Development of a Low-Cost Weather Station to Measure in Situ Essential Climate Variables

A weather station is proposed especially designed for developing countries, and to meet the standards of the international scientific community making research on the earth system. The station would measure in situ several ECV (essential climate variables). These data may enable an agricultural breakthrough in countries lacking meteorological infrastructure, help in climate change monitoring, and facilitate diffusion of wind energy. A pre-feasibility analysis is presented. It appears interesting that the station is supplied by a social enterprise. A research to establish the best shelter design using computational fluid dynamics is also reported. The criterion is the accuracy with which the surface air temperature is reproduced inside the shelter. A design following recommendations by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization), a smaller design with identical geometry, and two alternative small designs are analyzed. All four designs are simulated in PVC, natural rubber and wood, with and without white paint coating. The smaller shelters perform better. The influence of the material, dimensions and design is smaller than that of the white paint. Shelters made of PVC or rubber, and/or in alternative designs, may be more interesting if other criteria are considered, like whether logistics, manufacturing, etc. are more sustainable, easier and/or cheaper.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Developing Spiritual Tourism for Youngsters, the Spirit-Youth example

Spiritual tourism was coined from an academic standpoint only recently, probably because the word spiritual is difficult to define and the label can therefore include different types of supply. Spiritually motivated tourists are an emerging niche (Aulet, Vidal-Casellas, & Crous, 2015). According to UNTWO estimates, around 330 million tourists visit the main religious sites each year, spiritual motivation being one of the most important reasons for this (Lanquar, 2007). Bywater (1994) also mentioned that spiritual travel occupies an important segment of international tourism and has been growing steadily. SPIRIT-Youth is a COSME project (COSME-TOUR-2015-3-04) funded by the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). The SPIRIT-Youth project is a proposal for stimulating tourism mobility among young people out of season via spiritual tourism. In this paper presents the results of the pilot test. The idea of the project is to offer a transnational spiritual tourism product to attract mainly but not only the youth tourism market. The product consists of an itinerary across several European countries, with the common theme of spirituality, understood in a global sense; that includes religious sites and religious motivations. Each region participating in the project (Limburg, Prato and Catalonia) identified a minimum of 10 activities related to Spiritual Tourism and a pilot test was carried out. Each region hosted a group of 25 youngsters testing the activities and giving their feedback. They had a “travel diary” to note down their experiences and later provide feedback on the tested products and answered some questionnaires. With the results of the pilot test we are able to analyse their concept about spiritual tourism activities, the things to improve or to change in the activities proposed… The aim is to develop guidelines for the creation of spiritual tourism products for youngsters

Random Changes of Accommodation Stimuli: An Automated Extension of the Flippers Accommodative Facility Test

Postprint (author's final draft

Genome sequence of Enterococcus mundtii EM01, isolated from Bombyx mori midgut and responsible for flacherie disease in silkworms reared on an artificial diet

The whole genome sequence of Enterococcus mundtii strain EM01 is reported here. The isolate proved to be the cause of flacherie in Bombyx mori. To date, the genomes of 11 other E. mundtii strains have been sequenced. EM01 is the only strain that displayed active pathological effects on its associated animal species