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Future waste management in the UK will have to address the problem of rising costs of waste disposal. The current financial costs of landfill disposal represent an under pricing of the waste assimilative capacity of the environment. Economic, social and political pressures over the coming decade will serve to force up disposal costs closer to the “true” economic cost to society. The cost rise will have important positive ramifications for waste minimisation and waste recycling. It is argued that rational decision making in the waste management context has been made more difficult in the UK because of a series of failures: information failure; lack of “systems” thinking; institutional failure; lack of economic cost‐benefit thinking.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the robot trends of the next generation.

This paper is divided into two sections: the key modern technology on which Europe's robotics industry has built its foundation is described. Then, the next key megatrends were analyzed.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are technologies of major importance for the development of humanity. This time is mature for the evolution of industrial and service robots. The perception of robot use has changed from threading to aiding. The cost of mass production of technological devices is decreasing, while a rich set of enabling technologies is under development. Soft mechanisms, 5G and AI have enabled us to address a wide range of new problems. Ethics should guide human behavior in addressing this newly available powerful technology in the right direction.

The paper describes the impact of new technology, such as AI and soft robotics. The world of work must react quickly to these epochal changes to enjoy their full benefits.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an application of spatial decision support system tools (SDSS) for assessing management option to reduce the nitrogen load from agricultural sources. The SDSS has been developed within a case study for the drainage basin of the Grado and Marano Lagoon (N‐E Italy). Design/methodology/approach – The problem is at least partially solvable replacing some actual cash crops with alternative crops requiring lower nitrogen input but which are economically profitable. The decision support was designed with two components: a non‐spatial one (DSS) to support the choice among alternative crops (within different scenarios), and a spatial one (SDSS) to analyse and evaluate the spatial distribution of the cash crops finding suitable areas for the alternative crops. Findings – The use of alternative crops for reducing nitrogen loads to the Grado and Marano lagoon waters seems feasible and appropriate. A mosaic of poplar, grassland and cash crop areas in these areas of the pollution risk is the best alternative both in terms of total nitrogen reduction and in terms of farmers' income. Research limitations/implications – The paper proposes a SDSS to implement alternative crops in an area where the cash crops constitute a very strong consolidated agricultural system. The feasibility of the alternatives is dependent on the willingness of farmers to participate in the research and then to exploit its results. The availability of data only at municipal level limited the research, thus imposing a spatial resolution constraint. Originality/value – It is so far the first attempt, in Friuli Venezia Giulia region, to develop a spatial decision support system to mitigate the pollution of a lagoon from agricultural sources by trying to find suitable alternatives to well consolidated agricultural practices. It also constitutes a model that can be applied in similar contexts by coupling ecological and economic considerations.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate frameworks for the drivers and barriers of integrated sustainable solid waste management (ISSWM) with reference to conditions prevailing in India.

A multi-phased approach was adopted in this paper to come up with the conceptual framework of the drivers and barriers of ISSWM. In the first phase, drivers and barriers of ISSWM were identified based on a systematic literature review process. In the second phase, 25 experts having 15 plus years of experience in the field of sustainable development and environmental management were consulted to get their opinion. Validation and understanding of the interrelationship among the selected drivers and barriers were done based on the insights from expert interviews. And in the final phase, structural self-interaction matrix and transitive links are defined based on the expert opinion to come up with the theoretical frameworks of drivers and barriers of ISSWM.

Findings reveal the importance to have a system view point approach by giving equal importance to social, environmental and economic pillars of sustainability along with the technology component to effectively and sustainably manage the solid waste disposal. Institutional effectiveness and the robust policy and frameworks are the two variables found to have the highest driving power. Poor social values and ethics, huge population and illiteracy are the three most critical barriers faced by developing nations in achieving the sustainability practices in the solid waste management. The proposed frameworks of drivers and barriers of ISSWM will definitely help policy makers to effectively manage the sustainable waste management practices for developing economies by focusing on the key variables listed out.

One of the limitations is in the use of very limited sample size in the study. Another limitation is that total interpretive structural modeling fails to come up with the relative weightings of drivers and barriers used in the study. These limitations can be overcome by extending the research by using a semi-structured questionnaire survey with higher sample size for the empirical validation of the model.

This research will help to clearly understand the framework of drivers and barriers of variables and their hierarchical level based on the driving power and dependence. Since such articles focusing on the conceptual frameworks of drivers and barriers of ISSWM are found to be very scant, this paper will equally help academicians and waste management professionals to understand the concepts deeply, by getting answers to the fundamental questions of “what,” “why” and “how.” Developed framework of drivers explicitly shows the need to attain financial stability through the commercialization of the waste management initiatives, which will help to reduce burden on various governmental institutions. Commercialization opportunities will also help to have more successful start-up ventures in solid waste management domain that can provide improved employment opportunities and hygiene environment in the developing nations like India.

Based on the authors’ best knowledge, there is hardly any article that explicitly explains the conceptual frameworks of the drivers and barriers of ISSWM by considering the conditions prevailing in developing countries like India. And thus, this can be considered as one of the unique research attempts to build a clear conceptual framework of ISSWM. The study contributes significantly to the existing literature body by clearly interpreting the interrelationships and the driving power and dependence of variables of ISSWM.

Society has to find ways and means to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, to prevent global warming when considering inter‐generational equity with respect to environmental quality. The aim of the carbon dioxide emission control is to keep the level of carbon dioxide below a certain threshold level. This paper deals with the various policy instruments that are available to control greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The criteria that should be used in selecting the appropriate policy instruments in controlling carbon dioxide emissions are: efficiency, equity and flexibility. Based on these criteria, the author is of the view that in the short‐run it is important for all the countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. However, in the long‐run, it may be possible to use the Kyoto targets to achieve an international carbon dioxide emission tradable permit system.

The paper aims to carry out a comprehensive literature mapping to synthesise and descriptively analyse the research trends of biodiversity accounting, providing implications for managers and policymakers, whilst also outlining a future agenda for scholars.

A bibliometric analysis is carried out by adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses protocol for searching and selecting the scientific contributions to be analysed. Citation analysis is used to map a current research front and a bibliographic coupling is conducted to detect the connection networks in current literature.

Biodiversity accounting is articulated in five thematic clusters (sub-areas), such as “Natural resource management”, “Biodiversity economic evaluation”, “Natural capital accounting”, “Biodiversity accountability” and “Biodiversity disclosure and reporting”. Critical insights emerge from the content analysis of these sub-areas.

The analysis of the thematic evolution of the biodiversity accounting literature provides useful insights to inform both practice and research and infer implications for managers, policymakers and scholars by outlining three main areas of intervention, i.e. adjusting evaluation tools, integrating ecological knowledge and establishing corporate social legitimacy.

Currently, the level of biodiversity reporting is pitifully low. Therefore, organisations should properly manage biodiversity by integrating diverse and sometimes competing forms of knowledge for the stable and resilient flow of ecosystem services for future generations.

This paper not only updates and enriches the current state of the art but also identifies five thematic areas of the biodiversity accounting literature for theoretical and practical considerations.

While a number of scholars have observed that the contemporary self has to negotiate a “push and pull” between autonomy and a desire for community (Austin & Gagne, 2008; Bauman, 2001a, p. 60; Coles, 2008; Giddens, 2003, p. 46, the struggle between the “self” and “others” that is at the heart of symbolic interactionist (SI) understandings of the self is often missing from sociological discussion on the “making of the self” (Coles, 2008, p. 21; Holstein & Gubrium, 2000), and the current chapter contributes to this literature.

To gain insight into “the making of the self,” in-depth life history interviews were conducted with 23 former members of new religious movements (NRMs) specific to their construction of self. Interview data was analyzed for variations in the ways in which individuals describe their construction of self. To make sense of these variations, SI understandings of the self are applied.

Analysis indicates that the extent to which individuals are informed by the social versus the personal in their self-construction is a continuum. From an SI perspective the self is conceptualized as to varying degrees informed by both the personal and the social. These two “domains” of the self are interrelated or connected through an ongoing process of reflexivity that links internal experiences and external feedback. From this perspective, “healthy” selves reflexively balance a sense of personal uniqueness against a sense of belonging and social connectedness. While a reflexive balance between the “self” and “others” is optimal, not everyone negotiates this balance successfully, and the extent to which individuals are informed by the social versus the personal in their self-construction varies and can be conceptualized as on a continuum between autonomy and social connectedness. The current findings suggest that where individuals are positioned on this continuum is dependent on the availability of cultural and personal resources from which individuals can construct selves, in particular in childhood. Those participants who described themselves as highly dependent on others report childhood histories of control, whereas those who described themselves as disconnected from others report histories of abuse and neglect.

The problems of relying on retrospective accounts of former members should be noted as such accounts are interpretive and influenced by the respondents’ present situation. However, despite their retrospective and constructionist nature, life history narratives provide meaningful insights into the actual process of self and identity construction. The analysis of retrospective accounts is a commonly recommended and chosen method for the study of the self (Davidman & Greil, 2007; Diniz-Pereira, 2008).

The current findings suggest that significant differences may exist in the way in which individuals construct and narrate their sense of self, in particular in regards to the way in which they experience and negotiate contemporary tensions between social connectedness and individuality. In particular, the findings highlight the importance of childhood environments for the construction of “healthy” selves that can negotiate contemporary demands of autonomy as well as social connectedness.

There is an immense public health concern about the effects of binge drinking across the Western world, in particular about British youth on holiday abroad. While existing UK research has shed some light on binge drinking and its consequences, this has largely been restricted to surveys. Therefore, an analysis of the social context of British youth and binge drinking abroad currently remains absent. This article attempts to fill that gap by offering an insight into the social context of binge drinking in a holiday resort in Ibiza. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork and makes use of one field note to highlight what Hunt and colleagues (2010) refer to as ‘important relationships between youth, pleasure and context’, to explore the social interactions of binge‐drinking British youth abroad.

The landscape of adult social care, and in particular of adult safeguarding, has shifted considerably over the last decade. Alongside policy changes in the responses to adult abuse, there have been shifts in professional and public understanding of what falls within the remit of this area of work. This results, arguably, in differing understandings of how adult safeguarding is constructed and understood. Given the increasing emphasis on multi-agency inter-professional collaboration, service user involvement and lay advocacy, it is important to consider and reflect on how both professionals and lay people understand this area of work. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study employed Augusto Boal’s model of Forum Theatre to explore how a variety of professional and lay groups understood, related to and engaged with how the Care Act 2014 defines and describes “adult safeguarding”.

Lay participants responded to the scenario in a variety of ways, upholding the construct validity of “adult safeguarding” and the authority of the social worker. Social care and health practitioners sought orderly, professionalised and sometimes ritualistic solutions to the “adult safeguarding” scenario presented, seeking carefully to structure and to manage lay involvement. Inter-professional collaboration was often problematic. The role of lay advocates was regarded ambiguously and ambivalently.

This paper offers a number of practice and research recommendations. Safeguarding practitioners could benefit from more effective and reflexive inter-professional collaboration. Both practitioners and service users could benefit from the more thoughtful deployment of the lay advocates encouraged within the Care Act 2014 and associated guidance.

A great deal of literature exists for leadership educators related to programs design, delivery, and student learning. However, little is known about leadership educators, who have largely been left out of contemporary leadership education research. We looked to teaching and teacher education literature to derive a model for leadership educator professional identity development. The four spaces of identity development are exploration, experimentation, validation, and confirmation. We propose that an individual can move forward and backwards through the model as a result of both ongoing influences and positive or negative critical incidents. We discuss implications for professional development and future research.