Search results

This chapter provides a brief historical review of nature-based solutions (NBS) to address increasing climate extremes in urban areas and their surroundings, tracing their historical evolution to their current moment as du jour solutions to multiple crises. We review how this term has evolved through multiple iterations used across sectors and its current ubiquity in global policy discussion forums like the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), due to its potential as a “swiss knife” to meet multiple global goals in climate, sustainable development, and biodiversity. We evaluate the gaps between the ubiquity of NBS in current geopolitical discourses around urban resilience and sustainability and actual implementation in cities around the world. While countries are increasingly committing to NBS and similar approaches in national climate commitments, lacking data, technical capacity, and funding continue to limit implementation beyond relatively marginal projects insufficient to shifting worsening trends in climate change and biodiversity loss. We close with four guiding principles for addressing these gaps, emphasizing the importance of connectivity and scale, assessing the direct effects of climate change on potential NBS performance, quantification and valuation, and the powerful job-creation potential of NBS in creating resilience to multiple crises, including the current global recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hypotheses regarding gender differences in circumstances surrounding the initiation/escalation of binge drinking are tested in a sample of young adults from a general population. The circumstances are measured by six scales. Multiple regression analyses suggest a congruence between observed gender differences in circumstances surrounding initiation and escalation of binge drinking and the literature on gender‐related sociodevelopmental processes: For males, initiation of binge drinking is associated with self‐importance, to be influenced by peers, and to experience confrontation with the authorities. For females, initiation of binge drinking is associated with greater feelings of distress and interpersonal problems. For escalation of binge drinking, no gender effect on peer influence is observed. However, all other gender‐related effects continue to be observed at even greater levels. The results also support the conclusion that the gender‐related effects are at least partially independent although certain of the effects are attenuated when other circumstances are included in the model.

If the bibliographic apparatus is the measure of a discipline's maturity, anthropology has come of age. Anthropology now has at least one entry in nearly all of the standard library reference formats — abstracts, annuals, atlases, dictionary‐encyclopedia, directories (to serials, biographical information, and academic departments), guides to the field, handbooks, indexes, library catalogs, and literature reviews. Some titles do not pigeon‐hole neatly into these categories, and some are beginning efforts, but it is important to know that they do at least exist.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is presented as a series of evolving stages characterized by shifting attitudes and behaviors by business firms, their stakeholders, and public policies. Five major phases of CSR are described: CSR-1: Corporate Social Trusteeship; CSR-2: Corporate Social Responsiveness; CSR-3 Corporate-Business Ethics; CSR-4: Corporate Global Citizenship; and CSR-5: Toward a Millennial Future. Accompanying the first four CSR phases are the principal drivers and policy instruments that have activated those four CSR stages. An evolving set of generational values and attitudes about CSR — from Silent Generation to Baby Boomers to Gen-Xers to today’s Millennials — reveal the continuing development and relevance of — and the major questions and challenges about — Corporate Social Responsibility in the Millennial future.

This study aims to use multi-functional viscose fabric that was facilely developed with with respect to ease and care characteristics, reinforcement effect and antibacterial activity by using novel echo friendly antibacterial finish based on citric acid/sodium hypophosphite and the authors’ previously tailor-made poly meth acrylic acid (MAA)-chitosan graft copolymer via alternative microwave curing approach instead of traditional high-temperature cure one.

Viscose fabric was paddled twice in the cross-linking formulations containing different concentrations of citric acid, poly (MAA)-chitosan graft copolymer and sodium hypophosphite to 90 % wet pick up and dried at 100°C for 3 min in an electric oven. Then, the treated fabrics were placed on the disk spinner of the microwave oven and cured at different power (100–800 Watt) for various durations (60–180 s). The fabric was then water-rinsed and dried at ambient condition before use.

Results revealed that the above echo friendly method for finished viscose fabrics was found to achieve relatively high dry wrinkle recovery angle and maintain the loss in tensile strength within the acceptable range, as well as antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as a gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, respectively; in addition to durability up to ten washing cycles. Furthermore, scanning electron microscope images, nitrogen content and add on % of the finished fabric confirmed the penetration of grafted chitosan inside the fabric structure. The tentative mechanism for these reactions is advocated.

The novelty addressed here is undertaken with the advantages of using citric acid as a nonformaldehyde, safe and cheap poly carboxylic acid as a crosslinking agent and sodium hypophosphite as a potential catalyst, in addition to the authors’ noncitable multifunctional echo friendly tailor-made poly (MAA)-chitosan graft copolymer for imparting reinforcement and antibacterial characteristics to viscose fabric that uses the pad-dry/cure microwave fixation for progressively persuaded heat within the fabric during curing.

This was done to see the impact of microwave as green and efficient tool with respect to reduction in organic solvents, chemicals and exposer time as well as fixation temperature on the finishing reaction in comparison with traditional pad-dry-cure method.

Poly (MAA)-chitosan graft copolymer as amphoteric biopolymer was expected to impart multifunctional properties to viscose fabrics especially with comparable dry wrinkle recovery angle and minimize the loss in tensile strength in addition to antibacterial properties in comparison with untreated one.

The aim of this article is to provide a deeper conceptual understanding of the interdependence between service innovation, sustainability and quality in the age of accelerations in the context of cities. The research question is, how can service innovation, sustainability and quality interact in cities to meet the challenges of technology, globalization and climate change?

The study adopts a qualitative research approach and cases study research method in the context of cities. In this article, meeting the challenges in the age of accelerations is analyzed and interpreted in an abductive process in an interaction between empirical findings of three progressive cities Freiburg, Malmö and Gothenburg and the conceptual and theoretical frame for getting a new meaning.

The article demonstrates the need for a deeper conceptual understanding of the interdependence of service innovation, sustainability and quality in the age of accelerations. Service innovation and quality improvement cannot be handled as a standalone managerial activity because these processes are part of values-based learning and developing a loop for transformation, value co-creation and sustainability practice.

Future research in this area should focus on generalizing the present findings to securing sustainable service business embedded on social and environmental perspectives and governance issues in other empirical settings and conceptualization.

The article looks into the idea of an ecosystem to achieve a balance between nature and people: “Dynamic” and “complex” ecosystems can be illustrated in different contexts to ensure a strong commitment to societal and environmental perspectives to create value and develop a sustainability practice.

The article makes an original contribution by using insights from service research, quality movement research and from studying actual sustainability practices in the real-life contexts of cities by developing a conceptual paper.

There is a generalized belief that cultural differences can have more negative consequences than benefits within the international business (IB) literature. This study argues that cultural differences are not perceived as constrains in millennial global virtual teams (GVTs). Additionally, using the theory of cooperation and competition and the motivated information processing perspective, the purpose of this paper is to uncover the process by which millennials working in GVTs address various challenges to ensure effective functioning and accomplishment of desired team outcomes.

This paper analyzes a data set of 503 project journals from the global enterprise experience, a virtual team competition. It uses qualitative content analysis tools and secondary data sources.

The authors find that for millennials, cross-cultural issues are not the predominant challenge when working in GVTs, unlike the prevailing understanding in the IB literature. This is because contrary to expectations, cross-cultural problems are often not experienced, while other team phenomena become more relevant, such as interpersonal and task-based issues. In addition, the paper describes how members of GVTs apply distinct challenge reconstruction and solution generation cognitive schemes to deal with both, expected and unexpected challenges.

This study contributes to the literature on virtual teams by identifying how millennials and post-millennials deal with the challenges embedded in the GVT interaction context by simplifying the unfamiliarity associated with the broader context rather than addressing each issue in isolation. Finally, the paper elaborates on factors that highlight the positive outcomes of multicultural teams while making cultural differences less salient in contemporary GVT contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to address the subject of work attitude drivers within the current scenario considering two influencing factors, culture and generation. Both membership of a particular generation and membership of a particular culture can affect individuals' work attitudes. The study considers these two factors in order to analyse five dimensions that are sources of work attitudes: life project, professional ethics, and attitude towards authority, leadership and commitment to the company.

Drawing upon a sample of almost one thousand people from various Ibero‐American countries, the results show significant differences between generations and cultures, particularly when focusing on the life project.

Among its conclusions, the paper points out that Latin America cannot be viewed as a homogenous whole in terms of individual work attitude. On the contrary, it is characterised by a significant degree of national diversity and managers should take this into account when designing initiatives to improve employee motivation.

The contribution that this paper seeks to make is to include the cross‐cultural perspective in the study of attitudes towards work, which has received less attention in previous studies.