As one of the main sectors of Moldova's national economy, agriculture is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Climate change influences the sustainability of the agricultural production system. In this context, considering regional peculiarities, it is essential to assess the vulnerability of the agrarian sector to climate change. The research aims to develop a composite index of agricultural vulnerability to climate change adjusted to the regional peculiarities of Eastern Partnership countries, such as the Republic of Moldova. The paper presents the Vulnerability Index of the Agricultural Sector to climate change for the country's administrative-territorial units. A set of indicators was determined to develop the composite index and assess the agricultural sector's vulnerability to climate change. The normalization method was used to bring the disparate data to a single scale. Calculations performed using the developed index revealed that every second district out of 35 is highly or very highly vulnerable. Four districts in the southern region (Leova, Basarabeasca, Taraclia, and Cantemir) and two in the central region (Hincesti and Nisporeni) exhibited a very high level of vulnerability. One of the reasons for vulnerability is water shortage. To solve this problem, irrigation systems must be restored, reservoirs must be built to store rain and flood water, and drip irrigation must be practiced in agriculture. To reduce the vulnerability of agriculture, it is necessary to develop new crops more resistant to drought, low temperatures, and diseases.
In the process of China's economic transformation from rough expansion to high-quality development, the pressure of environmental governance and the transformation of economic growth mode form a double constraint. By constructing an analytical framework for the synergistic development of environmental finance and technological innovation, this study, based on a dynamic panel model (GMM and mediation effect model) and provincial panel data from 2005-2023, finds that green financial instruments are of great value in promoting regional green technological innovation, with the direct role of green insurance being particularly prominent, and that green credit further strengthens this role through the mediation effect. This suggests that financial instruments play an important role in supporting green technological innovation, but green technological innovation is not entirely dependent on green credit. Finally, the study proposes policy recommendations to optimize green financial products and promote green technological innovation in order to support the achievement of green development goals.
Sanitary landfills are safe disposal sites for household wastes. It provides a safe and clean environment to the urban dwellers. However, an unlined and unprotected landfill can lead to a miserable condition for the landfill location and its command area. Leachate may contaminate the water sources, Odors may cause great discomfort to people, and the litter spread by animals and birds can create a nuisance. The City Hut landfill site is an unlined landfill site on the outskirts of Rajshahi City. This study was conducted to assess the overall hygiene condition and the effect of its leachate on the different water sources around it. Analyses were conducted on water samples from deep wells, shallow tube wells, and surface water near the Rajshahi City hut landfill to understand how the sanitary landfill affects groundwater and surface water quality. Samples were collected from three groundwater sources and three surface water sources in the vicinity of the landfill area. Examination of various parameters including pH, turbidity, conductivity, total solids, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, alkalinity, hardness, and organic content were carried out. Using these parameters, the Water quality index (WQI) and Overall index of Pollution (OIP) have been determined. The WQI results showed that water quality varied at the selected sampling sites among excellent (SP-01 to 03) and good (SP-04 to 06) categories. Overall Index of Pollution (OIP) demonstrated that sources were in the slightly polluted (SP-01 to 03 and SP-05 to 06) and polluted (SP-04) categories. In the case of the limit of WHO and BDS standards, the SP-04 has exceeded them. The six water samples were used for the study, revealing that while all sampling stations exhibited some pollution, treatment is necessary before use. Proper lining and management of the landfill site can save vital water sources as the sources are not extensively polluted yet.
The growth of green agriculture is highly valued by the party and the government, and additional changes to the agricultural industry's structure are necessary. Currently there is an urgent need for accurate analysis and prediction results of agricultural data to help the relevant departments formulate the development strategy of eco-friendly agriculture. Therefore, the study proposes a prediction model that integrates the particle swarm optimization algorithm based on lightweight gradient lifting machine and agricultural economic indicator to provide accurate data support for the eco-friendly agricultural decision support system. The experimental results revealed that the particle swarm optimization algorithm based on lightweight gradient elevator has a mean square error of 0.079, a coefficient of determination of 93.57%, and an expected value of 92.8%. The maximum relative error between experimental and predicted values was 1.8%. This verified that the proposed algorithm of the study had a good prediction performance. The analysis of the actual data revealed that the largest difference was 0.105 in the index of agricultural economic development dynamics. It was followed by the index of economic development dynamics, with a difference of 0.053. This indicated that there was a large difference in the internal development of ecologically friendly agriculture in China, and that the relevant departments could formulate policies from this aspect. Thus, it is proved that the use of the model can provide a reliable basis for the development of rational policies for an eco-friendly agricultural support system, which in turn promotes the co-development of ecological balance and agriculture.
Global climate change is a transnational issue that requires the joint efforts of the international community. All the countries have been actively participated in reaching sustainable development goals and posing carbon neutrality policies. As an important engine for China's economic development, the sustainable development among cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is of significant importance for understanding the development model of economic agglomeration areas. Under the background of Carbon Neutrality policy, constructing a complex ecosystem evaluation indicator system, adopting 6 years' panel data, and examining the quality level of four subsystem as society, economy, resources and environment of GBA cities helps them identify their strong and weak sub-systems and further maintain a balance between Carbon Neutrality policy with their economic and social development. Results reveal that the quality of the overall complex ecosystem is affected most greatly by environment niche, and is different among GBA cities. In addition, the implementation of Carbon Neutrality policy among 6 of 9 cities has achieved initial satisfactory results for that after its declaration, their level of environment niche quality has been demonstrating a significant upward trend. However, since 2021, the overall economic and resources niche quality in some GBA cites start to go down and negatively correlated with environment niche quality. Therefore, the implementation of Carbon Neutrality policy might have a negative effect on the overall economic and social development among some GBA cities. By calculating the complex ecosystem conditions of the economy, society, environment, and resources in GBA cities, the study reveals how to achieve coordinated development of the economy, society, and environment in areas with high economic concentration. This research could provide certain reference for other regions or countries in promoting regional integration and sustainable development.
This study addresses the critical challenge of recycling agent selection and coordination in an e-commerce closed-loop supply chain (E-CLSC) to enhance sustainability and operational efficiency. In contrast to existing literature focusing on single-agent or competing-e-tailer models, we propose a novel framework involving a manufacturer, two competing e-tailers, and a third-party platform, analyzing three reverse channel models: third-party collection (TC), one-e-tailer collection (ORC), and two-e-tailer collection (TRC). Employing a Stackelberg game-theoretic approach with the manufacturer as the leader, we derive equilibrium decisions through backward induction and introduce a combined cost-sharing and revenue-sharing contract to align channel incentives. Our findings reveal several key insights. First, Model TC demonstrates suboptimal performance and should be strategically avoided by the manufacturer. Second, the manufacturer should adopt Model TRC under low-intensity collection competition but switch to Model ORC when collection competition intensifies. Last, our proposed "cost-sharing and revenue-sharing" contract can effectively coordinate channel members, ensuring a mutually beneficial outcome for all parties involved. These findings provide theoretically grounded decision support for structuring efficient E-CLSC networks in competitive ecommerce marketplaces.
Desorption characteristics of previously adsorbed hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+ 6+) ions by carbonized macadamia nutshell (CMN) and raw macadamia nutshell (RMN) were tested by three desorption agents; sodium hydroxide (NaOH), hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO3). Spent CMN adsorbent had the highest desorption rate at 98.8%, 91.3% and 87.7% as compared to spent RMN at 83.3%, 70.1% and 53.3% in the 1st, 2 2nd and 3 3rd cycles respectively. Optimum desorption occurred at 0.1M HCl, pH 4, contact time 2hrs, adsorbent mass 0.2 g/100ml and 30 degrees C. The desorption study revealed that 0.1M HCl and HNO3 were the best desorbing eluants/agents for Cr6+ ions due to high desorption efficiency at 98.8% and 78.01% respectively as compared to 0.1M NaOH at 64.6% in the first cycle. After the third cycle, the desorption efficiency declined by 11%, 18% and 26% for 0.1M HCl, HNO3 and NaOH desorbing agents respectively. The equilibrium data was best described by both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm. Experimental data were well fitted with Pseudo-second order kinetics. The study concludes that 0.1M HCl desorbing agent achieved the highest desorption efficiency rate in all the four cycles compared to 0.1M HNO3 and NaOH desorbing agents. As a result, this makes the process more ecofriendly, thus increasing the spent adsorbent regenerative viability and potential application in the steel industry wastewater treatment.
National Park Policy (NPP) is a new strategy to balance the necessary protection and sustainable utilization of natural resources. The successful implementation and development of NPPs highly depends on public awareness and attitudes. Employees are an important bridge between the government and other stakeholders. Their perception of a new policy is crucial for its implementation. This study examined the staff's perception of the NPPs based on a questionnaire survey in the Shennongjia National Park (SNP) in China. Results indicated that more than 80% of respondents approved of the public welfare of the SNP and expressed positive attitudes towards supporting and cooperating with the NPPs. Staff with higher levels of education were more likely to be aware of and have a positive attitude towards the NPPs. In terms of the support and cooperation with the NPPs, the self-reported attitudes of the staff were much more positive than the staff-perceived ones from the residents and tourists. The staff believed the SNP establishment could bring some important benefits, such as ameliorating the ecological environment (76.67%), promoting local economic development (51.11%), achieving more popularity (36.67%) and providing employment (35.56%). However, some major factors such as imbalance between tourism and conservation (64.44%), lack of systemic policies (47.78%) and low quality of tourists (42.22%) still constrained the SNP development. These findings provide practical guidance for the institutional construction, policy adjustment and rulemaking of China's national parks in the future.
This work presents a preliminary study of a mini-glidarc non-thermal plasma (NTP) reactor designed in special configuration. Multiple tests were carried out on the glidarc reactor to determine the performance terms of generating reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) relative to electrical power consumption. The reactor was powered by a pulsed-high voltage power supply (P-HVPS) at 100, 200, and 300Hz to assess how the discharge frequency influences reactive-species generation. The influence of the treated water flow rate in the NTP reactor on the production of active oxidative species was also studied. The study focused on emphasizing the properties of the activated water for use as a supplementary nitrogen supply to plants but also as a disinfectant with an environmentally friendly pesticide effect. After plasma treatment, stable RONS concentrations found in the bulk phase (hydrogen peroxide-H2O2 and nitrates-NO3-) were measured. A study was conducted to evaluate the physiological effects of PAW on plant growth. Three groups of ten pots of Lactuca sativa (cv. S. Anna) were cultivated outdoors for 28 days. The control group received only distilled water, while the other two groups were supplied with plasma-activated water. In all cases, water was administered through both foliar application and root irrigation. Plants treated with plasma-activated water developed longer, healthier leaves, whereas the control plants displayed clear signs of leaf disease.
Evaluating the development level of the rural ecological environment is essential for promoting sustainable rural revitalization and improving environmental quality. This study develops a comprehensive evaluation framework for assessing rural ecological environment development using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. An index system consisting of four main dimensions as: ecological environment, ecological economy, ecological protection, and ecological living was established, including 16 representative indicators related to forest coverage, livestock waste treatment, fertilizer and pesticide application, drinking water quality, rural income, and ecological agriculture. Indicator weights were determined through expert consultation and consistency testing, while gray relational analysis was applied to evaluate the contribution and correlation degree of each indicator. The results indicate that ecological economy exhibited the highest weight (0.4839), followed by ecological environment (0.2736), ecological living (0.1371), and ecological protection (0.1054). Among the individual indicators, fertilizer application, livestock manure treatment rate, and drinking water qualification rate showed the strongest influence on rural ecological environment development. The findings reveal that excessive agrochemical use, insufficient ecological protection measures, and inadequate rural environmental infrastructure remain the main constraints affecting sustainable rural development. Based on the evaluation results, targeted improvement measures are proposed, including optimization of environmental monitoring systems, promotion of ecological agriculture, application of advanced monitoring technologies, and enhancement of rural environmental governance mechanisms. The proposed evaluation framework provides a practical decision-support tool for assessing rural ecological environment quality and supporting sustainable rural development strategies.
In India about 70 % farmers belong to marginal and small category and the turmeric harvesting was done by manual digging and bullock drawn digger. These methods are consuming more labour, time and also involving drudgery in operation. Moreover, higher horsepower tractor mounted turmeric diggers are available, which causes turmeric rhizome damage, soil and not affordable. Hence, mini tractor operated turmeric harvester was developed for small farmers and its performance was evaluated in terms of harvesting efficiency, rhizome damage and field capacity and compared with conventional method. The harvesting efficiency, rhizome damage and field capacity of the mini tractor operated turmeric harvester were found to be 96.17%, 2.13% and 0.25 ha h-1, respectively. The saving in cost and time of the turmeric harvester were 42% and 80%, respectively as compared to bullock drawn turmeric harvester.
This study investigated the potential to remove chromium (Cr) from real contaminated soil using electrokinetic remediation (EKR). Design-Expert software was used to analyze the effects of multiple variables on a response and to develop a simple mathematical model for the EKR of Cr-contaminated soil utilizing linear regression analysis. The weighting and effects of voltage, catholyte concentration (citric acid), and treatment time on EKR of Cr-contaminated soil, were investigated. To better understand EKR's effects, SEM photos of soil before and after remediation were provided, and Cr mass balance was calculated. Experimental results showed that treatment time had some effect on total Cr removal, but catholyte concentration and voltage gradient could significantly enhance total Cr removal. In the case-Cr(VI) removal, treatment time and voltage were significant model terms. The P-value for catholyte concentration exceeding 0.1 showed no significant impact on process performance within the selected range. The linear mathematical models obtained could fit the experimental data. For the equation of removal efficiency of total Cr, the determination coefficients R2, R2 predicted, and R2 adjusted were 0.95, 0.9101, and 0.9385 respectively. For the equation of removal efficiency of Cr(VI), the corresponding values were 0.9937, 0.9886, and 0.9923 respectively. SEM photos of soil showed that the conditions of soil compaction were not improving by EKR, which showed that pollution of soil with Cr affected soil structure.
This study aims to sort out the literature on value co-creation in digital tourism through bibliometric analyses, to present an overall scientific structure and sets the future research agenda. Based on an analysis of SCI and SSCI-indexed articles found in the Web of Science from 2009 to 2023, utilized Histcite, CiteSpace, and SciMAT tools to investigate citation dynamics, research hotspots, and emerging trends in digital tourism value co-creation. The results suggest the following: (1) Scholarly research in wealthy countries leads the field, with Neuhofer and Buhalis being the most influential researchers. However, developing countries, led by China, are rapidly making significant contributions. (2) Research in the field of digital tourism value co-creation can be divided into three stages: germination, booming, and stable growth, with each phase increasing the total number of major keywords and the second phase culminating in a high number of citations in the literature and the highest level of research activity. (3) As technology advances, research themes in each stage of the field evolve, and emerging themes include consumer-oriented value creation, digital enterprise management, and sustainable development. Information and communication technology (ICT) and online tourism communities are emerging as potential focal points. The research helps scholars and policymakers grasp the current issues and trends of value co-creation in digital tourism, and provides guidance for improving tourism performance and sustainable development.
Pharmaceutical facilities pose several challenges, especially in optimizing logistical operations. As part of our research initiative aimed at restructuring pharmaceutical logistics, our study focuses on the analysis of medication distribution to different hospitals. This involves treating the distribution process as an optimization problem, called Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), and aiming at searching the most effective vehicle routing which minimizes the routing cost. The problem focuses on green logistics for the distribution routes managed by the central pharmacy in Sfax. Analyzing the results could assist logistics managers in advancing green logistics initiatives by reducing both environmental and transportation costs. This research promotes the utilization of a variant of Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), called the Green Vehicle Routing Problem (GVRP), which incorporates environmental criteria as a metric to search a vehicle routing plan. In this paper, we propose a linear mathematical modeling to solve this problemandto improve the efficiency of the examined process. The obtained results show the effectiveness of the presented model.
In the era of rapid industrialization, sustainability is treated as an important strategy in supply chain operations in order to safeguard environmental and societal responsibility. However, the implementation of sustainability depends on multiple factors influenced by human behavior, geographical location, regulatory bodies, and the social and economic conditions of the region. Further, the influence of sustainability factors changes across industries due to changes in organizational culture, market competition and emerging technology. The current study presents a comparative study of the drivers and barriers in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) among Indian manufacturing industries. The intuitionistic fuzzy decision making trial and evolution laboratory (IF-DEMATEL) method has been adopted to set up a structural model and identify the influential factors responsible for the sustainability implementation of different manufacturing industries. The bootstrap resampling technique is used to conduct the internal validation of the model. The findings reveal that top management commitment, government regulations, financial investment, and innovative technology have emerged as the most influential factors for the industry types considered in the study to adopt sustainability in their supply chain. These results provide valuable insights for managers and policymakers in fostering sustainability in supply chains, with implications for future strategies in the Indian context.
The construction industry faces pressure to adopt sustainable practices, especially due to the high CO2 emissions from cement production in concrete. This study uses a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), following ISO 14040/14044, to evaluate alternative concrete pavement materials incorporating industrial by-products. Using SimaPro with the Ecoinvent v3.3 database and ReCiPe 2016 method, several scenarios were compared: a control (A0), partial cement replacements with silica fume (A3) and fly ash (A6), and aggregate replacement with steel slag (G1). Cement was the dominant environmental hotspot, accounting for up to 98% of the impacts in the control mix. Fly ash (A6) offered the broadest environmental benefits, especially in reducing toxicity impacts. Silica fume (A3) lowered carbon emissions but increased toxicity. Steel slag (G1) also reduced toxicity and eutrophication. The results highlight the environmental benefits of using industrial by-products in concrete, supporting circular-economy goals and informing sustainable construction practices.
This was a preliminary study conducted before using a 1.4 m3/d pilot compacted septage treatment plant. The seeding and acclimatization processes were analyzed in batch mode using domestic septage as a substrate and utilizing Kaldness media to attach and grow microorganisms. Seeding was done in a 100L plastic bucket, while acclimatization was carried out in 3 stages: first in a 100L plastic bucket, then in the plant's moving bed biofilm reactors 1 and 2, respectively. This research was conducted to ensure that the microorganisms were able to grow and adapt well within their environment by studying the time, optimum conditions required, and the growth mechanism of the microorganisms. Seeding was stopped on day 6 once the medium's color changed from white to brown, indicating the microorganisms' attachment to the media. Additionally, the Kaldness was 0.074 g heavier, reflecting biomass growth on the carrier's surface. Acclimatization was halted on day 16 once the COD reduction and fluctuation reached their optimum levels (72.7%) and stability (<10%), respectively. The larger scale of the bed reactors, compared to a laboratory model, and the use of septage will hopefully benefit this research area. The further use of this mobile, innovative technology will help overcome the increasing construction and land acquisition costs required for a conventional plant. Further research is needed to investigate the plant's efficacy with the acclimatized microorganisms.
Green bonds have garnered significant attention from various sectors of society due to their pivotal role in facilitating the transition toward low-carbon and environmentally sustainable economic development. Utilizing the "Guidelines for Green Bonds" as a natural experiment, we examine the impact of green bonds on corporate financial investment behavior using data from listed firms between 2008 and 2024. Our findings indicate that green bonds reduce corporate financial investment behavior. Further robustness tests confirm the validity of this conclusion. We find that financing constraints, information disclosure quality, and analyst attention serve as mediating factors in the relationship between green bonds and corporate financial investment behavior. Moreover, we find that the negative impact of green bonds on financial investment behavior is more pronounced in firms with higher levels of equity incentives, higher levels of ownership balance, and higher levels of government subsidies. This study enriches the literature on green bonds and corporate financial investment behavior, providing policy guidance for reducing corporate financial investment behavior.
