Vinasse: current concepts, challenges and opportunities for the sustainability

The objective was to highlight the historical documents that foresee the use and abuse of ethanol production (vinasse) in Brazil according to literature published in the period 1934-2020. The methodology used was documentary, the review and analysis of which brought with it the synthesis and perspectives of vinasse as well as its uses and abuses. Results: a) there are legal instruments in Brzil since 1934 whose goal is to care for the environment; b) about in 1978 was prohibited the direct dumping of stillage into bodies of water and c) in 2011 environmental guidelines were provided on this topic to achieve sustainability in the Brazilian space. Conclusions: 1) as can be seen in the cited literature, vinasse is one of the most impressive respurces for ethanol production; 2) Brazil is the second largest ethanol producer worldwide; 3) the use of stillage for cooling sugarcane fiekds, its organic content, chemical and biochemical oxygen demand rates are high and 4) the synergy between academics from universities, the government sector, civil society, companies in the productive chain of the sugar energy sector, among others, is important.

Key Factors of Successful Corporate Environmental Practice in Selected Malaysia Public Listed Companies

Today, the issue of corporate environmental practice has been discussed extensively in research and operation because the future of sustainability is at stake. Thus, this paper’s objectives are 1) to understand the corporate environmental practice and 2) to determine the key factors of successful corporate environmental practice. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with representatives from several prominent Public Listed Companies (PLCs) in Malaysia, which are the pioneer in this area. Findings from this study reveal that companies should have clear environmental guidelines, and most importantly enhanced data governance for greater corporate environmental practice. The conclusion discusses the continuous improvement in navigating and planning future research. Keywords: Corporate environmental practics; Operationalisation, Data governance; Resilience eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i15.2421.

Organic Heterojunction Devices Based on Phthalocyanines: A New Approach to Gas Chemosensing

Organic heterostructures have emerged as highly promising transducers to realize high performance gas sensors. The key reason for such a huge interest in these devices is the associated organic heterojunction effect in which opposite free charges are accumulated at the interface making it highly conducting, which can be exploited in producing highly sensitive and faster response kinetics gas sensors. Metal phthalocyanines (MPc) have been extensively studied to fabricate organic heterostructures because of the large possibilities of structural engineering which are correlated with their bulk thin film properties. Accordingly, in this review, we have performed a comprehensive literature survey of the recent researches reported about MPc based organic heterostructures and their application in gas sensors. These heterostructures were used in Organic Field-Effect Transistor and Molecular Semiconductor—Doped Insulator sensing device configurations, in which change in their electrical properties such as field-effect mobility and saturation current in the former and current at a fixed bias in the latter under redox gases exposure were assessed to determine the chemosensing performances. These sensing devices have shown very high sensitivity to redox gases like nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone and ammonia (NH3), which monitoring is indispensable for implementing environmental guidelines. Some of these sensors exhibited ultrahigh sensitivity to NH3 demonstrated by a detection limit of 140 ppb and excellent signal stability under variable humidity, making them among the best NH3 sensors.

India will struggle to meet environmental challenges

Significance The country has expressed its commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, it is coming under growing pressure over its environmental policies. Impacts Coal will dominate India’s energy mix in the medium term. India could become an EV manufacturing hub. The manufacturing sector will have few incentives to adhere to environmental guidelines and little scope to invest in doing so.

DIRECTIONS OF INVESTMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN POLAND

The main objective is the analysis of changes in the level of investment outlays incurred for fixed assets serving environmental protection in Poland by investment directions. The adopted time horizon is the period 2002-2018. The investment directions of implemented investment outlays directed to fixed assets in environmental protection were analyzed from a regional perspective, showing the average share of investment outlays by investment directions in voivodships and the average dynamics of changes. A positive effect was the increase in the value of total outlays directed to fixed assets serving environmental protection and within individual investment directions in the field of environmental protection. It has been shown that in the structure of environmental guidelines in Poland and its voivodships, the most financial resources were directed to wastewater management and water protection, atmospheric air and climate protection, as well as waste management. In Poland, after 2004, there was a clearly outlined upward trend taking into account the dynamics of the level of total investment in fixed assets for environmental protection. There was also a growing dynamic of changes in the structure of directions of investment outlays implemented for fixed assets in environmental protection in Poland and individual voivodships. The effect of this was an increase in the share of total investment expenditure incurred for environmental protection in relation to GDP and total expenditure in the national economy, as well as an increase in expenditure per capita.

Identifying the moral-practical gaps in corporate social responsibility missions of Vietnamese firms: an event-based analysis of sustainability feasibility

This research was conducted in Vietnam in 2019 to support the establishment in 2018 of the Vietnam Business for Environment (VB4E) Platform by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Vietnam. The case of Vietnam is then used to bring attention to how businesses in a developing country are dealing with environmental problems and engaging in both ecological conservation and social responsibilities. A structured dataset on selected keywords and news sources was built to systematically track all major environment-related events in Vietnam. The findings, which were extracted from 344 news reports and 75 environmental events, highlight the lack of engagement on Vietnamese businesses in sustainability initiatives, with existing corporate activities still driven by practical concerns, i.e., profitability. Notably, a minimum of one governmental agency was involved in 86% of the events categorized as environmentally damaging. This result hints at a systemic problem of government-business collusion in bypassing environmental guidelines.

TREE SHAPING IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION OF URBAN ARCHITECTURE

The aim of this work is to identify the existing design objects of tree shaping representing visual communication of the city and a feasibility of its use in the urban environment. Research findings: The current problems of cities include degradation of green spaces, low level of environmental improvement and landscape organization and insufficient visual communication elements that contribute to the creation of appropriate urban environment. To reduce the negative factors of the anthropogenic environment, tree shaping is proposed to improve the urban architecture and development. Tree shaping is hardy-shrub species resistant (adaptive) to the humane correction; their trunks and branches represent architectural forms. Depending on the arrangement, tree shaping can be attributed to the elements of open and closed spaces of different functional purposes. This paper discusses tree shaping as visual communication elements of the city, such as street advertising and information boards, advertising towers, banners, environmental guidelines, etc. Tree shaping can be attributed to wellestablished scientific tradition in western countries, but in Russia it is still underdeveloped. Approach: Comparative analysis of tree shaping design solutions. Practical implications: Tree shaping as the urban visual communication contributes to the creation of eco-friendly, aesthetical and informative environment of the city. The obtained results can be used in research works devoted to tree shaping. Originality/value: This research proposes the use of tree shaping objects as visual communication of the city.

Dental molding compounds and casts

Dental casts are invaluable research tools. There are a variety of molding compounds available, all having temperature, humidity, and timing guidelines to ensure a precise replica of dentition. However, not all field research conditions allow for adherence to environmental guidelines requiring longer wait times prior to pouring epoxy for casting. This study, tests a common molding compound in extreme environments and over varying time intervals, testing the integrity of the dental molds in producing precise replicas of original teeth. 580 molds were created under three varying environments: room temperature, hot/humid, and cold/dry. Molds were removed from these environments in two-week intervals over twelve weeks. The resulting casts were measured to determine timing limitations for producing accurate dental casts under varying environments. Molds stored at room temperature retained their shape and size for the complete twelve weeks. Molds kept in a hot and humid environment, however, only maintained their shape and size up to four weeks, whereas molds in a cold and dry environment showed significant changes by the end of the second week. These findings provide additional tools for researchers working in a variety of field conditions allowing casts to be taken of specimens that cannot be transported off site.