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The benefits of aluminum lamination in improving the physical and mechanical properties of wood-based composites is now well documented. This paper shows the contribution of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to assess and compare the environmental footprint in the development of laminated panels. SimaPro 9.0 software, using Ecoinvent database was used to analyze the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of wood aluminum-laminated (WAL) panels and aluminum honeycomb panel (AHP). The impact 2002+ method was used to estimate environmental impacts. The LCA results show that the WAL panels manufacturing had a lower environmental impact than AHP manufacturing. In term of product, wood-based composites were the best choice as a core in laminated panel manufacturing. Wood-based composite manufacturing showed environmental advantages in all damage categories except in ecosystem quality. Aluminum alloy sheets manufacturing played an important role in the generation of environmental impacts for laminated panel development.

This article proposes an effective evolutionary hybrid optimization method for identifying unknown parameters in photovoltaic (PV) models based on the northern goshawk optimization algorithm (NGO) and pattern search (PS). The chaotic sequence is used to improve the exploration capability of the NGO algorithm technique while evading premature convergence. The suggested hybrid algorithm, chaotic northern goshawk, and pattern search (CNGPS), takes advantage of the chaotic NGO algorithm’s effective global search capability as well as the pattern search method’s powerful local search capability. The effectiveness of the recommended CNGPS algorithm is verified through the use of mathematical test functions, and its results are contrasted with those of a conventional NGO and other effective optimization methods. The CNGPS is then used to extract the PV parameters, and the parameter identification is defined as an objective function to be minimized based on the difference between the estimated and experimental data. The usefulness of the CNGPS for extraction parameters is evaluated using three distinct PV models: SDM, DDM, and TDM. The numerical investigates illustrate that the new algorithm may produce better optimum solutions and outperform previous approaches in the literature. The simulation results display that the novel optimization method achieves the lowest root mean square error and obtains better optima than existing methods in various solar cells.

A key determinant and outcome of successful environmental education is ‘pro-environmental behavior’, i.e., behavior that involves conscious action to mitigate adverse environmental impacts at personal or community level, e.g., reducing resource consumption and waste generation, avoiding toxic substances, and organizing community awareness initiatives. However, some theorists have sought to move away from rationalist models of behavioral modification, towards holistic pedagogical initiatives that seek to develop action competence. In light of the global push towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emerging evidence suggests that education initiatives should foster action competence so students may be equipped to contribute to sustainable development as part of their education. The UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Roadmap 2030 has also identified key priority areas to strengthen ESD in formal curricula. This article reports two informal environmental education initiatives for promoting action competence and pro-environmental behaviors in school-aged children. The authors recommend that formal education settings (e.g., schools) should incorporate self-directed, free-choice project-based learning to augment environmental education programs and promote students’ action competence for contribution to attainment of SDGs. To this end, we propose a Free-Choice Project-based Learning for Action Competence in Sustainable Development (ACiSD) Curriculum, comprising six implementation dimensions, namely: (1) project duration and teaming arrangements, (2) topic selection, (3) student support, (4) teacher support, (5) learning environments, and (6) digital access and equity. For each implementation dimension, we recommend action steps to help educators implement this curriculum in their own educational settings, with the aid of an illustrative worked example.

Environmental factors may operate differently when relations are measured across different geographical locations, a phenomenon known as spatial non-stationarity. This study investigates the spatial non-stationarity effect of unhealthy food environments and green spaces on the T2DM prevalence rate at the neighborhood level in Toronto. This study also compares how the results vary between age groups, classified as all adults (20 and above), young adults (from 20 to 44), middle adulthood (from 45 to 64), and seniors (65 and above). The geographically weighted regression model is utilized to explore the impacts of spatial non-stationarity effects on the research results, which may lead to biased conclusions, which have often been ignored in past studies. The results from this study reveal that environmental variables dissimilarly affect T2DM prevalence rates among different age groups and neighborhoods in Toronto after controlling for socioeconomic factors. For example, the green space density yields positive associations with diabetes prevalence rates for elder generations but negative relationships for younger age groups in twenty-two and four neighborhoods, respectively, around Toronto East. The observed associations will provide beneficial suggestions to support government and public health authorities in designing education, prevention, and intervention programs targeting different neighborhoods to control the burden of diabetes.

This study aimed to realize Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), i.e., no poverty, zero hunger, and sustainable cities and communities through the implementation of an intelligent cattle-monitoring system to enhance dairy production. Livestock industries in developing countries lack the technology that can directly impact meat and dairy products, where human resources are a major factor. This study proposed a novel, cost-effective, smart dairy-monitoring system by implementing intelligent wireless sensor nodes, the Internet of Things (IoT), and a Node-Micro controller Unit (Node-MCU). The proposed system comprises three modules, including an intelligent environmental parameter regularization system, a cow collar (equipped with a temperature sensor, a GPS module to locate the animal, and a stethoscope to update the heart rate), and an automatic water-filling unit for drinking water. Furthermore, a novel IoT-based front end has been developed to take data from prescribed modules and maintain a separate database for further analysis. The presented Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSNs) can intelligently determine the case of any instability in environmental parameters. Moreover, the cow collar is designed to obtain precise values of the temperature, heart rate, and accurate location of the animal. Additionally, auto-notification to the concerned party is a valuable addition developed in the cow collar design. It employed a plug-and-play design to provide ease in implementation. Moreover, automation reduces human intervention, hence labor costs are decreased when a farm has hundreds of animals. The proposed system also increases the production of dairy and meat products by improving animal health via the regularization of the environment and automated food and watering. The current study represents a comprehensive comparative analysis of the proposed implementation with the existing systems that validate the novelty of this work. This implementation can be further stretched for other applications, i.e., smart monitoring of zoo animals and poultry.

Closed-loop supply chain networks are gaining research popularity due to environmental, economic and social concerns. Such networks are primarily designed to overcome carbon footprints and to retrieve end of life products from customers. This study considers a multi echelon closed-loop supply chain in the presence of machine disruption. A multi-objective model is presented to optimize the total cost, the total time and emissions in a closed-loop supply chain network. The aim is to analyze the trade-off between the objectives of cost, time, and emissions and how these decisions are impacted by the selection of different available machines. A number of solution approaches are tested on a case study from the tire industry. The results suggest the improved performance of the hybrid heuristic and the importance of controlling disruption in a closed-loop supply chain network. Furthermore, there is a trade-off between the different objective functions which can help the decision maker to choose a particular solution according to the preference of an organization. Finally, conclusion and future research avenues are provided.

Sufficient production, consistent food supply, and environmental protection in urban +settings are major global concerns for future sustainable cities. Currently, sustainable food supply is under intense pressure due to exponential population growth, expanding urban dwellings, climate change, and limited natural resources. The recent novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crisis has impacted sustainable fresh food supply, and has disrupted the food supply chain and prices significantly. Under these circumstances, urban horticulture and crop cultivation have emerged as potential ways to expand to new locations through urban green infrastructure. Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the salient features of contemporary urban horticulture, in addition to illustrating traditional and innovative developments occurring in urban environments. Current urban cropping systems, such as home gardening, community gardens, edible landscape, and indoor planting systems, can be enhanced with new techniques, such as vertical gardening, hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics, and rooftop gardening. These modern techniques are ecofriendly, energy- saving, and promise food security through steady supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables to urban neighborhoods. There is a need, in this modern era, to integrate information technology tools in urban horticulture, which could help in maintaining consistent food supply during (and after) a pandemic, as well as make agriculture more sustainable.

Cover crops (CCs) are a promising strategy for maintaining and enhancing agroecosystem sustainability, yet CCs’ effects on the subsequent crop yield are highly variable. To quantitatively synthesize the effects of CCs on subsequent crop yield, a meta-analysis of 672 observations collected from 63 recent studies (2015 to 2021) in temperate climates was conducted. Legume CC species increased subsequent crop yield significantly more than grass (by 14%), nonlegume broadleaves (by 7%), and mixtures (by 2%). Incorporation of CC residue into soil increased crop yield by approx. 15% compared to leaving the CC residue on the soil surface. Relative to the no-CC control, the adoption of grass and legume CC species in non-organic vegetable cropping systems enhanced crop yield by 14% and 19%, respectively. Likewise, crop yield with legume CCs in coarse and medium textured soil, and under high precipitation conditions (>700 mm), was significantly greater than the no-CC control by 18%, 4%, and 11%, respectively. Cover crops significantly increased vegetable crop yields and decreased the silage corn yield; however, grain corn, soybean, and winter wheat yield did not decrease with CC. Adoption of CC in no-tillage and plow tillage systems contributed to an increase in crop yield compared to the no-CC control. Our meta-analysis highlights that crop yield response to CC might become more robust when pedo-climatic conditions and agronomic factors are considered.

A new method for measuring the porosity of individual 2D raster patches in a GIS for characterizing the combined complexity of a shape’s edge in conjunction with its internal perforations is developed. The method is centered on comparing the number of cellular edge–edge joins relative to the theoretical maximum number of similar joins possible given a set number of cells comprising a landscape patch. As this porosity (Φ) increases, the patch (or shape) can be viewed as deviating from a maximally compact form, comprising higher edge complexity and internal heterogeneity (inclusion of perforations). The approach is useful for characterizing shapes for which a simple perimeter- or area-based metric misses the internal complexity and where the porosity of the patch may provide insight into spatial processes leading to the development of the landscape fabric. I present theoretical results to illustrate the mechanics of the approach and a small case study of boreal wildfire residual vegetation patches in Ontario, where real resulting wildfire process-driven landscape patches are assessed for their porosity at five spatial resolutions. The results indicate that naturally occurring and unsuppressed boreal wildfires in the study area typically produce residual vegetation patches with an average porosity of 17.6%, although this value varies slightly with the spatial resolution of the data representation.

Drought is a noteworthy cause of low agricultural profitability and of crop production vulnerability, yet in numerous countries of Africa little to no consideration has been paid to readiness for drought calamity, particularly to spatial evaluation and indicators of drought occurrence. In this study, biophysical and socio-economic data, farmers’ community surveys and secondary data from remote sensing on soil characteristics and water demand were used to evaluate the predictors of drought in inland valley rice-based production systems and the factors affecting farmers’ mitigation measures. The study intervened in three West African countries located in the Sudan-Sahel zone, viz. Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria. Significant drying trends occurred at latitudes below 11°30′ whilst significant wetting trends were discerned at latitude above 11°30′. Droughts were more frequent and had their longest duration in the states of Niger and Kaduna located in Nigeria and in western Burkina Faso during the period 1995–2014. Among 21 candidate predictors, average annual standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index and duration of groundwater availability were the most important predictors of drought occurrence in inland valleys rice based-production systems. Land ownership and gender affected the commitment of rice farmers to use any mitigation measure against drought. Drought studies in inland valleys should include climatic water balance and groundwater data. Securing property rights and focusing on women’s association would improve farmers’ resilience and advance drought mitigation measures.