Chester Business School
http://hdl.handle.net/10034/6471
2024-03-28T12:54:00Z
2024-03-28T12:54:00Z
Reducing the carbon footprint of the textile sector: an overview of impacts and solutions
Leal Filho, Walter
Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta
Liakh, Olena
Paço, Arminda
Dennis, Karen
Shollo, Fran
Sidsaph, Henry
http://hdl.handle.net/10034/628567
2024-03-27T08:52:10Z
2024-03-18T00:00:00Z
Reducing the carbon footprint of the textile sector: an overview of impacts and solutions
Leal Filho, Walter; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Liakh, Olena; Paço, Arminda; Dennis, Karen; Shollo, Fran; Sidsaph, Henry
The clothing, footwear, and household textiles sectors play a significant role, providing employment opportunities on a global scale. However, they are also associated with a considerable consumption of natural resources, leading to high levels of water pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. The carbon footprint (CF) of textiles depends generally on fabric types and production processes. Natural fibers such as cotton, wool, and silk, generally have a lower CF when compared to synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon, requiring more energy and chemicals during production. In addition, fabrics manufactured through eco-friendly methods, such as closed-loop systems and sustainable production processes, have a significantly lower CF than those produced using conventional means. Accordingly, there is a perceived need for comprehensive studies that investigate the environmental and climate implications of the textile sector. Considering these concerns, a study was undertaken on the topic, encompassing a literature review and data collection so as to present an overview of the environmental impacts and CF associated with the textile sector. The results from the research show that the resource consumption associated with the textile sector, particularly its CF, demands urgent action in order to reduce its impacts. Also, actionable measures are needed so as to reduce the CF of the textile industry. These are described in the paper, along with the obstacles that need to be overcome so as not only to reduce the CF of this sector, but also to pursue the objectives outlined in the sustainable development goals.
This article is not available on ChesterRep
2024-03-18T00:00:00Z
Urban poverty and the role of UK food aid organisations in enabling segregating and transitioning spaces of food access
McEachern, Morven
Moraes, Caroline
Scullion, Lisa
Gibbons, Andrea
http://hdl.handle.net/10034/628490
2024-03-20T02:20:27Z
2024-03-19T00:00:00Z
Urban poverty and the role of UK food aid organisations in enabling segregating and transitioning spaces of food access
McEachern, Morven; Moraes, Caroline; Scullion, Lisa; Gibbons, Andrea
This research examines the role of food aid providers, including their spatial engagement, in seeking to alleviate urban food poverty. Current levels of urban poverty across the UK have resulted in an unprecedented demand for food aid. Yet, urban poverty responsibility increasingly shifts away from policymakers to the third sector. Building on Castilhos and Dolbec’s (2018) notion of segregating space and original qualitative research with food aid organisations, we show how social supermarkets emerge as offering a type of transitional space between the segregating spaces of foodbanks and the market spaces of mainstream food retailers. This research contributes to existing literature by establishing the concept of transitional space, an additional type of space that facilitates movement between types of spaces and particularly transitions from the segregating spaces of emergency food aid to more secure spaces of food access. In so doing, this research extends Castilhos and Dolbec’s (2018) typology of spaces, enabling a more nuanced depiction of the spatiality of urban food poverty.
© Urban Studies Journal Limited 2024.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
2024-03-19T00:00:00Z
The influence of cultural constraints on entrepreneurial motivations: Exploring the experiences of Muslim women entrepreneurs in Pakistan
Muhammad, Noor
Ullah, Farid
Smith, Robert
http://hdl.handle.net/10034/628407
2024-01-09T02:11:51Z
2023-12-27T00:00:00Z
The influence of cultural constraints on entrepreneurial motivations: Exploring the experiences of Muslim women entrepreneurs in Pakistan
Muhammad, Noor; Ullah, Farid; Smith, Robert
This article explores the influence of cultural constraints on entrepreneurial motivations for women entrepreneurs of the Muslim faith. A qualitative approach is taken by drawing from extraordinarily rare interviews with 17 women entrepreneurs who run businesses in the open market in the Northwest region of Pakistan. Push and pull factors were examined in the context of cultural constraints using the lens of post-materialism and dissatisfaction theories. The findings reveal that some entrepreneurs are pulled into entrepreneurship to give something back to local youths and to improve their life chances and/or reduce hardship. In relation to the push factors, some entrepreneurs decided to do something about the harsh circumstances they found themselves in to demonstrate their agency. All were aware of the cultural constraints around them and are highly motivated to overcome these as role models for future generations and to hopefully achieve parity with male peers. This research contributes to the existing literature by providing new insights to the reader in extending the post-materialism and dissatisfaction theories for women Muslim entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Furthermore, it also demonstrates how cultural constraints related to family issues motivate women in a male-dominated society to become entrepreneurs.
© The Author(s) 2023.
2023-12-27T00:00:00Z
The core technology behind and beyond ChatGPT
Leong, Kelvin
Sung, Anna
Jones, Lewis
http://hdl.handle.net/10034/628379
2023-12-22T03:41:20Z
2023-12-15T00:00:00Z
The core technology behind and beyond ChatGPT
Leong, Kelvin; Sung, Anna; Jones, Lewis
ChatGPT has garnered significant attention within the education industry. Given the core technology behind ChatGPT is language model, this study aims to critically review related publications and suggest future direction of language model in educational research. We aim to address three questions: i) what is the core technology behind ChatGPT, ii) what is the state of knowledge of related research and iii) the potential research direction. A critical review of related publications was conducted in order to evaluate the current state of knowledge of language model in educational research. In addition, we further suggest a purpose oriented guiding framework for future research of language model in education. Our study promptly responded to the concerns raised by ChatGPT from the education industry and offers the industry with a comprehensive and systematic overview of related technologies. We believe this is the first time that a study has been conducted to systematically review the state of knowledge of language model in educational research.
2023-12-15T00:00:00Z