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This paper aims to describe the selection of the ideal variable inlet concept group by using results of aerodynamic investigations, system safety analyses and integration studies.

Aerodynamic and functional inlet requirements are explained and variable inlet concept groups are introduced. The concept evaluation by means of a weighted point rating is presented. The respective concept groups are analysed and evaluated regarding economic, functional and safety requirements.

By means of this evaluation, the concept group that adjusts the inlet geometry by rigid segment repositioning is identified as most suitable concept group.

The early selection of the most suitable concept group enables more detailed subsequent concept investigations, potentially enabling the technology of variable inlets for future commercial aircraft.

This paper aims to demonstrate methods that sustainability-conscious brands can use to include their primary producers in the measurement and reporting of the environment and sustainability performance of their supply chains. It explores three questions: How can farm businesses provide information required in sustainability reporting? What are the challenges and opportunities experienced in preparing and presenting the information? What future research and policy instruments might be needed to resolve these issues.

This study identifies and describes methods to provide the farm-level information needed for environmental performance and sustainability reporting frameworks. It demonstrates them by compiling natural capital accounts and environmental performance information for two wool producers in the grassy woodland biome of Eastern Australia; the contrasting history and management of these producers would be expected to result in different environmental performances.

The authors demonstrated an approach to NC accounting that is suitable for including primary producers in environmental performance reporting of supply chains and that can communicate whether individual producers are sustaining, improving or degrading their NC. Measurements suitable for informing farm management and for the estimation of supply chain performance can simultaneously produce information useful for aggregation to regional and national assessments.

The methods used should assist sustainability-conscious supply chains to more accurately assess the environmental performance of their primary producers and to use these assessments in selective sourcing strategies to improve supply chain performance. Empirical measures of environmental performance and natural capital have the potential to enable evaluation of the effectiveness of sustainability accounting frameworks in inducing businesses to reduce their environmental impacts and improve the condition of the natural capital they depend on.

Two significant social implications exist for the inclusion of primary producers in the sustainability and environmental performance reporting of supply chains. Firstly, it presently takes considerable time and expense for producers to prepare this information. Governments and members of the supply chain should acknowledge the value of this information to their organisations and consider sharing some of the cost of its preparation with primary producers. Secondly, the “additionality” requirement commonly present in existing frameworks may perversely exclude already high-performing producers from being recognised. The methods proposed in this paper provide a way to resolve this.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to describe detailed methods of collecting data for natural capital accounting and environmental performance reporting for individual farms and the first to compile the information and present it in a manner coherent with the Kering EP&L and the UN SEEA EA. The authors believe that this will make a significant contribution to the development of fair and standardised ways of measuring individual farm performance and the performance of food, beverage and apparel supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the design and experimental work of compliant wing and wingtip morphing devices conducted within the EU FP7 project NOVEMOR and to demonstrate that the optimization tools developed can be used to synthesize compliant morphing devices.

The compliant morphing devices were “designed-through-optimization”, with the optimization algorithms including Simplex optimization for composite compliant skin design, aerodynamic shape optimization able to take into account the structural behaviour of the morphing skin, continuum-based and load path representation topology optimization methods and multi-objective optimization coupled with genetic algorithm for compliant internal substructure design. Low-speed subsonic wind tunnel testing was performed as an effective means of demonstrating proof-of-concept.

It was found that the optimization tools could be successfully implemented in the manufacture and testing stage. Preliminary insight into the performance of the compliant structure has been made during the first wind tunnel tests.

The tools in this work further the development of morphing structures, which when implemented in aircraft have potential implications to environmentally friendlier aircrafts.

The key innovations in this paper include the development of a composite skin optimization tool for the design of highly 3D morphing wings and its ensuing manufacture process; the development of a continuum-based topology optimization tool for shape control design of compliant mechanisms considering the stiffness and displacement functions; the use of a superelastic material for the compliant mechanism; and wind tunnel validation of morphing wing devices based on compliant structure technology.

This paper will describe how methods developed in structural dynamics may be used to solve a problem of microsystem technologies. In microsystem simulation, determination of the physical properties is of considerable interest. The method of thermal wave measurement is often used today to describe the thermal behaviour of microstructures. The simulation of thermal wave effects based on thermal mode vectors and followed by a sensitivity analysis enables the correction of primarily estimated thermal parameters by fitting calculated results with measured information. Model description and sensitivity analysis offer an effective tool for determining thermal parameters by thermal wave measurement in a fast and clear manner. Thermal wave measurement, simulation and sensitivity analysis together may be used for device design as well as for testing.

A recent body of research in crisis communications suggests that risk awareness and negative affect concerning a risk may be separate psychological constructs. These constructs may have independent and combined implications for crisis communication practitioners, in terms of message placement and audience responses. Making affected audiences aware of the nature of a risk, and coupling this awareness with an appropriate degree of negative affect, may be critical in motivating individuals to take action to protect themselves. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the above issues.

In order to explore the best outlets for inducing risk awareness and appropriate levels of negative affect, an experimental study explored the influence of print, video, and combined messages on these factors. The experiment also examined whether or not order of presentation of print and video messages would be relevant.

The findings indicate that the use of organization-produced messages placed in print media may reduce negative affect, while the order of presentation in multimedia approaches may have little effect on either construct. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for those crafting public messages concerning developing crises, while suggesting that organizations must consider the highly arousing nature of televised risk messages when informing and persuading the public.

This study moves the literature a step forward by offering an empirical assessment of the value of an organizational message in reducing negative affect. It moves beyond past studies exploring the combined impact of risk awareness and affect by examining their relationship with placement strategy, and does so by measuring actual audience reactions.

Retailing has developed from independent merchants to multinational giants operating through global value chains, which has profoundly shaped consumption patterns in Western economies. This constant development currently consists of three global-scale change trajectories – climate change, online consumption, and technological development – that affect the retail industry. Based on this, this chapter concentrates on connecting the development paths of consumption and retailing and identifies various factors that affect the future of international retailing. The authors analyze the changes in institutional logics of international retailing by mapping the past, present, and future of the retail industry and consumption using content analysis of secondary data. The authors pay special attention to the effect of the current Covid-19 crisis on the future development of the retail industry. In the findings of this chapter, the authors recognize institutional logics changes in organizing the position of retailing as a connector of customers and producers, and the authors suggest blockchain to be an emerging new institutional order.

This chapter offers a preliminary investigation into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer purchasing behaviour within the grocery retail industry and supports evidence that since the pandemic began at the end of 2019, there have been changes in the demands and behaviours of consumers (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020). Previous research has reported that the pandemic resulted in retail consumers spending less and saving more (Jorda, Singh, & Taylor, 2020), as well as panic buying (Nazir, 2021), both of which initially contributed to the limited availability of goods. This preliminary study reports upon survey data collected from retail consumers and answers the question ‘What were the changes in consumer behaviour in the grocery sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?’ Findings reveal that an increase in online shopping occurred more distinctly during the first of the UK’s lockdowns, which waned over time. Findings also reveal a lower shopping frequency, but higher shopping spends during lockdown, and that social distancing and discipline were key drivers of this behaviour change. Findings also reveal an intention to maintain a combination of new and old shopping behaviours and habits after lockdown, giving rise to the continuing importance of meeting consumers’ grocery needs online as well as in-store. This chapter further discusses the implications arising from the reported findings.

This study classifies and estimates safety costs in Arctic shipping.

Based on the literature review, the paper details shipping prevention costs into five categories (infrastructure and facilities, measures, technologies, personnel and management) and groups marine accidents into injury and death, property damage, environmental damage and others.

The proposed classification and estimation allow for a comparison of prevention costs and accident expenses. Estimating safety expenses in the Arctic presents challenges, such as data inadequacies. However, the method has been tested with data provided by an Arctic ship operator.

Thus, shipping companies can verify the effectiveness of their investments and reorientate whenever necessary, becoming a decision-support system to best allocate safety investments. Combined with company safety performance, the tool can help identify the safety areas requiring enhanced attention.

This paper presents the first classification and a tool to assess safety costs in relation to Arctic shipping, potentially supporting safety investment decisions.

Serious games (SGs) are virtual systems that allow the reconstruction of the laws governing the behavior of complex adaptive systems such as urban transportation and social interaction. Unlike stated preference-based studies, improved visualization, feedback, and scores mediate players’ learning through experience. SG’s potential to understand users’ preferences regarding shared automated vehicles (SAVs) is developed. The investigation focused on three innovative, entirely automated commuting options: shared rides, shared cars, and automated transit. The research involved 10 participants actively involved in a competitive mode selection exercise, which emulated 50 workdays and was conducted in 10 separate sessions. The players aimed to maximize their overall score influenced by their mode choice, punctuality, and the other players’ choices. SG-obtained data was used to estimate a game-based discrete choice model. The sustainability policy implications of game-based methods on the future adoption of SAVs and impacts on other modes are further discussed.

Introduction: Sustainability and Industry 4.0 have recently influenced the global economy. With the Industrial Revolution 4.0, there has been a significant focus on digital sustainability in enterprises. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the most vulnerable sections regarding new transformations.

Purpose: Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all businesses had no option other than to adopt digitisation, MSMEs faced tremendous issues to make this shift. Despite the immense focus on digital sustainability, some deterrents exist to its adoption in MSMEs. Contemporary research focuses on determining the critical deterrents to digital sustainability in MSMEs.

Methodology: This chapter employs the interpretive structural modelling technique, and Matrice impacts Croises Multiplication Appliqué a classement (MICMAC) analysis to identify and further classify the deterrents to digital sustainability in MSMEs.

Findings: Legal barriers and firms’ economic conditions are identified as the major deterrents. Eliminating these deterrents would help minimise the minor ones too. To deliver global sustainability goals, digital sustainability must be duly adopted everywhere.