Measuring paper industry's ecological performance in an imprecise and vague scenario: a fuzzy DEA-based analytical framework

PurposeProductivity improvement is key to sustainability performance improvements of organizations. In a real-world scenario, the nature of inputs and outputs is likely to be imprecise and vague, leading to complexity in comparing firms' efficiency measurements. Implementation of fuzzy-logic based measurement systems is a method for dealing with such cases. This paper presents a fuzzy weight objective function to solve Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) CCR model for measuring paper mills' performance in India for 15 years.Design/methodology/approachAn integrated methodology is proposed to solve DEA models having fuzzy weights. The fuzzy DEA methodology is an extended version of the DEA approach that researchers have used for performance measurement purposes in imprecise and vague scenarios. The ecological performance of the paper industry is evaluated, considering some desirable and undesirable outputs. The effect of non-discretionary input on the performance of a paper mill is also analyzed.FindingsAnalysis suggests that the productivity of the paper industry is improving consistently throughout the period. The comparative evaluation of methods suggests that a diverse cluster of DMUs and integration of DEA with the fuzzy logic increases the diversity in the efficiency score while DEA-DE imitates the results of CCR DEA.Originality/valueProposed a fuzzy DEA-based analytical framework for measuring the paper industry's ecological performance in an imprecise and vague scenario. The model is tested on data from the paper industry in a developing country context and comparative performance analysis using DEA, fuzzy DEA and DE algorithm is done.

Ecological performance of local initiatives on water resources management in Timorese communities, Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the countries under the threat of a water crisis. A total of 106 districts from 16 provinces, including East Nusa Tenggara, experienced drought and clean water crisis of 1.50 billion m3 year−1. This involves ecological characteristics accumulation of semiarid regions, degradation of forest resources, and increased critical land. Mitigation research on a watershed scale provides an understanding of the strong relationship between land degradation and water crisis. However, specific information on biophysical spring sources in semi-arid ecosystems is still very limited. This study aimed to obtain ecological performance based on rainfall, critical land, and land cover from a community-based water resource management model on the Timor island. This study was conducted through field observations at 63 units of water sources and structured interviews. The results showed that the characteristics vary from rainfall distribution, land cover, critical land, and utilization pressure. Furthermore, water source units have a limited carrying capacity of rainfall, the land conditions are generally critical, including the threat of land fires and community use of springs. Meanwhile, the variations of these characteristics determine the management interventions undertaken by the community. Therefore, through various management models of community-based water sources, local initiatives need to get support to preserve water sources for the people’s livelihood.

Corporate Environmental Sustainability – A Key Figure-Based Approach

This paper describes the rationale and the development of a structured digital approach for measuring corporate environmental sustainability using performance metrics. It is impossible to imagine today's age without the preservation of our environment, not even in the corporate environment. Currently, sustainability is mostly only rudimentarily considered in companies, mostly only with written down phrases on the website. This will no longer be sufficient in the future, which is why companies should record sustainability on a numerical basis. Based on the development of a workable concept for companies, a small empirical study was carried out, which can be used to numerically measure the sustainability performance of companies. Two utility analyses were completed. One of them was supplemented by expert interviews. Well-known practitioners from the business world were interviewed and asked for their assessment of ecological performance indicators. The result of the research is an indicator-based concept that can be applied in corporate practice to determine ecological sustainability performance.

Housing Supply Limitations, Land Readjustment and the Ecological Performance of the Urban Landscape

Public authorities in developing economies typically have to deal with fiscal stress, lack of resources and an underdeveloped real estate industry. This poses a severe challenge at times of rapid urbanisation. Governments typically react to housing demand shocks by introducing policies that support the real estate market’s capacity to supply housing. One prominent policy in this respect is land readjustment. It has been promoted as a best practice and has been extensively discussed from an efficiency perspective; however, little is known about the ecological performance of the urban landscapes that typically emerge with this tool. Therefore, this study developed an assessment framework that allows discussion of the ecological performance of these neighbourhoods as an outcome of the reciprocal interaction between public sector initiatives and real estate market responses. Based on a LEED ND assessment of the cases of Taipei and Seoul, the research identifies four institutional drivers of ecological costs. First, public agencies tend to neglect the ecological costs of greenfield site developments. Second, public agencies to not employ policies that promoe brownfield developments. Third, a weak public sectors’ negotiating position can result in an ecologically inefficient urban pattern. And finally, the public sector’s construction standardisation policies can impose real estate market limitations and wasteful use of resources in the long run.

Ecological Performance of Multifunctional Pesticide Tolerant Strains of Mesorhizobium Sp. In Chickpea With Recommended Pendimethalin, Ready-mix of Pendimethalin and Imazethpyr, Carbendazim and Chlorpyrifos Application

The present study was designed to screen the Mesorhizobium strains (50) for tolerance in four recommended pesticides for chickpea. It was followed by in-vitro development of robust pesticide tolerant strains by growth in pesticides amended media over several generations. Further, verification of the multifunctional traits of pesticide tolerant mesorhizobia under pesticide stress was conducted in-vitro. Among different pesticides, significantly high tolerance in Mesorhizobium strains was observed with recommended doses of pendimethalin (37%) and ready-mix (36%) followed by chlorpyrifos (31%) and carbendazim (30%), on an overall basis. Based on multifunctional traits, Mesorhizobium strains viz. MR2, MR17 and recommended MR33 were the most promising. Ecological performance of the potential Mesorhizobium strains alone and in dual-inoculation with recommended PGP rhizobacterium strain RB-1 (Pseudomonas argenttinensis JX239745.1) was further analyzed in field following standard pesticide application in PBG-7 and GPF-2 chickpea varieties for two consecutive rabi seasons (2015 and 2016). Dual-inoculant treatments; recommended RB-1+MR33 (4.1%) and RB-1+MR2 (3.8%) significantly increased the grain yield over Mesorhizobium alone treatments viz MR33 and MR2, respectively. Grain yield in PBG7 variety was significantly affected (7.3%) by the microbial inoculant treatments over GPF2 variety. Therefore, the potential pesticide tolerant strains MR2 and MR33 can be further explored as compatible dual-inoculants with recommended RB-1 for chickpea under environmentally stressed conditions (pesticide application) at multiple locations. Our approach using robust multifunctional pesticide tolerant Mesorhizobium for bio-augmentation of chickpea with might be helpful in the formulation of effective bio-inoculants consortia in establishing successful chickpea–Mesorhizobium symbiosis.

Microbiota-dependent and independent production of L-Dopa in the gut of Daphnia magna

The host-microbiome interactions are essential for the physiological and ecological performance of the host, yet these interactions are challenging to identify. Neurotransmitters are commonly implicated in these interactions, but we know very little about the mechanisms of their involvement, especially in invertebrates. Here, we report a peripheral Catecholamine (CA) pathway involving the gut microbiome of the model species Daphnia magna. We demonstrate that: (1) tyrosine hydroxylase and dopa decarboxylase enzymes are present in the gut wall; (2) DOPA decarboxylase gene is expressed in the gut by the host, and its expression follows the molt cycle peaking after ecdysis; (3) biologically active L-Dopa, but not Dopamine, is present in the gut lumen; and (4) gut bacteria produce L-Dopa in a concentration-dependent manner when provided L-Tyrosine as a substrate. Impinging on gut bacteria involvement in host physiology and ecologically relevant traits, we suggest L-Dopa as a communication agent in the host-microbiome interactions in daphnids and, possibly, other crustaceans.

Panarchy 3: River of the Sea

The article reflects critically on Panarchy 3: River of the Sea, a learning-disabled-led ecological performance project that evolved in connection with the River Clyde from 2018 to 2019. River of the Sea was a collaboration between The Panarchy Projects at the University of Glasgow and the Friday Club at the Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow. The Friday Club is a learning-disabled theatre group with fifteen members that meets once a week to socialize and develop performance skills, and The Panarchy Projects are an ongoing series of neurodivergent-led, ecological, and theatre-based research projects. The article introduces the exploratory praxis of the River of the Sea project, which combines theatre practice as research method with participatory action research methods within an expanded ecological field. It then analyses the findings, insights, and accounts of experience which were generated through this praxis and shared in two very different performance events. The article ends by discussing these findings, suggesting that learning-disabled-led ecological performance practices, such as those explored in the River of the Sea project, can support aesthetic experimentation, and nurture solidarity. The article hopes to contribute to the development of what Alison Kafer has called a “cripped environmentalism” (131), and to the building of a bridge between learning disability and environmental discourses.