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Road safety is a major global concern for today's rapid world that has no time to waste. The concept of Road safety auditing (RSA) is well in implementation in developed nations like USA, Australia, Qatar etc. However it is not in a desired state of implementation in developing nations. RSA is an organized procedure to assess the quality and conditions in terms of Safety standards of the existing roads or proposed road projects. This is a valuable tool to anticipate the occurrences of road crashes or fatalities and it also indicates the approach to rectify the safety issues proactively. With the help of comprehensive amount of data from conducted RSA, the governments can draft and upgrade the protocols for designing and building safer roads for all kinds of road users. The aim of this study is to emphasize the need of RSA at DPR stage or design phase to curb the crashes and fatalities before they occur. A stretch of a link road connecting SH-94/MDR-103 and NH-62 was chosen for this study. This link road acts as a bypass for Suratgarh City and connects the traffic coming from on SH-94 Hanumangarh to NH-62. According to the local residents of Suratgarh City, the said portion of the road reports 3-4 major crashes every month, making it a perfect candidate for the study as the crashes are mostly because of design flaws which are pointed out in the paper. In the later part of the study, customized solutions are provided so as to rectify the fatal issues of the design to enhance the safety for road users. Towards the end, the study suggests some changes that can be incorporated with the concept of the Highway alignment and profiling for the concerned authorities or Governments to boost up the safety of their road users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides designing methodical recommendations and using their results to improve traffic safety in transport exploitation. The system of environmental regulation and standardization has been carried out in all advanced countries such as in the Republic of Uzbekistan, as in other countries, on the scientific basis. The concept of ecosystems consists of a set of different organisms that interact with each other and with the environment in which they operate, taking into account the long-term coexistence of this organic collection. Environmental security is defined as the ability of an individual, society, state, natural resources and the environment to withstand a hidden threat posed by anthropogenic, man-made or natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the human population has reached its peak in both the developing countries and developed countries like India and China. An increase in personnel density ended up being a hard task to maintain or manage people flow in socio-public places. However, people flow management is out of control for humans, which may also cause some safety damages. This paper aims to give an optimal solution for people flow with the help of machine learning, deep learning, and also AI-cameras are used for counting the number of people entering and leaving a user-defined place. Here, also the centroid tracking and centroid detecting algorithms are used to count the number of people together with their direction. This technique helps to replace manual security,in-store traffic management, and much more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformations that have taken place in the social and productive structures of economically advanced countries are to be correlated to a new structure of urban networks and territorial relations, from which it results that a vast series of activities and functions are to be considered no longer subject to localization constraints and thresholds dimensional. From this emerges a wider territorial participation in the development process, which ends up affecting the regional articulation, giving rise to the formation of reticular spatial structures [1]. It comes out the idea of sustainable mobility was than born, which was based on giving a greater role to public transport, pedestrian and bicycle movements, which are much more efficient, thanks to which you can in turn reduce time waste, pollutant emissions and increase safety at urban areas without limiting mobility. In light of these aspects, in this paper we highlight, in parallel, what has been achieved with a view to sustainability in two realities: Brindisi, a city in southern Italy, and Cracow, a Polish city. They are two realities that highlight what has been done and what are the indications coming from the stakeholders. It is possible to move in this direction for future planning and for the adoption of sustainable mobility plans adhering to territorial needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformations that have taken place in the social and productive structures of economically advanced countries are to be correlated to a new structure of urban networks and territorial relations, from which it results that a vast series of activities and functions are to be considered no longer subject to localization constraints and thresholds dimensional. From this emerges a wider territorial participation in the development process, which ends up affecting the regional articulation, giving rise to the formation of reticular spatial structures [1]. It comes out the idea of sustainable mobility was than born, which was based on giving a greater role to public transport, pedestrian and bicycle movements, which are much more efficient, thanks to which you can in turn reduce time waste, pollutant emissions and increase safety at urban areas without limiting mobility. In light of these aspects, in this paper we highlight, in parallel, what has been achieved with a view to sustainability in two realities: Brindisi, a city in southern Italy, and Cracow, a Polish city. They are two realities that highlight what has been done and what are the indications coming from the stakeholders. It is possible to move in this direction for future planning and for the adoption of sustainable mobility plans adhering to territorial needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, the Covid-19 virus has become a global pandemic, which started in the Chinese province of Wuhan and spread around the world, The aim of the present study is to discuss the most important and latest methods of tracking Covid-19 patients and the strategies followed by developed countries in integrating digital technology to control the epidemic, it also covers the most important issues and discusses the difficulties these technologies as well as how people interact with and feel about the use of this type of technology. Among these methods used, are those developed by technology companies in cooperation with telecom companies, such as Covid-19 patient tracking applications that rely on raising case information. These applications have been effective (GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth), as also the most important prevention measures to be followed and symptoms that are likely to appear on infected or carriers of the virus have been announced by global health agencies, which have been accepted all over the world. In this paper we present. A progressive of digital solutions technologies from the methods used to confront COVID-19 since the appearance of the first case used to control and stop the spread of the pandemic and track infected people, to the contemporary technologies in use, depending on the country used for each of these strategies as well, in addition to the most prominent issues that impede these preventive methods. Then there are the advantage and disadvantages of these technologies, by analyzing the different features of contemporary technology in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, we provide a window of ideas for reviewing technological advances used to reduce and control the spread of the epidemic. Despite the emergence of various studies related to modern technology towards COVID-19, there are still limited applications and contributions of technology in this battle. On-going progress in modern technology has contributed to improving people's lives and hence there is a solid conviction that validated research plans including artificial intelligence will be of significant advantage in helping people to fight this infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experience of industrialized countries shows that a high level of organization of production is determined by a large share of products with high added value. Before independence, the Republic of Uzbekistan was a unilaterally developed economy, that is, a country producing only raw materials, now it is on its way to becoming a highly industrialized state, determining the path of development based on increased production and export of various types of finished products. To this end, the use of the cluster system was chosen as a priority to achieve a higher level of industrialization with the production of high value-added products. The research paper highlights the role, importance of industrialization in the economy of the republic, the advantages of using the cluster in the production of finished products with high added value in textile production, the possibility of improving the living standards of the population, especially with giving priority to the extensive use of the cluster in increasing the level of industrialization of the Fergana region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the recent decades, green technology policy has been widely discussed amongst academic scholars, industrial practitioners and policy makers. It is still considered as one of the significant features in regards to global sustainable consumption and production in many countries. Malaysia is no exception, to which the concept of green technology is still in its infancy as compared to that of developed nations. To this day, green technology, and inevitably its policies, have faced obstacles such as a lack of local expertise and minimal government initiatives, which in turn results in a lack of market demand towards sustainable production and consumption of green products and services. This article provides a comprehensive review of green technology and related policies that could provide a basis for further research in addressing the said concerns. Three questions are proposed in this paper, creating the foundation for conducting a research with regards to the importance of green technology policy within Malaysia, the challenges faced in its implementation, as well as its effectiveness against that of other developing countries. This in turn could potentially contribute towards the nation's progressive growth of national sustainable consumption and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents and analyses actual problems of quality of education in the world system for training of specialists. The current state of availability of genuine problems of education quality in the global system for training of specialists in many countries, including Ukraine, was examined. A number of previously unresolved aspects of the overall problem have been defined as impeding the implementation and development of the education quality system. The primary tasks required for the implementation of the education quality system in specialist training are also examined. The key directions for developing and improving the quality system of education in specialty training are established. The important for today criteria of quality of education necessary for realization of process of preparation of specialists was analysed. In the article was analysed the experience of advanced countries in solving some problems of education quality in for training of specialists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of digital technologies in all dimensions within modern society became possible as a result of the 4th Industrial Revolution. It leads to qualitative changes in all significant areas, including higher education, and makes its digital transformation inevitable. At the initial stage the introduction of digital technologies into educational activities was an initiative of some Higher education institutions, but now this process acquires a systemic character in most countries with developed educational systems. The governments of these countries adopt the general digitalization strategies, as well as strategies for digital transformation of science and higher education. The article focuses on tertiary education. The digital transformation of higher education is associated with the development of digital services, infrastructure modernization, data management and human resources. The paper identifies trends in education digital development. The authors carried out the ranking assessment of countries' potential for digital technologies development. For the ranking six key indicators in twelve countries with the most developed education systems located on different continents were taking into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purchasing power parity theory (PPP), one of the widely investigated areas in International Finance, proposes that prices of goods ought to be the same in both local and foreign economies or internationally. This paper examined the PPP theory for a group of 16 developed countries using powerful statistical panel data analyses that put into consideration dependence on cross-sections in panel data. The paper used the Pesaran panel unit root test, the cointegration test of Westerlund, the linear Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effect Mean Group (CCEMG) estimators. In addition, this study extended the linear AMG and CCEMG estimators to nonlinear AMG and CCEMG estimators in examining the long-run PPP theory. The test of unit root revealed that all the variables are integrated of order one. Since all variables were I(1), tests of cointegration were conducted to see whether there are long-run relationships amongst the variables. The tests of cointegration depicted the appearance of long-run relationships and hence, the occurrence of PPP in this group of countries. Furthermore, the long-run relationship was evaluated using both linear (AMG and CCEMG) and the extended nonlinear (AMG and CCEMG) estimators. It was seen that the PPP theory is valid in the long-run and there is nominal exchange rate appreciation and depreciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores has been gaining a lot of attention in both the academic research and the industry practices. A voluminous study has examined the effects of ESG scores on the operating performances and market performances of the firm and found mix results. Although the dominant literature provided the evidence of positive impact of ESG scores on firm's performance, most of the studies have focused only on developed countries, hence still there is a lack of empirical findings in developing countries. The aim the paper was to provide preliminary analysis on the value relevance of ESG disclosure in Indonesian listed banks. The study observed a sample of five listed banks in the period 2009-2019. Using multiple regression analyses, the study finds that ESG disclosure has a value relevance. The finding is robust, even after controlling for internal and market performance of the bank. Further analysis shows that the social component of ESG is the driver of the value relevance of ESG in banks. The study argues that the focus of Indonesian banks' CSR activities is on the society, therefore the social aspects of ESG affect the market value of the banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet of Things (IoT) becomes the backbone of the advanced countries and it has a real contribute to exchange the traditional style or way of practical life, even personal life into smart style, with (IoT) technology the life become more and more easy and professional. Internet of Things achieves various applications coordinate with sensors and standard protocols to apply what is called machine -to- machine connection (M2M), in this paper we will talk more about the concept of (M2M), the main component of internet of things and finally the common protocols that is used in network, in addition to that this work present an IOT operation with processing system using camera for capturing image and Xilinx system generator(XSG)models for designing image processing algorithms and the result of the processing is an image with black and white for edge detection, thresholding models and gray color image for gray enhancement model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transgenic animal refers to an animal that has purposefully had its genome modified by direct human interference to achieve a specific modification goal. This method involves foreign DNA being introduced to the animal using recombinant DNA techniques. Usually, animal modifications are done for specific purposes, like for aesthetics, creating animals that glow in the dark to those that are designed purposely for agricultural and economic output like fast-growing salmon to supplement existing production capacities. Also, to monitor newly produced drugs or a new medical technique treatment of disease before applying on humans aiming to protect potential side effects. Whatever the purpose of creating such exotic organisms are human curiosity and capacity to modify life itself is here to stay. In this paper, we present a review of the advantages and disadvantages of this approach since it was first introduced to the world and subsequent discoveries gathered in the few decades since the promises and limitations of creating transgenic animals and organizations which are responsible for controlling regulations have also been outlined. We also looked into the rules and regulations guiding this very sensitive scientific endeavor by various international and national bodies (with emphasis on developed countries regarding transgenic animals). We highlighted some of the modern scientific developments that promise to have a massive impact in the field of genetically engineering animals. In the end, the future of using the technique, or risk potentials was reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of the study is due to the increasing number of cyber-attacks on management automation systems, among which computer sabotage occupies a special place. In this class of cybercrime, risk dynamics as the probability of occurrence of damages of a certain value are studied. Risk dynamics is tracked over the past five years for the most developed countries and globally. It is shown that both the frequency and the severity of computer sabotage, despite the pandemic, are steadily increasing. This calls for international and national action. The findings of this paper prove that computer crime of the "computer sabotage" type should be seen as a separate type of computer crime, with a tendency to grow. Today it has become a cross-border phenomenon, and combating it only within national territories will not be as effective as it should be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold formed steel sections are extensively used in developed countries for a wide range of applications like roofs in the form of deck sheeting and also as structural elements like beam and column. In a developing country like India, where use of conventional hot rolled steel sections itself is in developing stages, the use of cold formed steel is very less. But if cold formed built-up sections are developed efficiently, cold formed sections can be used for wide range of applications where spans are minimum and fewer loads are acting. Structural behaviour of cold formed sections based on the different type of fasteners was studied in this paper. Behaviour of cold formed sections mainly based on welding and bolts are compared and studied. Strength aspects of cold formed sections due to different types of fasteners along with their mode of connection was studied. Studies shows significant changes in behaviour of similar members were obtained by varying the type of fasteners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrosion has been in existence since man began to process ores into metals. Corrosion is the deterioration of a metal due to its interaction with its environment. This paper highlights the global and economic effects of corrosion in the society and amongst various industries. Extensive research is required regarding corrosion control methods and this should be carried out by companies and countries concerned. Failure to do so would result in more damage than could be predicted. Extreme consequences of corrosion are seen in loss of lives as well as buildings, bridges, etc. High rise structures have collapsed due to deterioration of certain parts of their construction material. Some developed countries already spend millions of dollars on extensive research on the control of corrosion so as to prevent losses of property and lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its growing importance, warehouse operation needs visibility and traceability to reduce complexity and streamline its processes. Employing Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology to enable real-time visibility and traceability has become a trend in warehouse operation today, especially in advanced economies or developed countries. However, in developing countries, digitalization through the use of IoT is more challenging due to various limitations. With this knowledge, the purpose of this study is to develop a framework for designing an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure in the context of developing countries. Following the study's purpose, a literature review and situation analysis were conducted. This study proposes a viable framework that can be used by companies in developing countries to design their own IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure. The proposed framework can drive companies to move towards industry 4.0 in.terms of digitalizing warehouse operation, which can also drive the economic growth of the country. This study also offers a theoretical insight for academia or researchers to direct a future study and practical knowledge for practitioners to make better decisions for their businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its growing importance, warehouse operation needs visibility and traceability to reduce complexity and streamline its processes. Employing Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology to enable real-time visibility and traceability has become a trend in warehouse operation today, especially in advanced economies or developed countries. However, in developing countries, digitalization through the use of IoT is more challenging due to various limitations. With this knowledge, the purpose of this study is to develop a framework for designing an IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure in the context of developing countries. Following the study's purpose, a literature review and situation analysis were conducted. This study proposes a viable framework that can be used by companies in developing countries to design their own IoT-based smart warehouse infrastructure. The proposed framework can drive companies to move towards industry 4.0 in.terms of digitalizing warehouse operation, which can also drive the economic growth of the country. This study also offers a theoretical insight for academia or researchers to direct a future study and practical knowledge for practitioners to make better decisions for their businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been seen accelerating and improving the quality of life of many people around the world, including the people in developing countries. Since its commencement in the early 1990s, the Internet has virtually provided access to various kinds of materials, for various purposes. Since then, the authors have discussed extensively the virtual services through the e-readiness of developed countries. In contrast, there is a gap in this issue, where only limited works have been carried out on assessing the e-readiness in developing countries. This includes the Arab nations, particularly Iraq. Therefore, this paper address this gap by identifying the main factors e-readiness for the public sector in Iraq that fit with the Iraqi situation in addition to determining the level of e-readiness of Iraqi organizations in public sector. The results showed that the human capabilities and successful policies of the Ministry of Science and Technology that used to administrate the E-Business played a key role in increasing the electronic readiness of the department and starting towards the transformation of e-governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developed countries dominate the city logistics literature, which discusses the real cases that occur, and the numbers of cases have significantly increased over time. One hand, it is argued that the city characteristics in developed countries differ from those in developing countries. Different characteristics generate different problems and also a different approach to problem-solving. This paper provides practices of city logistics in developing countries. The purpose of the present study is to identify typical city logistics problems and the dominant factors of city logistics practices in developing countries. This paper describes literature-based research that has sought to understand the practices of city logistics in developing countries. The literature review process used a bibliometric analysis and followed by a systematic literature review to organize 132 papers relating to the concept and the practice of city logistics. We identify the typical problems or subjects of city logistics that emerged in developing countries are related to transportation networks, routing, loading and unloading systems, and collaborative planning. Meanwhile, several factors that are often considered in city logistics in developing countries are transportation network, dense of the urban area, the scale of distribution, service level, and the mission of administrator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As per World Health Organization (WHO), the Corona virus Covid-19 is a pandemic disease. This virus transmits from one person to another. It has affected the whole world economy and health. It has affected not only the developing countries but also developed countries. Rural areas, as well as urban areas, have been affected by this virus. Every part of the world is affected by this disease. This decease affects to the all aged group human beings. In this pandemic situation, the government of India and many other countries have decided to lockdown. Due to this lockdown period, many industries are getting shut down. Manufacturers and industrialists have faced various problems. In this manuscript, different industry sectors have been taken for the study and focused on the challenges they have faced and the positive and negative impacts of lockdown in India. The effects of pandemics on industries for different aspects are discussed in this manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article widely accepted fact that refrigerants, especially chlorofluorocarbons (R-12 and family) used in present day vapor compression cycles are having a detrimental effect on the earth's upper atmosphere. The United States and most industrialized nations have formally agreed to reduce and ban the production of these chemicals. The automotive air-conditioning industry is greatly affected by this change. Eighty percent of the new cars sold today have on-board air conditioners which are difficult to seal permanently against refrigerant leakage. While most of the industry is concentrating on finding less dangerous forms of chlorofluorocarbons, it must be realized that this would only be a temporary solution. Recent EPA findings show that by 1990 there was cumulative 5% reduction in the ozone layer over the United States. This could, if continued, lead to over 12 million cancer cases and 200,000 deaths over the next 50 years. Energy from the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine is used to power an absorption refrigeration system to air-condition an ordinary passenger car. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, acute myocardial infarction has become a public health problem attracting worldwide attention. Various countries have adopted various public health policies, among which the quality improvement plan for acute myocardial infarction is the most important part of the measures, which effectively reduces the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction. However, at the same time, the quality improvement plans of various countries still have many inadequacies, which are more worthy of our reflection and improvement. This article will compare the major public health policies of China and developed countries in the United States in dealing with acute myocardial infarction, and then provide reference for improving the quality of life of patients with acute myocardial infarction in China and improving the hospitalization rescue rate of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of human mortality pattern is a significant area for any nation to maintain a good social-economy in the next projection decades. The declining in mortality trend gives a good impression of what the nation has done towards macro citizen in one nation. Selection of mortality tool can be complex based on the method and analysis approach adapted. Lee-Carter model is adapted because of its simplicity and reliability of the outcome results. Implementation of Lee-Carter in finding a fitting model and hence its projection has been used worldwide in most of mortality research in developed countries. This paper studies the mortality pattern of Malaysia using original model of Lee-Carter and its extension of Hyndman-Ullah. The data is indexed by age of death and year of death from 1984 to 2012, in which are supplied by Department of Statistics Malaysia. The modeling results are modeled using Rstudio and the keen analysis can be focus on Malaysia’s social-economics and insurance related aspect. This paper can be extended to another variety of Lee-Carter extensions and any stochastic mortality tools by using same mortality data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the world women are underrepresented in physics and related career fields. This can be explained by the fact that women are not given access to various resources and opportunities. Even in developed countries such as Italy, Spain, and China, women have fewer resources and opportunities than men. The situation is worse in less developed countries and especially in African countries where gender consideration remains a major matter. The overall attitude tends to underestimate women in strategic careers and positions. It is sad that very few women are represented in science and technology. Furthermore, the percentage of women in science, especially in physics, can be viewed as meaningless compared to men in our country. Previous studies have shown that in Cameroon, the percentage of women in physics drops sharply at the postgraduate level and, consequently for physics careers, for instance, in the teaching sector. It is worth noting that in Cameroon, women have made little progress in physics in the last few years. It is still challenging to overcome the barriers that hinder their success in physics. In this paper, the statistics of women enrolled in physics and women teaching physics in Cameroonian universities and their career paths are presented and discussed. Some recommendations are made in order to improve and encourage women in physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outcome Based Education (OBE) is becoming the academic ringtone of the higher educational institutions of Indian nation. The incorporation of this system of education from the developed countries is intended to enhance the standards of present teaching and learning process to create graduates with attributes pertaining to the three domains of cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Inspite of the implementation of OBE, the objection against this system of education is still climbing its peak, which puts the educational experts in the state of chaos.To uphold such circumstances of commotions, it is essential to determine and rank the impacts of OBE in a systematic and scientific manner, to substantiate the efficiency of this contemporary system of education over the conventional. To make the ranking of the benefits in a highly organized and logical way, the concept of Linguistic concentric Fuzzy hypergraph is introduced in this paper. A new ranking model adjoining Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) and Linguistic Concentric Fuzzy Hypergraphs (LCFHG) is proposed in this research work to unlock the pathways of determining optimal decisions by the decision makers in the field of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have been conducted in studying the inflation-growth relationship. However, the relationship remains a contentious issue if there exists a trade-off between inflation and growth. We extend the study by considering the threshold relationship on inflation-growth by applying the static panel threshold regression (SPTR). The panel data study involves 18 developed countries over the period 1980–2016. Testing with inflation rate as threshold variable, our results capture the existence of threshold relationship between inflation and growth due to influences of inflation, producer price, trade openness, interest rate and population growth. In the first regime where the inflation rate is below or equal to threshold value, higher inflation is associated with higher output growth, implying a trade-off relationship exists. The higher threshold level of inflation is compensated with higher growth. Other determinants of growth include producer price, trade-openness, exchange rate, interest rate and population growth. Among these determinants, exchange rate and trade-openness have significant direct effect on growth. Although higher inflation may boost the economic growth, the policymaker should control the level of inflation in order to balance the objective of high growth and stable/lower inflation rate. Our result proven that higher inflation rate may lead to higher growth up to a certain threshold value, when exceed the threshold value, higher inflation may harm the economy. This is important for stable and sustainable economic growth in a longer term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper focus on Solid waste management. Its comprises of purposeful and systematic control of generation, storage, collection, transport, separations, processing, recycling, recovery and disposal of solid waste. Awareness of Four R's management & EMS support also for management Solid waste. Basel convention on the Control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their Disposal usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). it came into force 5 May 1992. According to this 'Substances or objects which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provisions of national law'(UNEP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies need to become more environmentally conscious in their actions and business-based operations. In developed countries, there is an increased pressure towards this direction enforced by legal requirements. Moreover, a notion of sustainability is more and more perceived as a business advantage and as part of a successful company’s business models [1, 2]. Companies have various options on how to innovate their products, operations and business models to be more sustainable by e.g. addressing growing income inequality [3] and minimizing their own impact on the deterioration of our natural livelihood [4]. To identify suitable options companies often collaborate with higher education institutions to develop innovative ideas. And within this realm, lies option for collaboration in the form of hackathons and e.g. code camps. These events are great sources of innovation and these special cases they also did support collaboration driven sustainability innovation seeding too. This work is based on case studies and experience-based evidence on how companies were successful in generating ideas for their operations and new potential options for new implementation directions to support higher levels of circularity in their supply chains. Additionally, companies have been able to improve their services to support their customers’ actions to minimize energy consumption and improve operations to positively affect CO2 emissions thus reducing their carbon footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil is one of the most important natural resources and its exploitation, preservation and regeneration are huge challenges for modern industrial society. For this reason it is essential to have innovative, efficient, cost-effective and reliable technologies for the decontamination and soil remediation. These technologies should be flexibly applicable for a wide spectrum of contaminants. Beside other biological, physical and chemical methods, research on thermally-supported soil remediation methods has increased over the last years. Due to a controlled heating of soil, the mobility of pollutants, their water solubility and their vapor pressures can be enhanced. To support biodegradation of pollutants, the maximum activity of most microorganisms can be realized by moderate heating independent of ambient temperature and seasonal conditions. A new technological approach for direct heating of large volumes of contaminated soil using radio-frequency (RF) energy is described. This method can be used to thermally enhance a variety of remediation techniques such as biodegradation and soil vapor extraction. The technical basis, a container-based modular and mobile radio-frequency platform is presented and the benefits of this platform working under harsh field conditions are demonstrated. Additionally, aspects of electromagnetic compatibility, system reliability and safety are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]