Search results for "Sustainability."

Un questionario per un’analisi di sostenibilità: il primo passo verso la Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment

2011

L’obiettivo principale di questo lavoro è la presentazione di un questionario, quale strumento d’indagine per la raccolta di dati primari per l’analisi delle prestazioni di sostenibilità di un prodotto edile. In particolare, tale questionario renderà più agevole la fase di raccolta dei dati finalizzati all’implementazione della Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) ai principali materiali utilizzati in edilizia. Il settore edile in Sicilia riveste un ruolo rilevante, nonostante la crisi, e questo lo rende un settore strategico per uno sviluppo di tipo sostenibile The main target of this work is the presentation of a questionnaire as a useful tool to collect primary data for a sustaina…

Environmental Assessment of an Innovative High-Performance Experimental Agriculture Field

2022

To increase food availability, optimizing production systems and reducing burdens related to human activities is essential in a scenario of population growth and limited natural resources. In this context, the life cycle methodology can represent a valuable asset for assessing the environmental performance of agricultural products and services. This study sought to investigate and characterize potential impacts of an experimental tomato field at the University of Perugia and evaluate if the production increment obtained using high-reflective mulching compensated for the emissions caused by this extra component. The first-year crop campaign was the baseline reference to measure the system’s …

An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Associated with Health-Related Physical Fitness in Adolescents. The ASSO Project

2018

Monitoring physical fitness (fitness) and identifying, since the beginning, possible determinants in youth could be useful to preserve health and avoid morbidities in adulthood. The main objective of this study is to provide details on the fitness levels of a sample of adolescents living in the Southern area of Italy and describe its associations with biological/genetic, socio-cultural/environmental, and lifestyle (physical activity/sedentariness, alcohol/smoking, meal patterns/habits) factors. The study was conducted within the Adolescence Surveillance System for Obesity Prevention (ASSO) project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Health and examining adolescents&rsquo

On the distribution of lightning current among interconnected grounding systems in medium voltage grids

2018

This paper presents the results of a first investigation on the effects of lightning stroke on medium voltage installations' grounding systems, interconnected with the metal shields of the Medium Voltage (MV) distribution grid cables or with bare buried copper ropes. The study enables us to evaluate the distribution of the lightning current among interconnected ground electrodes in order to estimate if the interconnection, usually created to reduce ground potential rise during a single-line-to-ground fault, can give place to dangerous situations far from the installation hit by the lightning stroke. Four different case studies of direct lightning stroke are presented and discussed: (1) two …

A systematic literature review of the transition to the circular economy in business organizations: Obstacles, catalysts and ambivalences

2021

There is a need for a transition from unsustainable linear business models to a more sustainable circular approach, called the circular economy. To promote this need, a deeper understanding of which issues hinder organizations’ transition to the circular economy and which ones catalyse it is needed. A systematic literature review was performed on the business implementation of the circular economy and 69 articles covering the topic were found. The review identifies different types of catalyst, obstacles and ambivalent factors influencing circular economy implementation in business. This study contributes to research on circular economy implementation at business organizations by providing u…

Exploring the impact of sustainable value proposition on firm performance

2022

Considering the immense potential of sustainable business models in tackling the broader challenge of corporate sustainability, this paper integrates the literature streams on sustainability practices and organizational business models to analyze the performance implications of a firm's sustainable value proposition. Based on the analysis of a large panel dataset across different industries, consistent with the proposed theory, a sustainable value proposition has been found to have a positive impact on a firm's market-based financial performance (namely, Tobin's Q). Yet, this impact turns out to be highly context-dependent. In particular, the findings reveal that a firm's R&D capabilities i…

Towards bioeconomy : a three-phase Delphi study on forest biorefinery diffusion in Scandinavia and North America

2012

Environmental Conflicts and Social Innovation on the Balearic Islands (Spain)

2022

New environmental conflicts arise all the time as a consequence of the industrial economy and economic growth. The search for new energy and new materials jeopardizes the margin to promote sustainable development in many local communities. In this paper, we examine a conflict related to hydrocarbons projects in the Balearic Sea (Spain) from the social innovation perspective. This novel approach allows us to focus on how socially innovative responses can be triggered by environmental threats. A set of mixed methods (qualitative analysis and social network analysis) are implemented to study the emergence and development of Alianza Mar Blava in Ibiza–Formentera. This is an initiative that succ…

Aménités urbaines et périurbaines dans une aire métropolitaine de forme fractale

2002

In the THÜNEN tradition, Urban Economy is a striking abstraction, giving models that keep the main features of the wide diversity of real word cities. Nevertheless, this paradigm less suits the modern urban spatial structures (polycentrism, weak centripetal forces, etc.), particularly the peri-urban form of metropolitan areas, which are an urban/rural integrated space. In this paper, we propose a classical micro-economic urban model combined with a " SIERPINSKI's carpet " geometry, a fractal form which suits for fit together urban and rural areas in a hierarchical structure. Subject to a budget constraint, a household maximises a Cobb-Douglas/CES function, where household's taste for divers…

Long-Term COVID: Case Report and Methodological Proposals for Return to Work

2022

Almost two years after the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the knowledge of which in the infectious and therapeutic spheres is constantly evolving, attention paid to the medicolegal aspects linked to this emergency phenomenon has mainly focused on the liability implications falling on healthcare personnel. With regard to the medicolegal assessment of the outcomes of COVID-19 illness, although it is a procedure that is commonly used, and although references in the assessment tables in force have been adhered to, a specific assessment protocol has not been standardized that takes into account, from an objective point of view, the degree of severity of the long-term residual outcomes and…