Sustainable Transport Infrastructure and Economic Returns: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

Intercity Mobility Assessment Facing the Demographic Challenge: A Survey-Based Research

The key factor in moving towards a more sustainable travel model is based on improving mobility, especially in rural areas that share territorial dynamics with urban areas and are connected by a daily flow of inhabitants. The purpose of this article is to carry out a diagnosis of the daily mobility patterns of the inhabitants of a number of rural municipalities, with the aim of promoting sustainability and mitigating the phenomenon of territorial depopulation in future local planning policies. The research methodology is based on the use of revealed preference surveys together with accessibility analysis using GIS tools, allowing for an in-depth knowledge of the mobility patterns of the municipalities in the area under analysis. In this respect, the reference parameters in terms of territorial accessibility are determined by applying the network analysis procedure to basic public services. The results reflect the existence of an unbalanced modal split with a preponderance of private vehicle use (regardless of the destination or the reason for the journey). In addition, a very weak inter-municipal connection dynamic is observed. There is a knowledge gap in the verification of the long-term suitability of sustainable measures in rural areas implemented after the development of mobility plans (in order to assess their effectiveness).

Decision Support in Selecting a Reliable Strategy for Sustainable Urban Transport Based on Laplacian Energy of T-Spherical Fuzzy Graphs

Sustainable transportation has a significant impact on factors related to urban development and economic development. Therefore, much research is being undertaken to select the best strategies to manage sustainable transportation. Transportation requires a carefully designed method to manage the development of mobility modes in terms of the pollution they produce or the use of renewable energy sources. However, due to numerous preferences of decision-makers and data uncertainty problems, it is challenging to select the optimal strategy. In this paper, we focus on creating a framework for determining the best strategy for sustainable transportation management. For this purpose, T-spherical fuzzy graphs will be used, which, together with the combination of Laplacian Energy, can accurately represent decision-makers’ preferences in an uncertain environment. Due to the lack of limitations of T-spherical fuzzy graphs and its numerous membership functions, decision-makers can decide which factor seems most important for selecting the optimal sustainable transportation strategy. Additionally, due to the applicability, the SFS TOPSIS approach has been used in this approach. The obtained results demonstrate the high performance of the proposed approach and the applicability of the approach in management and sustainable transport problems.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Selenium in Drinking Water during the 1990-2021 Period: Treatment Options for Selenium Removal

A bibliometric analysis based on the Scopus database was carried out to summarize the global research related to selenium in drinking water from 1990 to 2021 and identify the quantitative characteristics of the research in this period. The results from the analysis revealed that the number of accumulated publications followed a quadratic growth, which confirmed the relevance this research topic is gaining during the last years. High research efforts have been invested to define safe selenium content in drinking water, since the insufficient or excessive intake of selenium and the corresponding effects on human health are only separated by a narrow margin. Some important research features of the four main technologies most frequently used to remove selenium from drinking water (coagulation, flocculation and precipitation followed by filtration; adsorption and ion exchange; membrane-based processes and biological treatments) were compiled in this work. Although the search of technological options to remove selenium from drinking water is less intensive than the search of solutions to reduce and eliminate the presence of other pollutants, adsorption was the alternative that has received the most attention according to the research trends during the studied period, followed by membrane technologies, while biological methods require further research efforts to promote their implementation.

Innovative Solutions for the Development of Sustainable Transport and Improvement of the Tourist Accessibility of Peripheral Areas: The Case of the Białowieża Forest Region

One of the main challenges affecting development opportunities of peripheral areas, particularly the development of tourism, includes the provision of satisfactory solutions for mobility and transport accessibility. Therefore, there is a high demand for innovative and sustainable transport solutions, which would increase the competitiveness of these regions, as well as reduce the negative impact of transport on the environment. This paper includes indications of the main directions of research on sustainable transport, the analysis of innovative solutions for improving the tourist accessibility of peripheral areas, and the development of an intermodal model of tourist mobility. The developed model was verified in terms of tourists’ needs for sustainable and innovative transport solutions. The region of the Białowieża Forest, exhibiting high potential for tourism development due to its natural values—unique at the European and global scale—was selected for verification. The Białowieża Forest was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the few cross-border World Heritage sites. The study applied heuristic research methods, including brainstorming, the Delphi method, case studies, and a diagnostic survey (421 respondents). The developed model of tourist mobility is based on the combination of the public transport network and the availability of electric bicycle and electric car rental. The survey of tourists in the region of the Białowieża Forest showed the demand for new mobile solutions, particularly in the field of e-mobility. The results of quantitative research indicate that around 40% of respondents express high and very high demand for sustainable and innovative mobile solutions, including e-mobility.

Thermal Treatment of Biomass: A Bibliometric Analysis—The Torrefaction Case

The aim of the paper was to summarize and discuss current research trends in biomass thermal treatment (torrefaction process). Quantitative analyses were carried out, in which the main countries, research units and scientists were indicated. The analysis showed a clear upward trend in number of publications after 2010. Most scientists on selected topics come from China, USA, Canada, South Korea, Republic of China, Poland (Web od Science—Core Collection (WoS-CC) and Scopus databases). Quantitative analysis also showed that the most relevant WoS-CC categories in the summary are: Energy Fuels, Engineering Chemical, Agricultural Engineering, Biotechnology Applied Microbiology and Thermodynamics and Scopus Subject area: Energy, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Science, Engineering and Chemistry. Thematic analysis included research topics, process parameters and raw materials used. Thematic groups were separated: torrefaction process (temp.: 150–400 °C), hydrothermal carbonization process (HTC) (temp: 120–500 °C), pyrolysis process (temp.: 200–650 °C) and gasification and co-combustion process (temp.: 350–1600 °C). In the years 2015–2019, current research topics were: new torrefaction technologies (e.g., HTC), improvement of the physico-mechanical, chemical and energetic properties of produced fuel as well as the use of torrefied biomass in the process of pyrolysis, gasification and co-combustion. The raw materials used in all types of biomass thermal treatment were: energy crops, wood from fast-growing and exotic trees, waste from the agri-food industry, sewage sludge and microalgae.

Developing Goals and Indicators for the Design of Sustainable and Integrated Transport Infrastructure and Urban Spaces

This paper aims to provide a framework for policy-makers and transportation and urban design professionals to evaluate alternative urban plans and infrastructure design, allowing them to select a set of locally relevant indicators to help assess scenarios considering sustainable development and overall system performance improvement in line with specific project goals. Using methods of systematic review, content analysis, multi-criteria analysis, and expert consultation, a three-level goal system is proposed, leading to the generation of 64 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), both qualitative and quantitative, and an indicator set of 227 items. To allow stakeholders to apply their own set of indicators, the approaches and tools of measuring these indicators as well as the ways of using this indicator set are presented to assist decision-makers in evaluating and choosing optimal plans and designs.

Assessing and Prioritizing the Climate Change Policy Objectives for Sustainable Development in Pakistan

The world is facing the observable and direct impacts of climate change in the shape of extreme weather events, irregular precipitation, glacial melt, sea-level rise, an asymmetric average temperature trends, higher oceanic temperatures, damage to natural ecosystems, and biodiversity. In 2015, collective wisdom stirred the global community to agree upon two unprecedented milestones in recent human history—the Paris agreement and sustainable development goals (SDGs). The twin global agreements set a platform for collective efforts to secure socio-economic and climatic sustainability. Pakistan also joined the board to put forth policy interventions for the mitigation and adaption of climate change risks to maintain symmetry between the environmental quality and economic development. The government of Pakistan (GOP) formulated the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP (2012)) and passed the Pakistan Climate Change Act (PCCA (2017)) to provide an impetus for the implementation of the NCCP. Yet, an appropriate assessment and prioritization of the objectives of the NCCP are indispensable for productive and effective policies to achieve the targets. This study serves this purpose by prioritizing the climate change policy objectives (CCPOs) based on symmetric principles, i.e., energy, transport, urban and town planning, industry, and agriculture as criteria, with 17 sub-criteria in total. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) results show that the energy sector is the most pivotal while implementing the NCCP. Energy production is the most critical area that needs mitigation policy intervention for shifting the energy mix of the economy from high-carbon to low-carbon energy. The fuzzy AHP analysis further revealed the railway, population and urbanization, air pollution, crop growing practices and techniques as the most important related to transport, urban planning, industry, and agriculture sub-criteria, respectively. The fuzzy VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) analysis showed the ranking of the CCPOs from high to low through the integration of policies, institutional capacity building, water security, natural resource management, natural disaster management, environmental financial structure development, and social sector development. The findings of the present research would be helpful for experts and policymakers to re-examine the NCCP and put forth action plans to achieve sustainable climate and SDGs.