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The harmonized balance between work and family is tough to reach in modern industrial societies because of increasing demands at work and in family settings. Previous studies analyzed work–family culture and its relationship with employees’ job performance without focusing on specific industries. Paralleled with the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs), this study aims to analyze the relationship between work–family culture and employees’ job performance in selected industries in Malaysia. This study surveyed 336 employees working in four industries in Peninsular Malaysia, and data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using two statistical analyses, i.e., descriptive and inferential statistic multiple linear regression by assisting statistical software, namely SPSS version 26. This study found that organizational time demands, and managerial support have a significant positive relationship with employees’ job performance. Moreover, the career consequences variable does not have a significant effect on employees’ job performance. Therefore, the results provided valuable insights into the work–family culture among employees with family responsibilities. Applied implications for managers are suggested to give full support to the employees while juggling their family matters. This study also contributes to the existing work–family culture literature. After a thorough analysis of this field, the researcher believed that other factors might significantly affect employees’ job performance, such as religiosity, working environment, and integrity in the organizations.

Biogas is one of the most attractive renewable resources due to its ability to convert waste into energy. Biogas is produced during an anaerobic digestion process from different organic waste resources with a combination of mainly CH4 (~50 mol/mol), CO2 (~15 mol/mol), and some trace gasses. The percentage of these trace gases is related to operating conditions and feedstocks. Due to the impurities of the trace gases, raw biogas has to be cleaned before use for many applications. Therefore, the cleaning, upgrading, and utilization of biogas has become an important topic that has been widely studied in recent years. In this review, raw biogas components are investigated in relation to feedstock resources. Then, using recent developments, it describes the cleaning methods that have been used to eliminate unwanted components in biogas. Additionally, the upgrading processes are systematically reviewed according to their technology, recovery range, and state of the art methods in this area, regarding obtaining biomethane from biogas. Furthermore, these upgrading methods have been comprehensively reviewed and compared with each other in terms of electricity consumption and methane losses. This comparison revealed that amine scrubbing is one the most promising methods in terms of methane losses and the energy demand of the system. In the section on biogas utilization, raw biogas and biomethane have been assessed with recently available data from the literature according to their usage areas and methods. It seems that biogas can be used as a biofuel to produce energy via CHP and fuel cells with high efficiency. Moreover, it is able to be utilized in an internal combustion engine which reduces exhaust emissions by using biofuels. Lastly, chemical production such as biomethanol, bioethanol, and higher alcohols are in the development stage for utilization of biogas and are discussed in depth. This review reveals that most biogas utilization approaches are in their early stages. The gaps that require further investigations in the field have been identified and highlighted for future research.

Institutional linkages and information flow between agricultural organizations play a critical role in addressing sustainability issues and promoting agrarian innovation. The aim of this study was to evaluate institutional relations and information between the various actors within the agricultural knowledge and information system (AKIS). The study focused on eight actors within the AKIS in Dakahlia governorate of Egypt, namely policy, extension, research, agricultural cooperatives, higher education, secondary education, credit, and the private sector. Thus, the survey sample included 11 representatives of each actor with 88 respondents. Data were collected by a standardized questionnaire distributed online. The graph theoretical technique was used for the quantitative assessment of information flow and institutional linkages established among actors. The findings indicated that agricultural extension ranked first about their real cause and effect on the rest of the system, having a value of 7.95. Two critical information pathways within the AKIS sustained innovation outcomes: (1) higher education–extension–agricultural cooperatives, (2) research–extension–agricultural cooperatives. The results also revealed that agricultural cooperatives ranked second after the extension component on the extent of supplying information to other members in the AKIS, with a value of 4.8. In contrast, the highest component received information from other components (7.6). By analyzing institutional linkages and information flow, this article gives insights to policymakers on the mechanisms that still need to be strengthened and the information gaps between actors to address the challenges of sustainable rural development.

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are industrial biowaste resulting from the coffee-brewing process, and they are often underutilized and end up in landfills, thereby leading to the emission of toxic gases and environmental damage. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an attractive approach to valorize wet biomass such as SCG to valuable bioproducts (i.e., hydrochar). Thus, in this work, the HTC of SCG was carried out in a 500 L stainless steel vessel at 150, 170, 190, 210, and 230 °C for 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, and 120 min and a feedstock to water weight ratio of 1:5, 1:10, and 1:15, and the use of the resulting hydrochar as a solid fuel was evaluated. The results showed that a high energy recovery (83.93%) and HHV (23.54 MJ/kg) of hydrochar was obtained at moderate conditions (150 °C, 30 min, and feedstock to water weight ratio of 1:5) when compared with conventional approaches such as torrefaction. Following this, the surface morphology, functionality, and combustion behavior of this hydrochar were characterized by SEM, FTIR, and TGA, respectively. In short, it can be concluded that HTC is an effective approach for producing solid fuel from SCG and the resulting hydrochar has the potential to be applied either in domestic heating or large-scale co-firing plants.

The transformation of the electricity market structure from a monopoly model to a competitive market has caused electricity to be exchanged like a commercial commodity in the electricity market. The electricity price participants should forecast the price in different horizons to make an optimal offer as a buyer or a seller. Therefore, accurate electricity price prediction is very important for market participants. This paper investigates the monthly/seasonal data clustering impact on price forecasting. To this end, after clustering the data, the effective parameters in the electricity price forecasting problem are selected using a grey correlation analysis method and the parameters with a low degree of correlation are removed. At the end, the long short-term memory neural network has been implemented to predict the electricity price for the next day. The proposed method is implemented on Ontario—Canada data and the prediction results are compared in three modes, including non-clustering, seasonal, and monthly clustering. The studies show that the prediction error in the monthly clustering mode has decreased compared to the non-clustering and seasonal clustering modes in two different values of the correlation coefficient, 0.5 and 0.6.

This paper proposes a novel peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized energy market consisting of retailers and prosumers considering integrated demand response (IDR). Retailers can trade electrical energy and gas with prosumers in a P2P way to maximize their welfare. Since they are equipped with electrical storage and power self-generation units, they can benefit from selling power not only to the upstream network but also to prosumers. In peer-to-peer transactions, the prosumers purchase electricity as well as gas from retailers. Because of their access to the competitive retail market, including some retailers, they enjoy more freedom to reduce their energy supply cost. In addition, the prosumers are equipped with an energy hub consisting of combined heat and power (CHP) units and electric pumps, allowing them to change their energy supply according to price fluctuations. Furthermore, they have some changeable electrical and thermal load enabling them to change their load if needed. To clear the proposed P2P decentralized market, a fully decentralized approach called the fully decentralized alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is applied. This method does not require a supervisory entity and, thus, preserves the players’ private information. The numerical studies performed on a system with two retailers and multiple prosumers demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed decentralized market. The results also show that the proposed decentralized algorithm achieves the optimal global solution, compared with the centralized approach.

The Human Mobility Transition model describes shifts in mobility dynamics and transport systems. The aspirational stage, ‘human urbanism’, is characterised by high active travel, universal public transport, low private vehicle use and equitable access to transport. We explored factors associated with travel behaviour in Africa and the Caribbean, investigating the potential to realise ‘human urbanism’ in this context. We conducted a mixed-methods systematic review of ten databases and grey literature for articles published between January 2008 and February 2019. We appraised study quality using Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists. We narratively synthesized qualitative and quantitative data, using meta-study principles to integrate the findings. We identified 39,404 studies through database searching, mining reviews, reference screening, and topic experts’ consultation. We included 129 studies (78 quantitative, 28 mixed-methods, 23 qualitative) and 33 grey literature documents. In marginalised groups, including the poor, people living rurally or peripheral to cities, women and girls, and the elderly, transport was poorly accessible, travel was characterised by high levels of walking and paratransit (informal public transport) use, and low private vehicle use. Poorly controlled urban growth (density) and sprawl (expansion), with associated informality, was a salient aspect of this context, resulting in long travel distances and the necessity of motorised transportation. There were existing population-level assets in relation to ‘human urbanism’ (high levels of active travel, good paratransit coverage, low private vehicle use) as well as core challenges (urban sprawl and informality, socioeconomic and gendered barriers to travel, poor transport accessibility). Ineffective mobility systems were a product of uncoordinated urban planning, unregulated land use and subsequent land use conflict. To realise ‘human urbanism’, integrated planning policies recognising the linkages between health, transport and equity are needed. A shift in priority from economic growth to a focus on broader population needs and the rights and wellbeing of ordinary people is required. Policymakers should focus attention on transport accessibility for the most vulnerable.