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The INTENSSS PA project, funded by Horizon 2020, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation of the European Union, aims to support the local authorities involved and their stakeholders to develop an innovative integrated sustainable energy planning concept through a participatory, interdisciplinary and multilevel process. By building individual and institutional capacity of the actors involved, using the Regional Living Lab approach, the concept will be applied in order to develop seven sustainable integrated energy plans. In this first article the project activities and the results achieved so far are preliminary described, anticipating a more extensive and detailed publication on the project planned for the December edition of UPLand – Journal of Urban Planning Landscape & Environmental Design. UPLanD - Journal of Urban Planning, Landscape & environmental Design, GREEN 2.0

In order to develop the technology of carbon dioxide at so-called supercritical state (sCO2) further, quick and reliable design tools for the different system components, e.g. centrifugal compressors, are required. In this study, a computer program is developed to predict the performance of centrifugal compressors with sCO2 as working fluid. This computer program is based on mean-line analysis, calculates the fluid parameters at selected sections of the meridional plane and plots the performance maps. So-called enthalpy loss coefficients are utilized to describe the difference between the isentropic and the polytropic process. In addition to previous studies, the presented model intends to predict the performance of sCO2 centrifugal compressor with a shrouded impeller and a vaneless diffuser. For this purpose, corresponding loss coefficients are incorporated. Subsequently, the predicted results of this work are compared and validated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental results from the EU-project sCO2-HeRo. The prediction of the computer program fits within 5% deviation to the CFD results, and about 4% to the experimental results regarding to pressure ratio. Conference Proceedings of the European sCO2 Conference4th European sCO2 Conference for Energy Systems: March 23-24, 2021, Online Conference, p. 68

La gestion des risques a réduit la vulnérabilité aux inondations et aux sécheresses dans le monde1,2, mais leurs impacts continuent d'augmenter3. Une meilleure compréhension des causes de l'évolution des impacts est donc nécessaire, mais a été entravée par un manque de données empiriques4,5. Sur la base d'un ensemble de données mondiales de 45 paires d'événements qui se sont produits dans la même zone, nous montrons que la gestion des risques réduit généralement les impacts des inondations et des sécheresses, mais fait face à des difficultés pour réduire les impacts d'événements sans précédent d'une ampleur jamais connue auparavant. Si le deuxième événement était beaucoup plus dangereux que le premier, son impact était presque toujours plus élevé. En effet, la gestion n'a pas été conçue pour faire face à de tels événements extrêmes : par exemple, ils ont dépassé les niveaux de conception des digues et des réservoirs. Dans deux cas de réussite, l'impact du deuxième événement, plus dangereux, a été plus faible, en raison de l'amélioration de la gouvernance de la gestion des risques et des investissements élevés dans la gestion intégrée. La difficulté observée à gérer des événements sans précédent est alarmante, étant donné que des événements hydrologiques plus extrêmes sont projetés en raison du changement climatique3. La gestión de riesgos ha reducido la vulnerabilidad a las inundaciones y sequías a nivel mundial1,2, pero sus impactos siguen aumentando3. Por lo tanto, se necesita una mejor comprensión de las causas de los impactos cambiantes, pero se ha visto obstaculizada por la falta de datos empíricos4,5. Sobre la base de un conjunto de datos global de 45 pares de eventos que ocurrieron dentro de la misma área, mostramos que la gestión de riesgos generalmente reduce los impactos de inundaciones y sequías, pero enfrenta dificultades para reducir los impactos de eventos sin precedentes de una magnitud no experimentada anteriormente. Si el segundo evento era mucho más peligroso que el primero, su impacto era casi siempre mayor. Esto se debe a que la gestión no fue diseñada para hacer frente a tales eventos extremos: por ejemplo, superaron los niveles de diseño de diques y embalses. En dos casos de éxito, el impacto del segundo evento, más peligroso, fue menor, como resultado de una mejor gobernanza de la gestión de riesgos y una alta inversión en la gestión integrada. La dificultad observada para gestionar eventos sin precedentes es alarmante, dado que se proyectan eventos hidrológicos más extremos debido al cambio climático3. Risk management has reduced vulnerability to floods and droughts globally1,2, yet their impacts are still increasing3. An improved understanding of the causes of changing impacts is therefore needed, but has been hampered by a lack of empirical data4,5. On the basis of a global dataset of 45 pairs of events that occurred within the same area, we show that risk management generally reduces the impacts of floods and droughts but faces difficulties in reducing the impacts of unprecedented events of a magnitude not previously experienced. If the second event was much more hazardous than the first, its impact was almost always higher. This is because management was not designed to deal with such extreme events: for example, they exceeded the design levels of levees and reservoirs. In two success stories, the impact of the second, more hazardous, event was lower, as a result of improved risk management governance and high investment in integrated management. The observed difficulty of managing unprecedented events is alarming, given that more extreme hydrological events are projected owing to climate change3. أدت إدارة المخاطر إلى تقليل التعرض للفيضانات والجفاف على مستوى العالم1,2، ومع ذلك لا تزال آثارها تتزايد3. لذلك هناك حاجة إلى فهم أفضل لأسباب تغير التأثيرات، ولكن أعيق ذلك بسبب نقص البيانات التجريبية4، 5. على أساس مجموعة بيانات عالمية مكونة من 45 زوجًا من الأحداث التي وقعت داخل نفس المنطقة، نظهر أن إدارة المخاطر تقلل عمومًا من آثار الفيضانات والجفاف ولكنها تواجه صعوبات في الحد من آثار الأحداث غير المسبوقة ذات الحجم الذي لم تشهده من قبل. إذا كان الحدث الثاني أكثر خطورة من الأول، فإن تأثيره كان دائمًا أعلى. وذلك لأن الإدارة لم تكن مصممة للتعامل مع مثل هذه الأحداث المتطرفة: على سبيل المثال، تجاوزت مستويات تصميم السدود والخزانات. في قصتي نجاح، كان تأثير الحدث الثاني، الأكثر خطورة، أقل، نتيجة لتحسين حوكمة إدارة المخاطر والاستثمار العالي في الإدارة المتكاملة. إن الصعوبة الملحوظة في إدارة الأحداث غير المسبوقة تنذر بالخطر، بالنظر إلى أنه من المتوقع حدوث المزيد من الأحداث الهيدرولوجية المتطرفة بسبب تغير المناخ3.

The functioning of food value chains entails a complex organisation from farm to fork which is characterised by various governance forms and externalities which have shaped the overall food system. VALUMICS food value chain case studies: wheat to bread, dairy cows to milk, beef cattle to steak, farmed salmon to fillets and tomato to processed tomato were selected to enable explorative and empirical analysis to better understand the functioning of the food system and, to identify the main challenges that need to be addressed to improve sustainability, integrity, resilience, and fairness of European food chains. The VALUMICS system analysis was executed through four operational phases starting with Groundwork & analysis including mapping specific attributes and impacts of food value chains and their externalities. This was followed by Case study baseline analysis, which provided input to the third phase on Modelling and exploration of future scenarios and finally Policy and synthesis of the overall work. This report is an overall synthesis of the VALUMICS results as follows: • Key findings from the VALUMICS project on the functioning of European food value chains and their impacts on more sustainable, resilient, fairer, and transparent food system are summarised through a compilation of 25 Research Findings and Policy Briefs. • By highlighting the major contributions from the research activities throughout the four phases of the VALUMICS project, this report delivers an assessment of various factors influencing sustainability, resilience, efficiency and fairness and effective chain relationships of different food value chains, and their determinants. • The synthesis of the outcome allows the identification of opportunities and challenges characterising the functioning of food supply chains, and thus, the prospects and potentials for strengthening the EU food sector. Citation: Olafsdottir, G., Bogason, S., Aubert, P.M., Barling, D., Thakur, M., Duric, I., Nicolau, M., McGarraghy, S., Sigurdardottir; H., Samoggia, A., Holden N.M., Čechura, L., Jaghdani, T.J., Svanidze, M., Esposito., G., Monticone, F., Fedato, C., Xhelili, A., Huber, E., Hargaden, V., Saviolidis, N M., Gorton, M., Hubbard, C., Kahiluoto, H., Hoang, V.(2021). Scenario analysis report with policy recommendations: An assessment of sustainability, resilience, efficiency and fairness and effective chain relationships in VALUMICS case studies. The VALUMICS project funded by EU Horizon 2020 G.A. No 727243. Deliverable: D8.4, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, 130 pages DOI:10.5281/zenodo.6534011

The Smart City model is now considered one of the opportunities to rethink cities and, in general, the development of urban communities. One of the most relevant themes in the application of the Smart City paradigm is the city/energy relationship and Italian cities are fielding several actions to effectively cope with the energy issues. Nevertheless, actions and projects are often uncritically promoted as ‘smart’, but actually lack innovative contents and methods. Therefore, the aim of this research, of which we present the first findings, is the drafting of a survey, tested through field analysis, of the experimentations of Italian metropolitan areas on the Smart City topic. The in-depth analysis of two case studies, Genoa and Naples, allowed us to compare the actual state of the two cities. We have that they have undertaken a common path in the implementation of strategies to try to transform themselves into Smart Cities, focusing especially on the energy aspects. Tema. Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, Vol 8, N° 2 (2015): Cities, Energy and Built Environment

Herein we highlight a methodological error we encountered in a literature paper concerning the application of graph theory to marine connectivity studies. We show the consequences of this error and propose the use of a metric for the node-to-node distance that solves the inconsistency at the base of it. Our argumentation is illustrated by the analysis of a literature data set. The toolbox contains: 1) Connectivity matrices used for the study 2) Scripts to reproduce the figures in the paper

Fish stomach content records extracted from the DAPSTOM 4.5 database (held at the UK Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science - CEFAS). Data collated as part of the EU Euro-Basin project and specifically concerning herring (Clupea harengus), mackerel (Scomber scombrus), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). The data set consist of 20720 records - collected throughout the northeast Atlantic, between 1906 and 2011 - mostly during routine fisheries monitoring research cruises.

We evaluated the effects of low pH on Corallium rubrum from aquaria experiments. Several colonies of C. rubrum were long-term maintained for 314 days in aquaria at two different pH levels (8.10 and 7.81, pHT). Calcification rate, spicule morphology, major biochemical constituents (protein, carbohydrates and lipids) and fatty acids composition were measured periodically. Exposure to lower pH conditions caused a significant decrease in the skeletal growth rate in comparison to the control treatment. Similarly, the spicule morphology clearly differed between both treatments at the end of the experiment, with aberrant shapes being observed only under the acidified conditions. On the other hand, while total organic matter was significantly higher under low pH conditions, no significant differences were detected between treatments regarding total carbohydrate, lipid, protein and fatty acid composition. However, the lower variability found among samples maintained in acidified conditions relative to controls, suggests a possible effect of pH decrease on the metabolism of the colonies. Our results show, for the first time, evidence of detrimental ocean acidification effects on this valuable and endangered coral species.

Coccolithophores are an important component of the Earth system, and, as calcifiers, their possible susceptibility to ocean acidification is of major concern. Laboratory studies at enhanced pCO2 levels have produced divergent results without overall consensus. However, it has been predicted from these studies that, although calcification may not be depressed in all species, acidification will produce "a transition in dominance from more to less heavily calcified coccolithophores" [Ridgwell A, et al., (2009) Biogeosciences 6:2611-2623]. A recent observational study [Beaufort L, et al., (2011) Nature 476:80-83] also suggested that coccolithophores are less calcified in more acidic conditions. We present the results of a large observational study of coccolithophore morphology in the Bay of Biscay. Samples were collected once a month for over a year, along a 1,000-km-long transect. Our data clearly show that there is a pronounced seasonality in the morphotypes of Emiliania huxleyi, the most abundant coccolithophore species. Whereas pH and CaCO3 saturation are lowest in winter, the E. huxleyi population shifts from 90% (winter) of the heavily calcified form. However, it is unlikely that the shifts in carbonate chemistry alone caused the morphotype shift. Our finding that the most heavily calcified morphotype dominates when conditions are most acidic is contrary to the earlier predictions and raises further questions about the fate of coccolithophores in a high-CO2 world.