Investigating the Integration of Cultural Heritage Disaster Risk Management into Urban Planning Tools. The Ravenna Case Study

As increasingly recognized by scholars, climate change is posing new challenges in the field of disaster risk management and urban planning. Even though cultural heritage has passed through decades and centuries, it has never experienced such unexpected and variable events as those forecasted by climate change for the foreseeable future, making it a sensitive element of the living environment. By selecting the city of Ravenna and the cultural heritage site of the Santa Croce Church and archaeological area as a case study, the paper aims at providing an insight into the role that urban planning tools have when it comes to improving the resilience of historical areas, coping with climate change through improvements to the disaster risk management of cultural heritage. Starting from a deep analysis of the existing spatial and urban planning tools that operate at different scales on the Ravenna territory, the adaptive capacity of the historical area toward the identified risks was assessed. The results may lead, on the one hand, to improving the integration of cultural heritage risk management into urban planning tools; on the other hand, they contribute to improving the scope and the governance of the heritage management plans in order to cope with climate change risks and their effects

Mapping RRI Dimensions and Sustainability into Regional Development Policies and Urban Planning Instruments

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is an inclusive approach to the research and innovation process. Regional and local authorities are encouraged to take advantages of RRI in order to address the complexity of the interplay between science and society, especially as it affects territorial development policies. However, adopting the RRI approach is not an immediate or linear process. Consciously or not, many territories have already adopted policies and planning instruments that incorporate RRI, generating effects on the spatial scales. The aim of this study is to provide a methodology to map the inclusion of RRI dimensions (i.e., public engagement, open access, gender, ethics, science education) into regional development policies and spatial planning instruments, in order to detect integrated strategies and elements that are sustainable, open, inclusive, anticipative and responsive. The mapping methodology has been applied to three territorial pilot cases. The results provide the territories with a baseline to improve the integration of the RRI approach in their commitments to develop self-sustaining research and innovation ecosystems. Through the lessons learnt from the pilot cases, recommendations are drawn for the integration of RRI in spatial and urban planning policies and tools

Beyond the Medial Regions of Prefrontal Cortex in the Regulation of Fear and Anxiety.

Fear and anxiety are adaptive responses but if left unregulated, or inappropriately regulated, they become biologically and socially maladaptive. Dysregulated emotions are manifest in a wide variety of psychiatric and neurological conditions but the external expression gives little indication of the underlying causes, which are inevitably multi-determined. To go beyond the overt phenotype and begin to understand the causal mechanisms leading to conditions characterized by anxiety and disorders of mood, it is necessary to identify the base psychological processes that have become dysregulated, and map them on to their associated neural substrates. So far, attention has been focused primarily on the medial regions of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and in particular their contribution to the expression and extinction of conditioned fear. However, functional neuroimaging studies have shown that the sphere of influence within the PFC is not restricted to its medial regions, but extends into dorsal, ventrolateral (vlPFC) and orbitofrontal (OFC) regions too; although the causal role of these other areas in the regulation of fear and anxiety remains to be determined and in the case of the OFC, existing findings are conflicting. Here, we review the evidence for the contribution of these other regions in negative emotion regulation in rodents and old world and new world monkeys. We consider a variety of different contexts, including conditioned and innate fear, learned and unlearned anxiety and cost-benefit decision-making, and a range of physiological and behavioral measures of emotion. It is proposed that both the OFC and vlPFC contribute to emotion regulation via their involvement, respectively, in the prediction of future outcomes and higher-order attentional control. The fractionation of these neurocognitive and neurobehavioral systems that regulate fear and anxiety opens up new opportunities for diagnostic stratification and personalized treatment strategies.This research was supported by a Medical Research Programme Grant (G0901884) from the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK to ACR and carried out within the Behavioral and Clinical Neurosciences Institute supported by a consortium award from the Wellcome Trust and the MRC.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Frontiers via http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2016.0001

“Sua vi, sua natura, sua sponte sacrum”. Le mariage dans la jurisprudence de la Rote Romaine du Concile de Trente a la première codification canonique

Marriage reform is one of the most complex issues dealt with by the Council of Trento. The decree Tametsi introduced the radical innovation of the celebration in facie ecclesiae in the presence of the parish priest and two or three witnesses, without imposing paternal consent. The Roman Rota had the fundamental role of guaranteeing the application of the canons of Trento for more than three centuries and of intervening in an interpretative way to define the elements that remained ambiguous or unresolved in the Council. The supreme tribunal thus maintained for centuries its traditional position of pre-eminence in the judicial organization of the Church and its propulsive function in the evolution and adaptation of the juridical order in the face of the changing needs of the times and of society.La reforma del matrimonio ha sido una de las cuestiones más espinosas a las que se ha enfrentado el Concilio de Trento. El célebre decreto Tametsi introducía una modificación sustancial, según la cual, para que el matrimonio fuera considerado válido, el consentimiento de los futuros esposos debía estar acompañado de la celebración in facie ecclesiae, en presencia del proprius parochus y de dos o tres testigos, sin necesidad de la imposición u obligación de la aprobación paterna. A la Rota Romana le corresponderá desempeñar el rol fundamental de garantizar, durante más de tres siglos, la aplicación de los cánones de Trento y por ello, intervenir, desde un punto de vista interpretativo, a fin de definir los elementos considerados ambiguos o irresolubles de los contenidos del Concilio. La Corte suprema conserva así su tradicional posición de preeminencia en la organización judicial de la Iglesia, así como su papel de guía y su función propulsiva en la evolución y adaptación de la organización jurídica de cara a las exigencias cambiantes de la sociedad que se adapta a los nuevos tiempos.La réforme du mariage était l’une des questions les plus épineuses affrontées par le Concile de Trente. Le célèbre décret Tametsi introduisait la modification substantielle selon laquelle, pour qu’il soit valable, le consentement des futurs époux devait être accompagnée de la célébration in facie ecclesiae, en présence du proprius parochus et de deux ou trois témoins, sans imposer l’approbation paternelle. La Rote Romaine aura le rôle fondamental de garantir, pendant plus de trois siècles, l’application des canons de Trente et d’intervenir, sur le plan interprétatif, afin de définir les éléments restés ambigus ou irrésolus lors du Concile. La court suprême a ainsi gardé sa position traditionnelle de prééminence dans l’organisation judiciaire de l’Eglise, son rôle de guide et sa fonction propulsive dans l’évolution et dans l’adaptation de l’organisation juridique face aux exigences changeantes des temps et de la société

Lesions of either anterior orbitofrontal cortex or ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in marmoset monkeys heighten innate fear and attenuate active coping behaviors to predator threat.

The ventral prefrontal cortex is an integral part of the neural circuitry that is dysregulated in mood and anxiety disorders. However, the contribution of its distinct sub-regions to the regulation of negative emotion are poorly understood. Recently we implicated both the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and anterior orbitofrontal cortex (antOFC) in the regulation of conditioned fear and anxiety responses to a social stimulus, i.e., human intruder, in the marmoset monkey. In the present study we extend our investigations to determine the role of these two regions in regulating innate responses and coping strategies to a predator stimulus, i.e., a model snake. Both the vlPFC and antOFC lesioned groups exhibited enhanced anxiety-related responses to the snake in comparison to controls. Both groups also showed a reduction in active coping behavior. These results indicate that the vlPFC and antOFC contribute independently to the regulation of both innate fear and, as previously reported, conditioned fear, and highlight the importance of these regions in producing stimulus-appropriate coping responses. The finding that dysregulation in two distinct prefrontal regions produces the apparently similar behavioral phenotype of heightened negative emotion provides insight into the varied etiology that may underlie this symptom across a wide variety of neuropsychiatric conditions with implications for personalized treatment strategies.This research was supported by a Medical Research Programme Grant (G0901884) from the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK to Angela C. Roberts. Yoshiro Shiba was supported by the Long Term Student Support Program provided by Osaka University and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan and currently by the MRC Programme grant (G0901884). Andrea M. Santangelo, until October 2011, by a J. S. McDonnell Foundation grant (Principle Investigators; E. Phelps, T. W. Robbins, co-investigators; J. E. LeDoux, and Angela C. Roberts) and currently by the MRC Programme grant (G0901884). Work was carried out within the Behavioral and Clinical Neurosciences Institute supported by a consortium award from the Wellcome Trust and the MRC. We thank Dr. Carmen Agustín-Pavón for conducting the lesion surgeries, Dr. Katrin Braesicke for help with statistical analyses and Dr. Mercedes Arroyo for the preparation of histological material.This is the final published version of the paper, which first appeared in Frontiers Systems Neuroscience, 21 January 2015, doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.0025

An agent-based model of greening a city for reducing pluvial flooding at a cultural heritage site

We present an agent-based model which explores the impact of green- ing a city for pluvial flood risk reduction, to inform planning decisions in cities. In particular we focus on the location of an archaeological site lying 2 meters below ground level in the city centre of Ravenna, Italy, which is subject to pluvial flooding. A map of Ravenna was divided into cells which could be eligible for modelled greening if they contained a car park, a street or a pedestrianised area. The number and location of cells greened varied with each run of the model. This was combined with precipitation and temperature data from Ravenna, and subse- quently estimated scores for evapotranspiration and permeability. In general, the greater number of greening measures introduced corresponded to a reduced vol- ume of excess rainwater. There was a particular effectiveness of greened streets at reducing excess runoff compared to car parks and pedestrian areas. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of ABM in the field of disaster risk management

Inclusion of migrants for rural regeneration through cultural and natural heritage valorization

Rural areas all over Europe are facing similar chronic economic, social and environmental problems such as depopulation, reduced service provision, ageing, decline of agriculture income, inhibited accessibility. At the same time, rural landscapes are continuously threatened by loss of biodiversity, climate change impacts and short-term management decisions and perspectives that further aggravate the economic and social conditions of rural communities. Despite these critical socio-economic conditions, rural areas are cradles of civilization, repositories of old traditions, dialects and languages, of uses, handcrafts skills and social practices which must be preserved and exploited. The majority of the European heritage is found in rural areas, therefore Cultural and Natural Heritage can represent a driver for migrants\u2019 integration, by fostering a heritage based sustainable regeneration of rural territories that is able to support a new model of integration. The overall aim of the paper is to investigate the challenges and possibilities offered by migration trends in rural areas to create rural regeneration models for inclusion of migrants and refugees, based on cultural and natural heritage introducing them to the job market. Section 2 explains the methodology of the study and gives an insight of the research topic within the overall RURITAGE project methodology. Two case studies of rural regeneration through the inclusion of migrants into the valorisation processes of cultural and natural heritage are presented in Section 3, while the preliminary results and main findings are discussed in Section 4. In Section 5, conclusions and future research steps are presented

Influence of the Cobalt Phase on the Highly Efficient Growth of MWNTs

In this work, the influence of the cobalt phase on the growth of carbon nanotubes by the catalytic chemical vapour deposition of CH4 with catalysts containing Co, Mo and Mg is investigated. To this end, the catalytic behaviour of physically mixed CoO/MgO+MgMoO4 and CoMoO4+MgMoO4 is studied. The results obtained show that CoMoO4+MgMoO4 allows for the attainment of the highest CNT yield (2407 wt % against 1296 wt %). Its higher activity is ascribed to the greater formation of active sites that, in light of current assessments, are constituted by metallic cobalt adjacent to Mo2C, and the huge exfoliation of the catalyst, which contributes towards enhancing their exposure

Participatory Process for Regenerating Rural Areas through Heritage-Led Plans: The RURITAGE Community-Based Methodology

Rural areas in Europe host more than 55% of the overall population and embed a unique and peculiar cultural and natural heritage. Nevertheless, they are facing common issues of disengagement, depopulation and economic and social crises. Rural communities are increasingly interested in setting up inclusive and participatory regeneration processes, but participatory planning experiences in rural areas are still limited. This paper introduces the Community-based Heritage Management and Planning methodology (CHMP) developed within the RURITAGE project, and analyzes and presents the results of its implementation in six demonstrators around Europe and beyond. The methodology is based on the establishment of Rural Heritage Hubs (RHH), intended as the community of local stakeholders and a physical place to run the co-creation activities. We used four types of feedback—online survey, in-presence survey, consultations and interviews with RHH Coordinators—to analyze the implementation of the CHMP. The research findings show that through built capital (RHH places activated) and through the activation of local social and human capitals (RHH communities engaged in the process), participatory processes can attract local communities and engage them into the development and the implementation of local regeneration plans, fostering heritage ownership and inclusion

Avoidant Coping Style to High Imminence Threat Is Linked to Higher Anxiety-Like Behavior.

Human studies with self-reported measures have suggested a link between an avoidant coping style and high anxiety. Here, using the common marmoset as a model, we characterize the latent factors underlying behavioral responses of these monkeys towards low and high imminence threat and investigate if a predominantly avoidant behavioral response to high imminence threat is associated with greater anxiety-like behavior in a context of low imminence threat. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the human intruder test of low imminence threat revealed a single factor in which a combination of active vigilance and avoidance responses underpinned anxiety-like behavior. In contrast, two negatively-associated factors were revealed in the model snake test reflecting active and avoidant coping to high imminence threat. Subsequent analysis showed that animals with a predominantly avoidant coping style on the model snake test displayed higher anxiety-like behavior on the human intruder test, findings consistent with those described in humans. Together they illustrate the richness of the behavioral repertoire displayed by marmosets in low and high imminence threatening contexts and the additional insight that factor analysis can provide by identifying the latent factors underlying these complex behavioral datasets. They also highlight the translational value of this approach when studying the neural circuits underlying complex anxiety-like states in this primate model