• Energy Research
• economics and business close
• GR close
• Sustainability close

The lockdown and social distancing policies to reduce COVID-19 spread and perceived safety threats of COVID-19 significantly affected people’s travel behavior. Greece has been suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and people’s mobility behavior has been greatly affected. This study aims at: (1) exploring the variations in individuals’ trip frequencies by mode and purpose before and after the COVID-19 outbreak; (2) understanding the effects of individual differences (i.e., sociodemographic details) and perceptions towards COVID-19 (i.e., the perceived threats of COVID-19) on people’s mobility behavior changes after the outbreak; (3) underlining the individuals’ perceptions of the COVID-19 threat on the willingness of public transportation usage. Overall, 403 responses were collected in late 2020. A series of random parameter Probit modeling results reveal multiple individual and perception factors affecting the changes in mobility behavior in Greece. The results from structural equation modeling indicate that perceived COVID-19 threats affect the attitudes and subjective norms towards people’s intentions to use public transportation. The results from this study provide valuable insights for transportation authorities to develop effective strategies to manage traffic during the spread of disease for a possible future epidemic.

This paper aims to provide pig farmers with the necessary information to guide strategic decisions through the development of a tool that allows them to calculate and control their production costs. A financial ratio analysis can be used as a starting point when assessing and improving a farm’s economic sustainability. The objective of the present article is to (1) provide insight into the financial ratios commonly used for pig farm assessments and (2) how they may be applied through an advisory tool to assess farm economic sustainability. Moreover, in this study, different financial ratios were examined to uncover trade-offs and synergies between them. Using the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), we analyzed Spearman correlations between financial ratios. The correlation between these sets of indicators suggested that they could be used to estimate dairy farm economic sustainability. Our results showed that pig farms face a financial situation that can be improved. Pig farmers can benefit from this tool in multiple ways, by gaining an understanding of the costs and revenues leading to investment decisions, managing the risks, planning for potential growth, and having greater access to funding opportunities.

Continuous professional development refers to maintaining, enhancing, and broadening individuals’ knowledge, skills, and the personal qualities required in their professional lives. The present experimental study attempts to explore the way(s) that the Life Construction intervention: “Constructing my Future Purposeful Life” contributes to career counselors’ sustainable career development. Two groups of career counselors participating in a training program delivered by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens were involved, namely, an experimental group (N = 33) that received the intervention and a control group (N = 27) that did not receive any intervention. The effectiveness of the intervention was verified through qualitative and quantitative analysis, including the calculation of effect sizes, of the data obtained through the Future Career Autobiography, and the Greek version of the Life Project Reflexivity Scale. The results indicate that the Life Construction Intervention improved career counselors’ reflexivity and self-awareness, while, concurrently, the need for practical training in contemporary interventions to support their sustainable career development is highlighted. The main conclusion refers to the fact that the career counselor needs to construct his or her own Self as a sustainable project beforehand, in order to be able to support individuals in their own Self construction and promote their well-being.

This article aims to explore the relationship between social innovation and opportunities for innovation in public services, focusing on a range of initiatives intended to improve services and infrastructure for pedestrians in the city of São Paulo, the largest Brazilian megacity, namely: Reduced Speed Zone, Safe Routes to School, and Complete Street. We apply the multiagent framework for innovation in services, incorporating nine variables that characterize social innovation. As for the main results, in the local context, there is the role of third-sector organizations in creating and introducing solutions for active mobility services through co-creation. Co-creation was identified as a key process and is highlighted in actions to obtain community involvement, interviews to measure the acceptance of the project and detect potential points of improvement not foreseen in the pilot project, participatory workshops, installation of informative and interactive panels, preparation and approval of the temporary intervention project, and joint discussion and analysis with municipal agencies about the points that could receive the temporary intervention. The initiatives are recent and cover specific geographic–temporal boundaries. There is a need to deepen the dialogue between social innovation and service innovation with the co-design and co-construction approaches proposed in this paper, applied in different political, economic, urban, and social contexts. In addition, some barriers are highlighted relating to the lack of public funding, compliance with national regulations, political will, non-partisan actions, and long-term vision. There are potentials for the continuous introduction of innovations for the improvement of public services for pedestrians, promoting participatory restructuring as a form of (re)appropriation of urban public spaces.

This paper features an analysis of President Trump’s two State of the Union addresses, which are analysed by means of various data mining techniques, including sentiment analysis. The intention is to explore the contents and sentiments of the messages contained, the degree to which they differ, and their potential implications for the national mood and state of the economy. We also apply Zipf and Mandelbrot’s power law to assess the degree to which they differ from common language patterns. To provide a contrast and some parallel context, analyses are also undertaken of President Obama’s last State of the Union address and Hitler’s 1933 Berlin Proclamation. The structure of these four political addresses is remarkably similar. The three US Presidential speeches are more positive emotionally than is Hitler’s relatively shorter address, which is characterised by a prevalence of negative emotions. Hitler’s speech deviates the most from common speech, but all three appear to target their audiences by use of non-complex speech. However, it should be said that the economic circumstances in contemporary America and Germany in the 1930s are vastly different.

The aim of this study is to strengthen the capacity of mining industries to assess and improve their environmental sustainability performance through the introduction of a relevant framework. Specific assessment categories and respective indicators were selected according to predefined steps. Sustainability threshold values were identified for each indicator to enable the comparison of the facility’s performance with a sustainability reference value. The application of the framework results in the extraction of an Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Mining Industries Index (IESAMI). The framework was applied to evaluate a mining facility in Greece, with a view to improve its applicability in parallel. The final score of environmental sustainability for the examined facility was 3.0 points (IESAMI = 3.0 points), indicating significant room for improvement where the company should aim to further enhance its sustainability performance.

In an era of environmental and socio-economic crisis, sustainable transport planning is vital as ever, especially given that the transport sector is responsible for the greatest part of total air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. New vehicle technologies, such as autonomous and electric vehicles, emerge as promising alternatives, creating, however, both opportunities and challenges and raising questions relating to their performance. Can these new vehicle technologies really perform better than conventional ones in terms of sustainable mobility? Which one of them constitutes the optimum solution? How does each alternative perform with regard to different evaluation criteria, such as air pollution or road safety? In order to answer such questions, and to select the optimum solution, a comparison between autonomous, electric, autonomous electric and conventional vehicles is executed, based on a set of social, economic and environmental criteria. For this purpose, a new decision-aiding methodology, allowing for a holistic evaluation of the alternatives through a comprehensive literature review and experts’ participation, is applied. It is mainly based on the combined application of two hybrid multi-criteria analysis models, creating a more solid background towards optimum decision-making, thus constituting an important decision support tool for project appraisal and funding within the framework of sustainability in any sector.

Cycling tourism is an environmentally friendly way to explore a destination. Nowadays, it is becoming more and more popular worldwide, since it permits an in-depth communication both with nature and people. In this context, the aim of this paper is to explore, in detail, mainly the environmental motivators of cycling tourists, and their significance, in Greece, by using qualitative social research (in-depth interviews and focus groups) and participative analytical hierarchical process. The results show that regarding physical environment, the element which attracts cycle tourists the most is the variety of scenic views along their route. Existence of lakes, rivers and beaches were also valued. On the contrary, “Biodiversity” and “Untouched natural landscapes” were ranked low as a description of the quality of the natural environment. However, the rise of cycling tourism depends considerably on the appropriate infrastructure, namely roads with low slopes, appropriate quality of surfaces and cycling infrastructure. Planners, policy-makers, and competent authorities should give emphasis on the critical factors in order to enhance cycling tourism, thus resulting in positive multiplying effects such as environmental protection and economic growth.