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El presente artículo surge de la necesidad de desvelar la influencia del desarrollo turístico en las dimensiones del desarrollo sostenible de la comunidad de Caibarién (Cuba). La información se obtuvo mediante revisión documental y entrevistas semi estructuradas. Los fundamentos teóricos y metodológicos que soportan el tratamiento de este trabajo se estructuran a partir de la producción científica relativa a los temas del desarrollo turístico y el turismo sostenible. Los principales resultados mostraron que la estrategia de desarrollo de Gaviota S.A en los Cayos de Villa Clara, influye indirectamente en la sostenibilidad de la comunidad de Caibarién, lo cual coincide con lo que plantea la literatura académica y presenta su pertinencia también para el caso de Cuba, cuya organización socioeconómica y política se distancia del paradigma neoliberal global. Si bien existen algunas pautas que muestran una tendencia hacia el desarrollo sostenible, aún se identifican aspectos negativos en el modelo de desarrollo turístico que habrán de ser considerados tanto en futuras investigaciones como en sus implicaciones prácticas en la industria turística de Cuba y de otras latitudes. This article arises from the need to reveal the influence of tourism development on the dimensions of sustainable development in the community of Caibarién, Cuba. The information was obtained through documentary review and semi-structured interviews. The theoretical and methodological foundations that support the treatment of the subject are structured from the scientific production related to the topics of tourism development and sustainable tourism. The main results showed that the development strategy of Gaviota SA in the Villa Clara Keys, indirectly influences the sustainability of the Caibarién community, which coincides with what is stated in the academic literature and is also relevant for the case of Cuba, whose socio-economic and political organization distances itself from the global neoliberal paradigm. Although there are elements that show a trend towards sustainable development, negative aspects were still identified as a consequence of the presence of tourism development that will have to be considered both in future research and in its practical implications in the tourism industry of the Island and of other latitudes.

The annual production of plastic waste worldwide has doubled in just two decades, with approximately 390 million tonnes of plastic waste now being generated. In this context, the construction industry must move towards the development of new, more sustainable materials made under circular economy criteria. In this work, a physico-mechanical characterisation of gypsum composites with the incorporation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) waste, replacing 2–4–6–8–10% by volume of the original raw material, has been conducted. The results show how the incorporation of these plastic wastes improves the water resistance of the gypsum material without additions, as well as producing a decrease in thermal conductivity and greater resistance to impact. On the other hand, it has been found that, as the percentage of recycled raw material added increases, the mechanical resistance to bending and compression decreases, leading to fracture due to a lack of cohesion between the matrix and the waste. Nevertheless, in all the cases studied, mechanical strengths higher than those established by the EN 13279-2 standard were obtained. Thus, the results confirm the viability of these secondary raw materials to be used in the development of new products for sustainable building, especially in the design of prefabricated panels for false ceilings.

<p>Historical weather data represent an extremely precious resource for agro-meteorology for studying evolutionary dynamics and for predictive purposes, to address agronomical and management choices, that have economic, social and environmental effect. The study of climatic variability and its consequences starts from the observation of variations over time and the identification of the causes, on the basis of historical series of meteorological observations. The availability of long-lasting, complete and accurate datasets is a fundamental requirement to predict and react to climate variability. Inter-annual climate changes deeply affect grapevine productive cycle determining direct impact on the onset and duration of phenological stages and, ultimately, on the grape harvest and yield. Indeed, climate variables, such as air temperature and precipitation, affect evapotranspiration rates, plant water requirements, and also the vine physiology. In this respect, the observed increase in the number of warm days poses a threat to grape quality as it creates a situation of imbalance at maturity, with respect to sugar content, acidity and phenolic and aromatic ripeness.</p><p>A study was conducted to investigate the relationships between climate variables and harvest onset dates to assess the responses of grapevine under a global warming scenario. The study was carried out in the “Monferrato” area, a rainfed hillslope vine-growing area of NW Italy. In particular, the onset dates of harvest of different local wine grape varieties grown in the Vezzolano Experimental Farm (CNR-IMAMOTER) and in surrounding vineyards (affiliated to the Terre dei Santi Cellars) were recorded from 1962 to 2019 and then related to historical series of climate data by means of regression analysis. The linear regression was performed based on the averages of maximum and minimum daily temperatures and sum of precipitation (1962–2019) calculated for growing and ripening season, together with a bioclimatic heat index for vineyards, the Huglin index. The climate data were obtained from two data series collected in the Experimental farm by a mechanical weather station (1962-2002) and a second series recorded (2002-2019) by an electro-mechanical station included in Piedmont Regional Agro-meteorological Network. Finally, a third long-term continuous series covering the period from 1962 to 2019, provided by Italian Meteorological Society was considered in the analysis.</p><p>The results of the study highlighted that inter-annual climate variability, with a general positive trend of temperature, significantly affects the ripening of grapes with a progressive anticipation of the harvest onset dates. In particular, all the considered variables excepted precipitation, resulted negatively correlated with the harvest onset date reaching a high level of significance (up to P< 0.001). Best results have been obtained for maximum temperature and Huglin index, especially by using the most complete dataset. The change ratios obtained using datasets including last 15 years were greater (in absolute terms) than results limited to the period 1962-2002, and also correlations have greater level of significance. The results indicated clearly the relationships between the temperature trend and the gradual anticipation of harvest and the importance of having long and continuous historical weather data series available.</p>

The phenomena of climate change transcend all national and regional boundaries. To address this complex challenge, we must determine the areas of the country of interest, in this case, Greece, that have been most adversely affected by climate. Greece is surrounded by water, and a significant part of its GDP is derived from the marine and maritime industries, including tourism. Since the start of the IntelComp project, a Preparatory Living Lab (PLL) has been planned and delivered, feeding into the development of the IntelComp platform and the Living Lab on Climate Change Adaptation. The study's results lead to the conclusion that one of the most important challenges in tackling climate change is the decarbonisation challenge, specifically the shift to renewable energy sources and the investments that must be made. Several EU and national policy frameworks, including the European Green Deal, the Climate Law, the National Long-term Strategy for 2050 (on the Climate and Energy), highlight the decarbonisation as one of the major challenges in the climate change pledge. This will be the primary subject of the IntelComp climate change case study. PLLs also led to the identification of policy questions and useful data sources to aid the IntelComp project's launch. While previous research on co-production has primarily focused on involving citizens through public participation processes in order to gain their support, trust, and insights in structured decision-making processes, our approach opens a new channel for incorporating external knowledge into problem-solving processes. The IntelComp project will aid in policy development by providing pertinent tools co-developed with the final users that will provide insights and analysis in the field of STI (Science, Technology, Innovation) encompassing all of the Energy areas mentioned above.

Abstract Building energy performance requirements aiming at the nZEB target have been recently established by the national legislation. In Italy, the requirements are verified through the notional reference building, whose U-values are reduced in two steps: up to 2018 and since 2019 for public buildings, and up to 2020 and since 2021 for all other buildings. This might cause a reduction of the heating need but an increase of the cooling need. The objective of the study is to investigate in which conditions and extent a significant imbalance of the energy needs occurs. Different building types and climatic zones are considered.

[EN] Many governments are pushing for cleaner transportation. In particular, public transportation allows massive transportation of passengers, but it remains highly polluting, especially in high elevation cities. Thus, the progressive introduction of electric buses (EBS) will allow mitigating these environmental concerns. However, some technological problems must be addressed considering the massive penetration of EBs. The lack of flexibility and the time connection of scheduling for public transit make EBS harder than internal combustion ones. This work studies the impact of charging EBs at the bus station and suggests a new way to take EB aggregators into account to reduce energy costs while fulfilling grid restrictions. In addition, to find a different number of charging spots to be installed, a scheduling analysis is conducted. This works belongs to the projects IEA.JCG.20.01 and SIS.MGR.21.01 from Universidad de las Americas - Ecuador. The authors would like to thank Paulo Guerra-Teran from Universidad de las Americas - Ecuador for the fruitful discussion.