118,077 research outputs found
How Digital Technologies Can Support Sustainability of the Waterborne Passenger Mobility Ecosystem: A Case Study Analysis of Smart Circular Practices in Northern Europe
No full textTo tackle the significant increase in traffic congestion and pollution in urban areas, wa- terborne transport systems can offer a more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative, decreasing traffic congestion on roads, noise, and pollution emissions, with reduced infrastructure requirements. Developing a sustainable waterborne passenger system requires a multidisciplinary approach and a systemic view, which involves various stakeholders and knowledge. Digital transition can encourage a better management of resources and enables systems integration promoting circular economy and ecosystem models, which create interrelations among systems. The aim of this study is to identify circular practices adopted in the waterborne passenger mobility (WPM) ecosystem driven by digital technologies. A holistic perspective which considers all the system of actors and their mutual interactions has been adopted. Five case studies have been selected in Northern Europe and analyzed by applying the Smart Circular WPM Ecosystem framework, previously developed by the authors. The analysis identifies a list of Smart Circular practices resulting from the application of digital technologies during specific lifecycle stages, involving certain actors’ categories, and enabling circular principles. The case studies analysis also highlighted unexplored or under-considered fields of action which can be the base for further researc
The Latin Owner: profiles, perceptions and attitudes of Italian cat and dog owners towards their pet
No full textIntroduction
Nowadays animal companionship is an integral aspect of life in Europe, with approximately 81 million registered dogs and 99.2 million cats (1). This research aims to identify characteristics of dog and cat-owning households from a large cross-sectional web-based survey in Italy.
Material and Methods
Owners over 18 years old were asked information about themselves, their dogs, cats and their relationship with their pets. Data was analysed using Pearson’s χ2 tests and logistic regressions (SPSS).
Results
3,298 owners completed the survey, 31.8% and 40.3% of whom owned dogs and cats respectively, and 72.8% both. People aged 18 to 30 years were more likely to own a dog than older respondents. Compared to cat owners, dog owners were more likely to believe that their pets considered them to be conspecific group members, rather than “only humans”. Dogs were more likely to be purebreds adopted for companionship. Cats were significantly more likely to be mixed breeds adopted because they needed a home. Dog owners were significantly more likely to rate other owners as an important source of information regarding handling and training than cat owners. Despite a similarly high prevalence of reported intraspecific aggression and noise reactivity among dogs and cats, dog ownership significantly increased the likelihood of the owner’s actual willingness to change a pet’s behavior. Cat ownership increased the likelihood that owners would consider surgical sterilisation as an option to correct behaviour.
Conclusion
These results may be useful in helping behaviour practitioners address population changes in terms of human-pet bonds and plan prevention and treatment strategies.
Reference: Statista 2015. Available a
Prevalence of owner-reported behaviours in dogs separated from the litter at two different ages
No full textThe present study examined the prevalence of behaviours in dogs separated from the litter for adoption at different ages. Seventy adult dogs separated from their dam and littermates and adopted between the ages of 30 and 40 days were compared with 70 adult dogs that had been taken from the litter for adoption at two months. Owners were asked to complete a questionnaire eliciting information on whether their dog exhibited potentially problematic behaviours when in its usual environment. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate whether the age at which the dog was separated from the litter might predispose it to developing undesirable behaviours. The odds of displaying destructiveness, excessive barking, fearfulness on walks, reactivity to noises, toy possessiveness, food possessiveness and attention-seeking were significantly greater for the dogs that had been removed from the litter earlier during the socialisation period. In addition, dogs purchased from a pet shop at 30 to 40 days of age were reported to exhibit some of the listed behaviours with a significantly higher frequency than dogs purchased from a pet shop at two months. No significant differences were observed with dogs obtained from other types of sources. The dogs in the youngest age group (18 to 36 months) had a higher probability of displaying destructiveness and tail chasing. These findings indicate that, compared with dogs that remained with their social group for 60 days, dogs that had been separated from the litter earlier were more likely to exhibit potentially problematic behaviours, especially if they came from a pet shop
La pandemia globale. La ristrutturazione delle forze produttive tra individualizzazione e autoritarismo neoliberista
No full textL’11 marzo 2020, quasi due mesi e mezzo dopo la manifestazione di alcune “polmoniti anomale” in Cina, l’OMS (Organizzazione mondiale della sanità) dichiara che il Covid-19, la malattia causata dal nuovo coronavirus Sars-CoV-2, “può essere caratterizzato come una situazione pandemica”.
Nel giro di tre mesi la migrazione internazionale del Sars-Cov-2, generatasi dal focolaio di Wuhan in Cina, ha trasformato radicalmente non solo la condizione sanitaria ma gli assetti politici sociali ed economici del mondo intero.
Come è stato possibile? E quali sono gli scenari conseguenti che si prospettano?
In questo contributo, senza togliere alcuna rilevanza alle questioni inerenti la salute pubblica a livello globale, su cui torneremo, vorremmo parlare del Sars-Cov-2 quale epifenomeno del capitalismo nella sua fase neoliberista[1] e quale funzione “specchio”[2] degli assetti capitalistici della cosiddetta “globalizzazione” neoliberista ed insieme di “detonazione”[3] delle dinamiche e contraddizioni del capitale a livello globale.On March 11, 2020, almost two and a half months after the manifestation of some "abnormal pneumonia" in China, the WHO (World Health Organization) declares that Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 , "Can be characterized as a pandemic situation".
Within three months, the international migration of Sars-Cov-2, generated by the Wuhan outbreak in China, has radically transformed not only the health condition but also the social and economic political structures of the whole world.
How was this possible? And what are the consequent scenarios that lie ahead?
In this contribution, without taking away any relevance to global public health issues, to which we will return, we would like to talk about Sars-Cov-2 as an epiphenomenon of capitalism in its neoliberal phase [1] and as a "mirror" function [2] of the capitalist structures of the so-called neoliberal "globalization" and the "detonation" [3] of the dynamics and contradictions of capital on a global level
Dealing with preference uncertainty in contingent willingness to pay for a nature protection program: A new approach
No full textIn this paper, we propose an alternative preference uncertainty measurement approach where respondents have the option to indicate their willingness to pay (WTP) for a nature protection program either as exact values or intervals from a payment card, depending on whether they are uncertain about their valuation. On the basis of their responses, we then estimate their degree of uncertainty. New within this study is that the respondent's degree of uncertainty is "revealed", while it is "stated" in those using existing measurement methods. Three statistical models are used to explore the sources of respondent uncertainty. We also present a simple way of calculating the uncertainty adjusted mean WTP, and compare this to the one obtained from an interval regression. Our findings in terms of determinants of preference uncertainty are broadly consistent with a priori expectations. In addition, the uncertainty adjusted mean WTP is quite similar to the one derived from an interval regression. We conclude that our method is promising in accounting for preference uncertainty in WTP answers at little cost to interviewees in terms of time and cognitive effort, on the one hand, and without researcher assumptions regarding the interpretation of degrees of uncertainty reported by respondents, on the other. © 2013 Elsevier B.V
Strumenti di cooperazione giudiziaria, diritto internazionale privato e ordine pubblico nel sistema dell’UE
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