1,721,006 research outputs found
How does ageing population affect energy use? An OLG-GE application for Italy
No full text"In this study we evaluate the impact of demographic change on energy use. The results are obtained from a calibrated overlapping generations general equilibrium model for Italy. Contrary to studies based on partial equilibrium regression models, or fixed price models that are unable to account for supply side effects, we found that a pronounced ageing population leads to a reduction in energy use, although in principle, the increase in the share of old people produces a shift in consumption towards a more energy intensive mix of goods and services.
A statistical information system supporting environmental policies
No full text"Environment and sustainability are key issues for the policy maker. A policy should be first designed and realistically inserted in . its proper context (regional, national, European) in order to be correctly assessed. After that, suitable models need to be chosen . consistently with the policy context and with the evaluation purpose, to make easier the policy maker task. The aim of this paper . is twofold. Firstly, to propose a Statistical Information System (SIS) approach in order to correctly write the policy and verify its . internal and external consistency; secondly, to conceive model building with an evaluation purpose and not only with an . analytical one. This means that the model could be able to produce indicators useful to monitoring the policy other than macro . indicators whose function is to verify its long term sustainability. These concepts are applied to a specific regional environmental . policy: the premium/penalty system conceived to implement the separate collection in waste management. The SIS approach . allows us to verify the quality of disposable information, to complete and eventually integrate them with ad hoc surveys, in order . to build the environmental extended Social Accounting Matrix, the ESAM. This modelling, evaluation oriented, aims at verifying . the policy effects in the long term, i.e. looking at structural change concerning all institutional sectors (households, firms and . government).
Trade spillover effects of transport infrastructure investments: a structural gravity analysis for EU regions
No full textA structural gravity model is used to estimate the regional trade and welfare effects of the reduction in transport costs between and within European Union regions induced by European Union Cohesion Policy road infrastructure investment. The results imply that, in targeted regions, the policy increases interregional real exports by 0.03% and real gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.15% on average. The gains in real GDP are the highest in the regions receiving most funds. Although the policy always leads to more goods being shipped, for some regions it implies less trade external to the region and more trade within.JRC.B.7 - Innovation Policies and Economic Impac
Sustainability certification and hospitality management. An enquiry on the Sardinian coastal hotels’ approach and criticalities towards the EU Ecolabel Certification
No full textThe purpose of this research is to highlight and analyse the main difficulties and critical points experienced by Sardinian coastal hotel managers and their staff when the possibility to obtain an EU
Ecolabel certification is presented to them.
The paper aims to identify some of the main factors that determine the decision of continuing the certification process or to abandon it.
The study uses data collected through a set of interviews carried out with hotel owners and managers. The selected hotels took part in a certification support programme set up by the regional agency for coastal preservation (Conservatoria delle Coste) in late 2013. At the end of the process, out of 30 hotels, five obtained the EU Ecolabel Certification.
The interviews were carried out in presence during the visit of a specialised consultant, which also collected the data related to the main features/critical points of the hotel. The data was used as an
input to measure the distance in terms of points as awarded by the EU Ecolabel score datasheet. The results of this preliminary analysis is then elaborated with statistical methods in order to
determine which are the main critical points and weaknesses experienced by the hotel managers and the rationality underlying the choice of facultative criteria.
Motivation and actual awareness of the benefits of a certification scheme are also analysed.The study evidences that, although structural variables as size and complexity of the hotel physical
structure are important, motivation of management and owners seems to be the main factor to influence the certification process success. Recently built hotels or less complex buildings may have
on average far less difficulties in achieving the Ecolabel certificate while larger hotels require important investments in order to meet the criteria. Such investments are sometimes often not seen
as easily redeemable by the hotel management. This fact, which is also influenced by a low capability of exploiting the certification in terms of visibility and appeal to new customers, reduces the
motivation of the hotel owners to embark in a process deemed expensive, complicated and not useful. On the other side, when the investments are clearly connected to the reduction of costs (e.g. energy saving investments) they are perceived as useful and redeemable, making easier for the company to decide in their favour.
The study is based on very detailed data and on a sample that is representative both geographically and qualitatively of the hotel sector of Sardinia. The current shift of the visitors’ preferences towards
more sustainable destinations as experienced by tourism operators and evidenced by researchers, brings under light the subject of viable certification schemes and the need to create a managing culture that integrates environmental strategies and market results
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
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