Utilización de Agrotextiles. Análisis de viabilidad y modelización de la eficacia

La industria textil valenciana y española está sufriendo una de las mayores crisis de su historia. La pérdida de empleo industrial se sucede mes tras mes y las perspectivas son cada vez menos halagüeñas. Como en otras circunstancias adversas, la innovación y el desarrollo de nuevos productos podría ser una solución a estos problemas. Entre los productos que presentas mayores perspectivas en la actualidad, pero sobre todo un futuro cercano, están los textiles diseñados para la agricultura, los llamados Agro-textiles. Estos productos pueden y deben de ser utilizados allí donde la pérdida de suelo sea alta como es el caso de los campos de cultivo. Pero también tienen presentes y futuras aplicaciones en la agricultura con el fin de reducir el uso de herbicidas, mejorar las condiciones térmicas e hídricas de los suelos y reducir la pérdida de nutrientes, semillas, suelo y agua. Estas aplicaciones en la agricultura deben de conocerse y aplicarse para la obtención de mayores rentabilidades en los cultivos. Durante cuatro años se ha estado realizando un trabajo de campo previo para la obtención de datos relevantes que nos sirvan para efectuar un cálculo de la viabilidad de su utilización. La tesis que se presenta versa sobre el uso de Agrogeotextiles haciendo mención a la necesidad en algunos caso de su utilización, pero introduciendo como novedad la variable sostenibilidad La Tesis Doctoral se divide en dos grandes bloques; el primero de ellos trata de corroborar la importancia de la utilización de los agrotextiles como aportación a la sostenibilidad medioambiental en difentes campos de actuación.En el segundo bloque sirve para traducir la obtención de resultados económicos en un estudio de viabilidad o no del agrotextil estudiando determinadas variables y a posteriori se corrobora el mismo mediante un estudio de modelización de la eficiencia, nunca antes utilizado en este campo.Giménez Morera, A. (2010). Utilización de Agrotextiles. Análisis de viabilidad y modelización de la eficacia [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/8509Palanci

Climate Aridity and the Geographical Shift of Olive Trees in a Mediterranean Northern Region

[EN] Climate change leverages landscape transformations and exerts variable pressure on natural environments and rural systems. Earlier studies outlined how Mediterranean Europe has become a global hotspot of climate warming and land use change. The present work assumes the olive tree, a typical Mediterranean crop, as a candidate bioclimatic indicator, delineating the latent impact of climate aridity on traditional cropping systems at the northern range of the biogeographical distribution of the olive tree. Since the olive tree follows a well-defined latitude gradient with a progressive decline in both frequency and density moving toward the north, we considered Italy as an appropriate case to investigate how climate change may (directly or indirectly) influence the spatial distribution of this crop. By adopting an exploratory approach grounded in the quali-quantitative analysis of official statistics, the present study investigates long-term changes over time in the spatial distribution of the olive tree surface area in Northern Italy, a region traditionally considered outside the ecological range of the species because of unsuitable climate conditions. Olive tree cultivated areas increased in Northern Italy, especially in flat districts and upland areas, while they decreased in Central and Southern Italy under optimal climate conditions, mostly because of land abandonment. The most intense expansion of the olive tree surface area in Italy was observed in the northern region between 1992 and 2000 and corresponded with the intensification of winter droughts during the late 1980s and the early 1990s and local warming since the mid-1980s. Assuming the intrinsic role of farmers in the expansion of the olive tree into the suboptimal land of Northern Italy, the empirical results of our study suggest how climate aridity and local warming may underlie the shift toward the north in the geographical range of the olive tree in the Mediterranean Basin. We finally discussed the implications of the olive range shift as a part of a possible landscape scenario for a more arid future.Rodrigo-Comino, J.; Salvia, R.; Quaranta, G.; Cudlín, P.; Salvati, L.; Giménez Morera, A. (2021). Climate Aridity and the Geographical Shift of Olive Trees in a Mediterranean Northern Region. Climate. 9(4):1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli9040064S1189

High-to-Low (Regional) Fertility Transitions in a Peripheral European Country: The Contribution of Exploratory Time Series Analysis

[EN] Diachronic variations in demographic rates have frequently reflected social transformations and a (more or less evident) impact of sequential economic downturns. By assessing changes over time in Total Fertility Rate (TFR) at the regional scale in Italy, our study investigates the long-term transition (1952-2019) characteristic of Mediterranean fertility, showing a continuous decline of births since the late 1970s and marked disparities between high- and low-fertility regions along the latitude gradient. Together with a rapid decline in the country TFR, the spatiotemporal evolution of regional fertility in Italy-illustrated through an exploratory time series statistical approach-outlines the marked divide between (wealthier) Northern regions and (economically disadvantaged) Southern regions. Non-linear fertility trends and increasing spatial heterogeneity in more recent times indicate the role of individual behaviors leveraging a generalized decline in marriage and childbearing propensity. Assuming differential responses of regional fertility to changing socioeconomic contexts, these trends are more evident in Southern Italy than in Northern Italy. Reasons at the base of such fertility patterns were extensively discussed focusing-among others-on the distinctive contribution of internal and international migrations to regional fertility rates. Based on these findings, Southern Italy, an economically disadvantaged, peripheral region in Mediterranean Europe, is taken as a paradigmatic case of demographic shrinkage-whose causes and consequences can be generalized to wider contexts in (and outside) Europe.Rodrigo-Comino, J.; Egidi, G.; Salvati, L.; Quaranta, G.; Salvia, R.; Giménez Morera, A. (2021). High-to-Low (Regional) Fertility Transitions in a Peripheral European Country: The Contribution of Exploratory Time Series Analysis. Data. 6(2):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/data6020019S1146

Toward a New Urban Cycle? A Closer Look to Sprawl,Demographic Transitions and the Environment in Europe

[EN] Urban growth is a largely debated issue in social science. Specific forms of metropolitan expansion-including sprawl-involve multiple and fascinating research dimensions, making mixed (quali-quantitative) analysis of this phenomenon particularly complex and challenging at the same time. Urban sprawl has attracting the attention of multidisciplinary studies defining nature, dynamics, and consequences that dispersed low-density settlements are having on biophysical and socioeconomic contexts worldwide. The present commentary provides a brief overview on nature and implications of the latent relationship between sprawl, demographic dynamics, and background socio-environmental contexts with special focus on Europe. Empirical evidence supports the idea that spatial planning should cope more effectively with the increasing environmental and socioeconomic exposure of European regions to sprawl and demographic transitions, being progressively far away from a traditional urban cycle with sequential waves of urbanization, suburbanization, counter-urbanization, and re-urbanization. Growing socio-ecological vulnerability of metropolitan regions was evaluated based on a literature review demonstrating how a better comprehension of the intimate linkage between long-term demographic dynamics and urban cycles is necessary to inform fine-tuned policies controlling sprawl and promoting a sustainable management of peri-urban land.Smiraglia, D.; Salvati, L.; Egidi, G.; Salvia, R.; Giménez Morera, A.; Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, R. (2021). Toward a New Urban Cycle? A Closer Look to Sprawl,Demographic Transitions and the Environment in Europe. Land. 10(2):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10020127S11410

Recession, Local Fertility, and Urban Sustainability: Results of a Quasi-Experiment in Greece, 1991-2018

[EN] Fertility is a spatially non-stationary property of regional demographic systems. Despite the wealth of quantitative (micro-macro) information delineating short-term population dynamics in advanced economies, the contribution of economic downturns to local fertility has still been under-investigated along urban-rural gradients, especially in low-fertility contexts. Recent studies have assumed suburban fertility rates as systematically higher than urban and rural fertility rates. This assumption (hereafter known as the "suburban fertility hypothesis") has been grounded on stylized facts and spatial regularities in advanced economies that reflect a significant role of both macro (contextual) and micro (behavioral) factors that positively influence fertility in suburban locations. To test the suburban fertility hypothesis at the macro-scale, the present study compares gross fertility rates from seven regional units of the Athens metropolitan area between 1991 and 2018. A refined spatial analysis of gross fertility rates during an economic expansion (1999-2008) and recession (2009-2018) was carried out in 115 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities of the same area. Experiencing sequential waves of economic expansion and recession, Athens' socio-demographic dynamics were considered a sort of "quasi-experiment" for Southern Europe, linking late suburbanization with the multiple impacts of (rapid) economic downturns. Compared with both urban and rural locations, a higher fertility rate in suburban municipalities (15-20 km away from downtown Athens) was observed during the study period. However, a subtle distinction was observed during the economic expansion versus the recession. In the first period, the highest birth rates were recorded in industrial locations west of Athens, hosting economically disadvantaged communities with a relatively young population structure. With the recession, the highest fertility was associated with residential and service-specialized (wealthier) locations east of Athens, attracting resident population from neighboring areas, and better responding to crisis. The results of our study document how recent urban expansion and economic downturns have intrinsically shaped fertility dynamics, with implications for urban sustainability and social cohesion of metropolitan regions.Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, R.; Egidi, G.; Salvia, R.; Salvati, L.; Sateriano, A.; Giménez Morera, A. (2021). Recession, Local Fertility, and Urban Sustainability: Results of a Quasi-Experiment in Greece, 1991-2018. Sustainability. 13(3):1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031052S11813

Suburban Fertility and Metropolitan Cycles: Insights from European Cities

[EN] Being largely diversified along the urban-rural gradient, fertility gaps have demonstrated to fuel metropolitan expansion, contributing to natural population growth and social change. In this direction, population dynamics and economic transformations have continuously shaped urban cycles in Europe. Assuming suburban fertility to be a relevant engine of metropolitan growth, the present study investigates and discusses the intrinsic relationship between fertility transitions and urban expansion, focusing on European metropolitan regions. An average crude birth rate referring to the last decade (2013-2018) was estimated from official statistics at 671 Functional Urban Areas (FUAs, Eurostat Urban Audit definition) of 30 European countries, distinguishing 'central cities' from 'suburban' locations. Local contexts with a higher crude birth rate as compared with neighboring settlements were identified analyzing differential fertility levels in urban and suburban locations. By providing an indirect, comparative verification of the 'suburban fertility hypothesis' in European cities, the results of this study demonstrate how suburbanization has been basically associated to younger and larger families-and thus higher fertility levels-only in Eastern and Southern Europe. Birth rates that were higher in suburbs than in central cities were observed in 70% of Eastern European cities and 55% of Mediterranean cities. The reverse pattern was observed in Western (20%), Northern (25%) and Central (30%) Europe, suggesting that urban cycles in the European continent are not completely phased: most of Western, Central, and Northern European cities are experiencing re-urbanization after a long suburbanization wave. Demographic indicators are demonstrated to comprehensively delineate settlement patterns and socioeconomic trends along urban-suburban-rural gradients, giving insights on the differential metropolitan cycles between (and within) countries.Rodrigo-Comino, J.; Egidi, G.; Sateriano, A.; Poponi, S.; Mosconi, EM.; Giménez Morera, A. (2021). Suburban Fertility and Metropolitan Cycles: Insights from European Cities. Sustainability. 13(4):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042181S11413

Re-Framing the Latent Nexus between Land-Use Change, Urbanization and Demographic Transitions in Advanced Economies

[EN] The linkage between land-use change and demographic transitions in advanced countries has becoming increasingly complex because of the mutual interplay of environmental and socioeconomic spheres influencing the degree of sustainability of both regional and local developmental processes. The relationship between urbanization and economic development has been relatively well investigated by clarifying the consequent impacts on population dynamics. In the early phases of urbanization and economic development, population grew at a particularly high rate, declining (more or less rapidly) in the subsequent time interval. Improving income and education opportunities in urban settings resulted in further urbanization, leading to progressively lower fertility. At the same time, a more general view on the relationship between land-use change and demographic transition focusing on a broader spectrum of landscape processes (including farmland abandonment and forest expansion) at larger spatial scales (from regional to country and continental scale) is increasingly required. The present study provides an integrated view of the relationship between land-use change, urbanization, and demographic transitions with specific focus on Europe. Considering divergent processes of landscape transformations in a unified socioeconomic view may evidence the intimate linkage with recent population trends in both urban and rural areas.Egidi, G.; Salvati, L.; Falcone, A.; Quaranta, G.; Salvia, R.; Vecenakova, R.; Giménez Morera, A. (2021). Re-Framing the Latent Nexus between Land-Use Change, Urbanization and Demographic Transitions in Advanced Economies. Sustainability. 13(2):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020533S11713

Aplicación de la metodología Scrum en la evaluación de competencias transversales

[ES] Con la incorporación de las competencias, tanto transversales como específicas, para comprobar el grado de aprendizaje por parte de los alumnos de la Enseñanza Superior, se abre un nuevo escenario en el que es necesario plantear y aplicar nuevas metodologías para poder comprobar el éxito en la adquisición de dichas competencias. En esta ponencia se presentan los resultados obtenidos en la aplicación de una metodología activa, como es el scrum en la evaluación de las competencias transversales de una asignatura del Máster Universitario en Dirección y Administración de Empresas, impartida en la Escuela Politécnica de Alcoi de la Universitat Politècnica de València.[EN] With the incorporation of transversal and specific competences to check the learning degree of Higher Education students, a new scenario is opened in which it is necessary to raise and apply new methodologies to be able to verify the success in the acquisition of these competences. This presentation presents the results obtained in the application of an active methodology, such as the scrum, in the assessment of transversal competences in a subject of the Master's Degree in Business Administration and Management taught at the Escuela Politécnica de Alcoi of the Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaCapó Vicedo, J.; Bonet Juan, MA.; Giménez Morera, A. (2019). Aplicación de la metodología Scrum en la evaluación de competencias transversales. En IN-RED 2019. V Congreso de Innovación Educativa y Docencia en Red. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1370-1378. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2019.2019.10395OCS1370137

Design of an experience based on challenge-based collaborative learning in the higher education context

[EN] The Challenge Based Learning (CBL), is a pedagogical approach that actively involves the student in a real, significant problem situation related to their environment, which implies defining a challenge and implementing a solution for it. This paper represents the design and implementation of a collaborative work experience aimed at higher education students of the International Trade subject within the Master's Degree in Business Management (MBA). It is an innovative experience based on the understanding of a trade operation: elaboration of an internationalization strategy with economic and financial viability that tries to respond to a challenge posed by a real company. The paper concludes with a curricular proposal for collaborative and experiential learning through a challenge and its evaluation.[ES] La metodología de aprendizaje colaborativo basado en retos (ACbR) es un enfoque pedagógico que involucra activamente al alumno/a en una situación problemática real, significativa y relacionada con su entorno, lo que le implica definir un reto e implementar para  éste una solución.El presente artículo representa el diseño y la materialización de una experiencia de trabajo colaborativo dirigido a alumnos/as de educación superior de la asignatura de Comercio Internacional dentro del Máster Universitario en Dirección de Empresas (MBA). Se trata de una experiencia innovadora basada en la comprensión de una operación de comercio exterior en su totalidad: elaboración de una estrategia de internacionalización con viabilidad económica y financiera que intenta responder a un reto planteado por una empresa real.El artículo concluye con una propuesta curricular para el aprendizaje colaborativo y experiencial a través de un reto y su evaluación.Bonet Juan, MA.; Giménez Morera, A.; Capó Vicedo, J. (2022). Diseño de una experiencia basada en el aprendizaje colaborativo basado en retos dentro del contexto de la educación superior. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1098-1108. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2022.2022.158901098110

Soil Degradation and Socioeconomic Systems' Complexity: Uncovering the Latent Nexus

[EN] Understanding Soil Degradation Processes (SDPs) is a fundamental issue for humankind. Soil degradation involves complex processes that are influenced by a multifaceted ensemble of socioeconomic and ecological factors at vastly different spatial scales. Desertification risk (the ultimate outcome of soil degradation, seen as an irreversible process of natural resource destruction) and socioeconomic trends have been recently analyzed assuming "resilience thinking" as an appropriate interpretative paradigm. In a purely socioeconomic dimension, resilience is defined as the ability of a local system to react to external signals and to promote future development. This ability is intrinsically bonded with the socio-ecological dynamics characteristic of environmentally homogeneous districts. However, an evaluation of the relationship between SDPs and socioeconomic resilience in local systems is missing in mainstream literature. Our commentary formulates an exploratory framework for the assessment of soil degradation, intended as a dynamic process of natural resource depletion, and the level of socioeconomic resilience in local systems. Such a framework is intended to provide a suitable background to sustainability science and regional policies at the base of truly resilient local systems.Gambella, F.; Quaranta, G.; Morrow, N.; Vecenakova, R.; Salvati, L.; Giménez Morera, A.; Rodrigo-Comino, J. (2021). Soil Degradation and Socioeconomic Systems' Complexity: Uncovering the Latent Nexus. Land. 10(1):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10010030S11310