1,720,960 research outputs found
Life Cycle Costing for blueberry cultivation in marginal Italian areas
No full textAgriculture in marginal areas undoubtedly presents significant challenges, but also offers opportunities for innovative and sustainable agricultural practices. A prime example is represented by berries, such as blueberries, which are particularly well adapted to these territories thanks to their low resource requirements and ability to thrive in different environmental conditions.
Globally, the berries sector is booming, with an annual growth rate of 8%, in Italy, the area cultivated with blueberries is around 1,600 hectares in 2024, compared to 1,200 ha hectares in 2020. Production has increased from less than 70,000 quintals per year in 2020 to more than 100,000 quintals in 2023 (ISTAT, 2024). Around 75% of production is exported, with particular attention to European markets and a growing interest in the local market, obtaining turnovers exceeding 100 million euros.
This phenomenon is fueled by growing consumer demand for functional and healthy foods, as well as by advances in production techniques, such as the use of high-yielding cultivars, precision agriculture and protected cultivation.
Investing in the cultivation of berries therefore represents an extraordinary opportunity for rural and marginal areas, allowing them to exploit available resources efficiently and at the same time contribute to the development of sustainable and resilient food systems.
The growing global demand for blueberries, thanks to their healthy properties, makes them a profitable crop even in less productive areas, where management costs can be lower. Blueberries are well suited to organic and integrated agriculture, often adopted in marginal areas where preserving the local ecosystem is a priority. Their cultivation can also help protect the soil from erosion and improve biodiversity and agroecology. Blueberry orchards help to enhance traditional production and unused local resources with a view to socio-economic and environmental sustainability.
The research aims to compare the profitability of blueberry cultivation, analyzing the differences between the organic and conventional method, and between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged areas. It uses data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), evaluating socio-economic indicators to identify the opportunities and challenges related to different production approaches and altimetric contexts. Subsequently, a stochastic frontier model will be applied to statistically demonstrate how marginality and organic certification can be considered elements of technical and consequently income inefficiency
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Tracing sustainability in the cocoa value chain: integrating a multi-approach economic assessment and regulatory compliance
No full textThe TRACE-IT project, part of the FOODITY initiative under Horizon Europe, aims to enhance trasparency andsustainability in cocoa supply chain through a blockchain-based traceability platform. Cocoa production, mainly inWest Africa and Latin America, faces significant environmental and social challenges, including deforestation,biodiversity loss, and economic inequalities. New EU regulations, such as the EUDR and CSDDD, require strictercompliance, while evolving consumer preferences demand greater transparency and sustainability in food sourcing.TRACE-IT integrates Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to measure environmental impacts on agricultural phase.Additionally, an hedonic pricing analysis to quantify the premium price recognized on market sales for sustainabilityattributes, while a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE), incorporating previous insights, could assess consumerbehavior in European markets. The method can quantify the specific willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainability andtraceability attributes, especially through blockchain technology. Preliminary results highlight blockchain’s potential toimprove transparency, strengthen sustainability communication, and create economic incentives for responsiblecocoa production. TRACE-IT offers a scalable model for digital innovation in agri-food supply chains, fostering amore sustainable and equitable global cocoa market
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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