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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.

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.

The purpose of the study was to assess the efficiency and accessibility of microcredits for small Ukrainian enterprises and to justify the feasibility of strengthening government contributions in lending to ensure the sustainable development of small businesses. Indicators for evaluating the efficiency and accessibility of microcredits are systematized. Methodological approaches to assessing the efficiency of lending for the creation and development of microenterprises have been improved. A model for evaluating the efficiency of microcredits aimed at the survival of microenterprises in a deteriorating environment was developed. It has been revealed that the level of efficiency of microcredit creation for firms in some time intervals depends quadratically on the share of microcredits in the total amount of funds directed to the creation of firms. A linear relationship between the relative amount of credit received and the growth rate of firms’ assets has also been established. However, there is no significant impact of the microcredit’s amount on labor productivity. A method has been developed for evaluating the budgetary efficiency of microcredits when such a lending is carried out using funds from state or local budgets. It was found that improving these lending conditions through budget financing can significantly increase its attractiveness for microenterprises without significantly reducing the budgetary efficiency of microcredits. This article substantiates the need to strengthen state support for microcrediting of small Ukrainian enterprises in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Industrial objects constructed between the XIX century and the first half of the XX century were scattered outside the historical city center. However, they are currently located within the boundaries of the historical area of a big city. Postindustrial objects that have lost their initial function create opportunities for city development. An urgent problem of urban planning in Lviv is to determine the prospects for the development and reconstruction of industrial areas, complexes, and buildings. The purpose of the work is to identify the modern urban trends in the development process of postindustrial areas located in the historic area of Lviv, as well as its compliance with the city development strategy. The article investigates the connection of new objects with the main functions of the district, provides a historical excursion of their development, on-site studies, and a comparative analysis of objects with the goals of the master plan of Lviv and of the integrated concept of development of the central part of the city. The studied objects of the urban revitalization of postindustrial buildings and areas are grouped according to new dominant function: 1—Development of the creative industry; 2—Revalued multifunctional areas; 3—Implementation of the concept of city center expansion; 4—Reconstruction of historical localities, and 5—Creation of new residential complexes. The authors consider the process of re-urbanization in some particular postindustrial areas and objects as a search for ideas to generalize their use for the whole city. The intensive industrial development of the city during the Soviet period led to strict regulation of other areas. After obtaining independence, there is an opportunity to fix the imbalance. This process occurs in different ways. In particular, the “in situ” review provides an opportunity to understand the development of the territory—whether it follows the master plan (or contradicts it), whether it meets the new development strategy of the city, whether it meets the needs of the local community, or meets the interests of developers only.

Innovation is the engine and accelerator that drives high-quality economic and enterprise development. In recent years, the output of scientific and technological innovation in China has been high, but the phenomenon of low efficiency and low quality of innovation occurs frequently. In this study, first, technological innovation efficiency (TIE) was measured. Then, a dynamic evaluation and analysis of spatial-temporal characteristics of efficiency were performed. Lastly, the driving factors of innovation efficiency were explored. TIE was calculated dynamically in 30 provinces of China from 2011 to 2019 based on the improved super-efficiency SBM-DEA model. Then, the kernel density estimation method was adopted to analyse the spatial-temporal differentiation characteristics and dynamic evolution process of provincial efficiency. The findings confirm that from 2011 to 2019, the top five provinces for TIE in China were Beijing (1.0), Shanghai (0.96), Hainan (0.96), Jilin (0.94) and Tianjin (0.91). The provinces with lowest average efficiency were Qinghai (0.77), Ningxia (0.73) and Inner Mongolia (0.73). The significant differences in the level of technological innovation in different regions were caused by the long-term and in-depth implementation of the government’s strategy of revitalising science and driving innovation in parts of areas. The findings of kernel function confirm that the TIE in most parts of China was gradually polarised. Furthermore, the results show that for every 1 unit of government R&D funding support, the average marginal utility of the expected TIE will reach 0.192, which is more significant in the central and western regions. On this basis, combined with environmental factors of innovation market, infrastructure, financing and enterprise innovation potential, the article also extracts the driving factors that affect the differences in provincial efficiency. The findings provide a reference for guiding provinces to carry out innovation activities independently and improve innovation quality and efficiency.

Income distribution can cause large-scale transformations in human resources structure, essential changes of economic outputs via its impact on life satisfaction and motivation of work. Thus, the overall objective of this research is to improve methodological tools of income distribution analysis based on identifying the links between different structural indicators of income inequality and the most essential features of social and economic well-being. We conducted comparative analysis of EU Member States and Ukraine. We used structural analysis based on two forms of income distribution—functional (share of “labour” in Gross domestic product - GDP) and household one (ratio of incomes measured by special decile coefficients) to identify income inequality and inconsistencies in distributive strategies. By grouping European countries according to economic well-being (described as GDP per capita) and inequality in income distribution (based on Gini coefficient), we determined apparent tendencies in distributive policies and revealed links between income distribution and connected social-economic features of well-being. We conclude that countries with the most stable and clear patterns in income distribution have distinct connections between the share of labour costs in GDP and successes in social and economic spheres, including human development level, property rights protection, GDP growth, possibilities for taxation and budgeting of social programmes.

The article deals with the issue of modeling taking into consideration nitrogen dioxide pollution of the atmospheric surface layer caused by vehicle exhaust gases. The interval data analysis methods were suggested. The method of identifying the mathematical model of the distribution of nitrogen dioxide as an atmospheric air pollutant based on the analysis of data with known measurement errors was proposed and grounded for the first time. The obtained mathematical model in the form of a difference equation is characterized by the guaranteed accuracy of forecasting nitrogen dioxide concentrations in a specified area of the city. It also adequately takes into account traffic changes which significantly reduces the costs of environmental control and monitoring. The proposed new model identification method is more effective in terms of computational time complexity compared to the known method and it is based on taking into account measurement errors which in the final case provides predictive properties of the model with guaranteed accuracy.