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We propose an ethical analysis as a method to reflect on how companies’ decisions promote sustainable development. The method proceeds by first identifying the choice according to financial business interests, and by then scrutinizing this choice according to consequentialist and deontological ethics. The paper applies the method to the choice of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that a consortium of Brazilian companies (EGASUR) delivered as part of their project proposal for the realization of the Inambari hydropower dam in the Peruvian Amazon. We show that if an EIA is chosen based on the attempt to maximize the financial bottom line, it raises ethical issues both from a consequentialist perspective by involving negative consequences for various stakeholder groups, and from a deontological perspective by not complying with relevant rules, guidelines, and principles. The two ethical perspectives hence reveal where the consortium faces impediments to a genuine commitment to sustainability. Building on stakeholder interviews, observations of the project developments, and the executive summary of the actual EIA, we provide indications that EGASUR has indeed made a choice that resembles a decision based on financial interests.

Road traffic accidents are currently between the seventh and tenth leading cause of death in the world, with approximately 1.35 million people killed per year. Despite extensive efforts by governments, according to the World Health Organization, road accidents still cause far too many deaths, especially among pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheel motor vehicle riders, who together account for almost 50% of road traffic fatalities. In particular, Spain had 410,974 traffic accidents between 2016 and 2019, involving 722,516 vehicles and 61,177 pedestrians with varying degrees of injury. This study uses the Bayesian network method to understand how the pedestrians’ responsibility and actions at the time of the traffic accident affect the injury suffered by said pedestrian, also considering the variables of the road infrastructure and vehicles at the accident site. The results confirm that the variables linked to the unsafe behavior of pedestrians, and their responsibility in traffic accidents, increase the risk of suffering serious or fatal injuries during an accident; for example, if a pedestrian is distracted this increases his/her probability of suffering a severe injury (27.86%) with respect to not being distracted (20.73%). Conditions related to traffic in high-speed areas, areas with no or poor lighting, and areas lacking sidewalks, also record increases in pedestrian injury, as is the case in the age group of pedestrians over 60 years of age.

The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a tough test on companies in the global food sector supply chain, exacerbating the realities and deficiencies it presents in developing economies. This situation has been reflected in the firm’s performance (F.P.) due to the lack of business conditions to respond to the current pandemic. However, in some companies, the adverse effects of COVID-19 have been counteracted due to endowment and technological capabilities. Thus, this study examined the role of technological innovation (T.I.) and business data analytics (B.D.A.) in the F.P. of foods in Ecuador during COVID-19. A questionnaire collected the information from the food firms. Then, Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling processed the collected information. We found that (B.D.A.) mechanisms and different levels of T.I. within the developing market significantly shape the F.P. The results showed that the B.D.A. enables circular economy (C.E.) practices and the improvement of product delivery services, which constitutes an improvement of the F.P. The COVID-19 outbreak did not significantly affect T.I., unlike what happened with B.D.A. This study concluded that firms with the most extraordinary technological production processes have been the least affected during COVID-19. This study suggested that policy measures should boost food firms’ technological endowment to improve their resilience in uncertainty and risk scenarios.

The noise problem in hotel rooms is strictly connected to noise generated by heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) devices. Hospitality industry companies in many countries have specific requirements and monitor the noise level with technical equipment inside the hotel room. To ensure an adequately low level of noise from the HVAC system, proper calculations and tests are performed before the final application of the system in the hotel room. One of the best methods for assessing the noise level from HVAC devices in hotel rooms is to create a testing room (mock-up) in a certain available space, e.g., in a warehouse, and to perform appropriate standard measurements for the noise level. This method is a popular choice in the hotel industry because the noise level can not only be verified, but also, the installation and operation of the HVAC system inside the room can be checked. The main factors in choosing the space in which the mock-up will be made are availability and appropriate volume. It is not always possible to provide a hall space with a very low background level of noise. This article shows that the selection of a mock-up space is also determined by the noise level in the selected space. The background noise level—thus, the noise level in the mock-up room—must be low enough to be able to reliably measure the noise level from the HVAC equipment to avoid the phenomenon of acoustic masking by other noise sources (background noise) not related to the measurement. Background noise at too high a level will lead to invalidation of the measurement results or overestimation of the actual noise level in the room from the tested HVAC devices. In this study, background noise level measurements made in the testing rooms are described. The results are discussed, and a conclusion is drawn.

The relevance of the analysis of Sustainable Development Goals is based on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The purpose of the study is to create a model of management/regulation of the quality of education and scientific research systems based on Sustainable Development Goals. The data of the ratings that reflect certain tasks of the Sustainable Development Goals, including those related to educational and scientific activities, are analyzed. The methodology of calculating the index of the success of realization of separate purposes of sustainable development is used. Bibliometric analysis as a research tool is used to create a quality of education management model. The example of the roadmap for achieving SDGs within the relationship chain “quality of education and science + partnership and networks–innovation–socio-economic impact–sustainable development goals” is provided. The suggested methodology for determining the index of success in achieving Sustainable Development Goals includes managing education systems, implementing scientific research, and managing/regulating the economy on micro-(university), meso-(regional), and macro-(national) levels. The tool in this case is a strategy for achieving KPIs, which can be fundamentally implemented in the form of a roadmap, with detailing of its elements using other tools. The “management/regulation” stage of the process of achieving Sustainable Development Goals is concretized by a mind map.

Agricultural activities have a significant impact on environmental quality, because they generate waste that pollutes water and soil. In parallel, the supply of products has diversified in recent years to meet growing demand, exerting strong pressure on nature’s capacity for regeneration and absorption of waste. This research aims to examine the impact of agricultural employment and the export diversification index on ecological footprints, using advanced techniques of panel data econometrics. This relationship is moderated by population density and real per capita product. Cross-section dependence and slope homogeneity were included in the econometric models. The cointegration and causality analysis was reinforced by estimating the short- and long-term elasticities, using the AMG, CCE-MG, FMOLS, and DOLS models. Using annual data for 96 countries, we found a heterogeneous impact of agricultural employment and the export diversification index on ecological footprint, between the short and long term. The findings reveal that the increase of the product increases the pressure on the ecological footprint. The achievement of SDGs must include joint efforts between countries, and not in isolation. Those responsible for environmental policy should promote the idea that production must be friendly to the environment and promote the green growth of countries. The adoption of new technology, higher productivity agricultural employment, and the regulation of exports of sustainable products can contribute to achieving environmental sustainability.

This paper deals with the potential of Third Generation Partnership (3GPP) Project mobile cellular standards to enable vehicular communications. Starting from 3GPP Release 15, and Release 16 specifications for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications, the different communication modes, interfaces and use cases for V2X based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) and New Radio (NR) are analyzed. This research also studies the potential beneficial impact on V2X of a network that is aware of the underlying Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) architecture. The methodology followed in this work consists of a review of 3GPP standards for vehicular communications based on mobile networks. The performance evaluation of the communication modes was performed through simulations taking into account resource allocation schemes, packet transmission frequencies, packet size, vehicle density and other parameters defined in the standard. In order to perform simulations of the decentralized communication mode (mode 4), a simulator based on OMNeT++ was configured. For the centralized mode (mode 3), an analytical model in MATLAB was used to configure different simulation scenarios. The results obtained indicate that LTE networks can only support basic V2X use cases because they do not demand strict potential requirements. Simulations showed that the centralized mode offers better performance than mode 4; however, it requires cellular network coverage. More advanced use cases are key for a future Intelligent Transport System (ITS), high-performance networks (i.e., Fifth Generation (5G), NR) are expected to coexist gradually with LTE in the V2X landscape. Therefore, in order to meet the strict requirements for latency, transmission speed and reliability, MR-DC architectures combining different radio access technologies, communication modes and connection interfaces should be deployed. In addition, operation in multi-operator and cross-border scenarios must be guaranteed.

Introduction and objectives (1): It is currently important to be able to establish logical plans for physical work and/or nutrition aimed at achieving optimal levels of performance and wellbeing. To achieve this, it is crucial to understand anthropometric data and how they relate to body type and, above all, how they associate with parameters linked to health. The present study, therefore, proposed to examine intersexual morphological differences and to determine the existing relationship between somatotype and BMI in a sample of school sports players from Huacho (Peru). Material and methods (2): A descriptive, comparative, correlational, and transversal study was delivered within a sample of 294 students (165 males and 129 females). Participants were aged between 12–16 years and regularly participated in team sports at competitive school level. All participants took part in the anthropometric examination in order to determine their somatotype and body mass index (BMI). Results (3): Significant differences were found to exist between the sexes in practically all of the anthropometric measures. The data demonstrated a high index of overweight and obesity. Further, the zones of occupation of the somatochart for both populations showed a displacement towards endomorphism, and that the level of typological similarity between populations was 30.54%. Conclusions (4): Results indicate a serious need for training so that adolescent students acquire healthy habits and lifestyles.