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Virtual field trips (VFTs) are a way to overcome travel restrictions and continue to explore distant spaces, foreign issues, and learning opportunities. The intent of this article is to show how VFTs are used in learning geography in the context of education for sustainable development (ESD). The goal is to develop a didactic approach to the use of virtual fieldwork in ESD with geography teachers in pre-service and in-service teacher training at two universities. This article has the following aims. The first is to explain what a VFT is from a theoretical and technical perspective, which raises questions about forms and tools. The second is to explain how a remote intercultural seminar was conceived and implemented to create virtual fieldwork. The third is to present the methodology on which this experimentation is based and to explore the opportunities and limitations of VFTs. The last is to present and discuss the results.

The present research represents an approach toward the recycling of extractive waste inspired by circular economy and sustainability that is developed in accordance with Goal 12 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. A new procedure for the recovery of REEs from fluorite–barite–galena ores with calcite gangue from the Silius mine (Sardinia, Italy) is presented. The considered samples are waste materials of Silius mineralization, collected in the old processing plant of Assemini (near Cagliari). In this orebody, REE minerals consist of prevailing synchysite (a REE-bearing fluorocarbonate) and subordinate xenotime-Y (a Y-bearing phosphate). REE fluorocarbonates are extracted using 50% K2CO3 as the leaching solution, at 100 °C. Using a solution (mL)/sample (g) ratio of 25, about 10% of the total REE content of the considered sample is extracted within 1 h. At the laboratory scale, such alkaline leaching of REE from the waste materials allows the recovery of the CO2 produced as K2CO3 from concentrated KOH, in accordance with a circular flow. Further work is ongoing to scale up the process into a pilot plant, to prove that the method developed within this research can be economically feasible, socially suitable, and environmentally respectful.

Public space and street networks form a significant and central determinant of urban quality. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has focused their crucial importance in the reorganisation of places that are “safe” because they allow movement through cities with minimal risk of contagion. While addressing the need for social distancing, open air exercise, and mobility without use of public transport, these measures resulted in other environmental and social benefits. Living with the coronavirus pandemic has produced a series of adaptative actions, such as barring or limiting automobile traffic, thereby expanding street space for pedestrians and bicyclists, whose impact is, as yet, difficult to fathom because of their contingent, temporary nature. In this context, this case study proposes a sustainable bicycle network to inform the future, permanent street redesign. Based on topographic, morphologic, and climatic data, it evaluates a series of contiguous road sections, defining redesign capacities and critical conditions to implement sustainable interventions to manage urban runoff, mitigate of extreme heat events, expand pedestrian paths and provide a bicycle network. This holistic approach to sustainable urban design evaluation, supported by reproducible data and parameters, serves as a replicable model for the sustainable redesign of roads in other urban settings. The extent, integration, and complexity of the study engaged an interdisciplinary framework, facilitating detailed planning and design and quantified assessments of environmental outcomes.

Production of biodiesel from sewage sludge lipids was catalysed by six different Brønsted acidic imida-zolium and long chain ammonium ionic liquids; both with an alkane sulfonic acid group and with differentanions. Among the ionic liquid tested, 4-(3-methylimidazolium) butanesulfonic acid trifluoromethane-sulfonate, [mimC4SO3H][SO3CF3], was selected as the best catalyst due to its high catalytic performanceand purer biodiesel obtained than the equivalent ammonium ionic liquid, 4-(trihexylammonium) butane-sulfonic acid trifluoromethanesulfonate, [N666(C4SO3H)][SO3CF3]. The influence of different reactionvariables on the biodiesel yield was studied using [mimC4SO3H][SO3CF3] as a catalyst. The yield of fattyacid methyl esters (biodiesel) reached 90% (based on saponifiable lipids) under the following optimisedconditions: 10:1 molar ratio of methanol to saponifiable lipids, 7 wt% ionic liquid catalyst (wt%, based onlipids), 100◦C and 5 h. In addition, the ionic liquid has a good reusability and can be easily separated fromthe biodiesel. These acidic ionic liquids were found to be efficient catalysts for the synthesis of biodieselfrom low-cost and non-edible feedstock like sewage sludge lipids. doi: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2015.08.039

Abstract Background Meaning in life is multidimensional. It encompasses different qualities of meaning, such as meaningfulness, crisis of meaning, or existential indifference, as well as the sources from which people draw meaning, or purpose. For both research and practice, it is of high value to know not only the extent of meaningfulness, or its absence, but also its sources. How do these relate to meaningfulness and mental health? Are they accessible to people of different sociodemographic and economic backgrounds alike? For therapeutic and counseling practice, knowledge of experiences and sources of meaning is needed to support a clearer self-understanding in patients or clients and to encourage them to make authentic life choices. The Meaning and Purpose Scales (MAPS) presented here enable researchers and practitioners to gain insights into these dimensions of meaning in life, and, with only 23 items, to do so in a short time. Methods Using five independent and two follow-up samples with a total N of 7,500, this paper examined the MAPS’ internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent, divergent, criterion, factorial, and predictive validity. Results Principal axis factoring identified two meaning scales, Meaningfulness and Crisis of Meaning, and five purpose scales, Sustainability, Faith, Security, Community, and Personal Growth. The scales proved consistent, stable over four weeks and two months, and valid in multiple respects. In a representative German population sample, Personal Growth, Sustainability, and Community exhibited large, Faith and Security medium positive relationships with Meaningfulness, whereas Crisis of Meaning showed small to moderate negative correlations. Meaningfulness was positively, and Crisis of Meaning negatively predicted by age, partnership, parenthood, and religious affiliation. Financial hardship correlated positively with Crisis of Meaning and negatively with Meaningfulness, Community, and Personal Growth. Meaningfulness and Crisis of Meaning explained 21%, the sources of purpose 6% of additional variance in general mental distress (PHQ-4), beyond sociodemographics. Except for Faith (unrelated), all sources exhibited moderate negative correlations with the PHQ-4. Conclusion As this series of studies demonstrates, the MAPS provide a highly economic and valid assessment of two qualities of meaning, Meaningfulness and Crisis of Meaning, and five sources of purpose: Sustainability, Faith, Security, Community, and Personal Growth.