WATER POLITICS : QUESTIONS OF YESTERDAY, TODAY PERSPECTIVES.

Questa tesi è concepita come Compendio Multidisciplinare, essendo inerente alla Water Politics un approccio integrato. Scopo della tesi è disegnare un ampio quadro di supporto ad attori pubblici e privati delle economie politiche dei paesi nella riflessione sulle eventuali distorsioni di dinamiche democratiche nella gestione delle risorse idriche e ambientali. La domanda sottesa, al Capitolo Primo è: quali condizioni Culturali hanno permesso, nella storia e nella geografia dell'Ambiente, l'impostazione di un discorso regolatorio legato all'acqua e quali condizioni sono state identificate, all'interno di varie società ed economie, perchè si arrivasse storicamente ad un pattern di regole che ponessero le condizioni per una politica idrica sostenibile ? Viene fornita una presentazione delle principali teorie di sostenibilità applicate all’acqua, conseguentemente, attraverso l’approccio della Storia dell’ Ambiente si illustrano i casi della progressive era statunitense e della battaglia per la difesa di due laghi nel Lake District, diversi per ambiente culturale e periodo storico, interpretati nell'ottica dell’indagine sulle origini della consapevolezza del valore dell’acqua e dell’ambiente, cui, in entrambi i paesi, conseguono delle riforme regolatorie e politiche; l’attenzione è stata posta alle condizioni culturali che hanno posto le basi del processo di riforma politica. L’approccio del Capitolo Secondo è più tecnicamente ascrivibile alla regolazione economica. Sul tema della regolazione, la mente tecnica scivola spesso nelle complicate teorie che, nel corso del XX secolo hanno dato spiegazione dei giochi che i vari attori mettono in scena allo scopo di assicurarsi il vantaggio competitivo. Si affronta qui in sintesi la storia del Public Management in USA settori Idrico ed Elettrico, nel XIX e XX sec., e più recentemente la storia della regolazione economica del settore idrico in Gran Bretagna, seguita alla privatizzazione thatcheriana, e l’avvento delle varie Agenzie di Regolazione, che negli Stati Uniti e Gran Bretagna, hanno rappresentato tra i modelli di regolazione delle utilities maggiormente replicati al mondo. La storia e il design di alcune delle principali Agenzie di Regolazione vengono qui proposti come suggestione comparativa per lo sviluppo di un analogo sistema di regolazione, benchè quelli proposti non siano gli unici modelli possibili, essendo il nostro paese caratterizzato da una differente tradizione di gestione pubblica. In tal senso, la conoscenza dei sistemi di Regolazione delle Utilities presenti altrove nel mondo, con i loro conseguenti risultati, ha lo scopo di fornire al legislatore, all’amministratore pubblico e privato, e al singolo cittadino utili elementi per future decisioni sulla regolazione democratica del sistema delle utilities; nella parte finale si esplorano alcuni casi di Gestione Sostenibile e Corporate Social Responsibility delle Utilities in Paesi in via di Sviluppo. Gli ultimi due Capitoli della tesi sono orientati a fornire al lettore un’introduzione al pensiero ecologico-politico, passando in rassegna le visioni di alcune tra le più autorevoli voci del settore, tra i quali Eric Swingedouw, Karen Bakker e Tony Allan, allo scopo di fornire i fondamenti teorici per affrontare nuovi temi scottanti e dibattuti come il mercato dell’acqua, la privatizzazione e l’ambientalismo di mercato ( i servizi ecosistemici i.e., adottati entusiasticamente dall'Europa ). In particolare, alle geniali intuizioni idropolitiche del Prof. J A Allan, vincitore dello Stockholm World Water Prize e supervisore di questa tesi, ed al suo concetto di Acqua Virtuale è dedicato l’ultimo Capitolo, in ringraziamento e come tributo alla Sua vita totalmente dedicata agli studi nel settore della geografia idrico-economica. Un riconoscimento particolare va al Prof. John Briscoe, della Harvard University, che ha confermato l'interesse per questa tesi

Compatibilità ambientale dell'ampliamento del teleriscaldamento di Torino correlato al sistema di cogenerazione

The goal of making the city more and more "green" by adopting more environmental friendly tools aimed at reducing CO2 and other climate-altering pollutants emitted, sees the service management of urban heating at the forefront. In particular the district heating network (DHN), combined with cogeneration plants, belongs to those strategies aimed at minimizing the impact. The district heating, consisting in the distribution of hot water by means of underground networks for the buildings heating and water for sanitary purposes, is an ever-expanding technology that allows the optimization of energy resources, with positive consequences in terms of both economic savings and environmental impacts. The aim of this work is to analyze the existing DH system built in Turin (Piedmont, North Italy). In this work, we evaluate in particular, the energetic recovery system. We analyze the existing cogeneration system designed to supplying DH: from one side a recovery of electric energy (fed into the national grid) and on the other side a recovery of thermal energy (heat input into the local DH system). These two different kinds of energy recovery are analyzed from an environmental and economic standpoint. For environmental analysis, we used mass and energy balance as a tool to implementation of pollutant dispersion models in order to obtain results concerning the air quality

DUST GENERATION AND DISPERSION (PM10 AND PM2.5) IN THE AOSTA VALLEY: ANALYSIS WITH THE FARM MODEL

The aim of this work is to analyze the origin and the dispersion of the particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) in a mountainous region: the Aosta Valley. To meet this goal, different simulations were performed, using the flexible air quality regional model (FARM), to study two scenarios: winter and summer situations. To evaluate the performance of the FARM model in order to simulate the air quality situation of the selected periods, a comparison of modelled results against observed air quality data was carried out for both primary pollutants and particulate matter next to the measurement stations . Farm performed well in simulating especially ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations, showing a good reproduction of both daily peaks and their daytime variations. PM model results revealed the tendency to under-predict the observed values, so we tried to use a different emission factor for the road traffic (Lohmeyer factor). The new results were good for the urban and suburban areas, but they give over-predictions close to highways. The PM characterisation provided by the model gives good results: in some different points of the analysis domain (mountain, plain and urban points) we found PM profiles wich reproduce expected values

Idiopathic and acquired pedophilia as two distinct disorders: an insight from neuroimaging

Pedophilia is a disorder of public concern because of its association with child sexual offense and recidivism. Previous neuroimaging studies of potential brain abnormalities underlying pedophilic behavior, either in idiopathic or acquired (i.e., emerging following brain damages) pedophilia, led to inconsistent results. This study sought to explore the neural underpinnings of pedophilic behavior and to determine the extent to which brain alterations may be related to distinct psychopathological features in pedophilia. To this aim, we run a coordinate based meta-analysis on previously published papers reporting whole brain analysis and a lesion network analysis, using brain lesions as seeds in a resting state connectivity analysis. The behavioral profiling approach was applied to link identified regions with the corresponding psychological processes. While no consistent neuroanatomical alterations were identified in idiopathic pedophilia, the current results support that all the lesions causing acquired pedophilia are localized within a shared resting state network that included posterior midlines structures, right inferior temporal gyrus and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex. These regions are associated with action inhibition and social cognition, abilities that are consistently and severely impaired in acquired pedophiles. This study suggests that idiopathic and acquired pedophilia may be two distinct disorders, in line with their distinctive clinical features, including age of onset, reversibility and modus operandi. Understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of pedophilic behavior may contribute to a more comprehensive characterization of these individuals on a clinical ground, a pivotal step forward for the development of more efficient therapeutic rehabilitation strategies

Simple scoring system to predict in-hospital mortality after surgery for infective endocarditis

BACKGROUND: Aspecific scoring systems are used to predict the risk of death postsurgery in patients with infective endocarditis (IE). The purpose of the present study was both to analyze the risk factors for in-hospital death, which complicates surgery for IE, and to create a mortality risk score based on the results of this analysis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Outcomes of 361 consecutive patients (mean age, 59.1\ub115.4 years) who had undergone surgery for IE in 8 European centers of cardiac surgery were recorded prospectively, and a risk factor analysis (multivariable logistic regression) for in-hospital death was performed. The discriminatory power of a new predictive scoring system was assessed with the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Score validation procedures were carried out. Fifty-six (15.5%) patients died postsurgery. BMI >27 kg/m2 (odds ratio [OR], 1.79; P=0.049), estimated glomerular filtration rate 55 mm Hg (OR, 1.78; P=0.032), and critical state (OR, 2.37; P=0.017) were independent predictors of in-hospital death. A scoring system was devised to predict in-hospital death postsurgery for IE (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.780; 95% CI, 0.734-0.822). The score performed better than 5 of 6 scoring systems for in-hospital death after cardiac surgery that were considered. CONCLUSIONS: A simple scoring system based on risk factors for in-hospital death was specifically created to predict mortality risk postsurgery in patients with IE

Perspectives and limits for cement kilns as a destination for RDF

RDF, the high calorific value fraction of MSW obtained by conventional separation systems, can be employed in technological plants (mainly cement kilns) in order to obtain a useful energy recovery. It is interesting and important to evaluate this possibility within the general framework of waste-to-energy solutions. The solution must be assessed on the basis of different aspects, namely: technological features and clinker characteristics; local atmospheric pollution; the effects of RDF used in cement kilns on the generation of greenhouse gases; the economics of conventional solid fuels substitution and planning perspectives, from the point of view of the destination of RDF and optimal cement kiln policy. The different experiences of this issue throughout Europe are reviewed, and some applications within Italy are also been considered. The main findings of the study are that the use of RDF in cement kilns instead of coal or coke offers environmental benefits in terms of greenhouse gases, while the formation of conventional gaseous pollutants is not a critical aspect. Indeed, the generation of nitrogen oxides can probably be lower because of lower flame temperatures or lower air excess. The presence of chlorinated micro-pollutants is not influenced by the presence of RDF in fuel, whereas depending on the quality of the RDF, some problems could arise compared to the substituted fuel as far as heavy metals are concerned, chiefly the more volatile one