Exploring the foundations: the principles of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness in international law, role of international law in disaster risk reduction

The chapter examines the international legal foundations of DRR through the principles of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness. It is argued that the meaning of, as well as the relationship between, the principles are more complex than is often described within legal scholarship. In particular, the positioning of legal obligations within these ‘phases’ as situated on a linear timeline of the ‘disaster management cycle’ is rejected, in favour of a more functional approach focusing on the extent to which international law provides obligations relating to the prevention and minimisation of disaster losses. It is argued that this approach opens up conceptual spaces to account for measures not accurately fitting into the specific principles or phases (such as early warning systems) EWSs) and that the approach provides a clearer analysis of existing obligations, as well as identifies gaps to be addressed in the future

An open-label, one-arm, dose-escalation study to evaluate safety and tolerability of extremely low frequency magnetic fields in acute ischemic stroke

Extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) could be an alternative neuroprotective approach for ischemic stroke because preclinical studies have demonstrated their effects on the mechanisms underlying ischemic damage. The purpose of this open-label, one arm, dose-escalation, exploratory study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of ELF-MF in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Within 48 hours from the stroke onset, patients started ELF-MF treatment, daily for 5 consecutive days. Clinical follow-up lasted 12 months. Brain MRI was performed before and 1 month after the treatment. The distribution of ELF-MF in the ischemic lesion was estimated by dosimetry. Six patients were stimulated, three for 45 min/day and three for 120 min/day. None of them reported adverse events. Clinical conditions improved in all the patients. Lesion size was reduced in one patient stimulated for 45 minutes and in all the patients stimulated for 120 minutes. Magnetic field intensity within the ischemic lesion was above 1 mT, the minimum value able to trigger a biological effect in preclinical studies. Our pilot study demonstrates that ELF-MF are safe and tolerable in acute stroke patients. A prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study will clarify whether ELF-MFs could represent a potential therapeutic approach

Multivariate analysis of physiological variables for classification of emotional responses to visual and auditory stimuli

LAUREA MAGISTRALEPer molti anni filosofi e sociologi si sono interrogati sul significato, la natura e la definizione di processi emozionati. Al momento non c’è un accordo totale sui criteri per discriminare le emozioni, né tantomeno su cosa possa essere definito tale. L’emozione è stata spesso identificata come un processo di risposta psico-fisiologica a un evento antecedente dal forte contenuto emotivo, capace di causa cambiamenti in sentimenti, comportamenti espressimi e attivazioni fisiologiche. In questo studio è stata utilizzata una procedura passiva per suscitare le emozioni, mostrando ai soggetti una presentazione di immagini standardizzate e precedentemente classificate (dal database GAPED) e un videoclip, tutti opportunamente accompagnati da una musica di sottofondo: la presentazione include quattro sessioni emotive (depressed, elated, excited, stressed) intervallate da sessioni neutrali. Le reazioni provocate sono misurate attraverso l’acquisizione di tre segnali acquisiti in tempo reale (ECG, respiro, EDA). I segnali sono stati poi esaminati con analisi mono-variate e bivariate, estraendo le caratteristiche nel dominio temporale e in quello in frequenza, per ogni emozione suscitata. La classificazione di queste features è stata poi realizzata cercando di identificare una distribuzione dei parametri che permettesse di definire un criterio per l’individuazione della risposta emotiva.For decades, philosophers and sociologists have been debating about meaning, nature and definition of emotional processes. Actually, there is no total agreement about the discriminating criteria between emotion and what cannot be classified as an emotion. Emotion has been defined as a responsive psico-physiological process to an emotionally potent antecedent event, causing changes in subjective feeling quality, expressive behavior and physiological activation. In this study, a passive procedure for emotion induction is used, showing to subjects a presentation of standardized and pre-rated pictures from GAPED database and a videoclip, all with a proper musical background: the presentation includes four arousal sessions (depressed, elated, excited, stressed) spaced by neutral sessions. Triggered reactions are measured through the acquisition of the three-real-time acquired physiological signals (ECG, Respiration, EDA). These signals are then processed, mono-variate and bivariate analysis are performed, and features, both in time and frequency domain, are extracted for each elicited emotional state. Classification of detected features is finally performed to evaluate the distribution of the parameters, trying to define a criterium for emotional response identification

Pyroprocess Experiments at ENEA Laboratories

A new facility, known as Pyrel III, has been installed at ENEA laboratories for pyrochemical process studies under inactive conditions. It is a pilot plant which allows electrorening and electroreduction experiments to be conducted on simulated fuel. The main component of the plant is a zirconia crucible. The crucible is heated by a furnace which is supported in an externally water-cooled well under the oor of a steel glove-box, where an argon atmosphere is maintained by a continual purge of about 10 L·min-1. The vessel is loaded with LiCl-KCl eutectic salt (59-41 mol%) and is currently operated at 460 °C. Several improvements on Pyrel II (the previous operating plant) have been introduced into Pyrel III. They are described in detail, together with the results from the rst experimental campaign which used lanthanum metal.Moreover, studies about the treatment of chloride salt wastes from pyroprocesses have been conducted in parallel. They follow two main routes: on one hand, a matrix termed sodalite, a naturally occurring mineral containing chlorine, has been synthesized from a mix of nepheline, simulated exhausted salts and glass frit; on the other hand, a novel method proposed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is under assessment. The nal waste forms have been fully characterized with the support of the Politechnique of Milan, by means of density measurements, thermal analysis, and stereomicroscopy observations, FTIR, XRD, and RAMAN spectra, as well as leach tests under static condition

A preliminary assessment of the Normative Framework regulating MAR schemes in Europe: the EU Directives and their Implementation in nine National Legislations

The use of MAR schemes within the European Union is not a new phenomenon, on the contrary it dates back to the beginning of the XIX century. Despite being widely adopted and currently the object of extensive studies, this tool is not soundly regulated and so far very little research has been conducted on the normative framework regulating MAR at the regional and at the national level. This paper draws upon the findings of a Report which represents one of the deliverables identified by MARSOL, a EU FP7 project launched in December 2013 that aims at demonstrating that MAR shall be regarded as a viable approach to address the predicted water shortages over the long term. Through a survey which involved a number of national experts, the researchers involved in the drafting of the Report have collected relevant data concerning the national legal frameworks of nine EU countries that adopt MAR schemes. The results of the questionnaire have been processed using a qualitative and comparative approach and have been duly included in the legal analysis, which covers the implementation at the national level of the two EU Directives relevant for MAR Schemes, i.e. the Water Framework Directive and its "daughter", the Groundwater Directive. This paper shall be considered as the outcome of a preliminary investigation which covered only a limited number of European countries, it is expected that the research will be carried out as to include a larger number of EU Member States (MSs), alongside the most relevant extra EU countries

L'internazionalizzazione dei distretti industriali del Made in Italy e l'effetto paese: E. Marinella e Kiton a confronto

ope