The INTERREG Italy-Croatia Joint_SECAP Project: A Collaborative Approach for Adaptation Planning

With regard to the scientific debate which highlights the potential of joint climate planning, there are few concrete experiences in Europe where this approach has been applied. This contribution focuses on critical methodological and application aspects of the processes underlying the development of Joint Plans for Sustainable Energy and Climate in the supra-municipal area as emerged from the direct participation of the authors in the Joint_SECAP project funded by the Interreg Italia-Croatia programme. This paper presents a comparative analysis of nine case studies in Italy and Croatia with a focus on fundamental aspects of the planning process: the governance model, shared knowledge framework, risk and vulnerability assessment, and participatory process. The analysis and comparison of the Joint_SECAP experiences confirm that joint climate planning, developed in the framework of the European Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative, is effective for creating synergy between local authorities and for defining and implementing strategies and actions for adaptation to the territorial scale. Finally, the research indicates some recommendations to overcome the barriers that impede the spread and effectiveness of this approach to climate planning. In particular, it highlights the need to enhance collaboration between local authorities, regions, and CoM coordinators.

From the pandemic to the recovery: a legal analysi

The Covid pandemic has raised various legal issues, fueling the scientific debate on the relationship between fundamental rights and freedoms in the global emergency context. Moreover, a case law has started developing within the different jurisdictions. Additionally, constitutional Courts, in different countries, have ruled over potential conflicts of interest among central powers and local ones, and even some decisa of the Court of Justice of the European Union have started “blossoming” in this area. Against the backdrop of this analysis, the paper discusses the main legal problems sparked off by the declaration of the state of emergency, with a focus on the main EU jurisdictions and with glimpses of non-EU countries. The aim of this is to discuss the balance between fundamental rights and liberties in decisa in different legal systems, as well as the interpretation given to principles of proportionality of the public health measures, adequacy, precaution and loyal collaboration and the relationship between freedom and limits to public power. Bearing this in mind, the purpose of the work is to demonstrate that, first and foremost, in Europe there is room for both a formal and a substantial recognition of common rights and liberties in terms of interpretation and application of constitutional traditions, shared by the different Member States. The relevant adherence to these principles is guaranteed by the European Court of Justice. Second, the recovery after the pandemic is an open challenge. An important opportunity for Europe and its Member States is materialising, and this is to take a step forward on the bumpy path toward a European Political Union capable of strengthening a structure weakened by several earthquakes. A path and a project still plenty of pitfalls that needs to regroup around a central core increasing unification among European peoples (art. 1 TEU), which has never meant to be an alternative to national identity. Received: 24.11.2021Accepted: 13.12.2021

Prospettive teoriche per prevenire i processi di micro-radicalizzazione. Il ruolo della famiglia e dei contesti parentali

The first part of the article is focused on the analysis of the theoretical framework on radicalization phenomena, describing how the scientific debate has only recently considered research that have focused on the phenomena of micro-radicalization and radicalization in everyday life. The second and last part of this contribution describes how the family and parental system can become, at various levels, a promising context for preventing the phenomena of radicalization and violent radicalization (P/CVE). In the conclusion, the paper uses national and international literature for defining possible levels of educational intervention in collaboration with families.

Overstatements and Understatements in the Debate on Synthetic Biology, Bioterrorism and Ethics

Synthetic biology has many valuable applications, but it also gives rise to certain risks. In this paper I discuss the risk of bioterrorism, which often attracts attention in both the mass media and scientific debate, as well as in government reports. While some authors argue that there is a significant risk of bioterrorism connected to synthetic biology, other scholars claim that the risk is exaggerated and that actors often have motives for overstating the risk. In this paper, I argue that some estimates of the risk may be overstated but that certain risks of bioterrorism, such as the creation and spread of known pathogenic viruses, need to be taken seriously. Actors may also have scientific and financial motives for understating the risk. Such understatements are sometimes based on a principle of hope, which says that technological progress is important for the future welfare of humanity and that too much precaution would have bad consequences. I argue that this principle is problematic as the burdens and benefits of synthetic biology may not be equally divided between different social groups. Instead, I claim that the principle of precaution is more justified as a point of departure for assessing advancements within synthetic biology. It tells us that we need strong evidence that such advancements are safe, because there is a potential risk that they may make it easier for terrorist groups to create and spread known pathogenic viruses.

Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Nurses? A Debate

Technological development has enabled Artificial Intelligence (AI) to better support health care delivery and nursing. The need for nurses to be involved and steer the development and implementation of AI in health care is recognized. A 60-minute scientific debate is organized to explore if AI will replace nursing.

Tides and Volcanoes: A Historical Perspective

In this paper, we examine the origins and the history of the hypothesis for an influence of tidal forces on volcanic activity. We believe that exploring this subject through a historical perspective may help geoscientists gain new insights in a field of research so closely connected with the contemporary scientific debate and often erroneously considered as a totally separated niche topic. The idea of an influence of the Moon and Sun on magmatic processes dates back to the Hellenistic world. However, it was only since the late 19th century, with the establishment of volcano observatories at Mt. Etna and Vesuvius allowing a systematic collection of observations with modern methods, that the “tidal controversy” opened one of the longest and most important debates in Earth Science. At the beginning of the 20th century, the controversy assumed a much more general significance, as the debate around the tidal influence on volcanism developed around the formulation of the first modern theories on the origins of volcanism, the structure of the Earth’s interior and the mechanisms for continental drift. During the same period, the first experimental evidence for the existence of the Earth tides by Hecker (Beobachtungen an Horizontalpendeln über die Deformation des Erdkörpers unter dem Einfluss von Sonne und MondVeröffentlichung des Königl, 1907, 32), and the Chamberlin–Moulton planetesimal hypothesis (proposed in 1905 by geologist Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin and astronomer Forest Ray Moulton) about the “tidal” origin of the Solar System, influenced and stimulated new researches on volcano-tides interactions, such as the first description of the “lava tide” at the Kilauea volcano by Thomas Augustus Jaggar in 1924. Surprisingly, this phase of gradual acceptance of the tidal hypothesis was followed by a period of lapse between 1930 to late 1960. A new era of stimulating and interesting speculations opened at the beginning of the seventies of the 20th century thanks to the discovery of the moonquakes revealed by the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package. A few years later, in 1979, the intense volcanism on the Jupiter’s moon Io, discovered by the Voyager 1 mission, was explained by the tidal heating produced by the Io’s orbital eccentricity. In the last part of the paper, we discuss the major advances over the last decades and the new frontiers of this research topic, which traditionally bears on interdisciplinary contributions (e.g., from geosciences, physics, astronomy). We conclude that the present-day debate around the environmental crisis, characterized by a large collection of interconnected variables, stimulated a new field of research around the complex mechanisms of mutual interactions among orbital factors, Milankovitch Cycles, climate changes and volcanism.

The Problem of Densification of Large-Panel Housing Estates upon the Example of Cracow

The paper focuses on the phenomenon of intense, uncontrolled densification of large-panel housing estates in Poland. Despite the fact that such housing estates as a legacy of the Modernist concept of segregation of functions are often burdened with problems, they still have considerable potential, which results predominantly from their urban advantages, such as functional and spatial logic, large amounts of open public space, and abundance of greenery. Unfortunately, this potential is being destroyed by introducing new buildings, ignoring the existing urban layout of the housing estate along with its original compositional assumptions. This type of densification results from—without limitations—the pressure exerted by developers in the free-market economy, and it often leads to problems such as the devastation of urban layouts of these housing estates, breaking the continuity of public spaces, appropriation of green areas, strengthening of monofunctionality, etc. This problem is becoming noticeable in the scientific debate, although it is still difficult to obtain reliable data illustrating the densifications of such housing estates. The goal of this paper is to present the scales and character of such densifications of the large-panel housing estates, which pose a threat of devastation of their urban layouts often considered as urban heritage. The paper proposes a method of a quantitative analysis of the housing estates with reference to the increase in the built-up area and a qualitative analysis of the character of development with reference to its distribution. This method comprises a sequence of subsequent steps with relevant criteria. In the results, it demonstrates the scale of the problem, which in many cases is already big and still growing. The resultant threat of devastation of the urban layout and its consequences are presented upon selected examples of housing estates in Cracow, Poland. This paper is a voice in a discussion devoted to the current status, but most of all to the future of large-panel housing estates, particularly in terms of their protection as valuable achievements of urban planning of the second half of the 20th century, and to stopping unfavorable tendencies of urban destruction.

Remote sensing based on time variance control in configurable area partitioning

In this paper a sensor data fusion approach for characteristics field monitoring, based on time variance control model, is proposed. Distributed sensing and remote processing are the basic features of the employed architecture. In fact, in order to obtain meaningful information about the temporal and spatial variations, which characterize the field levels of some characteristics (electromagnetic, air pollution, seismic, etc), a distributed network of wireless and mobile smart-sensors has been designed.Starting from the partitioned configuration of a monitored geographic areas, this model allows to take into account the different levels of degradation over time in the sensors' performances associated with the different geographic partitions, progressively increasing the severity of the control. To this end, through the introduction of a reliability curve, a revised traditional control chart for variables is proposed.The proposed approach, further constituting an element of the scientific debate, aims to be a useful operational tool for professionals and managers employed in the environment control.

High-gamma mirror activity patterns in the human brain during reach-to-grasp movement observation, retention, and execution—An MEG study

While the existence of a human mirror neuron system is evident, the involved brain areas and their exact functional roles remain under scientific debate. A number of functionally different mirror neuron types, neurons that selectively respond to specific grasp phases and types for example, have been reported with single cell recordings in monkeys. In humans, spatially limited, intracranially recorded electrophysiological signals in the high-gamma (HG) range have been used to investigate the human mirror system, as they are associated with spiking activity in single neurons. Our goal here is to complement previous intracranial HG studies by using magnetoencephalography to record HG activity simultaneously from the whole head. Participants performed a natural reach-to-grasp movement observation and delayed imitation task with different everyday objects and grasp types. This allowed us to characterize the spatial organization of cortical areas that show HG-activation modulation during movement observation (mirroring), retention (mnemonic mirroring), and execution (motor control). Our results show mirroring related HG modulation patterns over bilateral occipito-parietal as well as sensorimotor areas. In addition, we found mnemonic mirroring related HG modulation over contra-lateral fronto-temporal areas. These results provide a foundation for further human mirror system research as well as possible target areas for brain-computer interface and neurorehabilitation approaches.

Zanieczyszczenie powietrza jako zagrożenie bezpieczeństwa zdrowotnego w Polsce – w świetle teorii sekurytyzacji

Nowadays, air pollution constitutes one of the most serious threats to human health and life. Poland belongs to the group of countries with the highest level of air pollution in the EU and OECD. The scale of the threat posed by air pollution shows its importance when it comes to the health security of the Polish citizens. However, the ongoing (political and scientific) debate on health security in Poland often ignores the problem of air pollution. The aim of the article is to 1) assess the threat currently posed by air pollution to health security in Poland, 2) locate the threat in the area of health security, and 3) analyse the process of transferring the problem of air pollution from the sphere of politics to the area of security, in accordance with the theory of securitization, developed by the Copenhagen School of Security Studies. Qualitative analysis of documents together with the application of the theory of securitization show that, in Poland, the state has started to play the role of an actor securitizing air pollution as an existential threat. Nevertheless, this process is at an early stage, and its further success depends, inter alia, on decisions and possibilities related to taking extraordinary measures to eliminate the threat posed by air pollution.