4,002 research outputs found

    Launching the Grand Challenges for Ocean Conservation

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    The ten most pressing Grand Challenges in Oceans Conservation were identified at the Oceans Big Think and described in a detailed working document:A Blue Revolution for Oceans: Reengineering Aquaculture for SustainabilityEnding and Recovering from Marine DebrisTransparency and Traceability from Sea to Shore:  Ending OverfishingProtecting Critical Ocean Habitats: New Tools for Marine ProtectionEngineering Ecological Resilience in Near Shore and Coastal AreasReducing the Ecological Footprint of Fishing through Smarter GearArresting the Alien Invasion: Combating Invasive SpeciesCombatting the Effects of Ocean AcidificationEnding Marine Wildlife TraffickingReviving Dead Zones: Combating Ocean Deoxygenation and Nutrient Runof

    M_LK 2.0: Leveraging Digital Technologies for Planternative Ecosystems

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    The agri-food industry is one of the largest contributors to our climate crisis by emitting one third of the world’s greenhouse gases. However, the industry also brings great potential to reverse climate change. For example, a plant-based diet might be the single most efficient action to combat climate change. This paper explores the plant-based dairy industry and the utilization of digital technologies. We analyze how the plant-based industry is leveraging digital technologies to revolutionize traditional market configurations. The findings show that digital technologies enable systemic change and facilitate the emergence of digital ecosystems. In particular, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology can be seen as a digital disruptor. For example, in the plant based dairy industry, AI calculates combinations for plant-based products that mimic the flavor and texture of animal products

    Trade and the G20

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    This publication examines international trade and the role of the G20. Key findings: If one of the main roles of the G20 is to be a circuit breaker in overcoming intractable international economic issues, multilateral trade liberalisation is a prime candidate for the G20’s attention. The record of the G20’s standstill on protection is mixed, particularly when it comes to the application of non-tariff barriers. But the G20’s record in helping to advance the conclusion of the Doha Round is poor. This has damaged the G20’s credibility on trade policy. Countries are withdrawing from ambitious attempts to open world markets in favour of pursuing preferential trade arrangements, particularly mega-regional agreements. This should be a concern for the G20. Trade policy needs to adapt to the reality that value chains are increasingly driving international trade. Goods are now made ‘in the world’. There are a number of things the G20 could do to support the multilateral trading system, including: putting trade at the heart of efforts to deliver economic and employment growth; extend and strengthen the standstill on protection; harvest what can be saved from the Doha Round; help bring the WTO trade policy agenda into the 21st century; advance plurilateral agreements; and seek to progressively align the modalities in the proposed mega trade agreements. Contributors include Mike Callaghan AM, Peter Gallagher, John Ravenhill, Mark Thirlwell and Brett Williams

    How Digital Platforms with a Social Purpose Trigger Change towards Sustainable Supply Chains

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    While digital platforms have been intensively researched, there has been little investigation into their role in sustainable change. Our study focuses on food supply chains and food waste and sustainable challenges. Using data collected from exploratory case studies of digital platforms and traditional actors in the food industry of a Nordic country, we categorized three major sustainable platform types: Alterationist, Redistributor, and Capability Builder. We view these as “Zebras,” a business serving profit and social purpose, and observe their emerging role in the food supply chain. We also identify key dimensions of governance and sustainability impact. With this study, we investigate how digital platforms contribute to sustainable change while also retaining their profit focus

    International Business for Peace: Adopting an Academic Peace Education Approach to Encourage Corporate Peacebuilding

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    Treball Final de Màster Universitari en Estudis Internacionals de Pau, Conflictes i Desenvolupament (Pla de 2013). Codi: SBG120. Curs acadèmic: 2019/2020Direct, structural and cultural forms of violence are deeply rooted in and exacerbated by the complex web of international business operations today. On the other hand, conflictsensitive and ecologically regenerative approaches, are gaining increased attention from policy makers, business managers, and researchers across diverse fields. This evokes the question on how to leverage peacebuilding expertise for international business management to enable future business leaders to take responsible decisions. This master thesis aims at providing a response by tailoring a peace education project for university students at one of Germany’s most reputable business studies program. First, this thesis develops a conceptual framework based on research at the business – peace nexus. Second, the project life cycle, including project definition, planning, implementation, evaluation and closing, is explained in detail. Third and last, the conclusion includes limitations of the project and future efforts towards bringing peace to life

    Stories from different worlds in the universe of complex systems: A journey through microstructural dynamics and emergent behaviours in the human heart and financial markets

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    A physical system is said to be complex if it exhibits unpredictable structures, patterns or regularities emerging from microstructural dynamics involving a large number of components. The study of complex systems, known as complexity science, is maturing into an independent and multidisciplinary area of research seeking to understand microscopic interactions and macroscopic emergence across a broad spectrum systems, such as the human brain and the economy, by combining specific modelling techniques, data analytics, statistics and computer simulations. In this dissertation we examine two different complex systems, the human heart and financial markets, and present various research projects addressing specific problems in these areas. Cardiac fibrillation is a diffuse pathology in which the periodic planar electrical conduction across the cardiac tissue is disrupted and replaced by fast and disorganised electrical waves. In spite of a century-long history of research, numerous debates and disputes on the mechanisms of cardiac fibrillation are still unresolved while the outcomes of clinical treatments remain far from satisfactory. In this dissertation we use cellular automata and mean-field models to qualitatively replicate the onset and maintenance of cardiac fibrillation from the interactions among neighboring cells and the underlying topology of the cardiac tissue. We use these models to study the transition from paroxysmal to persistent atrial fibrillation, the mechanisms through which the gap-junction enhancer drug Rotigaptide terminates cardiac fibrillation and how focal and circuital drivers of fibrillation may co-exist as projections of transmural electrical activities. Financial markets are hubs in which heterogeneous participants, such as humans and algorithms, adopt different strategic behaviors to exchange financial assets. In recent decades the widespread adoption of algorithmic trading, the electronification of financial transactions, the increased competition among trading venues and the use of sophisticated financial instruments drove the transformation of financial markets into a global and interconnected complex system. In this thesis we introduce agent-based and state-space models to describe specific microstructural dynamics in the stock and foreign exchange markets. We use these models to replicate the emergence of cross-currency correlations from the interactions between heterogeneous participants in the currency market and to disentangle the relationships between price fluctuations, market liquidity and demand/supply imbalances in the stock market.Open Acces

    Co-constructing a new framework for evaluating social innovation in marginalized rural areas

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    The EU funded H2020 project \u2018Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas\u2019 (SIMRA; www.simra-h2020.eu) has the overall objective of advancing the state-of-the-art in social innovation. This paper outlines the process for co- developing an evaluation framework with stakeholders, drawn from across Europe and the Mediterranean area, in the fields of agriculture, forestry and rural development. Preliminary results show the importance of integrating process and outcome-oriented evaluations, and implementing participatory approaches in evaluation practice. They also raise critical issues related to the comparability of primary data in diverse regional contexts and highlight the need for mixed methods approaches in evaluation

    Transitioning to a circular economy

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    We are living on a finite planet. Mankind is overstepping planetary boundaries, however. In 2021, worldwide consumption has exceeded the yearly bio-capacity of the Earth (what we call the overshoot day) on the 29th of July. For industrialised countries, the situation is far worse: In 2022, Belgium reached that overshoot day on the 26th of March. In the face of these urgent challenges of sustainable resource use, there is wide agreement on the need for a transition, a fundamental societal shift, towards, amongst others, a circular economy (CE), the focus of this book. The book speaks deliberately of transitioning. This marks our focus on transition processes and activities. Discussions of ‘the transition’ easily get stuck in abstract visions, remote future goals and ideological statements about the desired world of tomorrow. By contrast, much more attention needs to be paid to concrete transformation processes that could lead towards these projected futures. Transition how? Where to? By whom? We highlight that companies are key actors in CE transitioning. This edited volume presents key outcomes from the “Transitioning Belgian companies into circularity” research chair, established by Belgian Employers’ Federation FEB/VBO. Whilst focusing on the role of companies, we show how the private sector cannot bring about such societal transformations single-handedly. We consider companies as embedded transition agents, i.e. as actors that operate as parts of broader business ecosystems

    Implementing Sustainability Strategies in Networks and Clusters – Principles, Tools and New Research Outcomes

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    This book investigates the dynamics of the management of sustainability in networks and clusters – an area of increasing importance that is neglected by the many studies addressing sustainability at the single-enterprise level. The focus is in particular on projects involving groups of enterprises with a high level of productive interdependence and steady relations that allow sharing of resources and activities. The book is organized into two parts, the first of which discusses the value of the territory for firm competitiveness, examines the importance of social capital in creating sustainable business behaviors and “unique” networks, and describes principles and tools for the implementation and management of sustainability strategies in networks or clusters. The second part then presents the methodology and outcomes of empirical research conducted on industrial districts and productive centres in Campania, southern Italy, which are representative of Italian productive chains. The book will be of value to all management scholars with an interest in this field, as well as to readers wishing to learn more of the role of local institutions
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