Urban challenges: main debates for sustainability and climate change adaptation

Aquest article il·lustra les connexions entre els impactes del canvi climàtic i el desenvolupament socioeconòmic i, a partir d’aquestes consideracions s’analitzen les relacions que aquests impactes tenen per als assentaments urbans. A la segona part, s’analitzen els temes d’adaptació i, mentre d’una banda es fa èmfasi en la relació entre Canvi Ambiental Global (GEC) canvi climàtic i adaptació, de l’altra es destaca com a l’interior d’aquestes dinàmiques hi ha una agenda de la desigualtat i de la justícia social. Finalment, en la tercera i última part de l’article, s’analitzen les dimensions de l’espai urbà, de la provisió d’energia i de l’accés a l’aigua i al sanejament, per mostrar la seva característica de dobles agendes del canvi climàtic, és a dir, de temàtiques front a les quals la racionalitat tècnica i la mirada a la dimensió física del problema del canvi climàtic no aconsegueix capturar la complexitat. L’article es proposa com un “concept paper”, és a dir, un treball que té com a objectiu mostrar connexions analítiques encara poc desenvolupades a l’interior d’una àrea d’investigació en ràpida construcció, com és el cas de l’adaptació de les ciutats al canvi climàtic.Este artículo ilustra las conexiones entre impactos del cambio climático y desarrollo socioeconómico y, a partir de estas consideraciones se analizan las relaciones que estos impactos tienen para los asentamientos urbanos. En la segunda parte, se analizan los temas de adaptación y, mientras por un lado se hace énfasis en la relación entre Cambio Ambiental Global (GEC) cambio climático y adaptación, por el otro se destaca como al interior de estas dinámicas existe una agenda de la desigualdad y de la justicia social. Finalmente, en la tercera y última parte del artículo, se analizan las dimensiones del espacio urbano, de la provisión de energía y del acceso al agua y al saneamiento, para mostrar su característica de dobles agendas del cambio climático, es decir, de temáticas frente a las cuales la racionalidad técnica y la mirada a la dimensión física del problema del cambo climático no logra capturar la complejidad. El artículo se propone como un “concept paper”, o sea, un trabajo que tiene como objetivo mostrar conexiones analíticas todavía poco desarrolladas al interior de un área de investigación en rápida construcción, como es el caso de la adaptación de las ciudades al cambio climático.This article illustrates the connections between climate change impacts and socioeconomic development and, and from these considerations, the relationships that these impacts have on urban settlements are analyzed. In the second part, the issues of adaptation are discussed; in one hand, it emphasizes the relationship between Global Environmental Change (GEC) climate change and adaptation, while on the other stands out that there is an agenda of inequality and social justice within these dynamics. Finally, the third and final part of the article explores the dimensions of urban space, energy supply and access to water and sanitation, to show how climate change agendas are double featured, meaning how looking at the physical dimension with technical rationality fail to capture the complexity of subjects related to the problem of climate change. The article is proposed as a “concept paper”, which aims to show analytical connections still poorly developed within a research area of rapid construction, such as the cities adaptation to climate change.Peer Reviewe

The normalization of precarity: an ethnography of energy spaces and life at risk in Vila Nova Esperança (São Paulo, Brazil)

This paper aims to explore the intersections between the spatial configurations of disaster risk and its political, social, and cultural consequences. The article presents the results of the first phase of the field research, carried out between September 2021 and March 2022 in Vila Nova Esperança, a low-income community in the western periphery of São Paulo. The research originated from the ethnographic analysis of the access to energy infrastructure and services, defined as the object of study through the notion of energy space, ensuing from Setha Low’s work on ethnography of space and culture. The precarity marking the energy space extends to other dimensions of the inhabited space and its social relations, encompassing other fragilities related to disaster risk and the impacts of climate change. Emerging from the systematization of the histories of people and place is the permanent and intertemporal character of precarity, which despite the achievements of the community and the residents, presents itself as a political fact. The results combine the analysis carried out with data on urbanization in the periphery of São Paulo, being the ethnographic work based on the narratives of community members, together with the study of the spatial configurations of energy access. From this triangulation emerges the combination of the social construction of biophysical and social risk as a transversal element that shapes the main result of the article: the multiplication of forms and dynamics of the social production of risk as a process that goes beyond disaster risk and the impacts of climate change. In this sense, the phrase “normalization of precarity” in the title is a provocation, an invitation to look into the intertemporal permanence of precarity in the periphery of São Paulo.O objetivo da pesquisa é investigar as interseções entre as configurações espaciais do risco de desastres e seus desdobramentos políticos, sociais e culturais. O artigo apresenta os resultados da primeira fase da pesquisa de campo, realizada entre setembro de 2021 e março de 2022 em Vila Nova Esperança, comunidade de baixa renda na periferia oeste de São Paulo. A pesquisa originou-se a partir da análise etnográfica do espaço, relativa ao acesso à infraestrutura e aos serviços energéticos, definidos como objeto de estudo através da noção de espaço da energia, trazida pela obra de Setha Low sobre etnografia do espaço e da cultura. A precariedade encontrada no espaço da energia amplia-se a outras dimensões do espaço habitado e suas relações sociais, abrangendo outras precariedades relacionadas ao risco de desastres e aos impactos das mudanças climáticas. O que emerge do levantamento das histórias das pessoas e do lugar é o caráter permanente e intertemporal da precariedade que, apesar das conquistas da comunidade, dos moradores e das moradoras, se apresenta como um fato político. Os resultados combinam a análise realizada com dados sobre a urbanização na periferia de São Paulo, no qual o trabalho etnográfico centrado no espaço e nas configurações espaciais do acesso à energia é integrado pelas narrativas dos e das integrantes da comunidade. Dessa triangulação emerge a combinação da construção social do risco biofísico e social como um elemento transversal que dá forma ao resultado principal do artigo: a multiplicação das formas e dinâmicas de produção social do risco como um processo que vai mais além do risco de desastres e dos impactos das mudanças climáticas. Nesse sentido o termo “normalização da precariedade” proposto no título é uma provocação, um convite à investigação sobre a permanência intertemporal da precariedade na periferia paulista

Innovative silicon pixel sensors for a 4D VErtex LOcator detector for the LHCb high luminosity upgrade

To fully exploit the instantaneous luminosity that LHC could provide at interaction point 8, where the LHCb experiment is located, a second experiment upgrade, called upgrade II, is planned to take place during Long Shutdown 4 in 2033. In order for the experiment to improve or at least maintain the current physics performances also in the high luminosity condition, several detectors will have to be upgraded or replaced and this is particularly true for the VErtex LOcator (VELO). In fact, dedicated simulations have shown a significant decrease of the vertices and tracks reconstruction efficiencies of the current VELO detector due to the increased pile-up of the the high luminosity condition. Moreover the harsher radiation environment will also provide a higher radiation damage to the detectors, much higher than the current VELO detector can withstand. The most promising solution to recover the tracking and vertices performances in the high luminosity condition is the development of a new 4D vertex detector capable to measure the time information of the tracks by using pixel sensors with an accurate spatial and time resolution for the particles detection. This set the stage for the development of innovative pixel sensors with unmatched time resolution of the order of tens picoseconds and featuring high radiation hardness. The TimeSPOT (Time and SPace real-time Operating Tracker) project has the aim to cope with these requirements by means of new 3D silicon pixels optimized for the measurement of particle timing. The work described in this thesis has been done in the context of this project and concerns the accurate characterizations of the innovative 3D trench silicon sensors, developed by the TimeSPOT collaboration, in terms of time resolution, detection efficiency and radiation hardness

¿Qué ha pasado con la Vulnerabilidad Social en Colombia? Conectar libertades instrumentales y fundamentales

REVISTA SOCIEDAD Y ECONOMIA # 19Vulnerabilidad, la protección social, las libertades instrumentales, las libertades fundamentales, la pobreza dinámica, eventos críticos vida, estrategias de afrontamiento

Desafíos conceptuales para la Política de Protección Social frente a la pobreza en Colombia

Diez años después de la declaración de “guerra contra la pobreza”, la persistencia de la pobreza y de la vulnerabilidad frente a las crisis financieras y ambientales, junto con la profundización de la desigualdad en la distribución del ingreso y del acceso a recursos, se constituyen en los tres hitos que marcan de manera significativa la herencia que recibimos de la década 2000-2010 en cuanto a los desafíos para la protección social. Estos hitos son aún más significativos cuando se considera que el concepto de ‘manejo social del riesgo’, alrededor del cual se articuló el modelo de protección social impulsado a escala planetaria durante la década pasada, fue acompañado en su implementación de la promesa de la transformación del riesgo en un asunto de política social, o sea un tema sujeto a la planeación, la previsión y la gestión, y ya no más un factor relacionado con la incertidumbre característica de un mundo incierto e interconectado. La persistencia de los efectos sociales de crisis similares a las de finales de los noventa representa un llamado hacia el reexamen del enfoque de protección social centrado en el manejo social del riesgo. Este artículo propone un análisis que, partiendo desde 1999, año de publicación del artículo de Holzmann y Jorgensen sobre el ‘manejo social del riesgo’, discute su herencia y, en particular, el progresivo surgimiento de una reflexión que enmarca la protección social dentro de enfoques de política social basados en los activos y en los derechos. A lo largo de su corta trayectoria, el trabajo presenta tres desafíos conceptuales: la inclusión en la reflexión sobre protección social de una preocupación transformadora de las estructuras y determinantes de la pobreza y la exclusión; el fracaso de las políticas de subsidios monetarios condicionados frente al reto de una salida de la pobreza sostenible a lo largo del tiempo, y la falta de una política integral para garantizar a las familias una vida más segura y protegida. En este camino, el trabajo se encuentra casi necesariamente con el enfoque de capacidades y ampliación de la libertad que se relaciona con el concepto de “libertad para” (lograr/ser libre) e investiga la necesidad de desarrollar el concepto de “libertad desde” (eventos de vida críticos o impactos) que impliquen la profundización de la inseguridad.Ten years after the “war against poverty,” the persistence of poverty and vulnerability in the face of financial and environmental crises, as well as the growing inequality of income and resource access, represent the challenges inherited from the 2000-2010 decade in terms of social protection. These challenges are even more significant when one considers that the concept of ‘social risk management,’ around which the model of social protection on a global scale was articulated over the past decade, was initiated alongside the promise of transforming risk into a socio-political issue, or, in other words, a topic of planning, prevention, and management and no longer a factor related to uncertainty characteristic of an uncertain and interconnected world. The continuing social effects of similar crises at the end of the 1990s represent a call to reexamine the risk management focus of social protection. This article discusses the legacy of Holzmann and Jorgensen’s seminal paper from 1999 on ‘social risk management’ in the face of newer ideas on social protection emphasizing the centrality of assets and rights. It presents three conceptual challenges: considering how to transform the structure and causes of poverty and exclusion; the failure of conditional cash transfer approaches to sustainably reduce poverty; and the lack of a national policy to guarantee families secure and protected lives. The paper necessarily addresses the concepts of capabilities and of extending the freedom related to “freedom for” (achieve freedom/be free). It also explores the need to develop the concept of “freedom from” (critical events) that implies a deepening of insecurity.Dez anos após a declaração da "guerra contra a pobreza", a persistência da pobreza e da vulnerabilidade diante das crises financeiras e ambientais, junto com o agravamento das desigualdades na distribuição de renda e acesso aos recursos, são as três etapas que marcam uma significativa herança que recebemos do decênio 2000-2010 como os desafios para a proteção social. Estes marcos são ainda mais significativos quando se considera que o conceito de "social de gestão de risco", em torno do qual articulou o modelo de proteção social impulsionado à escala global durante a última década, a sua implementação foi acompanhada pela promessa de transformação do risco em uma questão de política social, ou seja, uma questão de previsão, planejamento e gestão, e não mais um fator relacionado com a incerteza, característica de um mundo incerto e interligado. A persistência dos efeitos sociais das crises semelhantes às do final dos anos noventa representa uma chamada para a revisão da abordagem da protecção social focada em gestão de risco social. Este artigo propõe uma análise que, a partir de 1999, ano da publicação do artigo e Holzmann Jorgensen na "gestão de risco social", discute a sua herança e, em particular, o surgimento progressivo de uma reflexão que delimita a proteção social dentro de abordagens de política social baseadas nos ativos e nos direitos.. Ao longo de sua curta carreira, o trabalho apresenta três desafios conceituais: a inclusão no debate sobre a proteção social de uma preocupação de transformar a estrutura e os determinantes da pobreza e da exclusão, o fracasso das políticas de subsídios de renda condicionada diante do desafio de uma saída sustentável da pobreza ao longo do tempo, e a falta de uma política global para garantir às famílias uma vida segura e protegida. Desta forma, o trabalho se encontra quase necessariamente com a abordagem de capacidades e a ampliação da liberdade que se relaciona com o conceito de “liberdade para” (conseguir/ser livre) e pesquisa a necessidade de desenvolver o conceito de “liberdade de” (eventos de vida críticos ou impactos) que impliquem o aprofundamento da insegurança

Vulnerability and poverty: An assets, resources and capabilities impact study of low-income groups in Bogota

This research analyzes the dynamics of vulnerability in Bogota through a study conducted on a 900 households sample during 1997 and 1998. It builds on Moser's key findings and her Assets Vulnerability Framework, concentrating on causal relations between critical life events faced by households, the causes that directly determine them, the consequences or short-term impacts these events implied and, finally, the strategies they adopted in order to face, cope with, as well as react to them. The main added value of the research can be found on the methodological ground. That is, in a further operationalisation of vulnerability analysis as a tool for poverty studies and micro-level livelihoods-centered social policy. The insights provided to answer the main question concerning the research question about the possibility to operationalise vulnerability analysis beyond Moser's Assets Vulnerability Framework show that this is possible on the basis of life events-related vulnerability patterns employment, which have in income-generation, health, violence and the inner dynamic of the household are the interlocking epicenters of a crisis that involves simultaneously a number of dimensions in the lives of low-income groups in Bogota, well beyond the lack of income. Confirming Moser, Pryer, Rakodi and Chambers' findings the research illustrates that different vulnerability patterns reflect different degrees of resilience in the face of the crisis. Since nowadays the debate on vulnerability is not anymore restricted to the respective merits of a static versus a dynamic understanding of poverty, but it is embedded into a wider social protection debate. Therefore, the thesis opens a dialogue not only with a technical but also a social policy dimension of the debate concerning the level of operative decisions about people's livelihoods, choices, well-being and freedoms and it is on this ground that the thesis finds also a conceptual relevance

Vulnerabilidad y adaptación al cambio climático: debates acerca del concepto de vulnerabilidad y su medición

La existencia de definiciones contrastantes acerca de la vulnerabilidad al cambio climático plantea un desafío central para la relación entre la ciencia y las políticas públicas para la adaptación a este. Tras revisar las principales corrientes de conceptualización de la vulnerabilidad al cambio climático, el artículo critica la utilización del enfoque de riesgo-amenaza como base conceptual para su medición. Con ejemplos concretos se ilustra cómo el concepto de vulnerabilidad resultante es profundamente diferente en cuanto al tipo de conocimiento generado y al enfoque epistemológico empleado dependiendo de si se utiliza el concepto de vulnerabilidad inherente o el de vulnerabilidad resultante. El trabajo concluye que la utilización de uno u otro conlleva políticas públicas radicalmente diferentes en sus alcances

Analysing Molecular Mechanism Related to Therapy- Resistance in In-vitro Models of Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is among the most common cause of cancer death and ranks first in the number of deaths each year in the field of gynaecological malignancies. This is due to its late diagnosis and the development of chemoresistance. Platinum derivates, including cisplatinum and carboplatin in combination with paclitaxel, are the first-line chemotherapeutic agents. Platinum derivates irreversibly intercalates into the DNA and creates inter- and intra-strand DNA cross-links. During cell division, platinum-DNA-adducts block the replication machinery, inducing DNA damage and apoptosis. Nearly all patients respond to first-line chemotherapy before it comes later to recurrence of the disease. At time of recurrence, tumours are usually more aggressive, form metastasis in secondary tissues and acquire resistance to conventional chemotherapeutics. Drug resistance is a common problem in tumour therapy not only restricted to ovarian cancer. It is characterized by gene mutations, increased DNA repair, reduced drug efficacy and enhanced drug clearance and detoxification. Up to now the complex molecular mechanism of chemoresistance is not well understood. Increasing evidence points towards AKT over-expression and alteration of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR cascade as a central mechanistic reason for this resistance

Characterisation of the immune-related transcriptome in resected biliary tract cancers

Although biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are known to have an inflammatory component, a detailed characterisation of immune-related transcripts has never been performed. In these studies, nCounter PanCancer Immune Profiling Panel was used to assess the expression of 770 immune-related transcripts in the tumour tissues (TTs) and matched adjacent tissues (ATs) of resected BTCs. Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier methods were used to correlate findings with relapse-free survival (RFS). The first analysis in the TT and AT of an exploratory set (n = 22) showed deregulation of 39 transcripts associated with T-cell activation. Risk of recurrence was associated with a greater number of genes deregulated in AT in comparison to TT. Analysis in the whole set (n = 53) showed a correlation between AT cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA4) expression and RFS, which maintained statistical significance at multivariate analysis. CTLA4 expression correlated with forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) expression, suggesting enrichment in T regulatory cells. CTLA4 is known to act by binding to the cluster of differentiation 80 (CD80). No association was seen between AT CD80 expression and RFS. However, CD80 expression differentiated prognosis in patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy. We showed that the immunomodulatory transcriptome is deregulated in resected BTCs. Our study includes a small number of patients and does not enable to draw definitive conclusions; however, it provides useful insights into potential transcripts that may deserve further investigation in larger cohorts of patients. TRANSCRIPT PROFILING: Nanostring data have been submitted to GEO repository: GSE90698 and GSE906

Fabrication and Characterisation of 3D Diamond Pixel Detectors With Timing Capabilities

Diamond sensors provide a promising radiation hard solution to the challenges posed by the future experiments at hadron machines. A 3D geometry with thin columnar resistive electrodes orthogonal to the diamond surface, obtained by laser nanofabrication, is expected to provide significantly better time resolution with respect to the extensively studied planar diamond sensors. We report on the development, production, and characterisation of innovative 3D diamond sensors achieving 30% improvement in both space and time resolution with respect to sensors from the previous generation. This is the first complete characterisation of the time resolution of 3D diamond sensors and combines results from tests with laser, beta rays and high energy particle beams. Plans and strategies for further improvement in the fabrication technology and readout systems are also discussed