Search Results (1,656)

Social farming combines agricultural, social, and healthcare functions, and Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs) are increasingly being applied within this framework. Despite their potential, cattle are excluded from Italian guidelines and rarely studied. This pilot study explored the feasibility, effects, and economic sustainability of cow-assisted interventions within social farming in Umbria, Italy. It represents an original and innovative contribution, drawing attention to the therapeutic potential of the human–cow relationship. The study presents an experimental cow therapy protocol and proposes behavioral monitoring tools designed both for people with different disabilities and for the animals involved. Four Red Pied Valdostana cows were involved in structured sessions with three groups: adolescents removed from families, young adults with mental health disorders, and individuals with eating disorders. Activities included observation, feeding, grooming, problem solving, and leading. Human outcomes were assessed regarding emotional, relational, and behavioral dimensions, and animal welfare was continuously monitored. A cost analysis was also conducted for Animal-Assisted Activity (AAA), Animal-Assisted Education (AAE), and Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT). Participants reported improved self-esteem, emotional expression, and social interaction; the eating disorder group showed greater openness toward dairy consumption. Animal welfare remained stable with high tolerance to handling. Costs were driven mainly by professional staff rather than animal care, with average hourly costs of €74.51 (AAA), €144.99 (AAE), and €172.41 (AAT). The comparative analysis demonstrates a clear trade-off: as the intervention shifts from recreational (AAA) to educational (AAE) and finally to therapeutic (AAT), the financial investment increases in parallel with the level of professionalization, personalization, and expected clinical outcomes. Cow-assisted interventions proved to be safe, feasible, and beneficial, supporting their potential inclusion in Italian guidelines on AAIs. Full article

Adventure tourism has established itself as a growing sector that integrates physical activity, interaction with nature, and cultural exchange. Understanding the heterogeneity of demand is crucial for designing effective and sustainable destination management strategies. Despite the global growth of adventure tourism, there is a scarcity of empirical studies analyzing the motivations, segmentation, and loyalty of tourists in emerging coastal destinations. This study contributes to filling this gap by providing evidence from the case of Santa Elena, Ecuador. This study examines the motivations, market segmentation, and loyalty of adventure tourists in Santa Elena, an emerging coastal destination in Ecuador. Based on a survey of 318 visitors and using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and k-means cluster segmentation, five motivational dimensions were identified: learning, social, biosecurity, relaxation, and competence-mastery. The results revealed two distinct segments: (i) Relaxation seekers, primarily motivated by rest and stress reduction, and (ii) multi-motivation tourists, with high levels of motivation across all dimensions. This latter group showed greater loyalty, evidenced by the intention to return, recommend, and spread a positive image of the destination. The study contributes to academic knowledge by proposing a motivation-based segmentation model that integrates emerging dimensions such as biosecurity and offers practical implications for the sustainable management of adventure destinations. It recommends designing differentiated tourism products that cater to dominant motivations, thereby strengthening competitiveness and contributing to the sustainability of tourism in emerging contexts. Full article

Driven by the global energy transition and the pursuit of dual carbon goals (carbon peaking and carbon neutrality), the innovation network of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, composed of enterprises, universities, and research institutes, has become a key driver of sustainable industrial development. The evolution of this network is jointly shaped by both supply chain networks (SCNs) and executive networks (ENs), representing formal and informal relational structures, respectively. To systematically explore these dynamics, this study analyzes panel data from Chinese A-share-listed NEV firms covering the period 2003–2024. Employing social network analysis (SNA) and Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) regression, we investigate how SCNs and ENs influence the formation and structural evolution of innovation networks. The results reveal that although all three networks exhibit sparse connectivity, they differ substantially in their structural characteristics. Moreover, both SCNs and ENs have statistically significant positive effects on innovation network development. Building on these findings, we propose an integrative policy framework to strategically enhance the innovation ecosystem of China’s NEV industry. This study not only provides practical guidance for fostering collaborative innovation but also offers theoretical insights by integrating formal and informal network perspectives, thereby advancing the understanding of multi-network interactions in complex industrial systems. Full article

This work addresses the problem of synurbization, with its causes and effects specified using the example of wild boar (Sus scrofa). It presents basic biological parameters of the species, including those that promote its synurbization—small habitat demands, omnivorism, as well as ecological, behavioral, and demographic flexibility. It also discusses intra-species transformations stemming from wild boar adaptation to the urban space and pinpoints habitat fragmentation, ecological restoration, and phenotypic flexibility as the underlying causes of people–wild boar interactions. These interactions are primarily negative because wild boars attack humans and domestic animals and cause many traffic accidents. An analysis of the literature included in this study shows that, unfortunately, there are currently no fully effective methods that could protect urban areas and their inhabitants from the threats posed by wild boars. In order for sustainable urban development policies to be effectively implemented, there is a need for intensive, holistic research and cooperation between experts in many fields: wildlife, economics, public health, sociology, ethics, psychology, and urban planning. The synurbanization of wild boars is a large and growing social problem, but from an ecological perspective, there is a need to take action and develop methods to mitigate human/wild animal conflicts, not only from a human perspective. A one-sided view and action can be a threat to many animal species. Full article

To address the global challenge of sustainable energy transition in cities, there is a growing demand for innovative solutions to provide flexible, low-carbon, and socio-economically profitable energy systems. In this context, there is a need for holistic evaluation frameworks for the prioritization and economic optimization of interventions. This paper provides a literature review on sustainable planning and economic impact assessment of innovative urban areas, such as Positive Energy Districts (PEDs), to analyze research trends in terms of evaluation methods, impacts, system boundaries, and identify conceptual and methodological gaps. A dedicated search was conducted in the Scopus database using several query strings to conduct a systematic review. At the end, 57 documents were collected and categorized by analysis approach, indicators, project interventions, and other factors. The review shows that the Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA) is the most frequently adopted method, while Life Cycle Costing and Multi-Criteria Analysis result in a more limited application. Only in a few cases is the reduction in GHG emissions and disposal costs a part of the economic model. Furthermore, cost assessments usually do not consider the integration of the district into the wider energy network, such as the interaction with energy markets. From a more holistic perspective, additional costs and benefits should be included in the analysis and monetized, such as the co-impact on the social and environmental dimensions (e.g., social well-being, thermal comfort improvement, and biodiversity preservation) and other operational benefits (e.g., increase in property value, revenues from Demand Response, and Peer-To-Peer schemes) and disposal costs, considering specific discount rates. By adopting this multi-criteria thinking, future research should also deepen the synergies between urban sectors by focusing more attention on mobility, urban waste and green management, and the integration of district heating networks. According to this vision, investments in PEDs can generate a better social return and favour the development of shared interdisciplinary solutions. Full article

Climate change mitigation for the built environment has become a subject of greatest urgency, as buildings account for nearly 40% of total energy consumption and nearly one-third of total CO₂ emissions. While environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators are increasingly used to monitor sustainability performance, their collective role in impacting building-related emissions is yet largely under-investigated. The current research closes that gap through an examination of the ESG dimension–CO₂ emissions intersection of 180 nations from 2000 to 2022, in the hope of illuminating how environmental, social, and governance elements interact to facilitate decarbonization. The research is guided by a multi-method design, including econometric examination, cluster modeling, and machine learning techniques, which provide causal evidence and predictive analysis, respectively. The findings reveal that the deployment of renewable energy significantly reduces emissions, while per capita energy use and PM_2.5 air pollution exacerbate this effect. The social indicators show mixed results: learning, women’s parliamentary representation, and women’s workforce representation reduce emissions, while food production and growth among the lowest-income individuals demonstrate higher emissions. Governance demonstrates mixed results as well, with good regulation reducing emissions under specific conditions yet primarily supporting high-income countries with superior infrastructure. The examination of clusters reveals that ESG-balanced performance is retained by countries in the low-emission clusters, whereas decentralized ESG pillars are associated with higher emissions. Machine learning confirms the existence of non-linear effects and identifies PM_2.5 exposure and renewable energy deployment as the strongest predictors of the relationship. In summary, the findings suggest that successful policies for decarbonizing the built environment are constructed upon the consistency of environmental, social, and governance plans, rather than single steps. Full article

This paper examines how shifts in sustainable capital markets influence societal well-being through the lens of a “Jazz Economy”, highlighting improvisation and adaptability in financial systems while grounding the analysis in empirical modelling. A panel of EUROSTAT indicators for 27 EU member states (2019–2022) was analyzed, including green bond issuance, market capitalization, environmental taxation, social spending, life expectancy, and subjective life satisfaction. Hierarchical clustering grouped these indicators into coherent patterns of “financial swings”, which were then linked to a composite quality-of-life index through an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), with results benchmarked against linear regression and random forests. The inclusion of time lags between fiscal, financial, and social indicators strengthens the causal interpretation of the results, moving beyond simple correlations. Findings show that higher public environmental protection spending combined with a strong net international investment position consistently predicts greater life satisfaction, whereas income and longevity alone do not guarantee improvements in subjective well-being, reflecting nonlinear interactions among fiscal, financial, and social variables. Robustness checks, including the exclusion of pandemic years, confirm the stability of outcomes. The study concludes that cohesive fiscal–financial strategies, integrating environmental policy and macro-financial resilience, are essential for enhancing quality of life and that sustainable finance can deliver tangible social benefits beyond metaphorical framing. Full article

The Personal Care Products (PCP) industry, encompassing cosmetics, hygiene, and personal care items, serves millions of consumers daily and operates under constant pressure for innovation, agility, and sustainability. Within this context, supply chains are viewed as complex and integrated systems, composed of interrelated elements whose interactions determine overall performance and are influenced by external factors. Disruptions—particularly those involving indirect suppliers—can propagate throughout the network, affecting operations, reputation, and business outcomes. Despite the importance of the topic, empirical studies that systematically identify and prioritize these risks in the PCP sector remain scarce, which motivated the conduct of this study. Thus, the aim of this research is to identify, analyze, and evaluate the main supply risks faced by the PCP industry, considering severity, occurrence, and detection capability. Methodologically, the research employed an exploratory multi-case design, carried out in three steps: a literature review to identify key supply chain risks; structured interviews with industry experts to analyze and evaluate these risks; and the application of Gray Relational Analysis (GRA) to aggregate expert judgments and construct a prioritized risk ranking. This combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques provided a detailed foundation for analyzing and interpreting the main risks in the Brazilian PCP sector. The results indicate that indirect supplier failure is the most critical risk, prioritized by 70% of the companies studied. Other significant risks include the inability to meet changes in demand, import issues, lack of supply chain visibility, natural and social disasters, and sustainability or reputational concerns. Consequently, this study contributes to a systemic understanding of risk management in the PCP industry supply chain, providing managers with a practical mapping of critical points and highlighting concrete opportunities to strengthen integration, anticipate disruptions, and enhance operational resilience and performance across the sector. Full article

All over the world, the problem of ensuring the safety of pedestrians, who are the most vulnerable road users, is becoming more acute due to urbanization and the growth of micromobility. In 2013, according to WHO data, more than 270 thousand pedestrians were dying each year worldwide (accounting for 22% of all traffic accidents). Currently, experts report that around 1.3 million people die every year globally from road crashes. The roads in developing countries are particularly hazardous, according to experts, because the increase in the number of vehicles far exceeds the development of road infrastructure and safety systems. Since the risk of hitting a pedestrian depends on many factors that can have different natures, and the severity of the consequences can be determined by a set of other factors, the risk of an accident can only be reduced by influencing all these factors in a comprehensive manner. The novelty of our approach is to create an intelligent system that will gradually accumulate all the best practices into a single complex aimed at reducing the risk of an accident with pedestrians and the severity of the consequences if an accident does occur. The distinction lies in offering an integrated system where each module addresses a particular task, so by mitigating risks at every stage, one achieves a synergistic outcome. From the analysis of existing and applied developments, it is known that many specialists mainly solve a narrowly focused problem aimed at ensuring the one subsystems sustainability in the “vehicle-infrastructure-driver-pedestrian” system. Some of these ideas are given as practical examples. The relevance of the designated problem increases with the emergence of autonomous vehicles and smart cities, the sustainability of which depends on the sustainable interaction between all road users. As experience shows, only the implementation of comprehensive solutions allows us to solve strategic problems, including improving road safety. Here, by complex solutions we mean solutions that combine technical issues, as well as environmental, social, and managerial aspects. To account for different kinds of effects, indicator systems are developed and composite indices are computed to choose the most rational solution. The novelty of our approach consists in combining within a unified DSS algorithms for assessing the efficiency of the proposed solution with respect to technological soundness, environmental sustainability, economic viability, social acceptability, as well as administrative rationality and computation of interrelated effects resulting from implementing any given project. In our opinion, the proposed system will lead to a synergistic effect due to the integrated application of various developments, which will ensure increased sustainability and safety of the transport system of smart cities. Our paper proposes a conceptual approach to addressing pedestrian safety, and the examples provided illustrate how the same model or algorithm can lead to positive changes from different perspectives. Full article

Retrofitting existing buildings is regarded as a main driver of decarbonization, yet retrofitting activities are lagging behind their ambitious goals. This study explores 86 German construction practitioners’ perceptions of organizational, policy, and social challenges to sustainable retrofitting and how those perceptions relate to age, attitude, and their interaction. The primary analyses used OLS moderation models with HC3-robust standard errors and ordered-logit models, which served as robustness checks. Across outcomes, more pro-environment attitudes were associated with fewer perceived challenges, and older practitioners (41–56+) reported higher barrier perception. The attitude × age interaction results indicate that the protective link of attitude was weaker among older respondents, which was significant for policy and social challenges but only marginal for organizational challenges. The model fit was reasonable, at an Adj. R² between ≈0.56 and 0.72 with acceptable diagnostics. Our results suggest that even motivated professionals can feel constrained, especially among older, senior staff. Practical implications include early tenant engagement to enhance acceptance and foster internal organizational sustainability capacities. Policy instruments such as adult education programmes need to be leveraged to enhance sustainable construction capabilities and reinforce attitudes and behaviours toward sustainable retrofitting. More salient policy communications and guidance can contribute to increasing sustainability orientation and reducing perceived trade-offs with economic goals. Full article

Water is the source of life and also the lifeline of cities. The reconstruction of secondary water supply systems is a key component of urban renewal reforms, and the collaborative governance of such projects has become a focal topic through academic research. In this article, we try to discover the path to successful “bottom-up” collaborative water governance with Collins’s theory of interaction ritual chains (IRC) through a case study of a secondary water supply reconstruction program in J Estate, Jinshan District, Shanghai. The case study involved a total of 104 households, and we employed convenience sampling for all households through door-to-door inquiries, which included semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations. A total of 15 households participated in our interview. This study demonstrates that repeated social interactive rituals, such as bodily co-presence, rhythmic synchronization, and shared signs, can stimulate the accumulation of residents’ emotional energy, which becomes the initial power to promote community water governance and, in return, becomes the driving force for sustained collective action and mutual trust. Drawing on Collins’s theory of IRC, this article fills a gap by explaining the symbolic mechanism driven by emotions and personal relationships that macro-level governance ignores. We also demonstrate the spillover effects of such social rituals and propose policy recommendations that governments should apply, using these rituals to mobilize and consolidate residents’ emotions to create a virtuous circle of collaborative governance. Full article

Driven by China’s “dual carbon” strategy, concerns about channel fairness and green investment have become key frontier issues in supply chain management. This study focuses on a two-tier supply chain under a low-carbon background and innovatively incorporates both fairness concerns and green investment perspectives. It systematically explores the impact mechanisms of fairness concern coefficients and green investment levels on channel pricing and profit distribution across four scenarios: information symmetry vs. asymmetry and the presence vs. absence of channel encroachment. The simulation results reveal the following: (1) Under information symmetry and without channel encroachment, an increase in the retailer’s fairness concern significantly enhances its bargaining power and profit margin, while the supplier actively adjusts the wholesale price to maintain cooperation stability. (2) Channel encroachment and changes in information structure intensify the nonlinearity and complexity of profit distribution. The marginal benefit of green investment for supply chain members shows a diminishing return, indicating the existence of an optimal investment range. (3) The green premium is predominantly captured by the supplier, while the retailer’s profit margin tends to be compressed, and order quantity exhibits rigidity in response to green investment. (4) The synergy between fairness concerns and green investment drives dynamic adjustments in channel strategies and the overall profit structure of the supply chain. This study not only reveals new equilibrium patterns under the interaction of multidimensional behavioral factors but also provides theoretical support for achieving both economic efficiency and sustainable development goals in supply chains. Based on these findings, it is recommended that managers optimize fairness incentives and green benefit-sharing mechanisms, improve information-sharing platforms, and promote collaborative upgrading of green supply chains to better integrate social responsibility with business performance. Full article

Evaluating and enhancing system resilience is essential to strengthen the regional ability to external shocks and promote the synergistic development of environment, economy and society. Taking the Upper Yellow River (UYR) as an example, this paper constructed a resilience evaluation index system for the environment—economy—society (EES) composite system. A three-dimensional space vector model was built to calculate the resilience development index (RDI) of three subsystems and the composite system from 2009 to 2022. Pathways supporting high resilience levels of the composite system were examined using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method from a configuration perspective. The results revealed that (1) the RDI of three subsystems and the composite system in the UYR showed an increasing trend; relatively, the environment and economy subsystems were lower, and their RDI fluctuated between 0.01 and 0.06 for most cities. (2) The emergence of high resilience is not absolutely dominated by a single factor, but rather the interaction of multiple factors. To achieve high resilience levels, all the cities must prioritize both environmental protection and economic structure as core strategic pillars. The difference is that eastern cities need to further consider social development and life quality, while western cities need to consider social development, life quality, and social security. Other cities including Lanzhou, Baiyin, Tianshui, and Ordos should focus on social construction and social security. Exploring the interactive relationship between various influencing factors of the resilience of the composite system from a configuration perspective has to some extent promoted the transformation from a single contingency perspective to a holistic and multi-dimensional perspective. These findings provide policy recommendations for achieving sustainable development in the UYR and other ecologically fragile areas around the world. Full article

Integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into STEM education enhances instructional quality and cultivates students’ interdisciplinary problem-solving. STEM teachers’ attitudes—driven by perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU)—are pivotal in ICT adoption, and pre-service training offers a vital opportunity to shape these attitudes. Yet, empirical studies investigating how specific training strategies influence ICT attitudes via PEOU and PU remain scarce. Using a mixed-methods approach combining questionnaires and interviews, the results indicate that pre-service training significantly improved STEM teachers’ attitudes toward ICT-enhanced teaching. Socially interactive strategies (role models and collaboration) enhanced attitudes via PEOU by boosting confidence and reducing technology-related anxiety, cognitive design strategies (reflection and instructional design) operated through PU by emphasizing ICT’s pedagogical value, and experiential feedback strategies (authentic experience and feedback) influenced attitudes through both PEOU and PU, fostering integrated technical and pedagogical development. These findings support an integrated SQD–TAM framework and provide practical guidance for designing pre-service STEM teacher programs to promote sustained ICT adoption in China, and meanwhile highlights the importance of strategically sequencing training to cultivate both technological competence and pedagogical insight among future STEM educators. Full article

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, the deployment of social robots has significantly broadened, extending into diverse fields such as education, medical services, and business. Despite this expansive growth, there remains a notable scarcity of empirical research addressing the underlying psychological mechanisms that influence human–robot interactions. To address this critical research gap, the present study proposes and empirically tests a theoretical model designed to elucidate how users’ multi-dimensional perceived values of social robots influence their attitudinal responses and outcomes. Based on questionnaire data from 569 social robot users, the study reveals that users’ perceived utilitarian value, emotional value, and hedonic value all exert significant positive effects on active involvement, thereby fostering their identification and reinforcing attitudinal loyalty. Among these dimensions, emotional value emerged as the strongest predictor, underscoring the pivotal role of emotional orientation in cultivating lasting human–robot relationships. Furthermore, the findings highlight the critical mediating function of active involvement in linking perceived value to users’ psychological sense of belonging, thereby elucidating the mechanism through which perceived value enhances engagement and promotes sustained long-term interaction. These findings extend the conceptual boundaries of human–machine interaction, offer a theoretical foundation for future explorations of user psychological mechanisms, and inform strategic design approaches centered on emotional interaction and user-oriented experiences, providing practical guidance for optimizing social robot design in applications. Full article