Aim: The world has become increasingly interconnected and complex. This represents a very serious problem for sustainable development; therefore, the development of instruments that reduces ignorance as well as fragilities are required, this with the intention of being prepared to deal with unexpected events that can threaten sustainability. In this context, universities emerges as a key player since they have the responsibility to lead society towards a sustainable future through the generation of professionals, managers and decision makers which play significant roles in national and global economies; however, it seems that the talent and human resources that are being generated lack the capacity to face these complex problems. This research aims to identify if teaching interventions, applied to engineering students, produces changes on students perception about business sustainability and sustainable development and, as consequence, identify if the creation of necessary cognitive capabilities for the solution of complex problems that can lead us to collapse scenarios can be produced on students. Design / Research methods: Questionnaires were applied in a Mexican university. The experiment consists of three phases: (1) a pre-test (n=337), (2) intervention and (3) a post-test (n=329) to see the differences after the interventions. Analysis has been carried out based in hypothesis testing through z-test in order to identify significative changes among the two samples. Conclusions / findings: Changes in the students' perception were observed. This means that the conditions for teaching sustainable development and sustainable business in this case of study can potentially contribute to creating in students the cognitive capabilities necessary to contribute to business sustainability. The results must be threated carefully; nevertheless, they provide the basis for further research. Originality / value of the article: This paper makes substantial and original contributions to knowledge in the field through empirical approach; provide a unique and explorative perspective of the situation of current conditions for teaching sustainable development and sustainable business and presents potential contributions in to the creation of students with the awareness and capacities to solve the complex problems of sustainable development
Abstract-In this paper we present two algorithms that automatically calculate linear expressions for Time Series. To estimate the maximum number of terms of the linear expression and the intervals in which the series coefficients vary, the algorithms are based in the Box-Jenkins methodology. With this information and establishing beforehand the number of terms that are required, the Self Adaptive Genetic Algorithms are applied in several stages to obtain the series model. The proposed algorithms were tested in the Box-Jenkins classical examples, obtaining satisfactory results. It is worth it to mention that these algorithms allow treating series with time-dependent trends and variances. The methodology based on Self Adaptive Genetic Algorithms is used to estimate linear models for every example of NN3 2007, although in this paper we are presenting only the results of NN3-REDUCED.
Abstract: Aim: This paper presents a waste stream exploratory study with the purpose of identifying opportunity gaps to reduce environmental and health risks within the household waste stream in a small rural population in Northwestern Mexico by following the waste management hierarchy. Design / Research methods: The study consisted of three phases. Firstly, a one-stage cluster sampling was conducted to characterize the household waste in this rural population. A cluster in this study was a block. There were 54 clusters, but only 40 with occupied houses. The clusters were selected by simple random sampling. During the second phase of this study, a survey was conducted to examine the waste management practices of the residents of sampled houses. Considering that 51 were the habited houses in the sampled clusters, a simple random sampling for finite populations was selected. Finally, a quadrat sampling method was conducted. The total area of the municipal landfill site was divided into black and white quadrats. The white color was represented by tails while the black color was represented by heads. The color of the sampled quadrats was selected after 50 flip virtual coins for true randomness. Conclusions/findings: Findings in this study indicate the willingness of the inhabitants in this rural location to participate in source reduction initiatives. Findings also showed that organic waste was the predominant material in the household waste composition. Therefore, there are opportunities to enhance composting at home or even implement a community composting program. The riskier situations revealed by this study were observed at the landfill site where air emissions and leachate occurred. Originality/value of the article: Based on the waste stream analysis, there are some opportunities to reduce the environmental and health risks in a small rural zone in Northwestern Mexico. In this regard, this study can serve as an example to analyze and compare sustainable opportunities in other rural zones around the world. Keywords: Waste management, Rural Development, Landfill, Waste Stream Analysis. JEL: Q510, Q530, R110
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