port management, congestion governance, and green shipping decisions. Full article