A CO2-saving-based methodology to measure the impact of the SUMP in European Cities: Application to the City of Burgos

Urban mobility in Europe is always a responsibility of the municipalities which propose measures to reduce CO2 emissions in terms of mobility aimed at reducing individual private transport (car). The European Commission's Action Plan on Urban Mobility calls for an increase in the take-up of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in Europe. SUMPs aim to create a sustainable urban transport system. Europe has got some long term initiatives and has been using some evaluation procedures, many of them through European projects. Nevertheless, the weak point with the SUMPs in Spain, has been the lack of concern about the evaluation and the effectiveness of the measures implemented in a SUMP. For this reason, it is difficult to know exactly whether or not the SUMPs have positively influenced in the modal split of the cities, and its contribution to reduce CO2 levels. The case of the City of Burgos is a very illustrative example as it developed a CiViTAS project during the years 2005-2009, with a total investment of 6M?. The results have been considered as ?very successful? even at European level. The modal split has changed considerably for better, The cost-effectiveness ratio of the SUMP in the city can be measured with the CO2 ton saved, specifically 36 ? per CO2 ton saved, which is fully satisfactory and in line with calculations from other European researchers. Additionally, the authors propose a single formula to measure the effectiveness of the activities developed under the umbrella of a SUMP.

Self-adaptive strategy based on fuzzy control systems for improving performance in wireless sensors networks

The solutions to cope with new challenges that societies have to face nowadays involve providing smarter daily systems. To achieve this, technology has to evolve and leverage physical systems automatic interactions, with less human intervention. Technological paradigms like Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are providing reference models, architectures, approaches and tools that are to support cross-domain solutions. Thus, CPS based solutions will be applied in different application domains like e-Health, Smart Grid, Smart Transportation and so on, to assure the expected response from a complex system that relies on the smooth interaction and cooperation of diverse networked physical systems. The Wireless Sensors Networks (WSN) are a well-known wireless technology that are part of large CPS. The WSN aims at monitoring a physical system, object, (e.g., the environmental condition of a cargo container), and relaying data to the targeted processing element. The WSN communication reliability, as well as a restrained energy consumption, are expected features in a WSN. This paper shows the results obtained in a real WSN deployment, based on SunSPOT nodes, which carries out a fuzzy based control strategy to improve energy consumption while keeping communication reliability and computational resources usage among boundaries.

Participación Directa y Aprendizaje de los Trabajadores en Mejoras Tecnológicas a Empresas Bajo Gestión Colectiva. Aplicación en Industrias Metalúrgicas de Venezuela y Argentina

La industria metalúrgica estatal venezolana ha vivido, desde sus inicios, procesos cíclicos de cambios y ajustes tecnológicos. Estos procesos no han sido objeto de sistematización que asegure el aprendizaje y apropiación del conocimiento. Este hecho, aún hoy, ha obstaculizado los procesos de apropiación y mejora de las tecnologías asociadas al sector. A partir del acompañamiento a iniciativas de participación de grupos de interés surgidos del seno de los trabajadores, se planteó esta investigación que tuvo como propósito la determinación de condiciones y relaciones para su participación directa en los procesos de mejora de las tecnologías existentes y el fortalecimiento del aprendizaje asociado. Se consideraron dos ámbitos Latinoamericanos donde hay manifestación de gestión colectiva y participación: Venezuela y Argentina. En el caso venezolano, el abordaje se realizó bajo la Investigación Acción Participativa (IAP), desarrollando la “investigación próxima”, como estrategia de acompañamiento, mediante “talleres de formación-investigación” y la sistematización de experiencias considerando la perspectiva y necesidades de los actores. En el caso argentino, el abordaje se realizó mediante visitas, entrevistas, reuniones y encuentros. Los talleres realizados en Venezuela, en un contexto de diálogo de saberes, facilitaron el surgimiento de herramientas prácticas para la sistematización de su propia experiencia (“Preguntas generadoras”, “Mi historia con la tecnología”, “Bitácora de aprendizaje”). El intercambio con los pares argentinos ha generado una red que plantea la posibilidad de construcción y nucleación conjunta de saberes y experiencia, tanto para los trabajadores como para los investigadores. Los casos estudiados referidos a las empresas recuperadas por los trabajadores (ERTs) argentinos evidencian un proceso de participación marcada por su autonomía en la gestión de la empresa, dadas las circunstancias que los llevó a asumirla para conservar sus puestos de trabajo. De estos casos emergieron categorías asociadas con elementos de gestión de un proceso técnico–tecnológico, como la participación en la planificación, concepción o diseño de la mejora. La participación en general está asociada al hecho asambleario, vinculado a las prácticas de toma de decisiones autogestionarias como expresión de una alta participación. La Asamblea, como máxima instancia de participación, y el Consejo de Administración son las formas de participación prevalecientes. En cuanto al aprendizaje, los trabajadores de las ERTs argentinas aportaron categorías de gran significación a los procesos de socialización del conocimiento: conocimiento colectivo y cooperación del conocimiento, rescate de los saberes y formación de trabajadores que tomen el relevo. Las categorías surgidas de las ERTs argentinas, los referentes teóricos y el interés de los trabajadores venezolanos fueron la base para la valoración tanto de su grado de participación en las mejoras a procesos tecnológicos emprendidas, como del aprendizaje asociado. Ésta valoración se realizó bajo una aproximación borrosa dado el carácter ambiguo de estas categorías que fueron trabajadas como conjuntos que se relacionan, más que como variables. Se encontró que la participación, se configura como un sub-conjunto del aprendizaje para contribuir a su fortalecimiento. Las condiciones y relaciones para fortalecer la participación en los asuntos tecnológicos surgieron a partir de la sistematización y síntesis de ambas experiencias (Venezuela y Argentina) conjugando una estructura que contempla la formación para la nucleación de colectivos de saberes (proyectos de mejora o innovaciones), las redes por afinidad, la sistematización de su propia experiencia técnica y los enlaces institucionales. Estos resultados dan cuenta de la integración de los intereses de las partes (trabajadores, investigadores, instituciones), mediante las estrategias de encuentro, de sistematización de los propios métodos y de conformación de los “colectivos de saberes”, la red de IAP en la industria (IAP Industrial) considerando la “deriva de la investigación”, bajo discursos práctico–teóricos propios, como posibilidad de posicionamiento de su participación en los asuntos tecnológicos de sus respectivas organizaciones, abriendo una oportunidad de ampliación de la experiencia en otros ámbitos y sectores. ABSTRACT Venezuelan's state owned steel industry has experienced since its earliest years, cycles of change and technological adjustments. These processes have not been systematized to ensure learning and knowledge in those organizations. This fact, even today, has hindered the processes of appropriation and improving the technologies associated with the sector. In order to support initiatives involving metalworker interest groups, this research was aimed at determining conditions and relations for their direct participation in process improvements to existing technologies and strengthening the associated learning. Two Latin American countries, Venezuela and Argentina, were considered on the base of their collective management and participation experiences. The Venezuelan approach was carried out under the Participatory Action Research (PAR) strategy, through the ‘proximal research’ as support strategy, by means of ‘workshops–research’ and systematization of experiences considering the perspective and needs of actors. Workshops were carried out in metallurgical enterprises from steel and aluminum at Guayana, Venezuela and its affiliates in the Central region. Those industries have been promoted collective management. The Argentine approach was carried out through visits, interviews, meetings and gatherings. The workshops held in Venezuela, in a dialogue of knowledge context, facilitated the emergence of tools for the systematization of their own experience (‘generating questions’, ‘My history with technology’, ‘Learning Log’). The relation with Argentine peers has generated a network that creates opportunities of knowledge and experience construction and its nucleation for both, workers and researchers. The cases studied relating to Argentine workers’ recuperated enterprises show a participatory process marked by autonomy in the management of the factory, given the circumstances that led them to take it in order to maintain their jobs. From these cases emerged categories associated with management aspects about technical-technology process, such as participation in planning, design or implementation of the improvement. Participation, in general, is associated with assemblies, joined to the practices of self-management decision-making as an expression of a high participation. The Cooperative General Assembly, as the highest instance of participation, and the Board of Directors are the prevalent forms of participation. In relation to learning, Argentine workers’ recuperated enterprises provided categories of great significance to the process of socialization of knowledge: collective knowledge and knowledge cooperation, recovery of knowledge and training workers for replacement. Based on categories arising from the Argentine experience, theoretical framework and the interest of the Venezuelan workers the assessment of both, their degree of participation on technical improvements and the associated technological learning were made considering a fuzzy approach, given the ambiguous nature of these categories that were worked as sets rather than variables. It was found that participation is configured as a subset of learning to contribute to its strengthening. The conditions and relations to strengthen participation in technology issues emerged from the systematization and synthesis of both experiences (Venezuela and Argentina) combining a structure which provides training for the nucleation of collectives of knowledge (improvement projects or innovations), affinity networks, systematization of their own expertise and institutional links. These results show the integration of the interests of stakeholders (workers, researchers, institutions) through strategies like meetings, systematization of their own methods, forming ‘collectives of technological knowledge’ and a participative action research network in this industry (Industrial PAR) considering the ‘research drift’, under their own practical-theoretical discourses positioned as a possibility of their participation in technological activities in their respective organizations, opening an opportunity for scaling to other areas and sectors.

Conservation of Computational Scientific Execution Environments for Workflow-based Experiments Using Ontologies

La reproducibilidad de estudios y resultados científicos es una meta a tener en cuenta por cualquier científico a la hora de publicar el producto de una investigación. El auge de la ciencia computacional, como una forma de llevar a cabo estudios empíricos haciendo uso de modelos matemáticos y simulaciones, ha derivado en una serie de nuevos retos con respecto a la reproducibilidad de dichos experimentos. La adopción de los flujos de trabajo como método para especificar el procedimiento científico de estos experimentos, así como las iniciativas orientadas a la conservación de los datos experimentales desarrolladas en las últimas décadas, han solucionado parcialmente este problema. Sin embargo, para afrontarlo de forma completa, la conservación y reproducibilidad del equipamiento computacional asociado a los flujos de trabajo científicos deben ser tenidas en cuenta. La amplia gama de recursos hardware y software necesarios para ejecutar un flujo de trabajo científico hace que sea necesario aportar una descripción completa detallando que recursos son necesarios y como estos deben de ser configurados. En esta tesis abordamos la reproducibilidad de los entornos de ejecución para flujos de trabajo científicos, mediante su documentación usando un modelo formal que puede ser usado para obtener un entorno equivalente. Para ello, se ha propuesto un conjunto de modelos para representar y relacionar los conceptos relevantes de dichos entornos, así como un conjunto de herramientas que hacen uso de dichos módulos para generar una descripción de la infraestructura, y un algoritmo capaz de generar una nueva especificación de entorno de ejecución a partir de dicha descripción, la cual puede ser usada para recrearlo usando técnicas de virtualización. Estas contribuciones han sido aplicadas a un conjunto representativo de experimentos científicos pertenecientes a diferentes dominios de la ciencia, exponiendo cada uno de ellos diferentes requisitos hardware y software. Los resultados obtenidos muestran la viabilidad de propuesta desarrollada, reproduciendo de forma satisfactoria los experimentos estudiados en diferentes entornos de virtualización. ABSTRACT Reproducibility of scientific studies and results is a goal that every scientist must pursuit when announcing research outcomes. The rise of computational science, as a way of conducting empirical studies by using mathematical models and simulations, have opened a new range of challenges in this context. The adoption of workflows as a way of detailing the scientific procedure of these experiments, along with the experimental data conservation initiatives that have been undertaken during last decades, have partially eased this problem. However, in order to fully address it, the conservation and reproducibility of the computational equipment related to them must be also considered. The wide range of software and hardware resources required to execute a scientific workflow implies that a comprehensive description detailing what those resources are and how they are arranged is necessary. In this thesis we address the issue of reproducibility of execution environments for scientific workflows, by documenting them in a formalized way, which can be later used to obtain and equivalent one. In order to do so, we propose a set of semantic models for representing and relating the relevant information of those environments, as well as a set of tools that uses these models for generating a description of the infrastructure, and an algorithmic process that consumes these descriptions for deriving a new execution environment specification, which can be enacted into a new equivalent one using virtualization solutions. We apply these three contributions to a set of representative scientific experiments, belonging to different scientific domains, and exposing different software and hardware requirements. The obtained results prove the feasibility of the proposed approach, by successfully reproducing the target experiments under different virtualization environments.

La Revista El Arquitecto Peruano: reseña de la Cultura Arquitectónica del Perú 1937/1977

La tesis se centra en el análisis de 356 números de la revista El Arquitecto Peruano publicados entre 1937 y 1977. La revista fue fundada en agosto de 1937 por Fernando Belaúnde Terry, arquitecto graduado en la University of Texas at Austin en 1935 quien la dirigió por 25 años hasta marzo de 1963. Desde abril de 1963 la dirige Miguel Cruchaga Belaunde. Durante esta última etapa la revista deja de ser regular, publicándose intermitentemente con varios años sin editarse, hasta desaparecer finalmente en 1977. La revista es la publicación periódica de arquitectura más importante del siglo XX en el Perú. La investigación ubica a la revista en el contexto nacional donde se desarrolló vinculando además los diversos eventos de la arquitectura y el urbanismo del panorama internacional sucedidos durante las tres décadas de estudio. El trabajo empieza por establecer una secuencia de periodos. Esta se basa en la identificación de una estructura fija existente en la revista conformada por las secciones permanentes. Una paulatina inserción de secciones temporales fue complementando y detallando nuevas temáticas y contenidos generando variantes de la estructura fija a lo largo del tiempo. Como resultado de este proceso se reconocen 5 periodos vinculados a una serie de temas vertebrales durante la dirección de Fernando Belaunde: Periodo 1 (Agosto de 1937 a marzo de 1942). Vivienda Unifamiliar. Periodo 2 (Abril de 1942 a mayo de 1944). Urbanismo moderno. Periodo 3 (Junio de 1944 a diciembre de 1949). Vivienda Colectiva. Periodo 4 (Enero-febrero de 1950 a enero-febrero de 1956). Proyectos y obras. Periodo 5 (Marzo-abril de 1956 a enero-febrero-marzo de 1963). Territorio. Los años finales bajo la dirección de Miguel Cruchaga conforman el último Periodo. En la década de los treinta, durante el primer periodo se analiza el rol que un grupo de revistas de arquitectura europeas y norteamericanas tuvieron en la construcción formal y temática de El Arquitecto Peruano. En sus inicios existen influencias de The Architectural Forum, The American Architect, Architecture, California Arts and Architecture y Architectural Digest . Y junto a estas, las revistas alemanas Moderne Bauformen e Innen Dekoration. A raíz de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, las referencias a las revistas alemanas desaparecen y las relaciones con Estados Unidos se intensifican por la posición del Perú dentro del área de influencia norteamericana. El canal de las revistas no fue el único medio de influencia, durante los años cuarenta hubo un marco de apertura hacia Latinoamérica que incluyó viajes de cooperación de arquitectos norteamericanos por el sur del continente. Como parte de estos vínculos, en 1945 Paul Lester Wiener de Town Planning Associates y Richard Neutra, - ambos miembros del CIAM y el segundo Presidente del CIAM USA- prestaron asistencia a la iniciativa más importante promovida por la revista peruana, un proyecto de vivienda popular para obreros y empleados llamado el Plan Peruano. La revista tuvo siempre una fuerte actitud de cambio de la realidad existente en el medio peruano. Para modelar su nueva versión de la realidad instrumentó una serie de campañas de prensa. En la más importante utilizó las ideas del urbanismo moderno que circulaban durante la guerra nacidas en los CIAM de entreguerras. El Arquitecto Peruano aprovecha la coyuntura de los primeros años de la posguerra para canalizar sus iniciativas, tomando como modelo de su propuesta la idea de la Neighborhood Unit, convirtiéndolo en proyecto y finalmente construyendo la Unidad Vecinal N°3, el proyecto de mayor escala asociado con la revista. A esta perspectiva favorable para las ideas vertidas por la publicación se une el hecho de que su Director, es elegido Diputado por Lima y es un miembro muy cercano al gobierno de turno que dio la cobertura legal y de gestión para cristalizar los proyectos desde 1945 hasta 1948. Durante este periodo se producen las propuestas de mayor alcance promovidas por Fernando Belaunde y difundidas por la revista, como el propio Plan Peruano de Vivienda, los Centros Climáticos de Invierno, el Plan Piloto de Lima y los Concursos de Vivienda popular. Existe un trabajo anterior sobre la revista, restringido al campo del urbanismo realizado en 1992 por el historiador Antonio Zapata y titulado El joven Belaunde: Historia de la revista El Arquitecto Peruano en donde se inclina el peso de la revista hacia la Vivienda Social y se señala a Walter Gropius como el arquitecto más influyente en la publicación. La presente tesis plantea que el Plan Peruano es la punta del iceberg, pero que todos estos proyectos relacionados con la revista, conforman un conjunto indisoluble y que el paquete completo tiene una directa influencia de proyectos, ideas y labor editorial de José Luis Sert desarrollada desde finales de los años veinte hasta los años cincuenta. Sus libros Can Our Cities Survive? , The Heart of the City y la revista del GATEPAC AC Documentos de Actividad Contemporánea tienen improntas claras en la revista peruana que atraviesan tres de los periodos propuestos. Durante la década de los cuarenta cuando Sert junto a Wiener fueron socios en Town Plannning Associates y tuvieron contacto directo con el director de la revista así como con los principales colaboradores, y durante la década posterior. A la luz de las evidencias analizadas, la figura de José Luis Sert emerge como la del arquitecto más influyente para la revista El Arquitecto Peruano a lo largo de todo su recorrido. ABSTRACT The thesis focuses on the analysis of 356 issues of the magazine El Arquitecto Peruano published between 1937 and 1977. The magazine was founded in august 1937 by Fernando Belaunde Terry, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1935 who leaded it 25 years until March 1963. Since April 1963 was leaded by Miguel Cruchaga Belaunde. During this last stage the magazine ceases to be published on regular times, being published intermittently, unreleased several years, and finally disappear in 1977. El Arquitecto Peruano is the most important magazine of architecture of the twentieth century in Peru. The research located the magazine in the national context where was developed further by linking the various events of architecture and urbanism of the international scene occurred during the three decades of study. The research begins to establish a sequence of periods. This identification is based on a fixed structure existing in the journal formed by the permanent sections. A gradual insertion of temporary sections was complementing and detailing new themes and contents generating variants of the fixed structure over time. As a result of this process we recognize five periods linked to a series of central themes developed under the lead of Fernando Belaunde: Period 1 (September 1937 to March 1942): The Small House. Period 2 (April 1942 to May 1944). Modern urbanism. Period 3 (June 1944 to December 1949). Housing. Period 4 (January-February 1950 January-February 1956). Projects and Buildings. Period 5 (March-April 1956 January-February-March 1963). Territory. The final years under the direction of Miguel Cruchaga make the last Period. In the thirties, during the first period, is analyzed the role that a group of European and American magazines in architecture had in formal construction and thematic of the magazine. In the beginning there are influences of The Architectural Forum, The American Architect, Architecture, California Arts and Architecture and Architectural Digest. And along with these, the german magazine Moderne Bauformen and Innen Dekoration. Following World War II, the references to german magazines disappear and US relations are intensified by the position of Peru in the area of US influence. The magazines was not the only ways of influence, during the forties there was an open framework with Latin America that included cooperation trips of american architects on the south of the continent. As part of these links, in 1945 Paul Lester Wiener of Town Planning Associates and Richard Neutra, -both members of CIAM and the second President of the CIAM USAassisted the most important initiative promoted by the peruvian magazine, a popular housing project for workers and employees called El Plan Peruano. The magazine always has a strong attitude of change of the reality in the peruvian scene. To model the new version of reality created a series of media campaigns. In the biggest it used the ideas of modern urbanism that circulated during the war born in the CIAM of twenties and thirties. El Arquitecto Peruano take advantage of the situation of the early postwar years to direct their initiatives, modeled his proposal with the idea of Neighborhood Unit, making project and finally building the Unidad Vecinal N° 3, the larger scale project linked with the magazine. This favorable outlook for the ideas expressed by the publication joins the fact that its Director is elected deputy for Lima and is very close member to the current government who gave legal instruments and management to crystallize projects from 1945 to 1948. During this period of far-reaching proposals promoted by Fernando Belaunde and diffused by the magazine, as El Plan Peruano itself, the Centros Climaticos de Invierno, the Plan Piloto for Lima and the Concusos de Vivienda Popular. There is an earlier work on the magazine, restricted to the field of urbanism in 1992 by historian Antonio Zapata, entitled El Joven Belaunde: Historia de la revista El Arquitecto Peruano where the weight of the magazine leans Social Housing and notes Walter Gropius as the most influential architect in the publication. This thesis suggests that El Plan Peruano is the end of the iceberg, but these related projects to the magazine, form an inseparable whole and that the whole package has a direct influence of projects, ideas and editorial work of José Luis Sert developed from late twenties to the fifties. His book Can Our Cities Survive? , The Heart of the City and the magazine of GATEPAC AC Documentos de Actividad Contemporanea have clear signs in the peruvian magazine cross three of the proposed periods. During the forties when Sert and Wiener were partners in Town Plannning Associates and had direct contact with the director of the magazine as well as with key colaborators, and during the following decade. In light of the evidence examined, the shape of José Luis Sert emerges as the most influential architect to the peruvian magazine along its entire route.

A trait-based approach for predicting species responses to environmental change from sparse data : how well might terrestrial mammals track climate change?

Funded by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) CEH projects. Grant Numbers: NEC05264, NEC05100 Natural Environment Research Council UK. Grant Number: NE/J008001/1 © 2016 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Enlaces e entraves para a soberania alimentar e nutricional: movimentos sociais no contexto das relações Brasil-Moçambique nas áreas de alimentação e agricultura

O Brasil tem se apresentado como importante parceiro de Moçambique na execução de projetos por meio da cooperação internacional, notadamente nas áreas afetas à segurança alimentar e nutricional. Há uma forte atuação das empresas brasileiras em setores estratégicos. Uma ampla articulação de atores sociais no país tem apontado caminhos alternativos para enfrentar os desafios do desenvolvimento e globalização. Propõe-se a compreensão sobre a atuação dos movimentos sociais moçambicanos neste contexto. O estudo reconstituiu as definições de segurança alimentar e nutricional e soberania alimentar, identificando seu processo de construção, atores envolvidos e diferentes apropriações. Procurou conhecer as ameaças e desafios à realização do direito humano à alimentação. E, ainda, analisou as práticas sociais em curso, suas características, impasses e conquistas no âmbito local e internacional. Com base na metodologia qualitativa procedeu-se o estudo e análise documental, a realização de visitas técnicas para compreensão do contexto local e a aplicação de entrevistas compreensivas com participantes de movimentos e organizações sociais de Moçambique nas Províncias (Estados) de Maputo e Nampula, ao Sul e Norte, respectivamente. Observou que os movimentos e organizações sociais destinam atenção em graus diferentes em relação às iniciativas desenvolvidas pelo Brasil, possuindo maior relevância as ações em torno da implantação do Programa para o Desenvolvimento Agrícola no Corredor de Nacala (ProSAVANA), em Nampula. Constatou a fragilidade dos mecanismos de participação e controle social em Moçambique na área de segurança alimentar e nutricional. Evidenciou, também, que há uma incorporação ainda incipiente de aspectos relacionados à nutrição na agenda política dos movimentos e organizações sociais. Concluiu que as experiências em cursos têm consolidado um campo de atuação dinâmico, capaz de intervir em processos internacionais de negociação a partir da realidade local.

ConfChem Conference on A Virtual Colloquium to Sustain and Celebrate IYC 2011 Initiatives in Global Chemical Education—The Global Experiment of the IYC2011: Creating Online Communities for Education and Science

The Global Experiment, Water: A Chemical Solution, was one of the flagship activities of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). During the virtual colloquium of the spring 2012 online ConfChem conference, the main results of this year-long experiment were presented and discussed online for a week. Some of the main conclusions of the virtual conversations relate to the benefits of creating online communities of people sharing similar interests, the use of online educational platforms to gather massive amounts of data, and specific questions about the development of this IYC initiative. The activities of the global water experiment (GWE) were designed by a team of experts and the protocols are available online on the GWE Web site. The results were shown in one interactive world map that allowed students to learn about data visualization, validation, and interpretation. The feedback obtained from the participants of the GWE and later by the contributors of the virtual colloquium was very positive. Many participants asked specific and technical questions about the development of this experiment, while others excitedly endorsed the convenience of these large open-access activities to promote chemistry worldwide. The estimate is that over 2 million people took part in the GWE during the IYC. This communication summarizes one of the invited papers to the ConfChem online conference: A Virtual Colloquium to Sustain and Celebrate IYC 2011 Initiatives in Global Chemical Education, held from May 18 to June 29, 2012 and hosted by the ACS DivCHED Committee on Computers in Chemical Education and the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education.

Industry-specific effect of CSR initiatives: hotels and airlines

Purpose – This study aims to examine the relationships between a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and its performance and risk. The authors hypothesize that industry-level effects are highly determinant of the sign and magnitude of these relationships to establish a ranking of industries to identify the position of the most prominent tourism-related industries: hotels and airlines. Based on the cybernetic model of decision making and the heuristics thereof, shareholders base their investment decisions derived from CSR announcements on the idea that the industries behave differently; their fixed costs being a relevant factor. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate the industry-specific effects of CSR initiatives on firms' performance and risk using a sample of 583 announcements from the Spanish Stock Market. Findings – The results show that while CSR announcements have a positive effect on performance when the authors do not account for industry-specific factors, once the authors incorporate these factors into the analysis, the authors find that firm performance and risk vary quite substantially as a function of the industry to which the firm belongs. Interestingly, while the hotel industry presents an average behavior (standing at 9th position in returns, 15th in terms of risk, and 8th according to the ratio returns/volatility), the airline industry presents the worst situation of all industries: last in performance and last in risk. Practical implications – The results help managers assess their decisions and allocate CSR resources optimally. Originality/value – This article is the first attempt to empirically test and comprehensively detect the different relationships between CSR and firm performance across industries.

A Computational Architecture Based on RFID Sensors for Traceability in Smart Cities

Information Technology and Communications (ICT) is presented as the main element in order to achieve more efficient and sustainable city resource management, while making sure that the needs of the citizens to improve their quality of life are satisfied. A key element will be the creation of new systems that allow the acquisition of context information, automatically and transparently, in order to provide it to decision support systems. In this paper, we present a novel distributed system for obtaining, representing and providing the flow and movement of people in densely populated geographical areas. In order to accomplish these tasks, we propose the design of a smart sensor network based on RFID communication technologies, reliability patterns and integration techniques. Contrary to other proposals, this system represents a comprehensive solution that permits the acquisition of user information in a transparent and reliable way in a non-controlled and heterogeneous environment. This knowledge will be useful in moving towards the design of smart cities in which decision support on transport strategies, business evaluation or initiatives in the tourism sector will be supported by real relevant information. As a final result, a case study will be presented which will allow the validation of the proposal.

The Member States’ Initiatives: An Inter-Institutional Turf War after the Treaty of Lisbon

With the introduction of the Treaty of Lisbon came the possibility for Member States to launch an initiative under the Ordinary Legislative Procedure. This came into being as the scope of co-decision was expanded to cover the more sensitive issues of the third pillar (such as judicial cooperation in criminal matters and police cooperation). It was considered necessary that Member States have a shared right of initiative with the European Commission. One case in which the right of initiative was invoked was the Initiative for a European Protection Order (EPO). This dossier is one of the first and few cases in which the Member States’ Initiative after the Treaty of Lisbon was used. It resulted in a turf war between the Presidency and the Commission regarding the scope of the Member States’ Initiatives. This article looks into the Member States’ Initiative as it was introduced after the Treaty of Lisbon and the debate that took place on the EPO.

Does ASEM work? CEPS Policy Brief No. 321, 14 October 2014

This CEPS Policy Brief is based on a larger study for the EEAS and European Commission, written by the same authors in the run-up of the Milan ASEM summit of 16-17 October 2014. The main idea of the study is to assess whether ASEM works and how, by verifying the factual evidence in detail. After all, ASEM has no institutions, no budget and no treaty, whilst dialogues and a loose improvement over time in Asia-Europe relations refer to process much more than genuine ‘results’. The stocktaking covers all ASEM activities since the 2006 Helsinki summit. Summit and foreign ministers’ declarations and ASEM calendar of activities (and interviews) are used to trace ASEM activities in the three ASEM pillars (political, economic, and peoples-to-peoples/cultural). All the ‘regular’ ASEM meetings at ministerial and other levels (many of which are only known to relatively few) have been mapped. Also the ASEM working methods, based on the 2000 AECF framework and many subsequent initiatives, have been scrutinised, including whether they are actually implemented or not or partially. Such methods refer to how to work together in areas of cooperation (beyond the typical ASEM dialogue), organisation, coordination and ASEM visibility. The main conclusion is that ASEM works reasonably well, once one accepts the ASEM of today, although some inefficiencies still characterise the ‘system’. There is a host of secondary conclusions on the three pillars, the foreign ministers, the strong government-to-government nature of ASEM and the working methods. We recommend that today’s ASEM needs no reform and that not having ASEM would entail political and diplomatic costs. We emphasise that ASEM is well placed to stimulate exchange of information between the mega-FTAs such as TPP, RCEP and TTIP. However, the ASEM of tomorrow might be different, given the great changes in geo-political and economic conditions since ASEM began in the mid-1990s. Moreover, the size of ASEM has become such that classical ways of operating with (after Milano) 53 countries (including the EU and ASEAN) cannot possibly be effective all the time. We suggest that, in the run-up to the 20th ASEM birthday (2016), EU and Asian independent think-tanks get together to write an ‘options report’ reconsidering options for a new ASEM, as the basis for a profound and wide debate how to get more value-added out of ASEM.

Azerbaijan-a growing problem for the West. OSW Commentary No. 146, 15.09.2014

Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the West, launched two decades ago, has helped it become a relatively strong and ambitious actor on the international stage. It has become a key country in the region from the Western (USA and the EU) and Turkish points of view, as well as an important partner in the energy sector. The strategic EU concept of the Southern Gas Corridor, also supported by the United States, is among the initiatives based on cooperation with Azerbaijan. Surprisingly, however, Azerbaijan’s increased ambition and importance have caused its policy to diverge ever farther from the expectations and plans formulated by the West. The changes in the balance of power in the South Caucasus, occurring in the context of the conflict in Ukraine, have forced Azerbaijan to revise its assessment of its position in the region. The main impetus for Azerbaijan’s actions is fear of Russia, as well as the weakness of the West which has become particularly apparent in the recent stages of the Ukrainian crisis. Azerbaijan’s actions so far have displayed its tendency to deepen its self-isolation in foreign affairs and consolidate its authoritarian system. This comes as a challenge to the West, whose ability to shape its relations with Azerbaijan has weakened considerably. This state of affairs poses the threat that in the current situation, the Southern Gas Corridor concept, which Azerbaijan amended in 2012 in its own favour, might become totally blocked.

Kyiv's gas strategy: closer cooperation with Gazprom or a genuine diversification. OSW Commentary No. 110, 2013-07-16

In recent months Kyiv has been intensifying its efforts to diversify Ukraine’s gas supply routes with a view to reducing the country’s dependence on imports from Russia. One of the steps which Kyiv has taken has been to make the unprecedented decision to start importing gas from its Western neighbours. In November 2012, Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz began importing gas through Poland under a two-month contract with RWE (the imports continued into 2013 under a separate deal), while in the spring of 2013 Ukraine started importing gas from Hungary. Kyiv is also currently looking into the possibility of purchasing gas from Slovakia. Furthermore, since 2010 the Ukrainian government has been working on the construction of an LNG terminal near Odesa. The authorities have declared that this will allow Ukraine to import up to 5 billion m3 of LNG a year by 2015. The government has also taken measures to increase domestic production, including from non-traditional sources, and it plans to replace gas-based with coal-based technologies in local power stations. Finally, in January 2013, the government signed a 50-year production sharing agreement with Shell. This paves the way for the development of Ukraine’s shale gas deposits.

Macroeconomic Scenarios for the Euro-Mediterranean Area Quantification based on the GEM-E3 Model. MEDPRO Report No. 7, July 2013

Four alternative macroeconomic scenarios for southern Mediterranean countries are quantified in this study with the use of GEM-E3, a general equilibrium model. These are i) the continuation of current policies (business-as-usual scenario), ii) southern Mediterranean–EU cooperation (Euro-Mediterranean Union scenario), iii) a global opening of the southern Mediterranean countries and cooperation with the rest of the Middle East and other developing countries like China (Euro-Mediterranean alliance scenario), and iv) a deterioration in the regional political climate and a failure of cooperation (Euro-Mediterranean under threat scenario). Explicit assumptions on trade integration, infrastructure upgrade, population and governance developments are adopted in each scenario. The simulation results indicate that an infrastructure upgrade and governance improvements in the context of southern Mediterranean–EU cooperation could benefit most of the countries under consideration. The analysis remains important in light of ongoing regional developments and the need to design the best policies to pursue in the aftermath of the Arab spring.