Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) is a highly valued crop in the world, particularly in Nigeria with high nutritional and economic benefits. However, its production in Iwollo, Southeast Nigeria, is constrained by unfavorable weather conditions. To address this, a study was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm, Department of Horticultural Technology, Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo, Southeast Nigeria to evaluate and select the best cultivar for high tunnel production using the Rank Summation Index. Completely Randomized Design with three replications was used, and six high-yielding cultivars, namely Roma VF, BHN-1021, Supremo, Pomodro, Money maker, and Iwollo local, were evaluated. Data were collected on key agronomic characters and analyzed with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at a 0.05 level of probability. There were significant differences in the number of leaves per plant, plant height, number of branches per plant, days to fruit maturity, fresh fruit weight, number of harvested fresh fruits per plant, and fresh fruit yield per plant among the cultivars. These characters that showed significant differences were ranked and summed up to obtain the Rank Summation Index (RSI) score. The results revealed that the Supremo cultivar had the lowest and best score (18). This suggests Supremo as the best cultivar for high tunnel tomato production in the study area, based on its superior performance across key agronomic traits.

Since the systematic approach of the processes and their interactions, the aim is to establish the configuration of a construction project for the housing of the Weenhayek indigenous people. Applied from the theoretical research of various authors on a group of methodologies, phases and tools for project management, through rational scientific methods, such as descriptive, analytical, comparative, analytical-synthetic, inductive-deductive, historical-logical, analogies, modeling, systemic-structural-functional, systematization; and empirical methods, such as interpretivism that involves inductive, qualitative, phenomenological and transversal research, and the interview technique; the way in which the implementation processes are organized, interacted and structured is established. This reveals an alternative for the detailed configuration of a construction project for Weenhayek houses, based on phases, activities, actions and work tasks with characteristics in accordance with the needs of the project.

The US Infrastructure Investment and Job Act (IIJA), also commonly referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, passed in 2021, has drawn international attention. It aims to help to rebuild US infrastructure, including transportation networks, broadband, water, power and energy, environmental protection and public works projects. An estimated $1.2 trillion in total funding over ten years will be allocated. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill is the largest funding bill for US infrastructure in the recent history of the United States. This review article will specifically discuss funding allocations for roads and bridges, power and grids, broadband, water infrastructure, airports, environmental protection, ports, Western water infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations and electric school buses in the new spending of the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act and why these investments are urgently necessary. This article will also briefly discuss the views of think tank experts, the public policy perspectives, the impact on domestic and global arenas of the new spending in the IIJA, and the public policy implications.

Institutions of higher learning are crucial to sustainability. They play a crucial role in preparing the next generation of leaders who will successfully execute the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nation. This research therefore intends to present a preliminary conceptual approach in examining how industrial revolution 4.0 (I.R. 4.0) technologies, and lean practices affect sustainability in South Africa’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The study shall employ survey questionnaire to collect data from the employees of the institutions. This preliminary study reveals that hybrid IR 4.0 technologies and lean practices as enablers of sustainability has not gained enough attention in the HEIs. Existing literature show the important role plays by performance variance of lean practices to improve sustainable performance when deployed from industry to education sector. The report validates the HEI’s future course, which has been incorporating new technology into its services processes recently. Using the created items, researchers may utilize empirical analysis to look into the combined effects of lean practices and IR 4.0 technologies on sustainability in HEIs. The following conclusions may be drawn: HEIs are essential for the application of sustainability principles; curriculum focused on sustainability and culture change are critical for attitude development; and the political climate and stakeholder interests impact the implementation of sustainability.

In developing countries, urban mobility is a significant challenge due to convergence of population growth and the economic attraction of urban centers. This convergence of factors has resulted in an increase in the demand for transport services, affecting existing infrastructure and requiring the development of sustainable mobility solutions. In order to tackle this challenge, it is necessary to create optimal services that promote sustainable urban mobility. The main objective of this research is to develop and validate a comprehensive methodology framework for assessing and selecting the most sustainable and environmentally responsible urban mobility services for decision makers in developing countries. By integrating fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making techniques, the study aims to address the inherent complexity and uncertainty of urban mobility planning and provide a robust tool for optimizing transportation solutions for rapid urbanization. The proposed methodology combines three-dimensional fuzzy methods of type-1, including AHP, TOPSIS and PROMETHEE, using the Borda method to adapt subjectivity, uncertainty, and incomplete judgments. The results show the advantages of using integrated methods in the sustainable selection of urban mobility systems. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to validate the robustness of the model and to provide insights into the reliability and stability of the evaluation model. This study contributes to inform decision-making, improves policies and urban mobility infrastructure, promotes sustainable decisions, and meets the specific needs of developing countries.

This paper reviews and compares the opportunities and challenges in terms of port and intermodal development in China and India—the two fast-growing economic giants in the world. The study analyzes the future direction of these two countries’ port-hinterland intermodal development from the sustainability perspective. Both China and India face some major opportunities and challenges in port-hinterland intermodal development. The proposal of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), offers plentiful opportunities for China. A challenge for China is that its development of dry ports is still in the infancy stage and thus it is unable to catch up with the pace of rapid economic growth. As compared with China, India focuses more on the social aspect to protect the welfare of its residents, which in turn jeopardizes India’s port-hinterland intermodal development in the economic sense. The biggest challenge for India is its social institution, which would take a long time to change. These in-depth comparative analyses not only give the future direction of port-hinterland intermodal development in China and India but also provide references for other countries with similar backgrounds.