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Despite the fundamental role given to the sustainability of intergenerational programming regarding their demonstrated impact on an aging society, only a few studies have undertaken an exploration of the qualitative core dimensions of sustainable intergenerational programs. This article addresses how the sustainability of educational intergenerational programs relates to why and how intergenerational program managers in the Portuguese area of Porto may have developed different attitudes and beliefs around adequate implementation of the programs. Drawing on qualitative interview data of a four-case fieldwork study conducted in Porto, Portugal, the study examines autonomy, empowerment, and intergenerational relationships as dimensions other than time duration behind program sustainability. Attention to the managers’ narratives on how intergenerational programs are implemented can help to explain why some dimensions are more highlighted than others. A qualitative analysis of intergenerational program sustainability, it is argued, offers considerable findings which provide opportunities to its implementation and intersection with managers’ beliefs. Findings suggest a need to de-emphasize both time duration and managers’ persona as the key for sustainability. We recommend intergenerational program sustainability as an area for future theorizing through providing a conceptualizing framework that might go beyond the normative focus on its duration and into the relational nature of these programs.

The bioeconomy can support Europe’s transition to a low-carbon economy and help to meet key international, European and member state sustainability targets through the provision of bio-based products and energy derived from sustainably sourced biomass. A successful implementation of a bio-based economy in Europe will, however, require a profound transformation of our production and consumption patterns. Consumer behavior will play a major role in supporting the successful transition to a bio-based economy. This paper uses a structured quantitative survey approach to gain an understanding of consumer perspectives in relation to bio-based products. Conducted among 18–75-year-old consumers in Ireland and the Netherlands, the study indicates that consumers in both countries have a relatively positive outlook regarding bio-based products, with Irish consumers showing a slightly more positive outlook. The study finds that a larger majority of Irish consumers would prefer buying bio-based products as opposed to fossil-based products, while Irish consumers also have a slightly more positive impression than Dutch consumers that their consumer choices can be beneficial for the environment.

Significant changes in society were emphasized as being required to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, a need which was further intensified with the emergence of the pandemic. The prospective society should be directed towards sustainable development, a process in which technology plays a crucial role. The proposed study discusses the technological potential for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals via disruptive technologies. This study further analyzes the outcome of disruptive technologies from the aspects of product development, health care transformation, a pandemic case study, nature-inclusive business models, smart cities and villages. These outcomes are mapped as a direct influence on Sustainable Development Goals 3, 8, 9 and 11. Various disruptive technologies and the ways in which the Sustainable Development Goals are influenced are elaborated. The investigation into the potential of disruptive technologies highlighted that Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 are the most supportive development to underpin the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The study proposes the scenario where both Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 are integrated to form smart cities and villages where the prospects of achieving Sustainable Development Goals are more favorable due to the integrated framework and Sustainable Development Goals’ interactions. Furthermore, the study proposes an integrated framework for including new age technologies to establish the concepts of Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 integrated into smart cities and villages. The corresponding influence on the Sustainable Development Goals are also mapped. A SWOT analysis is performed to assess the proposed integrated approach to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, this study can assist the industrialist, policy makers and researchers in envisioning Sustainable Development Goals from technological perspectives.

This study is aimed to determine the performances of zeolite-water hyacinth ash (WHA)-clay (ZWC) pellets on removing nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) and heavy metal (HM). In this study, the adsorption experiments were conducted for various pellet compositions and sizes, the application of pre-treatment on pellets, and tested with different concentrations of synthetic wastewater. The results identified that the maximum removal capacities of ZWC pellet were 0.112 mg/g, 0.08 mg/g, 0.171 mg/g, and 0.151 mg/g for phosphate (PO4), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3), and total nitrogen (TN), respectively. The optimization experiment indicated that smaller pellet sizes and those treated with calcium hydroxide solution exhibited better N&P and HM removal performances. The optimized ZWC pellet was able to remove up to 90%, 86%, 94%, 90%, 84%, 86%, and 91% for PO4, TP, NO3, TN, zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and lead (Pb), respectively, after 3 h of contact time. The ZWC pellet proved that it can be used as an effective adsorbent for wastewater treatment.

Building energy modelling (BEM) is crucial for achieving energy conservation in buildings, but occupant energy-related behaviour is often oversimplified in traditional engineering simulation methods and thus causes a significant deviation between energy prediction and actual consumption. Moreover, the conventional fixed schedule-setting method is not applicable to the recently developed data-driven BEM which requires a more flexible and data-related multi-timescales schedule-setting method to boost its performance. In this paper, a data-based schedule setting method is developed by applying K-medoid clustering with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) dimensional reduction and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) distance measurement to a comprehensive building energy historical dataset, partitioning the data into three different time scales to explore energy usage profile patterns. The Year–Month data were partitioned into two clusters; the Week–Day data were partitioned into three clusters; the Day–Hour data were partitioned into two clusters, and the schedule-setting matrix was developed based on the clustering result. We have compared the performance of the proposed data-driven schedule-setting matrix with default settings and calendar data using a single-layer neural network (NN) model. The findings show that for the data-driven predictive BEM, the clustering results-based data-driven schedule setting performs significantly better than the conventional fixed schedule setting (with a 25.7% improvement) and is more advantageous than the calendar data (with a 9.2% improvement). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that a data-related multi-timescales schedule matrix setting method based on cluster results of building energy profiles can be more suitable for data-driven BEM establishment and can improve the data-driven BEMs performance.

Marine litter has had a huge impact on the marine environment and the socio-economic activities that depend on healthy oceans. All members of the community must play their part to address marine litter. Teachers are agents of change that are capable of encouraging pro-environmental practices among the community that will reduce environmental issues, including marine litter. However, teachers were found to have limited knowledge regarding ocean literacy and marine pollution. A scoping review was conducted to identify various aspects of content knowledge related to marine litter education that has been recently conducted for school teachers and students. Web of Science, Scopus and ERIC databases were searched for articles published in English between 2015 and 8 July 2021. Fourteen peer-reviewed articles were selected for this study and were subjected to content analysis. Topics related to marine litter were frequently addressed. Meanwhile, topics related to teaching Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development (EE/ESD) were the least addressed. Benthic marine litter, solutions to marine litter and the introduction of new types of marine litter were identified as topics that need to be addressed in future marine litter education. This study lists content knowledge based on previous literature and identified the gaps, which will be useful for teachers to improve their knowledge and implement effective marine litter education in school.

High Concentrator Photovoltaic Thermal (HCPV/T) systems produce both electrical and thermal energy and they are efficient in areas with high Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI). This paper estimates the lifecycle environmental impact of the HCPV/T 2000x system for both electrical and thermal functionalities. Process-based attributional method following the guidelines and framework of ISO 14044/40 was used to conduct the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The midpoint and endpoint impact categories were studied. It was found that the main hotspots are the production of the thermal energy system contributing with 50% and 55%, respectively, followed by the production of the tracking system with 29% and 32% and the operation and maintenance with 13% and 7%. The main contributor to the lifecycle environmental impact category indicators was found to be the raw materials acquisition/production and manufacturing of the thermal energy and tracking systems. The results indicate that the lifecycle environmental impact of the HCPV/T 2000x system is lower compared to fuel-based Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and non-Renewable Energy Sources (non-RES) systems.

Background: There is compelling evidence to suggest that leadership behaviour and teamwork are critical success factors in healthcare organisations facing increasingly complex demands and limited resources. Effective teamwork is essential to deliver high-quality care, requiring integrating different professionals in the healthcare sector. Leaders play a significant role in facilitating teamwork by managing conflicts and promoting cooperation among team members. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of leadership in supporting the mental health and well-being of team members. Methods: A cross-lagged research design was used to examine the relationship between mental health-specific (MHS) leadership and teamwork. Participants were 118 healthcare professionals (76.3% female; 44.9% aged between 45 and 54 years old). Results: A serial mediation model was confirmed, showing an indirect effect of mental health leadership on teamwork through interpersonal conflict and cooperation. Conclusions: Effective (MHS) leadership can positively impact the teamwork of healthcare professionals, particularly during times of crisis.