A novel approach for navigational guidance of ships using onboard monitoring systems

A novel approach and conceptual ideas are outlined for risk-based navigational guidance of ships using decision support systems in combination with onboard, in-service monitoring systems. The guidance has as the main objective to advise on speed and/or course changes; in particular with focus on ship operations in rough weather. It is strived for to make use of a probabilistic framework considering the mathematical procedures that the guidance relies upon. The paper presents a novel concept which has the possibility to increase the reliability of the provided guidance, although information about on-site sea state parameters not necessarily is in complete agreement with the unknown and true wave parameters, nor may the hydrodynamical models of the vessel give a perfect quantitatively description of the vessel in waves. The paper includes an analysis of full-scale motion measurements and the proposed concept for navigational guidance gives promising results

IL LEGISLATORE COME METAFORA. UN'ANALISI CRITICA.

It is common for courts and interpreters to refer to legislative intent to justify a particular interpretation of a statute. Although the nature of legislative intent has raised vigorous theoretical debates, the reference to what the legislature meant, wanted, implied or aimed to realize is usually accepted as an argument to solve questions and doubts concerning the meaning of legal texts. In this thesis I claim that the reference to legislative intent is not as innocuous as it may seem. On the contrary, justificatory reasoning based on this interpretative technique can be extremely misleading and therefore unable to count as a good reason in favor of interpretative conclusions. I maintain that the deceiving role of legislative intent in legal argumentation is due to the inevitable influence that figurative language has on they way in which speakers perceive and conceptualize the world. By using expressions like \u2018legislative intent\u2019, \u2018intentions of the legislature\u2019 and similar, in fact, we tend to consider a collective body (the legislature) as a single legislator capable of having intentions. In other words, language allows its speakers to personify a group and to confer to it features, intentions, and behaviors that belongs to single individuals only. Because of this personification I argue that, when used as if it designated a single legislator, the term \u2018legislature\u2019 works as a metaphor, i.e. a linguistic shorthand to imply an entire network of allusions, suggestions and connections by saying little. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the examination and critique of some of the most significant and remarkable theories of metaphors. In particular, I examine the theories offered by Aristotle, I. A. Richards, M. Black, P. Grice, J. Searle and G. Lakoff. I conclude the evaluation of these theories claiming that through metaphors an undefined number of associations between two conceptual domains are created. For this system of association remains implicit and speakers may infer different conclusions from it, metaphors are a deceptive tool and cannot stand for a premise in justificatory reasoning. The first part of the thesis thus offers the theoretical means to turn to the examination of the \u2018legislature\u2019 as a metaphor, which is the topic of the second part. The first section of the second part is devoted to the nature of intentions. After presenting intentions as peculiar state of mind of single individuals, I illustrate the difficulties connected to the alleged possibility of retrieving the intentions of the legislature. Then I examine the role of legislative intent in legal reasoning and I illustrate how this argument indirectly influences and affects many others. After criticizing five theoretical models that offer different solutions to the identification of the legislature and its relevant intentions, I claim that the consideration of the retrieval of legislative intentions as a key moment of the interpretative process is rooted in the legal positivism developed in eighteenth and early nineteenth-century that had wrongly been considered overtaken. I close this first section claiming that the retrieval of the author\u2019s intentions in neither necessary nor appropriate to confer meaning to the text. In the second section I analyze the outcomes of this conclusion. Claiming that no retrieval of the intentions of the author of the statute would help justifying its interpretations, in fact, the authority of the legislature is inevitably questioned as well. I analyze the connection between authorship and authority through the works of J. Raz who claims that the justification to legislative intent comes directly from the authority of the legislature. After criticizing this position I conclude the thesis with a possible solution to separate authorship and authority

Eine Frage des Formats: Haben Studierende der Human- und Sozialwissenschaften der Universität Bern sowie der Pädagogischen Hochschule Bern eine Präferenz, womit sie lernen?

Haben Studierende der Human- und Sozialwissenschaften der Universität Bern sowie der Pädagogischen Hochschule Bern eine Präferenz, womit sie lernen

Estabilidad y efectos dinámicos del agua sobre cubierta en la supervivencia de barcos pesqueros pequeños

Starting from the analysis of casualties at sea involving small fishing vessels (Lbp<24 m), the paper presents the results of an experimental study on the capsizing resistance in beam or following steep or high waves of scale models in the towing tank of University of Trieste. The physical mechanisms leading to capsizing are highlighted and the experimental result are compared with existing theoretical approaches. The results stress the importance of deck wetness and of the presence of fishing nets as wave trappers on the probability of capsizing. The importance of complying with the existing regulations for dimensioning the freeing ports, although only voluntary, appears also an element of paramount importance.En la Universidad de Trieste se ha desarrollado un plan de investigación en seguridad y estabilidad del buque. La investigación se dirige principalmente a mejorar el conocimiento de los movimientos de grande amplitud del buque, con particular atención al movimiento de balanceo en diversas condiciones de la ola, y al efecto del chapoteo del agua a bordo.La importancia del agua en la cubierta con la capacidad de volcar pequeños pesqueros, de puntal bajo y francobordo, cubierta grande, en olas de grande altura y/o inclinación, se ha confirmado en base de los experimentos conducidos después de accidentes en el mar. Particularmente, la degradación posible de la estabilidad, debida al agua atrapada en las redes, es relevante a los estudios de la seguridad del buque. Finalmente,la altura de ola crítica propuesta por Dahle y otros, se confirma para los buques muy pequeños en olas de través. Sería interesante extender en el caso de olas de popa, considerando que actualmente el criterio más acreditado de la estabilidad refiere a un mecanismo que vuelca en viento y mar de través

The Victoria and Albert Museum Plaster Casts by the Nineteenth-Century Workshops of the Notre-Dame Cathedral: Scientific Analysis and Conservation

Four nineteenth-century casts of the decoration on the north side of the exterior of the apse of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris are held in the plaster casts collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The casts were manufactured by two different nineteenth-century workshops, one run by Jean Pouzadoux and the other by Auguste Malzieux. After an assessment of the condition of the casts, a scientific analysis allowed the characterization of the manufacturing materials and subsequent conservation treatments aimed at ensuring the stability of the casts and removing dirt and grime from the casts’ surfaces. Optical microscopy of the samples taken from the casts allowed the stratigraphy to be studied, which largely consisted of gypsum plaster and a coating layer (oxidized diterpenic resin or shellac) containing silicon and aluminium partially diffused in the porous substrate. These materials were identified by a range of techniques, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The conservation works returned stability to the panels for redisplay in the galleries and achieved a closer comparative study between the two workshops. The two sets of panels showed numerous differences in manufacturing processes that corresponded to their observed deterioration