1,721,080 research outputs found
Feasibility and evolution studies on renewable energy communities in cities
Full text linkRenewable energy communities could play a key role in the decarbonisation of the building stock, while providing important benefits to the members. This paper reviews the existing literature on this topic of growing scholarly interest. Three clusters have been identified, grouping the most common approaches to study feasibility analysis and the drivers that encourage individual participation. The paper also explores the role that different actors and forms of self-organisation might play in the development of these communities. The findings highlight a lack of homogeneity in the literature in conceptualising the benefits of renewable energy communities for different stakeholders. There is also evidence that little attention has been paid in the research to energy efficiency measures and the reduction of energy consumption. Financial costs and benefits are the main drivers, while environmental concerns and the desire to reduce dependence on energy-related uncertainties emerge as influential in community participation. Finally, a comparison of Italian case studies reveals a lack of comparability between studies due to discrepancies in the conceptualisation and calculation of indicators, such as the variation of self-sufficiency ratios ranging from 35.6 % to 83.8 % between reported and recalculated results. The insights gained from this study can help lay the ground for the establishment of a cross-sectorial approach to renewable energy community studies. A further important contribution of this work is to draw attention to the need for a common framework for assessing the performance of these communities. Finally, this study also usefully proposes clear calculation boundaries for the definition of indicators
Transfer of Interfered Motor Patterns to Self from Others
No full textPrevious behavioural and neuroimaging data on humans demonstrated that kinematics and the level of brain activity vary according
to whether participants reach towards and grasp a target object presented in isolation or flanked by a distractor object. Here we seek
to explore whether a differential activation can be revealed by the mere observation of another person grasping an object in isolation
or alongside a distractor. To this end we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to localize neural activity related
to action observation that was influenced by the presence of a distractor object. We found that observing a human model reaching-tograsp
a three-dimensional target alongside a distractor elicits a differential level of activation in a network of areas typically involved
during action observation: the dorsal sectors of the premotor cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus. Whereas our previous
understanding of the human action observation system has been restricted to actions directed to single objects, we provide
compelling evidence that areas within this network modulate with respect to the context in which the observed action takes place.
This may prove to be a fundamental process for our understanding of how others’ actions can be represented at a neural level
Environmental performances in green labels for hotels – a critical review
Full text linkThe global attention towards climate change has led national governments and the international community to the definition of plans aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all economic sectors. Recently, attention has focused also on the tourism sector, and especially on the lodging industry, which consumes high amounts of resources and energy to satisfy guests expectations in terms of offered services and comfort conditions. In this sector, eco-certifications or green labels are spreading, perceived as useful marketing tools to communicate the hoteliers’ environmental efforts to consumers, who are becoming more and more sensitive to ecological matters. However, the wide offer of green labels and the lack of appropriate information are contributing to increase costumers’ confusion and perception of real “green”. The present paper focuses its attention on a set of currently available tools to evaluate the environmental performances of hotels, in order to enquire if and to which extent they are able to inform about the sustainability of accommodation structures. Starting from the wide number of certification schemes available on the market, 19 multi-attribute, third-party green labels were compared, aiming to explore the role that energy efficiency measures play in the certification procedure
Different action patterns for cooperative and competitive behaviour
No full textThe aim of the present study is to elucidate the influence of context on the kinematics of the
reach-to-grasp movement. In particular, we consider two basic modes of social cognition, namely
cooperation and competition. In two experiments kinematics of the very same action – reaching-
to-grasp a wooden block – were analyzed in two different contexts provided by a cooperative
task and competitive task. For the ‘cooperation’ tasks two participants were required to reach
and grasp their respective objects and to cooperate to join the two objects in specific configurations
in the middle of the working surface. For the ‘competition’ tasks, the two participants had
to compete to place their own object first in the middle of the working surface. Results revealed
specific kinematic patterns for cooperation and competition which were distinct from similar
actions performed by each participant in isolation. Further, during the cooperation tasks, a high
level of correlation between key kinematical parameters of the two participants was found. In
accordance with evidence from neuroimaging, developmental and social psychology our results
suggest the existence of motor patterns which reflect the intention to act in a social context
Modulation of the action control system by social intention: unexpected social requests override pre-planned action
No full textFour experiments investigated the influence of a sudden social request on the kinematics of a preplanned
action. In Experiment 1, participants were requested to grasp an object and then locate it within a
container (unperturbed trials). On 20% of trials, a human agent seated nearby the participant unexpectedly
stretched out her arm and unfolded her hand as if to ask for the object (perturbed trials). In the
remaining 3 experiments, similar procedures were adopted except that (a) the human was replaced by a
robotic agent, (b) the gesture performed by the human agent did not imply a social request, and (c) the
gaze of the human agent was not available. Only when the perturbation was characterized by a social
request involving a human agent were there kinematic changes to the action directed toward the target.
Conversely, no effects on kinematics were evident when the perturbation was caused by the robotic agent
or by a human agent performing a nonsocial gesture. These findings are discussed in the light of current
theories proposed to explain the effects of social context on the control of action
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