Search results for "renewable energy sources"
showing 10 items of 432 documents
Intellectual Structure of the Belt and Road Initiative Research: A Scientometric Analysis and Suggestions for a Future Research Agenda
2020
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted increasing attention worldwide since its inception in 2013. Although the research is fast increasing in terms of publications, there is a lack of knowledge about the intellectual structure, research trends, and appropriate theories underpinning. Using bibliometric data from 1583 articles from 2013 to 2019 in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, we used bibliometric techniques and scientometric analyses to identify and analyze the intellectual structure, hotspots, and emerging trends in this field. We identified 18 clusters that we categorized into three groups for thematic discussion. Research gaps and future research directions were …
The Sustainability of Reclaimed Asphalt as a Resource for Road Pavement Management through a Circular Economic Model
2019
The transition of the road engineering industry to a circular way of doing business requires more efficient and sustainable resources, energy, and waste management. The rates in which reclaimed asphalt is being recycled or reused in the asphalt mixture production process constitutes a crucial parameter in this transition. This paper aims at establishing a further step towards the combined circularity and sustainability of asphalt pavements, by introducing a framework for quantifying their Material Circularity Index. The framework is based on the methodology proposed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and accordingly tailored for the context of asphalt pavements. This study, thus, attempts to…
European National Road Authorities and Circular Economy: An Insight into Their Approaches
2020
The pavement engineering industry, having realized the significance of the impacts that it imposes on the environment through the production, construction and management of its products and assets, has been driven towards a more sustainable and circular way of operating. This has partly been through asphalt recycling, which is an area that many road authorities have prioritized. However, not all the National Road Authorities (NRAs) and/or sector stakeholders seem to be adequately familiar with the Circular Economy (CE) concept. This paper attempts to assist the transition of NRAs to a more circular way of doing business, by analyzing the current situation of CE within national/regional auth…
Stakeholders’ Attitudes about the Transplantations of the Mediterranean Seagrass Posidonia oceanica as a Habitat Restoration Measure after Anthropoge…
2021
Anthropogenic impacts on Posidonia oceanica meadows have led to a decline of this ecosystem throughout the Mediterranean. Transplantations have often been prescribed as a compensation measure to mitigate the impacts caused by coastal maritime works. Here a Q methodology approach was used to investigate the stakeholders’ attitudes in four case studies of P. oceanica transplants realized in Italian waters. Twenty-two respondents were asked to score 37 statements, and the resultant Q-sorting was analyzed via an inverse PCA using the KADE software. Four discourses, corresponding to the significant axes in the factorial analysis were identified: science and conservation (F1), oriented at a rigor…
Evaluation of the Use of a City Center through the Use of Bluetooth Sensors Network
2019
In order to achieve the objectives of Smart Cities, public administrations need to take measures to regulate mobility, which undoubtedly requires a high level of information and sensorization. Until the implementation of the connected vehicle takes place, it is still necessary to install sensors to obtain information about mobility. Bluetooth sensors are becoming a useful tool due to the low cost of equipment and installation. The use of Bluetooth sensors in cities, with short distances between sensors, makes it necessary to propose new classification algorithms that allow the trips of pedestrians and vehicles to be differentiated. This article presents the study carried out in the city of …
Enhancing Creativity: Using Visual Mnemonic Devices in the Teaching Process in Order to Develop Creativity in Students
2020
(1) Background: In the field of creativity studies there is always space for expansion and new conceptualizations of the methods involved. Therefore, we will present in this paper a brief arrangement of the methods used to enhance creativity and consider whether visual mnemonic devices can increase creativity. The devices are used in the teaching process in order to ease the remembering process by creating a visual representation. Visual mnemonic devices are techniques that increase creativity as part of their own performance. (2) Methods: We will use a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent group design, the procedure involving the use of visual mnemonic devices. (3) Results: The results show t…
Strategies for waste recycling : the mechanical performance of concrete based on limestone and plastic waste
2022
Recycling is among the best management strategies to avoid dispersion of several types of wastes in the environment. Research in recycling strategies is gaining increased importance in view of Circular Economy principles. The exploitation of waste, or byproducts, as alternative aggregate in concrete, results in a reduction in the exploitation of scarce natural resources. On the other hand, a productive use of waste leads to a reduction in the landfilling of waste material through the transformation of waste into a resource. In this frame of reference, the paper discusses how to use concrete as a container of waste focusing on the waste produced in limestone quarries and taking the challenge…
COVID-19 Drives Consumer Behaviour and Agro-Food Markets towards Healthier and More Sustainable Patterns
2020
This study examines the extant state of research into our understanding of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in its early stages on food-purchasing behaviour. As such, it includes a summary and categorisation of the findings, extending to consumption preferences worldwide. After the indiscriminate stockpiling of food, which was witnessed in many countries following the implementation of the lockdown, the impact of COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease-2019) on consumer habits has inversely varied in function of personal attitudes, individual and household experiences, and characteristics. Specific contexts, and the financial, economic, and logistic nature of these contexts, have also been foun…
New High Voltage Interconnections with Islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Malta and Sicily. Analysis of the Effects on Renewable Energy Sources Integr…
2018
The present paper shows the benefits coming from the operation of the recent electrical high voltage (HV) interconnections between Sicily, Malta and mainland Italy. These new interconnections allow zonal prices of electricity considerably lower than in the past, ensuring greater flexibility to the system and a better integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). After briefly illustrating the two high-voltage electrical systems (Sicily and Malta), and having provided a description of the interconnection cable with Malta and its protection devices, the authors hypothesized two modes of operation (Sicily-Malta system islanded or interconnected to the rest of Europe). For the first case (isla…
Direct Instruction vs. Cooperative Learning in Physical Education: Effects on Student Learning, Behaviors, and Subjective Experience
2020
(1) Background: The objective was to analyze if cooperative learning (CL) can have benefits compared to direct instruction (DI) in learning, behavior, and subjective experience of pupils. (2) Methods: An intervention was performed with a counterbalanced within-subjects design. To perform the intervention, 75 schoolchildren aged 10 to 12 from four primary classes were divided into two groups, and two units were taught in each one, namely &ldquo