Search Results (1,712)

With an exploratory survey administered to 101 alumni who voluntarily and anonymously participated, since its inception in 1999, in the social service program at the Yunus Center, at the Mexican public Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), five core dimensions of entrepreneurship were assessed: learning, entrepreneurial intention, skill development, inspiration and confidence, and opportunity recognition. The findings indicate that engagement with social microentrepreneurs (marginalized and impoverished) during social service served as a facility for developing entrepreneurial skills and intentions. Over 87% reported increased inspiration, motivation, and confidence, and more than 88% identified entrepreneurial opportunities through their participation. That suggests that interaction with necessity-driven microentrepreneurs as role models can create an innovative, inclusive learning environment among university students, and a possible low-cost method approach for fostering social and economic entrepreneurship, according to the UN’s sustainable development goals SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Full article

Urban–rural income inequality is a major challenge to social stability, inclusive growth, and sustainable modernization in developing and transition economies. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2020, this study examines how public service level (PWS) and marketization level (ML) affect urban–rural income inequality within a unified analytical framework. Urban–rural income inequality is measured by the Theil index, and entropy-weighted composite indices are constructed for PWS and ML. A panel fixed-effects model is employed to estimate the direct effects of PWS, ML, and their coupling coordination, while also testing the mediating roles of the growth rate of household income (GRHI) and the efficiency of human capital allocation (EHCA), as well as the threshold effect of the urbanization rate (Urb). The results show that both PWS and ML significantly reduce urban–rural income inequality and that stronger coupling coordination between them further narrows the income gap. PWS mainly works by promoting GRHI, whereas ML operates by improving EHCA. Moreover, the effects of both PWS and ML become stronger only when Urb exceeds a certain threshold. These findings provide insights for promoting inclusive and balanced development. Full article

Entrepreneurship education in film and the creative industries refers to a set of pedagogical approaches, curricula, and institutional frameworks designed to foster entrepreneurial mindsets, competencies, and practices among students and professionals operating within the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). Going well beyond conventional business training, entrepreneurship education in this context encourages learners to identify opportunities for value creation—cultural, social, and economic—to develop sustainable modes of creative practice, and to engage critically with the markets, institutions, and communities that constitute the contemporary creative economy. Within film studies and adjacent disciplines such as media production, design, music, and the visual arts, entrepreneurship education plays an increasingly prominent role in preparing graduates for careers characterised by self-employment, project-based work, portfolio careers, and the continuous negotiation of artistic autonomy with the imperatives of professional sustainability. This entry aims to compile and organise existing knowledge on entrepreneurship education as it applies to the CCIs, with particular attention to the film and audiovisual sector, drawing on academic literature, European policy frameworks, and empirical industry evidence. The entry uses a narrative literature review approach, synthesising scholarly works from the fields of education, cultural economics, and creative industry research alongside institutional documentation and policy instruments, in order to provide a systematic and accessible account of the current state of knowledge in this area. Full article

This essay centers on the term “Ecological Design” in architecture, tracing its development from natural history and evolutionary theory to contemporary architectural theory. Beginning with the term’s biological origins in the work of Darwin and Haeckel in Europe, as well as Swallow in the U.S., the article charts how ecological thinking has shaped the evolution of architectural practice, from nineteenth-century analogies with nature to twentieth-century critiques of technologically driven sustainability and, finally, to contemporary shifts to post-human matters of care. The concept of the niche is proposed to support the translation of ecology into architecture, offering a generative model that pushes beyond normative site responsiveness. Instead, niche thinking considers design as co-evolution between the built form and the environment, structured by cultural and social practice. Full article

This paper explores the importance of local food in tourism development in the Republic of Srpska by analyzing the perceptions of hospitality employees in relation to the characteristics of the food service establishments in which they work. The aim of this study is to determine how local food influences tourism development and whether such effects are conditioned by specific factors. Although previous studies have extensively examined local food through the lens of consumer behavior, there remains a significant research gap regarding the internal perspective of hospitality employees as co-creators of the gastronomic experience. This study addresses that gap by applying Social Exchange Theory (SET) to explain how employees’ perceptions of economic, social, and environmental benefits shape their willingness to support the integration of local food. By placing employees at the center of the analysis, the paper provides insight into the mechanisms through which authentic ingredients are transformed into symbolic capital and strengthen destination identity. In this context, the analytical Local Food model was adapted and applied to a sample of 480 respondents, evenly distributed across the mesoregions of the Republic of Srpska. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), three key dimensions of influence were identified—economic, environmental, and social. In addition, independent-samples t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that employees’ perceptions vary significantly depending on the production capacity of the establishments, whereas the type and location of the establishments were not identified as significant determinants of these differences. The findings further indicate that the intensity of these factors varies according to location, production capacity, and ownership type, while other characteristics of the hospitality establishments in which the respondents were employed were not found to be significant. A strong interrelationship among the identified factors was confirmed, with the social factor emerging as the most dominant. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of local food in strengthening the tourism attractiveness and sustainability of the hospitality sector in the Republic of Srpska. Full article

Landfilling remains the dominant waste disposal method worldwide, particularly in developing countries, posing serious environmental, health, and climate challenges. Inefficient practices, weak regulations, and un-engineered sites contribute to massive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and resource loss. Transitioning to a circular economy (CE) offers a transformative path for sustainable waste management. By closing material loops, recovering energy, urban mining, controlling emissions and CE strategies can convert traditional landfills into eco-efficient systems. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) further enhances this transition, enabling real-time monitoring, predictive management, and optimized resource recovery, thereby maximizing environmental and economic benefits. This review presents a three-level CE framework at micro (individual organizations), meso (industrial networks), and macro (national and international) levels designed to extract maximum value from waste streams and mitigate climate impacts. The proposed strategies demonstrate the potential to drastically reduce GHG emissions, promote clean energy via waste-to-energy routes, and contribute to SDGs 7, 11, 12, 13 and 15. By combining technology, innovation, and strategic management, this work highlights how AI-driven CE approaches can transform landfills from environmental liabilities into engines of sustainability and climate action. In implementing CE strategies at various levels, various challenges including technological, socio-economic, ethical, policy-based, and unintended consequences are encountered which impact sustainability initiatives. This review comprehensively discusses challenges associated with CE implementation and identifies technological advancement, social awareness and data-driven AI/ML-based modeling which could ensure success in circularity and ultimately curb climate change impacts in the long term. Full article

The transition toward a digital and knowledge-based economy has fundamentally transformed the drivers of labor productivity, raising important questions about its sustainability, inclusiveness, and long-term resilience. In this context, understanding the role of future-oriented competencies becomes essential for both economic performance and sustainable development. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between selected indicators of digitalization and human capital and labor productivity, with particular reference to future-oriented competencies in the context of ongoing labor market transformation. The study relies on secondary analysis of data and reports published by international organizations and research institutions, particularly the World Economic Forum (WEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the OECD. The research combines content analysis, comparative analysis, and selected statistical methods, including correlation and regression techniques, supported by data triangulation. The results suggest that future-oriented competencies, especially digital, cognitive, and social skills, are strongly associated with higher levels of labor productivity. At the same time, productivity growth increasingly depends on the effective integration of technological advancement with human capabilities, which is critical for building resilient and inclusive economies. The study emphasizes the need to invest in competency development, encourage innovation-driven organizational cultures, and implement flexible work arrangements that support sustainable productivity, digital inclusion, and employee well-being. The development of future-oriented competencies may also help reduce structural inequalities and improve the adaptability of labor markets. In addition, the study contributes to the existing literature by linking labor productivity with future competencies within the broader context of digital transformation and sustainable development. Full article

This document proposes integrative principles that articulate fully established and validated approaches—such as ethnobotany, One Health, circular bioeconomy, TRL, and Access and Benefit-Sharing—into an integrative model that shifts bioprospecting from a purely extractive model centered on the pharmaceutical industry to a more human-centered, circular, and biocultural paradigm. Through a historical analysis of the generations of bioprospecting (from 0.0 to 4.0), this work theorizes that technological advancement has paradoxically contributed to epistemic injustice. The proposed 5.0 framework integrates social validation tools and introduces the Epistemic Gap Score (EGS) as an exploratory heuristic tool that allows for visualizing the divergence or cohesion of bioprospecting a plant resource and the recognition of ancestral knowledge in a more humanistic manner. Through preliminary proof-of-concept, this study demonstrates the practical utility of the EGS for prioritizing plant species for bioprospecting, ensuring that the valorization of underutilized plant resources produces a tangible “epistemic return” and thereby promotes community autonomy and multisectoral benefits across the food, energy, and health systems. By focusing on zero-waste cycles and social reciprocity, Bioprospecting 5.0 reestablishes the role of plant resources as essential components of sustainable global development and ethical scientific practice. Full article

This study examines the impact of digitalisation, innovation activity, demographic factors, and macroeconomic variables on employment in European Union countries within the framework of sustainable development. The empirical analysis is based on Eurostat panel data for 2015–2023 and applies regression analysis to identify the key determinants of employment. The results indicate that digitalisation demonstrates the strongest positive statistical association with employment, confirming its important role in labour market transformation and inclusive economic development. Expenditures on research and development also show a positive effect, highlighting the significance of innovation activity for employment growth. At the same time, GDP per capita does not exhibit a statistically significant relationship with employment, while education expenditure demonstrates a negative short-term effect. The findings suggest that digitalisation and innovation contribute not only to employment growth but also to the expansion of labour market participation opportunities for diverse social groups. The study contributes to the analysis of SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by identifying the structural factors associated with employment dynamics in the digital economy. Full article

This study examines whether stricter enforcement of mandatory social insurance contributions affects corporate income tax behavior in China. In the Chinese institutional context, mandatory social insurance refers to payroll-based employer and employee contributions to five statutory programs: basic pension insurance, basic medical insurance, work-injury insurance, unemployment insurance, and maternity insurance. These programs are directly related to social sustainability because they finance old-age income security, medical protection, workplace injury compensation, unemployment support, maternity protection, and labor-market stability. Using China’s 2018 social insurance collection reform as a quasi-natural experiment, we analyze A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2024 through a difference-in-differences design based on differential exposure between private firms and state-owned enterprises. To assess the reliability of the identification strategy, we employ firm and year fixed effects, event-study analysis, placebo tests, alternative measures of tax avoidance, and propensity score matching difference-in-differences robustness checks. The findings show a tax-fee seesaw effect: private firms subject to extensive regulatory scrutiny respond to more rigorous enforcement of social insurance contributions by increasing corporate income tax avoidance. Analysis of the mechanisms shows that the Whited-Wu index of financial constraints partially explains this phenomenon. The effect is more pronounced in firms with higher labor costs and greater administrative expense intensity, indicating that the increased response is driven by labor cost exposure and organizational discretion. By contrast, the effect is weaker among firms audited by the Big Four accounting networks—Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG—indicating that high-quality external audits constrain aggressive tax planning. Regionally, the effect is most pronounced in eastern China, where markets, labor costs, and tax-planning services are more developed. The findings contribute to the sustainable development literature by demonstrating that reforms designed to strengthen social insurance sustainability can unintentionally weaken tax compliance if payroll contributions, tax administration, and corporate financial pressures are not coordinated. The study highlights the importance of integrated fiscal governance for achieving socially sustainable and fiscally balanced development. Full article

Background: Specialized palliative care requires nursing professionals to address the complex physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of patients with advanced incurable illness. This study aimed to assess the perceived adequacy of formal educational preparation among nurses working in specialized palliative care services in the Republic of Croatia and examine its association with self-assessed knowledge and the perceived need for additional education. Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted among nursing professionals employed in specialized palliative care services across Croatia. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics, perceived adequacy of formal education, self-assessed knowledge, as well as the need for additional education in physical, psychological, social and spiritual care domains. An Educational Sufficiency Discrepancy Index (ESDI) was calculated to quantify the difference between perceived educational sufficiency and continuing education needs. For inferential statistics significance was set at p < 0.05 (two-tailed). Results: Among the 194 nursing professionals who participated in the study, perceived educational sufficiency was highest in the physical domain (87.5%), where it exceeded the reported need for additional education (31.6%). Negative discrepancies were observed in social (−12.9) and spiritual care (−17.6), indicating perceived educational deficits. Representation of physical care content in formal education was significantly associated with higher self-assessed knowledge across several domains (physical p < 0.001; psychological p = 0.008; social p < 0.001; spiritual p = 0.008). No significant associations were found between self-assessed knowledge and age, work experience or level of education. Conclusions: Formal nursing education alone may not fully meet the multidimensional competency requirements of specialized palliative care practice. Strengthening structured continuing professional development, particularly in psychosocial and spiritual care, may support holistic palliative care delivery and sustained professional competence. Full article

Urban informality is a defining feature of Latin American urbanisation, with estimates suggesting that up to 80% of the urban landscape has been informally built. Despite its centrality in urban development, its integration into architectural education remains limited, revealing a gap between the realities of city-making and the professional training offered by universities. This study examines how architecture programmes in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador address urban informality and the extent to which they prepare future professionals to engage with the dominant modes of urban production in the region. Using a qualitative and comparative methodology, the curricula, course descriptions, and academic lines of 50 universities were analysed across three dimensions: (1) the thematic presence of concepts related to informality, (2) the degree of curricular integration—core, transversal, or tangential—and (3) pedagogical orientation, classified as technical–normative, social–critical, or interdisciplinary. The results reveal a fragmented and uneven incorporation of urban informality. Chile shows the highest relative presence, though often embedded indirectly within broader themes such as inequality or sustainability and framed through technical–normative approaches. Peru and Ecuador display even more limited integration, generally confined to isolated courses or electives. The study argues that this marginal incorporation weakens the preparation of professionals working in contexts where informality is a structural urban condition and calls for an “informal turn” in built-environment education. Full article

Over the past 50 years, researchers have produced a considerable body of work substantiating that gross domestic product (GDP) is not a measure of social welfare. In response, numerous measures, collectively known as Beyond GDP (BGDP) measures, have been developed to provide a more balanced assessment of the social, environmental, and economic impacts of economic activity on current and future generations. BGDP measures have gained the attention not only of academics, but also of government practitioners concerned with prevailing measures of national and regional progress that overrepresent narrow economic objectives and underrepresent sustainability objectives. Despite this widespread support for alternatives, few governments have made significant progress in implementing BGDP measures to inform public policy. Viewed through an operational lens, this study examines strategies used by two governments that have progressed in implementing BGDP measures. We analyze their strategies against five practical considerations: (1) alignment with mission, (2) fiscal and resources constraints, (3) communication and public messaging challenges, (4) challenges with political and public commitment, and (5) gaps in internal agency knowledge and training. These five considerations were identified as the five most prominent barriers to implementing BGDP measure based on a systematic review of the BGDP literature published over the past 50 years. We conclude that these two governments implemented actions that addressed key elements of these five barriers and succeeded in adopting BGDP measures. We conclude that others could emulate these successes to advance the broader adoption of BGDP measures. Full article

Natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes cause severe physical, social, and economic losses, highlighting the critical need for timely and reliable early warning systems. Conventional water level and structural health monitoring technologies are often costly, limiting deployment to high-priority infrastructure only. This paper presents the development and validation of two low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) systems for multi-hazard disaster monitoring and early warning, explicitly supporting UN Sustainable Development Goals 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by enabling equitable monitoring of rural or minor bridges. The proposed system achieves a significant cost reduction (approximately $300 compared to conventional systems typically exceeding $5000), highlighting its potential for scalable and sustainable deployment. The first system integrates a Raspberry Pi, Pi Camera, Lidar Lite V3, and ADXL355 accelerometer to simultaneously capture floodwater images, measure water levels, and record bridge vibrations, with distance measurements recorded at user-defined intervals and vibration data sampled up to 100 Hz. Laboratory repeatability and uncertainty analyses of the Lidar Lite V3 indicate a root mean square error of ~2.4 cm over a 0–25 cm range, demonstrating stable performance for flood monitoring and sufficient accuracy for early warning applications using low-cost sensing systems. The ADXL355 accelerometer is validated through harmonic excitation tests (0.1–2 Hz) and real earthquake recordings, confirming its suitability for low-frequency structural response monitoring. The second system combines a Raspberry Pi, an HX711 amplifier, and a CDP25 displacement transducer to measure bridge-bearing displacements up to 25 cm, with data acquisition at sampling rates of up to 80 Hz, with laboratory tests demonstrating consistent and repeatable measurements during both loading and unloading cycles. The IoT framework is resilient, incorporating solar power and local data storage to ensure operation during power or network outages. Unlike prior studies focusing on individual sensors, this work delivers a fully integrated multi-sensor platform with formalized early warning logic based on predefined thresholds. The results demonstrate the feasibility of scalable, real-time, low-cost monitoring for disaster risk reduction and infrastructure resilience, providing a sustainable solution for community-scale early warning applications. Full article

Depopulation and structural demographic challenges affect social and territorial cohesion in Europe, a phenomenon that is particularly evident in rural municipalities in Spain, where the loss of the working-age population and the concentration of older adults threaten sustainability. This study analyzes the case of Pescueza (Cáceres, Spain) using a mixed-methods design that combines longitudinal demographic analysis (2000–2024) with a qualitative evaluation of the community project “Quédate con nosotr@s,” which focuses on comprehensive care and intergenerational participation. The results are critical regarding the demographic structure, with an aging index of 500% and dependency levels three times higher than the national average, although a slight demographic recovery linked to local initiatives is observed. This project has positive effects on social cohesion, community capital, and resilience in the face of demographic challenges, establishing itself as a replicable model for rural micro-territories. The study proposes a strategic framework based on the SWOT-CAME matrix and social sustainability indicators, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and European territorial cohesion policies. It concludes that social innovation, collaborative governance, and multilevel cooperation are key elements for addressing rural aging, and recommends public policies aimed at stable funding, inclusive digitalization, attracting young people, specialized training, and the creation of adapted infrastructure. Full article