• Energy Research

Today, universities are seen as the main actors of technological change, innovation, and social development; this situation causes new roles for universities, as well as forces them to change. At present, universities face very important expectations such as research and entrepreneurial activities by providing the industry–university cooperation along with education and training. In order to manage that transformation, it is seen that the universities across the world evolve to context of entrepreneurial university. Within this general framework, the main objective of this research is to determine where Turkish universities stand on the transformation of entrepreneurial university. In order to achieve this goal, 68 public universities’ strategic plans, which are thought to reflect the intentions for the future, were subjected to content analysis. The findings showed that the majority of universities in our country did not have entrepreneurial university features but they have strong intention and desire for a transformation in this direction.

The remarkable richness and singularity of the Azorean Region (located 38° North) and its landscapes require a sharp, well-defined, and comprehensive planning policy. Bearing in mind the significance of this issue in the enlightenment of sustainability, planning strategies should be based and supported by different studies and thematic domains to understand the problem thoroughly. Using GIS (Geographic Information Systems), the present article enables us to identify the dynamics and patterns of the evolution of the Land-Use Changes in the Azores Region from 1990 to 2018. In aggregate, the Azores islands showed growth in artificial surfaces and forest and seminatural land-uses by essentially decreasing agricultural areas—most resulting from the economic and social development strategy pursued by several Azorean governments. Moreover, this study permits us to reinforce that the Azores Archipelago’s land-uses has undergone multiple changes—marked by increasing and decreasing periods. In fact, some of these reducing dynamics are disturbing. They require closer monitorization by regional government actors to give protection, preservation, and conservation to these incomparable ultra-peripheral landscapes, environments, ecosystems, and the region as a whole.

Bearing in mind the growth in regions with socio-economic bases dependent on tourism, studies that analyze spatial planning processes, regional public policies, and their relationship with tourism activities are essential to achieve the so-desired sustainable territorial development. Through case study research methods, territorial impact analysis, and questionnaires to explore the public perceptions, it was possible to design and implement a study regarding this specific regional governance theme on the Azores Autonomous Region (AAR). The research allowed us to learn that the most affected activities by public territorial policies in the AAR from the respondents’ perspective were accommodation (54.7%) and nature (51.9%). Conversely, the less affected were culture (15.1%) and rental/hire services (17.9). Furthermore, it was possible to identify two factors that rule public policies on the growth and development of the Azores: (i) impact in the natural landscape and (ii) suitable production factors.

The implantation of wind farms in the European territory is being deployed at an accelerated pace. In the proposed framework, the province of La Coruña in the autonomous community of Galicia is tested, with a wide deployment of this type of infrastructure in the territory initiated in the 80s, representing the third autonomous community with the largest exploitation of wind resources, which provides sufficient information, extrapolated to the entire community, to demonstrate the practical usefulness and potential of the method of obtaining the territorial model proposed in this article The regional has been used as the basic administrative subunit of the study variables, considering that the territory thus delimited could have common physical and cultural characteristics. The methodology presented in this article involves the collection and processing of public cartographic data on various factors most repeatedly or agreed upon in the consulted bibliography based on studies by experts in the technical, environmental, and environmental areas, including explanatory variables of risk in a broader context of climate change as the first contribution of this study. Another contribution is the inclusion in the model of the synergistic impact measured as the distance to wind farms in operation (21% of the total area of the sample) to which an area of influence of 4 times the rotor diameter of each of the wind turbines im-planted has been added as a legal and physical restriction. On a solid basis of selection of explanatory variables and with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis (MCDM), techniques widely documented in the existing literature for the determination of optimal areas for the implementation of this type of infrastructure, a methodological proposal is presented for the development of a strategic, long-term territorial model, for the prioritization of acceptable areas for the implementation of wind farms, including forecasts of increased energy demand due to the effect of climate change and the population dynamics of the study region that may influence energy consumption. This article focuses on the use of multivariate clustering techniques and spatial analysis to identify priority areas for long-term sustainable wind energy projects. With the proposed strategic territorial model, it has been possible to demonstrate that it is not only capable of discriminating between three categories of acceptable areas for the implementation of wind farms, taking into account population and climate change forecasts, but also that it also locates areas that could require conservationist measures to protect new spaces or to recover the soil because they present high levels of risk due to natural or anthropic disasters considered. The results show acceptable areas for wind energy implementation, 23% of the total area of the sample, 3% conservation as ecological spaces to be preserved, and 7% recovery due to high-risk rates. The findings show that coastal regions generally show a more positive carrying capacity, likely due to less dense development or regulatory measures protecting these areas. In contrast, certain inland regions show more negative values, suggesting these areas might be experiencing higher ecological disturbance from construction activities. This information highlights the importance of strategic site analysis to balance energy production with conservation needs. The study provides insights into wind farm deployment that considers the visual and ecological characteristics of the landscape, promoting sustainability and community acceptance. For this reason, these insights can be effectively used for advancing renewable energy infrastructures within the European Union’s energy transition goals, particularly under the climate and energy objectives set for 2030.

Energy plays a critical role in building a sustainable future—economically, socially, and environmentally. Energy poverty holds a similarly prominent position and covers certain economic, social and environmental issues that are underlined by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Due to its multidimensional role in plans for achieving sustainable development, there is a growing body of literature focusing on various aspects of energy poverty. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of this literature by utilizing more extensive data from the Web of Science, covering all information on energy poverty studies. The analysis reveals how energy poverty has attracted attention over time, who the leading authors are, which studies constitute outstanding contributions to the literature, which different sides of the research topic stand out, and also highlights the potential research gaps. The results reveal all the network flows among researchers, publications, journals, keywords, organizations, co-cited publications, and bibliographic coupling for energy poverty studies. The findings confirm the increasing popularity of energy poverty as a topic and demonstrate the increasing awareness of the issue in academia over time.

In order to combat climate change, the OECD emphasized the need to minimize the environmental impact of material use, as well as promote resource efficiency and accelerate the creation of a circular economy. The present study objects to promote a new debate about Canadian environmental quality and resource efficiency. In other words, this paper aims to capture the effect of resource efficiency on environmental quality in Canada while controlling financial development, economic growth, and energy. Nonlinear ARDL bounds test results indicate the significant long-run linkage between environmental quality, resource efficiency, financial development, economic growth, and energy in Canada. Moreover, the asymmetric results underline that 1) resource efficiency mitigates environmental degradation; 2) economic growth and energy uses in Canada significantly increase consumption-based CO2 emissions; 3) financial development positively contributes to environmental stability. Therefore, policymakers in Canada make sure that circular economies and resource efficiency can help reach net zero and combat climate change.

E-learning has recently gained considerable interest among stakeholders, including educators, students, and policymakers. During the pandemic, organized online learning is critical to an effective e-learning system because it helps both teaching and learning. Thus, the current study intends to explore the factors contributing to e-learners’ satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire survey was conducted to gather data from 650 university students selected through convenience sampling. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The factors essential to boosting e-learner satisfaction were identified using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Frequency distribution and percentages were used to identify the demographic characteristics of respondents, and a reliability test was conducted to test the internal consistency of the data. This study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to trace the relationship between the six independent variables and e-learner satisfaction. Regression results revealed that psychological factors, educational materials and design, access to technological devices, instructor attributes, and perceptions and expectations significantly influence e-learner satisfaction. However, students’ engagement had no significant influence on the same. Because, most respondents had a clear preference for physical learning. The findings of this study will help educationists and policymakers take necessary steps in enhancing learners’ satisfaction and improving their academic performance.