Portugal, which is located in the west limit of the Mediterranean subtropics, is a small region with a complex orography with large precipitation gradients and interannual variability. In this study, ...the newer and higher resolution regional climate simulations, covering Portugal, are evaluated in present climate and used to investigate the rainfall projections for the end of the twenty-first century, following the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios. The EURO-CORDEX historical simulations, at 0.11° and at 0.44° resolution, are evaluated against gridded observations of precipitation, which allows the assembly of four multi-model ensembles. An extra simulation, at even higher resolution (9 km) with WRF is also analysed. In present climate, the models are able to describe the precipitation temporal and spatial patterns as well its distributions, although there is a large spread and an overestimation of larger rainfall quantiles. The multi-model ensembles show that selecting the best performing models adds quality to the overall representation of rainfall. The high-resolution simulations augment the spatial details of precipitation, but objectively do not seem to add value with respect to the coarse resolution. Regarding the RCP8.5 scenario, WRF and the multi-model ensembles consistently predict important losses of precipitation in Portugal in spring, summer and autumn, ranging from −10% and −50%. For all seasons, the changes are more severe in the southern basins. The precipitation distributions show, for all models, important reductions of the contribution from low to moderate/high precipitation bins and augments of days with strong rainfall. Furthermore, a prominent growth of high-ranking percentiles is predicted reaching values over 70% in some regions. Generally, the changes associated with the RCP4.5 scenario have the same signal and features, but with smaller magnitudes.
Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated that Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent disorder in the general population and increases over time all over the world. The high ...prevalence is in part due to increasing rates of obesity. However, estimates of OSA prevalence in Southern Europe are generally lacking.
The aim of our study was to predict the risk of OSA in the general population of Cyprus, the southeast part of Europe, by using a dedicated questionnaire like STOP-Bang.
We screened 5736 sample housing units for eligible adults and a total population of 4118 eligible responders completed the STOP-Bang questionnaire. Participants were all adults, age 18 + residing in Cyprus. The sample was stratified according to the last demographic report (2016) by district, rural or urban area, gender and age and the estimated sample size needed was 2000. Our survey was conducted by Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) method. The question about Neck Circumference was removed from the final evaluation due to the uncertainty of most of the participants and the risk of bias.
From a total of 4118 participants (2252 males – 54.7%, 1862 females – 45.3%), with 46.6% over 50 years old, 2641 (64.1%) were at low risk for OSA (0–2 positive answers), 1200 (29.1%) at intermediate risk (3–4 positive answers) and 277 (6.7%) at high risk (≥5 positive answers). In sum, 29.9% responded positively for snoring, 39.3% for feeling tired or sleepy during the day, 12.3% for observed apnea during sleep, and 24.6% for having or being treated for hypertension. Class II and III obesity with Body Mass Index (BMI) > 35 kgr/m2 was observed in 192 subjects (4.7%). In the subpopulation of obese participants (BMI>30 kg/m2), intermediate to high risk of OSA was present in 45%, whereas in obesity class II and III the percentage reached almost 90%.
Our survey yielded that the prevalence of intermediate to high risk for OSA was 50% in males and 18% in females, in the general population of Cyprus. These findings were similar to previously reported high OSA prevalence worldwide, considering the fact that a single questionnaire is only a screening tool and cannot alone diagnose sleep apnea.
•More than 1/3 of our population was categorized as intermediate to high risk of OSA.•The risk was higher within the 51–70 years old age group, for males, and in participants with higher BMI.•Women aged under 30 y (17.8%) and > 40 y (16.9%), reported snoring more often than women between 30 and 40 y (9.3%).•The most common symptoms of apnea tend to increase progressively over the age of 60 y and decrease later in life.•There were no significant differences between rural and urban populations in Cyprus concerning OSA symptoms.
Vaccine hesitancy amongst healthcare personnel (HCP) is a critical issue. The aim was to explore the factors that determine the intention to opt for COVID-19 vaccine among HCP from two southern ...European countries. An anonymous online self-administered survey using Google Forms has been conducted between December 1st to December 15th, 2020 among the HCP in Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. A total of 2,238 HCPs participated in the study (1,220/54.5% from Republic of Cyprus and 1,018 from Greece). Overall 1,082 (48.3%) stressed their intention to get vaccinated (64.4% for Greece and 34.9% for Republic of Cyprus). The main reasons for those who intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine include self (94.2%), family (98.7%), and patients protection (95.2%) as well as mitigation of COVID-19 pandemic (95.4%). The multivariate logistic regression that was performed for the total sample revealed that the following variables were significantly associated with an increased probability to get vaccinated against COVID-19: being a physician, a member of the nursing personnel, paramedical staff, working in Greece, age, the belief that influenza vaccination should be mandatory for HCP, and the rating of the overall management of COVID-19 pandemic in the country and from the public hospitals. Physicians were more likely to get vaccinated against COVID-19 than other HCP. The age was a predictor of COVID-19 uptake intention in the Republic of Cyprus. The belief that there was a successful management of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the intention to COVID-19 vaccination uptake.
The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been extensively used to assess the environmental influence of alternative building construction; however, the influence of building design has seldom ...been assessed for Mediterranean climate. This article aims to evaluate the influence of three, often neglected, design options on the life cycle (LC) energy and environmental impacts of a south European single-family house: solar orientation, window sizing, and building shape. Using a parametric attributional LCA, the house's materials, construction, maintenance, and operation (heating and cooling) are analysed for different design scenarios. Annual operational energy, LC non-renewable primary energy (NRPE) and environmental LC impact assessment (LCIA) results are presented and discussed. Results show that embodied energy generally surpasses operational energy. Building orientation has less influence on LCIA results than on operational energy, particularly for compact shapes. Scenarios with bigger Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) have higher embodied impacts, being more sensitive to orientation due to solar gains. Lower WWR (5%) can be used to reduce the overall LC impacts, especially in houses with lower operational patterns. A compact shape building was shown to reduce heating impact, while a terraced and less compact shape reduces cooling impact. Compared with literature, this study reveals that, from a LC perspective, design options are as significant as construction options. Finally, design recommendations should be based on LCA and not only on operational results; nevertheless, a LCA single indicator (NRPE or Global Warming Potential) can be used to support decisions for alternative house designs with similar construction.
•LCA evaluated the influence of solar orientation, window sizing and building shape.•Orientation has low influence on LCIA impact of compact house with Low WWR.•Lower WWR (5%) and compact shape reduce the overall LCIA impacts.•Design recommendations should be based on LCA and not only on operational result.•A single indicator, e.g. NRPE or GWP, can support building design decision for same construction.
El artículo presenta un análisis comparativo y longitudinal de la situación de las mujeres en España, Portugal e Italia, desde el inicio de la crisis. Los objetivos específicos son: exponer el ...mercado laboral femenino en los tres países, examinar la presencia laboral de las mujeres desde la perspectiva de la precariedad y analizar la posición de mujeres y hombres en las relaciones de género desde la perspectiva de la desigualdad de género. La investigación se llevó a cabo mediante la técnica de análisis documental de fuentes secundarias de estadísticas oficiales. Se concluye que la crisis ha afectado a las mujeres de los países europeos del sur de manera similar por su mayor continuidad en el desempeño del rol de género tradicional, pero, a la vez, se observan algunas diferencias entre ellos como consecuencia de las diferentes estructuras económicas, legislaciones laborales y protección social.
The appearance of monodactyl equids in Eurasia and their dispersal towards South Europe is a significant event that marks the beginning of the Quaternary period. During the Pleistocene, horses were a ...common element in most European large mammal faunal assemblages, providing important palaeoecological clues, but their taxonomy, nomenclature and phylogeny, as well as their actual biochronological significance have been widely debated by scholars. The evolutionary history of horses here regarded as “stenonoid” (
,
,
ex gr.
,
,
, the large-sized horses
and
, sometimes referred to as the so-called “
group”), is one of the most intriguing. This study, mainly focusing on the South European representatives of this group, aims to highlight and discuss the major debated issues, re-examining the taxonomy of some Early and early Middle Pleistocene horses. Alternative phylogenetic hypotheses will also be discussed with the aim of providing new clues on the chronology and palaeoecology of some key species/samples.
•Castor might be grown as rainfed crop in semi-arid Mediterranean environments.•Autumn or winter sowings allowed to increase phenological intervals and seed yield.•Photoperiod corrected growing ...degree unit equations showed the lowest variability.•Suitable areas for autumn sowings were identified in Sicily.
Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is an oilseed crop holding great promise for semi-arid environments. In regions where minimum temperature during winter is high enough to allow plants to survive, it would be worth to explore the adaptability of the species by performing autumn sowings, thus enabling rainfed cropping systems. A two-year field experiment under different sowing times (from November to June) was conducted in Southern Italy using castor Hy. Hazera. Autumnal sowings extended the plant vegetative period; nevertheless, flowering was simultaneous with all sowing dates. Only with the latest spring sowing (that of June) both floral induction and seed ripening were postponed. Seed yield with January and February sowings was the highest (3.92 Mg/ha on average). Using the wide variability of temperature and photoperiod conditions of the different growing periods, thermal and photothermal sums to predict the length of the main phenological intervals were calculated using different models. Overall, the best predicting model was that using sums of thermal units from minimum temperatures > 8 °C and maximum temperatures of 30 °C minus the degrees exceeding 30 °C, multiplied by photoperiod. The model allowed to develop zonation maps predicting the latest sowing date and the earliest seed ripening date in Sicily for autumn-spring and spring-summer growing season. The zonation procedure indicates that castor can be sown in autumn in coastal areas, while spring sowings are more suited to colder inland and hilly areas of Sicily. The work might find practical application to individuate suitable Mediterranean areas to grow castor in winter sowings.
Energy supply security is of paramount importance to all countries, however, not all countries present the same capacity to respond to energy security threats. Financial wealth is one of the means ...that can support access to energy resources and as such countries that have been hit the hardest by the 2008 financial crisis present energy supply vulnerabilities. We focus on Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece and find that they have continuously improved their energy supply diversity. At the same time, we argue that during, and as a result of the financial crisis our focus countries reduced their exposure to expensive imported resources predominantly in the transport sector and increased the role of renewables. Overall, we find improved supply security which could be strengthened further if financial resources were directed towards innovation for renewable energy sources.
The Directive 2010/31/EU and the Council of 19 May 2010 of the European Parliament focus, among other targets, on the reduction of the energy consumption of buildings. Solar technologies are often ...used in Southern European localities to contribute accomplishing this goal.
The paper concentrates on the energy assessment of solar technologies, PV panels and solar thermal collectors, coupled with a ground source heat pump for different Italian localities, representative of Southern European climates. In particular, energy dynamic simulations have been done by means of TRNSYS software.
Results have confirmed that injecting heat produced by means of the solar thermal collectors into the ground is a good procedure for saving energy in humid sub-tropical (Cfa) localities. Moreover, a compromise between the operations of the circulation pumps, responsible of supplying free ground cooling energy and of injecting solar thermal energy into the ground, has to be found in such localities. However, it can be generally concluded that the use of solar energy leads to low energy consumption especially in Csa localities (Rome and Palermo); where the use of small PV and solar thermal system allow important energy savings compared to the Cfa locality (Milan).
•We analysed the energy performance of a SAGSHP for Southern European climates.•We estimated the benefits of using PV and solar thermal energy in each climate.•For short BHE how solar thermal energy is used affects the FGC in Cfa climate.•Solar thermal energy has to be used differently according to the location.•PV and solar thermal systems allow high energy savings compared in Csa climates.
This article investigates the transformative potential of the Next Generation EU (NG‐EU) initiative in social protection taking South European (SE) countries as a test case. It starts with a brief ...examination of the main social parameters of the EPSR and how these intertwine with the NG‐EU strategy that links recovery from the pandemic with the EU's long‐term green and digital transition objectives. This is followed by a comparative overview of the SE countries' social, green and digital outlook when embarking upon the recovery path. In light of these, the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) of the four countries are scrutinised vis‐à‐vis the NG‐EU specified priority flagship areas. The political background of the plans, the impact of the EPSR on their policy options, and their recalibration potential are comparatively analysed. In setting the course for a twin transition, all four plans share a focus on addressing long‐standing social challenges mainly by bolstering productive welfare measures. But path‐dependent differences in policy mixes and varying policy integration can weigh significantly on outcomes.
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