Light pollution is a well-known problem because of its negative impacts on human health, flora, and fauna. From an ecological and engineering point of view, the literature states to consider the ...following aspects: (1) the light intensity; (2) the composition of the spectrum; (3) the time and duration of lighting to optimize the time of illumination with the available technologies; (4) the periods of lighting and the control cone; (5) the height and spacing between the light sources to optimize the space between the light sources, to reduce the flow of light and unnecessary energy consumption; (6) the environmental impact studies on-site; and (7) the analysis of real needs and less standardized approaches, examining the evolution of use and habits of light consumption. Accordingly, we want to present the SMART LIGHT-HUB (INTERREG) project, which pretends, during the next 3 years (2019–2021), to deliver smart lighting systems to reach the widest possible public, such as companies active in the relevant subject areas. We are setting up an R&D network in the Grande Région (Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and France) to facilitate the emergence of new collective solutions to needs that are not addressed in the private and public sectors, in terms of lighting. We are planning exchange workshops, which serve to complete the project, concerning the interested parties on the ground (public authorities, chambers of commerce and industry, local authorities, public–private sector, private companies, etc.) and external participants representing the final consumers. We also want to work on restoring a protected nighttime environment (i.e., continuous areas of “nocturnal/black corridors” for animals that cannot tolerate artificial light).
The Community programming periods that began in 1990, supported by the European territorial cooperation project INTERREG, sought to achieve socio-economic integration of European border and ...peripheral territories in order to achieve economic and social cohesion, promoted by the European Union.
The Spanish-Portuguese border is one of the oldest in Europe. From its analysis, in terms of cross-border territorial cooperation, we have drawn relevant conclusions on the importance, both national and European, of our cross-border territory throughout the 21st century.
Los periodos de programación comunitarios que dieron comienzo en 1990, respaldados por el proyecto europeo de cooperación territorial INTERREG, intentaron lograr una integración socioeconómica de los territorios fronterizos y periféricos europeos para alcanzar la cohesión económica y social, promovidos por la Unión Europea.
La frontera hispano-portuguesa es una de las más antiguas de Europa. De su análisis, en términos de cooperación transfronteriza del territorio, hemos inferido conclusiones relevantes sobre la importancia, tanto nacional como europea, de nuestro territorio transfronterizo a lo largo del siglo XXI.
The taxonomic identification of organisms based on the amplification of specific genetic markers (metabarcoding) implicitly requires adequate discriminatory information and taxonomic coverage of ...environmental DNA sequences in taxonomic databases. These requirements were quantitatively examined by comparing the determination of cyanobacteria and microalgae obtained by metabarcoding and light microscopy. We used planktic and biofilm samples collected in 37 lakes and 22 rivers across the Alpine region. We focused on two of the most used and best represented genetic markers in the reference databases, namely the 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA genes. A sequence gap analysis using blastn showed that, in the identity range of 99–100%, approximately 30% (plankton) and 60% (biofilm) of the sequences did not find any close counterpart in the reference databases (NCBI GenBank). Similarly, a taxonomic gap analysis showed that approximately 50% of the cyanobacterial and eukaryotic microalgal species identified by light microscopy were not represented in the reference databases. In both cases, the magnitude of the gaps differed between the major taxonomic groups. Even considering the species determined under the microscope and represented in the reference databases, 22% and 26% were still not included in the results obtained by the blastn at percentage levels of identity ≥95% and ≥97%, respectively. The main causes were the absence of matching sequences due to amplification and/or sequencing failure and potential misidentification in the microscopy step. Our results quantitatively demonstrated that in metabarcoding the main obstacles in the classification of 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA sequences and interpretation of high-throughput sequencing biomonitoring data were due to the existence of important gaps in the taxonomic completeness of the reference databases and the short length of reads. The study focused on the Alpine region, but the extent of the gaps could be much greater in other less investigated geographic areas.
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•Metabarcoding needs discriminating information in sequences and database coverage.•Requirements were tested by analyzing 16S-18S rRNA genes in 59 Alpine water bodies.•A high % of sequences and species is not included in the molecular databases.•The extent of sequence and taxonomic gaps differed in the major taxonomic groups.•Incomplete coverage of taxonomic databases hinders the application of metabarcoding.
Since 1992, culture has been an official competence of the European Union. De facto, the EU has the legitimacy and means to intervene and change collective representations and social dynamics, ...including in border regions, in order to bring people together and build a Europe 'united in diversity'. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the cross-border dynamics in cultural matters, and to examine the realization of cultural projects as a driving force in the process of cross-border integration. The approach is based on a spatial analysis of the cultural projects co-financed by Interreg over the 2000-2020 period, enabling to provide an overview of the cross-border cultural initiatives undertaken. The results reveal first that strong spatial disparities exist between programming spaces in terms of cultural investment. Second, that cross-border cultural cooperation mainly involves municipalities, and not primarily cultural actors. Third, although a diverse range of cultural projects have been developed over the last twenty years, the emphasis has been more on tourism projects. These achievements bring into question the role of Interreg programming in cultural matters in the dynamics of cross-border integration, since it fosters an economic approach to culture at the expense of social and identity issues.
Maritime transport for both passengers and freight is continuously increasing and, consequently, the global attention toward its sustainability is growing. Ships offer advantages in terms of ...environmental impact compared to other transportation systems but the increasing traffic volume is expected to increase pollutants. Noise produced in port areas has been neglected for too long, until the INTERREG Maritime programme Italy-France 2014–2020 has brought to light how citizen complaints are emerging for some of the main ports in the Mediterranean. However, port noise prevention and management is difficult as knowledge on specific sources is very limited in the literature. Furthermore, on field measurements are difficult to be performed given the complexity of the port area, where multiple types of sound emitters mix and confuse each other.
Noise maps represent the first important step in order to align ports to the requirements set by the Environmental Noise Directive to the transportation infrastructures. Once computed, they are an excellent tool supporting port management towards the reduction of citizens’ noise exposure while ensuring traffic growth.
The present paper reports a guideline for the characterization of noise sources needed as inputs for the noise maps, as developed in the framework of the INTERREG Maritime programme Italy-France 2014–2020. On the basis of the current state of the art, a procedure has been elaborated for different categories of noise sources acting in port, ranging from stationary to moving ships, from mooring operations to loading/unloading operations, from industrial activities to road and railway traffic.
Port noise; Guidelines; Sources characterization; Interreg maritime programme; Noise of transport infrastructures.
In this paper, focusing on the European Territorial Cooperation (INTERREG) example, the author compares three selected policy themes to understand what drives cross-border cooperation (CBC) in ...different contexts. The main argument is that cultural, economic, political, institutional, and geographical drivers of CBC play different roles in determining the intensity of CBC across different themes. To test this argument, three separate regressions are run for the policy themes of education, small and medium sized enterprises, and infrastructure. The regression results support that the intensity of CBC in each particular thematic area is driven by a unique combination of factors. This finding provides important insights on CBC policy-making in the European Union and potentially beyond. Follow-up studies can inform the design of future CBC policies and prioritization of thematic CBC interventions.
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