Search results for " regional development"
showing 10 items of 45 documents
Improving RAMS and WRF mesoscale forecasts over two distinct vegetation covers using an appropriate thermal roughness length parameterization
2019
Land Surface Models (LSM) have shown some difficulties to properly simulate day-time 2-m air and surface skin temperatures. This kind of models are coupled to atmospheric models in mesoscale modelling, such as the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. This model coupling is used within Numerical Weather Prediction Systems (NWP) in order to forecast key physical processes for agricultural meteorology and forestry as well as in ecological modelling. The current study first evaluates the surface energy fluxes and temperatures simulated by these two state-of-the-art NWP models over two distinct vegetated covers, one corresponding to a …
Novel Polymorph of GaSe
2021
2D GaSe is a semiconductor belonging to the group of post-transition metal chalcogenides with great potential for advanced optoelectronic applications. The weak interlayer interaction in multilayer 2D materials allows the formation of several polymorphs. Here, the first structural observation of a new GaSe polymorph is reported, characterized by a distinct atomic configuration with a centrosymmetric monolayer (D-3d point group). The atomic structure of this new GaSe polymorph is determined by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Density-functional theory calculations verify the structural stability of this polymorph. Furthermore, the band structure and Raman inten…
Place-based policy in southern Italy: evidence from a dose-response approach
2021
This paper evaluates the effectiveness at a territorial level of a place-based policy for southern Italy, that is, territorial integrated projects (TIPs). We combine classical counterfactual designs and the construction of a dose–response function to assess the impact of the infrastructural interventions on the municipalities involved in a target region (Sicily). The results are robust enough to show policy effectiveness on both the number of workers and the number of plants. In the latter case, we also identify a significant and increasing dose–response function highlighting the positive relationship between funding intensity and the growth of plants.
Cheese as a food souvenir in Sicily
2022
Souvenirs are elements of territorial communication, and they are examples of the marketing strategy of destinations. Souvenirs are objects that allow us to remember moments we have experienced and places we have visited. Drawing on the close relationships between places and souvenirs, this paper analyses cheese as a food souvenir in the island of Sicily. The method is based on a qualitative design which includes visits and interviews with local sellers in the food markets and food shops in Palermo, with the objective to reveal how cheese is protected and promoted as a symbol of Sicilian culture and heritage from a marketing perspective. Results of the paper show that cheeses made in Sicily…
Endocrine disrupter compounds removal in wastewater using microalgae: Degradation kinetics assessment
2018
[EN] This paper describes a study carried out to determine the removal kinetics of four micropollutants (4-tert-octylphenol (OP), technical-nonylphenol (t-NP), 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) and bisphenol-A (BPA)) usually found in wastewater streams. The kinetic experiments were carried out in batch reactors containing the effluent of an Anaerobic Membrane BioReactor (AnMBR) in the presence of light, oxygen and microalgae. As the degradation process of the studied micropollutants obeyed a pseudo-first-order kinetics, the second-order kinetics for each micropollutant was then calculated. The second order rate constants for the hydroxyl radical (k.(OH)) ranged from 7.0.10(+10) to 6.6.10(+12) L.mol(-1).…
Personal Employability and employment outcomes in a university sample: a study before and after COVID-19
2021
[EN] Labour market uncertainty makes difficult to get (and keep) a high-quality job even for graduate students. Moreover, this situation has been worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to test the influence that personal employability has on maintaining (or being able to find a new) high-quality job in a sample of young university graduates that faced the job market crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on the four personal employability dimensions of Fugate et al.’s (2004) model: career identity, personal adaptability, human capital, and social capital. Our hypotheses state that the four dimensions of employability are positively related with employment …
Suitability of blends from virgin and reprocessed polylactide: performance and energy valorization kinetics
2018
[EN] A blending strategy of virgin and reprocessed polylactide may be postulated as an alternative to reduce the material cost at industrial level, and as a valorisation route to plastic waste management of production scraps. The performance of blends prepared from virgin polylactide and polylactide mechanically reprocessed up to two cycles (PLA-V/R) was assessed in terms of thermo-oxidative stability, morphology, viscoelasticity and thermal kinetics for energetic valorisation. PLA-V/R blends showed appropriate thermo-oxidative stability. The amorphous nature of polylactide was preserved after blending. The viscoelastic properties showed an increment of the mechanical blend effectiveness, w…
Coherence of Work Based Learning and Regional Development in Latvia
2014
Integration of young people into the labour market is an issue of a high priority. The youth unemployment problem has explicit links to the vocational education and training (VET) system. Since 2009 there is an ongoing reform in the Latvian VET system. In this respect also the role of local governments increases. The paper addresses the issue of introducing innovative approaches in the Latvian VET system. The aim of the study is to estimate the overall readiness of public administrations to implement VET reforms within regional economic development in the context of the EU and national strategic priorities.
Assessing eco-efficiency: A metafrontier directional distance function approach using life cycle analysis
2017
Sustainability analysis requires a joint assessment of environmental, social and economic aspects of production processes. Here we propose the use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), a metafrontier (MF) directional distance function (DDF) approach, and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), to assess technological and managerial differences in eco-efficiency between production systems. We use LCA to compute six environmental and health impacts associated with the production processes of nearly 200 Spanish citrus farms belonging to organic and conventional farming systems. DEA is then employed to obtain joint economic-environmental farm's scores that we refer to as eco-efficiency. DDF allows us to deter…
Effective run-off flow length over biological soil crusts on silty loam soils in drylands
2014
This study was undertaken in the context of the research projects PECOS (REN2003-04570/GLO) and PREVEA (CGL2007-63258/BOS), both funded by the Spanish National Plan for RD&I and by the European ERDF Funds (European Regional Development Fund), as well as the projects COSTRAS (Excellence project RNM-3614) funded by the Junta de Andalucia (Autonomous Government of Andalusia, Spain), and SCIN (Soil Crust Inter-National, PRI-PIMBDV-2011-0874, European project of ERA-NET BIODIVERSA, the Spanish team being funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness)