Visibility Assessment of New Photovoltaic Power Plants in Areas with Special Landscape Value

Power plants based on renewable sources offer environmental, technical and economic advantages. Of particular importance is the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional power plants. Despite the advantages, people are often opposed to the construction of these facilities due to their high visual impact, particularly if they are close to places with a great cultural and/or landscape value. This paper proposes a new methodology for identifying the most suitable geographical areas for the construction of new photovoltaic (PV) power plants in zones of special scenic or cultural interest, helping to keep the environment free from the visual intrusions caused by these facilities. From several repeated analyses, the degree of visibility of the new PV plant, the potential observation time of passing visitors, considering the route they follow and their speed, and the increase in visibility of the plants when seen totally or partially with the sky as background, are determined. The result obtained is a map showing the ranking of the geographical areas based on a variable calculated in such analyses: the Global Accumulated Perception Time (GAPT). The application of this methodology can help the different agents involved in the decision-making process for the installation of new PV plant by providing them with an objective visibility criterion.

Sustainable Development and Rural Tourism in Depopulated Areas

The high degree of depopulation in certain areas of Spain is a serious threat to the country, and is aggravated by the ongoing loss of population from those areas. Rural tourism is one of the activities that can help prevent this depopulation. However, to successfully promote such tourism, we must consider the elements that have the greatest influence on tourists when they choose one location over another, or one accommodation over another. Extensive data have been collected from 1658 valid surveys of tourists in one of the most depopulated areas of Spain. Several multivariate techniques were then applied to the data, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA). Factors were obtained that identified both the different motivations that influence tourists, and the variables that identify the province based on its image. An analysis was then made of how both the variables thus identified the influence of the formation of the image that tourists take away from the visit. Tourists are most strongly motivated by natural landscapes, monuments, or events of cultural interest, i.e., natural and cultural attractions rather than social ones, and the cognitive image has the greatest influence on the formation of the new image. The principal findings of this research are that the future of many of these depopulated areas depends on successfully promoting both their beautiful landscapes and their cultural heritage, as well as developing and improving the areas themselves so that the depopulation is slowed down or even reversed, to the benefit of the local population. This would also benefit the local and regional authorities and the establishments linked to rural tourism in the area, increasing their profits and raising the level of employment in the province.

From church to pyramid

Sometime after coming to Mexico City in the early twentieth century, the Concheros gradually became involved in the growing cultural interest in the Aztec past. By the last decades, however, they found themselves in an antagonistic situation with those dancers who called themselves the Mexica who, although they performed the same dances, espoused mexicanidad a strong neo-nationalistic and neo-indianist ideology. The Mexica reject Spanish colonialism and have discarded the clearly Catholic ritual practices of the Concheros who habitually dance outside Churches: the Mexica’s preference is for pyramids. The article, using historical and fieldwork data, examines the growing use of archaeological sites as they have slowly been refurbished, focusing on two: Teotihuacan and Cholula. Importantly, in the last two decades, a gradual rapprochement between the Concheros and the Mexica has occurred as the overall ethos of the dance has been changing once again.

A COMPARISON BETWEEN 3D RECONSTRUCTION USING NERF NEURAL NETWORKS AND MVS ALGORITHMS ON CULTURAL HERITAGE IMAGES

In this research, an innovative comparison between 3D reconstructions obtained by means of Artificial Intelligence, in particular NeRF Neural Networks, and by Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View-Stereo (MVS) open-source algorithms is proposed. The 3D reconstruction comparison is performed on two test cases, one of cultural interest, one useful only for technical discussion. It is known that the approaches are traditionally used with different objectives and in different contexts but they can however also be used with similar purpose, i.e., 3D reconstruction. In particular, we were interested in evaluating how NeRF reconstructions are accurate from a metric point of view and how the models obtained from the application of NeRF differ from the model obtained from the classical photogrammetry. By analyzing the results in the considered test cases, we show how NeRF networks, although computationally demanding, can be an interesting alternative or complementary methodology, especially in cases where classical photogrammetric techniques do not allow satisfactory results to be achieved. It is therefore suggested to expand efforts in this direction by exploiting, for example, the numerous improvement proposals of the original NeRF network.

Site Experience Enhancement and Perspective in Cultural Heritage Fruition—A Survey on New Technologies and Methodologies Based on a “Four-Pillars” Approach

This paper deals with innovative fruition modalities of cultural heritage sites. Based on two ongoing experiments, four pillars are considered, that is, User Localization, Multimodal Interaction, User Understanding and Gamification. A survey of the existing literature regarding one or more issues related to the four pillars is proposed. It aims to put in evidence the exploitation of these contributions to cultural heritage. It is discussed how a cultural site can be enriched, extended and transformed into an intelligent multimodal environment in this perspective. This new augmented environment can focus on the visitor, analyze his activity and behavior, and make his experience more satisfying, fulfilling and unique. After an in-depth overview of the existing technologies and methodologies for the fruition of cultural interest sites, the two experiments are described in detail and the authors’ vision of the future is proposed.

Classical soloists’ life histories and the music conservatoire

This article explores the life histories of virtuoso classical music soloists with particular reference to conservatoire provision. Detailed life-history interviews were conducted with six virtuosi between May 2018 and January 2019. These participants were three singers, two cellists and a concert pianist. Resultant qualitative data were stored in an NVivo software database and understood through a process of analytic induction. Key findings spotlight the significance of Higher Education, a connection between broad creative and cultural interest and musical excellence, and a significant role for conservatoires in diversifying their training and easing transition into the career. The soloists also warned of dangers relating to controlling teachers, loss of autonomy and a need to convey their career realities to students.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Musical Societies in the Valencian Region, Spain

The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on musical societies in the Valencian Region, which were declared as an Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest in 2018. These cultural societies, which include over 1,100 bands, have had to make changes to adapt to the global pandemic. They are made up of symphonic bands, music schools, choirs, orchestras and other musical groups. Their social structure involves a large part of the Valencian Region’s population which, to some extent, becomes part of the creative process and transfer of musical languages, such as cultural transmission and historical content. This teaching model includes a variety of strategies, such as generating community ties that go beyond the social dimension. Moreover, the process of transformation, adaptation and resilience followed by these musical societies in order to maintain their training routines and other tasks will be analysed through an ethnographic study. This aims to focus on the extent of the economic, social and pedagogical impact of COVID-19 on these organisations.

The concept of national treasures under Polish and EU cultural heritage law

"National treasure" is one of the key notions of cultural heritage law. It is of particular relevance for the European Union in the context of the free movement of goods in the Single Market and the permitted exceptions to this freedom. In principle, it refers to those objects "possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value" whose preservation is in the vital cultural interest of the Member State concerned. Hence national law constraints on their import and export do not violate treaty obligations in force so long as such constraints are not arbitrary or do not constitute disguised restrictions on trade between Member States. The question arises, however, as to the practical meaning of this notion, i.e. whether Member States can freely determine what constitutes a "national treasure". This article seeks to answer that question by analysing how the notion of national treasures was transposed into the Polish legal system in 2017, and what the consequences of this recent regulatory intervention might be.

Hiking tourism: Motives and behaviours: A case study

Hiking is a physical activity aiming at recreation, training, and physical fitness. As a rule, people are engaged in this activity during vacations. However, very often, hiking is the main motive for travelling. This very fact allows us to refer to hiking as a distinct type of tourism, being the very reason to make a trip. In Greece, both Greeks and foreigners engage in this activity, following one of the two European long-distance footpaths (E4 and E6). This research aims at investigating motives, attitudes and behaviours of Greek hikers, members of the "Friends of Mountain and Sea Club", who undertake hiking tours in Greece and abroad. The research indicates that the main motive the hikers have, are contact with nature, wish to explore new places, and getting to know the civilization of different regions. On the way to their destination, hikers, in addition to hiking, also visit places and monuments of cultural interest. This form of tourism is environment friendly, as the majority of hikers respect and protect the natural and cultural environment.