The impacts of EU cohesion policy on sustainable tourism: The case of POSEUR in Algarve

Sustainable tourism is a main priority of European Union policies, with the aim of mitigating the potential harmful consequences of this sector on a given territory. The main research goal of this article is to better understand the impact of the public investments financed via EU Cohesion Policy in the tourism sector in the Portuguese Algarve NUT2. This paper focuses on the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (POSEUR 20142020), which was an operational programme of a Portuguese framework to implement EU Cohesion Policy funds in Portugal between 2014 and 2020, and was specifically focused on supporting sustainable development processes. The sustainability performance of POSEUR in the Algarve was evaluated in five different dimensions of analysis: (1) low-emissions economy, (2) adaptation to climate change, (3) risk prevention and management, (4) environmental protection, and (5) resource efficiency. The results showed that POSEUR had a low impact in almost all dimensions in the Algarve, apart from the adaptation to climate change dimension, which exhibits a high impact score, mostly due to the support given for carrying out the Plans for Adaptation to Climate Change (PAAC).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing impacts of environmental sustainability public policies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area: Using the Impact-WEB-GIS platform

Urban environmental sustainability is a growing concern within the United Nations and European Union’s ongoing policy agendas to fight climate change. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting the main impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014– 2020) in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (NUTS II). The analysis was supported by the use of the Impact-WEB_GIS platform, specially developed for the purpose of this study, complemented by a territorial impact assessment methodology. In addition to the production of general impact scores, five analytic dimensions were further analysed, supported by state of the art: i) low-emissions economy, ii) adaptation to climate change, iii) risk prevention and management, iv) environmental protection and v) resource efficiency. At a strategic level, the research created awareness of the need to adjust regional policy to the region’s characteristics on environmental sustainability matters.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

de Broglie-Proca and Bopp-Podolsky massive photon gases in cosmology

We investigate the influence of massive photons on the evolution of the expanding universe. Two particular models for generalized electrodynamics are considered, namely de Broglie-Proca and Bopp-Podolsky electrodynamics. We obtain the equation of state (EOS) $P=P(\varepsilon)$ for each case using dispersion relations derived from both theories. The EOS are inputted into the Friedmann equations of a homogeneous and isotropic space-time to determine the cosmic scale factor $a(t)$. It is shown that the photon non-null mass does not significantly alter the result $a\propto t^{1/2}$ valid for a massless photon gas; this is true either in de Broglie-Proca's case (where the photon mass $m$ is extremely small) or in Bopp-Podolsky theory (for which $m$ is extremely large).Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures; v2 matches the published versio

Using the impact-WEB_GIS platform to assess the impacts of environmental sustainability public policies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area

Urban environmental sustainability is a growing concern within the United Nations and the European Union’s ongoing policy agendas to fight climate change. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting the main impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014–2020) in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (NUTS II). The analysis was completed using the Impact-WEB_GIS platform, specially developed for this study, supported by a territorial impact assessment methodology. In addition to the production of general impact scores, five analytic dimensions were further analysed, supported by state-of-the-art (i) low-emissions economy, (ii) adaptation to climate change, (iii) risk prevention and management, (iv) environmental protection and (v) resource efficiency. At a strategic level, the research created awareness of the need to adjust regional policy to the region’s characteristics on environmental sustainability matters.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How impactful are public policies on environmental sustainability? Debating the Portuguese case of PO SEUR 2014–2020

Sustainable development is a key feature of national, European Union and global development strategies. The main research goal is to provide evidence on how impactful public policies on environmental sustainability in Portugal are at the regional level, in various policy areas. In this context, this paper analyses the main impacts of the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (PO SEUR 2014–20). The research uses a territorial impact assessment (TIA) methodology (TARGET_TIA) to assess these impacts in five analytic dimensions (economy with low emissions, adaptation to climate change, risk prevention and management, environmental protection and resource efficiency) in the five mainland Portuguese NUTS 2. It concludes that, in overall terms, PO SEUR produced low to moderate positive impacts in all NUTS II and analysed dimensions, but it was particularly positive in measures fostering adaptation to climate change, and less impactful in measures supporting an economy with low emissions and resource efficiency in Portugal. Despite data limitations, the research provided adequate evidence that key public policies supporting environmental sustainability in Portugal are largely ineffective and inefficient in view of their policy goals and allocated funding. To turn this scenario around, the process of project selection needs to undergo significant improvements to better adjust the regional needs on environmental sustainability-related issues to the available funding. Moreover, on a policy strategic level, there needs to be support for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy in Portugal via concrete actions exploring environmental capital and a green economy in urban areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comportamento dos fluxos de N2O por dois métodos de quantificação: câmaras estáticas e micrometeorológico.

O objetivo do trabalho consistiu em comparar os fluxos de óxido nitroso (N2O) obtidos pelo método da câmara estática com um método micrometeorológico (gradiente de fluxo) em área consolidada com sistema de integração lavoura-pecuária, fase pastagem.Pôster - pós-graduação

How can one probe Podolsky Electrodynamics?

We investigate the possibility of detecting the Podolsky generalized electrodynamics constant $a$. First we analyze an ion interferometry apparatus proposed by B. Neyenhuis, et al (Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, (2007) 200401) who looked for deviations from Coulomb's inverse-square law in the context of Proca model. Our results show that this experiment has not enough precision for measurements of $a$. In order to set up bounds for $a$ we investigate the influence of Podolsky's electrostatic potential on the ground state of the Hydrogen atom. The value of the ground state energy of the Hydrogen atom requires Podolsky's constant to be smaller than 5.6 fm, or in energy scales larger than 35.51 MeV.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Evaluation of Tropical and Subtropical Forage Grasses in the Northwest Region of Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil

A collection of 137 accessions of tropical and subtropical grasses of Pennisetum purpureum (53), Panicum maximum (10), Brachiaria spp. (9), Hemarthria altissima (19), Setaria spp. (11), Digitaria spp. (22), Cynodon spp.(7) and Paspalum spp. (6) was evaluated for frost tolerance (FT), dry matter yield per cut (DMYC), number of cuts (NC) and accumulated dry matter yield per year (ADMY). Crude protein content (CPC), leaf/stem ratio (L/S), pubescence (P) and animal preference under grazing (AP) were also recorded in 20 entries of in P. purpureum. Data exploration involved cluster analysis and ordination, revealing the most promising entries among and within genus. In general ADMY and FT were the most important variables to discriminate entries. Pennisetum, Panicum and Hemarthria were the most productive genus with high FT. Cynodon and Paspalum showed high FT