Starting from the ‘90s, there has been a significant increase in PPP use in the public sector in Europe, benefiting the implementation of infrastructure projects. In Italy, PPP is still much more limited than in such countries as the UK and France: the projects funded are smaller and the sectors involved are less appropriate. Based on the economic literature, European initiatives and international comparisons, the paper examines aspects of regulations that could encourage the appropriate use of PPP and considers the problems with the Italian regulations, while proposing some corrective measures. The main limitations involve: i) the absence of adequate preliminary assessments about the advantages of using PPP rather than the traditional procurement, ii) the relative lack of attention to the contract terms, iii) inadequate safeguards to ensure the bankability of the projects, and iv) limited information transparency and accessibility.

The performance of five cauliflower cultivars in conventional and alternative phytosanitary management—without the use of synthetic pesticides—was evaluated. Two experiments were conducted at Epagri, Ituporanga Experimental Station in February 2018 and 2019. A randomized block design with four repetitions was adopted, with twenty plants of each cultivar as plots. The seedlings were transplanted on millet and mucuna straw at a spacing of 0.5 m × 0.8 m. We evaluated agronomic yield, inflorescence quality, pest damage and plant diseases, especially bacterial and fungal rots. The cauliflower hybrids Vera, Verona and Serena stood out in productivity and quality, being the most indicated for sowing in off-season crops, in the Alto Vale do Itajaí region. The most productive cultivars were less damaged by bacterial diseases and defoliating caterpillars and without interference of whitefly infestation on yield. The results also reveal that it is possible to control pests and diseases with phytosanitary products of lower toxicity, i.e., with lower residues of synthetic pesticides.

The properties of the beta batteries are compared, which are made on the basis of the different β-isotopes with beta decay. Tritium and Ni-63 make it possible to make β-sources of high activity, without harmful associated emissions, with low self-absorption, emitting high-energy β-electrons that penetrate deep into the semiconductor and generate a large number of electron-hole pairs. The efficiency of beta batteries needs to be analyzed based on the real energy distribution of β-electrons. It makes possible to obtain the real value of the energy absorbed inside the β-source, correctly estimate the amount of self-absorption of the β-electrons and part of the β-electronsthere is a penetrate into the semiconductor, the number of electrons and holes that are generated in the semiconductor, and the magnitude of the idling voltage. Formulas for these quantities are calculated in this paper.

Contemporary infrastructure research has its origins in the late 1980s as attempts were made to measure the economic impact of public expenditures with early mixed results. In the 1990s, infrastructure assumed greater importance as a policy solution to improve economic performance in low-income economies particularly by multilateral development and official development agencies. This interest led to greater research interest with the examination of infrastructure and economic development, foreign direct investment, the role of institutions and capital markets, procurement, regional economic effects and more recently, the productivity of public investment in specific regions and industries. 

This article identifies subjects that warrant further research in the future particularly the shortfall in current investment levels and how this will be met. This is a challenge for both low and high-income countries with fiscal and public debt constraints requiring governments to tap alternative sources of finance. Policy options available to government include wider use of bond markets and private participation in infrastructure provision and management. Other problems facing government include optimism bias and forecasting error that is a particular problem for projects in the transport sector. 

Many other research opportunities remain to be explored and this article is designed to provide an overview of several of the subjects that would benefit from further research at the present time. 

Nowadays, copper and zinc nanoparticles are widely employed in a variety of applications. With nanoscale particle sizes, copper oxide/zinc oxide composite is easily synthesized using a variety of techniques, including hydrothermal, microwave, precipitation, etc. In the current work, chemical precipitation is used to create a copper oxide/zinc oxide nanocomposite. XRD analysis was used to determine the nanocomposite’s structural characteristics. Through SEM analysis, the surface morphological properties are investigated. EDAX is used to study the chemical composition of produced materials, while UV/Visible spectroscopy is used to determine their optical properties. The assessment of the copper oxide/zinc oxide nanocomposite’s degrading property on dyes like methyl red and methyl orange under UV and visible light are the main objectives of the current work.

The effects of climate change are already being felt, including the failure to harvest several agricultural products. On the other hand, peatland requires good management because it is a high carbon store and is vulnerable as a contributor to high emissions if it catches fire. This study aims to determine the potential for livelihood options through land management with an agroforestry pattern in peatlands. The methods used are field observation and in-depth interviews. The research location is in Kuburaya Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Several land use scenarios are presented using additional secondary data. The results show that agroforestry provides more livelihood options than monoculture farming or wood. The economic contribution is very important so that people reduce slash-and-burn activities that can increase carbon emissions and threaten the sustainability of peatland.