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Green infrastructures have been pointed out as innovative solutions to deal with current and future challenges related to air pollution and climate change. Although the potential of green infrastructures, such as green walls and green roofs, to mitigate air pollution has been documented, evidence at a local scale is still limited. This work aims to increase knowledge about the potentialities of green infrastructures in improving local air quality, focusing on particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone pollutants, and by using a local-scale computational fluid dynamics model. The ENVI-met model was applied to a particular hour of a summer day over a built-up environment centred on a main avenue in the city of Lisbon (Portugal). The dimensions of the computational domain are 618 m × 594 m × 143 m, and it contains 184 buildings, with the tallest building being 56 m. In addition to the baseline simulation, modelling was also done considering the application of green walls and green roofs to specific buildings located near the main avenue, together with a green corridor. The overall results show no disturbances exerted by green walls on the turbulent flow dynamics and on the air quality levels when compared to the baseline scenario (without green walls). The integrated scenario, which includes green walls, green roofs and a green corridor, will lead to potential local benefits of green infrastructures on O3 concentrations, followed by variable impacts on NO2 and particulate matter concentrations., This work was supported by the project GENESIS (PTDC/GES-URB/29444/2017) funded by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation through national funds and by the European Community Fund FEDER within the COMPETE2020 program. Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to the Ph.D grants of A. Ascenso (SFRH/BD/136875/2018) and B. Augusto (2020.06293.BD), and to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. The authors would also like to thank other members of the GENESIS project team for their indirect contributions to this work., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

Recent research has identified a key subset of the business population that comprises firms who had sought external finance but subsequently withdrew from the credit market completely despite still requiring finance. Utilising the UK’s Longitudinal Small Business Survey between 2015-2020, we identify the consequences in terms of lost jobs and sales of these small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) dropping out of the credit market for finance. We conduct our analysis at the regional and sub-regional level and found that around 230,000 SMEs have dropped out of the UK credit market and that in many localities this has reduced job creation and sales income growth. We conclude that this exclusionary borrowing behaviour will add further to existing regional and sub-regional economic inequalities in the UK, making the “levelling up” agenda a very elusive policy objective.

The objective of the present study was to analyze and compare the setter's decision-making (DM) in the offensive construction of the side-out (attack from the reception) in high-level men's volleyball. The sample consisted of the analysis of 132 games of the Brazilian men's volleyball Super-League 2021/2022, with 22 games for each team. The results showed that the eigenvector values were higher for setting to position 3, central attacker next to the setter, simple block, and obtaining the attack point. In addition, the setter's DM was similar between teams, suggesting that the game strategies aim to provide subsidies for the setter to make the decisions according to the game context in a flexible way and generate benefits for the attackers about the number of blockers, being that under ideal conditions and due to the lifter's correct choices in distribution, central blockers avoid anticipating the setting, and this fact allows the conditions of a single block or double-broken blocks in most cases. As a practical application, setting for the central attacker in position 3 becomes an interesting option for point acquisition and is capable of influencing the number of blockers, as well as the optimal blocking condition. Another application would be for the central attacker to position themselves close to the setter, a strategy that would enable the use of the "pipe" attack in other areas of the court with lower defensive blocking power., El objetivo del presente estudio fue analizar y comparar la toma de decisiones (TD) del colocador en la construcción ofensiva del side-out (ataque desde la recepción) en el voleibol masculino de alto nivel. La muestra consistió en el análisis de 132 partidos de la Superliga masculina de voleibol de Brasil 2021/2022, con 22 partidos por equipo. Los resultados mostraron que los valores de los autovectores fueron más altos al realizar la colocación en la posición 3, con el atacante central junto al colocador, bloqueo simple y obtención del punto de ataque. Además, la TD del colocador fue similar entre los equipos, lo que sugiere que las estrategias de juego buscan proporcionar subsidios al colocador para tomar decisiones de acuerdo con el contexto del juego de manera flexible y generar beneficios para los atacantes en relación al número de bloqueadores, siendo que bajo condiciones ideales y debido a las elecciones correctas del levantador en la distribución, los bloqueadores centrales evitan anticipar la colocación, lo que permite las condiciones de un solo bloqueo o bloques dobles rotos en la mayoría de los casos. Como aplicación práctica, la colocación para el atacante central en la posición 3 se convierte en una opción interesante para la obtención del punto y tiene la capacidad de influir en el número de bloqueadores, así como en la condición óptima de bloqueo. Otra aplicación sería que el atacante central se posicione cerca del colocador, una estrategia que permitiría el uso del ataque "pipe" en otras áreas de la cancha con un menor poder defensivo de bloqueo.