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The impact of different climate scenarios, drought, and water level management on the outflow water quality of peatlands has been investigated. A mesocosm experiment has been conducted within climate control chambers to simulate current (2016–2019 real-time) and future representative concentration pathway (RCP) climate scenarios (RCP 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5) for the peatland mesocosms. To assess the efficiency of a management strategy for improving peatland water quality, water level adjustment was applied to half of the system at the same time for each climate scenario. Furthermore, the mesocosm experienced the 2018 European drought during the simulation years, and the corresponding impact was analyzed. The results of this study indicated that the effect of water level but not climate change on the water quality of peatland mesocosms was significant. The effect of water level management was the largest for ammonium (NH4-N) and five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), and the smallest for total phosphorus (TP). Drought had a strong impact on chemical variables, increasing their concentration and deteriorating the water quality of peatland outflow. The results highlight the need for water level management in stabilizing nutrient levels in peatland outflows, especially for the warmer climate scenarios to mitigate the negative consequences of global warming.

Capillary suction time (CST) and specific resistance to filtration (SRF) are widely accepted measurements to test for sludge dewaterability properties. Previous investigations indicated that CST and SRF are strongly inter-related for most relevant variables. Only few investigations have shown no correlation between CST and SRF. This study aims to assess the goodness of CST and SRF relationship for different process variables relevant for coagulation flocculation sludge. Findings suggested that CST and SRF demonstrate different trends and are not related well for different rapid mixing velocities, materials and temperatures. The lack of overall relationship can be explained by the use of different procedures and equipment at variable boundary conditions in practice. SRF is more temperature-dependent than CST. The use of alum sulphate (alum) and ferric chloride (ferric) resulted in the lowest CST values, followed by Moringa oleifera. This result contradicted the SRF findings for which alum produced the lowest SRF values followed by M. oleifera and ferric.

In hot climates, achieving a good indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in existing buildings is important especially with climate change challenges as future heat waves will increase in frequency, duration, and intensity. In educational buildings, there is much more focus on the IEQ parameters and the interactions among them that need to be in line with the continuously changing learning environment. This study assesses the IEQ parameters (represented by noise, temperature and humidity) at three selected campus areas (lecture rooms of an administrative department building (LR), main hall of a management department building (MH) and a central library building (CL)) at the Al-Najaf Technical Institute (NTI), Al-Najaf City, Iraq, for the period from May to December 2019. A statistical analysis using a multi-linear regression model was performed to determine the relationship between the selected IEQ parameters and explain the noise level behavior as a function of the temperature and relative humidity. The research indicated that the noise levels and temperature values exceeded the maximum standard limits in all buildings reflecting the displeasing sound and heating quality within the studied areas, while the readings for relative humidity within each building environment complied with standards. Moreover, for both LR and MH buildings (R2 ≥ 0.8, significance F ≤ 0.01), the noise values were satisfactorily modeled by temperature and relative humidity highlighting the interactions between temperature, humidity and noise under consistent conditions. However, the results for the CL building (R2 = 0.6, significance F = 0.1) showed no relationship between the IEQ parameters, highlighting the fact that this building is exposed to unsteady conditions (an irregular number of people using this building during the daytime) resulting in a high variation of data measurements. The current results demonstrate that detailed modeling can be helpful to predict IEQ parameters depending on other known parameters in buildings. The results of the predictive model aligned with the directly measured data. Therefore, its performance is equally effective, but with a significant reduction in cost and time consumed.

Hydropower is one of the significant renewable energy resources. It is regularly requested at peak time steps to meet the load requirements of power systems resources allocation. Therefore, modeling the optimal operation of hydropower systems to maximize the entire energy production of reservoir systems can be a vital task for energy investment. Deriving optimal unknown decision parameters of these reservoir systems is a nonlinear, nonconvex, and complex optimization problem. Herein, a novel optimization algorithm, called an accelerated version of gradient-based optimization (AGBO), is developed to solve a complex multi-reservoir hydropower system. This advised technique uses an efficient adaptive control parameters mechanism to stabilize the global and local search; utilizing an enhanced local escaping operator (ELEO) to extend the chances of getting away from local optima; expanding the exploitation search by applying the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) technique. At first, the developed AGBO algorithm is employed to solve the optimal operation of a complex 10-reservoir hydropower system. Secondly, the possibility of the AGBO algorithm within the global optimization problems is illustrated by numerical tests of 23 mathematical benchmark functions. Optimal results show that the proposed AGBO can approach to 0.9999% of the optimal global solution. As a result, the advised method is the most superior one compared to the other advanced optimization algorithms for maximizing the load demands in hydropower system. In conclusion, this offers a productive tool to solve the complex hydropower multi-reservoir optimization systems.

Particularly in the Nordic region, water excess and shortage (drought) are becoming more frequent phenomena that challenge the development of agriculture and crop production. Identification of appropriate water management strategies is essential (i) to ensure sustainable water resources management for crop production and the functioning of healthy ecosystems; and (ii) to improve resilience to hydrological extremes. Integrated hydrological models offer that potential through understanding and forecasting of hydrological systems under anthropogenic and climatic influences, and providing information for improved decision-making. This study aims to develop a decision support instrument based on integrated hydrological modelling to identify appropriate management solutions and improve field- and catchment-scale water management in Nordic agriculture. The study area is Tyrnävä catchment, located in the northern part of Finland near Oulu city. Initially, the available hydro-climatological and hydrogeological data of the Tyrnävä catchment are characterized in detail. Then the hydrogeological parameters of the model are identified based on existing hydrogeological, climatic and remotely sensed data and their spatial, temporal and vertical variability. Next, a regional integrated surface-subsurface hydrological model is set up using HydroGeosphere. After successful calibration and validation using observed groundwater level, river discharge and soil moisture data, the model will be used in implementing and evaluating different management strategies (e.g., different irrigation options during droughts and controlled drainage management) for the future and their influence on the surface and groundwater systems. Uncertainty arising from different sources will be quantified using the Integrated Bayesian Multi-model Uncertainty Estimation Framework with the support of a supercomputer to improve the reliability and accuracy of the decision support instrument. Additionally, stakeholders’ involvement through local workshops is ensured throughout the modelling study, from the beginning to obtain reliable and useful decision support. Finally, based on these results, informed decisions regarding the appropriate water management can be made, which is important for sustainable water resources management for crop production and the functioning of healthy ecosystems particularly in Nordic agriculture.

Investigating the spatiotemporal distribution of climate data and their impact on the allocation of the regional aridity and meteorological drought, particularly in semi-arid and arid climate, it is critical to evaluate the climate variability effect and propose sufficient adaptation strategies. The coefficient of variation, precipitation concentration index and anomaly index were used to evaluate the climate variability, while the Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope were applied for trend analysis, together with homogeneity tests. The aridity was evaluated using the alpha form of the reconnaissance drought index (Mohammed & Scholz, Water Resour Manag 31(1):531–538, 2017c), whereas drought episodes were predicted by applying three of the commonly used meteorological drought indices, which are the standardised reconnaissance drought index, standardized precipitation index and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index. The Upper Zab River Basin (UZRB), which is located in the northern part of Iraq and covers a high range of climate variability, has been considered as an illustrative basin for arid and semi-arid climatic conditions. There were general increasing trends in average temperature and potential evapotranspiration and decreasing trends in precipitation from the upstream to the downstream of the UZRB. The long-term analysis of climate data indicates that the number of dry years has temporally risen and the basin has experienced succeeding years of drought, particularly after 1994/1995. There was a potential link between drought, aridity and climate variability. Pettitt’s, SNHT, Buishand’s and von Neumann’s homogeneity test results demonstrated that there is an evident alteration in the mean of the drought and aridity between the pre- and post-alteration point (1994).

The exploitation and management of groundwater in an integrated manner is gaining global interest. Rapid population growth is frequently linked to climate change. In order to meet the growing demand for public water supply and irrigation, especially in arid and semi-arid climate regions, groundwater is used excessively. This paper considers the Erbil province of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region as a representative case study for semi-arid climate areas where current practices of groundwater resource utilization lack a solid regulatory framework and where monitoring systems are often absent. The role of climate change in the assessment of aquifers is assessed. Long-term average recharge and extraction rates in relation to groundwater storage have been evaluated with the aim to avoid adverse long-term impacts on groundwater resources. A groundwater balance method has been used to quantify the storage of groundwater within aquifers. Results revealed that there is a considerable imbalance between the input (groundwater recharge) to the Erbil province aquifers and corresponding output (groundwater withdrawn). The reduction of losses in water use, increases in irrigation efficiency, raising of public good water-use practices, and the establishment of a regulatory framework to appropriately manage groundwater resources are outlined.

The study is aimed to analyze the determinants of the effectiveness of SOPs in mass gatherings for containing COVID-19. The overall design of the study involves a literature review, data collection by field survey, structural modeling, and analysis. The study is built on the experts' opinion of a focus group (representing people who recently participated in and are responsible for mass gatherings). The study uses the discussion of the literature review to identify the determinants, interpretive structural modeling (ISM) for developing and analyzing a structural model, and Matrice d'Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliquée a un Classement (MICMAC) for corroboration of results of the ISM/classification of determinants. From the literature review, a list of determinants is generated and verified by a panel of experts. The results of the ISM revealed that the determinants “legal environment of the country,” “practicability of SOPs,” “perceived benefit of adapting SOPs,” and “possibilities of avoiding gathering” occupied the top of the model, therefore, they are less critical determinants, whereas “nature of gathering” occupied the bottom of the model, and is thus the most critical determinant. The remaining determinants form the middle of the model, and are therefore moderately severe. The results of MICMAC show that the determinant “perceived benefit of adapting SOPs” is dependent, “nature of gathering” is independent, and all others are linked. The results of MICMAC implicitly substantiate the findings of the ISM. The overall results of the study show that “nature of gathering” is the key determinant. This research does not require a priori theory since it is a theory-building study that uses an inductive approach. It is based on real data and it is useful for local authorities, organizers, participants (attendees/visitors) of mass gatherings, health officials/regulators, researchers, and the community at large. This study has fundamental importance for planning and preparing for such events while ensuring the minimum risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Customers have become very sensitive regarding the innovative evaluation of services. Due to competition in the hospitality industry, it is a challenge for hotel marketers to understand customers’ behavior. There is scant research in the hotel industry of Pakistan and especially on boutique hotels. This research seeks to measure the relationship between substantive, communicative elements of the sustainable servicescape and behavioral intentions (word of mouth) in a boutique hotel setting. However, the mediating effect of the overall perceived image is examined between these constructs. Responses of boutique hotel visitors were collected from Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Murree. Data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results display that both substantive and communicative servicescape elements positively affect the perceived image of customers, which has a positive influence on behavioral intentions such as word of mouth (WOM). Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Remediation of contaminated soil and sediment is important for improving the eco-environmental quality. Electro-kinetic remediation (EKR) is an environmentally friendly technology to migrate and remove pollutants from the soil and sediment matrix. This paper analyses the mechanism and performance of EKR of heavy metals, organic pollutants, and compound pollutants. Moreover, the effect of optimizing individual EKR through soil and sediment pre-treatment (adding acid/oxidant/co-solvent/surfactant, stirring, heating, etc.), electrode optimization (exchange electrode, anode approximation, electrode matrix, etc.), and applying multi-technology combination (electro-kinetic permeable reaction barrier/Fenton/ion, exchange membrane/ultrasonic/electrolyte enhancement, etc.) was evaluated. Factors including incomplete separation of pollutants, variation in physico-chemical properties and microstructure of soil/sediment, and difficulties in in situ practice have restrained the field application of EKR. To solve the above technical challenge, an integrated EKR technology based on pollutant in situ separation, followed by separated contaminant treatment, and subsequent valuable elements recovery is proposed.

Since Pakistan is vulnerable to changing climatic conditions, the country needs emergency measures at every level to mitigate their effect. Many studies have addressed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the macro or institutional level, but its effect at the micro-level is largely ignored in the contemporary literature. The present study aims at filling this gap by highlighting the role of micro-level CSR on Environmental Performance (ENP) and how it is influenced by employees’ pro-environmental (PEB) behavior and gender. This study has been carried out in the context of deteriorating environmental conditions, scarce CSR activities and a male dominant society. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire targeting the manufacturing and the service sectors of Pakistan and analyzed through the structural equation modeling technique, using AMOS and SPSS software. The results of this study confirm that micro-level CSR initiatives directly (β = 0.39⁎⁎) and indirectly (β = 0.031⁎⁎) influence the environmental performance of an organization by means of employees’ PEB. A conditional indirect gender effect on this interaction was also observed, with women (β =0.17⁎⁎) exerting a stronger effect than men (β = 0.031⁎⁎). These findings may be helpful for policymakers involved in environmental management: It is possible to reduce the environmental footprint of Pakistan's organizations by encouraging employee's PEB and particularly by actively involving women which are systematically set apart from decision making in Pakistan.

Water purification is one of the most essential services provided by wetlands. A lot of concerns regarding wetlands subjected to climate change relate to their susceptibility to hydrological change and the increase in temperature as a result of global warming. A warmer condition may accelerate the rate of decomposition and release of nutrients, which can be exported downstream and cause serious ecological challenges; e.g., eutrophication and acidification. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of climate change on water quality in peatland and constructed wetland ecosystems subject to water level management. For this purpose, the authors simulated the current climate scenario base on the database from Malmö station (Scania, Sweden) for 2016 and 2017 as well as the future climate scenarios for the last 30 years of the century based on the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) and different regional climate models (RCM) for a region wider than Scania County. For future climate change, the authors simulated low (RCP 2.6), moderate (RCP 4.5) and extreme (RCP 8.5) climate scenarios. All simulations were conducted within climate chambers for experimental peatland and constructed wetland mesocosms. Our results demonstrate that the effect of climate scenario is significantly different for peatlands and constructed wetlands (interactive effect) for the combined chemical variables. The warmest climate scenario RCP 8.5 is linked to a higher water purification function for constructed wetlands, but to a lower water purification function and a subsequent deterioration of peatland water qualities, even if subjected to water level management. The explanation for the different response of constructed wetlands and peatlands to climate change could be due to the fact that the substrate in the constructed wetland mesocosms and peatlands was different in terms of the organic matter quality and quantity. The utilization of nutrients by the plants and microbial community readily exceed the mineralization under a limited nutrient content (as we had in constructed wetland) when the temperature rises. However, concerning the extreme scenario RCP 8.5, the peatlands have shown a tendency to have reverse processes.

Social sustainability is the much emphasized organizational phenomenon in Western literature, however, in emerging economies, its importance has only been realized in the recent past. Social sustainability is the amiability of the relationship between employees and the organizations on a relatively permanent basis. Social sustainability is the key determinant of organizational sustainability and organizational effectiveness. As healthcare organizations are labor-intensive, the role of social sustainability in hospitals is more crucial. The purpose of the present study is to understand the role of work safety in improving social sustainability in public sector hospitals. To this effect, we collected data from 431 healthcare professionals of a large public sector tertiary and teaching hospital in the city of Lahore Pakistan and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results uncovered certain important facts, which were not expected per se. Job design, coworkers’ behavior towards work safety, and supervisors’ role in ensuring work safety are the key factors that influence social sustainability. However, surprisingly, in the eyes of employees, management practices and safety programs/policies do not contribute to the work safety of the hospital under study. Keeping in view the findings, we suggest that management must participate in work safety affairs directly and formulate indigenous policies and programs according to local needs. Job analysis is needed to redesign job structures to meet workplace safety requirements. Formal and informal training will be beneficial to make workers and supervisors more aware, more sensitive, and more responsible regarding work safety.

Drought might shift the role of wetlands from carbon sinks to carbon sources. Higher temperatures and more rain can maintain the role of wetlands as carbon sinks. There might be a critical water level at which a wetland can preserve its services. A new framework for conducting wetland mesocosm experiments has been proposed. The proposed experiment allows for testing of dynamic process-based model results.

The aim of this article is to determine how human interventions in upstream countries coupled with drought events are affecting the flow regime of downstream countries using the Nile River basin for illustrative purposes. This has been addressed by assessing climate change in the study area through analyses of precipitation data obtained from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) and detecting if there is a trend, and subsequently calculating drought events in the main basins impacting on the downstream flow. Then river discharge data were analysed using different hydraulic indices at key stations in the downstream country and measuring the alterations occurring in the flow. The degree of alteration is a function of the number of civil engineering projects being in operation and classified by time windows; pre-alteration is between 1900 and 1925, while the alteration period is between 1933 and 2012. The alteration period was classified into three periods based on the degree of alteration. The findings revealed that there are changes in the river flow regime caused by both changes in the rainfall pattern in addition to the regulation in the upstream countries. There is a direct relationship between the interventions in the upstream countries and changes in the flow regime especially when coupled with drought events. By increasing the water usage upstream, there is an increase in the alteration of the flow downstream. The years between 2000 and 2012 were linked to the highest alterations between the modified years.

Two controlled experiments were operated to evaluate the impact of pH on the treatment efficiency of azo dyes within artificial textile wastewater using ponds as a polishing step. The objectives were to assess the (1) inflow water quality; (2) the presence of Lemna minor and the algae Oedogonium spp. on the dye removal and the outflow water quality; and (3) suitability of applying artificial textile wastewater and the impact of this wastewater and the dye on plants. Findings indicate that the shallow ponds planted with L. minor and/or algae treated the dye Basic Red 46 (BR46) significantly (p 0.05) impact of pH. The potential of L. minor and algae for removal of BR46 was 31% and 25%, respectively. The removal of BR46 was around 89% for ponds planted with L. minor and algae, 58% for algae ponds and 33% for control ponds. Wetlands with L. minor are successful and economic in the complete degradation of BR46 at concentrations of 10 mg L−1 for any pH value between 6 and 9. The removal of ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) and ortho-phosphate-phosphorus (PO4-P) was higher in planted than in unplanted ponds. The mean outflow values of chemical oxygen demand, NH4-N, NO3-N, suspended solids and total dissolved solids were within the limits for safe discharge. The artificial wastewater constituents after dilution (1 part of artificial wastewater to 24 parts of raw water) were suitable to use within the treatment system containing L. minor.

This study investigates and challenges the capability of standard and hybrid soft computing models of fuzzy c-means clustering adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), wavenet and artificial neural networks (MLPNN and RBFNN) to estimate the spillway aerator air demand in dams. For the learning process, four different meta-heuristic optimization methods (particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm (GA), firefly algorithm (FA) and biogeography-based optimization (BBO)) are considered as alternatives to the classical optimization algorithms of the data-driven models. In addition to the data-driven models, the multiple linear regressions and some empirical relations are used to evaluate the performance of the models. Evaluation of the models is assessed with five different statistical parameters as well as the diagnostic tool of the Taylor’s diagram. Analysis of the models’ outcome reveals that the ANFIS-GA has the best performance associated with a standard root mean square error of 0.309 and a coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of 0.93.

Sustainable management of transboundary rivers, especially in water-scarce regions is increasingly becoming more challenging due to the collective adverse impact of upstream development and climate change on transboundary scale. Two major tributaries of the Tigris River, the Diyala (Sīrvān) and the Lesser Zab River basins, are shared between Iraq and Iran. They were adopted as representative basins for a large number of transboundary rivers, where short-sighted perspectives are currently ruling their management policies. Climate change is anticipated to lead to greater frequency and intensity of droughts, and higher tension is likely to emerge. The authors developed a technical support framework (TSF) that helps decision-making to alleviate the combined negative impact of climate change at basin scale and upstream human-induced impairments. The TSF encompasses six key measures: (1) cross-sectoral trade-offs; (2) improved water-use efficiency and reduction of losses; (3) development of a sound groundwater planning policy; (4) cutbacks in demand while maintaining environmental flow in the river; (5) inter- and intra-basin water transfer systems; and (6) quantification of current supply-demand gaps and sizing a future gaps. The framework supports the sustainable management of water resources in both Diyala and Lesser Zab basins as well as others in common river catchments. The recommendation is that a lower riparian country should put in place measures such as increasing water-use efficiency, rehabilitation of damaged and deteriorated irrigation facilities, and inter- and intra-basin water transfer arrangements to reduce the gap between growing water demands and corresponding supplies.

Indexación Scopus Achieving consumer loyalty will remain a prime objective of every business in the current volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment (VUCA), which demands some out-of-thebox thinking on the part of policymakers to sustain the competitive advantage. Sustainability has been emerging as a “new normal” for all industries of the present era, which forces all sectors to incorporate it into their business operations. There have been studies on the relationship between sustainability and consumer loyalty, but these studies are inconclusive, further establishing the importance of more research in this area. In this frame of reference, the present research objective is to test the dimensional impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities (economic, environmental, social) on banking consumers’ loyalty in the context of Pakistan. The data were collected from different bank account holders, which were then analyzed through the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique in AMOS. The results revealed that all three dimensions of CSR positively relate to consumer loyalty. The banking industry policymakers can benefit from the findings of the present study to understand sustainability from the lens of marketing to drive a higher level of consumer loyalty. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3828

While prior studies have largely addressed corporate social responsibility (CSR) at a macro or institutional level, its importance at the micro or individual level is to date underexplored, especially in the context of developing economies. Further, it is not clear from the studies in the extant literature how the role of females is more important in the context of environmental management as compared to males. Similarly, micro-level CSR (MCSR) is emerging as a “new organizational value”, and the organizations that acknowledge this “new organizational value” and incorporate it into their business operations are likely to achieve sustainability objectives far better as compared to their counterparts. The present study investigates the impact of MCSR on employees’ pro-environmental behavior with the moderating effect of gender in the healthcare sector of Pakistan. The data were collected from five large hospitals in the city of Lahore through a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS software. A total of 533 out of 800 responses were received, which were used for data analysis of the present study. The results revealed that MCSR positively influences employee’s pro-environmental behavior, and gender moderates this relationship but the moderating effect of females is stronger as compared to males. The findings of the present study would help policymakers understand the importance of MCSR as a “new organizational value” to influence employees’ pro-environmental behavior with a special focus to promote the proactive role of females at workplaces.

Climate change and drought episode impact integrated with anthropogenic pressure have become an increasing concern for water resource managers, particularly in arid and semi-arid climatic zones. This chapter presents a comprehensive methodology to predict the prospective impact of such changes at a basin scale. The Lower Zab River Basin, northern Iraq, has been selected as a representative case study. The methodology has been achieved through estimation of drought severity and climate change impact during the human intervention periods to separate the influence of climatic abnormality and measure the hydrologic deviations as a result of streamflow regulation configurations. The Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) method has been applied to quantify the hydrological alterations of numerous hydrological characteristics. The Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenbalansavdelning (The Water Balance Department of the Hydrological Bureau) hydrologic model was used to define the boundary conditions for the reservoir capacity yield model, which was applied to derive the reservoir capacity-yield-reliability relationships, comprising daily reservoir inflow from the basin with the size of 14,924 km2 into a reservoir with the capacity of 6.80 Gm3. Owing to the future precipitation reduction and potential evapotranspiration increase during the worst case scenario (−40% precipitation and +30% potential evapotranspiration), substantial reductions in the streamflow of between −56% and −58% are anticipated for the dry and wet seasons, respectively. Model simulations recommend that the reservoir reliability would generally decrease due to a decline in reservoir inflow. The study outcomes assist water resource managers and policymakers responsible for mitigating the effects of climate change.

Organizational sustainability is the reality which is considered essential for the success of all kind of organizations. Researchers and academicians struggle to conceptualize this phenomenon while practitioners endeavor to achieve it on the ground. Much has been done in resource-affluent countries of the world, whereas in the least developed countries, social sustainability is now becoming a new normal. The purpose of this research was to understand the social perspective of organizational sustainability and the roles of electronic performance appraisal and transformational leadership in shaping it. Data were collected from the healthcare sector through the administration of close-ended questionnaires to a randomly selected sample, 320 out of 400 questionnaires with an acceptable degree of accuracy were selected for statistical treatment. Inferential statistics were applied using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results confirmed the existence of definite contributions of the electronic performance appraisal system and transformational leadership towards organizational sustainability. However, our findings surprisingly ruled out the moderating role of transformational leadership on the cause and effect relationship between electronic performance appraisal and organizational social sustainability. In the face of a scarcity of related literature in the given context and due to the partial novelty of the model, the findings of this study add significantly to the existing bank of literature in the field. It will also be handy for the guidance of practitioners who are engaged in sustainability management.

Stress factors such as climate change and drought may switch the role of temperate peatlands from carbon dioxide (CO2 ) sinks to sources, leading to positive feedback to global climate change. Water level management has been regarded as an important climate change mitigation strategy as it can sustain the natural net CO2 sink function of a peatland. Little is known about how resilient peatlands are in the face of future climate change scenarios, as well as how effectively water level management can sustain the CO2 sink function to mitigate global warming. The authors assess the effect of climate change on CO2 exchange of south Swedish temperate peatlands, which were either unmanaged or subject to water level regulation. Climate chamber simulations were conducted using experimental peatland mesocosms exposed to current and future representative concentration pathway (RCP) climate scenarios (RCP 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5). The results showed that all managed and unmanaged systems under future climate scenarios could serve as CO2 sinks throughout the experimental period. However, the 2018 extreme drought caused the unmanaged mesocosms under the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 switch from a net CO2 sink to a source during summer. Surprisingly, the unmanaged mesocosms under RCP 2.6 benefited from the warmer climate, and served as the best sink among the other unmanaged systems. Water level management had the greatest effect on the CO2 sink function under RCP 8.5 and RCP 4.5, which improved their CO2 sink capability up to six and two times, respectively. Under the current climate scenario, water level management had a negative effect on the CO2 sink function, and it had almost no effect under RCP 2.6. Therefore, the researchers conclude that water level management is necessary for RCP 8.5, beneficial for RCP 4.5 and unimportant for RCP 2.6 and the current climate.

Currently, it is important to develop strategic frameworks to support the selection of sustainable resource recovery solutions. This study applies a new framework for planning, implementation, and assessment of resource recovery strategies for a full-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in S&atilde, o Paulo megacity. The framework comprises several steps based on case study-specific data and information from current literature. Data were collected from various sources: a survey with a wastewater treatment utility, national and regional databases, and review of local regulations and international literature. Treatment configuration, wastewater and by-products composition, potential demand (for water, energy, and phosphorus), stakeholder identification, and local legislation were thoroughly discussed regarding decision-making on resource recovery. Scenario analysis was used to explore suitable nutrient and energy recovery measures based on indicators. Biogas recovery and sewage sludge composting showed more favorable conditions due to similar experiences in the area and robust legislation. The proposed framework is a simplified tool, and its application can support managers to get information on resource recovery and how to plan such initiatives in easier ways to facilitate wiser decision-making, and better operation and management. The results on framework use and refinement can guide potential applications in other contexts and stimulate public policy formulation and further research.

Creativity at the level of employees is of utmost importance for every sector of an economy, with no exception to a healthcare system. The reason why employee creativity is important lies in the fact that employees have profound knowledge of their job and thus can serve as a source of meaningful innovation in an organization. Research shows that employee creativity is largely dependent on leadership. Corporate leaders significantly influence subordinates’ behavior. However, with the economic development, globalization, and changing business environment, a traditional authoritative leadership style can no longer be effective in understanding employees’ psychological needs to foster their creative behavior. In this regard, the role of inclusive leadership as an effective organizational management strategy was recently discussed in literature at different levels. It was also stated that an inclusive leader could foster employee creativity. However, such relationships in healthcare systems of developing economies have largely remained under-explored previously. We explored employee creativity in a healthcare context of a developing economy in an inclusive leadership framework to bridge such knowledge gaps. We also investigated the mediating roles of psychological safety and polychronicity in the above-stated relationship. We collected the data from hospital employees through a questionnaire (paper–pencil method). A hypothetical model was developed, which was tested through structural equation modeling in AMOS. Based upon the statistical outcomes, we found that an inclusive leadership style in a hospital can significantly foster employee creativity, whereas psychological safety and polychronicity mediate this relationship. This study offers different theoretical and practical insights, especially to a healthcare system. An important finding was that an inclusive leader can motivate the followers to be more creative. This finding is significant for a hospital because creative employees provide a hospital with a solid competitive base.

WATERAGRI - Water retention and nutrient recycling in soils and streams for improved agricultural production is a new H2020 Research & Innovation project starting in May 2020 and lasting for 4 years. The WATERAGRI consortium consists of 23 partners from 12 European countries under the lead of Lund University (Sweden) among which is the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. WATERAGRI is taking up the challenge of solving the problems of water management and fertilization in agriculture in a sustainable way in order to secure food production in Europe in the 21st century.

Storage of greywater is controversial for environmental and health reasons. Artificial greywater was assessed after 2 and 7 days of storage time. Two different greywater pollutant strengths were statistically compared at each storage time. A negative significant (p

The experimental methodology achieved in the present study signified that\ud the adsorption and precipitation were mainly mechanisms occurred together in the\ud removal of nickel from aqueous solutions by sorption using cement kiln dust (CKD)\ud byproduct as sorbent. Finding the contribution of each mechanism in the removal\ud process and derivation an analytical model for finding the portion of precipitation\ud were the focal points of this work. Results proved that the pure precipitation was\ud increased with the increase of CKD dosage and metal concentration where total\ud removal (adsorption-precipitation) ranged from 45 to 100%. The SEM micrographs of\ud the CKD sorbent before and after sorption process certified that there was a crystal\ud precipitates on the surface of the CKD. Also, these graphs in combination with FT-IR\ud tests proved that [Ni(OH2)n]+2 (n=4-6) species were bonded with CKD and insoluble\ud hydroxide species may be precipitated onto the CaO surfaces by co-precipitation,\ud while K-O, Si-O and Ca-O groups enhanced the adsorption mechanism.

As water desalination continues to expand globally, desalination plants are continually under pressure to meet the requirements of sustainable development. However, the majority of desalination sustainability research has focused on new desalination projects, with limited research on sustainability performance of existing desalination plants. This is particularly important while considering countries with limited resources for freshwater such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as it is heavily reliant on existing desalination infrastructure. In this regard, the current research deals with the sustainability analysis of desalination processes using a generic sustainability ranking framework based on Mamdani Fuzzy Logic Inference Systems. The fuzzy-based models were validated using data from two typical desalination plants in the UAE. The promising results obtained from the fuzzy ranking framework suggest this more in-depth sustainability analysis should be beneficial due to its flexibility and adaptability in meeting the requirements of desalination sustainability.

Sewers that constitute the main part of wastewater systems can be used as pretreatment units of wastewater treatment plants. The authors aim to increase the treatment efficiency of sewers b...