THE IMPACT OF II PILLAR ON THE MULTIFUNCTIONALITY IN ITALIAN FARMS: ANALYSIS ON THE FARM HOLIDAYS

This analysis has examined the relationships between the European funds for rural development and the multifunctionality during a short time, comparing two different situations before and after the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. The main problem was to find a variable able to describe the multifunctionality; the agritourism, in particular, number of farm holidays farms, has been the dependant variable useful to value the rural multifunctionality and the impact of the increase of II pillar fund. The Principal Component Analysis and the model of Ordinary Least Square have confirmed the positive impact of European Agricultural funds in the rural development and in the increase of active farm holidays farms.agritourism, farm holidays farms, Italian agritourism, II pillar, certified quality food., Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C01, Q18.,

Relationships Among Heart Rate Monitor Usage, Neuroticism, and Performance in Triathletes

Triathlon, a sport that consists of swimming, biking and running, is growing in popularity throughout the country and the world. There is a large percentage of athletes that rely on the use of a heart rate monitor to gauge effort, but there is also a group of athletes that do not use this technology. The purpose of this research was to determine if personality, specifically neuroticism, played a role in determining which athletes use heart rate monitors and whether these variables had any effect on performance. Ninety-eight triathletes were surveyed from 2 half iron distance triathlons in the summer of 2010. There proved to be no interaction effect between neuroticism and heart rate monitor usage on performance [F 2 = 1.830, p = 0.168]. Interestingly, the data showed that there was no significant relationship between heart rate monitor usage and performance. This finding is interesting because heart rate monitors are widely used in the triathlon community, and these data show that perhaps heart rate monitors are not the best tool for gauging effort

The Evolution of Italian Farms and the Role of Subsidies Paid by the European Union for Rural Development

In Italy, there has been a significant emigration from the countryside towards urban areas with negative downsides on rural communities which have suffered of socio-economic marginalization and negative effects on the environment. The Common Agricultural Policy has been a pivotal tool able to reduce the marginalization in rural territories financing farmers able to promote the multifunctionality and the production of positive externalities. By using a quantitative approach on Farm Accounting Data Network time series on Italian farmers, it has been possible to access the role of subsidies allocated by the European Union on the rural development. The results have pointed out a positive role of financial supports and subsidies allocated by the Common Agricultural Policy to guarantee an adequate level of farm income. In the next period 2014-2020, the national and local authorities should take into account to put into action the Rural Development Programme aimed to implement the socio-economic growth in the Italian countryside specifically towards farms located in less favoured areas

Technical and economic efficiency analysis on Italian smallholder family farms using Farm Accountancy Data Network dataset

More than 90 per cent of Italian farms have a usable agricultural area of less than 9 ha, even if over time there has been a growth of the average agricultural area per farm as a consequence of rural out-migration. This paper compares, using a nonparametric model, the technical efficiency of smallholder family (diretto coltivatrice), co-operative and limited company farms during the period 2000-2011. The diretto coltivatrice farms and the co-operative farms had higher levels of scale efficiency than the limited company farms, with a scale efficiency value equal to 100 per cent in ten years out of twelve. The average technical efficiency of diretto coltivatrice farms was higher than those of co-operative and limited company farms. The second part of the quantitative analysis used the self-organising maps (SOM) proposed by Kohonen. The SOMs indicated that the size of the agricultural area has a direct impact on the technical efficiency of farms and on their level of income

Non linear control of glycaemia in type 1 diabetic patients

A fuzzy controller for the closed loop control, by insulin infusion of glycaemia in type 1 diabetic patients is proposed. The controller uses type-2 fuzzy sets. The controller was tested in simulation using a complex nonlinear model of the glucose metabolism. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness and the robustness of the type-2 fuzzy logic controller. The design of the controller uses an optimization method based on genetic algorithms. This makes the type-2 fuzzy controller more efficient and faster than a fuzzy controller with type-1 fuzzy sets, allowing a more accurate control of the glucose in the blood

Type-2 Fuzzy Control of a Bioreactor

Abstract—In this paper the control of a bioprocess using an adaptive type-2 fuzzy logic controller is proposed. The process is concerned with the aerobic alcoholic fermentation for the growth of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae a n d i s characterized by nonlinearity and parameter uncertainty. Three type-2 fuzzy controllers heve been developed and tested by simulation: a simple type-2 fuzzy logic controller with 49 rules; a type-2 fuzzyneuro- predictive controller (T2FNPC); a t y p e -2 selftuning fuzzy controller ( T2STFC). The T2FNPC combines the capability of the type-2 fuzzy logic to handle uncertainties, with the ability of predictive control to predict future plant performance making use of a neural network model of the non linear system. In the T2STFC the output scaling factor is adjusted on-line by fuzzy rules according to the current trend of the controlled process. T h e advantage of the proposed adaptive algorithms is to greatly decrease the number of rules needed for the control reducing the computational load and at same time assuring a robust control

A General Mathematical Formulation for the Determination of Differential Leakage Factors in Electrical Machines with Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Full or Dead-Coil Multiphase Windings

This paper presents a simple and general mathematical formulation for the determination of the differential leakage factor for both symmetrical and asymmetrical full and dead-coil windings of electrical machines. The method can be applied to all multiphase windings and considers Görges polygons in conjunction with masses geometry in order to find an easy and affordable way to compute the differential leakage factor, avoiding the adoption of traditional methods that refer to the Ossanna's infinite series, which has to be obviously truncated under the bound of a predetermined accuracy. Moreover, the method described in this paper allows the easy determination of both the minimum and maximum values of the differential leakage factor, as well as its average value and the time trend. The proposed method, which does not require infinite series, is validated by means of several examples in order to practically demonstrate the effectiveness and the easiness of application of this procedure

Control of a non-isothermal continuous stirred tank reactor by a feedback–feedforward structure using type-2 fuzzy logic controllers

A control system that uses type-2 fuzzy logic controllers (FLC) is proposed for the control of a non-isothermal continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), where a first order irreversible reaction occurs and that is characterized by the presence of bifurcations. Bifurcations due to parameter variations can bring the reactor to instability or create new working conditions which although stable are unacceptable. An extensive analysis of the uncontrolled CSTR dynamics was carried out and used for the choice of the control configuration and the development of controllers. In addition to a feedback controller, the introduction of a feedforward control loop was required to maintain effective control in the presence of disturbances. Simulation results confirmed the effectiveness and the robustness of the type-2 FLC which outperforms its type-1 counterpart particularly when system uncertainties are present

Measurement of Three Transport Coefficients and the Thermodynamic Factor in Block Copolymer Electrolytes with Different Morphologies.

The design and engineering of composite materials is one strategy to satisfy the materials needs of systems with multiple orthogonal property requirements. In the case of rechargeable batteries with lithium metal anodes, the system requires a separator with fast lithium ion transport and good mechanical strength. In this work, we focus on the system polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (SEO) with bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide lithium salt (LiTFSI). Ion transport occurs in the salt-containing poly(ethylene oxide)-rich domains. Mechanical rigidity arises due to the glassy nature of polystyrene (PS). If we assume that the salt does not interact with the PS-rich domains, we can describe ion transport in the electrolyte by three transport parameters (ionic conductivity, κ, salt diffusion coefficient, D, and cation transference number, t+0) and a thermodynamic factor, Tf. By systematically varying the volume fraction of the conducting phase, ϕc between 0.29 and 1.0, and chain length, N between 80 and 8000, we elucidate the role of morphology on ion transport. We find that κ is the strongest function of morphology, varying by three full orders of magnitude, while D is a weaker function of morphology. To calculate t+0 and Tf, we measure the current fraction, ρ+, and the open circuit potential, U, of concentration cells. We find that ρ+ and U follow universal trends as a function of salt concentration, regardless of chain length, morphology, or ϕc, allowing us to calculate t+0 for any SEO/LiTFSI or PEO/LiTFSI mixture when κ and D are known. The framework developed in this paper enables predicting the performance of any block copolymer electrolyte in a rechargeable battery

Adaptive Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Control of a Bioreactor

Two adaptive type-2 fuzzy logic controllers with minimum number of rules are developed and compared by simulation for control of a bioreactor in which aerobic alcoholic fermentation for the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae takes place. The bioreactor model is characterized by nonlinearity and parameter uncertainty. The first adaptive fuzzy controller is a type-2 fuzzy-neuro-predictive controller (T2FNPC) that combines the capability of type-2 fuzzy logic to handle uncertainties, with the ability of predictive control to predict future plant performance making use of a neural network model of the nonlinear system. The second adaptive fuzzy controller is instead a self-tuning type-2 PI controller, where the output scaling factor is adjusted online by fuzzy rules according to the current trend of the controlled process. The performance of a type-2 fuzzy logic controller with 49 rules is used as reference