Support policies for the renovations and restructuration of mature tourist destinations: a retrospective evaluation from case studies

La necesidad de reformulación del modelo de desarrollo turístico asociado a la fórmula sol y playa en el litoral mediterráneo español ha estado presente en la política turística a lo largo de los últimos veinte años, lo que ha conducido a la puesta en marcha de diferentes estrategias y programas de actuación dirigidos a la mejora y renovación de los destinos turísticos maduros del litoral a desarrollar por parte del sector público y privado. Bajo este planteamiento, el análisis de las últimas y más emblemáticas iniciativas y proyectos emprendidos resulta de interés para la mejor ilustración de la compleja realidad en la que se desenvuelven los procesos de reestructuración y renovación de los destinos turísticos costeros. Por esta razón, el presente trabajo analiza y elabora una síntesis integradora de los cuatro proyectos piloto de reconversión de destinos maduros impulsados por la Administración turística con el propósito de reflexionar sobre su naturaleza, y nivel de ejecución de las propuestas contempladas, de forma que pueda realizarse una evaluación de la efectividad y alcance de esta política. Las experiencias piloto analizadas han demostrado tener efectos positivos en la renovación aunque lejos ha quedado el cumplimiento de los objetivos de mayor envergadura, poniéndose así de manifiesto el gap existente entre lo proyectado desde el ámbito de la política y lo efectivamente conseguido en su ejecución. Este trabajo trata de evaluar desde una visión crítica, objetiva y de conjunto el desempeño de dichos proyectos.The need for a reformulation of the touristic development model associated to the “sun and beach” formula in the Spanish Mediterranean coast have been present in the touristic policy over the last twenty years, which conducted to has led to the implementation of various strategies, programs and actions aimed at the improvement and renewal of the mature tourist destinations on the coast by the public and private sector. Along these lines, the analysis of the latest and most emblematic initiatives and projects undertaken is of interest for the best illustration of the complex reality in which processes of restructuring and renovation of coastal tourist destinations operate. For this reason, this paper discusses an analysis and inclusive synthesis for the four pilot restructuring projects promoted by the Tourism Administration in order to reflect on its nature, the execution level of its initial proposals and, at the same time, facilitate an easier understanding and assessment of the support policy for the mature destinations conversion. Analyzed pilot experiences have demonstrated positive effects in the renewal yet far from the fulfillment of large magnitude objectives, revealing the existing gap between what is projected from political arena and what is actually achieved in its implementation. This work tries to evaluate in a pioneer manner from a critical, objective and overall perspective, the performance of these projects.El presente trabajo se enmarca en el proyecto de investigación “Metodología, criterios y aplicaciones para la configuración de clusters en áreas turísticas consolidadas: innovación, complementariedad y competitividad territorial” (CSO2011-26396), financiado por el Plan Nacional de I+D+i del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

Los espacios naturales protegidos litorales de la Comunidad Valenciana: una oportunidad para la diversificación de los destinos turísticos consolidados de sol y playa

Comunicación presentada en el XIII Congreso Internacional de Turismo Universidad y Empresa: Renovación de Destinos Turísticos Consolidados, Castellón, 6-8 mayo 2010.En las dos últimas décadas, la política turística ha tenido entre sus objetivos la diversificación y diferenciación de los destinos turísticos a la par que la calidad de la oferta como mejores estrategias para garantizar la competitividad del turismo español. Aunque durante estos años, España ha conseguido mantener su liderazgo como destino turístico gracias a su abultada oferta basada en el producto sol y playa, las actuaciones emprendidas hasta ahora parece que no han conseguido imprimir un verdadero cambio en la dinámica de la actividad turística, capaz de responder a los nuevos patrones por los que se rige la demanda y dar respuesta al reto de la sostenibilidad. Por ello, en el contexto actual de renovación de los destinos turísticos consolidados, se plantea insistir en la cualificación de la oferta a partir de una nueva puesta en valor de sus componentes territoriales y, en particular, se propone el análisis de recursos que por el momento no han merecido una atención adecuada en su configuración y diseño. Entre ellos, se incluye el conjunto de espacios naturales protegidos de la Comunidad Valenciana que en la actualidad resisten el avance de la urbanización y constituyen el negativo de nuestros destinos turísticos. De hecho, durante más de medio siglo, la construcción de edificaciones ligadas a la creación de nuevas plazas en alojamientos turísticos y a la promoción inmobiliaria dirigida al turismo residencial, ha ido en detrimento de nuestros espacios naturales y de una progresiva pérdida de valor ambiental y paisajístico del frente litoral. Esta comunicación presenta el diagnóstico y las conclusiones obtenidas acerca del papel que pueden desempeñar estos espacios naturales protegidos en la diversificación de la oferta turística, a partir del aprovechamiento de sus posibilidades de uso público.In the last two decades, the tourism policies in Spain have had as a priority objective the diversification and differentiation of the tourist destinations together with the improvement of the quality services and infrastructures as the best strategies to guarantee the competitiveness of the tourism activity. Despite the fact that Spain has managed to maintain its leadership as a sun and sand tourist destination, the strategies undertaken to the present time have not fully achieved a substantial change in the tourism dynamics to respond to the new demand trends and the challenge of sustainability. In this respect, in the context of apparent need of renovation, the mature tourist destinations should insist on a qualitative tourist supply through the enhancement of the territorial components and particularly of those protected areas in the Valencia Region which have still survived to the urban process that has characterised most tourist destinations. In fact, the urbanisation and the processes of creating new accommodation infrastructure and residential homes have seriously threaten the protected area’s natural environment and has mainly contributed to the environmental impact of the coastal areas. This paper aims to present the diagnosis and conclusions obtained about how the protected areas may serve to strengthen the mass tourism product by offering opportunities for diversification.La presente comunicación se ha realizado en el marco del proyecto de investigación Renovación de los destinos turísticos consolidados del litoral: nuevos instrumentos para la planificación y gestión (RENOVESTUR), del Plan Nacional I+D+I 2008-2011, del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, en el que participan investigadores de las Universidades Jaime I de Castellón, Valencia y Alicante, y cuyo investigador principal es J. Fernando Vera Rebollo

Adaptive Simulation of the Internal Flow in a Rocket Nozzle

This work is a first step in the understanding of the interaction process between internal shock waves and the flow transition inside of a rocket nozzle that develops during the engine start-up phase or when the nozzle is operated at over-expanded conditions. In many cases, this transition in the flow pattern produces side loads in the nozzle due to an asymmetric pressure distribution on the wall, being harmful for the rocket´s integrity. To understand this phenomenon, a numerical simulation is performed by solving the three-dimensional Euler equations on unstructured tetrahedral meshes. With this model the computational cost to solve the equations significantly increases, therefore parallel processing is required. Also, an unsteady  h-adaptive refinement strategy is used jointly with a StreamlineUpwind Petrov-Galerkin and a discontinuity capturing scheme, both to keep the size of the fluid flow problem bounded and to sharply resolve the shock wave pattern. The mesh adaptation strategy is introduced. Since its performance is a major concern in the solution of unsteady flow problems, some implementation issues about the data structure chosen to represent the mesh are discussed. Average pressure distributions computed at the wall and the axis of thenozzle for various pressure ratios are analyzed based on experimental and numerical results from other authors.Fil: Garelli, Luciano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales; ArgentinaFil: Rios Rodriguez, Gustavo Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales; ArgentinaFil: Paz, Rodrigo Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales; ArgentinaFil: Storti, Mario Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones En Metodos Computacionales; Argentin

Electrodialytic Recovery of Cobalt from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

Contribución en congreso científicoRecycling lithium-ion batteries has an increasing interest for economic and environmental reasons. Disposal of lithium-ion batteries imposes high risk to the environment due to the toxicity of some of their essential components. In addition to this, some of these components, such as cobalt, natural graphite and phosphorus, are included in the list of critical raw materials for the European Union due to their strategic importance in the manufacturing industry. Therefore, in the recent years, numerous research studies have been focused on the development of efficient processes for battery recycling and the selective recuperation of these key components. LiCoO2 is the most common material use in current lithium-ion batteries cathodes. In the current work, an electrodialytic method is proposed for the recovery of cobalt from this kind of electrode. In a standard electrodialytic cell, the treated matrix is separated from the anode and the cathode compartments by means of ion-exchange membranes. A cation-exchange membrane (CEM) allows the passage of cations and hinders the passage of anions, while the behaviour of anion-exchange membrane (AEM) does the opposite. A three-compartment electrodialytic cell has been designed and assembled, as depicted in the figure. In the central compartment, a suspension of LiCoO2 is added. Different extracting agents, such as EDTA, HCl and HNO3, are tested to enhanced the dissolution and the selective extraction of the target metal. Dissolved cobalt-containing complexes migrate towards the cathode or the anode compartments depending on the ionic charge of the complexes. While cobalt extraction via extracting agents is an expensive treatment, as it requires the constant addition of chemicals, an efficient electrodialytic cell could allow the recirculation of the extracting agents and the economical optimization of the process.This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 778045. Paz-Garcia acknowledges the financial support from the University of Malaga, project: PPIT.UMA.B5.2018/17. Villen-Guzman acknowledges the funding from the University of Malaga for the postdoctoral fellowship PPIT.UMA.A.3.2.2018. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

New Perspectives for Electrodialytic Remediation

Electrodialytic remediation has been widely used for the recovery of different contaminants from numerous matrices, such as, for example, polluted soils, wastewater sludge, fly ash, mine tailing or harbour sediments. The electrodialytic remediation is an enhancement of the electrokinetic remediation technique, and it consists of the use of ion-exchange membranes for the control of the acid and the alkaline fronts generated in the electrochemical processes. While the standard electrodialytic cell is usually built with three-compartment configuration, it has been shown that for the remediation of matrices that require acid environment, a two-compartment cell has given satisfactory removal efficiencies with reduced energy costs. Recycling secondary batteries, with growing demand, has an increasing economic and environmental interest. This work focusses on the proposal of the electrodialytic remediation technique as a possible application for the recycling of lithium-ion cells and other secondary batteries. The recovery of valuable components, such as lithium, manganese, cobalt of phosphorous, based on current recycling processes and the characterization of solid waste is addressed.This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 778045. Paz-Garcia acknowledges the financial support from the University of Malaga, project: PPIT.UMA.B5.2018/17. Villen-Guzman acknowledges the funding from the University of Malaga for the postdoctoral fellowship PPIT.UMA.A.3.2.2018. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Effect of NaHCO3 addition on the anaerobic co-digestion of fruit and vegetable waste and sewage sludge performance

Digestion of FVW residues with sewage sludge is feasible as long as the FVW to sludge ratio fed to the batch digester is not too large. The pH is the main variable determining the reactor performance and can be controlled by NaHCO3 addition.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Anionic species transport through the soil (Electromigration versus Electroosmosis): The case of EDTA

The use of EDTA as a complexing agent to extract metals from soil is common. We have tested this possibility for the remediation feasibility studies of a soil contaminated with lead, collected in the mining district of Linares (Spain), a region where the mining activity has been going on for more than 20 centuries. In this work, we have found that close to 100% of Pb is removed from the contaminated soil when EDTA is used in batch reactor experiments. However, almost no Pb is removed when EDTA is used as an enhancing agent in electrokinetic soil remediation of the same soil. The percentage of Pb removed is 0-10% and the analysis of soil after electrokinetic treatment indicates that more than 90% of Pb remains in the soil. Instead, the use of other mobilization agents that gave also good removal yields for the batch reactor experiments gave also important removals by EKR [1]. Usually it is assumed that the removal of toxic metals during EKR take place by electromigration, which is about one order of magnitude more important than any other transport process, such as electroosmosis, diffusion, etc. [2]. Nevertheless, we found that in EKR experiments enhanced with EDTA, the electroosmotic flow is very important and severely impairs the extraction of lead. The negative charge of the complex is probably the main reason for the different behavior relative to the other mobilization agents. REFERENCES: [1] M. Villen-Guzman, J.M. Paz-Garcia, J.M. Rodriguez-Maroto, C. Gomez-Lahoz and F. Garcia-Herruzo. Acid Enhanced Electrokinetic Remediation of a Contaminated Soil Using Constant Current Density: Strong vs. Weak Acid. Separation Science and Technology (in press; DOI 10.1080/01496395.2014.898306). [2] Y.B. Acar, and A.N. Alshawabkeh. Principles of electrokinetic remediation Environ. Sci. Technol. 27(13), 2638-2647. (1993).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

CM-proteins and thionins in cereals: characterization and cloning of cDNA

The study of cereal albumins and globulins has lagged somewhat behind that of the prolamins, which nave been considered as typical reserve proteins. However, these protein fractions merit closer attention for a variety of reasons. The main individual albumins and globulins are at least as abundant as many prolamin components, and it can be speculated that in a tissue, such as the cereal endosperm, which is completely consumed during germination, al 1 abundant proteins may play a reserve role. They have also a higher proportion of essential amino acids, as compared with the prolamins, and thus may be releyant in connec^ tion with the genetic alteration of overall grain composition. Finally, a high proportion of the main components of these protein fractions have inhibitory and even toxic properties, which may be related to the protection of this tissue during development and germination, and might influence the nutritional valué of the cereal products. We report here the characterization in barley of cDNA clones encoding two major groups of proteins: the CM-proteins, a family that inciudes inhibitors of trypsin and a-amylase, and the thionins, a group of high-lysine toxic polypeptides