Articles

Elsevier,

Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Volume 100, August 2017

Calibrated models can reasonably capture descriptions between input and output variables and can thus be used to estimate long term groundwater levels.
Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 12, 1 July 2017
Material and product life cycles are based on complex value chains of technology-specific elements. Resource strategy aspects of essential and strategic raw materials have a direct impact on applications of new functionalized materials or the development of novel products. Thus, an urgent challenge of modern materials science is to obtain information about the supply risk and environmental aspects of resource utilization, especially at an early stage of basic research.
Elsevier, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 155, 1 July 2017
Climate change, population growth and rapidly increasing urbanisation severely threaten water quantity and quality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Treating wastewater is necessary to preserve the water bodies; reusing treated wastewater appears a viable option that could help to address future water challenges. In areas already suffering energy poverty, the main barrier to wastewater treatment is the high electricity demand of most facilities.
Elsevier, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 12, 1 July 2017
Material and product life cycles are based on complex value chains of technology-specific elements. Resource strategy aspects of essential and strategic raw materials have a direct impact on applications of new functionalized materials or the development of novel products. Thus, an urgent challenge of modern materials science is to obtain information about the supply risk and environmental aspects of resource utilization, especially at an early stage of basic research.
Elsevier,

Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 12, July 2017

The development of new high-efficiency magnets and/or electric traction motors using a limited amount of critical rare earths or none at all is crucial for the large-scale deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) and related applications, such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and e-bikes. For these applications, we estimated the short-term demand for high-performing NdFeB magnets and their constituent rare earths: neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium. In 2020, EV, HEV and e-bike applications combined could require double the amount used in 2015.

Elsevier,

Global Environmental Change, Volume 45, July 2017

Fossil fuel subsidies are a key barrier for economic development and climate change mitigation. While the plunge in international fuel prices has increased the political will to introduce fossil fuel subsidy reforms, recently introduced reforms may risk backsliding when fuel prices rebound − particularly if they fail to address the underlying mechanisms that create demand for low fossil fuel prices. Extant literature has mostly focused on the consequences of fossil fuel subsidies, including their economic or environmental impact, and the social contract that make their reform difficult.

Spatial distribution of deforestation observed in 1988–2004 and 2005–2014, including the main territorial units (agrarian settlements) created prior to 2004 and subsequently, along with key transportation infrastructure (paved roads and ports).
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 26-27, 1 June 2017
The Brazilian Amazon is being affected by the new worldwide geopolitical transformation that is tending towards an integrated global economy. In the region environmental considerations have not been adequately incorporated into long-term land use planning and this failure has partly been due to the complexities of the country's existing inter-sectorial institutional arrangements. In this paper, we briefly explore two distinct economic development phases that have been reshaping Amazonian landscapes since the 1990s.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 26-27, 1 June 2017
Accountability and adaptive management of recent global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement, will in part rely on the ability to track progress toward the social and environmental targets they set. Current metrics and monitoring systems, however, are not yet up to the task. We argue that there is an imperative to consider principles of coherence (what to measure), standardization (how to measure) and decision-relevance (why to measure) when designing monitoring schemes if they are to be practical and useful.
Elsevier, Research Policy, Volume 46, 1 June 2017
The paper contributes to the literature on gender gap in research investigating whether there is a gender gap in research evaluation. We use detailed data on 180,000 research papers evaluated during the Italian national research assessment (VQR 2004–2010) conducted by the Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (Anvur). The data are merged with information on individual researchers and characteristics of referees. The most important empirical finding is that there is a significant gender gap in research evaluation.

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