Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sustainability Analytics'

Thesis: S.M. in Management Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 75-78).
in an age where organizations across industries and sectors are placing increasing importance on sustainability, leaders are looking for more accurate information to guide their decisions on sustainability-related issues. Analytics and big data have been recognized as valuable tools to advance sustainability efforts both at a community as well as an organizational level. In the last decade specially, tools have been adopted by many organizations to gather and analyze data relevant to sustainability, to gain insights through business intelligence tools and to extend visibility through the supply chain. However, with opportunities come challenges and questions remain about the validity of the business case for sustainability analytics. As sustainability analytics gains momentum, understanding, identifying and addressing the challenges that come along with its adoption is going to be critical for companies to be well prepared to take their sustainability efforts forward. This thesis evaluates the emergence of sustainability analytics and the business case for its adoption, identifies the challenges that hinder its success and points towards shifts in current approaches to overcome those obstacles. Further, two of the assumptions about big data are that organizations are 'swimming in a sea' of data and thus the challenges lie in finding valuable insights, and that challenges associated with big data are primarily technical in nature. This work investigates these claims from the perspective of sustainability analytics and aims to identify the opportunities and challenges that organizations must be aware of to maximize its sustainability efforts using analytics. Various cases and interviews are cited to support the analysis and arguments presented in this paper. Chapter 1 opens the paper with a discussion of the link between sustainability and analytics and the emergence of sustainability analytics. Chapter 2 investigates the expected and realized value based on the business case(s) for sustainability analytics. Chapter 3 evaluates the challenges that can lead to the failure in realization of this value and addresses common assumptions that contribute to this failure. Chapter 4 discusses and recommends a shift in the finance function as a key ingredient to the success of sustainability analytics. The paper concludes with a proposed strategic framework in Chapter 5 that organizations must consider in their pursuit of overcoming the challenges of successfully adopting sustainability analytics..
by Nihar Dalmia.
S.M. in Management Studies

Les académiques et les professionnels ont déjà montré que le Big Data et l'analyse prédictive, également connus dans la littérature sous le nom de BDPA, peuvent jouer un rôle fondamental dans la transformation et l'amélioration des fonctions de l'analyse de la chaîne d'approvisionnement durable (SSCA). Cependant, les connaissances sur la meilleure manière d'utiliser la BDPA pour augmenter simultanément les performances sociales, environnementale et financière. Par conséquent, avec les connaissances tirées de la littérature sur la SSCA, il semble que les entreprises peinent encore à mettre en oeuvre les pratiques de la SSCA. Les chercheursconviennent qu'il est encore nécessaire de comprendre les techniques, outils et facteurs des concepts de base de la SSCA pour adoption. C’est encore plus important d’intégrer BDPA en tant qu’atout stratégique dans les activités commerciales. Par conséquent, cette étude examine, par exemple, quels sont les facteurs de SSCA et quels sont les outils et techniques de BDPA qui permettent de mettre en évidence le 3BL (pour ses abréviations en anglais : "triple bottom line") des rendements de durabilité (environnementale, sociale et financière) via SCA.La thèse a adopté un constructionniste modéré, car elle comprend l’impact des facteurs Big Data sur les applications et les indicateurs de performance de la chaîne logistique analytique et durable. La thèse a également adopté un questionnaire et une étude de cas en tant que stratégie de recherche permettant de saisir les différentes perceptions des personnes et des entreprises dans l'application des mégadonnées sur la chaîne d'approvisionnement analytique et durable. La thèse a révélé une meilleure vision des facteurs pouvant influencer l'adoption du Big Data dans la chaîne d'approvisionnement analytique et durable. Cette recherche a permis de déterminer les facteurs en fonction des variables ayant une incidence sur l'adoption de BDPA pour SSCA, des outils et techniques permettant la prise de décision via SSCA et du coefficient de chaque facteur pour faciliter ou retarder l'adoption de la durabilité. Il n'a pas été étudié avant. Les résultats de la thèse suggèrent que les outils actuels utilisés par les entreprises ne peuvent pas analyser de grandes quantités de données par eux-mêmes. Les entreprises ont besoin d'outils plus appropriés pour effectuer ce travail
Scholars and practitioners already shown that Big Data and Predictive Analytics also known in the literature as BDPA can play a pivotal role in transforming and improving the functions of sustainable supply chain analytics (SSCA). However, there is limited knowledge about how BDPA can be best leveraged to grow social, environmental and financial performance simultaneously. Therefore, with the knowledge coming from literature around SSCA, it seems that companies still struggled to implement SSCA practices. Researchers agree that is still a need to understand the techniques, tools, and enablers of the basics SSCA for its adoption; this is even more important to integrate BDPA as a strategic asset across business activities. Hence, this study investigates, for instance, what are the enablers of SSCA, and what are the tools and techniques of BDPA that enable the triple bottom line (3BL) of sustainability performances through SCA. The thesis adopted moderate constructionism since understanding of how the enablers of big data impacts sustainable supply chain analytics applications and performances. The thesis also adopted a questionnaire and a case study as a research strategy in order to capture the different perceptions of the people and the company on big data application on sustainable supply chain analytics. The thesis revealed a better insight of the factors that can affect in the adoption of big data on sustainable supply chain analytics. This research was capable to find the factors depending on the variable loadings that impact in the adoption of BDPA for SSCA, tools and techniques that enable decision making through SSCA, and the coefficient of each factor for facilitating or delaying sustainability adoption that wasn’t investigated before. The findings of the thesis suggest that the current tools that companies are using by itself can’t analyses data. The companies need more appropriate tools for the data analysis

Purpose - Procurement is an integrated part of the supply chain and crucial for the success of manufacturing. Many organisations have already started the digitalisation of their manufacturing processes using Industry 4.0 technologies and consequently trying to understand how this would impact the procurement function. The research purpose is to conceptualize a procurement of 4.0 model for a truly data driven procurement. Two research questions were proposed to address the model from digital capabilities and sustainability preceptive. Design/Methodology/approach - This study is based on a systematic literature review. A method of reviewing the literature and the current research for the propose of conceptualizing a procurement 4.0 model. Findings - The findings from the literature review contributed to the development of a proposed procurement 4.0 model based on Industry 4.0 technologies, applications, mathematical algorithms and procurement processes automation. The model contributes to the research field by addressing the gap in the literature about the lack of visualization and conceptualization of procurement 4.0. Originality/Value - The current literature discusses the advantages, implementation and impact of individual or a group of industry 4.0 technologies and applications on procurement but lacks visualization of the transformation process of combining the technologies to enable a truly data driven procurement. This research supports the creation of knowledge in this area. Practical Implementation /Managerial Implications - The proposed model can support managers and digital consultants to have practical knowledge from an academic perspective in the area of procurement 4.0. The knowledge from the literature and the systematic literature review is used to create knowledge on procurement 4.0 applications and analytics taking in to consideration the importance of visibility, transparency, optimization and the automation of the procurement function and its sustainability.
Syfte - Upphandling är en integrerad del av supply chain och avgörande för tillverkningens framgång. Många organisationer har redan börjat digitalisera sina tillverkningsprocesser med hjälp av Industry 4.0-teknologier och försöker därför förstå hur detta skulle påverka upphandlingsfunktionen. Målet med studien är att konceptualisera en upphandling av 4.0-modellen för en verkligt datadriven upphandling. Två forskningsfrågor föreslogs för att ta itu med modellen från digital kapacitet och hållbarhet. Design / metod / tillvägagångssätt - Denna studie baseras på en systematisk litteraturstudie. En metod för att granska litteraturen och den aktuella forskningen för att föreslå konceptualisering av en upphandlings 4.0-modell. Resultat - Resultaten från litteraturstudien bidrog till utvecklingen av en föreslagen upphandlings 4.0-modell baserad på Industry 4.0-teknologier, applikationer, matematiska algoritmer och automatisering av upphandlingsprocesser. Modellen bidrar till forskningsområdet genom att ta itu med klyftan i litteraturen om bristen på visualisering och konceptualisering av upphandling 4.0. Originalitet / värde - Den nuvarande litteraturen diskuterar fördelarna, implementeringen och effekten av individer eller en grupp av industri 4.0-teknologier och applikationer på upphandling men saknar visualisering av transformationsprocessen för att kombinera teknologierna för att skapa en verklig datadriven upphandling. Denna forskning stöder skapandet av kunskap inom detta område. Praktisk implementering / chefsimplikationer - Den föreslagna modellen kan stödja chefer och digitala konsulter att ha praktisk kunskap ur ett akademiskt perspektiv inom området upphandling 4.0. Kunskapen från litteraturen och den systematiska litteraturstudien används för att skapa kunskap om inköp 4.0 applikationer och analyser med beaktande av vikten av synlighet, transparens, optimering och automatisering av upphandlingsfunktionen och dess hållbarhet.

New regulations from the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment, released in 2009, require all wastewater treatment plants in Canada to produce effluent of secondary treatment levels. To comply with the new law, many Canadian municipalities using primary treatment plants must retrofit or renew their old systems. There is an increasing pressure from stakeholder groups and policy makers to select new infrastructure using triple-bottom-line (economic, environmental and social) analyses. The present study aims to illuminate how differing preferences among experts from different stakeholder groups influence what is considered to be the ‘most sustainable' wastewater treatment system. Through the use of policy documents, academic literature, and the use of AHP (a decision support tool: Analytic Hierarchy Process) an objectives hierarchy was constructed. The objectives hierarchy was made up of four criteria and 13 indicators. Five wastewater experts were asked to use pair-wise comparisons to score the indicators and criteria of the constructed objectives hierarchy and provide their opinions on the same. In addition, four low foot-print wastewater treatment alternatives were selected for review. One of the participants was asked to rank the four alternatives with regards to their performance on the selected indicators. This ranking, in combination with the rankings of the indicators and criteria, previously made by the five experts, were used to indicate the preferred alternatives for each of the separate participants. Then, the overall prioritization of the alternatives was used to carry out a sensitivity analysis. In terms of results, this study of sustainability indicators for wastewater treatment selection showed that the most contentious indicators among those studied were Initial Costs and Long Term Costs, Effluent Quality and Aesthetics. Additionally, the study showed that the Sequencing Batch Reactor was identified as the ‘most sustainable’ alternative by the average scores of all five participants and separately by four of the five participants.

A produção de um bem é responsabilidade de todas as empresas que integram a cadeia de suprimentos, por conseguinte, as implicações socioambientais que esses produtos geram são também de responsabilidade de cada uma das empresas que integram essa cadeia. Assim, o comportamento socioambiental nas empresas precisa ser considerado ao longo da cadeia de suprimentos. Embora existam estudos relacionando sustentabilidade e cadeia de suprimentos, as pesquisas têm-se focado principalmente na dimensão ambiental e econômica. Os aspectos relacionados com as três dimensões da sustentabilidade de forma conjunta têm recebido pouca atenção na pesquisa. Além disso, os estudos têm considerado somente a empresa focal como unidade de análise e, raramente, essas pesquisas abrangem todos os membros que compõem a cadeia. Nesse contexto, a presente tese propõe desenvolver uma estrutura analítica para identificar o perfil de sustentabilidade de cadeias de suprimentos. No referencial teórico discute-se a dinâmica da sustentabilidade sob a visão das dimensões econômica, social e ambiental. Em seguida, apresentam-se os fundamentos da gestão da cadeia de suprimentos, identificando seus elementos-chave (estrutura, processos, e componentes). Posteriormente, relaciona-se a sustentabilidade com os elementos-chave de gestão por meio da cadeia de suprimentos sustentável. Por fim, o referencial teórico propõe a estrutura analítica de pesquisa, integrando parâmetros sustentáveis em cada elemento-chave da gestão da cadeia de suprimentos, objetivando a construção do perfil de sustentabilidade. Referente aos procedimentos metodológicos, a estrutura analítica foi testada em quatorze cadeias de suprimentos de rosas do Equador. Nesse tipo de cadeia, o produtor de rosas é considerado a empresa focal. As cadeias de suprimentos estão compostas por oito membros: a empresa focal e os sete fornecedores de primeiro nível. Os dados foram coletados com o uso de um questionário estruturado. Para estruturação das cadeias foi utilizada uma amostra de 312 empresas. Dessas, 42 responderam o questionário, ou seja, 13% do total. Foram usadas para a configuração das cadeias apenas 26 empresas. Com os dados obtidos foram construídos quatorze perfis, os quais descrevem a posição de sustentabilidade da cada empresa e da cadeia como se fosse uma única empresa. Adicionalmente, a forma em que o perfil é apresentado permite desdobrar as posições obtidas de cada empresa nas dimensões social, ambiental e econômica. Esse desdobramento possibilita identificar qual empresa obteve a maior ou a menor posição de forma global e por dimensão. A partir desses perfis, apresentam-se três tipos de análise: entre cadeias, entre os membros da cadeia, e entre as empresas que ocupam a mesma posição nas cadeias. Os resultados que a estrutura analítica gerou possibilitaram traçar perfis de sustentabilidade em cadeias de suprimentos de acordo com o objetivo proposto. O perfil caracteriza de forma simples a posição de sustentabilidade de uma cadeia, usando os mesmos parâmetros de mensuração em todos seus membros. Além disso, a forma como o perfil foi construído permite analisar a cadeia e seus membros nas dimensões social, ambiental e econômica, separadamente. Esse desdobramento facilita a identificação de brechas entre as dimensões e entre as empresas.
Manufacturing a good is a responsibility shared by all the enterprises integrating the supply chain; therefore, each enterprise of the chain should be held responsible for the socioenvironmental implications generated by these products. That being said, enterprises’ socioenvironmental behavior is an aspect to be taken into consideration along all the supply chain. Although there are studies relating sustainability and supply chain, researches have focused mainly on the environmental and economic dimensions. The aspects related to the three sustainability dimensions combined have received little research attention. Furthermore, studies have considered only the focal enterprise as an analysis unit, and these studies hardly ever encompass all the members composing the chain. In this context, this study attempts to develop an analytical structure in order to identify the sustainability profile of supply chains. In the theoretical background it is discussed the sustainability dynamics under the light of the economic, social and environmental dimensions. Afterwards, supply chain management basis are presented, identifying their key elements (structure, processes and components). Subsequently, sustainability is related to management key elements through a sustainable supply chain. The theoretical background proposes the research analytical structure, integrating sustainable parameters into each key element of the supply chain management, so as to build a sustainability profile. Regarding the methodological procedures, the analytical structure has been tested in fourteen rose supply chains in Ecuador. In this kind of chain, the rose grower is considered as the focal enterprise. The supply chains are composed of eight elements: the focal enterprise and seven first level suppliers. Data has been collected through a structured questionnaire. For the chain structuring a sample of 312 enterprises has been used. Out of these, 42 answered the questionnaire, that is, 13% of the total. Only 26 enterprises have been used to outline the chains. Fourteen profiles have been made with the data collected, describing the sustainability position of each enterprise and that of the chain, as if they were unique enterprises. Moreover, the way the profile is presented allows for the unfolding of the positions obtained by each enterprise in the social, environmental and economic dimensions. Such unfolding enables us to identify which enterprise has had the highest or lowest position globally or per dimension. Based on these profiles, three kinds of analysis have been presented: among chains, among chain members, and among enterprises occupying the same position in the chains. The outcomes from this analytical structure have enabled us to outline the sustainability profiles in supply chains according to the proposed aim. This profile characterizes in a simple way the sustainability position of a chain, applying the same measurement parameters to all its members. Furthermore, the way this profile has been built enables us to analyze the chain and its members in the social, environmental and economic dimensions separately. This unfolding makes it easier to identify gaps among the dimensions and the enterprises.

The pre-analytical phase is known for being the most important step in the laboratory process to reach reliable test results. If handling, transport or preparation of the sample is performed incorrectly the results can deviate from the true value. Today, sampling tubes contains various additives to stabilize concentration levels. The aim of this study was to test a new sampling tube containing fluoride/citrate for glucose, lactate and homocysteine. It was also of interest to evaluate the stability of those three analytes in lithium-heparin, sodium-fluoride/potassium oxalate and fluoride/citrate tubes. To perform the sustainability study, a method verification was done for homocysteine in plasma. The study was performed in a hospital laboratory on the routine instrument Roche Cobas 6000 analyzer. Blood was drawn from 20 patients and was analyzed at the hospital laboratory in Gävle. The blood samples were transported frozen to the laboratory in Hudiksvall and were used in the method verification. For the sustainability study, blood was drawn from 10 healthy volunteers in lithium-heparin, sodium-fluoride/potassium oxalate and fluoride/citrate tubes. The method verification was approved. The results showed that glucose was stable for up to 72 hours in Vacuette Glycaemia tube with fluoride/citrate and this tube also gave more accurate results. Lactate and homocysteine were also stable in fluoride/citrate, but needs further studies. All three analytes were more stable if the sample tubes were centrifuged as soon as possible after blood collection. Fluoride/citrate tubes were stable without centrifugation directly.

‘Every human conduct that is not totally impulsive or just routine mechanics seems to be guided by an evaluation process’ (Dewey, 1939). Switching away from this individual definition of evaluation, the thesis acknowledges the definition given by OECD-DAC and focus the experimentation of well-known multicriteria decision aiding methodologies for ex-ante assessment in a specific development cooperation case study. Chapters 1 and 2, resume the structured bibliographic that has been conducted in order to identify an updated sample of literature about evaluation in development cooperation. During the evolution of the sector, several approaches and methodologies have been conceived and are continuously developing in order to match the variety of evaluanda and contexts. So, three main approaches can be defined, still keeping in mind that they are interlaced in their mutual evolution: the “Positivist-Experimental”, the “Pragmatist-Quality” and the “Constructive-Social Process” approaches group the contributions of several authors, ranging from the more theoretical philosophical basis to the development of specific methodologies and practical techniques. The reality of human development today, as defined by UN through SDGs, requests a multifaceted approach that is capable of mixing the existing approaches, methodologies and techniques. Pluralism of values and focus on the real use of evaluation results through participatory knowledge management are the key elements of the “Constructivist-Social Process approach” which is gaining attention in development cooperation evaluation systems. The literature review took in consideration the state of art of governmental and non-governmental organizations for worldwide and brought to the conclusion that ESs are nowadays in the middle of a renovation process which is far from being concluded. For this reason, we worked in order to provide new insights about sound methodologies able to integrate the different paradigms and methodologies in order to keep methodological robustness and allow a transformative evaluation process to take place in a specific case study. Chapter 3 frames our case study that is located in the Diocese of Goma, Nord Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. The framework for this case study is provided by a 3-year EU-funded project called ARDST ‘Appui au retour de réfugiés et déplacés par le biais de la sécurisation de terres en Diocèse de Goma’, led by Caritas Development Goma NGO. The project started in February 2016 and ended in June 2019. In this context our research group was asked to lead a strategic sectoral evaluation. The aim of the evaluation was to inform the choice of interventions meant to trigger sustainable agricultural development in the Diocese of Goma. Chapters 4 to 6 report the pre-print version of three scientific papers issued from the research. Chapter 4 deals with the sketching of a spatial decision support system aimed at Multi-Criteria Evaluation of potential pilot sites for agricultural development and refugees’ resettlement. Land disputes are considered both key sources and perpetuating factors of conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Existing literature demonstrates that remote sensing is a useful tool for systematically monitor the spatial-temporal land use/land cover dynamics in many regions of the world. For this reason, in this Chapter we propose a methodology for the integration of different sources of information, namely satellite imagery and census information, in order to set up multi-method approach for evidence-based decision-making in development cooperation. Chapter 5 deals with the use of a simplified multicriteria decision-making methodology and namely the application of a simplified form of pairwise ranking (SPWR). International Aid initiatives involve complex real-world decision-making problems in all their relevant phases. Agri-environmental and generally landscape-scale issues are the typical target of participative decision-making procedures as they involve community resources planning. To successfully solve the complex real-world problems multi-criteria group decision-making approaches are recognized as reliable and effective. Main research questions are : What are the priorities for intervention in order to achieve sustainable development of the agricultural sector in the case study? Is SPWR a sound technique to prioritize different alternatives for intervention while improving group consensus in real-world complex cases? SPWR was found to be a useful technique for eliciting discussion among a multidisciplinary group for pointing out and discuss inconsistencies in decision makers’ preferences. Moreover, the final group ranking matches the existing guidelines for sustainable agricultural development in the region demonstrating that SPWR is a sound technique for prioritization of alternatives in the fields of agricultural development and international aid. Chapter 6 deals with the use of a modified form of analytic hierarchy process, namely the participatory analytic hierarchy process (PAHP), as a tool for choice criteria elicitation and resource allocation in the framework of our case study. In the field of international aid the participatory approaches to assessment, research, management and budgeting have been widely studied and applied in the last decades, mostly because international aid initiatives, in all their relevant phases from planning through implementation, monitoring and evaluation, are faced with the problem of identifying initiatives that could be successfully and sustainably implemented. During our research, we were able to make use of most frequent inconsistencies in pairwise comparison matrixes in order to stimulate the debate, to adjust local preferences and to build consensus across the group. From an operational point of view, the PAHP methodology was also suited for training the project team and for identifying a shared resource allocation pattern, which matches the existing international guidelines for agricultural development in the region. Finally, in Chapter 7, we use the results of our research to support the proposal of the wider use of the experimented evaluation approaches and methodologies as tools for fostering the diffusion of evaluation culture in development cooperation, which in turns is a key objective to foster the impact of interventions aiming sustainability. In fact, in development cooperation, the dissemination at all levels of a culture of evaluation and the construction of solid, adaptive and inclusive feedback and decision-making systems are seen as possible solutions to the everlasting doubt about development cooperation impact. In our research, we experimented a methodological approach and some specific multicriteria participatory techniques that should be taken into account when trying to link in a completely interconnected chain, the cooperation results on different scales and to evaluate, both ex-ante and ex-post, its overall contribution towards the SDGs.

Thesis advisor: Robert J. Starratt
This thesis is a descriptive and analytical study of the complete works of Michael Fullan as a scholar of educational change. Fullan is one of the foremost individuals who have helped established the field of educational change and who continues to push the field forward. This dissertation investigates, articulates and interrogates the intellectual and strategic contributions of Fullan in the scholarly field of educational change. This is a critical description and examination of the historical events and trends that influenced his research and to which he was responding. It provides insight into a significant area of practice and research in educational administration by looking at the development of a field through the intellectual contributions of one of its most important authorities. The main purpose is to highlight the development and cogency of Fullan's ideas in the field of educational change through an examination and exploration of his intellectual underpinnings. This study was grounded in the qualitative research tradition, particularly rooted in a conceptual framework of hermeneutics. The task was to search for an understanding rather than explanation and for interpretation rather than prediction. Thus, in this study the researcher was the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. Data was using collected various artifacts, namely: books, journal articles, scholarly papers, technical reports, conference papers, dissertations about Fullan, web-site reports and/or papers, newspaper articles and publicity material. More specifically, Fullan's writings were primarily accessed through various venues: the internet (especially his website: http://www.michaelfullan.ca/), college libraries and professors who use his books. One person-to-person interview was conducted to clarify. Data was critically analyzed and reported thematically and chronologically in order to position Fullan's works within those historical periods and to identify the development and evolution of his theory of change. Findings indicate several periods of education reform: innovation and diffusion, school effectiveness and school improvement, restructuring and reculturing, large-scale reform and post-standardization. Fullan's assessments of each period revealed that he has been more influential in the large-scale reform period than the others. Themes unfolding highlighted the importance of stakeholders (students, teachers, principals, parents and community, district administrators, consultants) and concepts (process, objective and subjective assumptions, moral purpose, relationships, knowledge, sustainability, complexity/chaos & evolutionary theories, systems, paradoxes, coherence and theory of action. Connections to key thinkers in sociology, educational change and mentors as well as Fullan' unique approach to the change process among various other change process models, definitions and perspectives were highlighted. Development and evolution of Fullan's theory of education is underscored by the influence of early mentors in sociology as well as decades of emphasis on certain critical issues within the literature: namely, the absence of the implementation perspective (1970s), meaning-making (1980s), capacity-building (1990s), systems-leading (2000s) and a more recent post-standardization era. Critical and positive commentaries on particular Fullan's works reveal multiple and often opposing values, assumptions and purposes of education that characterize scholar's experiences and advocacy. The paper concludes with a brief personal and critical reflection on Fullan's educational change literature highlighting strengths, weaknesses and the future challenges for scholars in the field
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Administration

Renewable sources such as cellulose derived biofuels are sought after in order to replace fossil fuel sources that are currently used to meet energy demands. Cellulose is a biological polymer composed of a chain of glucose molecules. Hydrolysis of cellulosic materials then has potential to serve as a source of renewable energy in the form of biofuels. The crystalline structure of cellulose is very stable, and current methods of catalyzed hydrolysis are inefficient for industrial application. This project explores the use of phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) in water to catalyze hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose. Temperature of hydrolysis was varied from 40 °C – 100 °C. The amount of soluble hydrolysis product was determined through wet oxidative total organic carbon analysis using a Hach method kit. Total organic carbon content is compared between equimolar amounts of PMA and sulfuric acid, the current industry preference. The yield of total organic carbon in parts per thousand (ppt) is directly correlated to increasing temperatures. Across these temperatures, PMA is more efficient than sulfuric acid in hydrolysis of cellulosic materials. Work is ongoing for glucose-specific product detection as well as evaluating the recyclability of the catalyst.

Sustainable transport is now a popular goal of transport planning. As with any aspiration, systems and mechanisms are required to assess and gauge success in achieving this policy goal. There is increasing reliance on sustainable transport indicators as appropriate tools for this purpose. The usefulness and credibility of any indicator-based assessment will undoubtedly depend on the specific indicators utilised. As such, indicators must be selected carefully to maximise their contribution to the sustainable transport decision making process. A review of current applications of sustainable transport indicators has revealed however, that they are typically selected in an ad hoc and arbitrary fashion. Development of a framework that facilitates transparent and systematic indicator selection would therefore represent a significant advance in transport research. In that regard, this thesis presents the Evaluative and Logical Approach to Sustainable Transport Indicator Compilation (ELASTIC), a methodological framework which provides a flexible, participatory and systematic mechanism for identifying and selecting key sustainable transport indicators. The output of ELASTIC is the Transport Sustainability Profile (TSP), a small un-aggregated suite of sustainable transport indicators which together can provide a snapshot of the sustainability of a transport system. Using various multi-criteria and statistical techniques, ELASTIC applies a robust process to evaluate and select indicators based on their analytical soundness and their relevance to key objectives of sustainable transport. A generic and transferable tool, ELASTIC is capable of application at different geographical scales as well as to non-transport sustainability assessment. For the purpose of this research, the framework is demonstrated through application to England, UK where the judgements of relevant Academics and Transport Planners are elicited and entered into the ELASTIC framework to systematically select a subset of 15 indicators from an initial set of 200. By disaggregating the sample of stakeholders into regional groupings, different context-specific suites of indicators for the regional groupings were also derived. The demonstration confirms ELASTIC to be an inclusive and practical approach to compiling a suite of sustainable transport indicators specific to context and which reflects the unique values of key stakeholders.

This report deals with the managing of the waste of a company, Ericsson- site of Borås, in an analytical context. Based on sustainability (concept and aspects), they are interested to have a method to check their waste management capability whether they are in right direction. Among all studied methods, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is utilized. This method works based on a mathematical algorithm starting by making a hierarchy, continuing with pairwise comparisons between correspondent items, then doing calculations and finally checking and reviewing to be certain of the correctness of the whole process by an eligible team of decision makers. In spite of some critiques that scientifically are accepted, it remains reliable for the purpose.The method is applied to some instances of waste items, wood boxes and pallets and hard plastics, in Ericsson. Then, two controversial issues of the selected method, consistency and rank reversal, are investigated and discussed on the mentioned waste items. Application of the method for their future use is foreseen thereafter.

It is estimated that nearly 100 various environmental product certification rating tools are implemented in the United States construction and real estate industries. Choice of a certain building sustainability measurement tool depends on the specific need for reflection of buildings’ impact on the natural and urban environment as well as its tenants. Selection of the appropriate rating system is a decision-making process performed by the project client (landlord of the building, potential or current tenant) which can be affected by clients’ insufficient knowledge or otherwise be biased. The result of selection decision has significant consequences for the project design, construction process complexity and entire life-cycle of the building. In this work, an effort is made to facilitate decision-making process of best environmental rating alternative selection for a “green building” project. The analytic hierarchy process is used to perform unbiased decision making on the environmental rating selection. The decision process has been evaluated from the landlord and the tenant perspectives. The findings of this study show that for the landlord, it would be enough to be certified with a single-attribute rating that covers only one characteristic of building sustainability and, according to AHP analysis, satisfies all significant landlord’s requirements for the environmental rating system. The main conclusion of the study is that selection of environmental rating is a multicriteria problem that should take into consideration the requirements from landlord and tenant as well as the environmental ratings characteristics but not based on the distinct assessment of the mentioned factors.

The complexity of sustainable building maintenance environment requires managers to define and implement appropriate quality benchmark system suitable for this function. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is one of the most effective process improvement and optimization philosophy that maintenance organisations can implement in their environment. However, literature review has shown that 90% of failures in LSS implementations are due to lack of readiness to change, the unawareness of the required benchmark organisation capabilities, and improper control of priorities. The contribution of the current research approach is in developing a hybrid Knowledge-Based (KB)/GAP/AHP System, consisting of three stages (Planning, Designing and Implementation) and containing over 2500 KB rules. The KB System can assist the decision-makers in identifying the obstacles behind the organisation readiness to change into a benchmark LSS maintenance environment. Thus the KB System will be used to achieve benchmark standards by determining the gap existing between the current environment and the benchmark goal, and then suggest a detailed plan to overcome these hurdles in a prioritised and structured manner, thus achieving cost benefits. To ensure its consistency and reliability, the KB System was validated in three Oman-based maintenance organisations, and one published case study for a UK-based organisation. The results from the validation were positive with the System output suggesting list of top priorities and action plans for achieving benchmark LSS standards for these organisations. The research concludes that the developed KB System is a consistent and reliable methodology for assisting decision-makers in designing, planning, and implementing LSS for benchmark sustainable building maintenance.

Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial
The aim of this essay has been to try out Soft Systems Methodology in development of a multidisciplinary framework to launch energy sustainability in Iranian industry sector. A petrochemical industry, one small sized company from the automobile industry and an energy service company are studied due to their diversity in conditions. The petrochemical industry is recognized to possibly have more gains in terms of improving energy consumption. Beyond SSM, the AHP model, MCIR framework, UML, and financial feasibility study methods are used in the development of CSEL framework. The AHP model applied in this study transforms qualitative data into quantitative decision making results. The MCIR framework classifies the barriers which have interrelated nature and identifies the gaps of energy sustainability in industry. NPV and SPB of financial analysis methods are applied in this framework and finally UML diagrams depict the information process in the latter subsystem of this framework.
O objectivo desta tese é definir uma metodologia multidisciplinar, usando Soft Systems Methodology, com vista a analisar o sector da Indústria no Irão do ponto de vista de lançamento de novos projectos de sustentabilidade energética. Para a metodologia proposta uma indústria petroquímica, uma pequena empresa do ramo automóvel e uma empresa que faz consultoria em energia são analisadas. A indústria petroquímica surge como a que potencialmente terá maiores ganhos do ponto de vista de poupança energética. Para além de SSM, o modelo AHP, a framework MCIR, diagramas UML e um estudo de viabilidade financeira são usados para o desenvolvimento da metodologia proposta. O modelo AHP usado neste estudo permite trabalhar dados qualitativos de uma forma quantitativa. A framework MCIR classifica as barreiras interrelacionadas e identifica as necessidades de sustentabilidade energética na indústria. Métodos de análise financeira são usados na metodologia proposta e, por último, diagramas UML mostram o processo de informação.

Construction activity is known to have a major impact on the environment and is a major consumer of a wide range of naturally occurring and synthesized resources. Despite the recognition that environmental issues are important to the survival of the construction industry, the industry continues to degrade the environment, exploiting resources and generating waste, and is slow to change its conventional practices to incorporate environmental matters as part of its decision making process. With increased awareness and knowledge of these impacts, efforts are being made to avoid these adverse effects and to work towards impact mitigation. Among these is sustainable building material selection. Building material selection is an important issue in building design and construction decision-making and environmental issues need to be incorporated into the evaluation process. The research reported in this thesis was initiated to address these issues in the UK, towards developing an assessment model for incorporating sustainability into building material selection process. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the level of awareness, knowledge and implementation of sustainable practices among architects and designers and how this impacts on their design decisions. To facilitate the implementation of sustainable practices into building material selection, a set of sustainable assessment criteria (SAC) for modeling and evaluating sustainability performance of building materials was developed. Building material can be assessed using an index system that combines the principal criteria of sustainable development. The derived criteria were assessed and aggregated into a composite sustainability index using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique which has been praised for its ability to incorporate both objective and subjective considerations in the decision process. The development of a sustainability index is a way of supporting decision makers faced with making numerous and sometimes conflicting evaluation as with building material selection. The methodology adopted in undertaking this research was the mixed method approach involving a detailed review of the relevant literature, followed by an industry-wide survey of UK architects and designers. Following this, case study was conducted to collect data for sustainability criteria used in the assessment model. The data collected were analyzed, with the aid of SPSS, Excel and expert choice software using a variety of statistical methods including descriptive statistics analysis, relative index analysis, Kendall’s concordance and factor analysis. The key finding was the existing gap between awareness and implementation of sustainable construction practices, which has led to failure of realizing the benefits of a sustainable approach to construction. The study showed a discrepancy between what architects and designers claim to be convinced about, and knowledgeable in, and their commitment and practices; they seem to be unable to translate their environmental awareness and knowledge into appropriate design decisions and are in need of a decision support system that can aid the incorporation of sustainability into building design. The model developed satisfy this gap and was validated by application to a roof covering material selection decision process for a case study building project by means of experts’ review via a survey and the findings obtained suggest that the model is valuable and suitable for use in practice. Finally, areas for further research were identified.

With the dwindling availability of petroleum, focus has shifted to renewable energy sources such as lignocellulosic biomass. Lignocellulosic biomass is composed of three main constituents, lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. Due to the low value of cellulosic ethanol, utilization of the lignin component is necessary for the realization of an economically sustainable biorefinery model. Once depolymerized, lignin has the potential to replace petroleum-derived molecules used as bulk and specialty aromatic chemicals. Numerous lignin depolymerization strategies focus on cleavage of β-aryl ether linkages, usually at high temperatures and under reductive conditions. Alternatively, selective benzylic oxidation strategies have recently been explored for lignin and lignin models. In this work, heterogeneous catalytic methods using supported base metals and layered-double hydroxides were evaluated for the oxidation of lignin models both before and after benzylic oxidation. Additionally, by studying putative reaction intermediates, insights were gained into the mechanisms of oxidative fragmentation of the model compounds. Generally, it was found that after benzylic oxidation models were more susceptible to oxidative fragmentation. Indeed, several heterogeneous oxidation systems were found to convert lignin models to oxygenated aryl monomers (mainly benzoic acids and phenols) using inexpensive primary oxidants (i.e., hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen). Reactions were conducted at relatively mild temperatures and at low oxygen concentrations for the purpose of an easy transition to large-scale experiments. Finally, the catalytic systems that resulted in significant cleavage of lignin models were applied to a Kraft lignin. Oxidation of Kraft lignin resulted a mixture of products for which analytical data and increased solubility are consistent with interunit cleavage within the lignin macromolecule.

На сьогодні відсутнє налагоджене обліково-аналітичне та інформаційне забезпечення підготовки звітності зі сталого розвитку в аграрному секторі і повного врахування специфічних галузевих запитів стейкхолдерів у ньому. Детальної розробки потребують питання визначення суттєвості таких запитів та розробки методик їх розкриття у звітності зі сталого розвитку таких компаній.
На сегодня отсутствует налаженная учетно-аналитическое и информационное обеспечение подготовки отчетности по устойчивому развитию в аграрном секторе и полного учета специфических отраслевых запросов стейкхолдеров в нем. Детальной разработки требуют вопросы определения существенности таких запросов и разработки методик их раскрытия в отчетности по устойчивому развитию таких компаний.
At present, there is no established accounting, analytical and informational support for the preparation of reports on sustainable development in the agricultural sector and the full consideration of specific sector requests of stakeholders in it. Detailed development requires the question of determining the materiality of such requests and developing methods for their disclosure in reporting on the sustainable development of such companies.

A materiality approach is developed in this thesis in order to understand social-material relationships during the south-east Scottish Iron Age. The focus is on everyday objects, traditionally lesser studied in terms of cosmological value, made of bone and antler, stone, clay/pottery and metal (copper alloy and iron) from the Broxmouth Hillfort assemblage and other excavated Iron Age sites in East Lothian. This study sets out to move away from typology to examine the connections between these materials through their sourcing, affordances (signative and pragmatic), design, manufacture, use and deposition. In addition to the archaeological evidence, a range of analytical methods are employed; including laser scanning confocal microscopy, raman spectroscopy, and residue and isotopic analysis. It becomes evident that the materials studied, despite their predominantly local availability, were invested with meaning in appropriation, making, and were deliberately curated and maintained in use, assembling rich personal biographies. Identities were tied up with making, using and depositing of materials in turn embodying beliefs of fertility, renewal and productivity which were central to Iron Age cosmology, continuing into the Roman Iron Age. These results contribute to our understanding of the construction and practice of society in the Iron Age of Britain, with implications for how we may design our own 21st Century material worlds. It is proposed that social relations in the Iron Age of south-east Scotland were heterarchical.
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

A materiality approach is developed in this thesis in order to understand social-material relationships during the south-east Scottish Iron Age. The focus is on everyday objects, traditionally lesser studied in terms of cosmological value, made of bone and antler, stone, clay/pottery and metal (copper alloy and iron) from the Broxmouth Hillfort assemblage and other excavated Iron Age sites in East Lothian. This study sets out to move away from typology to examine the connections between these materials through their sourcing, affordances (signative and pragmatic), design, manufacture, use and deposition. In addition to the archaeological evidence, a range of analytical methods are employed; including laser scanning confocal microscopy, raman spectroscopy, and residue and isotopic analysis. It becomes evident that the materials studied, despite their predominantly local availability, were invested with meaning in appropriation, making, and were deliberately curated and maintained in use, assembling rich personal biographies. Identities were tied up with making, using and depositing of materials in turn embodying beliefs of fertility, renewal and productivity which were central to Iron Age cosmology, continuing into the Roman Iron Age. These results contribute to our understanding of the construction and practice of society in the Iron Age of Britain, with implications for how we may design our own 21st Century material worlds. It is proposed that social relations in the Iron Age of south-east Scotland were heterarchical.

The increased demand for biofuels is expected to put additional strain on the available agricultural resources while at the same time causing environmental degradation. Hence, new energy policies need to be formulated and implemented in order to meet global energy needs while reducing the impact of biofuels farming and production. This research focuses on proving a decision support system which can aid the formulation of policies for the sustainable biofuel production. The system seeks to address policy formulation that requires reconciliation of the qualitative aspects of decision making (such as stakeholder’s viewpoints) with quantitative data, which often may be imprecise. To allow this, based on: Fuzzy logic and Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) in the form of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Using these concepts, three software functionalities, “Options vs. Fuzzy Criteria Matrix”, “Analytical Hierarchy Process” and “Fuzzy AHP” were developed. These were added within the framework of pre-existing base software, Compendium (developed by the Open University, UK). A number of case study based models have been investigated using the software. These models made use of data from the Philippines and India in order to pinpoint suitable land and crop options for these countries. The models based on AHP and Fuzzy AHP were very successful in identifying suitable crop options for India by capturing both the stakeholder viewpoints and quantitative data. The software functionalities are very effective in scenario planning and selection of policies that would be beneficial in achieving a desired future scenario. The models further revealed that the newly developed software correctly identified many of the important issues in a consistent manner.

Food wastage represents a massive issue in today's society. It impacts the environment (e.g., climate change, resources depletion, biodiversity loss), society (e.g. food security), and the global economy. All the stakeholders could change systemically to transition towards the circular economy. Corporates must involve leadership, employees, suppliers, and consumers to build a more efficient and resilient system where waste and by-products generation is limited. The unavoidable waste could be valorized to new raw materials to reduce the environmental impact of their disposal. This thesis focuses on Barilla (the Italian food company since 1877) and its willingness to valorize by-products (e.g. bread crust), maximizing all aspects of sustainability: economy, ecology, and social equity. First, the author formed an Upcycling Team, an inter-functional group of voluntaries, to define Barilla's criteria for by-products valorization. Afterwards, the Team screened the possible bread crust valorization options (e.g. food product, beer, and animal feed production) using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a decision-making tool that allows selecting the best alternative under conflicting criteria. The method's strength is the ability to judge the elements in pairs and use qualitative evaluation. The AHP suggested that producing a food product (e.g. rusk) is the most sustainable option. Furthermore, the author carried out a partial Life Cycle Assessment to compare the global warming potential (GWP) of the production of upcycled rusk to animal feed accounting for the avoided production of the standard products. She demonstrated that producing upcycled rusks using 1 kg of bread crust results in greater net-reduction of GHG emissions than upcycled animal feed. These findings may push Barilla to implement an upcycled food product designed by adopting the eco-design approach to implement a sustainable food product from its raw materials to its end-of-life.

abstract: Commercial buildings in the United States account for 19% of the total energy consumption annually. Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which serves as the benchmark for all the commercial buildings provides critical input for EnergyStar models. Smart energy management technologies, sensors, innovative demand response programs, and updated versions of certification programs elevate the opportunity to mitigate energy-related problems (blackouts and overproduction) and guides energy managers to optimize the consumption characteristics. With increasing advancements in technologies relying on the ‘Big Data,' codes and certification programs such as the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) evaluates during the pre-construction phase. It is mostly carried out with the assumed quantitative and qualitative values calculated from energy models such as Energy Plus and E-quest. However, the energy consumption analysis through Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) is not commonly used by energy managers to perform complete implementation, causing the need for better energy analytic framework. The dissertation utilizes Interval Data (ID) and establishes three different frameworks to identify electricity losses, predict electricity consumption and detect anomalies using data mining, deep learning, and mathematical models. The process of energy analytics integrates with the computational science and contributes to several objectives which are to 1. Develop a framework to identify both technical and non-technical losses using clustering and semi-supervised learning techniques. 2. Develop an integrated framework to predict electricity consumption using wavelet based data transformation model and deep learning algorithms. 3. Develop a framework to detect anomalies using ensemble empirical mode decomposition and isolation forest algorithms. With a thorough research background, the first phase details on performing data analytics on the demand-supply database to determine the potential energy loss reduction potentials. Data preprocessing and electricity prediction framework in the second phase integrates mathematical models and deep learning algorithms to accurately predict consumption. The third phase employs data decomposition model and data mining techniques to detect the anomalies of institutional buildings.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2017

Yes
The digital transformation is an accumulation of various digital advancements, such as the transformation of the web phenomenon. The participatory web that allows for active user engagement and gather intelligence has been widely recognised as a value add tool by organisations of all shapes and sizes to improve business productivity and efficiency. However, its ability to facilitate sustainable business-to-business (B2B) activities has lacked focus in the business and management literature to date. This qualitative research is exploratory in nature and fills this gap through findings arising from interviews of managers and by developing taxonomies that highlight the capability of participatory web over passive web to enable different firms to engage in business operations. For this purpose, two important interrelated functions of business i.e. operations and marketing have been mapped against three dimensions of sustainability. Consequently, this research demonstrates the ability of big data and social media analytics within a participatory web environment to enable B2B organisations to become profitable and remain sustainable through strategic operations and marketing related business activities. The research findings will be useful for both academics and managers who are interested in understanding and further developing the business use of participatory web tools to achieve business sustainability. Hence, this may be considered as a distinct way of attaining sustainability.

abstract: Given the importance of buildings as major consumers of resources worldwide, several organizations are working avidly to ensure the negative impacts of buildings are minimized. The U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is one such effort to recognize buildings that are designed to achieve a superior performance in several areas including energy consumption and indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The primary objectives of this study are to investigate the performance of LEED certified facilities in terms of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction with IEQ, and introduce a framework to assess the performance of LEED certified buildings. This thesis attempts to achieve the research objectives by examining the LEED certified buildings on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus in Tempe, AZ, from two complementary perspectives: the Macro-level and the Micro-level. Heating, cooling, and electricity data were collected from the LEED-certified buildings on campus, and their energy use intensity was calculated in order to investigate the buildings' actual energy performance. Additionally, IEQ occupant satisfaction surveys were used to investigate users' satisfaction with the space layout, space furniture, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting level, acoustic quality, water efficiency, cleanliness and maintenance of the facilities they occupy. From a Macro-level perspective, the results suggest ASU LEED buildings consume less energy than regional counterparts, and exhibit higher occupant satisfaction than national counterparts. The occupant satisfaction results are in line with the literature on LEED buildings, whereas the energy results contribute to the inconclusive body of knowledge on energy performance improvements linked to LEED certification. From a Micro-level perspective, data analysis suggest an inconsistency between the LEED points earned for the Energy & Atmosphere and IEQ categories, on one hand, and the respective levels of energy consumption and occupant satisfaction on the other hand. Accordingly, this study showcases the variation in the performance results when approached from different perspectives. This contribution highlights the need to consider the Macro-level and Micro-level assessments in tandem, and assess LEED building performance from these two distinct but complementary perspectives in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the actual building performance.
Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis Engineering 2015

In Ethiopia, agriculture accounts for 85% of the total employment, and the country’s export entirely relies on agricultural commodities. The country is continuously affected by chronic food shortage. In the last 40 years, the country’s population have almost tripled; and more agricultural productivity is required to support the livelihood of millions of citizens. As reported by various research, Ethiopia needs to address a number of policy and strategic priorities to improve agriculture; however, in-efficient agriculture supply chain for the supply of input is identified as one of the significant challenges to develop agricultural productivity in the country. The research problem that interest this thesis is to understand Big Data Analytics’ (BDA) potential in achieving better Agriculture Input Supply Chain in Ethiopia. Based on this, we conducted a basic qualitative study to understand the expectations of Supply Chain Management (SCM) professionals, the requirements for the potential applications of Big Data Analytics - and the implications of applying the same from the perspectives of SCM professionals in Ethiopia. The findings of the study suggest that BDA may bring operational and strategic benefit to agriculture input supply chain in Ethiopia, and the application of BDA may have positive implication to agricultural productivity and food security in the country. The findings of this study are not generalizable beyond the participants interviewed.

abstract: Resilience is emerging as the preferred way to improve the protection of infrastructure systems beyond established risk management practices. Massive damages experienced during tragedies like Hurricane Katrina showed that risk analysis is incapable to prevent unforeseen infrastructure failures and shifted expert focus towards resilience to absorb and recover from adverse events. Recent, exponential growth in research is now producing consensus on how to think about infrastructure resilience centered on definitions and models from influential organizations like the US National Academy of Sciences. Despite widespread efforts, massive infrastructure failures in 2017 demonstrate that resilience is still not working, raising the question: Are the ways people think about resilience producing resilient infrastructure systems? This dissertation argues that established thinking harbors misconceptions about infrastructure systems that diminish attempts to improve their resilience. Widespread efforts based on the current canon focus on improving data analytics, establishing resilience goals, reducing failure probabilities, and measuring cascading losses. Unfortunately, none of these pursuits change the resilience of an infrastructure system, because none of them result in knowledge about how data is used, goals are set, or failures occur. Through the examination of each misconception, this dissertation results in practical, new approaches for infrastructure systems to respond to unforeseen failures via sensing, adapting, and anticipating processes. Specifically, infrastructure resilience is improved by sensing when data analytics include the modeler-in-the-loop, adapting to stress contexts by switching between multiple resilience strategies, and anticipating crisis coordination activities prior to experiencing a failure. Overall, results demonstrate that current resilience thinking needs to change because it does not differentiate resilience from risk. The majority of research thinks resilience is a property that a system has, like a noun, when resilience is really an action a system does, like a verb. Treating resilience as a noun only strengthens commitment to risk-based practices that do not protect infrastructure from unknown events. Instead, switching to thinking about resilience as a verb overcomes prevalent misconceptions about data, goals, systems, and failures, and may bring a necessary, radical change to the way infrastructure is protected in the future.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2018

Most theories that attempt to describe the relationship between corporate sustainability strategies and a company’s triple bottom line also make the assumption that there is insufficient evidence to produce generalizable conclusions. This study contributes to the overall body of knowledge, as there is a lack of significant generalizable knowledge on corporate sustainability strategies and a company’s triple bottom line. To provide a methodologically more rigorous review, we performed a meta-analysis on 18 scholarly articles from top-tier academic journals containing 64 experimental treatments that measured an observed (not self-reported) behavioural outcome, which yielded a sample size of 23,871 observations. Most studies combined multiple treatments, which preclude definitive conclusions on the most effective treatments. The findings suggest that there is a positive medium to strong relationship between sustainability-oriented strategies, for both reactive and proactive behaviours (Dyllick et al., 1997; Gminder et al., 2002), and a company’s “triple bottom line.” Furthermore, regardless of the firm type (e.g., multinational corporation or local establishment, emerging economy firm or developed nation business), proactive sustainability-oriented strategies tend to have a higher payoff than firms that adopt reactive sustainability-oriented strategies. This meta-analysis establishes a greater degree of certainty with respect to corporate sustainability strategies and a firm’s triple bottom line relationship than currently assumed by many business scholars. To conclude, the sustainability concept has significantly expanded the scope of measuring organizational performance according to economic, social, and environmental components (Robins, 2006), which are collectively described as the “triple bottom line.” Organizations have determined that specific products and processes can have serious environmental and social implications beyond providing typical economic benefits (Sarkis, 2001). Based on the results of this study, companies should develop more diversified sustainability strategies that will help them to identify and capture value (McMullen, 2001). The results demonstrate that sustainability can provide companies with a strategic advantage, which is vital for the organization’s long-term viability and success (Orlitzky et al., 2003). This study also examines the balance between reasonable return on investment and long-term organizational viability, which greatly impacts organizational decision-makers that contend with numerous stakeholder issues, pressure from environmental agencies, and increased social consciousness that affects workers, consumers, and communities. It supports the conclusion that being proactive in responding to these conflicting pressures and barriers helps organizations to achieve higher levels of performance.

碩士
國立體育大學
休閒產業經營學系
103
Over the past century, the operation of BOT operation mode (Build-Operate-Transfer) is a global trend under the government tight budget and manpower policy. The National Museum of Marine Science & Technology (NMMST) in Keelung is a national museum for marine. It follows the operation mode of the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarum (NMMBA) in Ping Dong as a model and entrusts the Cyaquamarine Company to take over the business of the special permission for 29 years. It is just over a year since opening. The NMMST has to make the private company profitable and maintain the harmony between the public and private departments. Under the win-win situation, it will be helpful for the sustainability of BOT operation mode. This study is aimed to discuss the sustainability of BOT operation mode in NMMST with Analytic Hierarchy Process Method for the gravity, including environment, economic, social and cultural. Experts and scholars will be investigated through these factors by the AHP questionnaire. The result is that environment is the priority in this study for both administration and enterprise, followed by cultural, economic and social. The study results will be a reference for operations of those BOT public facilities in the future.

This study was aimed at analysing communal land use management practices and policies towards sustainability and climate resilience. The objectives of this study were to assess rainfall variability, climate change impact, adaptation practices and impediment factors for adaptation on the one hand and, on the other, analysing the pressure, scrutinising the sustainability of institutional practices, and assessing policy setting and its application status in managing communal lands. To conduct the study, a household survey, key informant interviews and group discussions were used. It employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. For analysis, rainfall variability trend analysis, different empirical formulas, Principal Component Analysis and analysis of variance were used. In addition, Qualitative Content Analysis technique and descriptive statistical tools were also used. The study found that there was spatiotemporal rainfall variability. About 18 extreme wet and 8 extreme dry events were depicted out of 194 frequencies of events. The most outstanding manifestations of climate change/variability impacts identified were: water scarcity, migration, severe erosion and feed scarcity. Applying biophysical measures on communal lands, practicing area enclosure and constraction of feeder road were moderately excersised adaptation and mitigation practices while, low level community awareness was the most outstanding barrier for community adaptation. Besides, feed source and fuel biomass energy did not satisfy community demand. Government recognition to support community user groups, the existence of community labour contribution and congruence between government legislation and community by-laws were found moderately strong. Besides, communal land administration and use of legislative setting and instruments to govern land administration were adequately in place to implement communal land use and management. However, workability of by-laws in applying them at the ground was a major weakness. In conclusion, the study revealed that there exist generally a weak communal land use management practices and policy implementation towards enhancing sustainability and climate resilience. Hence, the following recommendations were forwarded: enhancing community awareness, encouraging communities to establish their own private woodlots and grazing areas to reduce the pressure on communal land, applying proper communal land resource use and management plans and certifying communal lands with demarcation and maps should be given due emphasis to enhance sustainability. Moreover, policy and legislation evaluation and revision to improve its application at the ground is fundamental. On top of this, further research endeavour is still paramount important to scrutinize the integral effects of the biophysical, social, cultural and legislative dimensions for better sustainable and climate resilient communal land use management practices and policy implementation
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Ph. D. (Environmental Management)

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and sustainability are inextricably linked. SEA can be used to assess the sustainability impacts of plan, program and policy (PPP) initiatives, inform decision-making with regard to sustainability issues and promote the trickle down of sustainability principles to project level assessment, among others. However, in terms of energy sector practice in particular, SEA application is neither well applied nor understood, there has been insufficient evidence of the operationalization of sustainability in SEA and little research showing how SEA might provide a systematic framework for the integration of sustainability principles. As a result, this thesis examines the relationship between SEA and sustainability, with the goal of understanding how sustainability principles and criteria can be integrated and operationalized in the development of energy futures. The thesis chapters are manuscript based. The first manuscript presents a literature review of ten years of academic research examining how SEA facilitates the integration of sustainability in PPP development decision making, while the second and third manuscripts focus on a ‘state of practice’ examination of SEA application and sustainability integration in international electricity sector case practice. The fourth manuscript applies a structured SEA framework that operationalizes sustainability principles using an expert-based assessment of alternative future scenarios for electricity development in Saskatchewan, along with an examination of implications for both electricity sector practice and SEA methodology. Finally, the conclusion discusses the major findings from the four manuscripts and identifies challenges for the operationalization of sustainability, the adoption of good-practice SEA elements in practice and makes recommendations for future SEA guidance and academic research. Overall, the lack of operationalization of sustainability in energy sector SEA suggests the need for improved SEA methodology and guidance that describes the scope of and approaches to sustainability in SEA and outlines how to effectively incorporate sustainability in SEA practice. In order for SEA to deliver on its sustainability mandate, impact assessment methodologies that allow for clarification of both the concept of sustainability and the uncertainty surrounding higher level policy, plan and program (PPP) decision-making need to be developed and more widely adopted. Lessons learned from practice that describe the appropriate use of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies also need to be better disseminated and shared amongst the SEA research and practitioner community. However, results from this research also illustrate that there is still inconsistent application of SEA processes, which likely stems from uncertainty and confusion on behalf of practitioners and decision-makers as to what the role and purpose of SEA is in PPP development. More case-practice evidence of SEA application is needed that demonstrates the purpose and benefits of SEA for sustainability in a variety of decision-making contexts. Evidence from this research also shows that tiering, both upward to higher PPP levels and downward to the project level, is occurring in some electricity sector SEAs. That SEA outcomes are potentially tiering upward to influence the development of legislation is a finding that counters the often-cited notion that tiering in SEA is idealistic. This research indicates the need for additional focus on institutional arrangements that allow for SEA application to effectively inform and influence PPP decision-making in support of sustainability. The need for SEA as a higher order assessment process to capture regional and strategic impacts is becoming increasingly important in light of current federal legislation that eliminates environmental impact assessment requirements for many small-scale projects. However, although SEA emerged, in part, to inform and direct decisions made at the project level, the link between SEA, sustainability and operational decisions still remains elusive in practice.

Throughout recent years, environmental perils have increased and awareness regarding such dangers has improved proportionally. In light of the growing concerns, and coupled with fiercer competition and legislation, product based solutions to meet present and future needs have been deemed insufficient to ensure the planet’s survival. Thus, the birth of integrated product-service offerings, where the product is associated to add-on services, enhancing its performance and achieving higher levels of value for the customer, as well as the manufacturer, with embedded ecological advantages. The service-oriented perspective of delivering solutions is known as Product-Service Systems (PSSs). However, despite advances in acknowledging the benefits that lie in adopting a PSS to answer consumer needs, a formal approach to developing PSS solutions is absent. This dissertation investigates the integration of product design and service design strategies into product-service offerings: overall processes for this integration are present, but the intricate steps of each phase are missing. A literature review examines the most dominant design approaches, as well as design frameworks to structure the PSS design process. The outcome of the review led to the absence of a generic design framework as existing design approaches and processes seemed adapted to a specific context and field. From the examination of the respective literature, we present a four-stage design process, entitled the Functional-Engineered Product-Service System (FEPSS) model, built on a design science approach. Ideation and task analysis, conceptual design, embodiment design, and validation and release are thoroughly detailed with the appropriate tools to define the elements of a PSS. The research then concentrates on the first two stages as they represent the core of PSS design and development process. Ideation and task analysis highlight the use of qualitative tools to define customer requirements, as well as quantitative ones, such as the Kano model, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), the fuzzy logic, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize these requirements and define the value-creating ones as the basis of the PSS design. Conceptual design presents two approaches to define PSS concepts. The first consists of a functional decomposition approach based on adapting morphological matrices (MMs) to a product-service extending traditional MMs to include the service elements and selection of stakeholders in a product-service integrated setting. The choice of the concept is determined according to a life cycle modelling that illustrates the environmental impact of the proposed concept(s) and compares it/them to the existing offering. The second opts for the QFD for PSS tool augmented by fuzzy logic and the AHP to determine the product and service components of the PSS. Then, the use of Axiomatic Design (AD) shows how a functional decomposition and QFD for PSS can be used to develop PSS modules. Four case studies conducted in the agricultural and biomedical field illustrate the use of the FEPSS and, in particular, its first two phases. The results achieved show the potential of such an approach when implementing a PSS approach, especially in the case of a manufacturer that wants to shift from producing products to providing integrated product-service offerings. At the same time, from a more general perspective, the research work highlighted the benefits of PSSs as they allow the achievement of more sustainable solutions without decreasing the customer values.

[EN] The dilemma of development and sustainability in the local context generates multiple interests and concerns. This dissertation arises from the challenge proposed by both concepts in the framework of decision making for urban planning. Its development has been guided by two main motivations. The first and most important is to discuss sustainable development in a context where little had been said, responding to how to improve the practices used for the prioritisation of actions during the planning stages of local development projects, taking as a case study the city of Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). The second, on the other hand, responds to the interest of contributing to the field of multicriteria decision making techniques. The objective is to design a methodology to help those responsible for territorial planning to evaluate development strategies and projects. In particular, it focuses on the participation of different stakeholders and on the approach to sustainable local development. Therefore, the general research question is: how can a participatory multicriteria methodology help to evaluate local development projects with a sustainable approach? To answer this research question the present dissertation, of an exploratory and descriptive nature, has been designed, and developed from the application of three cases of iterative and complementary studies. The objective has been to propose a framework that systematically allows the taking of decisions and the integration of diverse positions, without trying to find a unique solution with the best decision model. The proposed methodology has been developed from the combination of two techniques known from the field of Operations Research, Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Social Network Analysis (SNA). SNA is used to find out how the network of actors related to a problem is structured, to study and evaluate the relationships between the actors that make it up, to determine their degree of cohesion, the actors in the most relevant positions and the existing structural gaps. All of this permits the selection of participants in the decision making process carried out through ANP. ANP is a wellknown multicriteria decision method, which provides a framework for addressing decision making or problem assessment. It defines a prioritisation model as a network with complex, interdependent and feedback relationships between elements. The elements represent characteristics, requirements, conditions or criteria related to a problem, as well as possible alternative solutions. ANP is used to discover the opinions of the participants, to obtain their decision profiles and to reach a consensus on the prioritisation of projects and strategies. Additionally, this methodological proposal, based on the SNA-ANP combination, can be completed with other techniques, for example, geographic information systems to add some components that improve the decision. The results suggest that this SNA-ANP methodology is a novel and useful combination for evaluating local development plans with a multicriteria, sustainable and participatory approach. The results establish a basis for proposing new applications and generating new discussions with the local administration and other actors. With the inclusion of the local and sustainable development approach in the decision framework, throughout this dissertation, the value of different heritages is highlighted, as is the promotion of a more adapted strategic planning and the recognition and inclusion of multiple groups of actors. In addition, the use of practical and replicable methodologies that account for the results is promoted, to be applied at different scales, in order to improve planning and prioritisation of actions. The proposal has considered the dimensions of sustainability in decision models, the active participation of decision-makers and a better selection of participants. In short, it has facilitated the construction of a more participatory decision making process. Finally, it also allows us to explore future applications and to continue the discussion related to the problem of decision making during the planning and evaluation stages of strategic projects, whether for local sustainable development or for other types of objectives.
[ES] El dilema del desarrollo y la sostenibilidad en el contexto local genera múltiples intereses e inquietudes. Esta disertación surge entorno al desafío propuesto por ambos conceptos en el marco de la toma de decisiones para la planeación urbana. Su desarrollo se ha orientado a partir de dos motivaciones principales. La primera y más importante es discutir sobre desarrollo sostenible en un contexto en el que se había hablado poco, respondiendo a cómo mejorar las prácticas utilizadas para la priorización de acciones durante las etapas de planeación de proyectos de desarrollo local, tomando como objeto de estudio la ciudad de Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). La segunda, por su parte, responde al interés por contribuir en el campo de las técnicas de toma de decisiones multicriterio. El objetivo es diseñar una metodología para ayudar a los responsables de la planificación territorial a evaluar estrategias y proyectos de desarrollo. En particular, se centra en la participación de diferentes partes interesadas y en el enfoque al desarrollo local sostenible. Por lo tanto, la pregunta general de investigación es: ¿Cómo puede una metodología multicriterio participativa ayudar a evaluar proyectos de desarrollo local con un enfoque sostenible? Para responder a esta pregunta de investigación se ha diseñado la presente disertación, de naturaleza exploratoria y descriptiva, desarrollada a partir de la aplicación de tres casos de estudios iterativos y complementarios. El objetivo ha sido proponer un marco que de forma sistemática permita tomar decisiones e integrar diversas posiciones, sin pretender hallar una solución única con el mejor modelo de decisión. La metodología propuesta se ha construido a partir de la combinación de dos técnicas conocidas del campo de la Investigación de Operaciones, el Proceso Analítico en Red (ANP) y el Análisis de Redes Sociales (SNA). El SNA se utiliza para conocer cómo se estructura la red de actores relacionados con un problema, estudiar y evaluar las relaciones entre los actores que la componen, determinar su grado de cohesión, los actores en posiciones más relevantes y los vacíos estructurales existentes. Todo ello permite seleccionar a los participantes en el proceso de toma de decisiones realizado a través del ANP. El ANP es un conocido método de decisión multicriterio, que proporciona un marco para abordar la toma de decisiones o la evaluación de problemas. Define un modelo de priorización como una red con relaciones complejas, interdependientes y retroalimentadas entre elementos. Los elementos representan características, requerimientos, condiciones o criterios relacionados con un problema, así como las posibles alternativas de solución. El ANP se utiliza para conocer las opiniones de los participantes, obtener sus perfiles de decisión y alcanzar un consenso sobre la priorización de proyectos y estrategias. Adicionalmente, esta propuesta metodológica, basada en la combinación SNA-ANP, se puede completar con otras técnicas, por ejemplo, los sistemas de información geográfica para agregar algunos componentes que mejoren la decisión. Los resultados sugieren que esta metodología SNA-ANP, es una combinación novedosa y útil para evaluar planes de desarrollo local con un enfoque multicriterio, sostenible y participativo. Los resultados establecen una base para proponer nuevas aplicaciones y generar nuevas discusiones con la administración local y otros actores. Con la inclusión del enfoque del desarrollo local y sostenible en el marco de las decisiones, a lo largo de esta disertación, se resalta el valor de distintos patrimonios, la promoción de una planeación estratégica más adaptada y el reconocimiento e inclusión de múltiples grupos de actores. Además, se promueve el uso de metodologías prácticas y replicables que den cuenta de los resultados, para ser aplicadas a diferentes escalas, con el fin de mejorar la planeación y la priorización de acciones. La propuesta ha considerado las dimensiones de la sostenibilidad en los modelos de decisión, la participación activa de los decisores y una mejor selección de los participantes. En síntesis, ha facilitado la construcción de un proceso de decisión más participativo. Finalmente, también permite explorar futuras aplicaciones y continuar la discusión relacionada con el problema de la toma de decisiones durante las etapas de planeación y evaluación de proyectos estratégicos sean para el desarrollo local sostenible o para otro tipo de objetivos.
[CA] El dilema del desenvolupament i la sostenibilitat en el context local genera múltiples interessos i inquietuds. Aquesta dissertació sorgeix entorn al desafiament proposat per ambdós conceptes en el marc de la presa de decisions per a la planificació urbana. El seu desenvolupament s'ha orientat a partir de dues motivacions principals. La primera i més important és discutir sobre desenvolupament sostenible en un context en què s'havia parlat poc, responent a com millorar les pràctiques utilitzades per a la priorització d'accions durant les etapes de planificació de projectes de desenvolupament local, prenent com a objecte d'estudi la ciutat de Cartagena d'Índies (Colòmbia). La segona, per la seva banda, respon a l'interès per contribuir en el camp de les tècniques de presa de decisions multicriteri. L'objectiu és dissenyar una metodologia per ajudar els responsables de la planificació territorial a avaluar estratègies i projectes de desenvolupament. En particular, es centra en la participació de diferents parts interessades i en l'enfocament al desenvolupament local sostenible. Per tant, la pregunta general d'investigació és: Com pot una metodologia multicriteri participativa ajudar a avaluar projectes de desenvolupament local amb un enfocament sostenible? Per respondre a aquesta pregunta de recerca s'ha dissenyat la present dissertació, de naturalesa exploratòria i descriptiva, desenvolupada a partir de l'aplicació de tres casos d'estudi iteratius i complementaris. L'objectiu ha estat proposar un marc que de forma sistemàtica permeti prendre decisions i integrar diverses posicions, sense pretendre trobar una solució única amb el millor model de decisió. La metodologia proposada s'ha construït a partir de la combinació de dues tècniques conegudes del camp de la Investigació d'Operacions, el Procés Analític en Xarxa (ANP) i l'anàlisi de xarxes socials (SNA). El SNA s'utilitza per conèixer com s'estructura la xarxa d'actors relacionats amb un problema, estudiar i avaluar les relacions entre els actors que la componen, determinar el seu grau de cohesió, els actors en posicions més rellevants i els buits estructurals existents. Tot això permet seleccionar els participants en el procés de presa de decisions realitzat a través de l'ANP. L'ANP és un conegut mètode de decisió multicriteri, que proporciona un marc per abordar la presa de decisions o l'avaluació de problemes. Defineix un model de priorització com una xarxa amb relacions complexes, interdependents i retroalimentades entre elements. Els elements representen característiques, requeriments, condicions o criteris relacionats amb un problema, així com les possibles alternatives de solució. El ANP s'utilitza per conèixer les opinions dels participants, obtenir els seus perfils de decisió i arribar a un consens sobre la priorització de projectes i estratègies. Addicionalment, aquesta proposta metodològica, basada en la combinació SNA-ANP, es pot completar amb altres tècniques, per exemple, els sistemes d'informació geogràfica per afegir alguns components que millorin la decisió. Els resultats suggereixen que aquesta metodologia SNA-ANP, és una combinació innovadora i útil per avaluar plans de desenvolupament local amb un enfocament multicriteri, sostenible i participatiu. Els resultats estableixen una base per proposar noves aplicacions i generar noves discussions amb l'administració local i altres actors. Amb la inclusió de l'enfocament del desenvolupament local i sostenible en el marc de les decisions, al llarg d'aquesta dissertació, es ressalta el valor de diferents patrimonis, la promoció d'una planificació estratègica més adaptada i el reconeixement i inclusió de múltiples grups d'actors . A més, es promou l'ús de metodologies pràctiques i replicables que donin compte dels resultats, per ser aplicades a diferents escales, per tal de millorar la planificació i la priorització d'accions. La proposta ha considerat les dimensions de la sostenibilitat en els models de decisió, la participació activa dels decisors i una millor selecció dels participants. En síntesi, ha facilitat la construcció d'un procés de decisió més participatiu. Finalment, també permet explorar futures aplicacions i continuar la discussió relacionada amb el problema de la presa de decisions durant les etapes de planificació i avaluació de projectes estratègics siguin per al desenvolupament local sostenible o per a un altre tipus d'objectius.
Gonzalez Urango, HK. (2020). A participatory multicriteria approach to evaluate strategic projects for local sustainable development [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/149490
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