Sustainable Supply Chains and International Soft Landings

Author(s):  
Ye-Sho Chen

Dealing with the “hidden dynamics” of diplomacy, espionage, and geopolitics has been a major challenge in international business. The rise of climate change and global terrorism, however, has brought nations together to seek for collaborative solutions. Coopetition is a strategy needed for business executives and managers engaging in strategic planning and operations of their international businesses in the 21st century. In this paper, we propose a two-stage process of coopetition consisting of sustainable supply chains and international soft landings. We illustrate how the two-stage process is used to develop a “Flying High, Landing Soft” platform of wetland entrepreneurship to address the growing global problem of wetland losses. The platform allows students to participate in exploring and developing businesses to maintain a healthy wetland and have positive impact on public health.

Author(s):  
Ye-Sho Chen

In 2015, the United Nations set up 17 sustainable development goals to transform the world. Sustainable supply chains play a key role in achieving these goals. In this article, the authors propose an interactive platform with communication systems and technologies to empower sustainable development participants actively engaging in managing sustainable supply chains and international soft landings. Specifically, this article illustrates how to develop an interactive “Flying High, Landing Soft” platform of wetland entrepreneurship to address the growing global problem of wetland losses. The interactive platform, grounded in the theory of digital nervous systems and equipped with social interaction technologies, and allows student entrepreneurs to participate in exploring and developing business solutions to maintain a healthy wetland and have positive impact on global sustainability development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (6(138)) ◽  
pp. 8-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Zimon ◽  
Peter Madzik

The main objective of the study was to determine the effect of the implementation of the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard on creating sustainable supply chains in the textile industry. The research process was conducted in 2018. It was preceded by an extensive literature review of sustainable development and quality management as well as the supply chain. The research tool was a questionnaire sent to top management representatives of organisations operating in south-eastern Poland and Slovakia who possess a certified system according to ISO 14001. However, analysis of the results does not allow to give clear answers to the research questions. Although the majority of respondents noted a positive impact of the implementation of ISO 14001 on improving environmental actions in the supply chain, its impact on the creation of sustainable supply chains is not so obvious. Based on our research, organisations will be able to more consciously decide on the implementation of the ISO 14001 standard requirements.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3703
Author(s):  
Ming-Chien Hsiao ◽  
Wei-Ting Lin ◽  
Wei-Cheng Chiu ◽  
Shuhn-Shyurng Hou

In this study, ultrasound was used to accelerate two-stage (esterification–transesterification) catalytic synthesis of biodiesel from used cooking oil, which originally had a high acid value (4.35 mg KOH/g). In the first stage, acid-catalyzed esterification reaction conditions were developed with a 9:1 methanol/oil molar ratio, sulfuric acid dosage at 2 wt %, and a reaction temperature of 60 °C. Under ultrasound irradiation for 40 min, the acid value was effectively decreased from 4.35 to 1.67 mg KOH/g, which was decreased to a sufficient level (<2 mg KOH/g) to avoid the saponification problem for the subsequent transesterification reaction. In the following stage, base-catalyzed transesterification reactions were carried out with a 12:1 methanol/oil molar ratio, a sodium hydroxide dosage of 1 wt %, and a reaction temperature of 65 °C. Under ultrasound-assisted transesterification for 40 min, the conversion rate of biodiesel reached 97.05%, which met the requirement of EN 14214 standard, i.e., 96.5% minimum. In order to evaluate and explore the improvement of the ultrasound-assisted two-stage (esterification–transesterification) process in shortening the reaction time, additional two-stage biodiesel synthesis experiments using the traditional mechanical stirring method under the optimal conditions were further carried out in this study. It was found that, under the same optimal conditions, using the ultrasound-assisted two-stage process, the total reaction time was significantly reduced to only 80 min, which was much shorter than the total time required by the conventional method of 140 min. It is worth noting that compared with the traditional method without ultrasound, the intensification of the ultrasound-assisted two-stage process significantly shortened the total time from 140 min to 80 min, which is a reduction of 42.9%. It was concluded that the ultrasound-assisted two-stage (esterification–transesterification) catalytic process is an effective and time-saving method for synthesizing biodiesel from used cooking oil with a high acid value.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6372
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Varriale ◽  
Antonello Cammarano ◽  
Francesca Michelino ◽  
Mauro Caputo

The digital transformation of supply chains should revolutionize entire management processes and improve various aspects of sustainability. In particular, the plans of Industry 4.0 aim towards a digitization of several procedures by exploiting emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, RFID and blockchain. The purpose of this study is to highlight how order and disruption events processes can be improved with the adoption of emerging technologies and how this reflects on the improvement of sustainability aspects. The study is based on the comparison of two simulation scenarios between three actors in the cheese supply chain. In particular, a first traditional scenario “as is” is simulated without the use of new technologies and is compared to a second scenario “to be” that adopts IoT, RFID and blockchain. The results show an improvement in time performance for managing both perfect and non-compliant orders. The developed framework highlights the impact of new technologies on sustainability aspects, showing further managerial implications.


Author(s):  
Anil Babu Payedimarri ◽  
Diego Concina ◽  
Luigi Portinale ◽  
Massimo Canonico ◽  
Deborah Seys ◽  
...  

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have expanded their utilization in different fields of medicine. During the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, AI and ML were also applied for the evaluation and/or implementation of public health interventions aimed to flatten the epidemiological curve. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of AI and ML when applied to public health interventions to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Our findings showed that quarantine should be the best strategy for containing COVID-19. Nationwide lockdown also showed positive impact, whereas social distancing should be considered to be effective only in combination with other interventions including the closure of schools and commercial activities and the limitation of public transportation. Our findings also showed that all the interventions should be initiated early in the pandemic and continued for a sustained period. Despite the study limitation, we concluded that AI and ML could be of help for policy makers to define the strategies for containing the COVID-19 pandemic.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document