1,692 research outputs found
A solar utility in Tanzania: field-based experience on the electricity-development nexus
No full textThis paper presents a case study from a project in Arusha region (north Tanzania), aiming at improving access to electricity in secondary schools through the establishment of a social enterprise, in charge of promoting rural electrification by applying the '4As Framework' with an innovative way and business structure. The work highlights benefits and challenges from the field, in order to drawn some key recommendations
Towards an holistic approach to energy access in humanitarian settings: the SET4food project from technology transfer to knowledge sharing
No full textThe increasing number of displaced people in the world not only requires rapid humanitarian actions, but also attention to host communities and a holistic and long-term vision. Energy has not been really considered a major topic in people displacement, yet, resulting in negative impacts on several aspects, including food security. New solutions are required, in terms of energy planning, technology development, and adaptation, as well as decision making, sensitization, training, and support to humanitarian actors. The Sustainable Energy Technologies for food security (SET4food) project phase 1 (2014–2015) developed a number of tools to support identification, adaptation, and introduction of appropriate solutions, tested some pilot innovations in critical areas, and promoted the enhancement of humanitarian response capability in the energy sector via an extensive capacity building program. In addition, a second phase of the project (2015–2018) fostered networking and collaboration between the main actors by developing an e-sharing platform, called ENERGYCoP, including a global not-for-profit community of practices for humanitarian professionals working in the energy sector. The platform may enable the shift from traditional “technological transfer” to a more participative approach on co-design and technological cooperation activated by a knowledge sharing mechanism. This paper outlines the main challenges and the achieved results of SET4food, providing recommendations for researchers and practitioners on the way forward
Cooking in refugee camps and informal settlements: A review of available technologies and impacts on the socio-economic and environmental perspective
No full textIn the world, the number of forcibly displaced people is arising. These people have several needs, especially in terms of food security. The humanitarian response usually focuses on food availability and access, while food processing is often neglected. In this framework, cooking technologies play an essential role. Many scientific studies and international reports address the issue of clean cooking technologies dissemination in developing countries. Less information is instead available in the literature for the specific case of humanitarian contexts, such as refugee and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, or informal humanitarian settlements. Unsustainable and inefficient cooking technologies or practices can have direct impact on food preparation, and indirect effects on local biomass resources overexploitation, health of local people, and social conflicts between hosted and hosting communities. This study aims at presenting a systematic review of both scientific and grey literature on cooking technologies and related practices, including a selection of experiences from the implementation of cooking devices in humanitarian projects and programmes. The Authors conclude that the attention to the problem is arising, but still very few information is available, in terms of scientific research
Alternatives to gas flaring: a multi-criteria decision approach applied to a case study in Russia
No full textDuring recent years, the issue of gas flaring has become an increasingly relevant problem for the international community.
The claim to more sustainable development offers a renewed prospective in the observation of gas flaring and emphasizes
that recovering the associated gas could induce economic, environmental and social benefit. The true core of the issue, as is
widely accepted, is not a lack of appropriate technologies, but in the number of criteria involved, which makes it difficult to
identify a list of alternatives and connecting all the involved stakeholders in the negotiation process. The complexity of this
problem can be mitigated using a decision-making method. The objective of the present work is to identify and formulate a
supportive decision system based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Application of the model to a real case underlines the
strengths and weaknesses of the model, leading to the conclusion that a selection of the most sustainable alternatives needs
to be based on a number of criteria that need to be recognized and agreed amongst the stakeholders
Tagli, buchi, strappi e un arabesco di luce
No full textIl testo è la recensione del libro "Lucio Fontana e l’artventure parigina", a cura di Silvia Bignami e Jacopo Galimberti. Il volume ricostruisce la fitta rete di intrecci e relazioni intessuta da Lucio Fontana tra il 1959 e il 1964 con l’ambiente artistico parigino, quando Fontana espose alla galleria Iris Clert le Nature (1961) le OEufs Célestes (1964).The text is the review of Silvia Bignami and Jacopo Galiberti's book "Lucio Fontana e l'artventure parigina", that analizes the thick network by Lucio Fontana in Paris between 1959 and 1964, when Fontana showed Nature and OEufs Célestes at Iris Clert gallery in 1961 and 1964
Energy Technologies for Food Utilization for Displaced People: from identification to evaluation
No full textBy end-2014, the number of forcibly displaced people in the World was 59.5 million, the highest after the II World War. UNHCR (2015) reports that they are 19.5 million refugees, 38.2 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 1.8 asylum-seekers, and they have been progressively increased in number for the last 4 years, with an estimation of 13.9 newly displaced in 2014. Such people have several needs, especially in terms of food security. Humanitarian actors usually try to address them focusing on food availability and access, while food utilization is often neglected (Haver K., Harmer A., Taylor G., 2013). The utilization of food, including the access to drinking water, is one of the four pillars of food security, and affects food properties in terms of nutritional intake, especially micronutrients, and healthiness (European Commission, 2009). Appropriate technologies for cooking, food preservation, and water purification are required, but all of them entail the access to fuel or other energy sources. Indeed, access to energy for displaced people is very important from different perspectives, but it is often problematic, and entails five key challenges: “protection, relations between hosts and displaced people, environmental problems, household energy-related natural resource restrictions and livelihood-related challenges” (Lyytinen 2009, pag. 1). The importance of energy for development was pointed out by the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative, while Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) focused the attention on crisis-affected populations, in particular refugees and IDPs (SAFE, 2015). Indeed, if people living in camps, and similarly in informal settlements, are provided with energy services, they may access to a wide range of opportunities to change their condition, and conduct a more productive and active life (Bellanca, 2014). Unfortunately, several gaps are still present in humanitarian response for providing displaced people with an adequate access to energy, and studies are few, mainly related to stoves and generally without an independent impact assessment (Gunning, 2014). Very few displaced people have access to modern forms of energy: generally their practices are unsustainable, with average household costs of at least 200 USD per year (family of five) and disproportionate CO2 emission compared to quantity and quality of energy finally utilized (Lahn & Grafham, 2015). Therefore, the gap in giving the right importance to energy access – in particular in linking relief, rehabilitation and development – is clear
Enzymatic and Inhibition Mechanism of Human Aromatase (CYP19A1) Enzyme. A Computational Perspective from QM/MM and Classical Molecular Dynamics Simulations
No full textThe enzyme human aromatase (HA), a member of the cytochrome P450 family, catalyses in a highly specific and peculiar manner the conversion of estrogens to androgens. Thus, this enzyme is a relevant target for inhibitor design for the treatment of breast cancer and currently there are several HA inhibitors employed in clinical practice. The HA crystal structure was solved only in 2009 and, since then, several studies have been done to characterize a variety of its structural, dynamical and mechanistic properties. In the last decade, the predictive power and the accuracy of computer simulations techniques, either relying on force field or on "ab initio" description of the system, has enormously increased. This was mainly due to the development of more accurate algorithms, which allow accelerating the time-scale accessible by simulations techniques, and to the increase of computer power. Hence, computer simulations can now accurately paint an atomistic picture to the molecular mechanism of biomolecules providing also an estimate of the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of the enzyme at increasingly quantitative level. In this review, on the basis of selected examples taken from our work, we summarize current active research topics concerning HA enzyme, with a focus on computational studies. In particular, we will illustrate current results and novel hypothesis concerning the final (rate-determining) aromatization step promoted by this enzyme, on how the structural/dynamics/functional properties of HA are modulated in a membrane lipophilic environment, and finally on novel possible (allosteric) inhibition mechanisms which may modulate estrogen production in HA
Laboratory testing of the innovative low-cost Mewar Angithi insert for improving energy efficiency of cooking tasks on three-stone fires in critical contexts
No full textCurrently, about 2.7 billion people across the world still lack access to clean cooking means. Humanitarian emergencies and post-emergencies are among the most critical situations: the utilization of traditional devices such as three-stone fires have a huge negative impact not only on food security but also on the socio-economic status of people, their health and the surrounding environment. Advanced Cooking Stoves may constitute better systems compared to actual ones, however, financial, logistic and time constraints have strongly limited the interventions in critical contexts until now. The innovative, low-cost Mewar Angithi insert for improving energy efficiency of three-stone fires may play a role in the transition to better cooking systems in such contexts. In this paper, we rely on the Water Boiling Test 4.2.3 to assess the performances of the Mewar Angithi insert respect to a traditional three-stone fire and we analyse the results through a robust statistical procedure. The potentiality and suitability of this novel solution is discussed for its use in critical contexts
La digitalizzazione del procurement
No full textUn nuovo studio, presentato in questo articolo, ha la finalità di espandere la valutazione delle implicazioni organizzative della digitalizzazione, concentrando l’analisi sull’area del procurement, ossia la funzione che sostanzialmente si occupa della ricerca, approvvigionamento e accettazione di beni o servizi da fonti esterne e della gestione dei fornitori
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