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This study uniquely employs a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) technique to account for complex relationships in consumption. The fsQCA technique assumes that relationships are based on a set–subset relationship. This assumption is fundamental when decision-makers are affected by information asymmetry and are, thus, required to jointly evaluate the credibility and reliability of a range of external signals. This issue also affects consumers in markets for cultural goods, where the quality of products is not known with certainty in advance of the purchase decision. Our study uses fsQCA to establish the effect of different quality signals on consumption in the US market for video game software. Our results show that reviews from professional critics alongside brand extension and multi-platform release strategies act as signals of product quality and, therefore, lead to high sales performance.

Environmental issues are of especially great importance to younger individuals, such as university students. Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are a proven methodology for transforming short-term study abroad to yield higher impact and quality student outcomes, especially as they relate to teaching environmental sustainability. This paper offers a review of tested pedagogical frameworks, provides evidence to substantiate this statement from assessment data, and offers insights on how to develop and implement an international CURE. It also shares how embedding CUREs into innovative and high-quality short-term study abroad experiences can work to positively transform the post COVID-19 era of short-term study abroad. Several case studies are presented that document how students’ hands-on involvement in developing questions about real-world sustainability issues, devising and carrying out group research, and presenting their findings affect their acquisition of scientific skills and a sustainability-oriented mindset.

Tourism eco-efficiency is an important indicator that has often been applied to measure the quality of green tourism development. This paper takes the 31 provinces of China as examples to analyze regional tourism eco-efficiency. By constructing multiple input and output indicator systems for regional tourism, we estimated the eco-efficiency of 31 provinces in 1997&ndash, 2016 using an undesirable output model of a slack-based model (undesirable-SBM) for data envelopment analysis (DEA). Then, we analyzed the spatial&ndash, temporal evolutionary trends and patterns of the eco-efficiency over 20 years by using the Hot Spot Model and Spatial Center of Gravity Model. Finally, we explored the driving forces internal and external to the tourism eco-economic system using the Panel Tobit Regression Model and Geodetector Model, respectively. The results show that: In the last 20 years, the tourism eco-efficiency of provinces in China declined, though tourism has experienced rapid but extensive development. The western regions of China, which have better eco-environmental conditions, and the southeastern coastal regions, which have higher levels of economic development, have higher tourism eco-efficiency. Regions with lower tourism eco-efficiency show diffusion trends, while regions with higher tourism eco-efficiency are characterized by a lack of obvious space spillover effects. Technology is the core driving force of regional tourism eco-efficiency, while traffic conditions and social civilization levels are key external influence factors leading to improvement of tourism eco-efficiency. The research results reveal the great significance of laws for sustainable green tourism development with different economic levels in the different regions. Our work could provide a reference for similar countries and regions in the world with the rapid growth of tourism or obvious spatial differentiation in socioeconomic development.

Eco-driving is a multidimensional concept that includes driving behavior, route selection and all other choices or behaviors related to the vehicles’ fuel consumption (e.g., the use of quality fuel, the use of air conditioning, driving at peak hours, etc.). The scope of this paper is to present an overview of recent literature referring to eco-driving and developed models for calculating fuel consumption, as well as the most important factors affecting it. Recent literature contains a large number of models that estimate fuel consumption, based on naturalistic driving data, which are collected using smartphones and OBDs. In this work, the existing literature is critically assessed in relation to conceptual, methodological and data related aspects. The analyses result to a set of limitations and challenges that are further discussed in the framework of system wide implementations for deriving policies that increase drivers’ awareness, but also improve system performance.

The growing demand for promoting the role of higher education institutions in sustainability has contributed to creating new partnerships with other actors. In the field of education, the formation of cooperative education (co-op) partnerships was adopted as a strategy for work-integrated learning in cooperation with industry. This study investigated the effectiveness of co-op partnerships and the factors that influence them in the context of tertiary agriculture education in Saudi Arabia. A random sample of 130 co-op students was selected within the Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences delivered by the College of Food and Agriculture Sciences at King Saud University. The satisfaction level of students was explored in terms of four main areas, namely, the quality of the program design, organizational climate, personal and professional qualities, and program learning outcomes. The majority of students (70%) were highly satisfied with the quality of the program design, while they had a moderate level of satisfaction regarding the organizational climate of the co-op program (74.6%). Furthermore, 85.4% of students were highly satisfied regarding the learning outcomes they gained. The results also revealed that there were significant positive relationships between the level of satisfaction of students regarding program learning outcomes and their quality assessments of the program design, personal and professional qualities, and organizational climate. The measurement scale used in this study may assist in assessing the sustainability of co-op partnerships. Moreover, understanding the satisfaction level of students can help to identify areas that should be improved and, in turn, contribute to improving the governance and sustainability of co-op partnerships for all stakeholders.

The innovation capability of enterprises is reflected in whether their products and services can meet the needs of customers and adapt to the market. After analyzing the main differences between traditional manufacturing enterprises and intelligent manufacturing enterprises, it is proposed that intelligent manufacturing enterprises share the main characteristics of digitization, automation, platformization and flat manufacturing. Based on the theory of “ambidextrous innovation”, this paper analyzes the mechanism of the innovation capability of intelligent manufacturing enterprises and notes that informatization and intellectualization are the driving forces between the innovation capability of enterprises. In addition, a “dual drive” and “ambidextrous innovation” have a direct effect on manufacturing and management, promoting products and services and comprehensively improving the quality of such products and services to enhance the core competitiveness of intelligent manufacturing enterprises. A compound dual innovation capability model for intelligent manufacturing enterprises is constructed, and the evaluation indices of the model are provided for reference. The present work provides research focuses and a theoretical framework for follow-up research on the innovation capability of intelligent manufacturing enterprises to promote the innovation and development of intelligent manufacturing enterprises.

For promoting pedestrian mobility, the quality levels of pedestrian paths should be increased. Many researchers suggest methodologies for determining the pedestrian level of service. Among these, some studies consider both paths’ physical characteristics and users’ perception about the walkways. Investigating users’ perceptions represents a good strategy for implementing interventions aimed at increasing the quality of service. The aim is recording pedestrians’ perceptions about the characteristics of the path and detecting the choices they would make in a hypothetical scenario. This work proposes the design of a Stated Preferences survey and the analysis of the preliminary results. A questionnaire was sent out to a sample of 240 pedestrians, prevalently students, about a walkway located in the University Campus of Rende (Italy). The collected data were analyzed by means of a discrete choice model for assessing the importance assigned by pedestrians to each aspect included in the analysis. The results showed that the environment can be considered as the most important aspect for young pedestrians, while the width of the path is not significant. The outcomes also highlighted the aspects it is necessary to change in order to make pedestrian paths increasingly attractive and to encourage users towards active mobility.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines worldwide have enforced strict travel restrictions, driving passengers to seek alternative transportations such as High-Speed Railway (HSR). Nevertheless, the current understanding of HSR travelers’ behavior is scarce. Moreover, despite the extensive application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explain and predict patrons and tourists’ behavior in the tourism and hospitality context, little research has employed this theory to examine HSR travelers’ processes in making travelling decisions. This study developed a research model by integrating perceived quality into the TPB and examined the relation between HSR passengers’ service quality and intention to travel in the future and the mediating effect of TPB attributes. It is found that perceived train service quality and perceived travel quality have a significant influence on the TPB attributes, which further influence HSR travelers’ travel intention. This study contributes practical implications to destinations and the travel industry that they might attract visitors by marketing the corresponding HSR train service quality and travel experience quality. This also provides recovery guidelines for the transportation and travel industry after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper investigates how firms can enjoy a sustainable business even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The adoption of lean coordination mechanisms over the supply chain (SC) and lean approaches in omnichannel strategies can guarantee the business sustainability and resilience. Furthermore, we investigate whether business sustainability, along with digitalization through mobile apps, Artificial Intelligence systems, and Big Data and Machine Learning enable firms’ resilience. We first explore the background on the subject, identify the research gap, and develop some research hypotheses to be tested. Then, we present the data collection process and the sample, which finally consists of firms from different sectors, including retailing, electronics, pharmaceutics, and agriculture. Several logistic regression models are developed and estimated to generate findings and managerial insights. Our results show that a lean omnichannel approach is an effective practice to preserve production costs, SC visibility, inventory available over the SC, and sales. Furthermore, lean coordination with contracts can make a business sustainable by preserving quality, ROI, production costs, customer service, and inventory availability. Finally, firms can be highly sustainable through resilience when they engage in sustainable ROI, SC visibility, and sales, in contrast, the adoption of mobile apps worsens firms’ resilience, which is not influenced by Artificial Intelligence and Big Data and Machine Learning.

Recently, passenger comfort and user experience are becoming increasingly relevant for the railway operators and, therefore, for railway manufacturers as well. The main reason for this to happen is that comfort is a clear differential value considered by passengers as final customers. Passengers’ comfort is directly related to the accelerations received through the car-body of the train. For this reason, suspension and damping components must be maintained in perfect condition, assuring high levels of comfort quality. An early detection of any potential failure in these systems derives in a better maintenance inspections’ planification and in a more sustainable approach to the whole train maintenance strategy. In this paper, an optimized model based on neural networks is trained in order to predict lateral car-body accelerations. Comparing these predictions to the values measured on the train, a normal characterisation of the lateral dynamic behaviour can be determined. Any deviation from this normal characterisation will imply a comfort loss or a potential degradation of the suspension and damping components. This model has been trained with a dataset from a specific train unit, containing variables recorded every second during the year 2017, including lateral and vertical car-body accelerations, among others. A minimum average error of 0.034 m/s2 is obtained in the prediction of lateral car-body accelerations. This means that the average error is approximately 2.27% of the typical maximum estimated values for accelerations in vehicle body reflected in the EN14363 for the passenger coaches (1.5 m/s2). Thus, a successful model is achieved. In addition, the model is evaluated based on a real situation in which a passenger noticed a lack of comfort, achieving excellent results in the detection of atypical accelerations. Therefore, as it is possible to measure acceleration deviations from the standard behaviour causing lack of comfort in passengers, an alert can be sent to the operator or the maintainer for a non-programmed intervention at depot (predictive maintenance) or on board (prescriptive maintenance). As a result, a condition-based maintenance (CBM) methodology is proposed to avoid comfort degradation that could end in passenger complaints or speed limitation due to safety reasons for excessive acceleration. This methodology highlights a sustainable maintenance concept and an energy efficiency strategy.

The present study was driven by the assumption that a key feature of sustainable education is its ability to preserve standards of quality even amid unforeseen, potentially disruptive events. It asked whether students’ academic success in math general education courses differed between synchronous online (during the COVID-19 pandemic) and face-to-face (before the pandemic), under the ancillary assumption that computational competency, a pillar of sustainable education, shapes enduring success in a variety of professional fields. As the early identification of at-risk students and ensuing remedial interventions can bring about academic success, the study also investigated the predictive validity of students’ initial performance in online and face-to-face math courses. Two general education courses (introductory calculus and statistics), taught by the same instructor, were selected. Class grades did not differ between instructional modes, thereby providing no evidence for the widespread concern that the switch to the online mode had damaged learning. Yet, during the semester, test and homework performance were differentially sensitive to modes of instruction. Furthermore, both test and homework performance during the first half of the semester predicted class grades in online courses, whereas only test performance predicted class grades in face-to-face courses. These results suggest that sustainable math education in times of crisis is feasible and that educators’ consideration of the differential predictive value of test and homework performance may aid its attainment.

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic induced a rapid shift to online education. University instructors promptly reinvented their teaching methods and developed digital lessons. Cooperative learning has been demonstrated to surpass lecture-based learning (LBL) regarding students’ learning processes, therefore, the question arises as to whether the perks of cooperative learning still hold when switching to online education. This study examines whether the benefits of team-based learning (TBL) regarding good teaching (i.e., perceived teaching quality), satisfaction, and performance persist when switching from face-to-face to online education. A quasi-experiment in an undergraduate advanced accounting course compared a non-COVID-19-affected semester to a COVID-19-affected semester. In both semesters, students could choose between a TBL and a LBL path for tutorial sessions. Quantitative survey data (N = 455) indicate TBL outperforms LBL, even when switching to online tools. Good teaching was perceived as even better in the COVID-19-affected semester, and even more so by students in the team-based setting, compared to the lecture-based setting. Students’ course satisfaction and performance were unaffected by the switch to online education. This paper shows that TBL still benefits students, even in a blended environment.

Higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) adopted a distance/online learning approach during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to ensure that students were safe while they received an uninterrupted, high-quality education off-campus. This was the first time that all of the higher education institutions adopted this approach. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct this study to gain insight into graduate students’ experiences in distance learning and to verify whether these experiences are linked to their achievements. The purpose of this study was to examine graduate students’ experiences toward online and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in the academic year 2020–2021 and their academic achievement. A questionnaire was developed for this study and sent online to graduate students’ emails with the coordination of the College of Graduate Studies at a higher education institution in the UAE. The study received 138 responses. The data was analyzed using IBMSPSS-26. The findings of the study showed that graduate students’ level of Engagement, ease of Communication, and quality of learning Experience with online/distance learning were related significantly to their overall academic achievement.

The emerging population has increased travel demand and improved public transport mode in cities to connect the people. (1) Background: This study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to assess the usage behavior for city rail transport with the factors attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control and its impact on pro-behavioral intentions to increase the actual usage of rail transports, i.e., LRT, MRT, and KTM commuter. (2) Method/Approach: To understand the antecedents of pro-environment behavioral intention, this study performed pilot testing, for which we collected the data through closed-ended questionnaires to test the instrument’s reliability, specifically from the Klang Valley in Malaysia. (3) Findings/Results: This study revealed that the public attitude due to environmental concern and subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are the strongest predictors for public transport usage through behavioral intention. The study estimated that most respondents would have agreed to choose public transport mode if quality of services increased. (4) Conclusion: In future research, the goal of this study could be extended as a strategic indicator for sustainable development through efficient mobility choice in Malaysia. The TPB model helps to present the factors involved in growing and retaining clients for rail transport. In terms of implications for policy, this study also provides policymakers with valuable information to maintain the current public transport passengers and attract new users through the perceived service quality and customer satisfaction of public transport.

In the rising new global economic and social period, after the COVID-19 pandemic, traceability is expected to be a critical parameter for the selection of foods by consumers worldwide. Accordingly, traditional foods (TFs) can become the foods of choice in the new era due to their originality, authenticity, unique organoleptic properties, and locality. In this paper, the consumers’ perception on traceability regarding Greek TFs and northwest Greek TFs is investigated, in order to find out the specific information they require for the purchase of these foods. Traceability was tested using variables related to package, product, quality, process, and personal information of these foods. A self-response questionnaire survey was carried out in September and October 2021 on a sample of 1707 participants through the Google platform. The results show that the participants consider traceability regarding questions on package information “quite important” and “very important” by an average of 68%, on food information by 64%, on quality information by 69%, on production process information by 78%, and on personal information by 65%. A similar pattern was recorded for the regional northwest Greek TFs for information on production process, personal, and package data, although there was a significant increase in the perception by the participants for data related to food information itself by 87% and more related to quality information by 94%.

Sustainability standards have not yet been commonly adopted by the whole wine chain, and indicator assessments are not widely spread. A deep understanding of how embedding sustainability into business while controlling costs related to the adoption of sustainability certification standards such as data collection and management practices could allow one to overcome most barriers relevant to sustainability compliance. Blockchain technology (BCT) may answer these needs. In order to verify BCT potential to be used as a sustainability management tool in the wine industry, with a qualitative triple bottom line research approach, this article explores the connections among BCT adoption in agri-food, issues posed by wine sustainability certification, and whether wine companies that already own a wine sustainability certification are prepared to adopt it. Results show that (1) the blockchain allows collecting data and information that are relevant for monitoring and improving sustainability: Soil and water features, climate conditions, treatment with pesticides and fertilizers, production process, traceability, transparency, labor and human rights, quality and safety, waste reduction, authenticity, relationship with stakeholders; (2) wine companies that already own a sustainability certification have little familiarity with blockchain applications (57.1%, n.21) and only 14% of the respondents support their intention to invest in BCT in the coming years; (3) the case study shows improvements in traceability and transparency along the supply chain and an increase in consumers’ trust that was reflected in sales growth, and the main costs are linked to complexity in data management.

The availability of open, relevant, and up-to-date public data is becoming an increasingly important dimension of national competitiveness and sustainable development. It serves as a foundation for novel technologies, such as big data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, to take root and flourish, and it can help improve the quality and efficiency of government decision making and render governments more transparent and accessible to the public. Often referred as Open Government Data, or OGD, governments around the world have committed resources to constructing various OGD platforms. However, building a robust and effective OGD system has proved difficult, as the promise of OGD has not been realized fully around the world. At this important juncture, this study aims to explore the relationship between national technological and organizational capacities and environmental factor and the quality of OGD systems. In addition, national innovativeness and the degree of “globalization” in a country and their moderating effects between the predictors and OGD performance are examined. Our findings indicate strong positive effects of national technological capacity, government organization capacity, and globalization on OGD quality and a positive moderating effect of national innovativeness.

In order to survive in today’s highly competitive global market, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have had to transition from sequential to concurrent product development, which significantly shortens development cycles, reduces costs, and ensures high product quality. Despite its many benefits, concurrent product development is still based on detailed upfront planning and cannot address the challenges related to today’s ever-growing uncertainty, constantly changing environment, and unstable requirements. A potential solution to this problem could be in more flexible and value-driven agile project management (APM) approaches, typical of software development. In this paper, we propose a new product development model specifically appropriate for SMEs that combines concurrent product development principles with APM elements. It is designed as a loop of five repetitive steps (macroplan, microplan, iteration activities, review, and retrospective) that are being executed within individual concurrent development loops. The application of the model is presented on a real case example of process development and small batch manufacture of a complex wiring harness. The study reveals many benefits of the proposed model, such as improved communication, faster detection of discrepancies, more effective problem solving, and greater flexibility. A positive impact on project success is also observed.

The effect of digital transformation on enterprise technological innovation is reflected in quantity and quality, which may show heterogeneity. In this regard, this paper uses the data of China’s A-share agricultural listed companies from 2015 to 2020 to compare the differential impact of enterprise digital transformation from the perspective of quantity and quality of technological innovation. Firstly, the Tobit model is used to test whether there are differences in the impact of digital transformation on the quantity and quality of technological innovation of agricultural enterprises, and heterogeneity is tested according to the nature of enterprises. Secondly, this paper explores the reasons digital transformation has different effects on the quantity and quality of technological innovation through mechanism analysis. Finally, according to the threshold model, the conditions for digital transformation to promote the quantity and quality of technological innovation of agricultural enterprises are discussed. The empirical results show that, first, the digital transformation of agricultural enterprises only promotes the number of technological innovations, and there is heterogeneity in the nature of enterprises, but the innovation efficiency is not affected. Second, the period expense rate will lead to digital transformation, having different effects on the quantity and efficiency of technological innovation of agricultural enterprises. Third, the impact of digital transformation on the technological innovation efficiency of agricultural enterprises has a significant single threshold effect, and when the period expense rate is less than the threshold, the digital transformation has a significant role in promotion.

In general, the long-term maintenance planning of residential buildings is performed based on uniform repair times. However, in fact, various factors, such as the quality and user patterns, affect the performance of residential building components in the Operation and Maintenance (O&amp, M) phase. Hence, various residential building components are repaired at uncertain times, acting as a risk for the residential building maintenance plan. Therefore, an efficient maintenance plan should be established considering maintenance uncertainty. In this regard, this study aims to analyze the uncertainty of repair times for various finishing works in residential buildings based on a probabilistic methodology and outline the implications for the establishment of efficient maintenance strategies in these buildings. Hence, 47,344 repair data for 63 buildings in 12 public residential building complexes completed between 1991 and 2001 in the Republic of Korea were used for analysis. Before the analysis, a repair time matrix was constructed by classifying the finishing works in 25 types and setting service life times to 6–26 years. The repair time distribution for each finishing work was then derived. Results confirmed that basic repair time setting can be performed and various information for reasonable maintenance decision making regarding each finishing work can be provided through a probabilistic approach. The probabilistic approach can be used as a critical decision-making method because there is uncertainty associated with the repair time of each finishing work owing to the performance degradations of various finishing works due to complex causes. Although this study focused on repair time owing to data collection limitations, maintenance strategies with strategic flexibility can be established by developing probabilistic methods that simultaneously consider frequency and cost by securing additional high-quality cost data.

Since there is a lack of a strong CSR platform in the Iranian corporate environment, especially in the food and pharmaceutical industries, the proposed and existing strategies can be utilized to empower employees and the general public, improve executive processes, improve quality and customer satisfaction, and finally, organize financial and accounting reports. Hence, this study seeks to determine and evaluate strategies to improve the concepts and domain of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of food and pharmaceutical industries in Iran based on the requirements of sustainable development theory. This study analyzes the data of 22 companies active in the food and pharmaceutical industries listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) over a period of six years (2014–2019). Eighty-three indicators were used to evaluate the performance of social responsibility based on economic, social and environmental dimensions. The Pareto approach has been used to determine the most important unmet current requirements. Then, using the Delphi method and content validity, appropriate strategies were determined. Finally, a correlation matrix was used to determine the most important and comprehensive strategies. Findings showed that 14 requirements in the field of corporate social responsibility are of great importance and with six strategies, the necessary measures to meet those requirements can be covered.

This study attempts to explore the role of certification bodies on the formation of customer behavioral intentions. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from hotel customers in Spain. The results of the structural equation modeling indicate that a certified hotel’s image will positively influence stay intention and willingness to pay a premium. At the same time, awareness of, and trust in, certification bodies both have a positive effect on a certified hotel’s image. Finally, awareness of certification bodies also exerts a positive effect on trust in certification bodies. The results offer hoteliers potential strategies for customer behavioral intentions enhancement.

In the production system, the production of a perfect item is essential for existing competitive market situations. To produce a perfect finished product, the quality of a raw material is a crucial issue of a production system. This paper has examined this issue with an insightful production-inventory model of the manufacturer of a deteriorating item selling goods to multiple markets with different selling seasons. We have provided an answer strategy to track down the optimal production plan for raw materials and the ideal creation plan for completed items. Transportation cost was incorporated for transporting the raw material. Marketing of the finished product is another crucial factor for selling products and earning revenues. The main objective of the present study is to adopt a production model in inventory for inferring request capacities for multi-item, multi-outlet circumstances. As of late, much accentuation has been given to the consideration of the control and support of creation inventories of disintegrating things. The demand rate is persistent and holding cost is a direct function of time. This paper has followed an analytical approach to diminish the entire inventory cost. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed to study the effect of changes of different parameters of the model on the optimal policy. Moreover, in order to approve the determined models, we have clarified mathematical models and examined affectability.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been facing a digital transformation in online learning as a result of the restrictions generated by COVID-19. Therefore, identifying which are the elements that influence student satisfaction will allow HEIs to establish strategies to ensure the quality of the digital transformation. This study proposes a model that measures student satisfaction considering three dimensions: teacher quality, technical service quality and service quality. Then, the impact of each dimension on student satisfaction is estimated using a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM), and finally an Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) was performed to identify the improvements that should be made to increase student satisfaction. When analyzing the responses of 1430 students at the School of Medicine, it was found that the quality of technical service should be improved, specifically training, and encouraging teachers to use strategies that allow student participation.

Scientific instrument platforms (SIPs) suffer from a lack of opinion and suggestions on sustainable operation management, leading to widely poor operation status nowadays. It is possible to guarantee the quality and efficiency of scientific and technological innovation activities and to improve the economic and social benefits of scientific and technological resources by constructing a framework system to promote the sustainability of the operation and management for SIPs. To meet the examination and evaluation requirements of the current operation and management of SIPs in China, this paper aims to establish an evaluation framework composed of indicators and attributes running through the construction and development of the SIPs from four aspects of learning and growth, process management, customers, and finance. Based on the existing research and operation practice, and according to the knowledge and preference of 627 SIP stakeholders, factor analysis has been adopted to extract and validate the hierarchical structure containing key sustainability indicators. The results show that the attribute characteristics of sustainable operating management for SIPs involve four significant dimensions of target positioning, team building, internal process control, and external service, among which the first and third ones have relatively higher priority. An effective and reliable evaluation tool is identified to be designed and provided for SIP operating management, which can also be used for self-evaluation and unified management of the sustainable operation of SIPs.

Background: Global participation at the Paralympic Games has been steadily growing in the past 60 years. However, inequities in relation to geographic representation of Paralympians, sex representation, access to assistive technology and medal success remain. Understanding the relationship between these determinants is important to inform strategies to increase future participation from everywhere, and promote a level playing field. The objectives of this research are to describe and compare trends in Paralympians’ participation in the summer Paralympic Games by income level and sex, trends in participation in events requiring assistive products (wheelchairs, hand cycles/trikes, and prostheses) by income level, and medal achievement by income level in all sport events, and events requiring assistive technology. Methods: A retrospective secondary analysis of publicly available data was conducted. Participation, sex, and medal tally data were extracted from data available on the International Paralympic Committee website and archives. Data regarding income (income level, GDP) and population were collected from publicly available data available from the World Bank website. Findings: Participation in the Summer Paralympic Games differs significantly by income level (p=0.000) with high- income countries sending, on average, more Paralympians than low-and middle-income countries. There is a significant difference between male and female participation (p=0.00), with approximately 29% of all Paralympians being female. High income countries demonstrate significantly higher achievement than low-and middle-income countries (p=0.000), including in events requiring assistive products (p=0.007). Interpretation: Despite growth in overall participation, low- and middle-income countries remain severely underrepresented in both participation and achievement at the Paralympic Games, especially in the events that require high quality assistive products to succeed. Funding: None to declare. Declaration of Interest: None to declare.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of implementation and Physical Education (PE) teachers’ perceived advantages, disadvantages, and encountered difficulties of online PE teaching during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 1148 professionally active PE teachers from Poland, North Macedonia, Croatia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Kosovo (613 female, 535 male). A cross-sectional online survey study was performed between May and September 2020 and was done online through an electronic questionnaire. Study results suggest differences in evaluation of online teaching between PE teachers from different countries: a positive evaluation of online teaching reported from teachers from Croatia, Poland, and Bulgaria, neutral in Turkey, and a negative evaluation during that period by teachers in Macedonia and Kosovo. Different ratings of advantages, disadvantages, and difficulties from the studied countries in online teaching in primary and secondary schools were also noted. A lack of proper equipment at home, a lack of proper training for information technology (IT) use, as well as use of different platforms for online teaching were among the highest-ranked difficulties during online teaching. The greatest concerns during online PE teaching were identified in terms of pupils’ safety, the intellectual property of resources, and the quality of curriculum delivery. The results from the study identify the most important areas of teachers work where PE should be supported regarding online teaching.

The imperative to measure perceived service quality by a formative model in which it represents higher-order formative construct, consisting of reflective first-order constructs ((sub)dimensions), is defined in leading marketing literature in previous years. That approach is of special importance since model misspecifications were often occurring in perceived service quality measurement researches, which may lead to totally wrong conclusions. Furthermore, when it comes to the perceived audit service quality, according to the knowledge of the authors, this is the first implementation of the described approach. Besides the analysis of perceived quality dimensions (all of them originate from intensively used SERVQUAL instrument and are adopted to audit service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy), the model included relations between quality and client’s satisfaction and loyalty. The results were obtained by processing 123 responses from Serbian companies. All dimensions of perceived quality influenced it positively and significantly (the strongest influence is related to assurance, followed by responsiveness, smaller coefficient with relatively similar value describes the influence of reliability, followed by empathy, the weakest is the impact of tangibles). Furthermore, research results pointed to the existence of positive relations between audit quality, satisfaction and loyalty. Hereby, satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between quality and loyalty.

Natural healing resources in the form of mineral and thermal waters and climatic conditions, together with a rich history and modern medical procedures, rank Slovakia among the important European countries in the field of spas. At the same time, spa tourism has a significant economic benefit for the country. This study examined the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on spa tourism in Slovakia. The Box-Jenkins methodology was used to model and forecast the time series for selected indicators. The analysis used monthly data on the capacity and performance of spa facilities for 2006–2019 and compared the forecast development for 2020–2021 with the reality as affected by the pandemic. Despite the high quality of the models, the methodology used did not take into account an unexpected event such as a pandemic. Therefore, the models were quite inaccurate and had little predictive value. At the same time, it is clear that the pandemic significantly affected spa tourism.

CSR Reporting is an essential mechanism for ensuring the transparency and accountability of companies towards sustainability performance. To further promote that sustainable development agenda, CSR-related regulations and policies have emerged worldwide, including in Pakistan. Therefore this study assesses the quality of corporate social responsibility in annual reports issued by firms listed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. This study has operationalized the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) principles for examining the quality of CSR disclosures. The paper sample comprised 540 annual reports of 90 financial or non-financial companies from the years 2012 to 2017. Content analysis is performed to look for six quality principles and measures, i.e., balance, comparability, accuracy, clarity, reliability, and timeliness. Results suggested that most Pakistani firms provide precise and on-time information and put less emphasis on the balance of information and comparable information. Moreover, this study also highlighted that organizations should implement the GRI principle for disclosing qualitative CSR report.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which started in December 2019, brought about a paradigm shift in the lifestyles of people worldwide due to the imposed constraints and lockdowns aimed at containing the spread of the infection. Each and every aspect of our lifestyle such as eating, travelling, socializing and learning was affected by this pandemic. Even the education sector was not untouched due to this pandemic, which caught the various stakeholders of this industry, such as the students, faculty and the administration, unaware. The education of a complete generation of kids and adults all over the world required some drastic adjustments so that their learning process would continue unaffected. Even though distance learning and online teaching have been around for a long time in the education sector, its importance was felt during this last year because of the role it played in the transfer of knowledge to students during the lockdowns wherein the students did not have access to physical classrooms and schools. Faculty, students and the administration developed new innovative ideas to adjust to this new change in teaching/learning styles and made the transition for all stakeholders a smooth and an enlightening experience. One such change had to be made in the delivery style of the cooperative program (COOP) for Mechanical engineering students at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). COOP is a 9-credit hour course that a student with a junior standing in the Applied Mechanical Engineering program (AME) has to take and pass. It requires the student to spend about seven months in the industry to learn applications in a practical environment and solve practical problems with the aid of the theoretical knowledge gained by him in the courses. However, due to the sudden lockdown in March 2020, most of the industries downed their shutters, which left these poor students halfway stranded through their COOP course. Hence, in order to cater to these students, the administration came up with the idea of substituting physical training with virtual training without compromising on the quality of the education. Comprehensive procedures on the various modules designed and delivered under this new virtual training program, the mode of instruction used, the assessment methods implemented and the experiences of the students are presented in this paper, which can be of tremendous help to various stakeholders.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become a mainstream form of online learning. At present, various countries are vigorously developing MOOC platforms, which provide a helpful platform for people to acquire knowledge and skills. However, the quality of each MOOC platform is different, which is a challenge for learners seeking excellent courses. Since the evaluation of MOOC quality is a multiple criteria decision-making issue, it is important to find the major dimensions and criteria that determine the quality of platforms. This paper determines the weight of each dimension and criterion by using the best worst method (BWM). The results indicate that content accuracy has the greatest impact on MOOC quality. This paper selected five well-known domestic MOOC websites as research objects and used the VIKOR analysis method to rank the platform quality of the five chosen websites. The results show that IMOOC and Xuedong are ranked as the top two websites. This research result helps learners deepen their understanding of MOOC platforms and can serve as a reference for MOOC platforms to improve their quality. Techniques to reduce the uncertainty of expert judgments (such as rough sets, fuzzy theory, grey correlation, etc.) and models that clarify the influence relationship between criteria (DEMATEL-ANP) can be applied in future research.

The increased awareness of environmental sustainability has led to increasing attention to closed loop supply chains (CLSC). The main objective of the CLSC is to capture values from end-of-life (EOL) products in a way that ensures a business to be economically and environmentally sustainable. The challenge is the complexity that occurrs due to closing the loop. At the same time, considering stochastic variables will increase the realism of the obtained results as well as the complexity of the model. This study aims to design a CLSC for durable products using a multistage stochastic model in mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) while considering uncertainty in demand, return rate, and return quality. Demand was described by a normal distribution whereas return rate and return quality were represented by a set of discrete possible outcomes with a specific probability. The objective function was to maximize the profit in a multi-period and multi-echelon CLSC. The multistage stochastic model was tested on a real case study at an air-conditioning company. The computational results identified which facilities should be opened in the reversed loop to optimize profit. The results showed that the CLSC resulted in a reduction in purchasing costs by 52%, an annual savings of 831,150 USD, and extra annual revenue of 5459 USD from selling raw material at a material market. However, the transportation cost increased by an additional annual cost of 6457 USD, and the various recovery processes costs were annually about 152,897 USD. By running the model for nine years, the breakeven point will be after three years of establishing the CLSC and after the annual profit increases by 1.92%. In conclusion, the results of this research provide valuable analysis that may support decision-makers in supply chain planning regarding the feasibility of converting the forward chain to closed loop supply chain for durable products.

Air pollution has a significant impact on tourism, however, research in this area is still limited. In this study, we applied grey relational analysis to panel data from 31 provinces in China and evaluated the relationship between air quality and inbound tourist arrivals. The study focused on provincial-level disparities for the different key air quality evaluation standards during 2009–2012 and 2013–2019. For instance, we considered PM10, SO2, NO2 and the excellent and good ratings of Air Pollution Index (API) during 2009–2012 and the additional PM2.5, CO, O3 and the excellent and good ratings of Air Quality Index (AQI) from 2013 to 2019. Results indicate that: (1) Inbound tourist arrivals are significantly and positively affected by ambient air quality, and the impact from 2013 to 2019 was greater than that from 2009 to 2012, (2) there is regional diversity in inbound tourist arrivals, and the impact of the different air quality indicators varies, (3) inbound tourists showed greater sensitivity to air pollution under the AQI standard, (4) the impact of air quality indicators on the inbound tourist arrivals shows grey relational order, and the concentration of PM2.5, PM10 and SO2 have less impact than NO2, CO and O3 on changes in tourism numbers, (5) consistency in the air quality impact on foreign tourists and compatriot tourists from HK, MO and TW varies by air quality indicators. This study highlights the need for appropriate measures to improve air quality for high-quality and sustainable development of inbound tourism.

The rapid development and the expansion of Internet of Things (IoT)-powered technologies have strengthened the way we live and the quality of our lives in many ways by combining Internet and communication technologies through its ubiquitous nature. As a novel technological paradigm, this IoT is being served in many application domains including healthcare, surveillance, manufacturing, industrial automation, smart homes, the military, etc. Medical Internet of Things (MIoT), or the use of IoT in healthcare, is becoming a booming trend towards improving the health and wellbeing of billions of people by offering smooth and seamless medical facilities and by enhancing the services provided by medical practitioners, nurses, pharmaceutical companies, and other related government and non-government organizations. In recent times, this MIoT has gained higher attention for its potential to alleviate the massive burden on global healthcare, which has been caused by the rise of chronic diseases, the aging population, and emergency situations such as the recent COVID-19 global pandemic, where many government and non-government medical resources were challenged, owing to the rising demand for medical resources. It is evident that with this recent growing demand for MIoT, the associated technologies and its interconnected, heterogeneous nature adds new concerns as it becomes accessible to confidential patient data, often without patient or the medical staff consciousness, as the security and privacy of MIoT devices and technologies are often overlooked and undermined by relevant stakeholders. Hence, the growing security breaches that target the MIoT in healthcare are making the security and privacy of Medical IoT a crucial topic that is worth scrutinizing. In this study, we examined the current state of security and privacy of the MIoT, which has become of utmost concern among many security experts and researchers due to its rapid demand in recent times. Nevertheless, pertaining to the current state of security and privacy, we also examine and discuss a number of attack use cases, countermeasures and solutions, recent challenges, and anticipated future directions where further attention is required through this study.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) positively impact ecological landscape quality (ELQ) by providing multiple benefits, including enhancing natural capital, promoting biodiversity, mitigating water runoff, increasing water retention, and contributing to climate change adaptations and carbon sequestration. To analyze the specific contribution of different NBS types, this study assessed 14 ELQ indicators based on the application of spatial data. Five NBS based on existing elements of green and blue infrastructure (GBI) were analyzed at the city level (Lublin, Poland), including parks (UPs), forests (UFs), water bodies (UWs), allotment gardens (AGs), and woods (Ws). The analysis revealed that different NBS contribute in contrasting ways to the improvement of various dimensions of ELQ. UFs made the biggest contribution to the maintenance of ecological processes and stability, as well as to aesthetic values. Ws together with AGs were crucial to maintaining a high level of diversity at the landscape scale and also contributed to preserving the ecological structure. UWs and UPs had no outstanding impact on ELQ, mainly due to their high level of anthropogenic transformation. The application of spatial indicators proved useful in providing approximate information on the ecological values of different types of NBS when other data types were either unavailable or were only available at a high cost and with considerable time and effort.

Nowadays, the world is facing numerous sustainability challenges and the modern food system is called to innovate processes or products in order to remain competitive within the market, as well as answering to strategic government guidelines for a more sustainable food supply chain. This study aims to investigate what the main research routes of a sustainable food supply chain are, explored by the international scientific panorama, with a view for providing companies with a framework of the sustainability paths that can be followed, and, to researchers, gaps and future research routes to explore. A systematic review method is adopted through bibliometric analysis and results were obtained with VOSViewer software support. Descriptive and thematic analyses allowed us to discover the bibliometric characteristics of the sample, the main specific topics and the related research routes already addressed in sustainable food supply chain, the main food supply chain models studied in association with sustainability and the effort employed by academia to investigate the three sustainability dimensions: environmental, economic and social. Concluding, the research field of sustainability in the food supply chain is focused on management issues able to generate impacts on process, systems, practices, production and quality.

This paper evaluates the potential of eco self-build community (ESBC) housing to act as a socially and environmentally sustainable housing solution that can address the demand for self-build and community housing whilst supporting the UK’s 2050 net-zero-carbon commitment. This model of housing is being piloted through schemes such as the Water Lilies project, an upcoming ESBC scheme providing self-finish houses and custom-build flats. The research aims to gain a broad understanding of the market for ESBC housing by analysing the data from people who registered interest in a plot or home and comparing this with data from a similar survey targeted at the market for conventional self-build and custom-build housing. The key findings are that: (1) the ESBC housing market is largely open to more than one build method, but with a greater preference for purchasing a completed home and self-finish than self-build, compared to the conventional market for self-build and custom-build that is primarily interested in self-build, (2) the ESBC housing market is looking for a variety of home sizes, though predominantly 2 and 3 bedrooms, that could be provided through houses and flats, compared to the conventional market for self-build and custom-build that is mostly seeking larger houses on single plots, (3) the most important housing aspects to the ESBC housing market are ‘green lifestyle’, ‘style and construction quality’, and ‘community spirit’, which differ to the conventional self-build and custom-build market, where they are ‘construction quality’, ‘internal appearance/layout’ and ‘location’, (4) living in a sustainable home is important to the market for conventional self-build and custom-build housing and on average, they would be willing to pay 27% more for a highly sustainable home than the average UK new build. The main drivers are that people want to reduce their environmental impact and reduce their home running costs. A key overall conclusion of the study is that a distinct market exists for ESBC schemes, where the priorities of prospective homeowners differ to those from the more general self-build market. For ESBC schemes, the provision of eco-housing and a sense of community are key priorities, whereas for the more general self-build market, location and the need to tailor the house design to the owner’s unique aesthetic and lifestyle preferences tend to be the most important factors. This paper discusses the implications of these findings and identifies opportunities for scaling up the delivery of ESBC housing.

Based on the data of the 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018, this paper examines the impact of Internet development on environmental quality. The results show that China’s urban PM2.5 has a significant spatial spillover effect. In general, the Internet has a significant negative direct effect on urban environmental pollution, which means that the development of the Internet can improve urban environmental quality. This result remains robust under different methods. As the Internet has evolved over the years, its influence on environmental quality has increased and became more and more significant. In terms of regions, the spatial spillover effect of PM2.5 shows a pattern of eastern region &lt, central region &lt, western region &lt, northeast region, where the eastern region is the only region with a statistically significant negative value for the coefficient, which indicates the direct effects of Internet development on the environmental quality. In addition, the statistic testing on mediating effect shows that the Internet’s effect on urban environment quality is mainly transmitted through the upgrading of industrial structure. With the industrial structure being used as the threshold variable, the influence of Internet development on environmental quality could be divided into two stages.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) framework propose the concept of competencies as a key cognitive, attitudinal, and procedural aspect aimed at the integral development of students, which implies a challenge in the way of evaluating them. Thus, the traditional monitoring of students’ progress through their grades is not enough, and monitoring competency is becoming more important. This research proposes a system for monitoring competencies in engineering programs. The system identifies the expected learning outcomes (LOs) of each course and cross-references them according to the ponderation of each evaluation planned. Subsequently, it links each LO with the competencies of the course, allowing the student to be monitored throughout their career. The strategy was applied to a civil engineering course. The students’ results, according to the course competencies, were obtained, linking them correctly with the LO and the grades obtained. The evolution of these competencies was evaluated until the end of the semester in which the students were taking the course. The analysis of the results shows the differences between the monitoring by grades versus by competencies, evidencing that there were cases in which a student passed the course by grades but failed to develop the expected competency.

Business activities using social media are currently growing and its development has intrigued practitioners and academics. The purpose of doing this present research is to build a conceptual model, which connects the concepts of customer perceived value and customer experiences with the concept of customer relationship quality to produce sustainable customer intention in social media commerce. Considering the results of two exogenous constructions, namely customer perceived value and customer experience, it can be concluded that both have an impact on relationship quality and customer sustainable intention. In this study, there are six hypotheses, consisting of five accepted hypotheses and one rejected hypothesis. After doing a deeper analysis, it is revealed that good relationship quality determines the significance of sustainable customer intention. In addition, this conducted research examines and experimentally confirms the role of customer perceived value and the customer experience in determining relationship quality and sustainability of customers founded in social media commerce. The novelty shown in this study lies in the integration of two exogenous variables, namely customer perceived value and customer experience, with the variables of relationship quality and customer sustainability intention. Finally, the findings provide theoretical, managerial, and social value and impact for academics, practitioners, and society.

Our study aims to analyze factors determining the green brand equity (GBE) based on a systematic literature review (SLR) according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. We posed 3 research questions and searched five databases (Scopus, Web of Sciences, Google Scholar, EBSCO, and Elsevier) for studies containing the term ‘green brand equity’ and the combination of two terms: ‘brand equity’ and ‘green’. Additionally, the backward and forward snowballing methods were applied. In our SLR, we included empirical studies published between 2006 and 2021 as peer-reviewed papers in English. Exclusion criteria included studies with theoretical models, studies describing brand equity not related to GBE, Ph.D. thesis, short reports, workshop papers, practice guidelines, book chapters, reviews, and conference publications. Finally, 33 articles were analyzed as part of the SLR in two fields: general information (authorship, year of publication, type of study, research country or location, sample size, and product categories), and research specifications (factors or variables, number and type of hypotheses, scale or measurement items, type of statistical analysis, and selected indicators of statistical methods). Image, trust, value, satisfaction, and loyalty appeared to be the most studied determinants of GBE. Less frequently analyzed were quality, awareness, attributes, particular promotional activities, and the fact of purchase. The results obtained are important in practical terms, showing what to consider when creating GBE in different categories of products and services.

The development of organic food products has proliferated over the past few decades, alongside the use of “white” space on products’ packaging as an element that communicates quality and sustainability values. Despite a growing interest towards green products, sustainable business practices and aesthetics, there is not enough evidence on how specific design elements (i.e., “white” space) of organic food packaging could affect consumers’ brand perceptions, attitude towards the brand (Abr) and purchase intentions (PI). The present study seeks to unveil the role of “white” space as a packaging design element on the effectiveness of organic food products. Based on a content analysis of 406 international packaging designs it establishes the widespread coexistence of organic products with extended, in shades of gray “white” space. A between-subjects experiment with 305 young adults builds on the associations between “white” space and sustainability, and provides evidence on the proposed serial mediation model with perceived naturalness, quality and trustworthiness, and Abr as mediators in the relationship between organic food products and PI, especially when the packaging uses extended “white” space. Pertinent managerial implications with respect to effective packaging design that promotes sustainability values and generates positive attitudes and behaviors towards organic foods are underlined.

Improving regional innovation efficiency is the key to developing an innovative country. Exploring the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of regional innovation efficiency is crucial in the formulation of regional policies and the choice of innovation models. This study used the superdata envelopment analysis method with undesirable outputs in evaluating the innovation efficiency of Chinese provinces. To assess the spatial spillover effects of innovation factors, the spatial autocorrelation and spatial Durbin model were adopted to characterize the spatio-temporal evolution, spatial correlation, and mechanisms of innovation efficiency. The highlights of the results are as follows: (1) The time-series changes in innovation efficiency showed a general trend from declining to increasing. (2) There were pronounced regional differences in innovation efficiency. The innovation efficiencies at the provincial level evolved from being decentralized to concentrated. The innovation efficiency was relatively stable in the eastern region and increased significantly in the central and western regions. The east–center–west evolution pattern gradually weakened. (3) The innovative efficiency exhibited spatial dependence, and the spatial agglomeration continued to increase. The extent of hot spots expanded, while cold spots shrunk slightly. (4) The scientific research environment, entrepreneurial environment, labor quality, and market environment were the essential elements that improved innovation efficiency. The impact of the different factors on innovation efficiency at different periods exhibited significant spatial heterogeneity.

In response to the Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom has developed mega entertainment events in different cities, referred to as cities-based entertainment, to diversify the long prevalent oil-dependent economy and change the traditional image of the Kingdom as a sole religious tourism destination. This research develops and tests a conceptual model on the relationship between the quality cities-based entertainment recently provided at the kingdom, and destination image, quality of tourist experience, and tourist satisfaction. More specifically, the research examines the direct influence of quality cities-based entertainment on tourist satisfaction and the indirect influence through destination image and quality of tourist experience. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test structural relationships between the research variables. The results showed a positive and significant influence of event (cities-based entertainment) quality on destination image and on tourist experience quality. However, the results revealed that event—i.e., cities-based entertainment—quality failed to have a direct influence on tourist satisfaction. Hence, destination image and tourist experience quality were found to fully mediate the influence of event quality on tourist satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed and elaborated.

Progress in communication technologies and social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have supported the acceptance of e-learning. In the e-learning context, gamification has been identified as one of the most promising trends. Many researchers believe in the game elements’ capacity to drive learning, skills acquisition, and changes for more sustainable behavior. However, the literature on the subject is dispersed, addressing behavioral attitudes and elements in an isolated and fragmented way. This study aims to present a framework relating game elements to behavioral attitudes to promote sustainability and ensure quality of learning. The methodology is based on a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol, covering the content analysis of 130 articles indexed in the Web of Science database. For the framework construction, the following were identified: behavioral attitudes stimulated by gamification; main game elements and how they relate to each other. Based on this, a framework called 7GOALS (Gamification-Oriented Active Learning Steps) associated with the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) was established. The proposed structure is multidisciplinary and can be used in any knowledge field that uses gamification. With this, themes such as sustainability can be widely disseminated and leverage changes towards more sustainable behaviors that adhere to the real world.

Recently, manufacturing companies aspire to implement reverse logistics in response to stakeholders’ requirements to reduce negative environmental consequences, improve organizational sustainable performance and ultimately increase competitive advantage. However, implementing reverse logistics can be impeded by a criteria framework, and necessitates the careful analysis of how such criteria interact with each other in the presence of uncertainty. Thus, in this study, we propose an integrated multi- criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodology that leverages the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) under Intuitionistic Fuzzy (IF) environment and Evaluation Based on Distance to Average Solution (EDAS). Within the proposed methodology, firstly, the IF-DEMATEL is applied to obtain the interrelationships between the criteria/barriers and then, the EDAS method is applied to prioritize the criteria based on the appraisal scores evaluation. An application case within the Nigerian manufacturing sector was utilized to illustrate the viability of the proposed methodology. The study results indicate that the highly prioritized barriers to implementing reverse logistics within the Nigerian manufacturing sector include low product quality, risk of storing hazardous materials and low technical expertise. Consequently, this study makes a profound contribution to the theory and practice of reverse logistics by presenting an integrated MCDM methodology that can effectively address the criticality of barriers in the way of reverse logistics progression in a complex and uncertain scenario.

Consumer awareness about dairy quality increased in the last years, specifically after recent food incidents worldwide (aflatoxin contamination in Europe, 2013, E. coli outbreak in the USA, 2015). In Tunisia, food security and sustainability are at the center of agricultural and food strategies. Therefore, data collected from a face-to-face survey of 214 participants in three cities of Tunisia were analyzed with the aim to identify the general trends of dairy consumption in Tunisia. A factor analysis was conducted to define the way consumers perceive the concept of dairy quality with regards to health and sustainability perceptions. Then, by means of cluster analysis we explore the existence of specific consumer types in relation to dairy quality perceptions, with clear-cut and statistically solid socio-demographic and behavioral profile. Three consumer types were highlighted to evaluate dairy quality, based on different quality dimensions, such as health and sustainability, experience, visible quality, brand name, price and innovation. The results show the emergence of a specific segment of young and older consumers, more educated, and with health and sustainability concerns toward dairy quality.

This paper develops a system dynamics framework for the closed-loop agri-food brand supply chain (AFBSC) with multiple small farmer suppliers and one core brand manufacturer, and investigates the influences of various factors including brand effort, quality elasticity, price elasticity, revenue sharing, and the number of suppliers on the system behavior. The results show: (i) food quality is determined by all farmer suppliers, who might choose hitchhiking with the prisoner’s dilemma game in a decentralized decision-making mode, (ii) brand effort to improve brand value for food quality is mainly made by the core brand manufacturer, who presents a goal-seeking system dynamics (SD) manner with oscillation behavior around the expected quality of consumers, (iii) whether farmer suppliers or brand manufacturers, the centralized decision-making mode is more useful for them to increase revenue than the decentralized one, furthermore, the shared centralized decision-making mode is most useful for them to obtain more revenue, and the brand manufacturer is still the biggest beneficiary.

This paper used 586 survey data of aquaculturists in the Shandong and Zhejiang provinces of China and built two intermediary effect models by incorporating fishery cooperative support, order fisheries participation, product quality certification, and safety factor input behavior into the same theoretical analysis framework in order to verify the direct influence of fishery cooperative support on safety factor input behavior of aquaculturists, as well as the intermediary effect of order fisheries participation and product quality certification in the relationship between fishery cooperative support and safety factor input behavior of aquaculturists. The research concluded that fishery cooperative support has a significant positive influence on safety factor input behavior. Participation in order fisheries and product quality certification have a partial intermediary effect in the relationship between fishery cooperative support and safety factor input behavior of aquaculturists, their intermediary effect accounts for 10.3% and 33.7% of the total effect. The research conclusions can provide reference and suggestions for China’s fisheries to better carry out green aquaculture.