A site selection model to identify optimal locations for microalgae biofuel production facilities in sicily (Italy)

The lack of sustainability and negative environmental impacts of using fossil fuel resources for energy production and their consequent increase in prices during last decades have led to an increasing interest in the development of renewable biofuels. Among possible biomass fuel sources, microalgae represent one of the most promising solutions. The present work is based on the implementation of a model that facilitates identification of optimal geographic locations for large-scale open ponds for microalgae cultivation for biofuels production. The combination of a biomass production model with specific site location parameters such as irradiance, geographical constraints, land use, topography, temperatures and CO2 for biofuels plants were identified in Sicily (Italy). A simulation of CO2 saved by using the theoretical biofuel produced in place of traditional fuel was implemented. Results indicate that the territory of Sicily offers a good prospective for these technologies and the results identify ideal locations for locating biomass fuel production facilities. Moreover, the research provides a robust method that can be tailored to the specific requirements and data availability of other territories. © Research India Publications

Audit of State-Owned Enterprises: The Most Relevant Areas of Risk

The aim of this paper is to analyze the most relevant audit risks in state-owned public companies and whether they are influenced by the characteristics of the company or the auditor. For this purpose, the audit reports of the Spanish state-owned enterprises are analyzed and the areas of risk are identified, differentiating between risk at the entity level, which is the risk of a company in general, and the risk at the accounting level, related to elements of financial statements. The results show that these entities mostly present unqualified reports and that the most relevant aspects can be affected by the size, liquidity and economic profitability of the entity, as well as by the fees paid to audit companies

Nutrition information and its influence on menu choice within higher education establishments

©Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of nutritional information on menu choices in a higher educational setting using a menu designed by the students themselves. Design/methodology/approach - Based on USDA healthy eating standards, a menu comprising seven healthy and seven unhealthy meal options were presented, once unlabeled as control (n = 214) and once labeled with healthy and non-healthy nutrient icons as an intervention test menu (n = 212). Findings - Findings demonstrate that despite a positive observed trend, there were no significant differences between healthy selection of labeled and unlabeled dishes (p = 0.16).Practical implications - Providing nutritional information in student cafeterias may be challenging but helpful. However, more strategies need to be developed with student input to provide nutrition data on menus in an informative, comprehensive, yet friendly way that encourages healthy eating in campus foodservices. The authors would like to thank Sodexho at Montclair State University for their full cooperation with this project. Competing interests: the author(s) declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions: authorship is based on substantive contributions to each of the following: conception and design of the study; generation and collection of data, analysis and/or interpretation; and drafting or revision of the manuscript and approval of the final version. Ethical approval: the Independent Ethical Review Board of Montclair State University gave full approval for this study. An information sheet and consent form was distributed to all respondents and signed and where informed consent implied through participation and completion of the questionnaire. Respondents were informed of their right to withdraw from the survey and that their identity would be protected. Data were stored safely for the duration of the study, for administrative purposes, after which handling of data sets will adhere to guidelines of the Data Protection Act 1998.Social implications – No labeling system or legislation can control choices made by individuals, so the responsibility for a healthy selection must always remain personal. However, consumers should have input on menus as they have a stake in the outcome of the products. Originality/value – This novel study tested a student-designed menu to assess whether user input can influence food choice

Utilidad de la Información Financiera para la Gestión de las Entidades Privada no Lucrativas

El notable protagonismo experimentado por las entidades no lucrativas en los sistemas económicos y la relevancia social que han adquirido impulsó la emisión de normas contables dirigidas a su rendición de cuentas. La utilidad para la toma de decisiones constituye la finalidad esencial de la información financiera, y en este marco se sitúa la adaptación del Plan General de Contabilidad para las entidades no lucrativas, diseñada por el ICAC y publicada en 1998. En este trabajo se aborda el análisis de la utilidad de la información financiera exigida por esta regulación desde el punto de vista de los usuarios internos. Para ello, hemos realizado una encuesta a responsables de la gestión económico-financiera de las asociaciones de utilidad pública españolas, recabando su opinión y valoración sobre las distintas áreas de la información financiera y presupuestaria.Los resultados de la encuesta permiten constatar que los responsables de la gestión utilizan la información financiera para diversas tareas de gestión, aunque se sigue considerando muy relevante su utilidad para la rendición de cuentas. Destaca sin embargo, la baja utilidad asignada al estado del presupuesto y su liquidación, en contra de lo que cabía esperar a priori.The relevant increase of the role of non profit organizations in the economic systems and their high social impact has induced accounting standard setters to introduce financial reporting standards for these entities. Usefulness for decision-taking is the main purpose for financial reporting and, in this context, was introduced the adaptation of the General Accounting Plan for non profit organizations. The present study analyses the usefulness of financial reporting required to non profit entities from a management perspective. For carrying out this goal, we sent a questionnaire to managers of Spanish public utility associations to know their opinion about the compulsory financial reporting. Our results show that managers of these entities use financial reporting for management purposes, although financial reporting is still basically relevant for accountability purposes. However, the budgetary statement is not very used

Geochemistry of REE, Zr and Hf in a wide range of pH and water composition: The Nevado del Ruiz volcano-hydrothermal system (Colombia)

The geochemical behaviour of Rare Earth Elements, Zr and Hf was investigated in the thermal waters of Nevado del Ruiz volcano system. A wide range of pH, between 1.0 and 8.8, characterizes these fluids. The acidicwaters are sulphate dominatedwith different Cl/SO4 ratios. The important role of the pH and the ionic complexes for the distribution of REE, Zr and Hf in the aqueous phase was evidenced. The pH rules the precipitation of authigenic Fe and Al oxyhydroxides producing changes in REE, Zr, Hf amounts and strong anomalies of Cerium. The precipitation of alunite and jarosite removes LREE from the solution, changing the REE distribution in acidic waters. Y-Ho and Zr-Hf (twin pairs) have a different behaviour in strong acidic waterswith respect to the water with pH near-neutral. Yttrium and Ho behave as Zr and Hf in waters with pH near neutral-to-neutral, showing superchondritic ratios. The twin pairs showed to be sensitive to the co-precipitation and/or adsorption onto the surface of authigenic particulate (Fe-, Al-oxyhydroxides), suggesting an enhanced scavenging of Ho and Hf with respect to Y and Zr, leading to superchondritic values. In acidic waters, a different behaviour of twin pairs occurs with chondritic Y/Ho ratios and sub-chondritic Zr/Hf ratios. For the first time, Zr and Hf were investigated in natural acidic fluids to understand the behaviour of these elements in extreme acidic conditions and different major anion chemistry. Zr/Hf molar ratio changes from 4.75 to 49.29 in water with pH < 3.6. In strong acidic waters the fractionation of Zr and Hf was recognized as function of major anion contents (Cl and SO4), suggesting the formation of complexes leading to sub-chondritic Zr/Hf molar ratios

Static chamber methane flux measurements in volcanic/geothermal areas: preliminary data from Sousaki and Nisyros (Greece)

Methane plays an important role in the Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and radiative balance being the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Methane is released to the atmosphere by a wide number of sources, both natural and anthropogenic, with the latter being twice as large as the former (IPCC, 2007). It has recently been established that significant amounts of geological methane, produced within the Earth’s crust, are currently released naturally into the atmosphere (Etiope, 2004). Active or recent volcanic/geothermal areas represent one of these sources of geological methane. But due to the fact that methane flux measurements are laboratory intensive, very few data have been collected until now and the contribution of this source has been generally indirectly estimated (Etiope et al., 2007). The Greek territory is geodynamically very active and has many volcanic and geothermal areas. Here we report on methane flux measurements made at two volcanic/geothermal systems along the South Aegean volcanic arc: Sousaki and Nisyros. The former is an extinct volcanic area of Plio-Pleistocene age hosting nowadays a low enthalpy geothermal field. The latter is a currently quiescent active volcanic system with strong fumarolic activity due to the presence of a high enthalpy geothermal system. Both systems have gas manifestations that emit significant amounts of hydrothermal methane and display important diffuse carbon dioxide emissions from the soils. New data on methane isotopic composition and higher hydrocarbon contents point to an abiogenic origin of the hydrothermal methane in the studied systems. Measured methane flux values range from –48 to 29,000 (38 sites) and from –20 to 1100 mg/mˆ2/d (35 sites) at Sousaki and Nisyros respectively. At Sousaki measurement sites covered almost all the degassing area and the diffuse methane output can be estimated in about 20 t/a from a surface of about 10,000 mˆ2. At Nisyros measurements covered the Stephanos and Kaminakia areas, which represent only a part of the entire degassing area. The two areas show very different methane degassing pattern with latter showing much higher flux values. Methane output can be estimated in about 0.25 t/a from an area of about 30,000 mˆ2 at Stephanos and about 1 t/a from an area of about 20,000 mˆ2 at Kaminakia. The total output from the entire geothermal system of Nisyros probably should not exceed 2 t/a

On the determinants of local government debt: Does one size fit all?

This paper analyzes the factors that directly influence levels of debt in Spanish local governments. Specifically, the main objective is to find out the extent to which indebtedness is originated by controllable factors that public managers can influence, or whether it hinges on other variables beyond managers’ control. The importance of this issue has intensified since the start of the crisis in 2007, due to the abrupt decline of revenues and, simultaneously, to the stagnation (or even increase) in the levels of costs facing these institutions face. Results can be explored from multiple perspectives, given that the set of explanatory factors is also multiple. However, the most interesting result relates to the varying effect of each covariate depending on each municipality’s specific debt level, which suggests that economic policy recommendations should not be homogeneous across local governments

Plume composition and volatile flux of Nyamulagira volcano, Democratic Republic of Congo, during birth and evolution of the lava lake, 2014–2015

Very little is known about the volatile element makeup of the gaseous emissions of Nyamulagira volcano. This paper tries to fill this gap by reporting the first gas composition measurements of Nyamulagira’s volcanic plume since the onset of its lava lake activity at the end of 2014. Two field surveys were carried out on 1 November 2014, and 13–15 October 2015. We applied a broad toolbox of volcanic gas composition measurement techniques in order to geochemically characterize Nyamulagira’s plume. Nyamulagira is a significant emitter of SO2, and our measurements confirm this, as we recorded SO2 emissions of up to ~ 14 kt/d during the studied period. In contrast to neighbouring Nyiragongo volcano, however, Nyamulagira exhibits relatively low CO2/SO2 molar ratios ( 92%of total gas emissions). Strong variations in the volatile composition, in particular for the CO2/SO2 ratio, were measured between 2014 and 2015, which appear to reflect the simultaneous variations in volcanic activity.We also determined the molar ratios for Cl/S, F/S and Br/S in the plume gas, finding values of 0.13 and 0.17, 0.06 and 0.11, and 2.3·10−4 and 1·10−4, in 2014 and 2015, respectively. A total gas emission flux of 48 kt/ d was estimated for 2014. The I/S ratio in 2015 was found to be 3.6·10−6. In addition, we were able to distinguish between hydrogen halides and non-hydrogen halides in the volcanic plume. Considerable amounts of bromine (18–35% of total bromine) and iodine (8–18%of total iodine) were found in compounds other than hydrogen halides. However, only a negligible fraction of chlorine was found as compounds other than hydrogen chloride.Published905V. Dinamica dei processi eruttivi e post-eruttiviJCR Journa

Geochemistry of hydrothermal fluids from the eastern sector of the Sabatini Volcanic District (central Italy).

This study reports a complete geochemical dataset of 215 water and 9 gas samples collected in 2015 from thermal and cold discharges located in the eastern sector of the Sabatini Volcanic District (SVD), Italy. Based on these data, two main aquifers were recognized, as follows: 1) a cold Ca-HCO3 to Ca(Na)-HCO3 aquifer related to a shallow circuit within Pliocene-Pleistocene volcanic and sedimentary formations and 2) a deep CO2-pressurized aquifer hosted in Mesozoic carbonate-evaporitic rocks characterized by a Ca- HCO3(SO4) to Na(Ca)-HCO3(Cl) composition. A thick sequence of low-permeability formations represents a physical barrier between the two reservoirs. Interaction of the CO2-rich gas phase with the shallow aquifer, locally producing high-TDS and low-pH cold waters, is controlled by fractures and faults related to buried horst-graben structures. The d18O-H2O and dD-H2O values indicate meteoric water as the main source for both the shallow and deep reservoirs. Carbon dioxide, which is characterized by d13C-CO2 values ranging from 4.7 to þ1.0‰ V-PDB, is mostly produced by thermo-metamorphic decarbonation involving Mesozoic rock formations, masking possible CO2 contribution from mantle degassing. The relatively low R/Ra values (0.07e1.04) indicate dominant crustal He, with a minor mantle He contribution. The CO2/3He ratios, up to 6 1012, support a dominant crustal source for these two gases. The d34SH2S values (from þ9.3 to þ11.3‰ V-CDT) suggests that H2S is mainly related to thermogenic reduction of Triassic anhydrites. The d13C-CH4 and dD-CH4 values (from 33.4 to 24.9‰ V-PDB and from 168 to 140‰ V-SMOW, respectively) and the relatively low C1/C2þ ratios (<100) are indicative of a prevailing CH4 production through thermogenic degradation of organic matter. The low N2/Ar and high N2/ He ratios, as well as the 40Ar/36Ar ratios (<305) close to atmospheric ratio, suggest that both N2 and Ar mostly derive from air. Notwithstanding, the positive d15N-N2 values (from þ0.91 to þ3.7‰ NBS air) point to a significant extra-atmospheric N2 contribution. Gas geothermometry in the CH4-CO2-H2 and H2S-CO2-H2 systems indicate equilibrium temperatures <200 C, i.e. lower than those measured in deep geothermal wells (~300 C), due to either an incomplete attainment of the chemical equilibria or secondary processes (dilution and/or scrubbing) affecting the chemistry of the uprising fluids. Although the highly saline Na-Cl fluids discharged from the explorative geothermal wells in the study area support the occurrence of a well-developed hydrothermal reservoir suitable for direct exploitation, the chemistry of the fluid discharges highlights that the uprising hydrothermal fluids are efficiently cooled and diluted by the meteoric water recharge from the nearby Apennine sedimentary belt. This explains the different chemical and isotopic features shown by the fluids from the eastern and western sectors of SVD, respectively, the latter being influenced by this process at a lesser extent. Direct uses may be considered a valid alternative for the exploitation of this resource.Published187-2016A. Geochimica per l'ambiente2IT. Laboratori sperimentali e analitici1VV. AltroJCR Journa