Sustainable Horticultural Waste Management: Industrial and Environmental Perspective

Horticultural crops are highly nutritious and shared lion portion of our daily diet. These items are consumed in different ways according to their nature and processing processes. These days, a crucial concerning issue is arising globally to ensure nutrition security for huge population that leads to focus on production increase, quality improvement, food safety assurance, and processing strategies. Consequently, a large amount of waste generates in the processing industries, household kitchen, and supply chain of horticultural commodities that has led to a significant nutrition and economic loss, consequently creating environment pollution with extensive burden of landfills. However, these wastes showed magnificent potentiality of re-utilization in several industries owing to as rich source of different bioactive compounds and phytochemicals. Therefore, sustainable extraction methods and utilization strategies deserve the extensive investigations. This review paper extensively illustrates the horticultural waste generation options, sustainable recycling strategies, and potentiality of recycled products in different industries for betterment in population with the assurance of green environment and sustainable ecology.

Robots: Aware Headway and Viable Recovery

The civilisation is amazing result, with impressive attainments to believe cosmic or godly reasons of it. The continuance, today, is critical, due to exhaustion of resources and contamination of environs, practised to keep the suited trend. The ecology review of the progress requires cognition and awareness of the advances ways, technologic and political aids. The sustainable ecology needs resorting to human intelligence, having integrated reliefs by cosmic rationality or godly wisdom. The robotic helps open to inner/upper causes, with steady issues.

ASPECTS OF THE FORMATION OF A COMFORTABLE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

The article touches upon the issues of ensuring openness, security, resilience, and environmental sustainability of cities. The authors come to the conclusion that in order to ensure a high quality of life for citizens and sustainable ecology, it is necessary to competently design cities, create a developed natural and ecological framework. In addition, it is noted that students, as future specialists, are in a fruitful search for design, for example, through color solutions.

Teachers’ Training in the Intercultural Dialogue and Understanding: Focusing on the Education for a Sustainable Development

The present research is embedded in the professional development and research line, and in the needs of secondary education and first-year university teachers. Evidencing the importance of teachers’ professional training to include specific adaptations and skills on both the intercultural dialogue and understanding—often called Intercultural Competence—is fundamental because of the direct impact for the sustainable development of human beings, groups, and ecosystems. An extensive investigation of the role played by each of the main competencies linked to the following intercultural dimensions was performed: Professional Identity, Ethics and Axiology, Methodology, and Inclusive Education. The integrated methodology used was a cross-study of data, performed after the obtention of a three-cornered evaluation of results collected in focus groups, interviews, and questionnaires. Findings showed the impact of the intercultural dialogue and understanding in education patterns for the sustainable development of society. Other outputs also underlined the relevance of setting up a new ecology of forms, knowledge, attitudes, and educational meanings, further used to update teachers and students’ training in sustainable ecology and cultural diversity. Progress made in these complementary competencies—Professional Identity, Ethics and Axiology, Methodology—were appraised by teachers participating in the present study; the latter showing an increased interest and demand for the intercultural competence, after increasing their proficiency in the other complementary competencies.

Teachers’ Training in the Intercultural Dialogue and Understanding: focussing on the Education for a Sustainable Development

The present research is embedded in the professional development and research line and in the needs of secondary education and first-year university teachers. We focussed on evidencing the importance of teachers’ professional training to include some specific adaptation and skills in intercultural dialogue and understanding -often called Intercultural Competence- because of its direct impact on the sustainable development of human beings, groups, and ecosystems. We investigated the role played by each of the main competencies linked to the following intercultural dimensions: Professional Identity, Ethics and Axiology, Methodology, and Inclusive Education. We used an integrated methodology and a cross-study of data, performed after the obtention of a three-cornered evaluation of results collected in focus groups, interviews, and questionnaires. We were able to show the impact of intercultural dialogue and understanding in the education for a sustainable development pattern. This is fundamental to set up a new ecology of forms, knowledge, attitudes, and educational meanings, further used to update teachers and students’ training in sustainable ecology and cultural diversity. Progress made in these complementary competencies -Professional Identity, Ethics and Axiology, Methodology- were appraised by teachers participating in the present study; the latter showing an increased interest and demand for the intercultural competence, after increasing their proficiency in the other complementary competencies.

A Sustainable Ecology Movement: Catholicism and Indigenous Religion United against Mining in Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

This article examines and discusses a sustainable ecology movement that has protested the mangan mine in Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, since 2000. This movement has united Catholicism and indigenous religion in an effort to promote sustainability, conservation, and environmentalism. Using the institutions of tradition and religion, this movement has negotiated with the State and the private sector and advocated for a moratorium in mining. This article is a qualitative one, employing interviews and focus group discussions as well as a review of documents and previous research into Manggarai and mining conducted by the Research Centre for Politics and Government (PolGov). This study seeks to understand how tradition and religion have been consolidated in their efforts to stop mining in Manggarai. It makes four important findings. First, although manganese does not have much economic value, it is important for poor provinces such as East Nusa Tenggara. Second, Catholicism and indigenous religion have united to advocate for ecological sustainability and oppose manganese mining. Third, traditional and Catholic institutions have strengthened the bonds between members. Fourth, in a literature dominated by studies of religious movements and extractivism, this article contributes a fresh perspective on extractivism and political ecology.

Novel Composite Materials for Lake Restoration: A New Approach Impacting on Ecology and Circular Economy

The purpose of this study is to promote a new way of application composite materials to restore eutrophic waters. A new sustainable way of application is based on the “teabag” method, in which materials were placed in water-permeable bags and immersed in the water column in order to sorb phosphate—one of the main contributory element for the eutrophication problem. Particularly, the two composites materials of Phoslock™ (lanthanum-modified bentonite, LMB) and Bephos™ (Fe-modified bentonite, f-MB) were tested and bench-scale batch experiments were employed to investigate their sorption efficiency in the forms of slurry and teabag. The adsorption kinetics and the relevant adsorption isotherms were deployed, while the effect of the materials on turbidity and their aging were also investigated. Experimental results showed that Phoslock™ and Bephos™ (as teabag), being applied at initial concentration range: 0.05–5 mg/L, they sustained a maximum adsorption capacity of 7.80 mg/g and 25.1 mg/g, respectively, which are considered sufficient rates for P concentrations reported at natural aquatic ecosystems. At the same time this new method did not cause turbidity in the water column, since the material was not released into the water, thus, preventing potential harmful consequences for the living organisms. Moreover, the “teabag” method prevents the material to cover the lake bottom, avoiding the phenomenon of smothering of benthos. Βy teabag method, the materials can be collected for further applicability as soil improver or crops fertilizer. Finally, it was argued that the possibility to recycle LMB and f-MB materials for agricultural use is of paramount importance, sustaining also positive impacts on sustainable ecology and on the routes of circular economy (CE).

Will Automotive Be the Future of Mobility? Striving for Six Zeros

Will automotive be the future of mobility or will the motorcar era come to an end in the 21st century? Today, auto-mobility is still growing, but in the future, this will depend on its ability to adapt to the needs of modern society. Disruptive technologies like electrification, automation, and connectivity can make automotive more sustainable by striving for the Six Zero goals: Zero Emission, Zero Energy, Zero Congestion, Zero Accident, Zero Empty, and Zero Cost. These tempting goals can lead not only to a more sustainable ecology, but also to a new economy with more efficient use of the time and money needed for mobility. In this future mobility framework, this article describes the practice-oriented research of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences with its regional partners to achieve these goals.

New promises AI brings into circular economy accelerated product design: a review on supporting literature

Promoting and applying circular strategies in the product planning stage by industrial designers have significant environmental impacts. Product design has an enormous influence on sustainable ecology. Huge amounts of data analysis in designing circular products as well as reducing human biases in testing and prototyping are the main reasons for urging digital technologies in industries. Digitalization assets in ecodesign in collaboration with humans and as a complement for human skills. This study found the circular design tools and strategies which can help organizations in their product designs and the way artificial intelligence enhances product circularity. Real-time data transformation and analysis ability can help in massive data analysis which is less time consuming and less energy consumption is needed. In addition, rapid prototyping and fast testing will reduce the waste in design process. Furthermore, AI transfers precise data and information on materials and products’ availability, condition, and accessibility which makes easy monitoring and enables remote maintenance as well as reuse, remanufacturing and repair opportunities.