1,721,194 research outputs found
Does moving home affect residential heating decisions? Exploring heating fuel switching in Ireland
Full text linkPrevious research finds that moving home can serve as a starting point for more sustainable living practices, specifically lower energy consumption. This research examines whether changes in occupancy or tenure at residential properties is also associated with decisions on overhauling a property's heating system. Properties are almost twice as likely to switch to gas from coal, oil or peat as the primary heating fuel when occupancy changes. The likelihood almost quadruples when there is also a change in tenure. Beyond occupancy and tenure, family size is the most notable occupant characteristic associated with a higher likelihood of switching to gas. In properties with six or more family members, and where occupancy changes, the likelihood of switching to gas is 7 percentage points higher than properties with 1–2 family members. The research extends the understanding of energy-related decisions associated with moving home and that property owners are more likely to invest in energy retrofits during this transitional period. Opportunities for designing policy supports, tailored to home-owners and landlords, but actively triggered by the registration of new tenancy leases or exchange of property deeds are discussed
Assessing tourists’ preferences for conservation of large carnivores in the Italian Alps using a discrete choice experiment
No full textA study on tourists’ preferences for wildlife conservation in the Italian Alps using a choice experiment is presented. The study focuses on wolves, lynx and salamanders, which are in danger of extinction. Welfare analysis suggests that WTP for varying sizes of animal population increases up to 45–55 animals and then decreases. This indicates that tourists are willing to financially contribute to an increase in the number of animals, but they do not want too many individuals, probably due to the impacts that large populations of carnivores may have. Estimated consumer surplus confirms a larger positive welfare change for the scenario with 50 animals. A population of 50 animals is considered a viable population for the survival of wolves and lynx; therefore results indicate that tourists are willing to contribute for sustainable wolf and lynx conservation. The analysis also indicates that the places of residence and where respondents grew up influence preferences
How much Fear? Exploring the Role of Integral Emotions on Stated Preferences for Wildlife Conservation
Full text linkScientific evidence suggests that emotions affect actual human decision-making, particularly in highly emotionally situations such as human-wildlife interactions. In this study we assess the role of fear on preferences for wildlife conservation, using a discrete choice experiment. The sample was split into two treatment groups and a control. In the treatment groups the emotion of fear towards wildlife was manipulated using two different pictures of a wolf, one fearful and one reassuring, which were presented to respondents during the experiment. Results were different for the two treatments. The assurance treatment lead to higher preferences and willingness to pay for the wolf, compared to the fear treatment and the control, for several population sizes. On the other hand, the impact of the fear treatment was lower than expected and only significant for large populations of wolves, in excess of 50 specimen. Overall, the study suggests that emotional choices may represent a source of concern for the assessment of stable preferences. The impact of emotional choices is likely to be greater in situations where a wildlife-related topic is highly emphasized, positively or negatively, by social networks, mass media, and opinion leaders. When stated preferences towards wildlife are affected by the emotional state of fear due to contextual external stimuli, welfare analysis does not reflect stable individual preferences and may lead to sub-optimal conservation policies. Therefore, while more research is recommended for a more accurate assessment, it is advised to control the decision context during surveys for potential emotional choices
Choice experiment assessment of anglers' salmonid conservation preferences
No full textWild Atlantic salmon and sea trout are in danger in several fisheries of the northern hemisphere due to anthropic activities. The pressures on fish stocks include excessive commercial and recreational harvests, as well as habitat depletion. In this paper, we present a choice experiment assessment of recreational anglers’ preferences for conservation options, aiming to reduce harvest and improve ecosystem quality of salmon fisheries using Ireland as a case study. Data were collected by online survey and analysed with a latent class logit model. Results indicate two groups of anglers with diverging opinions and preferences on salmon conservation priorities, which will likely be reflected in different levels of acceptance of conservation initiatives
Exploring the influence of an extended theory of planned behaviour on preferences and willingness to pay for participatory natural resources management
No full textKnowledge and awareness of water quality protection issues within local authorities
Full text linkThe EU Water Framework Directive's (WFD) ambition to achieve good ecological status for waters is an ambitious target due to the complexity of water management governance. Usually, multiple institutions are responsible for water management, often operating within a hierarchical structure, in which each level has different responsibilities. It is essential that knowledge and awareness of plans and policies associated with water management are effectively transferred through the hierarchical structure to the staff responsible for day-to-day activities. This study investigates the level of knowledge and awareness of water quality issues among Local Authority (i.e., local government) staff within Ireland and the extent to which water protection measures are implemented within core functions of local government. There is relatively good knowledge or awareness related to high level issues, including institutions responsible for water management, awareness of WFD and river basin management plans. Knowledge and awareness levels are considerably lower on more specific details, including on water quality status and protection measures being implemented within their jurisdictional areas. Overall, the study suggests that there is considerable scope for improvement in knowledge and awareness, and outlines a series of recommendations to improve priority for water quality protection among Local Authority staff
Data dissemination in vehicular ad-hoc networks
No full textIl processo di "data dissemination" consiste nella diffusione dell'informazione attraverso i diversi nodi che costituiscono la rete e comprende una molteplicità di aspetti che destano interesse nella comunità scientifica.
Lo sviluppo di sistemi efficienti per i processi di "data dissemination" nelle reti veicolari (VANET) è infatti argomento di ampio dibattito nelle maggiori conferenze in ambito automotive, a fronte delle problematiche di trasmissione legate essenzialmente alla natura broadcast delle comunicazioni e all'esigenza di pervenire ad una più efficiente gestione del canale trasmissivo, affrontando al contempo problemi di collisione e di interferenza dovuti all'ambiente circostante (urban landscape).
L'obiettivo principale di questa tesi è stato quello di analizzare i principali processi di data dissemination nel mondo VANET e sviluppare, quindi, un nuovo protocollo che dimostri al tempo stesso: efficienza, bassa latenza, alta velocità di disseminazione e buon utilizzo del canale trasmissivo.
L'idea chiave prevede l'impiego di tecniche di codifica con codici a fontana (Fountain Codes) sfruttando il paradigma di comunicazione I2V2V (infrastructure-to-vehicle-to-vehicle), in cui i veicoli e l'infrastruttura cooperano nello scambio dei dati.
I risultati ottenuti sperimentalmente hanno mostrato una buona fattibilità della soluzione prospettata, che potrebbe pertanto essere implementata su reali schede di comunicazione installate on-board sui veicoli (in ottemperanza a quanto previsto dagli Intelligent Transportation Systems, ITS).Data dissemination consists on spreading a large amount of information to all nodes belonging to a network and its peculiar characteristics make this goal particularly interesting and challenging. However, developing efficient
data dissemination schemes for vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) is still an open issue due to the broadcast nature of the channel and to the need of managing all data transmissions in a distributed way. The former leads to a lot of problems related to the channel contention, collisions and interference. The latter requires to define algorithms which exploit only local information of the network and which are scalable and robust to the node mobility.
The focus of this thesis is to investigate the data dissemination process in VANETs by defining and developing a new communication protocol (CORP), efficient in terms of limited computational complexity, low latency, high speed of dissemination, high delivery ratio, better usage of the wireless channel and, consequently, better energy consumption. The basic idea relies on the the application of the fountain codes theory to vehicular
networks in order to implement a true I2V2V (infrastructure-to-vehicle-to-vehicle ) communication paradigm.
Results gathered from extensive simulation show the feasibility of such a solution, which could be implemented in real on-board communication devices for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
Malattie micotiche
No full textIl presente capitolo di libro tratta delle malattie ad eziologia micotica del pollame domestico. In particolare, vengono descritte l'eziologia, la patogenesi, la sintomatologia, le lesioni anatomo-patologiche, la diagnosi, la prevenzione e la terapia di malattie quali l'aspergillosi, la candidosi, la dactilarosi e le dermatofitosi
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