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Environmental degradation resulting from human activities may adversely affect human health in multiple ways. Until now, policies aimed at mitigating environmental problems such as climate change, environmental pollution and damage to biodiversity have failed to clearly identify and drive the potential benefits of these policies on health. The conducted study assesses and demonstrates how specific environmental policies and instruments influence perceived human health in order to ensure input for a data-driven decision process.

The study was conducted for the 2004–2020 period in European Union (EU) countries with the use of dynamic panel data modeling. Verification of specific policies' impact on dependent variables allows to indicate this their effectiveness and importance. As a result of the computed dynamic panel data models, it has been confirmed that a number of significant and meaningful relationships between the self-perceived health index and environmental variables can be identified.

There is a strong positive impact of environmental taxation on the health index, and the strength of this relationship causes effects to be observed in the very short term, even the following year. In addition, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) and the elimination of fossil fuels from the energy mix exert positive, although milder, effects on health. The reduction of ammonia emissions from agriculture and reducing noise pollution are other health-supporting factors that have been shown to be statistically valid. Results allow to identify the most efficient policies in the analyzed area in order to introduce those with the best results or a mix of such measures.

The results of the authors' research clearly indicate the health benefits of measures primarily aimed at improving environmental factors, such as environmental taxes in general. The authors have also discovered an unexpected negative impact of an increase in the share of energy taxes in total taxes on the health index. The presented study opens several possibilities for further investigation, especially in the context of the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and global efforts to respond to environmental and health challenges. The authors believe that the outcome of the authors' study may provide new arguments to policymakers pursuing solutions that are not always easily acceptable by the public.

Microwave curing (MC) can facilitate rapid concrete repair in cold climates without using conventional accelerated curing technologies which are environmentally unsustainable. Accelerated curing of concrete under MC can contribute to the decarbonisation of the environment and provide economies in construction in several ways such as reducing construction time, energy efficiency, lower cement content, lower carbonation risk and reducing emissions from equipment.

The paper investigates moisture loss and pore properties of six cement-based proprietary concrete repair materials subjected to MC. The impact of MC on these properties is critically important for its successful implementation in practice and current literature lacks this information. Specimens were microwave cured for 40–45 min to surface temperatures between 39.9 and 44.1 °C. The fast-setting repair material was microwave cured for 15 min to 40.7 °C. MC causes a higher water loss which shows the importance of preventing drying during MC and the following 24 h.

Portland cement-based normal density repair mortars, including materials incorporating pfa and polymer latex, benefit from the thermal effect of MC on hydration, resulting in up to 24% reduction in porosity relative to normal curing. Low density and flowing repair materials suffer an increase in porosity up to 16% due to MC. The moisture loss at the end of MC and after 24h is related to the mix water content and porosity, respectively.

The research on the application of MC for rapid repair of concrete is original. The research was funded by the European commission following a very rigorous and competitive review process which ensured its originality. Original data on the parameters of porosity and moisture loss under MC are provided for different generic cementitious repair materials which have not been studied before. Application of MC to concrete construction especially in cold climates will provide environmental, economic and energy benefits.

This study aims to investigate the behavior of the green biomass-derived copper (lignin/silica/fatty acids) complex, copper lignin/silica/fatty acids (Cu-LSF) complex, when incorporated into the nonpolar ethylene propylene diene (EPDFM) rubber matrix, focusing on its reinforcing and antioxidant effect on the resulting EPDM composites.

The structure of the prepared EPDM composites was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and the dispersion of the additive fillers and antioxidants in the EPDM matrix was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. Also, the rheometric characteristics, mechanical properties, swelling behavior and thermal gravimetric analysis of all the prepared EPDM composites were explored as well.

Results revealed that the Cu-LSF complex dispersed well in the nonpolar EPDM rubber matrix, in thepresence of coupling system, with enhanced Cu-LSF-rubber interactions and increased cross-linking density, which reflected on the improved rheological and mechanical properties of the resulting EPDM composites. From the various investigations performed in the current study, the authors can suggest 7–11 phr is the optimal effective concentration of Cu-LSF complex loading. Interestingly, EPDM composites containing Cu-LSF complex showed better antiaging performance, thermal stability and fluid resistance, when compared with those containing the commercial antioxidants (2,2,4-trimethyl-1,2-dihydroquinoline and N-isopropyl-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine). These findings are in good agreement with our previous study on polar nitrile butadiene rubber.

The current study suggests the green biomass-derived Cu-LSF complex to be a promising low-cost and environmentally safe alternative filler and antioxidant to the hazardous commercial ones.

This empirical research intends to examine factors influencing the adoption of renewable energy (RE) using a conceptual model of the consumer decision-making process.

This study uses a primary response-based survey to collect data from 668 respondents interested in adopting RE for their daily usage. The sample respondents were chosen through a multi-stage random stratified technique. The responses were analyzed through structural equation-based modeling techniques to discuss the findings and suggest further implications.

The findings suggest that factors like knowledge, policy incentives, sustainable development goals (SDGs-7, 11 and 13), socio-economic benefits and risk perception significantly impact the adoption of RE. Besides, risk perception mediates between environmental concerns and the adoption of RE. Also, age has a significant role in RE adoption.

The study finds the critical role of government in introducing financial incentives to reduce the initial cost of renewable adoption. Doing so will also promote clean and equitable energy access to society leading to further fulfillment of SDGs. Additionally, steps like knowledge enrichment, designing suitable policies for a manufacturer and public-friendly renewable market development will further facilitate renewable adoption in society.

With an objective to study the public perception and attitude towards renewable adoption, this empirical research is the first of its kind to carry out a real-time survey of the Indian population and suggest policy implications which would benefit all the concerned stakeholders.

This study aims to examine the relationship between the environment and tourism flows, as well as the economic variables of the 32 states of Mexico for the period 1999–2019 based on data availability. The related literature studying tourism and environmental impacts is scarce at a national level, with most of them being local case studies. Some international studies find that if the relationship exists, it is weak or nonexistent, using CO₂ as a proxy in most cases.

The present study uses panel data and cointegration panel methodologies, while also using geographic information systems to observe the distribution of variables at a state level between tourism and environmental variables.

The findings of the study are as follows: state gross domestic product, the inertia of environmental variables (i.e. volume of water treatment and solid waste), occupied rooms (proxy variable for tourism activity) and average temperature have an impact on the contemporary evolution of environmental variables; national and international tourist variables have no impact on the environment; the panels are integrated in such a way that there is a long-term equilibrium between states and some environmental care variables; and no conclusive evidence is found regarding the impact of tourism activity on the considered environmental variables.

The main limitations and areas of opportunity of the work refer to the amount of data available over time and the precision of the measurement of the variables. The availability, temporality and frequency of the data are also limitations of the research. An example of this is the nonexistence of CO₂ emissions at the state level. Additionally, studying other countries and regions for which there are limitations of data and applied studies is also a challenge.

The results are important for economies (in growth) and societies whose economic growth depends on tourism flows and have done little to reverse the damage that tourism has on the environment.

The models can contribute to study the relation between tourism and environmental variables and could be extended to regions, states and provinces for decision-making on actions to be taken for the present and future.

The originality of the research is innovative for the region: Mexico, Central and Latin America. There are no works that have studied these problems with this methodology and these variables. In terms of originality, the classic models of panel data and cointegration of panel data are useful and easily replicable for others to use for different countries. The results are relevant because there is apparently no relationship between tourism and some environmental variables in the short run, but there exists a weak and strong long-run relation between some of them.

本研究采用面板数据和协整面板模型方法, 同时利用地理信息系统(gis)观察州一级层面旅游和环境方面的变量分布。

本研究根据数据可用性, 研究了墨西哥32个州1999–2019年期间环境与旅游流量及经济变量之间的关系。在国家层面上研究旅游与环境影响的相关文献很少, 而且大多是地方的个案研究。一些国际研究发现, 即使有这种关系, 大多数案例中使用二氧化碳作为替代变量, 这种关系也是很弱或不存在。

i)国家国内生产总值, 环境变量的惯性(即水处理量和固体废物量), 占用的房间(旅游活动的代理变量)和平均温度对环境变量的现有演化有影响。ii)国内和国际旅游变量对环境没有影响。iii)面板数据以这样一种方式集成, 即国家和一些环境变量之间存在一种长期平衡。iv)关于旅游活动对所考虑的环境变量的影响没有确凿的证据。

这项工作的主要局限和机会领域是指随着时间的推移可获得的数据量和变量测量的精度。数据的可用性、时效性和频率也是本研究的局限性。这方面的一个例子是在州一级不存在二氧化碳排放。此外, 由于数据和应用研究的局限, 研究其他国家和地区也是一个挑战。

研究结果对经济增长依赖旅游业流量的经济体和社会具有重要意义, 这些经济体和社会对扭转旅游业对环境的破坏方面做得还不够。

这些模型有助于研究旅游业与环境变量之间的关系, 并可推广到地区、州和省, 以制定当前和未来的行动决策。

这项研究的原创性对该地区(墨西哥、中美洲和拉丁美洲)来说是具有创新性的。没有人用这种方法和这些变量研究过这些问题。就原创性而言, 面板数据和面板数据协整的经典模型是有用的且易于复制, 可供其他国家使用。 研究结果具有一定的相关性, 因为旅游业与部分环境变量在短期内不存在明显的相关性, 但在它们中的一些变量在长期内存在着或强或弱的相关性。

Se examina la relación entre medio ambiente y flujos turísticos, así como variables económicas de los 32 estados de México para el período 1999-2019 basado en la disponibilidad de datos. La literatura relacionada que estudia el turismo y los impactos ambientales es escasa a nivel nacional, siendo la mayoría de ellos estudios de casos locales. Estudios internacionales encuentran que, si la relación existe, es débil o inexistente, utilizando el CO2 como un indicador en la mayoría de los casos.

Se utilizaron metodologías de datos de panel y cointegración de panel, además sistemas de información geográfica para observar la distribución de variables a nivel estatal.

i) El Producto Interno Bruto Estatal, la inercia de las variables ambientales (es decir, volumen de tratamiento de agua y residuos sólidos), habitaciones ocupadas (proxy de la actividad turística) y temperatura promedio tienen un impacto en la evolución contemporánea de las variables ambientales, ii) las variables turísticas nacionales e internacionales no tienen un impacto en el medio ambiente, iii) los paneles están integrados de tal manera que existe un equilibrio a largo plazo entre turismo, crecimiento económico y algunas variables ambientales, y iv) no se encuentra evidencia concluyente con respecto al impacto de la actividad turística en las variables ambientales consideradas.

Las principales limitaciones y áreas de oportunidad del trabajo se refieren a la cantidad de datos disponibles en el tiempo y a la precisión de la medición de las variables. La disponibilidad, temporalidad y frecuencia de los datos también son limitaciones de la investigación. Un ejemplo de ello es la inexistencia de emisiones de CO2 a nivel estatal. Además, el estudio de otros países y regiones para los que existen limitaciones de datos y estudios aplicados también es un reto.

Los resultados son importantes para las economías (en crecimiento) y las sociedades cuyo crecimiento económico depende de los flujos turísticos y que han hecho poco por invertir los daños que el turismo produce en el medio ambiente.

Los modelos pueden contribuir a estudiar la relación entre el turismo y las variables medioambientales y podrían extenderse a regiones, estados y provincias para la toma de decisiones sobre las acciones a emprender para el presente y el futuro.

El artículo proporciona un análisis innovador y exploratorio hacia una perspectiva futura que agrega valor al turismo y la planificación para la sostenibilidad. La relación entre turismo y medio ambiente se ha estudiado durante varios años. La UNTWO ha abordado las consecuencias del turismo en el medio ambiente, particularmente, más basura, mayor consumo de agua, emisiones de CO2 y otros aspectos. Pocos trabajos estudian la relación entre estas variables.

La originalidad de la investigación es innovadora para la región: México, América Central y América Latina. No existen trabajos que hayan estudiado estos problemas con esta metodología y estas variables.

En términos de originalidad, los modelos clásicos de datos de panel y cointegración de datos de panel son útiles y fácilmente replicables para que otros los utilicen en diferentes países.

Los resultados son relevantes porque aparentemente no hay una relación entre el turismo y algunas variables ambientales a corto plazo, existe una relación débil y fuerte a largo plazo entre algunas de ellas.

Organisational strategy becomes reality by connecting organisation’s resources and capabilities in daily operations, and physical workspace is one of the environments in which this takes place. This study aims to explore to what extent factors required for successful strategy implementation are considered when designing, using and managing workspaces of knowledge-intensive organisations.

For the study, managers in 25 large and medium-sized knowledge-intensive organisations were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews focused on organisation’s strategy, strategy implementation practices and workspace design and management. To form a comprehensive framework of strategy implementation success factors for the study, the factors of 11 frameworks were analysed, grouped and renamed.

Current workspace design, usage and management mainly support human-related strategy implementation factors. However, both organisation- and human-related factors are needed for the strategy implementation to be successful. Therefore, the organisations studied may have unused potential in their workspaces to ensure strategy-aligned operations and behaviour.

Due to the potential imbalance between organisation- and human-related strategy implementation factors, a more holistic, organisational-level approach to workspace design, usage and management is recommended to ensure the success of strategy implementation.

Workspaces have extensively been studied from individual strategy implementation factors’ as well as employees’ perspectives. Prior to this work, there are only few studies exploring workspace in the holistic, strategy implementation context.

This study aimed to review various existing methods for improving the quality of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) as a possible substitution for natural aggregates (NAs) in concrete. It is vital as the old paste attached to the RCA weakens its structure. It is due to the porous structure of the RCA with cracks, weakening the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the RCA and binding material, negatively impacting the concrete's properties. To this end, various methods for reinforcement of the RCA, cleaning the RCA's old paste and enhancing the quality of the RCA-based concrete without RCA modification are studied in terms of environmental effects, cost and technical matters. Furthermore, this research sought to identify gaps in knowledge and future research directions.

The review of the relevant journal papers revealed that various methods exist for improving the properties of RCAs and RCA-based concrete. A decision matrix was developed and implemented for ranking these techniques based on environmental, economic and technical criteria.

The identified methods for reinforcement of the RCA include accelerated carbonation, bio deposition, soaking in polymer emulsions, soaking in waterproofing admixture, soaking in sodium silicate, soaking in nanoparticles and coating with geopolymer slurry. Moreover, cleaning the RCA's old paste is possible using acid, water, heating, thermal and mechanical treatment, thermo-mechanical and electro-dynamic treatment. Added to these treatment techniques, using RCA in saturated surface dry (SSD) mixing approaches and adding fibres or pozzolana enhance the quality of the RCA-based concrete without RCA modification. The study ranked these techniques based on environmental, economic and technical criteria. Ultimately, adding fibres, pozzolana and coating RCA with geopolymer slurry were introduced as the best techniques based on the nominated criteria.

The study supported the need for better knowledge regarding the existing treatment techniques for RCA improvement. The outcomes of this research offer an understanding of each RCA enrichment technique's importance in environmental, economic and technical criteria.

The practicality of the RCA treatment techniques is based on economic, environmental and technical specifications for rating the existing treatment techniques.

Operational excellence (OpEx) is a proven philosophy focusing on continuous improvement in processes and systems for superior performance and efficiency. It plays a crucial role in the energy sector, acting as a catalyst for safety, customer satisfaction, sustainability and competitiveness. This research aims to assess OpEx methodologies in Oman’s energy sector, examining methods, approaches, motivations and sustainability.

This study applies qualitative analysis methodology, involving interviews with 18 industry experts, from the energy sector in a sizeable energy country.

The analysis revealed a growing demand, particularly, in the oil and gas industry, driven by emerging business needs. Qualitative data analysis has identified 10 themes such as implemented methodologies, motivation drivers, deployment approaches, sustainability factors, benefits and challenges. Additionally, new themes emerged, including influencers to start OpEx, resource requirements, enablers for successful OpEx and systems.

This research was limited to Oman and the findings drawn from Omani energy companies may have limited applicability to energy companies in other regions. Therefore, if these findings were to be used, the validation of the findings in relation to other countries should be conducted, to ensure the validity of the context and outcome.

These findings contribute to understanding OpEx dynamics in the Omani energy sector, offering valuable insights for effective utilisation and organisational goal achievement. Furthermore, the study offers valuable insights on how to effectively employ OpEx initiatives in the energy sector to achieve their goals and create value. It addresses the lack of knowledge, offers a framework for successful OpEx implementation, bridges the theory-practice gap and provides insights for optimal utilisation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study on assessing OpEx methodologies in the energy sector, and therefore it serves as a foundation for many future studies. The study provides a theoretical foundation for the OpEx methodologies in terms of organisational readiness for successful OpEx implementation.

Electric motor heating during biomass recovery and its handling on conveyor is a serious concern for the motor performance. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to design and develop a hardware prototype of master–slave electric motors based biomass conveyor system to use the motors under normal operating conditions without overheating.

The hardware prototype of the system used master–slave electric motors for embedded controller operated robotic arm to automatically replace conveyor motors by one another. A mixed signal based embedded controller (C8051F226DK), fully compliant with IEEE 1149.1 specifications, was used to operate the entire system. A precise temperature measurement of motor with the help of negative temperature coefficient sensor was possible due to the utilization of industry standard temperature controller (N76E003AT20). Also, a pulse width modulation based speed control was achieved for master–slave motors of biomass conveyor.

As compared to conventional energy based mains supply, the system is self-sufficient to extract more energy from solar supply with an energy increase of 11.38%. With respect to conventional energy based \ of 47.31%, solar energy based higher energy saving of 52.69% was reported. Also, the work achieved higher temperature reduction of 34.26% of the motor as compared to previous cooling options.

The proposed technique is free from air, liquid and phase-changing material based cooling materials. As a consequence, the work prevents the wastage of these materials and does not cause the risk of health hazards. Also, the motors are used with their original dimensions without facing any leakage problems.

This paper aims to focus on a medical goods distribution problem and pharmacological waste collection by plug-in hybrid vehicles with some real-world restrictions. In this research, considering alternative energy sources and simultaneous pickup and delivery led to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and distribution costs, respectively.

Here, this problem has been modeled as mixed-integer linear programming with the traveling and energy consumption costs objective function. The GAMS was used for model-solving in small-size instances. Because the problem in this research is an NP-hard problem and solving real-size problems in a reasonable time is impossible, in this study, the artificial bee colony algorithm is used.

Then, the algorithm results are compared with a simulated annealing algorithm that recently was proposed in the literature. Finally, the results obtained from the exact solution and metaheuristic algorithms are compared, analyzed and reported. The results showed that the artificial bee colony algorithm has a good performance.

In this paper, medical goods distribution with pharmacological waste collection is studied. The paper was focused on plug-in hybrid vehicles with simultaneous pickup and delivery. The problem was modeled with environmental criteria. The traveling and energy consumption costs are considered as an objective function.