text: Business & Economics http://www.mdpi.com/journal/business-econ Latest open access articles published in Business & Economics at http://www.mdpi.com/journal/business-econ http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/736 Detailed analysis of continuous time-series data from regions undergoing rapid urbanization can accurately reveal spatial variations on short time scales. This study used the city of Changchun in Jilin Province, China, as a case study to analyze total and annual changes in area—especially decreases in rural settlement area—as well as regional differences in these changes and driving forces of rural settlement evolution. Quantitative analytical techniques include a dynamic percentage of rural settlements, the distribution index of rural settlements, the regression correlation analysis, and other spatial analysis methods. Data were derived from a variety of sources, including land-use databases and social and economic statistics. The results show that the area of rural settlements decreased between 2009 and 2014, with the urban construction land expansion and decreases in cultivated lands. Rural settlements also became increasingly fragmented after 2009. Most of the rural settlements were located close to the urban construction land, and changes in rural settlement area were more pronounced with decreasing distance to the closest urban construction land, illustrating the effect of urban sprawl on rural settlement changes. The analysis also shows that the decreasing area of rural settlements between 2009 and 2014 is directly caused by urban sprawl. Regional development strategies and urban planning indirectly contribute to changes in the scale and spatial distribution of rural settlements by guiding urban development. The geographical environment and strict cultivated-land-protection policies also indirectly restrict changes in rural settlements by determining the restrictive area of urban expansion. No significant changes were found in the influence of population change on changing areas of rural settlements. In conclusion, the interaction of strategy for social-economic development, natural geography environments, and human demand jointly caused changes in rural settlements. Sustainability 2016-07-30 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080736 736 2071-1050 2016-07-30 doi: 10.3390/su8080736 Dongmei Li Dongyan Wang Hong Li Shuwen Zhang Xiaodong Zhang Ye Tao http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/4/3/15 In this paper, we present a formal framework of possible network formations among immigrants. After arriving in the new country, one of the new immigrant's important decisions is with whom to maintain a link in the foreign country. We find that the behavior of the first two immigrants affects all those who come after them. We also find that in the long run, under specific conditions, the first immigrant will become the leader of the immigrant society. Over time, as the stock of immigrants in the host country increases, the investment in the link with the leader will increase as well. Economies 2016-07-30 4 3 Article 10.3390/economies4030015 15 2227-7099 2016-07-30 doi: 10.3390/economies4030015 Gil Epstein Odelia Heizler-Cohen http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/732 This paper investigated the influence of diffuser layouts on the energy performance of stratified air distribution systems (STRAD). The energy saving potentials of STRAD systems are theoretically analyzed. The cooling coil load of a STRAD system is proportion to the return air temperature, while inversely proportional to the exhaust air temperature. Based on that, numerical studies are conducted for the applications of STRAD systems in three typical building space types. Two evaluation indices are developed to assess the energy performance of STRAD systems. The simulation results demonstrated that further energy saving could be achieved by keeping the exhaust grille at ceiling level and decreasing the height of return grille. Therefore, in order to optimize the energy saving capacity of STRAD systems, the return grille is recommended to be located as low as possible, whilst paying special attention on the "short-circuit" of cold supply air. Furthermore, when the STRAD system is applied in large space buildings with a big horizontal span, supply diffusers should be distributed surrounding the occupied zone as uniformly as possible, while avoiding installing return diffusers at exterior walls. Sustainability 2016-07-30 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080732 732 2071-1050 2016-07-30 doi: 10.3390/su8080732 Yuanda Cheng Jinming Yang Zhenyu Du Jinqing Peng http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/729 The way people innovate and create new ideas and bring them to the market is undergoing a fundamental change from closed innovation to open innovation. Why and how do firms perform open innovation? Firms' open innovation is measured through the levels of firms' joint patent applications. Next, we analyze network structures and characters of firms' joint patent applications such as betweenness and degree centrality, structure hole, and closure. From this research, we drew conclusions as follows. First, the structure of collaboration networks has both direct and indirect effects on firms' innovative performance. Second, in the process of joint patent applications, there is a long tail phenomenon in networks of joint patent applications. Third, the number of patents and International Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses together constitute a meaningful measure of the innovation performance of firms. Sustainability 2016-07-30 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080729 729 2071-1050 2016-07-30 doi: 10.3390/su8080729 JinHyo Yun EuiSeob Jeong JinSeu Park http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/716 In this paper, we consider a two-echelon sustainable supply chain with price-sensitive demand. The government taxes the carbon footprint of each item caused by producing, transporting, and consuming the products. Both the supplier and retailer can exert efforts to reduce the carbon footprint. In a non-cooperative setting, the government only taxes the supplier, so that the retailer has no incentive to exert any effort to reduce the carbon footprint and the supplier merely decides on the selling price to maximize its own profit. We develop a centralized supply chain and show that there is an optimal solution to maximize the channel profit. Since the centralized policy may not be always not practical, we propose a tax-sharing contract, where both parties profit from the carbon footprint reduction. This problem is modeled as the Stackelberg game and Nash game. The results show that the leader has more power than the follower, which results in more profit. The Stackelberg game provides boundaries for both parties' profits in the Nash game. Although the tax-sharing contract does not result in full cooperation, its efficiency is still much higher than that of the non-cooperative case. The results are illustrated with some numerical experiments. Sustainability 2016-07-30 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080716 716 2071-1050 2016-07-30 doi: 10.3390/su8080716 Yujie Xiao Shuai Yang Lianmin Zhang Yong-Hong Kuo http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/730 The profits of the ESCO (Energy Services Company) and EU (Energy Using Organization) in the EPCP (energy performance contracting project) rely on the signing of the shared savings contract and the successful operation of the project, and the probability of the project's success is decided by the complementary efforts of the ESCO and EU. However, the effort selection of the two sides face the bidirectional moral hazard caused by asymmetric information. Based on the robustness of shared savings contract, this paper establishes a bidirectional moral hazard model under asymmetric information to analyze the complementary efforts selection of the ESCO and EU with the given revenue sharing rules, and analyzes the differences of the complementary efforts under symmetric and asymmetric information conditions and the impacts of those efforts on the shared savings contract's robustness by using a numerial simulation. The results show that compared with information symmetry, the bidirectional moral hazard will erode the project's value under information asymmetry, the project's success probability and the level of the parties' efforts will decrease, which reveals the negative impact of asymmetric information on the robustness of the shared savings contract, and the significance of eliminating information asymmetry effectively as well as incentivizing the parties to increase the degree of complementary efforts to enhance the probability of the project's success. Finally, policy recommendations regarding the introduction of incomplete contracts, promoting guaranteed savings contracts, and improving energy savings audits for the enhancement of the robustness of the shared savings contract are provided. This research will be helpful to improve the theoretical research on the contract's robustness, perfect the design of the energy service contract, and formulate the related support policies. Sustainability 2016-07-30 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080730 730 2071-1050 2016-07-30 doi: 10.3390/su8080730 Guangyuan Xing Dong Qian Ju'e Guo http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/726 This paper identifies and discusses the benefits, threats, and vulnerabilities related to the digital revolution. It aims to motivate research and its funding regarding digital threats and vulnerabilities related, in particular, to anticipating unintended, undesirable rebound effects, tipping points, critically fast evolutionary change rates, trade-offs, etc. A brief analysis of the history of the mind and technology reveals slow technological development over tens of thousands of years (including the invention of a place-value digital number system). Then, a small series of groundbreaking ideas (e.g., binary logic, Shannon's symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits, architectures of computing) enabled the industry-driven invention of programmable computing machines. Ultimately, the mastery of electron and semiconductor physics allowed for economical and seemingly unlimited storage capacity that made digital tools available to all domains of society. Based on the historical analysis, a coupled human-environment systems perspective (that includes a hierarchy assumption ranging from the human cell to the human species) enables the identification of several potential challenges to society and science. First, digital nano-engineering promotes genetic modifications (i.e., directed evolution), and synthetic biology enables a new level of the appropriation of nature. The understanding of cell-based biocomputers may call for new forms of logic. These and other challenges require thorough sustainability research in order to anticipate major changes on all levels of human systems. Second, the human individual is exposed to new forms of vulnerability. In particular, the potential epigenetic effects resulting from the excessive use of digital information of historically unknown speed, density, and contents and the loss of (the Western common-law right to) privacy resulting from big data (whose ownership is often unknown) should become subjects of research. Third, digital technologies are responsible for rapid changes in all social and economic structures. The paper suggests that thorough, discipline-based interdisciplinary research is needed in order to develop basic knowledge for creating and managing resilient relationships between human systems and their digital environments. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Concept Paper 10.3390/su8080726 726 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080726 Roland Scholz http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/734 Wind energy has become a fast growing industry in China in the last decade. The development of the wind energy industry presents interesting policy questions. In the context of China, in additional to national energy policies, provincial policies were designed and implemented to stimulate the growth of wind power. This paper examines factors, especially provincial wind energy policies, in driving the growth of wind power capacity in the Chinese provinces. Statistical analysis with a longitudinal data set for wind power capacity in Chinese provinces from 2001 to 2012 reveals that the adoption of wind energy policies and a general energy plan at the provincial level are having positive effects on the growth of wind capacity in Chinese provinces. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080734 734 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080734 Xiaogang Zhang Dong Wang Yuanhao Liu Hongtao Yi http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/727 Daylight plays a significant role in sustainable building design. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of manual solar shades on indoor visual comfort. A developed stochastic model for manual solar shades was modeled in Building Controls Virtual Test Bed, which was coupled with EnergyPlus for co-simulation. Movable solar shades were compared with two unshaded windows. Results show that movable solar shades have more than half of the working hours with a comfortable illuminance level, which is about twice higher than low-e windows, with a less significant daylight illuminance fluctuation. For glare protection, movable solar shades increase comfortable visual conditions by about 20% compared to low-e windows. Moreover, the intolerable glare perception could be reduced by more than 20% for movable solar shades. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080727 727 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080727 Jian Yao David Chow Yu-Wei Chi http://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/9/3/9 This study explores social capital and its relevance to bank risk taking across countries. Our empirical results show that the levels of bank risk taking are lower in countries with higher levels of social capital, and that the impact of social capital is mainly reflected by the reduced value of the standard deviation of return on assets. Moreover, the impact of social capital is found to be weaker when the legal system lacks strength. Furthermore, the study considers the impacts of social capital of the banks' largest shareholders in these countries and finds that high levels of social capital present in these countries exert a negative effect on bank risk taking, but the effect is not strongly significant. Journal of Risk and Financial Management 2016-07-29 9 3 Article 10.3390/jrfm9030009 9 1911-8074 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/jrfm9030009 Wenjing Xie Haoyuan Ding Terence Chong http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/731 Information and communication technologies (ICT) are present in almost all fields of human activity. The expansion of their use should be balanced by the results of the studies on the negative effects on the environment. The relationship between these technologies and the environment is relatively new. The application of environmental criteria is commonly referred to as green ICT or green computing. Awareness of the importance of the ecosystem has led to increased interest in its protection both in production and in consumption. Green ICT should be a major concern not only for the hardware and software producers but also for the users. They could stimulate the demand for less harmful products for the environment with an essential role in the after-sales stages. Companies can contribute to this process by resource efficiency, dematerialization, and minimizing e-waste, increasing recycling, and producing fewer CO2 emissions. The decision to adopt green ICT depends on the expected benefits and investments. This decision depends on costs, competitiveness, financial support, managers and employees' characteristics and skills, legal regulations, supply, and demand. The contributions of the paper cover identifying, analysing and classifying general and specific determinants of green ICT adoption in organizations based on the literature in this field. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Review 10.3390/su8080731 731 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080731 Laura-Diana Radu http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/728 This article aims to investigate the environmental and economic sustainability of five dairy farms in the Umbria Region (Italy). The study also provides an assessment of aggregate sustainability, which is less investigated with reference to cattle milk both globally and in Italy, through the analysis of the relationship between economic and environmental performance. Primary data were collected through a direct survey carried out in 2014. The environmental assessment was conducted with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) "cradle to farm gate" approach, while the economic dimension was evaluated by determining the direct and indirect costs related to the factors involved in the production process. A correlation analysis and a linear regression were performed in order to study the relationship between the carbon footprint (CF) and operating income. The average operating income amounted to 0.03 Euro/L of milk. The CF values of the five companies are contained within a variation range comprised between 0.90 and 1.76 kg CO2 eq/L of milk. The existence of an inverse relationship between the CF of milk and operating income confirms the hypothesis regarding the possibility of implementing strategies aimed at improving performance in both investigated dimensions at the same time, thus increasing the aggregate sustainability. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080728 728 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080728 Lucio Cecchini Biancamaria Torquati Chiara Paffarini Marco Barbanera Daniele Foschini Massimo Chiorri http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/6/3/22 Networking provides access to countless opportunities for nurses and patients and allows them to communicate, interact and collaborate with each other in order to enhance nursing care practice and improve health. The ubiquity of information and communication technologies have the potential to improve access to both health information and services in health care. The authors aim for this study is to investigate the role of networking tools in shaping and improving nursing care practices. An integrative review was conducted and electronic databases of PubMed, Cochrane, Science Direct and ACM Digital Library were searched for studies published between 1985 and 2015. Sixteen articles, based on the use of networking tools in nursing care practice, were included in the review. Data synthesis consists of writing descriptive summaries and thematic analysis of the key findings in the included articles. Different networking tools are currently used by nursing professionals for patient's safety and well-being. These include information technology, telehealth nursing, IT and networking applications, social media networks, miscellaneous interaction networks, internet as a source of information and communication networks. Networking assist healthcare professionals with completing their daily tasks such as teaching patients, monitoring their health, tracking their blood pressure and much more. A variety of networking tools are available for managing chronic disease, diet, and lifestyle choices of patients. However, privacy, security and reliability of exchanged information is extremely important in improving the quality of patient care. Societies 2016-07-29 6 3 Review 10.3390/soc6030022 22 2075-4698 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/soc6030022 Sabiha Khanum Maria Souza Najma Naz Grace Sasso Odalea Brüggemann Ivonete Heideman http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/725 In Italy, the accumulation of driftwood along the shore is a significant issue, especially for the coastal municipalities of the Central and Northern regions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution and availability of the coastal driftwood in Italy and its impacts, as well as analyzing its chemical–physical properties to evaluate possible employment in combustion applications. On the basis of a data gathering campaign for the period 2010–2014, about 60,000 tons of driftwood are reported to accumulate along the Italian shores every year. The two regions hardest-hit were Liguria and Veneto, with about 15,000 tons and 12,000 tons, respectively. Three sites were selected for driftwood sampling. The main issue deriving from chemical characterization was the high chlorine content (up to 2% on dry basis) and metal oxides in the ashes. Driftwood samples were then subjected to a natural washing cycle for 1 month; results revealed a significant drop in chlorine and metal oxides contents (up to 80%) and a low decrease of the lower heating value (about 20%). Furthermore, the percolated water was analyzed in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), showing values (up to 1100 mg O2/L) above the Italian limits for discharges into surface waters. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080725 725 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080725 Franco Cotana Cinzia Buratti Marco Barbanera Gianluca Cavalaglio Daniele Foschini Andrea Nicolini Anna Pisello http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/722 The potential distribution of Olea ferruginea was predicted by Maxent model for present and the upcoming hypothetical (2050) climatic scenario. O. ferruginea is an economically beneficial plant species. For predicting the potential distribution of O. ferruginea in Pakistan, Worldclim variables for current and future climatic change scenarios, digital elevation model (DEM) slope, and aspects with the occurrence point were used. Pearson correlation was used to reject highly correlated variables. A total of 219 sighting points were used in the Maxent modeling. The area under curve (AUC) value was higher than 0.98. The approach used in this study is considered useful in predicting the potential distribution of O. ferruginea species, and can be an effective tool in the conservation and restoration planning for human welfare. The results show that there is a significant impact under future bioclimatic scenarios on the potential distribution of O. ferruginea in Pakistan. There is a significant decrease in the overall distribution of O. ferruginea due to loss of habitats under current distribution range, but this will be compensated by gain of habitat at higher altitudes in the future climate change scenario (habitat shift). It is recommended that the areas predicted suitable for the O. ferruginea may be used for plantation of this species while the deforested land should be restored for human welfare. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080722 722 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080722 Uzma Ashraf Hassan Ali Muhammad Chaudry Irfan Ashraf Adila Batool Zafeer Saqib http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/720 As the world's second largest economy, China ranks among the world's top nations when it comes to carbon emission. Accordingly, its attitude towards climate change is closely followed by all parties concerned. There have been few studies on the role of environmental governance in the transformation process to low-carbon, especially Chinese ones. This study analyzes the impact of government environmental regulation on the low-carbon city transformation process by adopting Shenzhen as the research object. One of the world's youngest super cities, Shenzhen also happens to be the city with the lowest carbon emission intensity in China. The multi-level governance framework is a useful mechanism with which to gauge divisions of responsibility and resources. This paper uses multilevel environmental governance to explain the policy for dealing with the climate in the city of Shenzhen. Striving to explore green low-carbon development path for the whole country, Shenzhen provides practical experience for countries to cope with global climate change. Sustainability 2016-07-29 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080720 720 2071-1050 2016-07-29 doi: 10.3390/su8080720 Zhanglan Wu Jie Tang Dong Wang http://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/5/3/25 Land use and land cover (LULC) patterns play an important role in the establishment and spread of invasive plants. Understanding LULC changes is useful for early detection and management of land-use change to reduce the spread of invasive species. The primary objective of this study is to analyze and predict LULC changes in Connecticut. LULC maps for 1996, 2001 and 2006 were selected to analyze past land cover changes, and then potential LULC distribution in 2018 was predicted using the Multi-Layer Perceptron Markov Chain (MLP_MC) model. This study shows that the total area of forest has been decreasing, mainly caused by urban development and other human activity in Connecticut. The model predicts that the study area will lose 5535 ha of deciduous forest and gain 3502 ha of built-up area from 2006 to 2018. Moreover, forests near built-up areas and agriculture lands appear to be more vulnerable to conversion. Changes in LULC may result in subtle spatial shifts in invasion risk by an abundant invasive shrub, Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii). The gain of developed areas at the landscape scale was most closely linked to increased future invasion risk. Our findings suggest that the forest conversion needs to be controlled and well managed to help mitigate future invasion risk. Land 2016-07-28 5 3 Article 10.3390/land5030025 25 2073-445X 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/land5030025 Wenjie Wang Chuanrong Zhang Jenica Allen Weidong Li Mark Boyer Kathleen Segerson John Silander http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/723 While various methodologies for quantifying carbon emissions of pavement construction are developed worldwide, adopting and promoting the existing tools to China's market is found fairly challenging due to institutional constraints. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to propose a methodology for measuring carbon emissions of pavement construction compatible with the fixed pricing systems prevalent in China; and develop an automatic tool for carbon estimations. The total carbon emissions are measured by aggregating emissions of energy consumption and materials used along with four stages, namely material manufacture, transportation, construction, and disposal. A set of composite carbon emission factors for energy and materials was calculated based on existing emission factors with the consideration of the boundaries concerned. The quantity of energy and materials used in pavement construction are obtained through bills of quantity and the fixed price system. The database of the emission factors for energy and materials was embedded into a C# based tool, and validated in a real case. Sustainability 2016-07-28 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080723 723 2071-1050 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/su8080723 Youliang Huang Yan Ning Tao Zhang Jiajie Wu http://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/5/3/26 Birds are an important part of the agricultural landscape, as having nature value, but also as pest control agents and bio-indicators for the health of the environment. Here we look at linear non-crop elements in agricultural areas as a potential source of food for nestlings of avian species. We measured invertebrate availability as it relates to structural complexity at the local and landscape levels in three counties in central Illinois. Invertebrates were measured with taxonomic diversity, abundance, and estimated biomass during spring of 2012 and 2013. Our study shows that easily modifiable field edge characteristics have the greatest impact on invertebrate diversity and abundance, as compared to field and landscape features. This finding shows that a potential invertebrate food source as measured by both diversity and biomass, may be easily enhanced without changes to agricultural practices. Land 2016-07-28 5 3 Article 10.3390/land5030026 26 2073-445X 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/land5030026 Tracy Evans Meredith Mahoney Everett Cashatt Geert de Snoo C.J.M. Musters http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/721 This study investigates the evolutionary patterns of renewable energy technology in East Asian countries—Japan, Korea, and China—as an emerging technology where the catch-up strategy is actively taking place. To reflect the quality of technology development activities, we assess each country's research and development (R&D) activities using patent citation analysis. The goal of this study is to overcome the limitations of prior research that uses quantitative information, such as R&D expenditures and number of patents. This study observes the process of technological catch-up and leapfrogging in the East Asian renewable energy sector. Furthermore, we find that each nation's technology development portfolio differs depending on the composition share of technologies. Policymakers in emerging economies can use the findings to shape R&D strategies to develop the renewable energy sector and provide an alternative method of evaluating the qualitative development of technology. Sustainability 2016-07-28 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080721 721 2071-1050 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/su8080721 Yoonhwan Oh Jungsub Yoon Jeong-Dong Lee http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/7/3/19 In strategic situations, humans infer the state of mind of others, e.g., emotions or intentions, adapting their behavior appropriately. Nonetheless, evolutionary studies of cooperation typically focus only on reaction norms, e.g., tit for tat, whereby individuals make their next decisions by only considering the observed outcome rather than focusing on their opponent's state of mind. In this paper, we analyze repeated two-player games in which players explicitly infer their opponent's unobservable state of mind. Using Markov decision processes, we investigate optimal decision rules and their performance in cooperation. The state-of-mind inference requires Bayesian belief calculations, which is computationally intensive. We therefore study two models in which players simplify these belief calculations. In Model 1, players adopt a heuristic to approximately infer their opponent's state of mind, whereas in Model 2, players use information regarding their opponent's previous state of mind, obtained from external evidence, e.g., emotional signals. We show that players in both models reach almost optimal behavior through commitment-like decision rules by which players are committed to selecting the same action regardless of their opponent's behavior. These commitment-like decision rules can enhance or reduce cooperation depending on the opponent's strategy. Games 2016-07-28 7 3 Article 10.3390/g7030019 19 2073-4336 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/g7030019 Mitsuhiro Nakamura Hisashi Ohtsuki http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/34 Gender and sexuality norms, conscribed under cis/heteropatriarchy, have established violent and unstable social and educational climates for the millennial generation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, agender/asexual, gender creative, and questioning youth. While strides have been made to make schools more supportive and queer inclusive, schools still struggle to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender*+, intersex, agender/asexual, gender creative, queer and questioning (LGBT*+IAGCQQ)-positive curricula. While extensive studies must be done on behalf of all queer youth, this work specifically focuses on how to support classroom teachers to uptake and apply a pedagogy of refusal that attends to the most vulnerabilized population of queer youth to date, those that are trans*+. A pedagogy of refusal will be explored through an evolving theory of trans*+ness, then demonstrated through a framework for classroom application, followed by recommendations for change. Social Sciences 2016-07-28 5 3 Article 10.3390/socsci5030034 34 2076-0760 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/socsci5030034 sj Miller http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/35 Misalignment of educational and career goals (i.e., educational aspirations expressed are inadequate for attaining one's desired occupation) is associated with lower educational attainment and a lack of college readiness, and may contribute to persistent educational and employment disparities. Drawing on data from 249 sixth graders in low-income schools, this research examines misalignment between educational and career aspirations across racial and ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Findings indicate that students in low-income schools aspire to middle and upper middle class careers, but sometimes lack an understanding of the educational degrees required to achieve their goals. Latinos are significantly more likely than other groups to report misaligned aspirations, as are students in the free and reduced lunch program and those without a college-educated parent. Consequently, early gaps in misaligned career and educational goals for disadvantaged students may set them on a trajectory that perpetuates educational and occupational inequalities in this population. We discuss the programmatic implications of these findings in light of the elevated college and career planning needs of students traditionally underrepresented in higher education. Social Sciences 2016-07-28 5 3 Article 10.3390/socsci5030035 35 2076-0760 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/socsci5030035 Brea Perry Elizabeth Martinez Edward Morris Tanja Link Carl Leukefeld http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/719 The purpose of this work is to carry out an accurate and extensive environmental analysis of the steel production occurring in in the largest integrated EU steel mill, located in the city of Taranto in southern Italy. The end goal is that of highlighting the steelworks' main hot spots and identifying potential options for environmental improvement. The development for such an analysis is based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of steel production with a cradle to casting plant gate approach that covers the stages from raw material extraction to solid steel slab production. The inventory results have highlighted the large solid waste production, especially in terms of slag, which could be reused in other industries as secondary raw materials. Other reuses, in accordance with the circular economy paradigm, could encompass the energy waste involved in the steelmaking process. The most burdening lifecycle phases are the ones linked to blast furnace and coke oven operations. Specifically, the impact categories are influenced by the energy consumption and also by the toxicity of the emissions associated with the lifecycle of steel production. A detailed analysis of the toxicity impacts indicates that LCA is still not perfectly suitable for toxicity assessments and should be coupled with other more site specific studies in order to understand such aspects fully. Overall, the results represent a first step to understanding the current levels of sustainability of the steelworks, which should be used as a starting point for the development both of pollution control measures and of symbiotic waste reutilization scenarios needed to maintain the competitiveness of the industrial plant. Sustainability 2016-07-28 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080719 719 2071-1050 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/su8080719 Pietro Renzulli Bruno Notarnicola Giuseppe Tassielli Gabriella Arcese Rosa Di Capua http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/682 Use of fertilizers has enabled a massive increase in crop production yields. However, this has come with severe negative externalities (e.g., greenhouse gas emission; eutrophication of non-agricultural ecosystems). Eco-innovations are one option to reduce the environmental impact of fertilizers without compromising fertilizer productivity. Although numerous eco-innovations in the domain of fertilizers are available, they have not yet seen a sufficient adoption rate. In this paper we explore main drivers for adoption of eco-innovations in the German fertilizer supply chain based on empirical investigations at three levels of the fertilizer supply chain: producers, traders, and farmers. We strive to take a "chain perspective" on environmental concerns and knowledge of fertilizer specific eco-innovations. The study was carried out in two steps: initially we conducted exploratory expert interviews with eight actors of the fertilizer supply chain. The statements generated thereby fed into a questionnaire answered by 57 participants stemming from fertilizer production (n = 12), traders (n = 34) and farmers (n = 11) level. Findings suggest that drivers for eco-innovations are perceived differently by the various actors in the fertilizer supply chain. Overall knowledge on eco-innovations decreases downstream the chain. By taking a chain perspective on the adoption of eco-innovation, our paper contributes to the emerging body of literature on drivers for eco-innovation, and also maps out managerial implications of fostering the implementation of eco-innovations in the fertilizer supply chain. Sustainability 2016-07-28 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080682 682 2071-1050 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/su8080682 Kathrin Hasler Hans-Werner Olfs Onno Omta Stefanie Bröring http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/717 Economic systems are connected to the natural environment through a continuous flow of energy and materials. The production of economic wealth implies the use of natural resources and their transformation into goods (bound to become, at least partially, waste in the future), current waste (pollution) and low-valued energy (entropy). The scarcity of natural resources and the negative externalities arising from their use throughout the entire value chain are quite natural motivations for the current policy push towards a more dematerialized and a more circular economy. In this perspective, the EU seems to be approaching a new frontier in environmental policy. The main contribution of this paper is a qualitative assessment of a coordinated set of dematerialization policies, which aim at fostering the socially efficient use (and re-use) of virgin materials at firm level. The policy mix we propose envisages a green tax reform (GTR) with a material tax, which aims at shifting relative input prices in favour of labour and capital, and a policy of funding research and development activities in the area of resource efficiency. In order to support firms in their transition to higher material efficiency, we foresee targeted skill enhancement programmes. Finally, to prevent firms to shift towards less material-intensive production, potentially leading to lower output quality, we complete the policy mix with specific command-and-control measures, aiming at setting minimum quality standards for selected product categories. The qualitative assessment of this mix of policies relies on the four basic criteria of the economic policy analysis (effectiveness, efficiency, equity and feasibility). Since the EU is deeply integrated in the world economy, and it is a net importer of virgin resources, our policy evaluation necessarily takes an open-economy perspective. In this vein, the paper reviews the state of affairs of the major world countries (USA, Japan and China in particular) on this issue, and contextualizes the EU action in a global perspective. Sustainability 2016-07-28 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080717 717 2071-1050 2016-07-28 doi: 10.3390/su8080717 Andrea Bigano Aleksander Śniegocki Jacopo Zotti http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/718 Ecosystem services have become a critical issue in the environmental literature, however knowledge on whether women and men similarly value ecosystem services is still nascent. We aim at advancing the understanding of the relation between gender and environmental perceptions through the analysis of values assigned by women and men to ecosystem services supplied by home gardens in Vall Fosca (Catalan Pyrenees, north-eastern Spain). We found that women give a higher value than men to all ecosystem services. Overall, women's valuation of the full range of ecosystem services provided by home gardens was 7.55% higher than men's valuation. Gender socialization influences the way people interact with and value the environment, including highly managed environments such as home gardens. We argue that considering gendered differences in ecosystem services valuation may lead to policies more effective in enhancing ecosystem services provision. Sustainability 2016-07-27 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080718 718 2071-1050 2016-07-27 doi: 10.3390/su8080718 Laura Calvet-Mir Hug March Daniel Corbacho-Monné Erik Gómez-Baggethun Victoria Reyes-García http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/6/3/21 This article reviews the intersection between adolescent pregnancy and mental health. The research involving mental health risks for adolescent pregnancy and for parents who are teenagers are discussed. Depression and conduct disorder have emerged with the most attention. Research-based treatment of these disorders in adolescents is presented. Societies 2016-07-27 6 3 Article 10.3390/soc6030021 21 2075-4698 2016-07-27 doi: 10.3390/soc6030021 Jacqueline Corcoran http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/4/3/25 The value of including a research component in medical students' training programs has been widely recognized. Nevertheless, examples of how this may be done are rarely found in the literature. The case study reported in this short paper aimed to address this gap in the literature by investigating how a group of postgraduate students attached to the Orthopedics Department of a major hospital in China engaged in research for publication. Fourteen students were interviewed, and their "mission lists" were analyzed to reveal the students' research profiles, the sources of their research ideas, and their data collection activities. The study showed that the students pursued more clinical than basic research topics, their research topics often fell under their immediate supervisors' larger projects, and the students were actively engaged in the gathering of research data on the wards and at the outpatient clinic. The reported study does not claim generalizability of its findings. More of such reports from various settings in different parts of the world are needed to enhance constructive exchanges and mutual learning. Publications 2016-07-27 4 3 Case Report 10.3390/publications4030025 25 2304-6775 2016-07-27 doi: 10.3390/publications4030025 Yongyan Li http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/705 The importance of environmental consequences due to diverse substances that are emitted during the production of concrete is recognized, but environmental performance tends to be evaluated separately from the economic performance and durability performance of concrete. In order to evaluate concrete from the perspective of sustainable development, evaluation technologies are required for comprehensive assessment of environmental performance, economic performance, and durability performance based on a concept of sustainable development called the triple bottom line (TBL). Herein, an assessment method for concrete eco-efficiency is developed as a technique to ensure the manufacture of highly durable and eco-friendly concrete, while minimizing both the load on the ecological environment and manufacturing costs. The assessment method is based on environmental impact, manufacturing costs, and the service life of concrete. According to our findings, eco-efficiency increased as the compressive strength of concrete increased from 21 MPa to 40 MPa. The eco-efficiency of 40 MPa concrete was about 50% higher than the eco-efficiency of 24 MPa concrete. Thus eco-efficiency is found to increase with an increasing compressive strength of concrete because the rate of increase in the service life of concrete is larger than the rate of increase in the costs. In addition, eco-efficiency (KRW/year) was shown to increase for all concrete strengths as mixing rates of admixtures (Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag) increased to 30% during concrete mix design. However, when the mixing rate of admixtures increased to 40% and 60%, the eco-efficiency dropped due to rapid reduction in the service life values of concrete to 74 (year/m3) and 44 (year/m3), respectively. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080705 705 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080705 Taehyoung Kim Sungho Tae Chang Chae Kanghee Lee http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/714 Direct-seeding rice has grown in popularity in recent years and is widespread in China. This study focused on the effects of pig slurry (PS) on grain quality and safety in direct-seeding rice. Application of more than 210 m3·hm−2 increased rice yield and dry matter accumulation, compared with conventional chemical fertilizer treatment (CK2). At the heading and maturing stage, a high dosage of PS (T6, T8 and T9 treatments) promoted uptake of Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn by rice plants and grain, but retarded uptake of Cr, Co and Ni, indicating an ability to alleviate toxicity of some heavy metals. Compared with CK2, PS alleviated the transfer of Pb, Cr, Co, Ni and Cu from straw to grain, but enhanced the transport of Zn, Fe and Mn. Although PS application slightly diminished the processing quality, including brown rice, milled rice and head milled rice, it significantly decreased the amylose content, optimized the starch profile, and improved the overall quality. The results confirmed the feasibility and safety of PS application to direct-seeding rice, and determined that PS basal and panicle fertilizer could increase yield and improve the rice quality when applied between 210 and 240 m3·hm−2. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080714 714 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080714 Lifen Huang Jie Yang Wei Gao Weikang Yang Xiaoyi Cui Hengyang Zhuang http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/715 This paper uses Spillane's (2001) theory and Gronn's (2000) concerted efforts approach to examine distributed leadership in a low-carbon city agenda. The main purpose of the paper is to find empirical evidence of a relationship between distributed leadership and the achievement of the agenda. Eight constructs emerged that informed our understanding of distributed leadership dimensions within the low-carbon city framework: vision, organizational framework, organizational culture, consensus, instructional programs, expertise, team leader leadership, and team member leadership. The evidence shows that there is a positive relationship between distributed leadership and the outcome of the low-carbon city agenda, and that a dispersed pattern in distributing leadership is required to enhance community engagement. The findings also suggest that an organizational culture that facilitates multiple sources of leadership may largely contribute to the effectiveness of distributed leadership practices in realizing the low-carbon city agenda. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080715 715 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080715 Azalia Mohamed Zelina Ibrahim Abu Silong Ramdzani Abdullah http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/713 A wider use of renewable energy is emerging as a viable solution to meet the increasing demand for global energy while contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, current literature on renewable energy, particularly on wind power, highlights the social barriers and public opposition to renewable energy investment. One solution to overcome the public opposition, which is recommended by scholars, is to deploy a collaborative approach. Relatively little research has specifically focused on the role of effective communication and the use of a knowledge-broker in collaborative decision-making. This study attempts to fill this gap through the proposition of a participatory framework that highlights the role of the knowledge-broker in a wind project decision-making process. In this paper, five illustrative wind projects in Ontario are used to highlight the current situation with public participation and to address how the proposed framework could have improved the process. Based on the recommended collaborative framework, perception must shift from the dominant view of the public as "a risk to be managed" towards "a resource that can be tapped". The developers need to improve sharing what they know and foster co-learning around questions and concerns. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080713 713 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080713 Anahita Jami Philip Walsh http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/711 Debates over wolf policy are driven by an underlying attitudinal divide between people from urban and rural areas. This study explores how the power relationship between urban and rural groups interact with individual attitude formation in relation to wolf policy, in order to understand why dissatisfaction with wolf policy tends to result in group level conflict patterns. Using Swedish survey data, I analyze attitudes to wolf policy, in relation to collective level effects and rural political alienation. Findings indicate that individual level attitudes towards the Swedish wolf policy are in part determined by collective attitude patterns: effects that could be contingent on political alienation. This highlights the possibility of reducing attitude polarization with respect to the wolf policy, by addressing political alienation among the rural population. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080711 711 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080711 Max Eriksson http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/6/3/9 This study investigates the nature of the energy policy making process and policy priorities within the OECD in order to identify opportunities for improvement in these processes and to improve sustainability outcomes. The Qualitative Content Analysis methodology is used, investigating governance and energy policy making alongside energy policy goals and priorities within eight OECD nations. A congruous energy policy making process (policy cycle) is discovered across the assessed nations, including the responsible bodies for each stage of the policy cycle and the current energy policy priorities. A key weakness was identified as a disconnect between the early stages of the policy cycle, issue identification and policy tool formulation, and the latter stages of implementation and evaluation. This weakness has meant that the social aspects of sustainability goals have been less developed than environmental and economic aspects and a heavy burden has been placed on the evaluation phase, risking a break down in the policy cycle. An additional "policy design" stage is proposed including a sustainability evaluation process prior to decision making and implementation, in order to remedy these identified shortcomings. Administrative Sciences 2016-07-26 6 3 Article 10.3390/admsci6030009 9 2076-3387 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/admsci6030009 Andrew Chapman Benjamin McLellan Tetsuo Tezuka http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/702 The basis for implementing demands for a green city is the use of, among other things, innovative "clean" technologies. However, it is mostly and directly connected to the increased use of electric energy. Green transport is an appropriate example of this. By contrast, conventional sources of energy (e.g., based on coal) have a very negative impact on people and the environment. Therefore, this article mentions an attempt to solve a complex problem of employing renewable energy sources (RES) as an element of the "green city" system. The research was carried out on the basis of a feasibility study (decision game) for the location of a wind farm in the vicinity of the city of Szczecin, Poland. When constructing the decision models, multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods were applied, especially analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE). Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080702 702 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080702 Jarosław Wątróbski Paweł Ziemba Jarosław Jankowski Magdalena Zioło http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/708 As the shale gas revolution expands globally, the future potential and economic profits of overseas shale gas reserves have attracted the interest of Chinese investors. Overseas shale gas development is becoming an investment hotspot for Chinese oil companies. However, this multibillion-dollar venture is surrounded by a complex and uncertain environment. Therefore, this paper carries out an integrated and publicly available model for assessing risk in overseas shale gas investments. The purpose of this model is to address the index weight calculation and risk ranking and provide investor with risk information. In view of this, the comprehensive weights are obtained based on an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and entropy weight methods; and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is performed to rank target countries. First, the paper identities five categories of risks with full consideration of the economic risk, political risk, geological risk, technological risk, and internal managements risk. Based on the risk identification, the assessment index system is established and valued. Secondly, China is taken as an example nation to use this model to prove the effectiveness of the proposed model and help the investor make wise decisions. According to the results, low-risk countries, such as Canada, Argentina, United States, and Algeria can be considered to be future key targets of shale gas investment abroad, while investors should be more cautious of high-risk countries such as South Africa and Brazil. Finally, policy recommendations are proposed to optimize the overseas shale gas investments from both the government and investor perspectives. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080708 708 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080708 Hui Li Renjin Sun Wei-Jen Lee Kangyin Dong Rui Guo http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/709 The goal of this research is to investigate the factors that affect carsharing demand. As a proxy for carsharing demand, the number of (booking) transactions made by carsharing users is counted based on the data from one of the two major carsharing operators in Seoul, Korea. In order to identify the factors influencing station-based carsharing usage, multiple linear regression modeling was performed with the number of carsharing transactions as a dependent variable and with the three groups of independent variables: Built environment, demographic, and transportation variables. Instead of using the locations of the pods, this study uses the residential locations of carsharing users who made transactions, and the final result analyzing 420 districts shows that six variables significantly influence carsharing usage. Carsharing demand is high in an area where a higher proportion of building floor area is used for business, and which has a higher proportion of young residents in their 20s and 30s. It can also be predicted that the area with more registered cars and less subway entrances will show higher carsharing demand. The analysis result also suggests that providing additional carsharing pods, especially pods that utilize city owned public parking facilities, will help promote carsharing usage. This research establishes a basis for future research efforts to forecast carsharing demand and to identify areas with high potential, especially in major Asian cities. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080709 709 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080709 Junhee Kang Keeyeon Hwang Sungjin Park http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/710 To determine the effects of straw incorporation on soil nutrients, enzyme activity, and aggregates in tobacco fields, we conducted experiments with different amounts of wheat and maize straw in Zhucheng area of southeast Shandong province for three years (2010–2012). In the final year of experiment (2012), straw incorporation increased soil organic carbon (SOC) and related parameters, and improved soil enzyme activity proportionally with the amount of straw added, except for catalase when maize straw was used. And maize straw incorporation was more effective than wheat straw in the tobacco field. The percentage of aggregates >2 mm increased with straw incorporation when measured by either dry or wet sieving. The mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) in straw incorporation treatments were higher than those in the no-straw control (CK). Maize straw increased soil aggregate stability more than wheat straw with the same incorporation amount. Alkaline phosphatase was significantly and negatively correlated with soil pH. Sucrase and urease were both significantly and positively correlated with soil alkali-hydrolysable N. Catalase was significantly but negatively correlated with soil extractable K (EK). The MWD and GMD by dry sieving had significantly positive correlations with SOC, total N, total K, and EK, but only significantly correlated with EK by wet sieving. Therefore, soil nutrients, metabolic enzyme activity, and aggregate stability might be increased by increasing the SOC content through the maize or wheat straw incorporation. Moreover, incorporation of maize straw at 7500 kg·hm−2 was the best choice to enhance soil fertility in the tobacco area of Eastern China. Sustainability 2016-07-26 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080710 710 2071-1050 2016-07-26 doi: 10.3390/su8080710 Jiguang Zhang Guodong Bo Zhongfeng Zhang Fanyu Kong Yi Wang Guoming Shen http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/706 Urbanization is a global problem with demographic trends. The urban heat island plays a dominant role in local climate systems. Despite existing efforts to understand the impacts of multiple urbanization factors on the urban heat island globally, very little is known about the attribution of urban heat island magnitude to urbanization in different locations or developmental phases. In this study, based on global land surface temperature data, urban spatial domain data, gross domestic product (GDP), and population data, we analyzed the influence of multiple urbanization factors on global surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII). We also tentatively compared the abovementioned factors between different regions across the globe, especially between China and the USA, the largest countries that are experiencing or have experienced rapid urbanization in recent decades. The results showed that global SUHII had remarkable spatial heterogeneity due to the geographical and socioeconomic variation between cities. There was a significant correlation between SUHII and population as well as GDP in global cities. Moreover, this study suggested that the impacts of population on SUHII might be stronger in the early stages of urbanization, and the GDP factor would become a critical factor at a certain development level. The urban area also had non-ignorable impacts on SUHII, while the correlation between SUHII and urban shape was relatively weak. All these may imply that the best approach to slow down SUHII is to find other solutions, e.g., optimize the spatial configuration of urban internal landscapes, when the urbanization reaches a high level. Sustainability 2016-07-25 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080706 706 2071-1050 2016-07-25 doi: 10.3390/su8080706 Yaoping Cui Xinliang Xu Jinwei Dong Yaochen Qin http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/712 Prior work on innovation has generally emphasized the importance of an organization's exposure to external knowledge. This study, in contrast, redirects our attention toward conditions under which such exposure serves as constraints on organizational endeavors to achieve environmentally preferable innovation. We develop a two-stage model for sustainable innovation. A firm in the first stage explores a variety of alternatives and develops strategic intentions to address broader environmental concerns; thus, it may benefit from access to both diverse sources of external knowledge and network ties that enable an extensive search for new information. In the second stage, a firm exploits limited available options to achieve its strategic intentions. We suggest that dependence on external knowledge in the first stage makes the transition toward the second stage challenging, thereby reducing the probability that a firm's strategic intentions for sustainability result in actual innovation outcomes. We test our theory using the 2014 Korean Innovation Survey. Our results show that diverse sources of external knowledge through rich network ties, albeit the positive main effects on innovation outcomes, negatively moderate the relationship between a firm's intentions for environmental sustainability and its achievement of sustainable innovation. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Sustainability 2016-07-25 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080712 712 2071-1050 2016-07-25 doi: 10.3390/su8080712 Daegyu Yang Sangchan Park http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/704 While organic farming is well established in Europe a nd USA, it is still catching up in Asian countries. The government of South Korea has implemented environmentally friendly farming that encompasses organic farming. Despite the promotion of environmentally friendly farming, it still has a low share in South Korea and partially converted farming has emerged in some districts of South Korea. However, the partially converted farming has not yet been investigated by the government. Thus, our study implemented a financial analysis to compare the annual costs and net returns of conventional, partially converted and environmentally friendly farming in Gangwon Province. The result showed that environmentally friendly farming was more profitable with respect to farm net returns. To find out the factors affecting the adoption of environmentally friendly farming, multinomial logistic regression was implemented. The findings revealed that education and subsidy positively and significantly influenced the probability of farmers' choice on partially converted and environmentally friendly farming. Farm size had a negative and significant relationship with only environmentally friendly farming. This study will contribute to future policy establishment for sustainable agriculture as recommended by improving the quality of fertilizers, suggesting the additional investigation associated with partially converted farmers. Sustainability 2016-07-25 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080704 704 2071-1050 2016-07-25 doi: 10.3390/su8080704 Saem Lee Trung Nguyen Patrick Poppenborg Hio-Jung Shin Thomas Koellner http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/699 Policy makers and tourism developers must understand visitors' mobility behavior and how they consume space and tourism resources in order to set up sustainable cultural tourism destinations. With this in mind, it should also be pointed out that the mobility patterns of tourists in urban destinations are mainly located in the city center (spatial centrality), the analysis of which enables us to define "how central" the resources (museums, monuments, etc.) are and what the interactions between them are. Comprehending which factors influence visitors' urban mobility behavior is key to understanding tourists' consumption of space and their connections with the tourism assets of the city. Furthermore, when tourists visit a destination, they make a mental representation of the destination, constructing a mental map of it. Thus, tourists consume not only spaces but also the image of a city/destination. Moreover, the latter influences the former. The quality of surrounding architecture and urbanism plays a crucial role in enhancing the experiential value of a destination and influencing space consumption preferences. Clearly, visitors are more likely to use/consume environments that are easily navigated and mentally legible. In order to explore these patterns, a real experiment was performed based on visitor behavior in the city of Bilbao. In addition, the central places of Bilbao were determined and an analysis of the spatial interaction between cultural sites was performed, making use of a new methodology based on GPS technologies, network analysis, and surveys. This methodology is the main contribution of this work. The results suggest that (1) easy mobility (walkability, accessibility, different transport modes) of the visited space facilitates the tourist experience; (2) simple and eligible mental maps of the city that are easily perceived by visitors facilitate the rapid consumption of the tourist destination; and (3) the centrality of the tourism resources affects the mobility of visitors and the consumption of the destination. Thus, by understanding how tourist mobility works in a destination and analyzing tourism resources' centrality, policy makers may better tailor sustainable strategies for cultural tourism destinations. Sustainability 2016-07-25 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080699 699 2071-1050 2016-07-25 doi: 10.3390/su8080699 Ibon Aranburu Beatriz Plaza Marisol Esteban http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/667 We report on a rapid and practical method to assess social dimensions of performance in small-scale and industrial fisheries globally (Social Wellbeing in Fisheries Tool (SWIFT)). SWIFT incorporates aspects of security (fairness and stability of earnings, benefits of employment to local fishing communities, worker protection, and personal safety and health in communities associated with fisheries); flexibility (including opportunity for economic advancement); and the fishery's social viability (including whether the fishery is recruiting new harvesters and diverse age classes of workers, whether women's participation and leadership in global production networks are on an upward trajectory.). We build on resilience research by conceptualizing wellbeing in terms of security, flexibility, and viability, and assessing wellbeing at individual, community, and system levels. SWIFT makes social performance measures more broadly accessible to global production networks, incorporates an everyday understanding of wellbeing for people involved in the seafood industry, and helps put social sustainability into measurable terms that are relevant for businesses. Sustainability 2016-07-25 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080667 667 2071-1050 2016-07-25 doi: 10.3390/su8080667 Tracy Van Holt Wendy Weisman Jeffrey Johnson Sofia Käll Jack Whalen Braddock Spear Pedro Sousa http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/707 Companies seek to stand out from their competitors and react to other competitive threats. Making a difference means doing things differently in order to create a product that other companies cannot provide. This can be achieved through an innovation process. This article analyses, by means of a structural equation model, the current situation of Mexican maquiladora companies, which face the constant challenge of product innovation. The model associates three success factors for new product development (product, organization, and production process characteristics as independent latent variables) with benefits gained by customers and companies (dependent latent variables). Results show that, in the Mexican maquiladora sector, organizational characteristics and production processes characteristics explain only 31% of the variability (R2 = 0.31), and it seems necessary to integrate other aspects. The relationship between customer benefits and company benefits explains 58% of the variability, the largest proportion in the model (R2 = 0.58). Sustainability 2016-07-25 8 8 Article 10.3390/su8080707 707 2071-1050 2016-07-25 doi: 10.3390/su8080707 Jorge García-Alcaraz Aidé Maldonado-Macías Sandra Hernández-Hernández Juan Hernández-Arellano Julio Blanco-Fernández Juan Sáenz Díez-Muro http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/703 Following a regional-level study conducted in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (Wang et al., 2014 [1]), this paper presents an approach for municipal renewable energy planning and its experimental application in a Japanese municipality using a Geographic Information System (GIS). The proposed approach is comprised of local issue identification, renewable energy potential evaluation and visualization, site comparison and scenario analysis. GIS was used to analyze and visualize solar, wind and biomass (forest and agriculture residue) potential within Kawamata Town, Fukushima, Japan. According to local conditions, all potential sites were coded and then compared based on different criteria, such as solar radiation, wind speed, slope and land uses, among others. In the scenario analysis section, two scenarios, "renewable energy prioritized" and "evacuation area prioritized", were adopted and compared. The scenarios are altered in terms of placement and the number of renewable energy facilities inside and outside evacuation areas within the town. The results generated through the proposed approach can provide information on local potentials of renewable energy resources, as well as renewable energy development alternatives at the municipal level. They can be used in the interactive dialogue for the municipal renewable energy planning process, to help to fulfill the municipality's post-earthquake energy developmental vision. Sustainability 2016-07-22 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070703 703 2071-1050 2016-07-22 doi: 10.3390/su8070703 Qianna Wang Martin M'Ikiugu Isami Kinoshita Yanyun Luo http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/700 A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of applying ground magnesium limestone (GML) or ground basalt in combination with bio-fertilizer to sustain rice production on an acid sulfate soil in Malaysia. Soils from Kelantan Plains, Malaysia, were treated with GML, ground basalt, bio-fertilizer, GML + bio-fertilizer, and ground basalt + bio-fertilizer (4 t·ha−1 each). Results showed that soil fertility was improved by applying the soil amendments. GML and basalt contain some Zn and Cu; thus, application of these amendments would increase their contents in the soil needed for the healthy growth of rice. Basalt applied in combination with bio-fertilizer appeared to be the best agronomic option to improve the fertility of acid sulfate soils for sustainable rice production in the long run. In addition to increasing Ca, Mg, Zn, and Cu reserves in the soil, water pH increased and precipitated Al3+ and/or Fe2+. Ground basalt is cheaper than GML, but basalt dissolution in the acidic soil was slow. As such, its ameliorative effects could only be seen significantly from the second season onwards. The specially-formulated bio-fertilizer for alleviating the infertility of acid sulfate soil could also enhance rice growth. The use of the bio-fertilizer fortified with N2-fixing bacteria is a green technology that would help reduce NO3− and/or NO2− pollution and reduce the cost of rice production. The phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) present in the bio-fertilizer not only increased the available P, but also helped release organic acids that would inactivate Al3+ and/or Fe2+ via the process of chelation. Sustainability 2016-07-22 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070700 700 2071-1050 2016-07-22 doi: 10.3390/su8070700 Qurban Panhwar Umme Naher Jusop Shamshuddin Radziah Othman Mohd Ismail http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/4/3/24 For doctoral students, publishing in peer-reviewed journals is a task many face with anxiety and trepidation. The world of publishing, from choosing a journal, negotiating with editors and navigating reviewers' responses is a bewildering place. Looking in from the outside, it seems that successful and productive academic writers have knowledge that is inaccessible to novice scholars. While there is a growing literature on writing for scholarly publication, many of these publications promote writing and publishing as a straightforward activity that anyone can achieve if they follow the rules. We argue that the specific and situated contexts in which academic writers negotiate publishing practices is more complicated and messy. In this paper, we attempt to make explicit our publishing processes to highlight the complex nature of publishing. We use autoethnographic narratives to provide discussion points and insights into the challenges of publishing peer reviewed articles. One narrative is by a doctoral student at the beginning of her publishing career, who expresses her desires, concerns and anxieties about writing for publication. The other narrative focuses on the publishing practices of a more experienced academic writer. Both are international scholars working in the Canadian context. The purpose of this paper is to explore academic publishing through the juxtaposition of these two narratives to make explicit some of the more implicit processes. Four themes emerge from these narratives. To publish successfully, academic writers need: (1) to be discourse analysts; (2) to have a critical competence; (3) to have writing fluency; and (4) to be emotionally intelligent. Publications 2016-07-22 4 3 Article 10.3390/publications4030024 24 2304-6775 2016-07-22 doi: 10.3390/publications4030024 Cecile Badenhorst Xiaolin Xu http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/701 In the face of climate change, scholars and policymakers are increasingly concerned with fostering "urban resilience". This paper seeks to contribute towards a better understanding of synergies and differences in how academics and local decision-makers think about resilience in the context of climate change. We compare definitions and characteristics of urban climate resilience in the academic literature with a survey of 134 local government representatives from across the U.S. Our analysis shows discrepancies in how academics and practitioners define and characterize urban climate resilience, most notably in their focus on either "bouncing back" or "bouncing forward" after a disturbance. Practitioners have diverse understandings of the concept, but tend to favor potentially problematic "bouncing back" or engineering-based definitions of resilience. While local government respondents confirm the importance of all 16 resilience characteristics we identified in the academic literature, coding practitioners' free response definitions reveals that they rarely mention qualities commonly associated with resilience in the scholarly literature such as diversity, flexibility, and redundancy. These inconsistencies need to be resolved to ensure both the usability of climate resilience research and the effectiveness of resilience policy. Sustainability 2016-07-21 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070701 701 2071-1050 2016-07-21 doi: 10.3390/su8070701 Sara Meerow Melissa Stults http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/695 This paper examines small hotels that have some type of environmental certification. A survey of 210 small (less than 50 employees) Catalonian hotels was conducted to investigate whether there are significant differences in the results of the implementation practices between hotels that adopt these certifications due to environmental pressure (from the government, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders) and hotels that voluntarily commit to green policies. Significant differences were identified in the results on the hotels when structural equation modelling (SEM) was undertaken. This investigation suggests that hotels that voluntarily commit to green policies obtain better results than other hotels. The conclusion is that governments must not only regulate, but also promote awareness actions in small and medium-sized (SME) tourism companies to improve the environment. SME tourism companies must understand that both the environment and they themselves will benefit. Sustainability 2016-07-21 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070695 695 2071-1050 2016-07-21 doi: 10.3390/su8070695 Llorenç Bagur-Femenias Dolors Celma Josep Patau http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/698 The study aims to contribute to the literature by empirically examining the relationship between small and medium sized enterprises' (SMEs) mission statements and their performance in sustainable strategy formulation. Although it seems that there is a relatively vast amount of research with regard to mission statements of companies, very few studies have focused on the relationship between mission statements and performance. When these few studies are taken into consideration, it is difficult to reach any overall conclusion since their findings are mixed and inconclusive. To achieve this aim, 3034 SMEs operating in organized industrial zones in Turkey were examined via a survey approach. In order to investigate the relationships among the variables, nine categories of mission statements as independent variables and four performance indicators (financial, market, production, and overall) as dependent variables were analyzed through logistic regression. This study identified three mission components, (1) survival, growth, and profit; (2) philosophy and values; and (3) public image, as the common independent variables in explaining the performance of SMEs. Survival, growth, and profit is the most frequently observed mission component regardless of the subsector differentiation in the entire sample, which reflects the significance of business sustainability for SMEs in the Turkish manufacturing context. Besides, among all performance indicators, SMEs' market performance was found to be the lowest when compared to other performance indicators (financial, production, overall). Although the firms were placed in different manufacturing subsectors, similar mission statements were highlighted so that the discourse similarity might be considered as evidence of isomorphism characteristics for SMEs. Sustainability 2016-07-21 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070698 698 2071-1050 2016-07-21 doi: 10.3390/su8070698 Ethem Duygulu Emir Ozeren Pınar Işıldar Andrea Appolloni http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/687 The electricity industry is a basic industry of the national economy. It has experienced several large-scale power shortages, hard power shortage and soft power shortage, which have brought a great threat to China's sustainable economic development. To solve this problem better, it is necessary to make a quantitative assessment of the economic impacts of power shortage. The CGE model is commonly used for simulating economic shocks and policy effects. It describes supply, demand and equilibrium in different markets by simulating the economic mechanism through a set of equations. Once changed, the exogenous variables will affect a certain part of the system and then the whole system, leading to changes in quantities and prices. The equilibrium state will also change from one to another. A static CGE model is built in this paper, and the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of eight sectors of China in 2007 is compiled, in order to simulate the economic impacts of hard power shortage and soft power shortage. Simulation results show that the negative effects of power shortage on economic development are very significant, and the effects vary in different sectors. Especially, under the background of hard power shortage, the industrial sector suffers most. The economic cost of power shortage is considerable, and the main reason for it is the specific administrative pricing system in China. The low electricity price in the long term will lead to insufficient construction and hard power shortage; moreover, that in the short run would result in soft power shortage. In order to solve the problem of power shortage completely, power system reform is inevitable. Sustainability 2016-07-21 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070687 687 2071-1050 2016-07-21 doi: 10.3390/su8070687 Peng Ou Ruting Huang Xin Yao http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/6/3/20 This article reports three case studies on the usability and acceptance of an industrial robotic prototype in the context of human-robot cooperation. The three case studies were conducted in the framework of a two-year project named AssistMe, which aims at developing different means of interaction for programming and using collaborative robots in a user-centered manner. Together with two industrial partners and a technological partner, two different application scenarios were implemented and studied with an off-the-shelf robotic system. The operators worked with the robotic prototype in laboratory conditions (two days), in a factory context (one day) and in an automotive assembly line (three weeks). In the article, the project and procedures are described in detail, including the quantitative and qualitative methodology. Our results show that close human-robot cooperation in the industrial context needs adaptive pacing mechanisms in order to avoid a change of working routines for the operators and that an off-the-shelf robotic system is still limited in terms of usability and acceptance. The touch panel, which is needed for controlling the robot, had a negative impact on the overall user experience. It creates a further intermediate layer between the user, the robot and the work piece and potentially leads to a decrease in productivity. Finally, the fear of the worker of being replaced by an improved robotic system was regularly expressed and adds an additional anthropocentric dimension to the discussion of human-robot cooperation, smart factories and the upcoming Industry 4.0. Societies 2016-07-20 6 3 Article 10.3390/soc6030020 20 2075-4698 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/soc6030020 Astrid Weiss Andreas Huber Jürgen Minichberger Markus Ikeda http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/696 Quantitative measures of transport disadvantage are reviewed in this paper from the perspective of their effectiveness to investigate social exclusion. The effectiveness is assessed using criteria derived through a review of the concepts of transport disadvantage and social exclusion and their operationalisation. The specified criteria are related to issues of spatial (e.g., urban accessibility, and public transport accessibility), temporal (e.g., public transport availability, and facility opening hours), and social attributes of travel and activity participation (e.g., personal mobility, and disability). Four groups of transport disadvantage measures are identified and evaluated. These include deprivation-based measures, mobility-based measures, accessibility-based measures, and activity-based measures. The review suggests that although the first three categories of measures have traditionally been used to identify transport disadvantage, they do not satisfy issues surrounding activity participation—the key outcome of social exclusion. The activity space concept is a way in which these issues can be incorporated, as it is a measure of the outcomes of activity participation and their associated travel to that activity. Participation in an activity means that an individual has overcome the spatial, temporal and social barriers of travel for that activity. The research using the activity space concept has, however, inadequately identified individual travel and activity participation. This has been due to a separate application of a range of different indicators to assess activity space size. These indicators are by their nature multidimensional—e.g., area visited, distance travelled, and number of activity sites visited. Although each indicator represents a specific qualitative/quantitative aspect of travel and activity participation, researchers have treated these indicators in an isolated manner to identify transport disadvantage and consequently transport-related social exclusion. This paper identifies the weaknesses and strengths associated with these measures; and methods are directed to overcome the limitations. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Review 10.3390/su8070696 696 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070696 Md. Kamruzzaman Tan Yigitcanlar Jay Yang Mohd Mohamed http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/694 Building on longitudinal data from 73 Chinese manufacturing firms during 2009–2012, we assess whether and how firms gain higher efficiency in achieving their sustainability goals by adopting management practice standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and/or OHSAS 18001). We propose four pathways for firms to gain sustainability efficiency in their certification journey: participation, qualitative integration, quantitative expansion, and temporal accumulation. Our results confirm that firms certifying management standards gain higher efficiency in pursuing their sustainability goals than firms without these standards. We also find some support for increased efficiency effect in firms with diverse management systems over firms with only a single certificate in 2011. Finally, our results highlight the experiential and temporal accumulation effect of such efficiency gains, that is, firms with prior certification experience or having a longer certification history demonstrate higher efficiency gains in pursuing their sustainability goals. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070694 694 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070694 Xiaoling Wang Haiying Lin Olaf Weber http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/697 As the main source of CO2 emissions in China, the industrial sector has faced pressure for reducing emissions. To achieve the target of 50% reduction of industrial carbon intensity by 2020 based on the 2005 level, it is urgent to formulate specific CO2 emission mitigation strategies in the provincial industrial sector. In order to provide decision-making support for the development and implementation of mitigation policy, our undesirable slack based measure (SBM) model is firstly applied to evaluate the industrial CO2 emission efficiency under total-factor frame (TFICEE) in 13 prefecture-level cities of Jiangsu Province, the largest CO2 emitter in China. Then, we analyze space-time distribution and distributional evolution tendency of TFICEE by using the GIS visualization method and kernel density estimation, respectively. Finally, we utilize the industrial abatement model to estimate the CO2 abatement potential of Jiangsu's industrial sector. The empirical results show that there exists a significant spatial inequality of TFICEE across various regions in Jiangsu, but the regional disparity has been narrowing during our study period. Additionally, average annual industrial CO2 emission reductions in Jiangsu Province can attain 15,654.00 (ten thousand tons), accounting for 28.2% of its average annual actual emissions, which can be achieved by improving production technology, adjusting industrial structure and raising the level of industry concentration. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070697 697 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070697 Jie Zhang Zhencheng Xing Jigan Wang http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/33 This study investigates when individuals from advantaged and disadvantaged groups are in favor of reducing income inequality. Using a model that considers both an individual's absolute income and relative income, I examine the conditions under which income equalization is supported by some members in the advantaged group and, more interestingly, opposed by part of the disadvantaged group. In equilibrium, the valuation towards relative income, the initial endowment the difference between the two groups and the amount of income transfer upon equalization have opposite effects on different groups' likelihood of favoring equalization. To this end, I conduct a comparative statics analysis, and the results suggest that in order to incentivize more individuals to support inter-group income transfer, a policymaker's optimal strategy substantially depends on how much the society values relative income. Social Sciences 2016-07-20 5 3 Article 10.3390/socsci5030033 33 2076-0760 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/socsci5030033 Tongzhe Li http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/680 Transforming mature tourism resorts has evolved toward a greater involvement of public authorities and away from the mere renovation of public spaces. Authorities today are required to lead the reorganization of tourism activities through the development of co-operative networks between all stakeholders involved. In this paper, a participatory integrated approach has been designed and implemented in collaboration with Spanish authorities and the tourism sector to propose a strategy to achieve the renovation of tourism resorts. This methodology was applied to Puerto de la Cruz, the oldest tourism destination in the Canary Islands and a clear paradigm of a consolidated resort. The objective is to define and implement policies to transform Puerto de la Cruz into a more sustainable tourism destination. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070680 680 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070680 Serafin Corral Jesús Hernández Manuel Navarro Ibáñez José Rivero Ceballos http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/32 The proportion of U.S. prison inmates who were black increased dramatically between 1940 and 2000. While about two-thirds of the increase occurred between 1940 and 1970, most recent research analyzes the period after 1970, focusing on explanations such as the war on drugs, law-and-order politics, discrimination, inequality, and racial threat. We analyze the growth in the racial difference in incarceration between 1940 and 1980, focusing on the role of demographic processes, particularly population growth, migration, and urbanization. We implement three analyses to assess the role of these demographic processes: (1) a simple accounting model that decomposes the national trend into population growth, changes in arrests, and changes in sentencing; (2) a model of state variation in incarceration that decomposes the racial difference in incarceration into population change, migration between states with different incarceration rates, and other processes; and (3) race-specific models of within-state variation in incarceration rates using state characteristics coupled with a decomposition of the role of changes in state characteristics. Social Sciences 2016-07-20 5 3 Article 10.3390/socsci5030032 32 2076-0760 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/socsci5030032 David Harding Christopher Winship http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/692 Traffic noise is a combination of noises produced from a number of sources. Of all the traffic noise sources, tire-pavement noise, which is emitted as a result of the interaction of rolling, slipping, or dragging tires and the pavement surface, is the dominant contributor of overall noise, particularly when vehicles are moving at higher speeds. Therefore, a number of research studies have been conducted to identify and analyze the factors affecting the generation of tire-pavement interaction noise. This helps in identifying and selecting appropriate noise mitigation techniques. In this paper, an extensive literature survey on the factors affecting tire-pavement noise is presented, and different views on the impact of each individual factor are discussed. From the literature survey, it is also evident that there is a potential correlation between pavement's material characteristics and tire-pavement noise. A comprehensive discussion about this correlation is presented in the paper. In addition, this paper discusses various mathematical models for predicting pavement noise, and their advantages and shortcomings. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Review 10.3390/su8070692 692 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070692 Okan Sirin http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/693 Future challenges to the global food supply chain are complex. In order to embrace sustainability, companies should change their management practices towards more efficient resource use. Food waste being a misuse of resources, we identify its causes and possible ways of minimising it. To achieve this goal, we conducted explorative research with qualitative and quantitative data through in-depth semi-structured interviews and an open questionnaire with top Spanish food service companies. Results show that most businesses mainly tend to minimise food waste according to economic criteria, without taking into account the social, ethical or environmental factors. As a consequence, just "visible" food waste that has an economic impact on the results is minimised. Nevertheless, visibility of real waste is often low. At the same time, awareness of (and therefore initiatives to reduce) food waste that does not directly affect a firm's profit can be increased through multi-stakeholder collaboration. Opportunities for reducing food waste therefore arise from increasing the visibility of food that is discarded as well as addressing plate waste. We identify best practices that could lead to a reduction of the amount of food waste generated in the out of home channel in Spain. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070693 693 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070693 Belén Derqui Teresa Fayos Vicenc Fernandez http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/4/3/15 The study adds an empirical outlook on the predicting power of using data from the future to predict future returns. The crux of the traditional Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) methodology is using historical data in the calculation of the beta coefficient. This study instead uses a battery of Generalized Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models, of differing lag and parameter terms, to forecast the variance of the market used in the denominator of the beta formula. The covariance of the portfolio and market returns are assumed to remain constant in the time-varying beta calculations. The data spans from 3 January 2005 to 29 December 2014. One ten-year, two five-year, and three three-year sample periods were used, for robustness, with ten different portfolios. Out of sample forecasts, mean absolute error (MAE) and mean squared forecast error (MSE) were used to compare the forecasting ability of the ex-ante GARCH models, Artificial Neural Network, and the standard market ex-post model. Find that the time-varying MGARCH and SGARCH beta performed better with out-of-sample testing than the other ex-ante models. Although the simplest approach, constant ex-post beta, performed as well or better within this empirical study. International Journal of Financial Studies 2016-07-20 4 3 Article 10.3390/ijfs4030015 15 2227-7072 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/ijfs4030015 Jordan French http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/637 Significant potential for reducing thermal energy consumption in buildings of moderate and cold climate countries lies within wind energy utilisation. Unlike solar irradiation, character of wind speeds in Central and Northern Europe correspond to the actual thermal energy demand in buildings. However, mechanical wind energy undergoes transformation into electrical energy before being actually used as thermal energy in most wind energy applications. The study presented in this paper deals with hydraulic systems, designed for small-scale applications to eliminate the intermediate energy transformation as it converts mechanical wind energy into heat directly. The prototype unit containing a pump, flow control valve, oil tank and piping was developed and tested under laboratory conditions. Results of the experiments showed that the prototype system is highly efficient and adjustable to a broad wind velocity range by modifying the definite hydraulic system resistance. Development of such small-scale replicable units has the potential to promote "bottom-up" solutions for the transition to a zero carbon society. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070637 637 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070637 Tadas Zdankus Jurgita Cerneckiene Andrius Jurelionis Juozas Vaiciunas http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/662 Sustainable use of natural resources in the production of construction materials has become a necessity both in Europe and Turkey. Construction products in Europe should have European Conformity (CE) and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), an independently verified and registered document in line with the European standard EN 15804. An EPD certificate can be created by performing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study. In this particular work, an LCA study was carried out for a refractory brick production for environmental assessment. In addition to the LCA, the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis was also applied for economic assessment. Firstly, a cradle-to-gate LCA was performed for one ton of magnesia spinel refractory brick. The CML IA method included in the licensed SimaPro 8.0.1 software was chosen to calculate impact categories (namely, abiotic depletion, global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, ozone depletion potential, and photochemical oxidation potential). The LCC analysis was performed by developing a cost model for internal and external cost categories within the software. The results were supported by a sensitivity analysis. According to the results, the production of raw materials and the firing process in the magnesia spinel brick production were found to have several negative effects on the environment and were costly. Sustainability 2016-07-20 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070662 662 2071-1050 2016-07-20 doi: 10.3390/su8070662 Aysun Özkan Zerrin Günkaya Gülden Tok Levent Karacasulu Melike Metesoy Müfide Banar Alpagut Kara http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/690 Localisation may be used as a strategy to remedy the harmful socio-ecological impacts of economic globalisation, and lead to improved sustainability achievements. This article describes the formation of a regional-level localisation index for the 20 districts of Bhutan, demonstrating a way to identify localised places using regionally specific data. Secondary source data were gathered in Bhutan according to localisation expert-identified metrics, which were then weighted, standardised, scored and ranked. This enabled the formation of a Bhutanese regional-level localisation index. The index may assist those seeking regional-level localisation case studies by enabling the identification of localised places in Bhutan. The article also summarises sustainability-planning interviews carried out across Bhutan to determine causal factors relating to localisation scores, in particular focusing on the top localisation-scoring district, Dagana. The interviews revealed that Bhutan is a highly localised country that has long and intentionally planned many aspects of localisation. Sustainability 2016-07-19 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070690 690 2071-1050 2016-07-19 doi: 10.3390/su8070690 Michelle Olivier Benjamin Wilson Jonathon Howard http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/686 Urban expansion is considered as one of the most important problems in several developing countries. Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) is the urbanized and agglomerated area of Bangkok Metropolis (BM) and its vicinity, which confronts the expansion problem from the center of the city. Landsat images of 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2011 were used to detect the land use and land cover (LULC) changes. The demographic and economic data together with corresponding maps were used to determine the driving factors for land conversions. This study applied Cellular Automata-Markov Chain (CA-MC) and Multi-Layer Perceptron-Markov Chain (MLP-MC) to model LULC and urban expansions. The performance of the CA-MC and MLP-MC yielded more than 90% overall accuracy to predict the LULC, especially the MLP-MC method. Further, the annual population and economic growth rates were considered to produce the land demand for the LULC in 2014 and 2035 using the statistical extrapolation and system dynamics (SD). It was evident that the simulated map in 2014 resulting from the SD yielded the highest accuracy. Therefore, this study applied the SD method to generate the land demand for simulating LULC in 2035. The outcome showed that urban occupied the land around a half of the BMR. Sustainability 2016-07-19 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070686 686 2071-1050 2016-07-19 doi: 10.3390/su8070686 Chudech Losiri Masahiko Nagai Sarawut Ninsawat Rajendra Shrestha http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/31 A new tool is presented for facilitating greater objectivity in the chaotic field of genocide studies: first, assembling the available factual data about any event of mass murder systematically; second, contextualizing each of our judgments of the nature of the crime as a choice being made by a given scholar or institution (e.g., a specific court), but not as "God's word." The Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event is believed to be innovative in several ways: (1) This model presents researchers with a methodology for developing systematic, extensive and objective information about many different aspects of an event of mass killing; (2) Emphasis is placed on identifying each researcher's guiding concept of genocide; (3) The proposed methodology purposely postpones any effort at classification—including whether an event constitutes "genocide"—until after factual data have been assembled; (4) Categorization of an event is also to be understood as an act of judgment by each researcher, not as scientifically established truth; (5) It is also to be understood that classification in the language of social sciences is different than legal classifications that in turn also are to be understood as based on whatever specific code of law. Social Sciences 2016-07-19 5 3 Article 10.3390/socsci5030031 31 2076-0760 2016-07-19 doi: 10.3390/socsci5030031 Israel Charny http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/691 The notion of the bioeconomy has gained importance in both research and policy debates over the last decade, and is frequently argued to be a key part of the solution to multiple grand challenges. Despite this, there seems to be little consensus concerning what bioeconomy actually implies. Consequently, this paper seeks to enhance our understanding of what the notion of bioeconomy means by exploring the origins, uptake, and contents of the term "bioeconomy" in the academic literature. Firstly, we perform a bibliometric analysis that highlights that the bioeconomy research community is still rather fragmented and distributed across many different fields of science, even if natural and engineering sciences take up the most central role. Secondly, we carry out a literature review that identifies three visions of the bioeconomy. The bio-technology vision emphasises the importance of bio-technology research and application and commercialisation of bio-technology in different sectors of the economy. The bio-resource vision focuses on processing and upgrading of biological raw materials, as well as on the establishment of new value chains. Finally, the bio-ecology vision highlights sustainability and ecological processes that optimise the use of energy and nutrients, promote biodiversity, and avoid monocultures and soil degradation. Sustainability 2016-07-19 8 7 Review 10.3390/su8070691 691 2071-1050 2016-07-19 doi: 10.3390/su8070691 Markus Bugge Teis Hansen Antje Klitkou http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/689 The regional growth of the goods and services trade has placed greater pressure on the ports of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members, especially in the developing countries. The purpose of this study is to apply the generalized metafrontier Malmquist productivity index (gMMPI) to compare the port productivity of developed countries (DCs) and developing countries (LDCs) in APEC. The results indicate that, first, the average rate of utilized capacity among the ports of APEC members was only 65.7% during 2002–2011, which means that another 34.3% of additional through put can be handled with the same level of resources. Second, the average productivity of the container ports in the DCs appeared to be higher than those located in the LDCs. The main sources of productive growth in the DCs were based on scale efficiency change (SEC), technical efficiency change (TEC), and potential technological relative change (PTRC), while the main source of productive growth in LDCs was based on SEC. Third, SEC appeared to be the dominant factor that affects the utilization of all ports. Sustainability 2016-07-19 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070689 689 2071-1050 2016-07-19 doi: 10.3390/su8070689 Yen-Chun Wu Chih-Hung Yuan M. Goh Yung-Hsiang Lu http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/675 Water erosion causes reduced farmland productivity, and with a longer period of cultivation, agricultural productivity becomes increasingly vulnerable. The vulnerability of farmland productivity needs assessment due to long-term water erosion. The key to quantitative assessment is to propose a quantitative method with water loss scenarios to calculate productivity losses due to long-term water erosion. This study uses the agricultural policy environmental extender (APEX) model and the global hydrological watershed unit and selects the Huaihe River watershed as a case study to describe the methodology. An erosion-variable control method considering soil and water conservation measure scenarios was used to study the relationship between long-term erosion and productivity losses and to fit with 3D surface (to come up with three elements, which are time, the cumulative amount of water erosion and productivity losses) to measure long-term water erosion. Results showed that: (1) the 3D surfaces fit significantly well; fitting by the 3D surface can more accurately reflect the impact of long-term water erosion on productivity than fitting by the 2D curve (to come up with two elements, which are water erosion and productivity losses); (2) the cumulative loss surface can reflect differences in productivity loss caused by long-term water erosion. Sustainability 2016-07-19 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070675 675 2071-1050 2016-07-19 doi: 10.3390/su8070675 Degen Lin Hao Guo Fang Lian Yuan Gao Yaojie Yue Jing'ai Wang http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/4/3/14 The purpose of this paper is to develop a scientific and methodical approach for determination of the comprehensive social responsibility indicator in this paper based on estimation of influence degree for the economical, ecological, social and labour, standard and legal components. There is allowance for determining of some level of enterprise social responsibility. In addition, there is a basis for development some ways of their increasing. The essence of the used approach is clotting of the individual indicators set to four intermediate indicators of the economic, ecological, social and labor, standard and legal components, which can be boiled down to the generalizing activity productivity indicator based on the matrix and range approach. An economical and mathematical model of the social responsibility influence level to the enterprise activity productivity level, which is based on enterprise propose harmonization with the participants' interests, was being built. The paper proposes the mathematical model, which allows detecting a necessary time period for enterprise activity productivity ensuring due to social responsibility implementation. Economies 2016-07-19 4 3 Article 10.3390/economies4030014 14 2227-7099 2016-07-19 doi: 10.3390/economies4030014 Sergii Kavun Ganna Zhosan http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/688 Technology analysis (TA) is an important issue in the management of technology. Most R&D (Research & Development) policies have depended on diverse TA results. Traditional TA results have been obtained through qualitative approaches such as the Delphi expert survey, scenario analysis, or technology road mapping. Although they are representative methods for TA, they are not stable because their results are dependent on the experts' knowledge and subjective experience. To solve this problem, recently many studies on TA have been focused on quantitative approaches, such as patent analysis. A patent document has diverse information of developed technologies, and thus, patent is one form of objective data for TA. In addition, sustainable technology has been a big issue in the TA fields, because most companies have their technological competitiveness through the sustainable technology. Sustainable technology is a technology keeping the technological superiority of a company. So a country as well as a company should consider sustainable technology for technological competition and continuous economic growth. Also it is important to manage sustainable technology in a given technology domain. In this paper, we propose a new patent analysis approach based on statistical analysis for the management of sustainable technology (MOST). Our proposed methodology for the MOST is to extract a technological structure and relationship for knowing the sustainable technology. To do this, we develop a hierarchical diagram of technology for finding the causal relationships among technological keywords of a given domain. The aim of the paper is to select the sustainable technology and to create the hierarchical technology paths to sustainable technology for the MOST. This contributes to planning R&D strategy for the sustainability of a company. To show how the methodology can be applied to real problem, we perform a case study using retrieved patent documents related to telematics technology. Sustainability 2016-07-18 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070688 688 2071-1050 2016-07-18 doi: 10.3390/su8070688 Junhyeog Choi Sunghae Jun Sangsung Park http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/4/3/23 An abstract summarizes the accompanying article in order to promote it. While many move-analysis studies of abstracts in applied linguistics (AL) have used similar coding frameworks and demonstrated similar rhetorical organizations, their findings have not yet been aggregated to show the overall picture. The present study aimed to both examine move structures in AL abstracts and compare the results with previous studies both synchronically and diachronically. Fifty abstracts were collected from articles published in the journal English for Specific Purposes (ESP) between 2011 and 2013. Sentences were coded using a five-move scheme adapted from previous studies. Combining the results from previous research and the present study showed that most AL abstracts give information on the purpose, methodology, and findings of the associated article, while about half of the articles omit introduction of the topic and discussion of the findings. It was also found that authors frequently violate the move sequence expected by current schemes. These findings consistent with previous research suggest that future researchers informed by move analyses should explore the connection between the findings of move analyses and teaching materials for academic writing. Publications 2016-07-18 4 3 Article 10.3390/publications4030023 23 2304-6775 2016-07-18 doi: 10.3390/publications4030023 Seden Can Erkan Karabacak Jingjing Qin http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/4/3/22 In this article we examine what motivations influence academic authors in selecting a journal in which to publish. A survey was sent to approximately 15,000 faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers at four large North American research universities with a response rate of 14.4% (n = 2021). Respondents were asked to rate how eight different journal attributes and five different audiences influence their choice of publication output. Within the sample, the most highly rated attributes are quality and reputation of journal and fit with the scope of the journal; open access is the least important attribute. Researchers at other research-intensive institutions are considered the most important audience, while the general public is the least important. There are significant differences across subject disciplines and position types. Our findings have implications for understanding the adoption of open access publishing models. Publications 2016-07-18 4 3 Article 10.3390/publications4030022 22 2304-6775 2016-07-18 doi: 10.3390/publications4030022 Carol Tenopir Elizabeth Dalton Allison Fish Lisa Christian Misty Jones MacKenzie Smith http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/677 Due to the frequent urban air pollution episodes worldwide recently, decision-makers and government agencies are struggling for sustainable strategies to optimize urban land use/cover change (LUCC) and improve the air quality. This study, thus, aims to identify the underlying relationships between PM10 concentration variations and LUCC based on the simulated PM10 surfaces in 2006 and 2013 in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan agglomeration (CZT), using a regression modeling approach. LUCC variables and associated landscape indexes are developed and correlated with PM10 concentration variations at grid level. Results reveal that the overall mean PM10 concentrations in the CZT declined from 106.74 μg/m3 to 94.37 μg/m3 between 2006 and 2013. Generally, variations of PM10 concentrations are positively correlated with the increasing built-up area, and negatively correlated with the increase in forests. In newly-developed built-up areas, PM10 concentrations declined with the increment of the landscape shape index and the Shannon diversity index and increased with the growing Aggregation index and Contagion index. In other areas, however, the reverse happens. These results suggest that LUCC caused by urban sprawl might be an important factor for the PM10 concentration variation in the CZT. The influence of the landscape pattern on PM10 concentration may vary in different stages of urban development. Sustainability 2016-07-18 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070677 677 2071-1050 2016-07-18 doi: 10.3390/su8070677 Bin Zou Shan Xu Troy Sternberg Xin Fang http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/676 Based on two substitute products, we study the inventory and contract coordination strategy of a three-echelon supply chain, which consists of two suppliers, a manufacturer and a retailer, under supply disruption and stochastic demand. We investigate the channel gross profit model of the centralized supply chain and obtain a unique optimal order quantity. Under a decentralized decision, we find that the commonly-used wholesale price contracts cannot coordinate the system. Then, we propose a buy-back contract and prove that this contract can more efficiently coordinate the system than the former. At last, we show that the integrated performance of the decentralized system can be maximized through choosing the buy-back parameter by the manufacturer and reveal that the effects of supply uncertainty and the substitution behavior of customers on the optimal decision by numerical examples. Sustainability 2016-07-18 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070676 676 2071-1050 2016-07-18 doi: 10.3390/su8070676 Rongfang Yan Bin Lu Jianjun Wu http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/683 With industrial integration accelerating in domestic and foreign enterprise, industrial integration is becoming the only way for regional development to break through its bottleneck. Compared with advanced foreign enterprises, there exists a significant gap in regional industrial integration, especially in the urban agglomeration of the energy chemical industries of Urumqi-Changji-Shihezi in Xinjiang. Findings from field visits and quantitative analysis show that the energy chemical industry in urban agglomeration is in a state of dispersed distribution, serious convergence in industrial structure, low level of specialization, and weak collaborative relationships. These issues seriously hamper the sustainable development of urban agglomeration. Specific actions aimed at these problems and the development bottleneck mainly include the integration of industrial parks in the central city and integration orientation on the level of urban agglomeration. Only by speeding up the pace of industry integration can Urumqi-Changji-Shihezi's urban agglomeration maintain and improve its market competitiveness. Accordingly, it can promote innovation and sustainability in the energy chemical industry and improve the overall level of development. Sustainability 2016-07-18 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070683 683 2071-1050 2016-07-18 doi: 10.3390/su8070683 Guiling Wang Degang Yang Fuqiang Xia Yannan Zhao http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/681 This study explores the technical and scale efficiency of two types of Greek fishing vessels, small-scale vessels and bottom trawlers, using a bias-corrected input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis model. Moreover, the associations between efficiency scores and vessel's and skipper's characteristics are also explored. The results indicate that small-scale vessels achieve a very low average technical efficiency score (0.42) but a much higher scale efficiency score (0.81). Conversely, bottom trawlers achieve lower scale but higher technical efficiency scores (0.68 and 0.73, respectively). One important finding of this study is that the technical efficiency of small-scale vessels, in contrast to trawlers, is positively associated with the experience of the skipper. In a looser context, it can be said that small-scale fisheries mainly rely on skill, whereas bottom trawlers rely more on technology. This study concludes that there is space for improvement in efficiency, mainly for small-scale vessels, which could allow the achievement of the same level of output by using reduced inputs. Sustainability 2016-07-16 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070681 681 2071-1050 2016-07-16 doi: 10.3390/su8070681 Dario Pinello Angelos Liontakis Alexandra Sintori Irene Tzouramani Konstantinos Polymeros http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/684 Environmental degradation threatens the long term resiliency of the US food and farming system. While USDA has provided conservation incentives for the adoption of best management practices (BMPs), only a small percentage of farms have participated in such conservation programs. This study uses conjoint analysis to examine Vermont farmers' underlying preferences and willingness-to-accept (WTA) incentives for three common BMPs. Based on the results of this survey, we hypothesize that federal cost share programs' payments are below preferred incentive levels and that less familiar and more complex BMPs require a higher payment. Our implications focus on strategies to test these hypotheses and align incentive payments and other non-monetary options to increase BMP adoption. Sustainability 2016-07-16 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070684 684 2071-1050 2016-07-16 doi: 10.3390/su8070684 David Conner Jennifer Miller Asim Zia Qingbin Wang Heather Darby http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/685 The planting of sugarcane crops has expanded in the last decade in the southeast of Brazil, mainly due to its use for biofuel production, such as ethanol. This expansion in the State of São Paulo has occupied land that was previously used for cattle production. The change in land use affects soil and water through changes in ground cover and disturbance associated with farming practices. The objective of the following study was to determine the impact on runoff and erosion resulting from the conversion of pastureland to sugarcane for biofuel production. Erosion plots measuring 100 m2 were built on a farm in Itirapina-SP, Brazil, on land with a slope gradient of 9% and soil composed of Quartz-sand Neosols (Typic quartzipsaments). The treatments were an 18-year old pasture and a new sugarcane plantation, with three replicates for each. After each rainfall episode, erosion and runoff were monitored during the first and second years after sugarcane was planted. The results show increased runoff and soil loss during the first year, though levels decreased in the second year when the sugarcane residue mulch ground cover increased. In addition, the necessary rainfall characteristics (e.g., intensity, duration) required to produce runoff and soil erosion were identified. Sustainability 2016-07-16 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070685 685 2071-1050 2016-07-16 doi: 10.3390/su8070685 Cristian Youlton Edson Wendland Jamil Anache Carlos Poblete-Echeverría Seth Dabney http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/674 Understanding human mobility patterns provides us with knowledge about human mobility in an urban context, which plays a critical role in urban planning, traffic management and the spread of disease. Recently, the availability of large-scale human-sensing datasets enables us to analyze human mobility patterns and the relationships between humans and their living environments on an unprecedented spatial and temporal scale to improve decision-making regarding the quality of life of citizens. This study aims to characterize the urban spatial-temporal dynamic from the perspective of human mobility hotspots by using mobile phone location data. We propose a workflow to identify human convergent and dispersive hotspots that represent the status of human mobility in local areas and group these hotspots into different classes according to clustering their temporal signatures. To illustrate our proposed approach, a case study of Shenzhen, China, has been conducted. Six typical spatial-temporal patterns in the city are identified and discussed by combining the spatial distribution of these identified patterns with urban functional areas. The findings enable us to understand the human dynamics in a different area of the city, which can serve as a reference for urban planning and traffic management. Sustainability 2016-07-16 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070674 674 2071-1050 2016-07-16 doi: 10.3390/su8070674 Xiping Yang Zhiyuan Zhao Shiwei Lu http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/679 An urban forest assessment is essential for developing a baseline from which to measure changes and trends. The most precise way to assess urban forests is to measure and record every tree on a site, but although this may work well for relatively small populations (e.g., street trees, small parks), it is prohibitively expensive for large tree populations. Thus, random sampling offers a cost-effective way to assess urban forest structure and the associated ecosystem services for large-scale assessments. The methodology applied to assess ecosystem services in this study can also be used to assess the ecosystem services provided by vacant land in other urban contexts and improve urban forest policies, planning, and the management of vacant land. The study's findings support the inclusion of trees on vacant land and contribute to a new vision of vacant land as a valuable ecological resource by demonstrating how green infrastructure can be used to enhance ecosystem health and promote a better quality of life for city residents. Sustainability 2016-07-16 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070679 679 2071-1050 2016-07-16 doi: 10.3390/su8070679 Gunwoo Kim http://www.mdpi.com/2225-1146/4/3/32 A distance between pairs of sets of autoregressive moving average (ARMA) processes is proposed. Its main properties are discussed. The paper also shows how the proposed distance finds application in time series analysis. In particular it can be used to evaluate the distance between portfolios of ARMA models or the distance between vector autoregressive (VAR) models. Econometrics 2016-07-15 4 3 Article 10.3390/econometrics4030032 32 2225-1146 2016-07-15 doi: 10.3390/econometrics4030032 Umberto Triacca http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/7/3/18 Effective sharing mechanisms of joint costs among beneficiaries of a project are a fundamental requirement for the sustainability of the project. Projects that are heterogeneous both in terms of the landscape of the area under development or the participants (users) lead to a more complicated set of allocation mechanisms than homogeneous projects. The analysis presented in this paper uses cooperative game theory to develop schemes for sharing costs and revenues from a project involving various beneficiaries in an equitable and fair way. The proposed approach is applied to the West Delta irrigation project. It sketches a differential two-part tariff that reproduces the allocation of total project costs using the Shapley Value, a well-known cooperative game allocation solution. The proposed differential tariff, applied to each land section in the project reflecting their landscape-related costs, contrasts the unified tariff that was proposed using the traditional methods in the project planning documents. Games 2016-07-15 7 3 Article 10.3390/g7030018 18 2073-4336 2016-07-15 doi: 10.3390/g7030018 Stefano Moretti Fioravante Patrone Ariel Dinar Safwat Abdel-Dayem http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/678 This paper examines how and to what degree government policies of garbage fees and voluntary source separation programs, with free indoor containers and garbage bags, can affect the effectiveness of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, in the sense of achieving a desirable reduction of per capita MSW generation. Based on city-level panel data for years 1998–2012 in China, our empirical analysis indicates that per capita MSW generated is increasing with per capita disposable income, average household size, education levels of households, and the lagged per capita MSW. While both garbage fees and source separation programs have separately led to reductions in per capita waste generation, the interaction of the two policies has resulted in an increase in per capita waste generation due to the following crowding-out effects: Firstly, the positive effect of income dominates the negative effect of the garbage fee. Secondly, there are crowding-out effects of mandatory charging system and the subsidized voluntary source separation on per capita MSW generation. Thirdly, small subsidies and tax punishments have reduced the intrinsic motivation for voluntary source separation of MSW. Thus, compatible fee charging system, higher levels of subsidies, and well-designed public information and education campaigns are required to promote household waste source separation and reduction. Sustainability 2016-07-15 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070678 678 2071-1050 2016-07-15 doi: 10.3390/su8070678 Hongyun Han Zhijian Zhang Sheng Xia http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/673 In the transformation of urban distribution industry, the problem of enterprises generally retaining a self-distribution mode is highlighted, and it is not conducive for enterprises to develop core business. Around the hot issue of climate change, but also the target of energy conservation and emission reduction, this paper puts forward the method of urban distribution mode to reduce carbon emission intensity, introduces four kinds of typical urban distribution mode, analyzes the core influencing factors of urban distribution mode, studies the carbon accounting method of urban distribution, put forwards the method of low carbon urban distribution mode, analyzes the current situation of the distribution of Guangzhou City, determines the main research types of goods, and applies the method proposed in this paper to the specific enterprises. Urban distribution mode integration and carbon emissions intensity reduction are both considered in this work. The specific application result of 11.28% reduction on carbon emission intensity shows that this method can effectively guide enterprises to develop low carbon urban distribution mode and reduce carbon emission intensity of urban distribution. Sustainability 2016-07-15 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070673 673 2071-1050 2016-07-15 doi: 10.3390/su8070673 Lei Yang Yiji Cai Jiahui Hong Yongqiang Shi Zhiyong Zhang http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/4/3/21 In this paper we report on a study of 1541 articles from three different journals (Journal of Informetrics, Information Processing and Management, and Computers and Electrical Engineering) from the period 2007–2014. We analyzed their dates of submission and of final decision to accept and investigated whether the difference between these two dates (the so-called "time to accept") is smaller for the articles authored by the corresponding journal's editorial board members and whether longer times to accept yield higher citation counts. The main results are that we found significantly shorter times to accept editorial board member's articles only in Journal of Informetrics and not in the other two journals, and that articles in any of these journals that took longer to be accepted did not receive markedly more citations. Publications 2016-07-15 4 3 Communication 10.3390/publications4030021 21 2304-6775 2016-07-15 doi: 10.3390/publications4030021 Dalibor Fiala Cecília Havrilová Martin Dostal Ján Paralič http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/4/3/20 How similar are the publishing patterns of among Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC countries) in comparison with other countries? This is a question that we addressed by using networks as a tool to analyze the structure of similarities and disparities between countries. We analyzed the number of publications from 2006 to 2015 that are reported by SCImago Journal and Country Rank. With this information, we created a network in order to find the closest countries to BRIC ones, and also to find communities of similar countries favoring data analysis. We found that Brazil, China and Russia are not that close to the core cluster of countries that are more diversified. In opposition, India is closer to a community of countries that are more diverse in terms of publishing patterns. Furthermore, we found that, for different network topologies, Brazil acts as a bridge to connect developing countries and that Russia practices patterns that tend to isolate it from most of the countries. Publications 2016-07-15 4 3 Article 10.3390/publications4030020 20 2304-6775 2016-07-15 doi: 10.3390/publications4030020 Miguel Guevara Marcelo Mendoza http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/671 Rapid urbanization and rapid urban growth present great challenges to the sustainable utilization of land resources. This paper discusses the on-going process of construction-to-ecological land conversion (CELC) in terms of three aspects: land use, environmental effects, and system responses. CELC is compared to other current land conversion strategies in China. Taking Shenzhen City as an example, this paper introduces five areas in which CELC has been implemented since 2009, including basic farmland protection zones, mining areas, ecological corridors, inefficient industrial zones, and urban villages. This paper argues that Shenzhen's CELC model can improve the ecological environment, control urban sprawl, and promote sustainable land use and, thus, serve as an example for other cities in China. Sustainability 2016-07-14 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070671 671 2071-1050 2016-07-14 doi: 10.3390/su8070671 Yunfei Peng Jing Qian Fu Ren Wenhui Zhang Qingyun Du http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/665 SMEs need to protect their innovation outcomes and increase profits from their innovations in order to make their growth sustainable. The appropriability regime enables SMEs to secure financial returns on their R&D investment so that SMEs can continuously invest in innovation and obtain financial gains. However, the appropriability regime can change the effects of protecting innovation outcomes depending on the capacity of knowledge exploration, especially for SMEs, and previous studies have not discussed these issues. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to explore how the knowledge exploration capacity affects the relationship between different types of appropriability regimes and innovation performance. Multivariate regression is used to analyze the manufacturing SMEs sampled from the Korea Innovation Survey 2007 (KIS 2007). Our results demonstrate that both formal and informal appropriability regimes can improve firm's innovation performance. Furthermore, although both inventive and absorptive capacity have positive moderating effects on the relationship between the informal appropriability regime and innovation performance, the inventive capacity moderates negatively the relationship between the formal appropriability regime and innovation performance. As a whole, the significance of this paper lies in providing further understanding of the different types of appropriability regimes and knowledge exploration capacity in SMEs. Sustainability 2016-07-14 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070665 665 2071-1050 2016-07-14 doi: 10.3390/su8070665 HanGyeol Seo Yanghon Chung Chungwon Woo Dongphil Chun Soojeen Jang http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/669 Field testing of a proprietary stormwater treatment device (GPT) was undertaken over a one year period at a commercial site located in Sippy Downs, Queensland. The focus of the study was primarily on evaluating the effectiveness of the GPT device in removing pollution in the form of nutrients (Total Suspended Solids, Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus) from stormwater runoff. Water quality analysis was performed on water samples taken from the inflow and outflow of the GPT during 15 natural rainfall events. A new testing protocol was developed to ensure a comprehensive investigation of the stormwater treatment performance of the GPT. Pollution treatment Efficiency Ratios (ER) calculated for the GPT were found to be 49.2% for TSS, 26.6% for TN and 40.6% for TP. Although the nutrient removal rates of the GPT observed in the study were below those specified by Queensland regulations, the results are considered notable for a stormwater treatment device that was not specifically designed to remove nutrients from stormwater. Sustainability 2016-07-14 8 7 Technical Note 10.3390/su8070669 669 2071-1050 2016-07-14 doi: 10.3390/su8070669 Peter Nichols Terry Lucke http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/670 Northeast China (NEC) is one of China's major rice production areas and has experienced obvious climate warming over the past three decades, similar to other mid- to high-latitude regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The present study investigates the temporal and spatial impacts of climate warming on rice yield in mid–high latitude regions. In this study, two time series datasets of rice yield and climate records in the NEC, including 178 county sites and 105 climate stations and covering the period from 1980 to 2008, were compiled. From these data, the responses of rice yield to the rice-growing season temperature (GST), growing degree days (GDD), and precipitation (GSP) were estimated using a regression model. The results indicate that rice yield benefits from climate warming in the NEC. GST positively impacted rice yield in 64.6% of the counties, with an increase of approximately 3.65%; GDD positively impacted yield in 64% of the counties, an increase of approximately 3.2%; and GSP negatively impacted rice yield in 68% of the counties, with a decrease of approximately −2.3%. Spatial variation was observed in the climate-rice yield relationships. The statistical relationships of GST and GDD with rice yield were significantly and positively correlated with latitude, longitude, and altitude, while that of GSP and rice yield was significantly and negatively correlated with latitude and longitude and showed a nonsignificant positive correlation with altitude. In summary, climate warming has significantly increased rice yield over the last three decades in the region north of 42°N, east of 122.4°E, and at an elevation of 134–473 m, which covers the majority of the rice-growing areas in the NEC. Sustainability 2016-07-14 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070670 670 2071-1050 2016-07-14 doi: 10.3390/su8070670 Zhenhuan Liu Guojie Zhang Peng Yang http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/666 Although China has promoted the construction of Chinese Sustainable Ground Transportation (CSGT) to guide sustainable development, it may create substantial challenges, such as rapid urban growth and land limitations. This research assessed the effects of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge on impervious surface growth in Cixi County, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. Changes in impervious surfaces were mapped based on Landsat images from 1995, 2002, and 2009 using a combination of multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis (MESMA) and landscape metrics. The results indicated that the area and density of impervious surfaces increased significantly during construction of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge (2002–2009). Additionally, the bridge and connected road networks promoted urban development along major roads, resulting in compact growth patterns of impervious surfaces in urbanized regions. Moreover, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge promoted the expansion and densification of impervious surfaces in Hangzhou Bay District, which surrounds the bridge. The bridge also accelerated socioeconomic growth in the area, promoting rapid urban growth in Cixi County between 2002 and 2009. Overall, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge is an important driver of urban growth in Cixi County, and policy suggestions for sustainable urban growth should be adopted in the future. Sustainability 2016-07-13 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070666 666 2071-1050 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/su8070666 Qing Zheng Shan He Lingyan Huang Xinyu Zheng Yi Pan Amir Shahtahmassebi Zhangquan Shen Zhoulu Yu Ke Wang http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/668 The role of tourism in rural areas is pivotal for the integration and valorization of territorial resources and it is strengthened by the capacity to promote local community participation in processes of development. The paper addresses the issue by presenting and discussing a case study of a rural area of southern Italy where a territorial network for the development of local tourism has been set up. The innovative initiative aimed, firstly, to facilitate a closer connection between production and consumption by reducing transaction costs and, secondly, to connect local production with quality conscious consumers looking for traditional products. The network project also aimed to create conditions conducive to increasing the competitiveness of the local production chain and tourism sector. The case study shows how the challenge for many rural territories lies in increasing levels of trust and rebuilding social capital as a precondition of developing the tourism sector and fostering socio-economic development as a whole. Traditional institutions, as well as hybrid institutions, with the support of research organizations, can play a key role. Sustainability 2016-07-13 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070668 668 2071-1050 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/su8070668 Giovanni Quaranta Elisabetta Citro Rosanna Salvia http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/663 To comply with recent international trends and initiatives, and in order to help achieve sustainable development, Korea has established a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 37% (851 million tons) of the business as usual (BAU) rate by 2030. Regarding environmentally-oriented standards such as the IGCC (International Green Construction Code), there are also rising demands for the assessment on CO2 emissions during the life cycle in accordance with ISO (International Standardization Organization's Standard) 14040. At present, precast concrete (PC) engineering-related studies primarily cover structural and construction aspects, including improvement of structural performance in the joint, introduction of pre-stressed concrete and development of half PC. In the manufacture of PC, steam curing is mostly used for the early-strength development of concrete. In steam curing, a large amount of CO2 is produced, causing an environmental problem. Therefore, this study proposes a method to assess CO2 emissions (including absorption) throughout the PC life cycle by using a life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Using the proposed assessment method, CO2 emissions during the life cycle of a precast concrete girder (PCG) were assessed. In addition, CO2 absorption was assessed against a PCG using conventional carbonation and CO2 absorption-related models. As a result, the CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of the PCG were 1365.6 (kg-CO2/1 PCG). The CO2 emissions during the production of raw materials among the CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of the PCG were 1390 (kg-CO2/1 PCG), accounting for a high portion to total CO2 emissions (nearly 90%). In contrast, the transportation and manufacture stages were 1% and 10%, respectively, having little effect on total CO2 emissions. Among the use of the PCG, CO2 absorption was mostly decided by the CO2 diffusion coefficient and the amount of CO2 absorption by cement paste. The CO2 absorption by carbonation throughout the service life of the PC was about 11% of the total CO2 emissions, which is about 16% of CO2 emissions from ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete. Sustainability 2016-07-13 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070663 663 2071-1050 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/su8070663 Taehyoung Kim Chang Chae http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/664 For resilience building, cities need to foster learning and innovation processes among all actors in order to develop transformative capacities of urban governance regimes to manage extraordinary situations as well as continuous change. A close collaboration of urban governmental actors and citizens is, therefore, of high importance. This paper explores two different discourses on urban governance: participation and self-organized collective action for the management of the commons. Both address the involvement of citizens into governance, albeit from different perspectives: on the one hand from the viewpoint of the government, selectively handing some of its power over to citizens, on the other hand from the perspective of citizens who self-organize for a collective management of urban commons. Based on experiences in the Austrian city of Korneuburg, it is argued that the collective action literature may help overcome some of the self-criticisms and shortcomings of the participation discourse. More specifically, Elinor Ostrom's design principles for the management of the commons provide valuable input to overcome restrictions in thinking about citizen participation and to effectively design institutions for long-term urban co-management. Sustainability 2016-07-13 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070664 664 2071-1050 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/su8070664 Elisabeth Schauppenlehner-Kloyber Marianne Penker http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/658 Sustainable mining has received much attention in recent years as a consequence of the negative impacts of mining and public awareness. The aim of this paper is to provide mining companies guidance on improving the sustainability of their sites through effective community engagement based on recent advances in the literature. It begins with a review of the literature on sustainable development and its relationship to stakeholder engagement. It then uses the literature to determine the dominant factors that affect community perceptions of mining projects. These factors are classified into five categories: environmental, economic, social, governance and demographic factors. Then, we propose a new two-stage method based on discrete choice theory and the classification that can improve stakeholder engagement and be cost-effective. Further work is required to validate the proposed method, although it shows potential to overcome some of the challenges plaguing current approaches. Sustainability 2016-07-13 8 7 Review 10.3390/su8070658 658 2071-1050 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/su8070658 Liang Wang Kwame Awuah-Offei Sisi Que Wei Yang http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/661 Understanding of the influencing factors of industrial sector carbon dioxide emissions is essential to reduce natural and anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, we applied the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition method based on the extended Kaya identity to analyze the changes in industrial carbon dioxide emissions resulting from 39 industrial sectors in Inner Mongolia northeast of China over the period 2003–2012. The factors were divided into five types of effects i.e., industrial growth effect, industrial structure effect, energy effect, energy intensity effect, population effect and comparative analysis of differential influences of various factors on industrial sector. Our results clearly show that (1) Industrial sector carbon dioxide emissions have increased from 134.00 million ton in 2003 to 513.46 million ton in 2012, with an annual average growth rate of 16.097%. The industrial carbon dioxide emissions intensity has decreased from 0.99 million ton/billion yuan to 0.28 million ton/billion yuan. Also, the energy structure has been dominated by coal; (2) Production and supply of electric power, steam and hot water, coal mining and dressing, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, petroleum processing, coking and nuclear fuel processing, and raw chemical materials and chemical products account for 89.74% of total increased industrial carbon dioxide emissions; (3) The industrial growth effect and population effect are found to be a critical driving force for increasing industrial sector carbon dioxide emissions over the research period. The energy intensity effect is the crucial drivers of the decrease of carbon dioxide emissions. However, the energy structure effect and industrial structure effect have considerably varied over the study years without displaying any clear trend. Sustainability 2016-07-13 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070661 661 2071-1050 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/su8070661 Rina Wu Jiquan Zhang Yuhai Bao Quan Lai Siqin Tong Youtao Song http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/3/30 Communities across the United States, in both urban and rural areas, are seeking ways to promote well-being for their citizens in sustainable ways. This paper provides a descriptive case study of one rural community that used an inquiry-based approach to ask, "How can we engage our citizens to improve child and family well-being in our community?" The group also wondered "What if Brookings had one place for families to access all family resources that support well-being?" "What if all families had a place where their needs were heard?" and "What if all resources for families looked at the well-being of children and families in a holistic way?" This paper describes the initial journey of a community of practice advocating on several different community levels, including the role of university students, the process of the community of practice formation, its growing connections to community agencies and its initial efforts to build calls to action through participatory research and grassroots community efforts. While conveying a linear narrative, the authors also maintain a focus on the organic processes of knowledge construction and the evolution of a community of practice. Data collection, using the Delphi approach, is underway to access initial ground-up definitions of well-being and to identify areas of focus. Social Sciences 2016-07-13 5 3 Case Report 10.3390/socsci5030030 30 2076-0760 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/socsci5030030 Mary Moeller Angela McKillip Ruth Wienk Kay Cutler http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/655 The long-lasting "guns versus butter" argument reflects the fact that China has been experiencing a difficult choice in terms of improving the defense and social welfare sectors, and thus achieving fiscal sustainability. The result, however, is controversial. The present paper therefore re-examines the relationship between defense and social welfare by employing continuous wavelet analysis during a long period of 1950–2014 in China. We focus in particular on their dynamic correlation and the lead-lag relationship across different frequency bands. Our results clearly show the inexistence of the crowding-out effect between defense expenditure and social welfare; moreover, the increase in defense (social welfare) expenditure could stimulate the expansion of social welfare (defense) spending. In addition, we find a positive relationship between defense and social welfare with defense leading during 1961–1968 in the short term, when China suffered from the economic breakdown and the social turbulence caused by the Great Famine, Sino-Soviet border conflict, etc. Notably, social welfare also led the progress in defense during 1984–1988 and 1995–1998 in the medium and long terms by the further deepening of the opening-up policy and enforcing the economic system reform. Sustainability 2016-07-13 8 7 Article 10.3390/su8070655 655 2071-1050 2016-07-13 doi: 10.3390/su8070655 Ying Zhang Xiaoxing Liu Rui Wang Ruobing Tang