Technology

Technology plays a central role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The transformative power of technology can accelerate progress towards all the SDGs by driving economic growth, reducing inequalities, enhancing access to basic services, and promoting sustainability.

Under SDG 9, technology, particularly in terms of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is a key enabler of industrial innovation and infrastructure development. ICT has the potential to drive economic growth by enhancing productivity, creating jobs, and fostering entrepreneurship. Moreover, it can contribute to making industries more sustainable by facilitating the transition towards smart manufacturing and circular economy models.

Regarding SDG 4, technology can greatly enhance access to quality education. Digital technologies, including e-learning platforms, can break down barriers to education, such as geographical distance, socio-economic status, and physical disabilities. They can also enrich the learning process by enabling personalized, student-centered learning experiences.

In the context of SDG 3, technology has a profound impact on health outcomes. Medical technologies, from simple devices like thermometers to complex systems like MRI machines, have revolutionized healthcare delivery. Furthermore, digital health technologies, such as telemedicine and mobile health apps, can enhance access to health services, improve patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.

For SDG 13, technology offers powerful tools for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Renewable energy technologies can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while climate information services can enhance resilience to climate impacts. Furthermore, digital technologies can facilitate the monitoring and reporting of climate actions, contributing to greater transparency and accountability.

However, the benefits of technology are not automatic, and there are significant challenges to overcome, including the digital divide, cybersecurity threats, and ethical issues related to privacy and data ownership. Thus, policy interventions and multi-stakeholder partnerships are needed to ensure that technology serves as a catalyst for sustainable development and does not exacerbate inequalities.

Social media assemble multiple users' interactions across singular events. Authorities need to navigate this diversity to effectively communicate and promote collaborative strategies. During emergency situations, discerning “who is there” is even more important for authorities, as this tracing process can save lives reaching the appropriate targets. This article contributes to this problem during emergency situations by proposing a user role taxonomy. We argue that focusing on functional behaviors could bypass the complexity of defining audiences during critical events.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, Volume 25, October 2020
Food production entails a series of steps and operations that convert raw biomass into final products suitable for human consumption. Along the production chain, an enormous amount of side stream is generated. On one side, these represent a burden for the producers due to related disposal issues. On the other hand, many side streams are recognised as a valuable mass containing broad variety of health beneficial and functional ingredients.
Elsevier,

Electric Vehicles for Smart Cities, Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities, 2021, Pages 181-247

This book chapter addresses SDGs 7, 9 and 13 by investigating case studies from major cities showcasing how they approached electric mobility including the unique policies, actions, and programs implemented to make it successful.
The article examines a number of ways in which the use of artificial intelligence technologies to predict the performance of individuals and to reach decisions concerning the entitlement of individuals to positive decisions impacts individuals and society. It analyses the effects using a social justice lens. Particular attention is paid to the experiences of individuals who have historically experienced disadvantage and discrimination.
Elsevier, Materials Today Sustainability, Volume 9, September 2020
Solar light-driven water splitting provides a promising way to store and use abundant solar energy in the form of gaseous hydrogen which is the cleanest chemical fuel for mankind; therefore this field has been attracting increasing attention over the past decades.
CeO2 shows unique catalytic properties by an acid–base bifunctionality as well as redox properties. The acid–base bifunctional properties of CeO2 have been applied to the non-reductive CO2 conversion with alcohols such as dimethyl carbonate (DMC) synthesis from CO2 and methanol. CeO2 shows very high selectivity to DMC; however, the yield of DMC is strongly limited by the equilibrium. The combination of the synthesis of organic carbonates from CO2 and corresponding alcohols with suitable H2O removal methods can enhance the yield of the organic carbonates beyond the equilibrium limitation.
Manufacturing challenges are anticipated to become worse in the coming decades owing to global material and energy constraints combined with environmental issues associated with conventional processes. Addressing these difficulties calls for a significant amount of research to be conducted to establish robust new technologies that are cost-effective and energy efficient, while at the same time minimizing environmental pollution.

Objective imaging-based biomarker discovery for psychiatric conditions is critical for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Using a machine learning framework, this work investigated the utility of brain's functional network topology (complex network features) extracted from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) functional connectivity (FC) as viable biomarker of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To this end, we utilized resting-state fMRI data from the publicly available ABIDE dataset consisting of 432 ASD patients and 556 matched healthy controls.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the RELX Environmental Challenge and the announcement of this year’s winners, we invite you to join us for SDG 6: From here to there - celebrating 10 years of innovation and exploring the next decade of WASH action, to take a look back over the past 10 years and to consider the decade of action ahead - what will it really take to achieve SDG6: clean water and sanitation for all?

The process industries have been facing ever increasing pressure in the monitoring and control of gaseous pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. With increasingly stringent regulations and laws, emission management may need to go beyond the traditional leak detection and repair and continuous emissions monitoring system approaches to manage potential emission events. Alternative monitoring technologies, such as optical and remote sensing instruments and wireless sensors, can monitor emissions from a specific equipment/area/unit/plant in a timely manner.

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