Sentiment Analysis of Social Survey Data for Local City Councils

Big data analytics can be used by smart cities to improve their citizens’ liveability, health, and wellbeing. Social surveys and also social media can be employed to engage with their communities, and these can require sophisticated analysis techniques. This research was focused on carrying out a sentiment analysis from social surveys. Data analysis techniques using RStudio and Python were applied to several open-source datasets, which included the 2018 Social Indicators Survey dataset published by the City of Melbourne (CoM) and the Casey Next short survey 2016 dataset published by the City of Casey (CoC). The qualitative nature of the CoC dataset responses could produce rich insights using sentiment analysis, unlike the quantitative CoM dataset. RStudio analysis created word cloud visualizations and bar charts for sentiment values. These were then used to inform social media analysis via the Twitter application programming interface. The R codes were all integrated within a Shiny application to create a set of user-friendly interactive web apps that generate sentiment analysis both from the historic survey data and more immediately from the Twitter feeds. The web apps were embedded within a website that provides a customisable solution to estimate sentiment for key issues. Global sentiment was also compared between the social media approach and the 2016 survey dataset analysis and showed some correlation, although there are caveats on the use of social media for sentiment analysis. Further refinement of the methodology is required to improve the social media app and to calibrate it against analysis of recent survey data.

An Analysis of Research Trends in the Sustainability of Production Palnning

Sustainability has become of great interest in many fields, especially in production systems due to the continual increase in the scarcity of raw materials and environmental awareness. Recent literature has given significant attention to considering the three sustainability pillars (i.e., environmental, economic, and social sustainability) in solving production planning problems. Therefore, the present study conducts a review of the literature on sustainable production planning to analyze the relationships among different production planning problems (e.g., scheduling, lot sizing, aggregate planning, etc.) and the three sustainability pillars. In addition, we analyze the identified studies based on the indicators that define each pillar. The results show that the literature most frequently addresses production scheduling problems while it lacks studies on aggregate production planning problems that consider the sustainability pillars. In addition, there is a growing trend towards obtaining integrated solutions of different planning problems, e.g., combining production planning problems with maintenance planning or energy planning. Additionally, around 45% of the identified studies considered the integration of the economic and the environmental pillars in different production planning problems. In addition, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are the most frequent sustainability indicators considered in the literature, while less attention has been given to social indicators. Another issue is the low number of studies that have considered all three sustainability pillars simultaneously. The finidings highlight the need for more future research towards holistic sustainable production planning approaches.

COVID-19 and Its Implications to the Assessment of Sustainable Palm Oil Supply Chain Management: An Indonesian Perspective

Motivated by the low sustainability index and pressure to meet the global demand for eco-friendly crude palm oil (CPO) in the pandemic-ridden environment, this research aims to investigate the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic to assess the drivers of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) of the Indonesian CPO sector to tackle supply chain disruptions. To achieve this aim, the study seeks to determine the sustainability drivers to accommodate the pandemic-ridden environment and if sustainability indicators can help improve the supply chain management of the CPO sector. A methodology is divided into two interrelated parts: first, based on a careful review of extant literature of the CPO sector and sustainable supply chain in the light of pandemic. The proposed methodology is then tested using the response data of 108 oil mills' representatives collected through survey questionnaires and analyzed using statistical tools of reliability, distribution, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and diagnostic tests of CFA. The findings designate the environmental costs, rapidity, and adaptability as core economic indicators; the social and workforce development, health, and safety workforce development and consumer issues as crucial social indicators; while energy and material efficiency, management of waste and emissions, and sustainable suppliers as the best environmental indicators. This study provides a holistic platform on the implications of the pandemic to assess the SSCM of the CPO sector. These findings are expected to aid the industrial managers in employee skills and health protocols, customer service, and environmental management. The study is also anticipated to guide the supply-chain partners and government policymakers to take initiatives on SSCM in the context of the pandemic.

Social impact assessment in the mining industry

Social responsibility for sustainability has become an important dimension in the current context. More and more industries are evaluating this responsibility and are actively involved in addressing human resources to increase motivation, communication and reduce negative factors. The mining industry is important, especially from the perspective of sustainability. For these reasons, this paper reviews the social impact in the mining industry and provides a framework of social indicators for this industry. The methodology used is based on a qualitative assessment of the importance of indicators for industry. This framework is developed based on various social impact reporting tools. This approach can be extended to other fields of activity following the adaptation of its applicability. The main conclusions show that social responsibility is important for the mining industry.

Factors Leading to Secondary School Dropout In Bangladesh: The Challenges to Meet the Sdg’s Targets

Bangladesh is regarded as a success story for rapid economic development and changes in social indicators that have taken place in the last couple of decades. Enrolment in education, especially women's education, has reached a desirable level. However, the dropout rate in secondary education is still a concern, which has not been reduced to the desired level. This research aims to understand better the undisclosed causes of dropout at secondary level schools. The primary data were collected from 790 former secondary school level students and 1580 parents/guardians, enabling in-depth and systematic analysis of the issue.. The method used in this study is quantitative with logit analysis. The study results showed that students’ perceptions on education, working experience, low socio-demographic status (SDS), family size, total number of siblings, food deficit, distance of the school, bullied by peers/teachers have a significant effect on increasing the probability of dropping out of school. Contrariwise, parents’ academic support, NGO membership of family members, mobility to the local power structure, and government’s social safety net programmes support are significant variables to reduce the probability of dropping out. The research reveals that financial problems are severely engaged to increase the dropout rate, and non-financial factors together aggressively play a catastrophic role and lead the academic life of the dropout student towards the end. The study suggests authorities for rapid response to reduce dropout, which leads Bangladesh to achieve SDGs targets and eventually become an upper middle-income country by 2041. J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 47(2): 173-190, December 2021

Contribution of Best Practices to Promote Sustainable Urban Freight Transport

Urban logistics decision makers face serious challenges in trying to make urban freight transport (UFT) efficient and sustainable. Therefore, it is necessary to identify best practices (BPs) to promote improvements on activity levels, modal shifts to lower-carbon transport systems, lowering energy and intensity, and reducing fuel carbon intensity. This paper conducts an exhaustive literature review that seeks to identify that are directly applicable to BPs promoting sustainable UFT and that indicate the opportunities and challenges of urban logistics. The results indicate that, although BPs make sense for themselves, the most powerful effect occurs when two or more of them are used together, multiplying their strengths. Furthermore, there is an expressive participation of environmental and economic indicators (costs and service levels) to the detriment of social indicators, thus indicating a literary gap.

Natural heritage: Provision of cultural ecosystem services from the Malyovitsa Range of the Rila National Park

Nature-based tourism and recreation are attracting attention today as the most favourable form of direct connection between people and nature, and as a very successful tool to motivate people to protect their natural heritage. This study aims to develop and test a methodology to assess the potential of an acknowledged natural heritage site in Bulgaria - Malyovitsa Range and Urdini Cirque in ‘Rila’ National Park to provide cultural ecosystem services. A holistic approach is applied, using landscapes as the main territorial unit, and source of information. For the purpose of practicing representative types of mountain tourism: ‘mountain hiking’, ‘nature education’ tourism, ‘ski touring’ and ‘mountaineering’ a total of 15 ecosystem services were assessed based on 25 biophysical and social indicators. ‘Primary forest landscapes on moraine materials’ and ‘Primary landscapes with mugo pine on igneous rocks’ receive the highest score. Based on the results obtained, an assessment of the mainstream activity - access to mountain hiking provided by the landscapes was carried out and two touristic routes with very high potential to deliver this service were identified. The results of the study are directed towards the responsible parties in support of the natural heritage conservation in Rila National Park through sustainable management the potential to provide cultural (recreational) ecosystem services. The research was conducted within the scientific programme of the project “Conceptualization, Flexible Methodology, and a Pilot Geospatial Platform for Access of the Bulgarian Natural Heritage to the European Digital Single Market of Knowledge and Information Services” within the project BG05M2OP001-1.001-0001 Establishment and Development of “Heritage BG” Centre of Excellence (Operational Program “Science and Education for Intelligent Growth”, priority Axis 1 “Research and technological development”).

Regional-industry analysis from the point of view of ideas of a joint economy (using the example of industry in the Northern regions of Russia)

The article analyses the industry in the northern regions of Russia from the point of view of assessing the practical results of the traditional theory of competition. The purpose of the study is to develop the theoretical and methodological foundations of the transformation of economics from the ideas of rivalry to unity and harmony in social relations. The relevance of the topic is determined by an active public discussion about the possibilities of Russia's transition from a market-capitalist to a social, human-oriented economy. It is shown that the main existing model is aimed either at the individual benefit of organizations, or at the attractiveness of industries for corporate or state interests, but not at the needs of the common person. The idea of the increasing attention to “people of labor” by bringing all the analyzed indicators to a single denominator — one employed — is defended. The following empirical research methods were used: observation, comparison and visualization. On the example of industry of the northern regions of Russia, ultra-hight intersectoral and interregional imbalances were revealed, arising, according to the author, due to the lopsided orientation of enterprises to maximize profits and the export and resource structure of the economy. The ratio of value added elements by region is demonstrated, the classification of territories is carried out depending on the combination of these components. The low-suitability of the classical understanding of competition to solve issues of capital overflow and equalization of profitability is indicated. The thesis is put forward about the possibility of overcoming the existing problems by the internal spiritual and moral transformation of managers and workers themselves, the transition from competition to cooperation. The prospects of the study are associated with the expansion of the toolkit due to social indicators, as well as in the study of the micro-level — municipalities, sub-sectors, and the primary reporting of organizations.

Characterizing Physical and Social Compositions of Cities to Inform Climate Adaptation: Case Studies in Germany

Cities are key to climate change mitigation and adaptation in an increasingly urbanized world. As climate, socio-economic, and physical compositions of cities are constantly changing, these need to be considered in their urban climate adaptation. To identify these changes, urban systems can be characterized by physical, functional, and social indicators. Multi-dimensional approaches are needed to capture changes of city form and function, including patterns of mobility, land use, land cover, economic activities, and human behaviour. In this article, we examine how urban structure types provide one way to differentiate cities in general and to what extent socio-economic criteria have been considered regarding the characterization of urban typologies. In addition, we analyse how urban structure types are used in local adaptation strategies and plans to derive recommendations and concrete targets for climate adaptation. To do this, we examine indicators, background data used, and cartographic information developed for and within such urban adaptation plans, focusing in particular on the German cities of Karlsruhe and Berlin. The comparative analysis provides new insights into how present adaptation plans consider physical and social structures, including issues of human vulnerability within cities. Based on the analysis we make recommendations on how to improve the consideration of both physical and socio-economic aspects of a city to support pathways for adaptation.

Associations between Socio-Economic Status and Unfavorable Social Indicators of Child Wellbeing; a Neighbourhood Level Data Design

Background: Living in deprivation is related to ill health. Differences in health outcomes between neighbourhoods may be attributed to neighbourhood socio-economic status (SES). Additional to differences in health, neighbourhood differences in child wellbeing could also be attributed to neighbourhood SES. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between neighbourhood deprivation, and social indicators of child wellbeing. Methods: Aggregated data from 3565 neighbourhoods in 390 municipalities in the Netherlands were eligible for analysis. Neighbourhood SES scores and neighbourhood data on social indicators of child wellbeing were used to perform repeated measurements, with one year measurement intervals, over a period of 11 years. Linear mixed models were used to estimate the associations between SES score and the proportion of unfavorable social indicators of child wellbeing. Results: After adjustment for year, population size, and clustering within neighbourhoods and within a municipality, neighbourhood SES was inversely associated with the proportion of ‘children living in families on welfare’ (estimates with two cubic splines: −3.59 [CI: −3.99; −3.19], and −3.00 [CI: −3.33; −2.67]), ‘delinquent youth’ (estimate −0.26 [CI: −0.30; −0.23]) and ‘unemployed youth’ (estimates with four cubic splines: −0.41 [CI: −0.57; −0.25], −0.58 [CI: −0.73; −0.43], −1.35 [−1.70; −1.01], and −0.96 [1.24; −0.70]). Conclusions: In this study using repeated measurements, a lower neighbourhood SES was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of unfavorable social indicators of child wellbeing. This contributes to the body of evidence that neighbourhood SES is strongly related to child health and a child’s ability to reach its full potential in later life. Future studies should consist of larger longitudinal datasets, potentially across countries, and should attempt to take the interpersonal variation into account with more individual-level data on SES and outcomes.