Search Results (526)

The construction industry is a major contributor to environmental degradation, primarily due to the substantial volumes of construction waste (CW) generated on-site. As sustainability becomes a global imperative aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda, identifying and mitigating the root causes of CW is essential. This study adopts a cross-disciplinary approach to explore the drivers of CW and support more effective, sustainable waste reduction strategies. A systematic literature review was conducted to extract 25 key CW source factors from academic publications. These were analyzed using Social Network Analysis (SNA) to reveal their structural relationships and relative influence. The results indicate that the lack of structured on-site waste management planning, accumulation of residual materials, and insufficient worker training are among the most influential CW drivers. Comparative analysis with industry data highlights theoretical–practical gaps and the need for improved alignment between research insights and site implementation. This paper recommends the adoption of tiered waste management protocols as part of contractual documentation, integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM)-based residual material traceability systems, and increasing attention to workforce training programs focused on material handling efficiency. Future research should extend SNA frameworks to sector-specific waste patterns (e.g., pavement or demolition projects) and explore the intersection between digital technologies and circular economy practices. The study contributes to enhancing waste governance, promoting resource efficiency, and advancing circularity in the built environment by offering data-driven prioritization of CW sources and actionable mitigation strategies. Full article

Background: Eating disorder (ED) symptoms and body image (BI) concerns involve serious risks to the physical and mental health of women and men. Social networking sites have amplified the promotion of idealised body images, contributing to this issue. Objectives: This study examines the link between personal and emotional factors, social media body image-related behaviours, BI concerns, and ED symptoms, as well as the differential role of these factors according to gender. Methods: A cross-sectional design was applied. The participants were 201 Spanish adults (mean age = 28.26; 76.6% women) who completed self-reported measures on BI (MBSRQ), ED symptoms (EAT-26), perfectionism (EDI-2), anxiety, depression, stress (DASS-21), emotional dysregulation (DERS), life satisfaction (SWLS), and social media BI-related behaviours. Results: Significant relationships between ED symptoms and BI concerns with personal and emotional factors and social media body image-related behaviours have been found. Women have scored higher in ED symptoms and social media BI-related behaviours than men. Multiple regression analyses showed that the difficulty in accepting emotions and not posting images due to BI dissatisfaction were risk factors for ED symptoms in both men and women. Furthermore, the adverse effect of perfectionism and low life satisfaction on women’s ED symptoms were demonstrated, whereas in men, goal-directed behaviours were associated with ED risk. Conclusions: These results suggest that prevention programmes focusing on emotional regulation and healthier social media use can be effective for ED symptoms and BI concerns. Full article

In Italy, the management of built assets confiscated from organized crime groups is particularly relevant. Returning these assets to the community is becoming increasingly important for Italian municipalities, thanks to the many social benefits that can be generated (e.g., new spaces to provide community services, a visible and tangible symbol of legality, etc.). The process of redeveloping confiscated buildings, due to procedural complexity and a lack of resources, is currently characterized, on one hand, by a limited number of projects actually implemented compared to the potential of the total number of buildings available and, on the other hand, by the lengthy duration of the redevelopment process (12 years on average), which significantly increases the time it takes for the asset to return social value to the community. The objective of this research was to study, develop, and describe a mechanism that (i) enables an increase in the number of redevelopment actions of confiscated assets, (ii) accelerates the attribution of social value to these assets over time and (iii) extends the social impact of the requalification interventions that provide an opportunity for the professional training of students and the professional qualification of vulnerable people. There are two main tasks of the research shown in this article: (i) to highlight the main critical issues and needs in the management of confiscated assets by Italian municipalities, through a survey conducted among key informants; (ii) to build and test an innovative ‘win–win model’ for the requalification process of confiscated buildings, aimed at overcoming obstacles and anticipating the delivery of social benefits to a large group of stakeholders, including vulnerable people, tested in a pilot project. This “win–win model” combines building requalification and training through the activation of a “construction site school”. All original contributions are derived from the research “Co-WIN”, funded by the “Polisocial Awards 2021”, which developed methods, strategies, and tools capable of reducing social imbalances, with an equity and sustainability perspective. The results illustrated the drivers and challenges for the renovation and reuse of confiscated built assets; the necessary changes in documents and procedures to activate and replicate the “Co-WIN model”; and a training program for the construction-site school based on the social categories involved. Finally, the discussion highlights the network and the mutual benefits for stakeholders, focusing on the social relevance and social impact achievable through applying the Co-WIN model to the requalification process of confiscated buildings. Full article

Background: Social media platforms play a crucial role in contemporary healthcare, facilitating patient participation and enabling communication among healthcare workers, as well as serving as a platform for medical awareness and advocacy. Social media use among healthcare workers has increased to 91%, with 65% using it for health promotion purposes. Nonetheless, current studies have not properly and empirically explored its dimensions. Objectives: This study therefore examines social media dimensions and the productivity of healthcare workers. Methods: Leveraging the professional productivity theory and digital engagement theory, the study employs SPSS to analyze the gathered data through a partial least squares (PLS-SEM) approach to explore social media dimensions and productivity among healthcare workers in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital. Based on a cross-sectional descriptive survey design and stratified random sampling method, 344 medical workers were analyzed. Findings: The study found that fear of missing out, information sharing, social influence, trust, and social media usage have a significant impact on the productivity of healthcare professionals. Conclusions: This research adds to the growing academic research on the capabilities of social media within the circular economic systems aimed at advancing healthcare delivery in developing economies. The research offers a method for maximizing the use of social media within healthcare settings to foster enhanced healthcare outcomes, particularly productivity. Full article

Driven by climate change and stringent ecological conservation policies, arid and semi-arid pastoral areas face acute grassland degradation and forage–livestock imbalances. In Sunan County (Gansu Province, China), herders have increasingly turned to off-site grazing—leasing crop fields in adjacent oases during autumn and winter—to alleviate local grassland pressure and adapt their livelihoods. However, the interplay between the evolving land use system (L) and this emergent borrowed pasture system (B) remains under-explored. This study introduces a coupled analytical framework linking L and B. We employ multi-temporal remote sensing imagery (2018–2023) and official statistical data to derive land use dynamic degree (LUDD) metrics and 14 indicators for the borrowed pasture system. Through entropy weighting and a coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), we quantify subsystem performance, interaction intensity, and coordination over time. The results show that 2017 was a turning point in grassland–bare land dynamics: grassland trends shifted from positive to negative, whereas bare land trends turned from negative to positive; strong coupling but low early coordination (C > 0.95; D < 0.54) were present due to institutional lags, infrastructural gaps, and rising rental costs; resilient grassroots networks bolstered coordination during COVID-19 (D ≈ 0.78 in 2023); and institutional voids limited scalability, highlighting the need for integrated subsidy, insurance, and management frameworks. In addition, among those interviewed, 75% (15/20) observed significant grassland degradation before adopting off-site grazing, and 40% (8/20) perceived improvements afterward, indicating its potential role in ecological regulation under climate stress. By fusing remote sensing quantification with local stakeholder insights, this study advances social–ecological coupling theory and offers actionable guidance for optimizing cross-regional forage allocation and adaptive governance in arid pastoral zones. Full article

This article investigates how digital competences contribute to the production of social capital and professional recognition through a systematic review of international literature. Drawing on 62 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, and ERIC, the review identifies the most frequently mobilized theoretical frameworks, the predominant types and sources of recognition, and the associated dimensions of social capital. The findings reveal a growing emphasis on communicative and network-based digital competences—particularly digital communication, information management, and virtual collaboration—as key assets in professional contexts. Recognition is shown to take predominantly non-material, extrinsic, and visibility-oriented forms, with social media platforms emerging as central sites for the performance and circulation of digital competences. The results indicate that social media proficiency has become a central determinant of social recognition, favoring individuals who possess not only digital fluency but also the ability to strategically develop and mobilize their networks. This dynamic reframes signal theory in light of today’s platformed ecosystems: recognition no longer depends increasingly on one’s capacity to render competences legible, visible, and endorsed within algorithmically mediated environments. Those who master the codes of visibility and reputation-building online are best positioned to convert recognition into social capital and professional opportunity. Full article

This study investigates the challenges and opportunities of balancing cultural preservation, tourism investment, and community resilience in historic Syrian cities during the post-war recovery period. The Syrian conflict has imposed considerable harm upon the nation’s cultural heritage, encompassing UNESCO World Heritage sites, thereby interrupting not only the urban infrastructure but also local economies and social networks. Utilizing a comprehensive methodology that includes a literature review, stakeholder interviews, and local surveys, this research investigates the potential for aligning cultural preservation with tourism investment to promote sustainable economic revitalization while simultaneously enhancing social cohesion and community resilience. The results underscore the significance of inclusive governance, participatory planning, and capacity enhancement to guarantee that post-conflict urban redevelopment fosters enduring environmental, social, and cultural sustainability. By framing the Syrian case within the broader context of global urban sustainability and resilience discourse, the study offers valuable insights for policymakers, urban planners, and heritage managers working in post-conflict or post-disaster environments worldwide. In the end, the study highlights that the revitalization of historic cities transcends being a simple technical or economic endeavor; it is a complex process of re-establishing identity, strengthening communities, and fostering sustainable, resilient urban futures. Full article

Offsite construction (OSC) is fragmented and involves a complex network of stakeholders in all the stages such as planning, design, legal approval, site preparation, modular manufacturing, transportation, storage, and onsite installation. The barriers include complexity of the process; lack of awareness; supply chain challenges in capacity and knowledge; cultural perception; lack of viable business process models or solutions; scarcity of skills in design/manufacturing/construction and lack of government regulations and legislation. This study, therefore, categorises the barriers according to political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) analysis. The PESTEL analysis aims at providing organisations a comprehensive list of all the external barriers against the adoption of offsite construction. A wholistic list of all the barriers and understanding the barriers will help them to improve the overall productivity and contribute to the economy metrics. Utilising popular databases, including Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, a systematic literature review of 56 papers relevant to OSC adoptions in the construction industry research was conducted. From the review, the barriers to the adoption of OSC in the construction research and relevant organisations reports were identified. The research shows that countries such as Australia, UK, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand have been the top countries in which papers on OSC were published. A relationship analysis shows that political barriers amounting to 5 out of the 101 barriers identified having the most causal effects on the low adoption of OSC. Full article

In the face of an unprecedented public health crisis (COVID-19), despite tourist perceptions toward cultural heritage tourism having undergone significant transformation, such transitions are increasingly viewed as opportunities to enhance sustainability practices in cultural heritage tourism worldwide. This study traces the evolution of tourist perceptions at Lijiang Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, across three stages from 2017 to 2024—before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and after the pandemic. Data were collected from major tourism platforms, yielding a comprehensive dataset of 50,022 user-generated reviews. We adopt a mixed-method framework integrating TF-IDF, Social Network Analysis (SNA), and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to identify salient terms, semantic structures, and latent themes from large-scale unstructured textual data across time. The findings indicate that cultural heritage tourism demonstrates adaptability and resilience through significant perceptual transitions. After the pandemic, visitors increasingly prioritized cultural depth and high-quality service experiences, whereas before the pandemic, tourists focused more on cultural heritage attractions and commercial experiences. Moreover, during the pandemic period, visitor narratives reflected adaptations toward quieter, safer, and more personalized experiences, highlighting the impact of safety measures on tourism patterns. These findings demonstrate the methodological potential for dynamically monitoring perception shifts and offer empirical grounding for future perception-oriented research and sustainable cultural heritage destination management practices in cultural heritage tourism toward sustainable tourism. Full article

Intersectionality, especially with a race–class–gender focus, has been used to study many facets of women’s experiences. However, this framework has been underutilized in the study of breastfeeding prevalence. Our study is the first of its kind to use intersectionality to illuminate breastfeeding network prevalence disparities with empirical data. We use insights from this theory to examine breastfeeding patterns reported by women living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Mississippi makes an excellent site for such an examination, given its history of racial discrimination, entrenched poverty, and strikingly low rates of breastfeeding, particularly for African American women. We identify a series of factors that influence racial disparities in lactation network prevalence, that is, breastfeeding among friends and family of the women we surveyed. Our investigation relies on survey data drawn from a random sample of adult women who are representative of the Mississippi Gulf Coast population supplemented by a non-random oversample of African American women in this predominantly rural tri-county area. Results from the first wave of the CDC-funded 2019 Mississippi REACH Social Climate Survey reveal that Black-White differentials in breastfeeding network prevalence are significantly reduced for African American women who report (1) higher income levels and (2) more robust community support for breastfeeding. We conclude that breastfeeding is subject to two key structural factors: economic standing and community context. An appreciation of these intersecting influences on breastfeeding and long-term efforts to alter them could bring about greater breastfeeding parity among African American and White women in Mississippi and perhaps elsewhere. We end by identifying the practical implications of our findings and promising directions for future research. Full article

Temporary use of space in degraded areas is gaining significance in spatial planning due to limitations and conflicts stemming from traditional models that overlook social (soft) environmental components. This article addresses the lack of socio-ecological indicators in contextual analyses that precede planning processes in degraded areas. Using a plural case study approach across sites in Portugal and Slovenia, it combines primary data from semi-structured questionnaires and terrain analysis with secondary sources. The findings reveal that only specific types of temporary uses foster dynamic and adaptive social networks among stakeholders. These networks enhance the social and environmental sustainability of urban areas, particularly when socio-ecological indicators are refined to account for informal practices, community engagement and cultural value. Furthermore, the study highlights how these practices contribute to social sustainability by supporting inclusive governance models and stimulating local economies. A key finding of the study is the identification of a strong link between social networks and environmental sustainability, highlighting the need to incorporate updated socio-ecological indicators into spatial planning for degraded areas. Temporary uses are not merely stop-gap solutions but also strategic tools for cultivating sustainable urban areas. Full article

The importance of maintenance activities for improving the quality of water sources and guaranteeing a steady supply of water has increased significantly because of current social concerns. Water supply pipe corrosion is an issue that can cause leaks and lower water quality. The identification of hydraulic anomalies in water pumping systems is the subject of this project. A database was created of data acquired from a water supply network with pipes of various lengths and sizes. In hydraulic systems, sensor meters are mounted at various sites with distinct physical features, pipe sizes, and vital supply points. The input parameters used for a model are the sensor parameters, and the model analyzes the correlation between the input parameters (sensors) and determines which parameters are the most important, deciding on the output of the model, and thereby building the simplest model, which requires the least input parameters and gives the most accurate prediction results. In this project, using on the input signal from the sensors, the k-nearest neighbors machine learning algorithm was used to correlate/predict whether the pump was shut down (broken) for a certain period of time. Full article

The emphasis on collaborative governance and effective leadership to bring any social change is gaining prominence among researchers. This study investigates how leadership and collaborative governance can drive social change in waste management in Campania, using a qualitative, multi-site case study approach. Interviews of relevant politicians, public managers, citizens, waste management organizations and academics were conducted (2023–2024). This research uses the lens of multiple theoretical frameworks such as collaborative governance, network agency, public value framework and transformational leadership to explore different dynamics of the research such as stakeholder engagement, public value creation and leadership effectiveness in waste management. Moreover, several obstacles in the way of achieving social change in Campania concerning waste management and environmental sustainability are identified. The findings of this study added to the theoretical understanding of collaborative governance and social change through the demonstration of how transformational leadership, stakeholder participation and trust-based relationships drive good waste management while identifying structural limitations such as corruption and organized crime that hindered governance. Practically, it highlights five interconnected themes from interviews of leadership that civic leaders and managers must establish to promote positive social change: Difficulties in leadership effectiveness, civic potential unused, media mobilization, hope for a miracle and stakeholder engagement diversification. The public value framework is used to analyze the potential role of leadership in bringing change in society. The research findings are replicable and can be applied to a similar set of circumstances. This study advances existing research by addressing the gap in understanding how collaborative governance and transformational leadership can be integrated to tackle waste management and environmental sustainability challenges. The findings can be applied to other regions facing similar governance challenges, making it relevant for global sustainability efforts. Italy’s government has green-lighted projects to make these activities more visible while downplaying their negative impacts on the environment and public health. Full article

Construction workers’ unsafe behaviors (CWUBs) are a primary cause of construction safety accidents in railway tunnel engineering (RTE). Understanding the causation mechanism between construction safety accidents, CWUBs, and their influencing factors is crucial for improving safety management. However, research in this area remains insufficient. This study systematically identifies 9 types of construction safety accidents, 11 types of CWUBs, and 35 influencing factors, covering three core dimensions: organizational management, individual safety capacity, and safety environment. Using the 24model, this study qualitatively elucidates the causation mechanism and identifies the primary and secondary causation relationships among 55 factors. On this basis, a network model of CWUBs in RTE is developed and quantitatively analyzed using social network analysis from the perspectives of the overall network, block network, and individual network, resulting in the identification of a critical network comprising 27 key factors. Based on the findings, nine targeted intervention measures are proposed, encompassing pre-emptive prevention, on-site control, and emergency management. This study innovatively integrates the 24model and social network analysis, systematically analyzing the causation mechanism of CWUBs in RTE from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This research not only provides a systematic and innovative analytical framework for CWUBs in RTE, addressing a critical gap in the study of unsafe behaviors and accident causation in complex systems, but also offers practical guidance for safety risk management. Additionally, it enriches the theoretical framework of unsafe behavior research, providing valuable insights for further studies in related fields. Full article

In an ever-changing driving environment where vehicles are becoming smarter, more autonomous, and more connected, a paradigmatic change in signals for drivers might be required. This need is correlated with road safety (social sustainability). There are several factors affecting road safety, and one of these, especially important on rural roads, is speed. One way to actively influence drivers’ speed is to intervene with regard to speed limit signs by providing credible and effective limits. This goal can be pursued by working on variable speed limits that align with the boundary conditions of the installation site. In this research, an analysis was conducted on the rural road network within the Metropolitan City of Bari (Italy) that involved collecting the speeds on each of the investigated two-way, two-lane rural roads of the network. In addition to the speeds, all the most relevant geometric details of the roads were considered, together with environmental factors like rainfall. A generalized linear model was developed to correlate the operating speed limits and other variables together with information about rainfall, which degrades tire–pavement friction and thus, road safety. After the development of this model, safety performance functions, depending on the amount of rain or number of days of rain, were calculated with the intent of predicting crash frequency, starting with the operative speed and rain conditions. Operative speed, speed limit, percentage of non-compliant drivers, traffic level, and site length were found to be associated with all typologies and locations of crashes investigated. Full article