Citations Profile and the Complexity of Innovation

Patent or article citations reflect the consequences of a published idea on the discovery of new ideas. We draw a simple theoretical model predicting that the shape of the future citations of an idea can reveal the complexity of its innovative research spillover. We apply this method to the patent forward citations in the US industries.Patent Forward Citations, Technological Complexity, Skewness.

Use of Forest Residues for Building Forest Biomass Supply Chains: Technical and Economic Analysis of the Production Process

(c) there are strong margins for economic profits at the level of each single supply basi

Towards sustainable and inclusive communities: an integrated approach to assess sustainability in rural areas

Sustainable development is a priority in EU rural development strategies. Due to the multidimensionality of the sustainability issue, this paper presents a Spatial Decision Support System to assess territorial sustainability and help decision-makers in rural planning process. Four globally valid sustainability dimensions were considered (long-term ecological sustainability, satisfaction of basic human needs, promotion of intragenerational and intergenerational equity), measured by a set of socio-cultural-political-environmental indicators by using the Mazziotta and Pareto method.The results of the S-DSS, implemented and verified in Basilicata region (southern Italy), provide the maps of sustainability values for each dimension at municipalities level, showing the usefulness of the tool to identify and monitor rural areas that require priority interventions and resources, in order to foster sustainable rural development

The hidden value of non-timber forest products: income contribution of the Basilicata wild truffle

The Basilicata region (South of Italy) is land of truffles where the gastronomic, economic and cultural awareness has developed for this non-timber forest product only in the past decade. Little is known about truffle production and its social, economic and environmental implications. In this article we investigate the Basilicata truffle sector by devoting particular attention to the truffle hunters who gather the truffles from the forests. The data for the analysis were collected through a survey with the aim of describing the gathering activity (people involved, specie and quantities collected, etc.) and assessing its significance as a source of income. Results show that truffles can provide local communities with earning opportunities. However, the truffle sector needs to be protected and enhanced

A spatial analysis model to assess the feasibility of short rotation forestry fertigated with urban wastewater: Basilicata region case study

The large-scale cultivation of energy crops irrigated with non-conventional water resources could reduce the negative impacts of fossil fuel use, while still saving potable supplies and decreasing pollution in surface water, particularly in water-deficient environments, like the Mediterranean region. Energy planning is a complex process involving multiple decision makers and criteria. Given the spatial nature of the problem, the research proposes a spatial analysis model to assess the agronomic and economic feasibility of vegetation filter systems in Basilicata region, southern Italy. The model chosen for land suitability analysis is the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) with the use of linguistic quantifiers. The suitability map obtained from the OWA model was used as input in the spatial analysis functions to quantify the productivity and irrigation needs of the species, the potential irrigable service area of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as well as the distances between them and SRF, which are all key elements in the economic evaluation. The results show that the distance is the main element that influences the feasibility: only 25 out of 163 WWTPs are cost-effective and can actually irrigate 864 ha of SRF. The research demonstrates that there is a great potential for bio-energy development in the region with significant economic advantages; in fact, there is a large number of sites with positive NPV up to 50,876.43 €/ha and payback period between 3 and 10 years. The implementation of vegetation filter systems could create chains with a high number of local actors (farmers, intermediaries, forest nurseries, etc.) and contribute to promoting territorial development and employment

The economic value of fire damages in Tuscan agroforestry areas

The Tuscan Region (Central Italy) spends about 12 million euros every year in the prevention and suppression of forest fires. In this context, this study aims to analyse the economic and environmental benefits derived from fire suppression activities. Starting from a case study of a real fire event in Tuscany, we simulated three hypothetical scenarios (with different fire durations) without fire extinction activities planned by using the open source software FARSITE. Benefits derived from fire extinction activities can be quantified as the avoided damage, which has been calculated through the estimation of the total economic value of forests not destroyed by fire thanks to the extinction action. The avoided damage is represented by the difference between values of forest areas burned by the real fire event and those burned by simulated fire. By providing an economic estimation of avoided damages, our results confirm that forest fire services and forest management have a high impact on both the economy and the environment

Dual Photoredox and Nickel Catalysed Reductive Coupling of Alkynes and Aldehydes

A regioselective vinylation of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes promoted by the merging of photoredox and nickel catalysis is here reported. A comprehensive investigation on the reaction conditions allowed the disclosure of a valid and reproducible protocol based on a nickel-mediated reductive coupling approach under visible light irradiation. The employment of 3CzClIPN (2,4,6-tris(carbazol-9-yl)-5-chloro-isophthalonitrile) as the photocatalyst and Hantzsch's ester as the sacrificial organic reductant replace the use of boron-, silicon- or zinc-based reducing agents, making this method a worthy alternative to the already known protocols. The developed mild reaction conditions allow the access to a wide range of substituents decorating both the aldehyde and the alkyne. Moreover, careful photophysical investigations shed light on the mechanism of the reaction