Literal meaning: a problematic notion

En este trabajo la autora examina y critica diversos usos de «significado literal» difundidos en el ámbito jurídico. Después propone una noción alternativa que otorga relevancia al rol desempeñado por el contexto en la determinación del significado. En la última parte del trabajo, esta noción de significado literal es comparada con la subyacente al art. 3 del Código Civil Español.In this essay, the author inquires into and criticizes several notions of the expression «literal meaning» employed by jurists. In consequence of this analysis, she suggests a different notion, aimed to stress the relevance of the context in fixing the meaning of sentences. At the end, the proposed notion is compared with the one codified by the art. 3 of the Spanish civil code

Challenges and prospects for the alentejo region

UIDB/04647/2020Climate change and land use transformations are closely interconnected and have complex interactions. Uncertainty is the common narrative in this discourse that involves natural resources and multiple human development drivers. This Policy Brief highlights how the elaboration of land-use strategies for climate change and biodiversity loss is an urgent priority to protect natural landscapes, local communities’ well-being, food and water security and economic development. The Alentejo Region in Portugal has been selected as a case study to analyze some of the main challenges and prospects associated with rapid changes induced by anthropogenic and climatic processes. Here, intensive agriculture, greenhouses, photovoltaics, silvopastoral systems (decrease) and urbanization are directly and indirectly connected with climate change, affecting rural land uses, landscapes and natural resources of the Region. In this context, understanding place-based climate change and biodiversity challenges could support top-down public policymaking, creating a solid foundation for different and unique rural regions leading through behavioural transformations to move toward a climate-neutral and resilient society and economy. The framework above permits the identification of both a policy area of mitigation and adaptation and an opportunity for social transformation through a just and inclusive transition.publishersversionpublishe

A step toward energy efficiency at the municipal level

UID/SOC/04647/2013 SFRH/BD/94702/2014At present, energy efficiency represents one of the foremost challenges to achieve the transition toward a low-carbon society. Reducing energy use spans a broad range of technical issues and spatial scales: from building to districts, from cities to rural areas, and from energy power plants to electricity grids. In this frame, the challenge of enhancing energy efficiency can be understood as an extremely relevant topic for planning at the municipal level. Nevertheless, recent studies provide evidence that significant gaps exist in the enhancement of energy efficiency within municipal boundaries. The present research recognises that a comprehensive assessment of municipal energy performances is an essential starting point to facilitate local planning in enhancing energy efficiency. However, how can this challenge be translated into practice and applied to the implementation of local planning? As new models result from the transformation of existing ones, the development of a methodology associated with a case study in Portugal was deemed the most appropriate approach to contribute to knowledge in these fields. The primary objective of this study is to move toward more integrated process of planning for energy efficiency, supporting the definition of priorities and strategies to address energy saving improvements at municipal level. The assessment process involves a statistical analysis that using Geographical Information System, is combined and translated into spatial models to determine needs and set priorities within a Municipal Master Plan review. Based on this top-down approach, it becomes clear that energy efficiency is a cross-cutting issue interrelated with a blend of various disciplines: geography, spatial planning, urbanism, architecture, and civil engineering. The results enable us to understand why municipalities should be called upon to enhance energy efficiency by first looking at a comprehensive energy performance assessment. Embracing the whole municipal territory rather than only urban areas, is key to articulate energy efficiency and geographical, social, environmental and economic factors that are at the core of local planning.publishersversionpublishe

Social signals: from theory to applications

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Schadenfreude: Malicious Joy in Social Media Interactions

The paper presents a model of Schadenfreude, pleasure at another’s misfortune, resulting in a typology of cases of this emotion. Four types are singled out: Compensation, Identification, Aversion, and Injustice Schadenfreude. The typology is first tested on a corpus of 472 comments drawn from three social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Then a specific corpus of comments is collected and analyzed concerning a specific case of Injustice Schadenfreude, the posts concerning Brexit, United Kingdom leaving the European Union. From the analysis, it emerges that spatial or factual closeness does not look necessary to feel Schadenfreude. Finally, a lexicometric automatic analysis is conducted on the general corpus of Italian comments collected using several hashtags and enriched by comments about the fire of Notre Dame, showing how even complex emotions like Schadenfreude can be automatically extracted from social media

The concept of gender violence and its legal relevance

Este ensayo analiza el concepto de violencia de género, distinguiendo cuatro distintos sentidos y examinando su utilidad para el derecho y, en particular, sus posibles usos por parte de la legislación —es decir, la posibilidad de promulgar normas jurídicas específicas que hagan uso de ese concepto o tengan por objeto sancionar o prevenir las conductas que designa— y su potencial para la teoría del derecho —es decir, la posibilidad de utilizar este concepto de manera provechosa en el análisis del derecho vigente—.This essay examines the concept of gender violence, distinguishing between four different meanings of this expression and examining the legal usefulness of each one of them, and, in particular, its possible use within the sources of law —that is, the possibility of promulgating legal provisions that employ it or aim to sanction or prevent the behaviours it designates— and its potentials for legal theory —that is, the possibility of employing this concept profitably in the analysis of the law in force—

Discrepando con Moreso. Los desacuerdos morales entre metaética, ética y derecho

Este ensayo pretende reconstruir y examinar algunas de las tesis expuestas por José Juan Moreso en el libro Lo normativo: variedades y variaciones: las relacionadas con el tema de los desacuerdos morales. En primer lugar, resumiré brevemente el debate sobre los desacuerdos morales, introduciendo algunas distinciones. A continuación, analizaré las tesis de Moreso sobre los desacuerdos morales: en particular, me parece que la estrategia argumentativa seguida por Moreso consiste en intentar demostrar que todas las posiciones metaéticas aceptables tienen dificultades para dar cuenta de la existencia de desacuerdos morales genuinos y sin culpa. Contra este argumento, intentaré mostrar cómo algunas posturas, tanto cognitivistas como no-cognitivistas, pueden, en cambio, dar cuenta de ellos. En las conclusiones también formularé un argumento (hay que reconocer, no decisivo) para demostrar que la tesis de la inexistencia de desacuerdos morales genuinos, sin culpa y radicales es self-defeating

Le colpe dei padri. Commento all’ordinanza della Corte di Cassazione n. 8325 del 29 aprile 2020

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La genitorialità intenzionale nell’attuale giurisprudenza italiana - 3. Profili critici - 4. La questione di illegittimità costituzionale - 5. Scenari possibili. The Sins of the Fathers. Comment to Corte di Cassazione, judg. n. 8325 April 29th 2020. ABSTRACT: This essay examines the Italian judgement (Ordinanza) n. 8325, issued on April 2020, that has raised a question of constitutionality against the jurisprudential address which, appealing to the limit of the public order, excludes the Italian recognition of foreign jurisdictional decisions that ascertain the right to be inserted - as an intentional parent - in the birth certificate of a child born through the so-called “surrogate motherhood”. In particular, after a survey of the current Italian case law (§ 2) and the problems that it raises (§ 3), the essay examines the arguments advanced by the judgement (§ 4), wondering about its possible outcomes (§ 5)

SMART RURAL: eficiência energética e energias renováveis no espaço rural

Entre os diferentes aspectos que contribuem para o desenvolvimento sustentável, a energia constitui um requisito essencial, global e de longo prazo, para a satisfação das necessidades das gerações presentes e futuras. Neste quadro, a presente investigação promove uma visão abrangente do planeamento energético sustentável, que envolve as áreas urbanas e rurais como um todo energeticamente equilibrado. O conceito de Município com Balanço Energético Nulo, significa que as áreas rurais são transformadas em células do território produtoras de energia verde para abastecer as áreas urbanas e emerge como uma hipótese relevante e coerente a comprovar na transição para uma sociedade de baixo carbono. Neste sentido, a investigação assume como fundamenta-ção científica uma nova especialização inteligente para as áreas rurais, associada ao ba-lanço energético municipal, alinhando três domínios de investigação: as fontes de ener-gia renováveis; eficiência energética; e redes inteligentes. Este enquadramento, revela como a abordagem metodológica adoptada resulta num mix de várias disciplinas: Geo-grafia, Planeamento Territorial e Municipal, Urbanismo, Arquitectura e Engenharia Civil. Numa perspectiva empírica, a investigação adopta o método do caso de estudo, selec-cionando os municípios de Arraiolos e de Loures. Do ponto de vista operativo, o modelo SMART RURAL é associado à disciplina do Geodesign, para estabelecer um processo de planeamento capaz de reforçar a eficiência energética e implementar as fontes de ener-gia renovável entre diferentes domínios municipais e escalas espaciais. Desta forma, o a investigação associa o quadro operacional de suporte a um processo de geodesign que combina o Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG) e o Modelo de Informação do Edifício (BIM). O modelo SMART RURAL constitui um dos caminhos possíveis na resposta às fa-lhas identificadas no âmbito do referencial metodológico e operativo a aplicar em ma-téria de energias renováveis e eficiência energética. Como conclusão, este trabalho de-mostra a necessidade e oportunidade que decorrem de um rural energeticamente efici-ente, e como tal inteligente, destacando o seu contributo para o conceito de Município com Balanço Energético Nulo e de demonstração do papel decisivo que os Planos Direc-tores Municipais (PDM) podem assumir no desenvolvimento energético sustentável.Among the different aspects that support sustainable development, energy is a critical concern to meet the needs of present and future generations in a global-scale and long-term vision. Going beyond the city boundaries, the present study promotes a compre-hensive view on sustainable energy planning, which involves urban and rural areas as an energetically balanced whole. Here, the concept of Net-Zero Energy Municipality, in which rural areas are turned into green energy exporters to fuel urban areas, in a unique self-sufficient system, is both relevant and coherent within the transition process to-ward a low-carbon society. The study develops scientific understanding on the smart specialization of rural areas associated with municipal energy balance, aligning three re-search domains: renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and smart grids. The recognition of a smart specialization of rural areas, associated with sustainable energy development, places these territories in a new scientific, technological and practical challenge. The above framework, reveals how the methodological approach will result in a blend of various disciplines: Geography, Spatial Planning, Urbanism, Architecture, and Civil Engineering. From an empirical perspective, the research relies on the case study method, selecting the municipalities of Arraiolos and Loures. From a practical per-spective, the SMART RURAL model is associated with the Geodesign discipline, to set up a planning process capable of enhancing energy efficiency and implementing renewable energy sources among different municipal domains and spatial scales. In this way, the study formalizes the operating framework for an innovative geodesign approach, founded on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM). The SMART RURAL model represents one of the possible paths capable to fill the gaps in the methodological and operational referential and related practical problems of renewable energy and energy efficiency planning. Tackling these issues, the study demonstrates the need and opportunity that are associated with an energetically effi-cient countryside, and thus smart, highlighting its valuable contributions especially to-ward the promotion of Net-Zero energy balance between rural and urban areas. It is here that municipalities, through their Municipal Master Plans, must take the lead ad-dressing a comprehensive sustainable energy development model

General Jurisprudence as analysis of the fundamental theoretical concepts of legal system

En este ensayo, la autora propone una concepción de la teoría general del derecho como análisis de los conceptos teóricos fundamentales de un ordenamiento jurídico. Tal concepción, que no se pretende exclusiva, si no que bien puede convivir con enfoques diferentes y diferentes modos de entender la disciplina, está articulada por medio de un análisis del significado atribuido a sus términos-clave, mediante el cual se intenta mostrar cómo ésta conciba al objeto de la teoría general del derecho, su carácter de generalidad, su estatus epistemológico y sus relaciones con las disciplinas afines.This essay proposes a conception of the general jurisprudence as a conceptual analysis aiming at inquiring the fundamental theoretical concepts of a given legal system. The author clarifies her proposal by analysing its key-terms, and, in particular, by explaining what should be the object of the general jurisprudence, in which sense it should be said “general”, what should be its methods, its epistemic status and its relations with related disciplines