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This study aims to examine whether there exists any relationship between corporate biodiversity reporting decision (CBRD) and corporate environmental performance (CEP).

The primary sample contains 442 firm-year observations over a period of 13 years (2008–2020) for 34 listed Finnish companies. Based on both legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory, 2 logit regression models are estimated to test the CBRD–CEP nexus. CBRD is a dichotomous variable. Three proxies for CEP, namely propensity to emit greenhouse gas (GHG), propensity to consume water and propensity to generate waste are employed.

This study finds that firms having higher propensity to consume water and generate waste are inclined to release biodiversity-related information. The findings support legitimacy theory suggesting that firms with inferior environmental performance may decide on reporting biodiversity information for legitimation purpose.

The study uses Finnish data and hence, the results may lack in generalizability to other national contexts.

The results of this study should be valuable to policy makers for formulating mandatory biodiversity reporting standards to ensure disclosure of standard, extensive and authentic biodiversity-related information by companies. The results should also be valuable to corporate managers and eco-friendly investors.

Corporate biodiversity reporting (CBR) is an under-researched area of environmental accounting literature. Using the Finnish context, this paper extends the existing literature by investigating whether any association exists between CBRD and CEP, which has not been examined before.

The main aim of this study is to study the effect of alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride on removing stains, yellowness and harmful metal ions on historical printed paper, as well as the effect of this cleaner on optical and chemical properties of treated paper.

The assessments after and before treatment were carried out using digital microscopy, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), pH measurement, color change and finally scanning electron microscopy.

The results showed that the concentrations used under study (1% and 3%) cleaned the paper efficiently without any observed effect on the chemical composition of cellulose, which was confirmed by IR spectra. The most stains that completely disappeared were the soil spots, also the pH values had improved significantly after treatment, which confirms that the detergent is effective in neutralizing the acidity of cellulose. Moreover, the color change revealed an increase in the chromatic lightness of the paper after treatment, which agreed with the results of the scanning electron microscopy examination, as the paper appeared free of dirt, and the fibers and bundles became more cohesive.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is a unique study, as there is no previous literature that has indicated the use of the effect of alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride washing treatments for printed historical paper, as it was limited only to making disinfection materials and water purification products.

The effects of population growth in the developing world and climate change have increased the stress on available water resources. The majority of Rajshahi city, Bangladesh, is facilitated with groundwater withdrawal. As Bangladesh is a country of monsoon climate, reserved rainwater can be contributed as an alternative to extracted groundwater. This study aims to develop a framework for rooftop rainwater harvesting (RRWH) for domestic purposes and estimate the appropriate size of the storage tanks and their costs required to fulfill the annual drinking and cooking water demands through RRWH in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh.

A total of 100 single-story residential dwellings with varying rooftop areas were surveyed for the projection of RRWH potential. The relationship between the size and cost of a water tank and the rooftop areas of different houses is expressed using a general mathematical equation. Cost estimates for the proposed RRWH system for all houses have been completed, and a cost model illustrating the relationship between rooftop or catchment area and associated cost of RRWH system has been developed.

This study reveals that a maximum of 110.75 m³/year rainwater can be collected from a 100 m² rooftop area of Rajshahi city. Moreover, this study finds that such harvesting of rainwater can reduce municipal water supply to the extent of almost 75%. Water samples collected from rooftops also revealed that if germs were removed through bacteria treatment, the collected rainwater potentially can be used for drinking and cooking purposes.

The novelty of this study is that it focused mainly on how significant RRWH can be to meet people’s daily required amount of water for household purpose and ascertain the cost reduction using the RWH method. This paper also is unique as it assessed the volume of the storage tank that is sufficient to distribute the necessary amount of water for drinking and cooking purpose as a sustainable alternative source in the dry season.

The adaptive reuse of heritage has the potential to socially and culturally re-signify dilapidated or suspended structures in the urban landscape. However, the scope of adaptive reuse could be broadened to include the constellation of infrastructure such as water and sewerage system, waste disposal facilities, power and communication plants and networks that support urban life but whose access – and maintenance patterns – remain the preserve of specialized technicians.

A conversation with some of the architects from the raumlabor collective involved in the Floating University Berlin project, about the stormwater detention basin of the former Berlin Tempelhof airport, provides an insight into the mechanisms by which adaptive reuse can also concern the infrastructural world in operation.

In Tempelhof's change of function from an international airport to a large abandoned urban space and then to a park, the detention basin has never ceased to function. But the subsequent process of reuse has reshaped the patterns of maintenance of the reservoir, leaving room for first non-human and then unskilled human action.

From this still overlooked reading perspective, it becomes clear how precisely flexible reuse, consisting of a constantly renegotiated interweaving of violated protocols and backward steps, allows the scope of adaptive reuse to be extended to infrastructures in operation. From secret domains of nature's transformation, they become places of openness in which to experience and better understand the entanglement of contemporary socio-ecological relations that underlie the urban condition.

This study aims to examine the challenges for green retrofitting implementation in existing residential buildings to lower the running cost and achieve a better energy-efficient system.

This study adopted a qualitative approach by interviewing conveniently selected 16 construction professionals, made up of architects, quantity surveyors and engineers. Data received were analysed using the content analysis method.

The findings revealed that the main barriers to incorporating green retrofitting in the existing residential buildings as the nature of the existing structures, limited knowledge, not being a priority and high costs involved in the process. Moreover, other factors influencing property developers’ decision to apply energy-efficient principles in a residential home include cost (initial capital and maintenance), level of knowledge, nature of the climate in the area, local legislation, more independence and increasing the property’s market value and environmental aspect.

This study is limited to South Africa; thus, the literature available was limited.

People’s perceptions, either wrong or correct, affect their ability to make an informed decision to adopt green retrofitting principles, thereby denying them the opportunity to reap the associated benefits. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the construction industry stakeholders and government to increase educational opportunities for property owners on the importance of green retrofitting.

This study provides the occupants with the possible barriers and problem areas with implementing these principles. They will thus make an informed decision when implementing sustainable design methods.

This chapter examines the potential of solar energy for the development of sustainable tourism in Croatia. Tourism is an important economic activity in the Croatian economy due to the mild climate and many sunny days. Solar energy photovoltaic and thermal systems can help to support sustainable tourism, as well as increase employment and cooperation between local and national governments. This study compares best practices in solar energy for the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Greece. The Mediterranean Basin is a strategic development area for the European Union, and solar energy will help to maintain its stability and high-quality standards of living.

This study aims to formulate a user-friendly pre-design model that could be a decision support tool for green wall systems to assist designers in selecting an optimal green wall system aligned with specified performance criteria while concurrently addressing project requirements linked to social and economic parameters. This approach seeks to enhance overall project satisfaction for the designer and the owner.

A correlation between the green wall context and design requirements and its performance on the buildings have been defined by considering its social and economic parameters, which represented the owner preferences to ensure the most satisfaction from installation as it achieves the required performance that is defined by the designer such as maximizing thermal insulation, improving indoor air quality, reducing the needed heating and cooling loads, etc. and also to achieve the satisfaction in social and economic requirements defined by the owner such as system installation cost, system maintenance cost, adding beauty value, etc.

The research developed an easy pre-design model to be a tool for green wall system decision-making for the most suitable system, which contains three main steps: the first one is defining the required performance of the green wall (designer requirements), the second step is limiting the context of the project which is made by designer and the owner requirements and finally the third step is choosing the system components that ensures achieving the requirements of both owners and designer, related to the building and climate context.

The added value lies in developing a green wall decision-making tool, essentially a pre-design model. This model considers the correlation between the project’s context, encompassing climate and building conditions. It provides a structured approach for decision-making in the early stages of green wall design. It offers valuable insights into the optimal choices related to system type, installation methods and plant characteristics. This enhanced decision-making tool contributes to more informed and efficient design processes, considering each project’s specific needs and conditions.

This study aims to undertake a comprehensive examination of heat transfer by convection in porous systems with top and bottom walls insulated and differently heated vertical walls under a magnetic field. For a specific nanofluid, the study aims to bring out the effects of different segmental heating arrangements.

An existing in-house code based on the finite volume method has provided the numerical solution of the coupled nondimensional transport equations. Following a validation study, different explorations include the variations of Darcy–Rayleigh number (Ra_m = 10–10⁴), Darcy number (Da = 10^–5–10^–1) segmented arrangements of heaters of identical total length, porosity index (ε = 0.1–1) and aspect ratio of the cavity (AR = 0.25–2) under Hartmann number (Ha = 10–70) and volume fraction of φ = 0.1% for the nanoparticles. In the analysis, there are major roles of the streamlines, isotherms and heatlines on the vertical mid-plane of the cavity and the profiles of the flow velocity and temperature on the central line of the section.

The finding of a monotonic rise in the heat transfer rate with an increase in Ra_m from 10 to 10⁴ has prompted a further comparison of the rate at Ra_m equal to 10⁴ with the total length of the heaters kept constant in all the cases. With respect to uniform heating of one entire wall, the study reveals a significant advantage of 246% rate enhancement from two equal heater segments placed centrally on opposite walls. This rate has emerged higher by 82% and 249%, respectively, with both the segments placed at the top and one at the bottom and one at the top. An increase in the number of centrally arranged heaters on each wall from one to five has yielded 286% rate enhancement. Changes in the ratio of the cavity height-to-length from 1.0 to 0.2 and 2 cause the rate to decrease by 50% and increase by 21%, respectively.

Further research with additional parameters, geometries and configurations will consolidate the understanding. Experimental validation can complement the numerical simulations presented in this study.

This research contributes to the field by integrating segmented heating, magnetic fields and hybrid nanofluid in a porous flow domain, addressing existing research gaps. The findings provide valuable insights for enhancing thermal performance, and controlling heat transfer locally, and have implications for medical treatments, thermal management systems and related fields. The research opens up new possibilities for precise thermal management and offers directions for future investigations.