The 100 most-cited articles in Sustainability, 2021

Climate change is a global threat to the food and nutritional security of the world. As greenhouse-gas emissions in the atmosphere are increasing, the temperature is also rising due to the greenhouse effect. The average global temperature is increasing continuously and is predicted to rise by 2 °C until 2100, which would cause substantial economic losses at the global level. The concentration of CO2, which accounts for a major proportion of greenhouse gases, is increasing at an alarming rate, and has led to higher growth and plant productivity due to increased photosynthesis, but increased temperature offsets this effect as it leads to increased crop respiration rate and evapotranspiration, higher pest infestation, a shift in weed flora, and reduced crop duration. Climate change also affects the microbial population and their enzymatic activities in soil. This paper reviews the information collected through the literature regarding the issue of climate change, its possible causes, its projection in the near future, its impact on the agriculture sector as an influence on…

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Plastic waste exposed to the environment creates problems and is of significant concern for all life forms. Plastic production and accumulation in the natural environment are occurring at an unprecedented rate due to indiscriminate use, inadequate recycling, and deposits in landfills. In 2019, the global production of plastic was at 370 million tons, with only 9% of it being recycled, 12% being incinerated, and the remaining left in the environment or landfills. The leakage of plastic wastes into terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is occurring at an unprecedented rate. The management of plastic waste is a challenging problem for researchers, policymakers, citizens, and other stakeholders. Therefore, here, we summarize the current understanding and concerns of plastics pollution (microplastics or nanoplastics) on natural ecosystems. The overall goal of this review is to provide background assessment on the adverse effects of plastic pollution on natural ecosystems; interlink the management of plastic pollution…

The quest for enhancing agricultural yields due to increased pressure on food production has inevitably led to the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and other agrochemicals. Biofertilizers are emerging as a suitable alternative to counteract the adverse environmental impacts exerted by synthetic agrochemicals. Biofertilizers facilitate the overall growth and yield of crops in an eco-friendly manner. They contain living or dormant microbes, which are applied to the soil or used for treating crop seeds. One of the foremost candidates in this respect is rhizobacteria. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are an important cluster of beneficial, root-colonizing bacteria thriving in the plant rhizosphere and bulk soil. They exhibit synergistic and antagonistic interactions with the soil microbiota and engage in an array of activities of ecological significance. They promote plant growth by facilitating biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and support the nutrition of host plants. Due to their active growth endorsing activities, PGPRs are considered an eco-friendly…

As an emerging biomedical image processing technology, medical image segmentation has made great contributions to sustainable medical care. Now it has become an important research direction in the field of computer vision. With the rapid development of deep learning, medical image processing based on deep convolutional neural networks has become a research hotspot. This paper focuses on the research of medical image segmentation based on deep learning. First, the basic ideas and characteristics of medical image segmentation based on deep learning are introduced. By explaining its research status and summarizing the three main methods of medical image segmentation and their own limitations, the future development direction is expanded. Based on the discussion of different pathological tissues and organs, the specificity between them and their classic segmentation algorithms are summarized. Despite the great achievements of medical image segmentation in recent years, medical image segmentation based on deep learning has still encountered difficulties in research. For example, the…

The sustainable development of the global economy and society calls for the practice of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) principle. The ESG principle has been developed for 17 years following its formal proposal in 2004. Countries around the world continue to promote the coordinated development of the environment, society, and governance in accordance with the ESG principle. In order to review and summarize ESG research, this study takes the literature related to ESG research as the research object and presents the cooperation status, hot spots, and trends of ESG research with the help of the literature analysis tool CiteSpace. On the basis of quantitative analysis results, this study presents an examination and comprehensive summary of progress in the research into ESG combined with a systematic literature review. This includes the theoretical basis of ESG research, the interaction between the dimensions of ESG, the impact of ESG on the economic consequences, the risk prevention role of ESG, and ESG measurement. Based on the systematic summary of research progress,…

Digital transformation refers to the unprecedented disruptions in society, industry, and organizations stimulated by advances in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Presently, there is a lack of studies to map digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain. This paper identifies the disruptions driven by digital transformation in the environmental sustainability domain through a systematic literature review. The results present a framework that outlines the transformations in four key areas: pollution control, waste management, sustainable production, and urban sustainability. The transformations in each key area are divided into further sub-categories. This study proposes an agenda for future research in terms of organizational capabilities, performance, and digital transformation strategy regarding environmental sustainability.

As cities are struggling to cope with the second wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of 15-min cities seem to have sparked planners’ imagination and politicians’ willingness for providing us with a new urban planning eutopia. This paper explores the “15-min city” concept as a structural and functional element for redesigning contemporary cities. Methodologically, a study of three case cities that have adopted this new model of city vision, is carried out. The analysis focus on understanding how the idea of 15-min cities fits the legacies of different cities as described by traditional planning principles in the context of three evaluation pillars: inclusion, safety and health. The paper argues that the 15-min city approach is not a radical new idea since it utilizes long established planning principles. Nevertheless, it uses these principles to achieve the bottom-up promotion of wellbeing while it proposes an alternative way to think about optimal resource allocation in a citywide scale. Hence, application of 15-min city implies a shift in the emphasis of planning from…

The way people travel, organise their time, and acquire information has changed due to information technologies. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are mechanisms that evolved from data management and developing processes. Incorporating these mechanisms into business is a trend many different industries, including education, have identified as game-changers. As a result, education platforms and applications are more closely aligned with learners’ needs and knowledge, making the educational process more efficient. Therefore, AI and ML have great potential in e-learning and higher education institutions (HEI). Thus, the article aims to determine its potential and use areas in higher education based on secondary research and document analysis (literature review), content analysis, and primary research (survey). As referent points for this research, multiple academic, scientific, and commercial sources were used to obtain a broader picture of the research subject. Furthermore, the survey was implemented among students in the Republic of Serbia, with 103 respondents…

The agricultural industry is getting more data-centric and requires precise, more advanced data and technologies than before, despite being familiar with agricultural processes. The agriculture industry is being advanced by various information and advanced communication technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The rapid emergence of these advanced technologies has restructured almost all other industries, as well as advanced agriculture, which has shifted the industry from a statistical approach to a quantitative one. This radical change has shaken existing farming techniques and produced the latest prospects in a series of challenges. This comprehensive review article enlightens the potential of the IoT in the advancement of agriculture and the challenges faced when combining these advanced technologies with conventional agricultural systems. A brief analysis of these advanced technologies with sensors is presented in advanced agricultural applications. Numerous sensors that can be implemented for specific agricultural practices require best management practices (e.g.,…

Educational gamification consists of the use of game elements and game design techniques in the educational context. The objective of this study is to examine the existing evidence on the impact of educational gamification on student motivation and academic performance in the last five years in order to analyze its distribution over time, educational level, variables, and most used game elements, and know the advantages of its implementation in the classroom. For this, a systematic review is proposed through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology in three multidisciplinary databases, through an exhaustive search with inclusion and exclusion criteria on quantitative experimental studies that explore gamification in educational centers, which provide information about the most current lines of research. Fourteen studies were included in this review. These used experimental or quasi-experimental designs. Most of them report gamification as a valid learning strategy. The results support the conclusion that educational gamification has…

The city digital twin is anticipated to accurately reflect and affect the city’s functions and processes to enhance its realization, operability, and management. Although research on the city digital twin is still in its infancy, the advancement of the digital twin technology is growing fast and providing viable contributions to augmenting smart city developments. This study reviews the literature to identify the current and prospective potentials and challenges of digital twin cities. A research agenda is also proposed to guide future research on the city digital twincity digital twin to reach the utmost level of a comprehensive and complete city digital twin. Enhancing the efficiency of data processing, promoting the inclusion of socio-economic components of the city, and developing mutual integration between the two counterparts of the digital twin are proposed to be the future research directions to achieve and utilize a completely mirrored city digital twin.

Improving supply chain sustainability is an essential part of achieving the UN’s sustainable goals. Digitalization, such as blockchain technology, shows the potential to reshape supply chain management. Using distributed ledger technology, the blockchain platform provides a digital system and database to record the transactions along the supply chain. This decentralized database of transactions brings transparency, reliability, traceability, and efficiency to the supply chain management. This paper focuses on such novel blockchain-based supply chain management and its sustainability performances in the areas of environmental protection, social equity, and governance efficiency. Using a systematic literature review and two case studies, we evaluate whether the three sustainability indicators can be improved indirectly along supply chains based on blockchain technology. Our study shows that blockchain technology has the potential to improve supply chain sustainability performance, and we expect blockchain technology to rise in popularity in supply chain management.

Artificial intelligence in the fourth industrial revolution is beginning to live up to its promises of delivering real value necessitated by the availability of relevant data, computational ability, and algorithms. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the influence of artificial intelligence on the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals with a direct focus on poverty reduction, goal one, industry, innovation, and infrastructure development goal 9, in emerging economies. Using content analysis, the result pointed to the fact that artificial intelligence has a strong influence on the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals particularly on poverty reduction, improvement of the certainty and reliability of infrastructure like transport making economic growth and development possible in emerging economies. The results revealed that Artificial intelligence is making poverty reduction possible through improving the collection of poverty-related data through poverty maps, revolutionizing agriculture education and the finance sector through financial inclusion. The study also…

Continuous decline of earth’s natural resources and increased use of hazardous chemical fertilizers pose a great concern for the future of agriculture. Biofertilizers are a promising alternative to hazardous chemical fertilizers and are gaining importance for attaining sustainable agriculture. Biofertilizers play a key role in increasing crop yield and maintaining long-term soil fertility, which is essential for meeting global food demand. Microbes can interact with the crop plants and enhance their immunity, growth, and development. Nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, and silica are the essential nutrients required for the proper growth of crops, but these nutrients are naturally present in insolubilized or complex forms. Certain microorganisms render them soluble and make them available to the plants. The potential microbes, their mode of action, along with their effect on crops, are discussed in this review. Biofertilizers, being cost effective, non-toxic, and eco-friendly, serve as a good substitute for expensive and harmful chemical fertilizers. The knowledge gained from…

Technological innovation and high-quality economic development are inevitable requirements of sustainable development, and the digital economy has gradually become a new engine to enhance technological innovation and the high-quality development of China’s economy. Deeply discussing the effect of digital economy on high-quality economic development and clarifying the mechanism behind it can effectively grant the boosting power of digital economy to China’s high-quality development, which is of great practical significance to China’s sustainable economic development. In this study, the mechanism, effect, and regional heterogeneity of the impact of the digital economy on the level of high-quality economic development in 30 Chinese provinces from 2011–2019 were measured and empirically tested using a mediating effects model and a spatial Durbin model, among others. The results showed that the overall level of digital economy and high-quality development is not high, and there were both high agglomeration and low agglomeration, with obvious spatial path dependence and spatial lock-in.…

This study examines the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and corporate financial performance. Specifically, we study various individual ESG categories, both ESG strengths and concerns, and aggregate ESG factor and their impact on corporate financial performance including profitability and financial risk. We find a positive effect of ESG factors on corporate profitability, and the effect is more pronounced for larger firms. Among different ESG categories, corporate governance has the most significant impact, particularly for firms with weak governance. We also find that ESG variables generally have a positive influence on credit rating. In particular, the social factor has the most significant impact on credit rating, while environmental score surprisingly has a negative effect. Overall, this research provides a rationale for ESG integration in the context of investment management and portfolio construction to maximize value and minimize risk.

This review presents a comprehensive and systematic study of the field of bacterial plant biostimulants and considers the fundamental and innovative principles underlying this technology. Plant biostimulants are an important tool for modern agriculture as part of an integrated crop management (ICM) system; helping make agriculture more sustainable and resilient. Plant biostimulants contain substance(s) and/or microorganisms whose function when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, is to stimulate natural processes to enhance plant nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, biocontrol, and crop quality. The use of plant biostimulants has gained substantial and significant heed worldwide as an environment-friendly alternative for sustainable agricultural production. Presently, there is an increasing curiosity of industry and researchers in microbial biostimulants especially, bacterial plant biostimulants (BPBs) to improve crop growth and productivity. The BPBs that are based on PGPR (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) play plausible roles to…

This document discusses the Japanese context of Society 5.0. Based on a society-centered approach, Society 5.0 seeks to take advantage of technological advances to finally solve the problems that currently threaten Japan, such as aging, birth rates and lack of competitiveness, among others. Additionally, another objective is to contribute to the progress of the country and develop the foundations for a better world, in which no individual can be excluded from the technological advances of our current society, to achieve this goal, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have been developed. SDGs seek to assess the methods of use of modern technology and thus find the best strategies and tools to use it in a way that guarantees sustainability within the framework of a new society that demands constant renovations.

Digital technologies are considered to be an essential enabler of the circular economy in various industries. However, to date, very few studies have investigated which digital technologies could enable the circular economy in the built environment. This study specifically focuses on the built environment as one of the largest, most energy- and material-intensive industries globally, and investigates the following question: which digital technologies potentially enable a circular economy in the built environment, and in what ways? The research uses an iterative stepwise method: (1) framework development based on regenerating, narrowing, slowing and closing resource loop principles; (2) expert workshops to understand the usage of digital technologies in a circular built environment; (3) a literature and practice review to further populate the emerging framework with relevant digital technologies; and (4) the final mapping of digital technologies onto the framework. This study develops a novel Circular Digital Built Environment framework. It identifies and maps ten enabling digital…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has penetrated every layer of our lives, and education is not immune to the effects of AI. In this regard, this study examines AI studies in education in half a century (1970–2020) through a systematic review approach and benefits from social network analysis and text-mining approaches. Accordingly, the research identifies three research clusters (1) artificial intelligence, (2) pedagogical, and (3) technological issues, and suggests five broad research themes which are (1) adaptive learning and personalization of education through AI-based practices, (2) deep learning and machine Learning algorithms for online learning processes, (3) Educational human-AI interaction, (4) educational use of AI-generated data, and (5) AI in higher education. The study also highlights that ethics in AI studies is an ignored research area.

In the digital economy era, small service business struggle to compete in a rapidly changing and dynamic market. Therefore, through digital transformation (DT), small service business seek to increase their competitive advantage, improve business performance, and achieve business growth. Having limited resources and capabilities, small service business must deal with several barriers and challenges. This study aims to discover the barriers, and the roles of government, for digital transformation in small service business. This study applied a qualitative approach involving semi-structured in-depth interviews with top management of small service business. Then, we employed the content analysis method to examine interview data and construct a model. This research reveals four main barriers to digital transformation in small service business: lack of funding, lack of digital capability, lack of human resources, and technical barriers. We found there are four government roles for supporting digital transformation in small service business: build a digital platform for small service…

In the past decade, current literature and businesses have drawn attention to Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and in particular to the advances in machine learning techniques. Nevertheless, while the AI technology offers great potential to solve difficulties, challenges remain implicated in practical implementation and lack of expertise in the strategic usage of AI to create business value. This paper aims to implement a systematic literature review analyzing convergence of the AI and corporate strategy and develop a theoretical model incorporating issues based on the existing research in this field. Eighty-one peer-reviewed articles were discussed on the basis of research methodology from Webster and Watson (2002). In addition to gaps in future research, a theoretical model is developed, discussing the four sources of value creation: AI and Machine Learning in organizations; alignment of AI tools and Information Technology (IT) with organizational strategy; AI, knowledge management and decision-making process; and AI, service innovation and value. These outcomes lead to both…

Current concerns about environmental issues have led to many new trends in technology and financial management. Within this context of digital transformation and sustainable finance, Fintech has emerged as an alternative to traditional financial institutions. This paper, through a literature review and case study approach, analyzes the relationship between Fintech and sustainability, and the different areas of collaboration between Fintech and sustainable finance, from both a theoretical and descriptive perspective, while giving specific examples of current technological platforms. Additionally, in this paper, two Fintech initiatives (Clarity AI and Pensumo) are described, as well as several proposals to improve the detection of greenwashing and other deceptive behavior by firms. The results lead to the conclusion that sustainable finance and Fintech have many aspects in common, and that Fintech can make financial businesses more sustainable overall by promoting green finance. Furthermore, this paper highlights the importance of European and global regulation, mainly from the…

Educational life worldwide has been shaken by the closure of schools due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The ripple effects have been felt in the way both teachers and students have adapted to the constraints imposed by the new online form of education. The present study focuses exclusively on the beneficiaries of the educational process and aims to find out their perceptions of face-to-face and e-learning and their desire to return, or not, to the traditional form of education. These perceptions are represented by 604 students of the Politehnica University of Timisoara, who were asked to respond anonymously to an 8-question questionnaire between December 2020 and February 2021. The results show the respondents’ levels of desire to return to school (especially of those who have only benefited from e-learning) and their degree of involvement during online classes. The results also specify the advantages and disadvantages of the two forms of education from a double perspective, namely that of first-year students (beneficiaries of e-learning exclusively), and of upper-year…

Rural areas are exposed to severe environmental pollution issues fed by industrial and agricultural activities combined with poor waste and sanitation management practices, struggling to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with Agenda 2030. Rural communities are examined through a “dual approach” as both contributors and receivers of plastic pollution leakage into the natural environment (through the air–water–soil–biota nexus). Despite the emerging trend of plastic pollution research, in this paper, we identify few studies investigating rural communities. Therefore, proxy analysis of peer-reviewed literature is required to outline the significant gaps related to plastic pollution and plastic waste management issues in rural regions. This work focuses on key stages such as (i) plastic pollution effects on rural communities, (ii) plastic pollution generated by rural communities, (iii) the development of a rural waste management sector in low- and middle-income countries in line with the SDGs, and (iv) circular economy opportunities to reduce…

The COVID-19 outbreak opened a new scenario where teachers must have adequate digital literacy to teach online and to implement a current and innovative educational model. This paper provides the most relevant results obtained from a quantitative study in which 4883 Spanish teachers of all education levels participated to measure their digital skills, during the last school years. It also proposes a digital skills teacher training plan, taking the joint framework of digital skills of INTEF (Spanish acronym for National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training) as its reference point. The tool ACDC (Analysis of Common Digital Competences) was used for data collection. The results of descriptive analysis show, overall, the low self-perception that teachers have of their digital skills. In addition, this paper studies the relationship existing between the characteristics that define the population and the teachers’ digital skills level. This relationship is obtained through a multiple linear regression model. The study reveals that digital literacy is not a reality…

The objective of this study is to explore the role of artificial intelligence applications (AIA) in education. AI applications provide the solution in many ways to the exponential rise of modern-day challenges, which create difficulties in access to education and learning. They play a significant role in forming social robots (SR), smart learning (SL), and intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) to name a few. The review indicates that the education sector should also embrace the modern methods of teaching and the necessary technology. Looking into the flow, the education sector organizations need to adopt AI technologies as a necessity of the day and education. The study needs to be tested statistically for better understanding and to make the findings more generalized in the future.

The EU’s 2018 Bioeconomy Strategy Update and the European Green Deal recently confirmed that the bioeconomy is high on the political agenda in Europe. Here, we propose a conceptual analysis framework for quantifying and analyzing the development of the EU bioeconomy. The bioeconomy has several related concepts (e.g., bio-based economy, green economy, and circular economy) and there are clear synergies between these concepts, especially between the bioeconomy and circular economy concepts. Analyzing the driving factors provides important information for monitoring activities. We first derive the scope of the bioeconomy framework in terms of bioeconomy sectors and products to be involved, the needed geographical coverage and resolution, and time period. Furthermore, we outline a set of indicators linked to the objectives of the EU’s bioeconomy strategy. In our framework, measuring developments will, in particular, focus on the bio-based sectors within the bioeconomy as biomass and food production is already monitored. The selected indicators commit to the EU Bioeconomy Strategy…

A smart city is an urban area that collects data using various electronic methods and sensors. Smart cities rely on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and aim to improve the quality of services by managing public resources and focusing on comfort, maintenance, and sustainability. The fifth generation (5G) of wireless mobile communication enables a new kind of communication network to connect everyone and everything. 5G will profoundly impact economies and societies as it will provide the necessary communication infrastructure required by various smart city applications. Intelligent Transporting System (ITS) is one of the many smart city applications that can be realized via 5G technology. The paper aims to discuss the impact and implications of 5G on ITS from various dimensions. Before this, the paper presents an overview of the technological context and the economic benefits of the 5G and how key vertical industries will be affected in a smart city, i.e., energy, healthcare, manufacturing, entertainment, and automotive and public transport. Afterward, 5G for ITS is…

This study explored the effect of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, facilitating condition, lifestyle compatibility, and perceived trust on both the intention to use an e-wallet and the adoption of an e-wallet among adults by using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). This quantitative study adopted a cross-sectional research design to gather data from 501 respondents using a Google Form. The collected data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). As a result, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, lifestyle compatibility, and perceived trust displayed a significant positive effect on both intentions to use an e-wallet and adoption of an e-wallet. This study evidenced the mediating effect of the intention to use an e-wallet on the correlations between the predictors and adoption of an e-wallet. Both the age and gender of the respondents moderated the effect of lifestyle compatibility on intention to use an e-wallet. The study outcomes serve to inform managers and…

Heavy metals play an important role in the homeostasis of living cells. However, these elements induce several adverse environmental effects and toxicities, and therefore seriously affect living cells and organisms. In recent years, some heavy metal pollutants have been reported to cause harmful effects on crop quality, and thus affect both food security and human health. For example, chromium, cadmium, copper, lead, and mercury were detected in natural foods. Evidence suggests that these elements are environmental contaminants in natural foods. Consequently, this review highlights the risks of heavy metal contamination of the soil and food crops, and their impact on human health. The data were retrieved from different databases such as Science Direct, PubMed, Google scholar, and the Directory of Open Access Journals. Results show that vegetable and fruit crops grown in polluted soil accumulate higher levels of heavy metals than crops grown in unpolluted soil. Moreover, heavy metals in water, air, and soil can reduce the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. A healthy diet…

With vast potentials in improving operations and stimulating growth, digital transformation has aroused much attention from firms across the world. However, the high costs associated with the transformation can not be ignored. Limited research has looked into the organizational performance effects of digital transformation. After examining the benefits and costs of digital transformation, this research makes an empirical study on the impact of digital transformation on firm operational and financial performance. The panel data from 2010 to 2020 of 2254 manufacturing companies in China suggests that the intensity of digital transformation is in positive correlation with the process-based operating performance, and in the U-shaped correlation with the profit-oriented financial performance. Further, we find that digital transformation has a much more lasting impact on operating performance than on financial performance. The conditions required (i.e., policy and innovation environment) to improve the operating performance via digital transformation are more easing. This research shows…

The widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work due to COVID-19 calls for studies that explore the ramifications of these scenarios for office workers from an occupational health and wellbeing perspective. This paper aims to identify the needs and challenges in remote and hybrid work and the potential for a sustainable future work environment. Data collection involved two qualitative studies with a total of 53 participants, who represented employees, staff managers, and service/facility providers at three Swedish public service organisations (primarily healthcare and infrastructure administration). The results describe opportunities and challenges with the adoption of remote and hybrid work from individual, group, and leadership perspectives. The main benefits of remote work were increased flexibility, autonomy, work-life balance and individual performance, while major challenges were social aspects such as lost comradery and isolation. Hybrid work was perceived to provide the best of both worlds of remote and office work, given that employees and managers develop new skills and…

Smart cities and artificial intelligence (AI) are among the most popular discourses in urban policy circles. Most attempts at using AI to improve efficiencies in cities have nevertheless either struggled or failed to accomplish the smart city transformation. This is mainly due to short-sighted, technologically determined and reductionist AI approaches being applied to complex urbanization problems. Besides this, as smart cities are underpinned by our ability to engage with our environments, analyze them, and make efficient, sustainable and equitable decisions, the need for a green AI approach is intensified. This perspective paper, reflecting authors’ opinions and interpretations, concentrates on the “green AI” concept as an enabler of the smart city transformation, as it offers the opportunity to move away from purely technocentric efficiency solutions towards efficient, sustainable and equitable solutions capable of realizing the desired urban futures. The aim of this perspective paper is two-fold: first, to highlight the fundamental shortfalls in mainstream AI system…

Nowadays, the buzzwords for organizations to be prepared for the competitive environment’s challenges are sustainability, digitalization, resilience and agility. However, despite the fact that these concepts have come into common use at the level of both scholars and practitioners, the nature of the relation between sustainability and resilience has not yet been sufficiently clarified. Above all, there is still no evidence of what factors determine greater resilience to change in an organization that also wants to be more sustainable, especially in times of crisis and discontinuity. This research aims to explore from a theoretical point of view, through the construction of a conceptual model, how these dimensions interact to help the business to become strategically resilient by leveraging digitization and agility as enablers. A new view of resilience arises from the study, which goes beyond the well-known ability to absorb or adapt to adversity, to also include a strategic attribute that could help companies capture change-related opportunities to design new ways of doing business…

Bill Hillier’s space syntax method and theory enables us to describe the spatial properties of a sustainable city. Empirical testing of the space syntax method over time has confirmed the capacity and innovativeness of analyzing spatial relationships with the purpose of understanding and explaining the socio-spatial organization of built environments. However, the conceptual framework of space syntax elements is scattered around in various academic writings. This article, therefore, gives a holistic and compact overview of the various concepts that are used in space syntax, from its basic elements to various analytical techniques and theories. To achieve this compact overview, we reviewed all space syntax literature accessible since the 1970s for finding core references to various concepts used in space syntax. Following a short description of its foundation and evolution through the work of Bill Hillier, we explain its basic concepts and measures in the form of an extended glossary. Explanations are enriched with various space syntax analyses and scenario testing on various scales…

The current study investigates the perspectives and experiences of teachers regarding their school principal’s digital leadership roles and technology capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted using a case study-based qualitative approach, and with a study group consisting of 89 teachers holding a Master’s degree. Maximum diversity sampling, one of the purposive sampling methods, was preferred in the determination of the study group, and the data obtained from the research were analyzed through content analysis. The five main themes determined based on the perceptions and experiences of the participants are listed as: “Digital technology usage, support for the digital transformation, support for technology-based professional development, support for digital learning culture, and digital leadership skills”. The results of the research revealed that the level of use of digital technologies by school principals during the COVID-19 pandemic was perceived as adequate by teachers. In addition, it was determined that school principals support digital…

This paper aims to present a systematic literature review on state-of-the-art Educational Escape Rooms (EERs) with the use of digital technologies. More specifically, the focus of the study is to present the current developments and trends concerning Digital Educational Escape Rooms (DEERs) and investigate how they foster learning outcomes for online learners. Additionally, the present study provides insights into the design process of such technology enhanced EERs. This review is attributed to identifying and covering research gaps since the current literature has focused on the pedagogical aspects of Escape Rooms (ERs) in education, but no studies seem to have been conducted in regard to the pedagogical implications of Digital Escape Rooms (DERs) in educational environments. Based on the exhaustive literature review, an agenda for future research is promised and the implications for designing innovative ER approaches have been highlighted. The anatomy of the fundamental components of conducting systematic literature reviews was followed. The results of the review could be…

As an answer to the increasing demand for photovoltaics as a key element in the energy transition strategy of many countries—which entails land use issues, as well as concerns regarding landscape transformation, biodiversity, ecosystems and human well-being—new approaches and market segments have emerged that consider integrated perspectives. Among these, agrivoltaics is emerging as very promising for allowing benefits in the food–energy (and water) nexus. Demonstrative projects are developing worldwide, and experience with varied design solutions suitable for the scale up to commercial scale is being gathered based primarily on efficiency considerations; nevertheless, it is unquestionable that with the increase in the size, from the demonstration to the commercial scale, attention has to be paid to ecological impacts associated to specific design choices, and namely to those related to landscape transformation issues. This study reviews and analyzes the technological and spatial design options that have become available to date implementing a rigorous, comprehensive analysis based…

Change of land use land cover (LULC) has been known globally as an essential driver of environmental change. Assessment of LULC change is the most precise method to comprehend the past land use, types of changes to be estimated, the forces and developments behind the changes. The aim of the study was to assess the temporal and spatial LULC dynamics of the past and to predict the future using Landsat images and LCM (Land Change Modeler) by considering the drivers of LULC dynamics. The research was conducted in Nashe watershed (Ethiopia) which is the main tributary of the Upper Blue Nile basin. The total watershed area is 94,578 ha. The Landsat imagery from 2019, 2005, and 1990 was used for evaluating and predicting the spatiotemporal distributions of LULC changes. The future LULC image prediction has been generated depending on the historical trends of LULC changes for the years 2035 and 2050. LCM integrated in TerrSet Geospatial Monitoring and Modeling System assimilated with MLP and CA-Markov chain have been used for monitoring, assessment of change, and future projections. Markov…

In response to the rapid development of green finance, this study evaluates a systematic literature survey with a focus on the determinants and the potential benefits of corporate engagement in environmentally responsible practices in the context of green bonds and green loans. We show that research has discovered that environmentally responsible practices not only enhance shareholder value but also the value accrued to nonfinancial stakeholders. Further, we provide an updated overview of research developments in relation to green bonds and syndicated loans. Lastly, we discuss the limitations in the nascent green finance research and propose new lines of research supporting our aim of advancing our knowledge of sustainable investments.

Blockchain technology (BCT) has been gaining popularity due to its benefits for almost every industry. However, despite its benefits, the organizational adoption of BCT is rather limited. This lack of uptake motivated us to identify the factors that influence the adoption of BCT from an organizational perspective. In doing this, we reviewed the BCT literature, interviewed BCT experts, and proposed a research model based on the TOE framework. Specifically, we theorized the role of technological (perceived benefits, compatibility, information transparency, and disintermediation), organizational (organization innovativeness, organizational learning capability, and top management support), and environmental (competition intensity, government support, trading partners readiness, and standards uncertainty) factors in the organizational adoption of BCT in Australia. We confirmed the model with a sample of adopters and potential adopter organizations in Australia. The results show a significant role of the proposed factors in the organizational adoption of BCT in Australia. Additionally, we…

This paper proves that the development of the digital economy has become a new vector to promote the upgrading of China’s industrial structure. In addition, heterogeneous technological innovation plays an intermediary role in the promotion of the industrial structure by the digital economy. This study aims to solve the following: whether the development level of the digital economy is positively promoting the upgrading of the industrial structure; whether technological innovation can promote the upgrading of the industrial structure; the path of the digital economy through which to promote the upgrading of the industrial structure and the heterogeneity of this path. The purpose of this study was to verify the digital economy and scientific and technological innovation to promote the upgrading of the industrial structure and the reality of the realization path; and to solve the problem of insufficient power for upgrading China’s regional industrial structure against the background of the impact of the new generation of information technology. This study mainly adopted comprehensive…

Dealing with the relationship between environment and economic development is the core issue of China’s sustainable development. At present, China’s economic transformation is urgent, and green finance is being widely concerned. This paper measured the development level of China’s green finance from the perspective of green credit, green securities, green investment, and green insurance. Then, it used a spatial dynamic panel model to empirically test the mechanism of the impact of green finance on carbon emissions with panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2018. The following can be seen from the results: (1) The development of green finance contributes to carbon emission reduction. (2) The spatial spillover effect of green finance is significant. Specifically, the development of green finance can not only reduce the carbon emissions of the local region but also inhibit that of adjacent areas. (3) The development of green finance indirectly leads to a decrease in carbon emissions by reducing financing constraints and boosting green technology innovation. In order to…

This paper provided a systematic review of previous Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) studies on language learning. A total of 88 articles were selected and analyzed from five perspectives: their ways of integrating AR or VR tools in language learning; main users of AR and VR technologies; major research findings; why AR and VR tools are effective in promoting language learning; and the implications. It was found that (1) immersing learners into virtual worlds is the main approach to language learning in AR and VR studies; (2) university students were the main users of AR/VR technologies; (3) the major research findings concerning the benefits of AR and VR included improvement of students’ learning outcomes, enhancement of motivation, and positive perceptions towards using AR and VR; (4) AR and VR tools promoted language learning through providing immersive learning experience, enhancing motivation, creating interaction, and reducing learning anxiety; and (5) implications identified from previous research include the need of providing training for teachers, enlarging…

The manufacturing sector is one of the major sources contributing towards economies as well as environmental pollution. Contributing to the theory of ability motivation opportunity theory, the aim of the current study was to investigate the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior towards the environment on the relationship between green human resources management (green recruitment and selection, green training, green rewards, and green performance evaluation), corporate social responsibility, and sustainable performance (economic, social, and environmental performance). The quantitative survey research design was used in the current study and structured questionnaires were distributed for the collection of data. The cross-sectional data were collected from 150 firms. Sample of the study was consisted of HRM managers, directors. Total 200 questionnaires were distributed but 150 completed responses were received and analyzed. A structured questionnaire was used. For data analysis, smart partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used. The…

To improve customer experience and achieve sustainable development, many industries, especially banking, have leveraged artificial intelligence to implement a chatbot into their customer service. By integrating DeLone and McLean’s information systems success (D&M ISS) model and the expectation confirmation model (ECM) with the factor of trust, the aim of this study was to investigate the determinants of users’ continuance intentions towards chatbot services in the context of banking in Vietnam. A total of 359 questionnaire surveys were collected from a real bank’s chatbot users and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that users’ continuance intentions towards the banks’ chatbot services were influenced by satisfaction, trust, and perceived usefulness, of which trust had the strongest effect. The results also indicate that information quality, system quality, service quality, and confirmation of expectations had significant effects on three drivers of continuance intention in different ways. Our study contributes to the literature by providing a more…

To reach the goal of sustainable agriculture, smart farming is taking advantage of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. These smart farms are designed to be run by interconnected devices and vehicles. Some enormous potentials can be achieved by the integration of different IoT technologies to achieve automated operations with minimum supervision. This paper outlines some major applications of IoT and UAV in smart farming, explores the communication technologies, network functionalities and connectivity requirements for Smart farming. The connectivity limitations of smart agriculture and it’s solutions are analysed with two case studies. In case study-1, we propose and evaluate meshed Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) gateways to address connectivity limitations of Smart Farming. While in case study-2, we explore satellite communication systems to provide connectivity to smart farms in remote areas of Australia. Finally, we conclude the paper by identifying future research challenges on this topic and outlining directions to address those…

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organizations around the world to make full use of a variety of emerging online communication platform technologies. Universities are among the organizations that have asked students, tutors, and lecturers to use a number of different online communication platforms to ensure the education process remains uninterrupted. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated considerable challenges for the global higher education community while using such emerging technologies. This research has two main goals. First, this paper will begin by investigating whether the online learning platforms used by university students during the COVID-19 period have presented any challenges to their learning. Second, the paper will then go on to address proposed solutions by developing a conceptual model to reduce the impact of such challenges. This research uses an exploratory qualitative research approach, supported by literature content analysis techniques. The data set for this study was collected during the first peak of the pandemic period in Malaysia, between the…

The circular economy (CE) has become one of the prominent topics in both natural science and management literature over the last few decades. CE is a dual-loop regenerative system that focuses on the effective and efficient utilization of resources in the ecosystem, which is beneficial to environmental and economic performance optimization. Dual CE initiatives allow firms to increased resource eco-efficiency, as well as resource effectiveness. CE has profound consequences for economic and operational advantage. This reinforces the need for reflection on the definition that may provide guidelines to assess and advance the depth and diversity of the field. We aim to provide a definitional analysis of the CE and suggest future research streams to advance the existing literature. For this purpose, we employed a systematic literature review to collect related publications in the CE. As a result of this, a total of 91 papers were selected, studied, and analyzed. We proposed a sound definition of a circular economy that includes the main identified elements, organizational planning…

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) survival is critical for economic sustainability due to the multifaceted role of the economy. Thus, halting SMEs operation hurts the aggregate economy. During the present pandemic, SMEs’ sustainability in Bangladesh is under-challenged because of limited market demand, supply constraints, financial incapacity, and capital restrictions. However, with the concerted effort from firms and the government, SME’s have been trying to reestablish from the unforeseen consequence by capitalizing on innovation, skills, and economic resources. The motivation of the study is to gauge the impact of innovative finance, technological adaptation, and the government’s role on SMEs’ sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. As a study sample, 2000 SMEs were considered for data collection through a structured questionnaire from 10 December 2020, to 28 January 2021. A sample of 1895 SMEs was returned with their responses. However, after a careful data cleaning procedure, only a sample of 1395 (69.75%) responses was found suitable for study. The study…

The changes in the business environment and the increase in competition have led organizations to focus greatly on improving their organizational performance in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by relying on keeping pace with these changes and developing their innovation capability to meet their customers’ desires. Therefore, this research paper aims to explore the relationship between strategic agility and organizational performance through the mediating role of innovation capability. The research population consisted of senior managers in industrial corporations, and the sample comprised 224 senior managers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as a statistical method for testing hypotheses. The results showed that there is a significant influence of strategic agility on organizational performance and innovation capability. Furthermore, innovation capability plays a mediating role in improving the relationship between strategic agility and organizational performance. Accordingly, a set of recommendations are provided to corporations’ senior managers for…

Nitrogen (N) is a key input to food production. Nearly half of N fertilizer input is not used by crops and is lost into the environment via emission of gases or by polluting water bodies. It is essential to achieve production levels, which enable global food security, without compromising environmental security. The N pollution level expected by 2050 is projected to be 150% higher than in 2010, with the agricultural sector accounting for 60% of this increase. In this paper, we review the status of the pollution from N fertilizers worldwide and make recommendations to address the situation. The analysis reviews the relationship between N fertilizer use, N use efficiency, no-point pollution, the role of farmer management practices, and policy approaches to address diffuse pollution caused by N fertilization. Several studies show a lack of information as one of the main hurdles to achieve changes in habits. The objective of this study is to highlight the gravity of the current global non-point pollution as well as the need for a communication effort to make farmers aware of the…

The COVID-19 pandemic, like an earthquake, shocked our civilization and is still having a devastating effect on our lives. Guaranteeing an appropriate level of safety in the conditions of an epidemic is a highly problematic issue due to the subjectivism of social individuals, their diverse attitudes, and past life experiences. Taking into account the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines regarding the pandemic, authorities all around the world have reacted by issuing the necessary sets of advice and legal acts. This resulted in immediate and severe implications on mobility styles. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on mobility behaviours with special regard to public transport users, in terms of their willingness to travel and their safety criteria perceptions. The city of Gdańsk, in Poland, located on the Baltic Sea, has been taken as an example. The hypothesis was as follows: the epidemic phenomenon may substantially affect mobility behaviours in terms of subjective levels of safety and the mental comfort of public transport users, resulting…

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, which set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 targets and 231 unique indicators as a significant initiative towards socio-economic development. The SDGs provide the construction industry with a new lens through which global needs and desires can be translated into business solutions. This paper explores the role of the construction industry in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The paper uses an explanatory sequential design with an initial quantitative instrument phase, followed by a qualitative data collection phase. Following a comparative review of the literature on the 17 SDGs, a questionnaire was designed and administered among 130 respondents, and 105 responses were received. These data were then validated through semi-structured interviews with 16 sustainable construction experts. Data obtained from the semi-structured validation interviews were analysed through side-by-side comparisons of the qualitative data with the quantitative data. The findings show that…

Sustainable development is a global objective that aims to address the societal challenge of climate action, the environment, resource efficiency, and raw materials. In this sense, an important strategy is the promotion of green packaging, that is, the use of sustainable materials and designs for the packaging of goods. In recent years, many research works have been published in the specialised area covering the different perspectives and dimensions of green packaging. However, to our knowledge, no previous investigations have analysed the research activity on green packaging from business and consumer perspectives. The present study intends to fill this gap by analysing all of the publications found in the Scopus database with the help of visual analytic tools, including word clouds and Gephi network visualization software. More specifically, our study analyses the impact of green packaging from business and consumer viewpoints, including some specific issues such as the design and materials used in green packaging, green packaging costs, marketing strategies and corporate social…

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a rapidly developing environmental problem particularly for the most developed countries. There are technological solutions for processing it, but these are costly, and the cheaper option for most developed countries has been to export most of the waste to less developed countries. There are various laws and policies for regulating the processing of e-waste at different governance scales such as the international Basel Convention, the regional Bamoko Convention, and various national laws. However, many of the regulations are not fully implemented and there is substantial financial pressure to maintain the jobs created for processing e-waste. Mexico, Brazil, Ghana Nigeria, India, and China have been selected for a more detailed study of the transboundary movements of e-waste. This includes a systematic review of existing literature, the application of the Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) framework for analysing complex problems associated with social ecological systems, and the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for…

The growing demand for electrical energy and the impact of global warming leads to a paradigm shift in the power sector. This has led to the increased usage of renewable energy sources. Due to the intermittent nature of the renewable sources of energy, devices capable of storing electrical energy are required to increase its reliability. The most common means of storing electrical energy is battery systems. Battery usage is increasing in the modern days, since all mobile systems such as electric vehicles, smart phones, laptops, etc., rely on the energy stored within the device to operate. The increased penetration rate of the battery system requires accurate modelling of charging profiles to optimise performance. This paper presents an extensive study of various battery models such as electrochemical models, mathematical models, circuit-oriented models and combined models for different types of batteries. It also discusses the advantages and drawbacks of these types of modelling. With AI emerging and accelerating all over the world, there is a scope for researchers to explore its…

Environmental stress is a major challenge for sustainable food production as it reduces yield by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) which pose a threat to cell organelles and biomolecules such as proteins, DNA, enzymes, and others, leading to apoptosis. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) offers an eco-friendly and green alternative to synthetic agrochemicals and conventional agricultural practices in accomplishing sustainable agriculture by boosting growth and stress tolerance in plants. PGPR inhabit the rhizosphere of soil and exhibit positive interaction with plant roots. These organisms render multifaceted benefits to plants by several mechanisms such as the release of phytohormones, nitrogen fixation, solubilization of mineral phosphates, siderophore production for iron sequestration, protection against various pathogens, and stress. PGPR has the potential to curb the adverse effects of various stresses such as salinity, drought, heavy metals, floods, and other stresses on plants by inducing the production of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, peroxidase, and…

Environmental deterioration brought about by consumers’ non-feasible utilization pattern is putting a pressure on the environment and is obstructing sustainable development. To hinder this impact and stimulate a more sustainable economic growth, one solution is to lessen or move utilization patterns from conventional products to eco-friendly products. The authors conducted a review study of green purchase behavioral research across the 6-year period from 2015 to 2021, identifying 108 studies that met our inclusion criteria. The current review distinguishes different pervasive facilitators, motives, and obstacles influencing consumers’ decision-making process towards environmentally friendly products, and it gives potential clarifications for contradictions found in green purchase behavior (GPB). The paper reveals the main determinants of consumer’s GPB, and as a result of the review, 212 variables that affect green purchase intention (GPI) were identified. Moreover, 135 determinants that influence GPB were recorded. In this way, besides contributing to the literature, it will assist…

Technical and methodological enhancement of hazards and disaster research is identified as a critical question in disaster management. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as tracking and mapping, geospatial analysis, remote sensing techniques, robotics, drone technology, machine learning, telecom and network services, accident and hot spot analysis, smart city urban planning, transportation planning, and environmental impact analysis, are the technological components of societal change, having significant implications for research on the societal response to hazards and disasters. Social science researchers have used various technologies and methods to examine hazards and disasters through disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary lenses. They have employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection and data analysis strategies. This study provides an overview of the current applications of AI in disaster management during its four phases and how AI is vital to all disaster management phases, leading to a faster, more concise, equipped response.…

As various types of robots increasingly influence consumers’ service experiences, companies need to consider how to be competitive in this new artificial intelligence and service automation business environment. However, only limited studies have investigated the factors involved in consumer behaviors toward robot restaurant visitors and their impacts. This study integrates trust, the perceived risk, and satisfaction with the well-known Technology Acceptance Model’s (TAM) original constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and acceptance) in the robot service restaurant setting. A scenario-based online survey was performed on 338 respondents. Structural equational modeling shows the direct impact of PU (perceived usefulness) and the indirect impact of PEOU (perceived ease of use) on consumers’ revisit intention to robot restaurants. Trust significantly increases PU and PEOU toward a service robot, and increased trust in robot service decreases the perceived risk as well as increases satisfaction. Further, perceived risk decreases satisfaction and revisit intention. The…

Businesses have been exposed to various challenges during the global pandemic, and their response to this disruption has impacted their resilience as well as their chances to overcome this crisis. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are changing their business models in order to adapt to this changing environment. Service-based industries have been hit particularly hard. This research investigates how SMEs operating in service industries have been coping with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research aims to gain insights into which transformation drivers they have focused on and which technologies they have selected as a means to respond to the disruption. These insights regarding SMEs are then explored according to their influence on the redefinition of sustainable business models in SMEs. The review data was analyzed via a customized research framework that contains three dimensions and 30 subconcepts. The results show the distribution of drivers and technologies across service sectors. They are organized into a Business Model Canvas and could be…

A circular economy paradigm has recently emerged to combat environmental pollution and climate change around the world. In the fashion industry, circular fashion has been spotlighted as an environmentally friendly approach to fashion products. The purpose of this study was to investigate consumers’ value and risk perceptions, product attitudes, and behavior intentions toward circular fashion consumption. Specifically, this study focuses on three types of circular fashion products from textile waste: reused clothing, upcycled clothing, and recycled clothing. The moderating role of individualism was also explored. Survey data from 850 consumers in their 20s and 30s in Korea were collected to test our hypotheses. The results showed the influence of emotional value was the greatest, while economic risk and performance risk did not affect product attitudes. A moderating effect of individualism was found in the paths between perception dimension and product attitudes and between product attitudes and behavior intention. These findings can help retailers and marketers create more tailored…

Sustainable development is the common goal of the current concepts of bioeconomy and circular economy. In this sense, the biorefineries platforms are a strategic factor to increase the bioeconomy in the economic balance. The incorporation of renewable sources to produce fuels, chemicals, and energy, includes sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG), and creating more manufacturing jobs fostering the advancement of regional and social systems by implementing the comprehensive use of available biomass, due to its low costs and high availability. This paper describes the emerging biorefinery strategies to produce fuels (bio-ethanol and γ-valerolactone) and energy (pellets and steam), compared with the currently established biorefineries designed for fuels, pellets, and steam. The focus is on the state of the art of biofuels and energy production and environmental factors, as well as a discussion about the main conversion technologies, production strategies, and barriers. Through the implementation of biorefineries platforms and the evaluation of low environmental impact…

Digital transformation has become a critical path for enterprises to improve organizational resilience, and has been widely considered by both academia and business practice. However, the extant literature focuses on the concepts and antecedents of digital transformation and the outcomes of digital transformation, lacking of exploring the effect mechanism of digital transformation of enterprises on organizational resilience. Based on the perspective of dynamic capacity and the theoretical path of “digital transformation—ambidextrous innovation—organizational resilience”, this study constructs a theoretical model to explore a path where digital transformation affects both exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation, and further affects the organizational resilience of enterprises. By performing a questionnaire investigation with 339 Chinese enterprises, this study adopted both a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the relationships among digital transformation, ambidextrous innovation, and organizational…

Around the world, interest is growing in the circular economy in response to the current unsustainable model of production and consumption based on increased use and depletion of resources. This paper provides a review of the academic literature on the circular economy in agri-food systems, with the aims of understanding its main characteristics and perspectives, and summarizing and discussing the literature in this field. This review provides a deeper understanding of the opportunities provided by the circular economy as a solution to the current need to reduce the environmental impacts of business-as-usual economic systems and the state of the art of the circular economy in the academic debate. The results are discussed based on the chosen topic-core investigated in this review: business model and organization management, food loss and waste along the supply chain, analytical tools for the circular economy, stakeholder acceptance of the circular economy, and mitigation strategies and political approach. The findings show the need for the implementation of cleaner production models…

In plant cells, ammonium is considered the most convenient nitrogen source for cell metabolism. However, despite ammonium being the preferred N form for microalgae, at higher concentrations, it can be toxic, and can cause growth inhibition. Microalgae’s tolerance to ammonium depends on the species, with various taxa showing different thresholds of tolerability and symptoms of toxicity. In the environment, ammonium at high concentrations represents a dangerous pollutant. It can affect water quality, causing numerous environmental problems, including eutrophication of downstream waters. For this reason, it is important to treat wastewater and remove nutrients before discharging it into rivers, lakes, or seas. A valid and sustainable alternative to conventional treatments could be provided by microalgae, coupling the nutrient removal from wastewater with the production of valuable biomass. This review is focused on ammonium and its importance in algal nutrition, but also on its problematic presence in aquatic systems such as wastewaters. The aim of this work is to provide recent…

The article deals with distance education, which as a teaching method had to be suddenly introduced in schools and higher education institutions as a result of the global pandemic situation. The paper captures the second wave of Poland’s pandemic situation in relation to global circumstances and the methods of conducting distance learning used across the globe. The purpose of this study was to investigate first-year students’ expectations about the education shift to distance learning. GETAMEL, which is the adapted General Extended Technology Acceptance Model for E-Learning, was used in the study. The study analyzed the influence of Experience, Subjective Norms, Enjoyment, Computer Anxiety, and Self-Efficacy on students’ expectations in the context of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. To test the research model presented during the research, The Partial Least Squares method of Structural Equation Modeling was used. An online survey was created to conduct the research, which collected data from 670 Polish first-year undergraduate students. The acquired data were…

The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) 2020 model is a comprehensive and updated business model that encompasses sustainability and shares features with Industry 4.0, emphasizing transformation and improved organizational performance, yet with different theoretical and practical foundations. This research highlights the EFQM 2020 model’s novelties and its relationships/implications with the Industry 4.0 paradigm, contributing to the Quality 4.0 body of knowledge. Several linkages between the EFQM 2020 model and Industry 4.0 have been identified, namely, at the criteria level and guidance points, which can support successful digital transformation by combining quality and excellence with Industry 4.0. However, given the model’s generic and non-prescriptive nature, there is no specific reference to the nine Industry 4.0 pillars. Additionally, the links between direction and organizational culture and leadership criteria and driving performance and transformation are not evident, which might be a concern for business and technology transformation strategies. Managing…

Entrepreneurial education has always played an important role in developing entrepreneurship. In recent years, China has been emphasizing the integration of innovative entrepreneurship concepts into university curricula. Entrepreneurial education can also contribute to the sustainability of business development. In the context of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation”, entrepreneurial education is important to promote the restructuring of the economic and business model, enhance the development momentum, and follow the innovation-driven development path. However, whether the promotion of entrepreneurial education will lead to entrepreneurial intentions of college students, and thus, specific proposals for the promotion of the entrepreneurial education model remains unclear. Therefore, this study adopted the theory of planned behavior perspective coupled with perceived university support to extend the theory of planned behavior framework and explain the effect of such support on student entrepreneurial intention. The study results revealed that perceived university support…

The rising concentration of global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has severely affected our planet’s homeostasis. Efforts are being made worldwide to curb carbon dioxide emissions, but there is still no strategy or technology available to date that is widely accepted. Two basic strategies are employed for reducing CO2 emissions, viz. (i) a decrease in fossil fuel use, and increased use of renewable energy sources; and (ii) carbon sequestration by various biological, chemical, or physical methods. This review has explored microalgae’s role in carbon sequestration, the physiological apparatus, with special emphasis on the carbon concentration mechanism (CCM). A CCM is a specialized mechanism of microalgae. In this process, a sub-cellular organelle known as pyrenoid, containing a high concentration of Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco), helps in the fixation of CO2. One type of carbon concentration mechanism in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the association of pyrenoid tubules with thylakoids membrane is represented through a typical graphical model. Various…

Increasingly noticeable environmental and risk problems have made more and more companies and regulatory agencies realize the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities. However, on the question that whether ESG activities have promoted or reduced firm performance, there is still no consensus. Especially for China, a representative country in emerging markets whose corporate ESG activities are still in their infancy and related systems and regulatory measures not complete, its theoretical and practical circles more urgently need to know an accurate answer to this question. Therefore, this article takes China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies that have ESG rating data from 2015 to 2019 as samples and finds that corporate ESG activities have a significantly negative impact on firm performance. Further research finds that compared with state-owned enterprises and environmentally sensitive enterprises, non-state-owned enterprises and non-environmentally sensitive enterprises provide stronger evidence to support the above conclusions.

Despite the increasing popularity of green finance and sustainable investment in the field of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), very few studies have investigated the effect of green finance dimensions on the sustainable performance of banks. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the dimensions of green finance and their effects on the sustainability performance of financial institutions in developing economies such as Bangladesh. The study also depicts the level of green financing adoption among the banks and non-bank financial institutions in the country between 2015 and 2020. Considering the nature of the dataset, the structural equation modeling technique was employed in this study to fulfil the research objectives. Amongst banks and non-bank financial institutions, the study highlighted private commercial banks as being the highest contributor to green financing, accounting for 78.12% of the total green financing in Bangladesh. In addition, the empirical findings revealed that the dimensions of green finance are related to the economic, social, and environmental aspects…

Artificial intelligence methods can remarkably reduce costs for water supply and sanitation systems and help ensure compliance with the quality of drinking and wastewater treatment. Therefore, modelling and predicting water quality to control water pollution has been widely researched. The novelty of the proposed system is presented to develop an efficient operation of monitoring drinking water to ensure a sustainable and friendly green environment. In this work, the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) algorithm was developed to predict the water quality index (WQI). Feed-forward neural network (FFNN) and K-nearest neighbors were applied to classify water quality. The dataset has eight significant parameters, but seven parameters were considered to show significant values. The proposed methodology was developed based on these statistical parameters. Prediction results demonstrated that the ANFIS model was superior for the prediction of WQI values. Nevertheless, the FFNN algorithm achieved the highest accuracy (100%) for water quality classification (WQC). Furthermore, the…

The building industry, which emits a significant quantity of greenhouse gases, is under tremendous pressure due to global climate change and its consequences for communities. Given the environmental issues associated with cement production, geopolymer concrete has emerged as a sustainable construction material. Geopolymer concrete is an eco-friendly construction material that uses industrial or agricultural by-product ashes as the principal binder instead of Portland cement. Fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag, rice husk ash, metakaolin, and palm oil fuel ash were all employed as binders in geopolymer concrete, with fly ash being the most frequent. The most important engineering property for all types of concrete composites, including geopolymer concrete, is the compressive strength. It is influenced by different parameters such as the chemical composition of the binder materials, alkaline liquid to binder ratio, extra water content, superplasticizers dosages, binder content, fine and coarse aggregate content, sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate content, the ratio of…

Extensive industrial activities resulted in an increase in chromium (Cr) contamination in the environment. The toxicity of Cr severely affects plant growth and development. Cr is also recognized as a human carcinogen that enters the human body via inhalation or by consuming Cr-contaminated food products. Taking consideration of Cr enrichment in the environment and its toxic effects, US Environmental Protection Agency and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry listed Cr as a priority pollutant. In nature, Cr exists in various valence states, including Cr(III) and Cr(VI). Cr(VI) is the most toxic and persistent form in soil. Plants uptake Cr through various transporters such as phosphate and sulfate transporters. Cr exerts its effect by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hampering various metabolic and physiological pathways. Studies on genetic and transcriptional regulation of plants have shown the various detoxification genes get up-regulated and confer tolerance in plants under Cr stress. In recent years, the ability of the plant to withstand Cr toxicity by…

Nitrogen (N) in the agricultural production system influences many aspects of agroecosystems and several critical ecosystem services widely depend on the N availability in the soil. Cumulative changes in regional ecosystem services may lead to global environmental changes. Thus, the soil N status in agriculture is of critical importance to strategize its most efficient use. Nitrogen is also one of the most susceptible macronutrients to environmental loss, such as ammonia volatilization (NH3), nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, nitrate leaching (NO3), etc. Any form of N losses from agricultural systems can be major limitations for crop production, soil sustainability, and environmental safeguard. There is a need to focus on mitigation strategies to minimize global N pollution and implement agricultural management practices that encourage regenerative and sustainable agriculture. In this review, we identified the avenues of N loss into the environment caused by current agronomic practices and discussed the potential practices that can be adapted to prevent this N loss in production…

I observe that the sustainable finance landscape as it stands today is featured by an overabundance of heterogeneous concepts, definitions, industry and policy standards. I argue that such heterogeneity may hinder the smooth development of the conceptual thinking underpinning sustainable finance and originates specific risks that may harm the credibility of the nascent market. These risks include green and sustainable washing, the rebranding of financial flows without additionality, the disordered adjustment in the cost of capital spreads between industries. I argue that to reflect the actual industry and policy context as wells as to steer conceptual and applied practice sustainable finance should be today referred to as “finance for sustainability”. To this extent, both its definition and implementing standards should make clear reference to the relevant sustainability dimensions (in particular in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement) and to the sectors or activities that positively contribute to these dimensions.

In recent years, e-commerce businesses have seen an increase in the daily volume of packages to be delivered, as well as an increase in the number of particularly demanding customer expectations. In this respect, the delivery mechanism became prohibitively expensive, particularly for the final kilometer. To stay competitive and meet the increased demand, businesses began to look for innovative autonomous delivery options for the last mile, such as autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles/drones, which are a promising alternative for the logistics industry. Following the success of drones in surveillance and remote sensing, drone delivery systems have begun to emerge as a new solution to reduce delivery costs and delivery time. In the coming years, autonomous drone sharing systems will be an unavoidable logistical solution, especially with the new laws/recommendations introduced by the Flight World Organization on how to organize the operations of these special unmanned airline systems. This paper provides a comprehensive literature survey on a set of relevant research issues and…

Organizational resilience is an important means of coping with crises. This concept has received much attention within both academia and industry. However, research on the definition and measurement of organizational resilience is still in the exploratory stage. To date, studies on organizational resilience have yielded mixed conclusions, which makes it difficult to provide specific recommendations for coping with crises. This paper uses an exploratory case study approach to explore the process of organizational resilience among six highly resilient companies: Southwest Airlines, Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, Kyocera, and Lego. We employed grounded theory to distill the main characteristics of organizational resilience, to explore and validate its structural dimensions, and to develop a measurement scale for organizational resilience. Further, we conducted reliability and validity analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and validation factor analysis on the 526 valid data collected. Results show that organizational resilience includes five dimensions: capital resilience, strategic…

Single cell protein (SCP) is the first product of the fermentation process and has proven to be a good protein alternative. Food competition is becoming more intense as the world’s population continues to grow. Soon, SCP may be able to compensate for a protein deficit. Various global businesses are focusing on SCP production, and the scope of its application is expanding as time and knowledge increases. High quantities of SCP can be produced by microorganisms, such as algae, yeast, fungi and bacteria, due to their fast development rate and the significant level of protein in their chemical structure. Beside proteins, SCP contains carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, minerals, vitamins and several important amino acids. SCP has been an effective substitute for more expensive protein sources such as fish and soybean products. In conclusion, SCP can easily replace traditional protein sources in human and animal feed without detrimental effects. Potential substrate candidates and optimization strategies for SCP production have been extensively studied. This review article focuses on…

Global climate change represents a grand challenge for society, one that is increasingly influencing tourism sector investment, planning, operations, and demand. The paper provides an overview of the core challenges climate change poses to sustainable tourism, key knowledge gaps, and the state of preparedness in the tourism sector. As we begin what is widely considered a decisive climate decade, low sectoral preparedness should be highly disconcerting for the tourism community. Put bluntly, what we have done for the past 30 years has not prepared the sector for the next 30 years of accelerating climate change impacts and the transformation to a decarbonized global economy. The transition from two decades of awareness raising and ambition setting to a decade of determined collective response has massive knowledge requirements and necessitates broad sectoral commitments to: (1) improved communications and knowledge mobilization, (2) increased research capacity and interdisciplinary collaboration, and (3) strategic policy and planning engagement. We in the tourism and sustainability…

Developing sustainable products and processes is essential for the survival of manufacturers in the current competitive market and the industry 4.0 era. The activities of manufacturers and their supply chain partners should be aligned with sustainable development goals. Manufacturers have faced many barriers and challenges in implementing sustainable practices along the entire supply chain due to globalisation, outsourcing, and offshoring. Blockchain technology has the potential to address the challenges of sustainability. This study aims to explain the applications of blockchain technology to sustainable manufacturing. We conducted a systematic literature review and explained the potential contributions of blockchain technology to the economic, environmental, and social performances of manufacturers and their supply chains. The findings of the study extend our understanding of the blockchain applications in sustainable manufacturing and sustainable supply chains. Furthermore, the study explains how blockchain can influence the sustainable performance of manufacturers by creating…

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that can help to quantify the impacts of different processes to facilitate comparison and decision making. There are many potential methods for managing plastic waste, but it can be difficult to determine which methods are preferable in terms of environmental impact. Suitable existing LCA studies are identified through a screening process and the methodologies used and their outputs are compared. When undertaking an LCA, the researchers must define their scope and select their parameters, according to their aims and context, which leads to a wide variation in the approach taken. In this study, six parameters have been considered to analyze research progress in these fields regarding LCA, i.e., goals and scope, functional units, impact assessment categories, system boundaries, geographical context, and uncertainty analysis. These studies include the similar type of different studies considering plastic waste recycling, each taking a different approach to defining the system boundaries, revealing how the decision to include or exclude factors such…

As a result of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, universities have carried out teaching in a digital way, accelerating the inclusion and use of technologies in methodological adaptation. The research aims to ascertain the perception that students at the Faculty of Education Sciences of the University of Granada have regarding the pedagogical model adopted in the virtual learning environment during confinement through the second semester of the 2019–2020 academic year. The information collection method was an online questionnaire, using simple random sampling with proportional affixing 0.5, 95% confidence level and maximum permissible error of 4.7%. The results demonstrate a generalised dissatisfaction of the students, being fundamental to carry out the transition of the educational processes and training of the teaching staff. The implementation of active methodologies increases due to the virtual condition, specifically the flipped classroom methodology, but students manifest generalised dissatisfaction regarding the adequate methodological development and the involvement of…

The digitalisation of banks is seen as the omnipresent challenge which the banking industry is currently facing. In this digital change process, banks are facing disruptive innovation that requires adaptation of almost all cooperative processes. Digital transformation in the financial industry is associated with obstacles that seem to hinder smooth implementation of digital approaches. This issue has not been adequately addressed in the current academic literature. The main purpose of this qualitative exploratory study is to identify the main perceived obstacles to digital transformation in both the private and commercial banking sectors from a managerial point of view and to analyse them accordingly. The methodology is based on a methodological approach using a combination of contextual interviews with German board members of banks, inductive content analysis, and the exploration of best-practice approaches. The findings revealed that elements of strategy and management, technology and regulation, customers, and employees receive a high level of attention within the digital…

The exercise of biochar in agribusiness has increased proportionally in recent years. It has been indicated that biochar application could strengthen soil fertility benefits, such as improvement in soil microbial activity, abatement of bulk density, amelioration of nutrient and water-holding capacity and immutability of soil organic matter. Additionally, biochar amendment could also improve nutrient availability such as phosphorus and nitrogen in different types of soil. Most interestingly, the locally available wastes are pyrolyzed to biochar to improve the relationship among plants, soil and the environment. This can also be of higher importance to small-scale farming, and the biochar produced can be utilized in farms for the improvement of crop productivity. Thus, biochar could be a potential amendment to a soil that could help in achieving sustainable agriculture and environment. However, before mainstream formulation and renowned biochar use, several challenges must be taken into consideration, as the beneficial impacts and potential use of biochar seem highly appealing. This…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the online learning of foreign languages at higher education level has represented a way to adapt to the restrictions imposed worldwide. The aim of the present article is to analyse university students’ behaviours, emotions and perceptions associated to online foreign language learning during the pandemic and their correlates by using a mixed approach. The research used the Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) scale and tools developed by the authors, focusing on task value, self-perceived foreign language proficiency, stressors and responses in online foreign language learning during the pandemic. Some of the results, such as the negative association between anxiety and FLE, are consistent with those revealed in studies conducted in normal times. Other results are novel, such as the protective role of retrospective enjoyment in trying times or the higher level of enjoyment with lower-achieving students. Reference is made to students’ preferences for certain online resources during the pandemic (e.g., preference for PowerPoint presentations) and to their…

Digital technologies offer a potential solution to improve sustainability—economic, social, and environmental—of agri-food systems around the globe. While developed countries have led the innovation and adoption of digital agriculture, the potential impact in developing countries—including in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region—is massive. This article synthesizes existing evidence to review the potential and current contribution of digital technologies to the agri-food sectors in MENA. Digital agriculture shows promise in addressing the key challenges facing the agri-food sector across MENA countries. Improvements in primary production, supply chain and logistics performance, and optimized use of scarce natural resources (notably agricultural water) could be notable, if digital technologies can be implemented as envisioned. Available evidence shows that adoption of digital agriculture is at early stages, generally led by high-value agricultural production targeting domestic markets in Gulf countries and export markets in Mashreq countries. Economic sustainability appears…

The terms corporate social responsibility, ‘sustainability’, ‘sustainable development’ and ‘corporate sustainability’ are critical terms for developing, analysing and evaluating public and private policy goals. The terms are used in decision-making concerning investments in many types of activities including policy development, strategy creation and implementation via resource allocation. These terms emerged in different fields of endeavour at different points in time. Accordingly, it is only to be expected that they do not coalesce in terms of meaning; however, in the intervening years, they have come to be used interchangeably mixing up policy agendas, confusing managers, regulators and activists and the public at large. We argue that CSR is the only business focused term that includes at a fundamental law social and ethical dimensions. The other terms are important, but should be distinguished and used carefully to help parties achieve their goals. These distinctions, which refer to roots of our scholarly endeavours, will help organisations to face and consider society’s most…

In late December 2019, a series of acute atypical respiratory disease occurred in Wuhan, China, which rapidly spread to other areas worldwide. It was soon discovered that a novel coronavirus was responsible, named the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2, 2019-nCoV). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the population’s health is unprecedented in recent years and the impact on a social level even more so. The COVID-19 pandemic is the most large-scale pandemic on earth this century, and the impact in all life sectors is devasting and directly affected human activity in the first wave. The impact on the economy, social care systems, and human relationships is causing an unprecedented global crisis. SARS-CoV-2 has a strong direct acute impact on population health, not only at the physiological level but also at the psychological level for those who suffer it, those close to them, and the general population, who suffer from the social consequences of the pandemic. In this line, the economic recession increased, even more, the social imbalance and inequity,…

Sustainability practices in a working environment represent superior quality performances, while risks remain to be a challenge. Our study’s primary purpose is to deploy the bibliometric method to analyze the related literature. Bibliometric parameters analyzed using the VOSviewer software were employed to identify citations relevant to sustainability and risk contexts’ critical themes. From 1990–2020, a reflection of 1233 documents appeared in Scopus on sustainability practices and risk management. We searched the current papers, authors, institutes, and keywords on VOSviewer. The bibliometric search provided us an understanding, which reflected that the collected works on literature of sustainability and risk factors, in general, is suggestively increasing. Mainly, in our report, we highlighted six major streams, related to topics such as the moral responsibilities and sustainability development, blockchain technology and minimization of risks, social sustainability and supply chain, environmental impacts, safety engineering and risk identification, and optimization and…

The combination of digital technology and finance has brought about a new development model for financial inclusion. What impact will it have on the current imbalance in the distribution of financial resources and the urban-rural income gap in China? To answer this question, this paper uses relevant data from 2014–2018 to study the impact of digital inclusive finance on the urban-rural income gap from the theory of financial exclusion, and analyzes the transmission of digital inclusive finance through alleviating financial exclusion, widening financing channels and helping residents with entrepreneurial spirit to start their own businesses, thus increasing jobs, raising the income of rural residents and reducing the urban-rural income gap. The conclusions are as follows: (1) digital inclusive finance can significantly converge the urban-rural income gap; (2) among the dimensions of digital inclusive finance, only the breadth of coverage can significantly reduce the urban-rural income gap, while the effects of depth of use and digitalization are not significant; (3) digital inclusive…

This article discusses the use of social media by different generations in destination marketing from a sustainable tourism perspective. In the light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, intensive marketing efforts and strategies to bring back sustainable tourism will soon become important. Social media (SM) can significantly support the promotion of destinations by guaranteeing an appropriate number and type of tourists. The article examines the frequency of using social media by different generations and the scope of their use in planning a tourist trip. The research was conducted in Poland on a sample of 397 respondents representing the group of Baby Boomers (BB), as well as Generations X, Y, and Z. The results of the research showed that the frequency of using SM decreases with age. The differences between the generations are visible in such behaviours as using SM to check opinions about tourist places, recommending a holiday with positive opinions and comments in SM, as well as resigning from a holiday based on negative opinions and comments.

This current study was conducted in order to develop a digital innovation model based on the digital organizational culture, digital capability, and organizational readiness. This study explores how the organizational readiness plays a mediating role between the digital capabilities and digital innovation and between the digital organizational culture and digital innovation. For data collection, the survey instrument was used to collect data from 227 SMEs of ICT industry in Pakistan. The findings have revealed a significant connection of the digital organizational culture and digital capabilities with the digital innovation. Second, the organizational readiness mediates between the digital capabilities, digital organizational culture, and digital innovation. The study has empirically confirmed how to flourish a mechanism of the digital innovation in the SMEs. Moreover, the findings suggest some substantial implications for the management by focusing on the digital capabilities and digital organizational culture as a fundamental predictor for the digital innovation via organizational…

Since its emergence in late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept through many cities around the world, claiming millions of lives and causing major socio-economic impacts. The pandemic occurred at an important historical juncture when smart solutions and technologies have become ubiquitous in many cities. Against this background, in this review, we examine how smart city solutions and technologies have contributed to resilience by enhancing planning, absorption, recovery, and adaptation abilities. For this purpose, we reviewed 147 studies that have discussed issues related to the use of smart solutions and technologies during the pandemic. The results were synthesized under four themes, namely, planning and preparation, absorption, recovery, and adaptation. This review shows that investment in smart city initiatives can enhance the planning and preparation ability. In addition, the adoption of smart solutions and technologies can, among other things, enhance the capacity of cities to predict pandemic patterns, facilitate an integrated and timely response, minimize or postpone…

Sustainability improvements in industrial production are essential for tackling climate change and the resulting ecological crisis. In this context, resource efficiency can directly lead to significant advancements in the ecological performance of manufacturing companies. The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) also plays an increasingly important role. However, the potential influence of AI applications on resource efficiency has not been investigated. Against this background, this article provides an overview of the current AI applications and how they affect resource efficiency. In line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this paper identifies, categorizes, and analyzes seventy papers with a focus on AI tasks, AI methods, business units, and their influence on resource efficiency. Only a minority of papers was found to address resource efficiency as an explicit objective. Subsequently, typical use cases of the identified AI applications are described with a focus on predictive maintenance, production planning,…

In higher education learning, e-learning systems have become renowned tools worldwide. The evident importance of e-learning in higher education has resulted in a prenominal increase in the number of e-learning systems delivering various forms of services, especially when traditional education (face-to-face) was suddenly forced to move online due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Accordingly, assessing e-learning systems is pivotal in the interest of effective use and successful implementation. By relying on the related literature review, an extensive model is developed by integrating the information system success model (ISSM) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) to illustrate key factors that influence the success of e-learning systems. Based on the proposed model, theory-based hypotheses are tested through structural equation modeling employing empirical data gathered through a survey questionnaire of 537 students from three private universities in Jordan. The findings demonstrate that quality factors, including instructor, technical system, support service, educational systems, and…

Agri-food systems (AFS) have been central in the debate on sustainable development. Despite this growing interest in AFS, comprehensive analyses of the scholarly literature are hard to find. Therefore, the present systematic review delineated the contours of this growing research strand and analyzed how it relates to sustainability. A search performed on the Web of Science in January 2020 yielded 1389 documents, and 1289 were selected and underwent bibliometric and topical analyses. The topical analysis was informed by the SAFA (Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems) approach of FAO and structured along four dimensions viz. environment, economy, society and culture, and policy and governance. The review shows an increasing interest in AFS with an exponential increase in publications number. However, the study field is north-biased and dominated by researchers and organizations from developed countries. Moreover, the analysis suggests that while environmental aspects are sufficiently addressed, social, economic, and political ones are generally overlooked. The…