Artificial Intelligence in the Water–Energy–Food Model: A Holistic Approach towards Sustainable Development Goals

This study aims to analyze the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) nexus under the lens of institutional, stakeholder, and innovation theories. Specifically, this study focuses on AI as the technology adopted by companies to promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A structured literature review has been conducted on 94 articles published from 1990 to 2021 in ISI Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. This study develops an in-depth review of the literature on the main articles arguing about these issues. The findings highlight the increasing relevance of AI in the water, energy, and food industries individually considered, but the study of AI as a connector between water, energy, and food to achieve SDGs is still under investigation. Research on AI for WEF nexus management has adopted mostly a technical perspective, neglecting the relevance of management tools and the business model concept. Most of the articles did not adopt a specific theoretical lens, but scholars recognize the need to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach and the important role played by AI and other digital technologies to address the WEF nexus challenge. This study proposes an integrated approach for managing the nexus through AI technologies to meet sustainable and responsible business models. The gap between research and policy making could be filled by combining scientific data and policy needs with inclusive tools that are technically viable for sustainable resource utilization

Anchoring Inflation Expectations in the Face of Oil Shocks & in the Proximity of ZLB : A Tale of Two Targeters

This paper applies a N-ARDL framework to two longstanding inflation targeting policy regimes in order to assess the relation between oil prices dynamics and inflation expectations and the further consequences created by a proximal ZLB situation. The application is based on data from January 1994 to June 2018 for New Zealand and the UK. We focus on oil price shocks as a variable of interest and this was found to have an asymmetric effect on inflation expectations. One further key finding is that the real effective exchange rate has significant impacts on inflation expectations and this is indicative of an exchange rate pass-through to inflation via an inflation expectations channel. In general, we find that inflation, exchange rate, money supply, output growth, unemployment and fiscal deficit/surplus have significant implications for inflation expectations. Inflation expectations are also influenced by their past behaviour indicating adaptive inflation expectations. This study contributes to the debate on the inflation targeting at ZLB

Modelling coal rent, economic growth and CO2 emissions: Does regulatory quality matter in BRICS economies?

Global warming issues have been on the front burner of most economies and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa countries (BRICS) are no exception. The region has joined the rest of the world on the global strides to mitigate against global warming in terms of decoupling carbon dioxide emissions from economic growth. This is the motivation for the present study to consider the interaction between economic growth, pollutant emissions, coal rent while accounting for the role of other covariates like regulatory quality. The study is conducted in a balanced panel setting over annual frequency data from 1990 to 2014. To this end, Pooled mean group with dynamic autoregressive distributed lag [PMG-ARDL (1,1,1,1,1)] was conducted to explore the coal-rents-energy nexus. The empirical study shows that for BRICS countries, unlike coal consumption, coal rents have a significant but negative impact on CO2 emissions. Also, in contrast to expectation, regulations on coal rents in the form of carbon damage costs have a significant but positive impact on CO2 emissions. This suggests that in line with the drive for growth by BRICS countries, and to achieve a reduction in the levels of CO2 emissions for green growth and sustainable development, more stringent environmental-energy-related regulations are inevitable. Thus, for policymakers, it is vital to reinforce the use of stringent regulations as these economies open up to more use of coal energy. However, the need to shift, the energy mix in BRICS to renewables is pertinent in a time of global environmental consciousness for cleaner energy sources and environmentally friendly ecosystem

Consequences of Covid-19 on the Social Isolation of the Chinese Economy: Accounting for the Role of Reduction in Carbon Emissions

The main contribution of the present study to the energy literature is linked to the interaction between economic growth and pollution emission amidst globalization. Unlike other studies, this research explores the effect of economic and social isolation as a dimension of globalization. This allows underpinning the effects on the Chinese economic development of the isolation phenomenon as a consequence of coronavirus (COVID-19). To this end, annual time frequency data is used to achieve the hypothesized claims. The study resolutions include (i) The existence of a long-run equilibrium bond between the outlined variables (ii) The long-run estimates suggest that the Chinese economy over the investigated period, is inelastic to pollutant–driven economic growth as reported by the dynamic ordinary least squares, fully modified ordinary least squares and canonical regressions with a magnitude of 0.09%. (iii) The Chinese isolation is less responsive to its economic growth while the country political willpower is elastic as demonstrated by current government commitment to dampen the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is marked by the aggressive response on the government officials resolute by flattening the exponential impact of the pandemic. Based on these robust results some far-reaching policy implication(s) are underlined in the concluding remark section

Grupo español de cirugía torácica asistida por videoimagen: método, auditoría y resultados iniciales de una cohorte nacional prospectiva de pacientes tratados con resecciones anatómicas del pulmón

Introduction: our study sought to know the current implementation of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for anatomical lung resections in Spain. We present our initial results and describe the auditing systems developed by the Spanish VATS Group (GEVATS). Methods: we conducted a prospective multicentre cohort study that included patients receiving anatomical lung resections between 12/20/2016 and 03/20/2018. The main quality controls consisted of determining the recruitment rate of each centre and the accuracy of the perioperative data collected based on six key variables. The implications of a low recruitment rate were analysed for '90-day mortality' and 'Grade IIIb-V complications'. Results: the series was composed of 3533 cases (1917 VATS; 54.3%) across 33 departments. The centres' median recruitment rate was 99% (25-75th:76-100%), with an overall recruitment rate of 83% and a data accuracy of 98%. We were unable to demonstrate a significant association between the recruitment rate and the risk of morbidity/mortality, but a trend was found in the unadjusted analysis for those centres with recruitment rates lower than 80% (centres with 95-100% rates as reference): grade IIIb-V OR=0.61 (p=0.081), 90-day mortality OR=0.46 (p=0.051). Conclusions: more than half of the anatomical lung resections in Spain are performed via VATS. According to our results, the centre's recruitment rate and its potential implications due to selection bias, should deserve further attention by the main voluntary multicentre studies of our speciality. The high representativeness as well as the reliability of the GEVATS data constitute a fundamental point of departure for this nationwide cohort

Carbon and Decarbonization Disclosure: Role of Responsible Innovation in Adoption of Artificial Intelligence of Things towards SDGs

This chapter relates carbon disclosure and performance in three different levels i.e., financial performance by incorporating financial reporting, operational performance by incorporating operational reporting and sustainability performance by incorporating sustainability reporting with decarbonization practices supporting by the institutional, legitimacy and stakeholder theories. It further discusses the relation of digital technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) in decarbonization processes as the worldwide use of technology gives a solution to maintain development without harming the nature. This chapter focuses on these technologies to understand the role of digital transformation in decarbonizing processes and the challenges for the non-financial disclosure on the decarbonization practices adopted by the enterprises. The enterprises are engaged in the "accountable" behaviors and "transparent" sustainability disclosure to demonstrate their governance model based on Responsible Innovation (RI) for the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) adoption in the decarbonization practices to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially SDG 5. This sustainable goal purposes to achieve gender equality as strategic resource for business success, which often treated as "victim" of technological innovations adoption. The analysis based on literature and international organizations’ reports is developed regarding carbon disclosure and decarbonization practices which adopt AIoT and its implementation with respect to RI to meet SDG 5 adopted by UN 2030 Agenda

Environmental Innovation, climate change and knowledge diffusion process: How can spillovers play a role in the goal of sustainable economic performance?

Technological innovation could affect climate change in multiple ways. On the one hand, technological inno- vation promotes economic growth and energy consumption, increasing carbon emissions. On the other hand, environmental innovations are devoted to reducing the impact of economic activity on climate change. This paper explores the impact of climate change in three economic areas (Europe, Japan and the USA) from 2002 to 2017 of two different innovation variables: the total firms’ R&D investments and the knowledge innovation spillovers in the energy field. The findings indicate that the overall R&D process is detrimental to climate change variables, but the knowledge diffusion process of energy innovations positively impacts climate change mitigation. Policy implications are also related to institutional variables connected to environmental regulations

Decarbonization technology responsibility to gender equality in the shipping industry: a systematic literature review and new avenues ahead

This study investigates existing literature on decarbonization technology responsibil‑ ity for sustainable business models in the shipping industry. Specifcally, it considers the relationship between responsible innovation from green technology adoption in decarbonization management practices and gender equality to precisely target how decarbonization technology relates to gender mainstreaming, a key element of Sustainable Development Goal 5 in the UN 2030 Agenda. From the institutional theory perspective, this study conducted a systematic review of 114 articles published in the ISI Web of Science and Scopus databases from 1990 to 2022. The results highlight that green technology adoption can support low-carbon practices and gender equality in the shipping industry by contributing to decarbonization technology responsibility, sustainable business models, and responsible innovation. Ultimately, this study sug‑ gests that shipping management should provide training and workshops for women on technology adoption in decarbonization operational processes to support gender quality and technological development. It also presents a new conceptual frame‑ work and research propositions on signifcant issues that are currently neglected. The proposed framework may be treated as a decarbonization technology responsibility guideline in shipping management that can reshape the organizational culture to promote gender equality

The role of economic policy uncertainty and social welfare in the view of ecological footprint: evidence from the traditional and novel platform in panel ARDL approaches

In the contemporary world, environmental degradation has become a concern for human beings. Accordingly, the impact of social welfare, economic policy uncertainty, natural resource rents, life expectancy, and trade openness are examined on ecological footprint (the most comprehensive proxy of environmental degradation) in 19 energy-intensive countries from 1997 to 2018. With this in mind, this study used the traditional panel ARDL and CS-ARDL approaches to evaluate how the study’s variables influence ecological footprint. Notably, the results of the CS-ARDL approach are more robust due to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity problems. The outcomes revealed that economic policy uncertainty and trade openness affect the ecological footprint negatively in the short run and positively in the long run. Moreover, social welfare degrades the environment in the long run, and natural resource rents improve environmental quality by mitigating the ecological footprint in the short run and harming the environment in the long run. Besides, life expectancy does not significantly affect ecological footprint in the long or short run. Meanwhile, the results confirmed the bi-directional causal relationship between the study’s variable and ecological footprint. Based on the outcomes, the way to adopt effective policies to improve the quality of the environment has been paved. Furthermore, a comprehensive policy framework for stricter environmental regulation is expected to be developed using the outcomes derived from this study

Modeling the environmental implications of car ownership and energy consumption in the UK: Evidence from NARDL model

We investigated the asymmetric effects of energy consumption, car ownership and tourism activities on CO2 emissions in the UK. Empirical results from the Non-Linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model reveal that in the UK, only car ownership has asymmetric effects on emissions with a magnitude of −1.428% (positive) and 10.108% (negative) shocks that highlight the impact of car ownership on emission level in UK while rising energy consumption and GDP have symmetric positive impacts on emissions, and tourism has a negative impact on emissions. Furthermore, on causality analysis, we found a unidirectional causality runs from GDP per capita to car ownership, and that car ownership and tourism both causes energy consumption in a one-way relationship. Apart from encouraging environmentally friendly energy sources to reduce carbon emission in the UK, the short and long-run analyses disclose that economic expansion and energy consumption increase carbon emission. Empirical results also offer a new perspective on the ascending relevance of electric cars in UK. Hence, only policies that discourage the use of carbon emission inputs in the process of production should be encouraged. Electric vehicles seem to be more efficient when compared to combustion engines because most energy put in the battery is used to drive the cars and wastes less energy when they are driven in cities. This can be achieved by increasing tariffs and decreasing quotas on internal combustion-powered cars. Subsequently, promote and increase usage of electric vehicles that reduce greenhouses