Between War and Peace: Humanitarian Assistance in Violent Urban Settings

Cities are fast becoming new territories of violence. The humanitarian consequences of many criminally violent urban settings are comparable to those of more traditional wars, yet despite the intensity of the needs, humanitarian aid to such settings is limited. The way in which humanitarian needs are typically defined, fails to address the problems of these contexts, the suffering they produce and the populations affected. Distinctions between formal armed conflicts, regulated by international humanitarian law, and other violent settings, as well as those between emergency and developmental assistance, can lead to the neglect of populations in distress. It can take a lot of time and effort to access vulnerable communities and implement programmes in urban settings, but experience shows that it is possible to provide humanitarian assistance with a significant focus on the direct and indirect health consequences of violence outside a traditional conflict setting. This paper considers the situation of Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Guatemala City (Guatemala)

How Far Can Copyright Be Stretched? - Framing the Debate on Whether New and Different Forms of Creativity Can Be Protected

This paper expands on whether copyright protection may be available for certain new and non-conventional works as diverse as graffiti, sports movements, dj-sets, culinary presentations, jokes, magic tricks, works created by artificial intelligence and engineered DNA. The potential expansion of copyright in a knowledge-based society is a relevant and topical subject at the moment also in light of the current scholarly and policy debates on the modernisation of copyright rules in many countries, including the EU and US. The issue of whether copyright can protect certain new and non-traditional products of human ingenuity is here addressed by carrying out a specific-work-related analysis of core tenets of copyright laws, including copyrightable subject matter, originality, fixation and authorship requirements, functionality exception, morality, and public policy provisions

Plant Essential Oils as Healthy Functional Ingredients of Nutraceuticals and Diet Supplements: A Review

Essential oils (EOs) are mixtures of volatile molecules endowed with health-promoting biological activities that go beyond their role as aromas and natural preservatives and can be exploited to develop functional foods and diet supplements. Their composition is briefly addressed along with regulatory aspects. The potential health benefit of human diet supplementation with EOs is outlined through a review of the recent literature on available clinical trials and preclinical research concerning EOs activity towards: (1) irritable bowel syndrome; (2) inflammatory bowel disease; (3) regulation of microbiota; (4) gastroprotection; (5) hepatoprotection; (6) protection of the urinary tract and diuresis; (7) management of metabolic disorders including hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia; (8) anti-inflammatory and pain control; (9) immunomodulation and protection from influenza; and (10) neuroprotection and modulation of mood and cognitive performance. The emerging potential in such activities of selected EOs is given focus, particularly green and black cumin, bergamot, orange, myrtle, peppermint, sage, eucalyptus, lavender, thyme, lemon balm, ginger, and garlic

Antisuit injunctions in SEP disputes and the recent EU's WTO/TRIPS case against China

The existence of standard essential patents (SEPs)—and the associated litigation—has potentially disruptive consequences for the manufacture, marketing and distribution of complex products that incorporate many patented standards, for example, information and communication technology (ICT) products such as smartphones that incorporate a camera, video, web browser, wireless communications, text messaging, and so on, as well as an increasing number of ‘connected’ Internet of Things products such as wearable devices and ‘smart home’ devices. Indeed, SEP owners may use the patent enforcement system to prevent implementers of these technologies from bringing to market competing products that use the same standards. As is known, this raises concerns about competition in the market and the need to maintain interoperability to ensure the development of the ICT industry. One of the legal tools which can be used by implementers to (try to) neutralise SEP holders' anticompetitive behaviours is the ‘antisuit injunction’ (ASI). ASIs are not uncommon in common law jurisdictions while they are foreign to civil law countries within the European Union (EU). ASIs are particularly useful to SEP implementers when patent holders disrespect their commitment to license their patents on a FRAND basis. For example, a judge who is in the process of assessing whether the SEP owner complies with FRAND terms may at the same time grant an ASI to stop the patentee taking patent infringement actions in other jurisdictions until the FRAND litigation has been concluded. In February 2022, the EU filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing that China's use of ASIs prevents EU-based companies from properly protecting their SEPs. Indeed, ASIs have recently been granted in several Chinese disputes, including in Huawei v Conversant and Xiaomi v. InterDigital. More specifically, China's Supreme People's Court held that Chinese courts can use ASIs to prevent SEP owners from filing disputes in any foreign courts to enforce their patents; and that anyone who does not comply with the injunction should be fined €130,000 per day. In the WTO case the EU notes that such a case law jeopardises innovation and growth in Europe, ‘effectively depriving European technology companies of the possibility to exercise and enforce the rights that give them a technological edge’. From a legal perspective, according to the EU, China's conduct is in violation of various Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions, including Article 28 which grants exclusive rights to patent owners. The paper focuses on this EU–China WTO/TRIPS dispute and more generally, on the relevance of ASIs within SEP cases

Design and construction of a new metering hot box for the in situ hygrothermal measurement in dynamic conditions of historic masonries

The main purpose of the HeLLo project is to contribute to data available on the literature on the real hygrothermal behavior of historic walls and the suitability of insulation technologies. Furthermore, it also aims at minimizing the energy simulation errors at the design phase and at improving their conservation features. In this framework, one of the preliminary activities of the study is the creation of a real in situ hot box to measure and analyze different insulation technologies applied to a real historic wall, to quantify the hygrothermal performance of a masonry building. Inside this box, 'traditional' experiments can be carried out: recording heat flux, surface temperature, and air temperatures, as well as relative humidity values through the use of a new sensing system (composed of thermocouples and temperature/relative humidity combined sensors). Within this paper, the process of development, construction, and validation of this new metering box is exhibited. The new hot box, specifically studied for historic case studies, when compared to other boxes, presents other advantages compared to previous examples, widely exemplified

Expectancy survival of malignant pleural effusion patients treated with thoracoscopic pleurodesis related to histology

No abstract availabl

Geographical Indications Between the Old World and the New World, and the Impact of Migration

The article focuses on the use of European geographical names in certain countries of the so-called ‘New World’ (i.e. nations reached in the past by waves of European migration) and the impact of such migration on the debate around the protection of geographical indications (GIs). Specifically, the article analyses four GIs case studies – ‘Prosecco’, ‘Budweiser’, ‘Rioja’ and 'Parmesan' – which highlight the role of migration in this context and how countries of the New World (e.g. US, Canada, Australia, etc.) emphasise this role to argue that several European geographical names of food and wine products are just the generic terms for the products themselves. The ‘migration’ factor however is downplayed by the EU (i.e. the Old World), which stresses that European GIs still have a distinctive function linked to the geographical origin of the underlying product and should be protected in Europe and beyond

Will Technology-Aided Creativity Force Us to Rethink Copyright’s Fundamentals? Highlights from the Platform Economy and Artificial Intelligence

The platform economy, the move towards artificial intelligence (AI) and the growing importance of new creative and transformative technologies such as 3D printing raise questions as to whether copyright law suffices in its present form. Our article argues that copyright law is malleable enough to fulfil some of its traditional functions in this new technology-aided (and technology-dominated) environment. However, certain adjustments and complementary instruments seem to be necessary to revitalise these functions. For example, moral rights could be more effectively harmonised at international level, and made more easily enforceable, to reflect the global reach of social media and to protect their essential reputational value in a digital economy that prioritises online exposure over remuneration opportunities. We also consider that creators’ rights are difficult, if not impossible, to license and enforce in an environment where contractual practices such as social media terms and conditions impose standard agreements that either do not compensate creators at all or compensate them only marginally. In this context, restoring the bargaining power of creators through the right of access to the platforms’ data seems to have become as important as copyright itself. Finally, doubts remain as to whether requirements such as authorship and originality can continue to apply and trigger copyright protection. To this end, we believe that the distinction between fully generative machines and other technologies that merely assist human creators is essential for the proper identification of “authorless” works. For such works we advocate the adoption of a very short right that would support computational creativity without stifling human ingenuity

Development of a compatible, low cost and high accurate conservation remote sensing technology for the hygrothermal assessment of historic walls

This article aims to properly assess the hygrothermal properties of walls located in historic buildings, this study discloses the development of a remote sensing technology compatible with an in-situ measurement implemented in Palazzo Tassoni (Italy). As required by the international recommendations adapted to cultural heritage (CH), this monitoring system balances CH conservation, performance aspects and economic costs using an integrated multidisciplinary approach. Electronics for measurement of environmental parameters is composed of sensor measurements, data acquisition system and data storage and communication system. Data acquisition system, equipped with standard modbus-rtu interface, is designed to run standalone and it is based on two cloned single board PCs to reduce the possibility of data loss. In order to reduce the costs, RaspberryPI single board PCs were chosen. These run a C/C++ software based on standard modbus library and designed to implement multi-client server TCP/IP to allow communication with other devices. Storage and communication systems are based on an industrial PC; it communicates with sensor measurements' system through a modbus-TCPIP bridge. PC runs a Labview software to provide data storage on a local database and graphical user interface to properly see all acquired data. Herein, some sensing options and approaches of measurement are described, unveiling different possible ways of enhancing the retrofit of CH with adapted technology

Applied Research of the hygrothermal behaviour of an internally insulated historicwall without vapour barrier: In situ measurements and dynamic simulations

The hygrothermal behaviour of an internally insulated historic wall is still hard to predict, mainly because the physical characteristics of the materials composing the historic wall are unknown. In this study, the hygrothermal assessment of an internally thermal insulated masonry wall of an historic palace located in Ferrara, in Italy, is shown. In situ non-destructive monitoring method is combined with a hygrothermal simulation tool, aiming to better analyse and discuss future refurbishment scenarios. In this context, the original U-value of the wall (not refurbished) is decreased from 1.44W/m2K to 0.26W/m2K (10 cm stone wool). Under the site specific conditions of this wall, not reached by the sun or rain, it was verified that even in the absence of vapour barrier, no frost damage is likely to occur and the condensation risk is very limited. Authors proposed further discussion based on simulation. The results showed that the introduction of a second gypsum board to the studied technology compensated such absence, while the reduction of the insulation material thickness provides a reduction of RH peaks in the interstitial area by 1%; this second solution proved to be more efficient, providing a 3% RH reduction and the avoidance of further thermal losses