Sustainable Supply Chain: A Case Study of Valmet’s Supply Chain

This study focuses on how Valmet, one of the world leaders in delivering process technologies for the pulp, paper and energy sectors, implements sustainable supply chain management practices, particularly with regard to sustainable packaging solutions. The research addresses the problem of attaining environmental and economic prosperity at the same time particularly on eliminating barriers to the implementation of sustainable packaging solutions. The research analyses Valmet’s supply chain by utilizing a qualitative case study approach, with consideration given to secondary data in the form of annual reports spanning the years of 2020 to 2024, as well as extensive review of relevant academic literature. The core research question addresses the manner in which partnerships with suppliers work to overcome barriers to the integration of sustainable supply chains, and to encourage economically viable sustainable packaging, while sub-questions explore specific challenges and ways to advance sustainable packaging implementation. The research shows six major barriers: High costs of sustainable materials, low adoption and wariness by suppliers, cumbersome regulatory needs, complex supply network limitations, limitations in materials and technology, and large CO₂ emissions. A total of seven cooperative strategies including engagement and training, joint sustainability endeavors, audits, and compliance measures, partnership coordination, common goals, innovation, and self-assessment are used in overcoming these barriers as well as advancing. Such strategies amplify the supplier responsiveness, promotes the emission reduction, facilitates regulatory standards, and streamlines operating efficiencies. The Valmet successfully brings eco-packaging into effective execution using creative means including cost-sharing in sustainability projects, educational exchange, streamlined supply chain operations, and permanent supplier partnerships without jeopardizing the financial capability. The research contributes to Sustainable Supply Chain Management literature connecting theoretical underpinnings such as the circular economy concept and international sustainability benchmark to actual industrial practice. It gives a practical set of prescriptions for Valmet to strengthen its sustainability, consistent with global environmental goals, benchmarked against other industry practice. This work adds to the literature by advising academics, policymakers and industry experts as to how they can progress sustainable supply chain practices, highlighting the need for collaborative and economically efficient techniques for ecological and financial sustainability. Further examination could use these approaches on other sectors to increase their wider use

A sociological study of Sinhala new year rituals and the functional role of women within the environmental context

The Sinhala New Year, celebrated annually on either the 13th or 14th of April, marks the beginning of the month of Bak in the Sinhala calendar. The day preceding this is the final day of the previous year, and the rituals associated with this transitional period are divided into two parts: the “Old Year” rituals and the New Year rituals. These traditions are deeply rooted in folk medicine, games, beliefs, and customs, while also showing the influence of Indian Vedic religion and deity worship.This study investigates the potential indirect connections between the origins of Sinhala New Year rituals and Indian cultural influences. The primary aim is to examine the unique characteristics of this influence and how it has been integrated and sustained within the local context, particularly in relation to ecological knowledge and traditional practices.Three sub-objectives guided this investigation:To explore the embedded local knowledge within these rituals as reflected in folk traditions. To examine how the rituals relate to human life transitions and the environmental knowledge they convey. To analyze the ecological dimensions of New Year rituals through a feminist lens. Employing a qualitative, descriptive methodology grounded in interpretivism and human-centered paradigms, data was collected through interviews with ten individuals—including astrologers, fortune tellers, researchers, and scholars—selected using snowball sampling. Thematic analysis was applied to explore key patterns related to the research objectives.The study identifies Sinhala New Year rituals as cultural practices that are intricately connected to the local natural environment. Women’s roles within these rituals are primarily centered around the family, but their functions are revealed to be multidimensional. Women act as facilitators in food production and distribution, and as providers of diverse forms of labor. They demonstrate integrated environmental knowledge rooted in everyday experience—knowledge not used merely for consumption but for planning, conserving, and sustaining resources. Rather than being passive consumers, women emerge as active agents in conservation, investment, sustainability, and productivity. They primarily utilize locally available resources such as water, food, fuel (fire wood and fire), simple tools, and physical labor in their roles

Criteria for selecting nominated subcontractors in commersial building construction / Muhandiramge Nimashi Navodana Rodrigo and Balasooriya Arachige Kanchana Shiromi Perera

Construction industry employs Nominated Subcontractors (NSCs) who may not possess the required expertise. Hence various issues tend to arise affecting the success of the project. On the other hand selection of subcontractor plays a pivotal role to project’s success. Therefore, the issues caused by these NSCs and the actions required to prevent them were identified from the literature, validated through interviews and ranked through a questionnaire survey. ‘Delays caused by subcontractor’ is ranked as the most critical issue which arises due to improper selection of NSCs. The most important action that will prevent this issue is to make the NSC’s program of Works to fall in line with Main Contractor’s program of Works. Subsequently the next most critical issue aroused due to the improper selection was recognized as subcontractor’s incompetency and the most suitable action to prevent this issue is to check subcontractor’s experience, proficiency and capacity to deliver quality work on time. Finally, selection criteria were proposed to prevent the issues arising from selection of NSCs. The most significant criteria to avoid the issue, ‘delays caused by subcontractor’ was recognized as ‘progress’. Afterwards the overall suitability of the criteria financial capacity; experience; resources; work quality; progress; design quality; site safety; general obligations were investigated. The calculated overall suitability scores of the criteria and the overall suitability bands revealed that the criteria were considered as ‘suitable’ to prevent the issue ‘subcontractor insolvency’ and for the other issues, the criteria were identified to be ‘somewhat suitable’

Scientometric analysis of global scientific literature on aging in place

© 2021 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312468The amount of literature reporting “aging-in-place” studies has increased sharply in recent decades. However, the studies have taken a global view of the range and scope of the research that has taken place. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the current status of the aging in place research themes published as scientific articles between 1970 and 2021, using the Web of Science database. VOSviewer software was employed to map and visualize the 1331 items of bibliographic data retrieved. The findings reveal a continuous growing trend in the publication of aging in place research. Most productive institutions derive from the USA. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is the most preferred Journal. The most popular research hotspots or areas include; older adults, aging, housing, dementia, long-term care, and technology, and their associations with the field of “aging in place” field were elucidated. This study offers several valuable insights to scholars, research institutions, and policymakers, enabling a better understanding of the developments in the aging in place research domain

Enhancing learning opportunities in higher education: best practices that reflect on the themes of the National Student Survey, UK

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in Quality Assurance in Education on 16/08/2021, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-01-2021-0004 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Purpose: This study assessed 'Learning Opportunities' provided to the undergraduate students, from level three to six, in Higher Education (HE). A knowledge gap was identified within the current practice relating to learning opportunities for Built Environment (BE) students in HE. The study focused on the themes under section two of the National Student Survey (NSS): how students explore ideas or concepts in-depth, bring information and ideas together from different topics, and apply the learned content in a real-life context. The study aimed to provide recommendations for enhancing 'Learning Opportunities' to the BE students within HE. Methodology: Data collection focused on section two of NSS ‘Learning Opportunities’ and documentary analysis, and a qualitative survey was adopted for this study. A documental analysis of 334 Mid Module Reviews (MMR’s) was carried out. The qualitative data was collected from level three to level six students and academics from Architecture, Construction Management, Civil Engineering and Quantity Surveying disciplines representing BE context. A sample of 40 students and 15 academics, including a Head of school, a Principal lecturer, Subject leads and lecturers, participated in interviews as part of a qualitative survey. Twelve drivers were developed using the data obtained through literature, documental analysis, and interviews. These drivers were analysed using manual content analysis to identify their influence on the specified themes under NSS section two and circulated among academics to be ranked by identifying its’ influence to promote learning opportunities to BE students in HE. Findings: This study highlighted twelve drivers which promote learning opportunities in HE within BE curriculum. Findings established that topics should be explained with more real-life or industry-orientated concepts such as simplification integrated into module delivery. Contrary to the literature, the use of physical materials (i.e. handouts and whiteboard) in addition to Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for detailed explanations were considered effective in exploring concepts. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, context-based learning needs to be promoted by integrating videos of practical implementation for better understanding. The study recognised that lab, fieldwork and tutorials were essential to apply what students have learned in BE curricula to a real-life context. Originality/Value: This study identified current learning approaches and provided recommendations to improve the BE students learning experience in HE. The identified twelve drivers would significantly help academics and academic institutions to understand how learning opportunities should be facilitated in the BE curriculum to enhance student performances in HE. Conclusion: Study identified twelve drivers that significantly contribute towards enhancing learning opportunities for BE students in the current HE context. It concludes that certain drivers should be prioritised in enhancing learning opportunities provided in BE curriculum. The study recommends that using traditional and VLE is essential to implement identified drivers and enhance the learning opportunities provided

A scientometric analysis of global scientific literature on learning resources in higher education

There is a significant increase in the literature on learning resources in Higher Education (HE) but very limited evidence of studies that have taken a global overview of the context, range, and emerging trends from the previous research. This study aims to conduct a Scientometric analysis of research articles to accommodate a global overview and research trends under the theme of learning resources in HE. 4489 scientific articles were obtained as the dataset from the Web Of Science database between 1970 and 2022. Network maps and critical data were obtained by conducting co-authorship analysis for authors, organisations and countries and co-occurrence analysis for keywords from the VOSviewer software. The study revealed that the USA had a significant research input, and Salamin, N. from the University of Lausanne was recognised as the most frequently published author. The University of Illinois, USA, has the highest contribution to research articles, and the most popular research hotspots and trends were e-learning, Education, Academic libraries, Learning resources, and Cloud computing. However, the most critical finding from the study is that there needs to be real collaboration within the research theme and suggests ways to improve collaborations to enhance learning resources in HE. This study may be the first to conduct a scientometric analysis of Learning Resources in Higher education. This study offers valuable insight to academics, academic institutions, researchers, policymakers and pedagogical statutory bodies to understand the current context of learning resources in HE and recognise further develop research, collaborations and policies by considering critical findings from the study

Potential Application of Blockchain Technology for Embodied Carbon Estimating in Construction Supply Chains

Carbon emissions are categorised as Embodied Carbon (EC) occurring in the production phase and Operational Carbon (OC) occurring in the operational phase of buildings. The current focus on producing zero-carbon buildings, emphasises reducing OC and ignores the importance of reducing EC emissions. This study focuses on EC. Methods available in EC estimating currently produce estimates that often do not complement each other. This makes it important to develop a robust and accurate methodology for estimating EC. Blockchain is an emerging technology that has significant potential for transaction processing in supply chains. The construction industry being the second least digitalised industry, the adoption of innovative technologies is predominantly important. This paper explores the potential application of blockchain for accurate estimation of EC in construction supply chains. A detailed literature review and expert interviews revealed that, compared to traditional information systems, blockchain systems could eliminate issues in EC estimating highlighting its potential credible application for EC estimating. Scalability was identified as a feature that was lacking in a blockchain system, however, for EC estimating, its impact was identified as minimal. It will be difficult to generalise the findings of the study due to interview based qualitative methodology adopted in this study along with the fact that blockchain is an emerging and fairly new technology. However, a similar process could be followed by other studies to compare blockchain with traditional information systems, to evaluate the suitability of blockchain technology to develop prototype systems

Estimating the Number of Feasible Rosterlines in Airline Individual Crew Rostering Problems

We present an exact algorithm for counting the number of feasible rosterlines in two airline crew rostering problems based on data from a large Asian airline. Taking these results, we then find formulae that give the approximate number of rosterlines given the number of employees and the approximate number of rosterlines given the number of days in the rostering period. Our main result is that one algorithm can be used to count the number of rosterlines for both problem types. Also, for the two problems types considered, the logarithm of the number of rosterlines exhibits linear growth versus the number of days in the roster period (i.e. the number of rosters grows exponentially) and linear growth with an added logarithmic term versus the number of employees

Cancer Treatment Patterns and Factors Affecting Receipt of Treatment in Older Adults: Results from the ASPREE Cancer Treatment Substudy (ACTS)

Introduction: Cancer treatment planning in older adults is complex and requires careful balancing of survival, quality of life benefits, and risk of treatment-related morbidity and toxicity. As a result, treatment selection in this cohort tends to differ from that for younger patients. However, there are very few studies describing cancer treatment patterns in older cohorts. Methods: We used data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial and the ASPREE Cancer Treatment Substudy (ACTS) to describe cancer treatment patterns in older adults. We used a multivariate logistic regression model to identify factors affecting receipt of treatment. Results: Of 1893 eligible Australian and United States (US) participants with incident cancer, 1569 (81%) received some form of cancer treatment. Non-metastatic breast cancers most frequently received treatment (98%), while haematological malignancy received the lowest rates of treatment (60%). Factors associated with not receiving treatment were older age (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.91–0.96), residence in the US (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.22–0.54), smoking (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.40–0.81), and diabetes (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.39–0.80). After adjustment for treatment patterns in sex-specific cancers, sex did not impact receipt of treatment. Conclusions: This study is one of the first describing cancer treatment patterns and factors affecting receipt of treatment across common cancer types in older adults. We found that most older adults with cancer received some form of cancer treatment, typically surgery or systemic therapy, although this varied by factors such as cancer type, age, sex, and country of residence

A strategy to manage corporate foreign exchange exposures with mutual benefits to multinationals and Asia-Pacific countries

Management of accounting exposure is often at the expense of increased transaction exposure or increased financing cost. Multinational firms want to mitigate both foreign exchange exposures and also reduce financing cost. This paper develops a model to demonstrate the potential for a comprehensive strategy which will mitigate accounting exposure without increasing transaction exposure or financing cost. The model has three main participants: multinational firms (as borrowers and business corporations), Asian-Pacific nations (as host countries), and their National Provident Funds (as lenders). The strategy involves direct local currency borrowing from National Provident Funds for multinational firms' investments in Asian-Pacific countries and the use of local currency sales revenue for servicing the debt. The strategy outlined satisfies the preferences of all the participants involved. The primary purpose of the paper is to provide a conceptual exposition of the potential, under certain conditions