1,721,259 research outputs found
The potential of the LCT approaches in supporting economic choices at company level in the agri-food sector
No full textINTRO: Despite the recent advancements in the development and implementation of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) approaches, agri-food companies still seem to show a limited interest in the use of these
methodologies. On the other hand, distribution companies (for example, Wal-Mart, Tesco and others) and final consumers, especially in some markets, have become increasingly aware of environmental and social
issues. Also, a similar driver has come from international institutions (such as the OIV, which has been working on a specific protocol) and European ones (e.g.: European policies and the Emission Trading Scheme
under reform).
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to highlight the potential use of LCT methods and tools to support business decisions, which can have economic, social and environmental impacts, in the short and long term,
using the agri-food industry as a case study. In this way, we intend to contribute to the solution of the much-debated issue in the literature concerning the poor attractiveness of LCT approaches, above all E-LCA,
compared to other methods of environmental impact assessment.
CRITICAL ISSUES IN LCA:
- Difficulty of communicating the results of conventional LCA to unskilled end-users -- see how Carbon Footprint has been generally accepted, instead (Weidema et al, 2008);
- The costs that companies meet to perform the evaluation;
- Companies not feeling responsible for the stages which are not under their direct control (such as distribution).
- Also, the potential of the different approaches not being explicitly transmitted to the different users;
- The environmental component of sustainability being often assessed without emphasizing interrelations with economic and/or social aspects
Dynamic monitoring of the Temple of Neptune in Paestum (Italy) - Preliminary results
No full textThis paper focuses on an experimental monitoring system developed for the Temple of Neptune in Paestum within a joint research project carried out by the Department of Civil Engineering (DICIV) at the University of Salerno and the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia (PAEVE).This monitoring system is an innovative seismometric network consisting of mechanical and electronic components of high sensitivity and precision, allowing the assessment of the static and dynamic response of the structure in order to monitor its evolution over time and support proactive maintenance activities. In particular, the paper presents the monitoring network and discusses the preliminary results highlighting the contribution that such an innovative system can provide to a broader maintenance process. The results confirm the high level of accuracy and stability of the overall system, as well as preliminary correlations between the temple's daily response and weather changes such as temperature
Fabrication and AC Performance of Flexible Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide Thin-Film Transistors
No full textSocial sustainability and supply chain management: Methods and tools
No full textNowadays, organisations need to be socially responsible by assessing their social impacts and/or performances and those of their supply chain actors in order to achieve competitive advantages. In this perspective, they should be aware of the different available methods and tools that can be used to take socially responsible decisions. The aim of this study is to provide a useful toolbox within Supply Chain Management in order to help decision makers to assess systematically the social sustainability of organisations. For this reason, an analysis of existing methods and tools was performed by following the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines” (PRISMA). A combination of the emerged methods and tools within the SCM is desirable in order to obtain a common vision amongst the social sustainability actors of the organisation and its supply chain. Furthermore, the results draw attention to the need for further development towards social assessment approaches in terms of Life Cycle Thinking
Da Ted Kramer a Homer Simpson. Padri al cinema e in televisione
No full textContemporaneamente alla comparsa nei media della figura del padre affettivo, comincia il discorso sulla società senza padri. Nella rappresentazione prevalente il padre accudente è un pare solo
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
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