When Science Meets Responsibility: The Major Risks Commission and the L’Aquila Earthquake

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Simoncini

This article aims to analyse the role of law in the identification of the responsibility domain of ‘regulatory science’ (Jasanoff, 1990) within the risk regulatory process. The main research question is therefore,what kindof relationshipbetween science andpolicy-making lawshould design in risk regulation.In order to address this issue, this contribution focuses on the recent verdict of the Tribunal of L’Aquila. After the earthquake occurred in L’Aquila on the 6th April 2009, six Italian scientists that had participated in the Major Risks Commission's meeting have been condemned for the multiple manslaughter of 29 people who were among the 309 victims of the earthquake, ‘for having assessed the risks related to seismic activity in the L’Aquila territory in an inaccurate, generic and ineffective way’ and for having provided ‘information which was imprecise, incomplete and contradictory as to the nature, the causes and the hazardousness and on the future development of the seismic activity’.As far as risk assessment and risk communication are concerned, firstly the tasks of the Major Risks Commission under the Italian Civil Protection law will be analysed. Against this backdrop, the issues related to this expert body's responsibility will be addressed and the gaps in the current accountability regime will be pointed out.

Virittäjä ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Ojutkangas

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisissa konstruktioissa suomen seuralaisuutta ilmaisevat mukana ja mukaan esiintyvät. Seuralaisuussuhteelle on tyypillistä, että suhteen osallistujat tai vähintään kiintopiste ovat ihmisiä ja että osallistujien välillä on symmetriaero: seuralainen (engl. companion) osallistuu tilanteeseen epäsuorasti, seurattavan (engl. accompanee) välityksellä. Suomen grammeille ominaiseen tapaan mukana- ja mukaan-sanoja käytetään syntaktisesti monenlaisissa asemissa siten, että kiintopisteen (seurattavan) ilmaisun tyyppi vaihtelee. Tutkimuksessa selvitetäänkin, mikä on kiintopisteen ilmaisutavan rooli siinä, miten seuralaisuussuhteen osallistujien välinen epäsymmetria hahmottuu. Tutkimuksen syntaktisessa luokittelussa pidetään lähtökohtana postpositiokonstruktiota, jossa osallistujien välisen symmetriaeron voi katsoa perustuvan kiintopisteen viitepisteroolin kautta grammin semantiikkaan (tyyppi lapio oli kaivajan mukana). Symmetriaero sen sijaan voimistuu, kun kiintopiste edustuu omistusliitteen välityksellä subjektina (tyyppi hän otti lapion mukaansa) tai kun se ilmaistaan teemapaikalla paikallissijaisena adverbiaalina (tyyppi hänellä oli lapio mukana[an]). Symmetriaero sen sijaan heikkenee, jos (toissijainen) kiintopiste ilmaistaan adverbiaalina muualla kuin teemapaikalla (tyyppi hän oli mukana kaivamassa), ja vetäytyy taustatiedoksi, kun kiintopistettä ei ilmaista lainkaan (tyyppi hän on mukana). Tutkimus perustuu aineistoon, jossa ovat edustettuina 1800-luvun kirjakieli, Lauseopin arkiston murrehaastattelut ja nykykirjakieli. Aineisto osoittaa, että mukana- ja mukaan-grammeilla ilmaistuissa seuralaisuussuhteissa on tapahtunut muutos: 1800-luvun kirjakielen ja pääosin 1960-luvulla tallennetun murreaineiston esiintymissä yleisin kiintopiste on ihminen, kun taas nykykirjakielen aineistossa kiintopisteeksi hahmottuu tyypillisimmin toiminta. Kiintopisteen semanttinen tyyppi ja sen kielellinen ilmaisukeino ovat suorassa suhteessa toisiinsa. Ihmiskiintopiste ilmaistaan yleisimmin subjektin kanssa samaviitteisellä omistusliitteellä tai teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä ja toimintakiintopiste puolestaan ei-teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä. Eri ilmaisukeinot jakautuvat eri verbien ympärille rakentuvien konstruktioiden kesken. Tutkimuksen perusteella voi todeta, että esiintymäkonstruktiolla on merkittävä rooli siinä, millaista seuralaisuutta mukana- tai mukaan-grammilla kuvataan.   Finnish mukana and mukaan ‘with, along’ as comitative markers: Grammatical roles of expressions of the landmarks, constructions, and asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation The topic of this article is the syntax of Finnish comitative markers mukana and mukaan ’with, along’. Comitative markers express accompaniment relations, which are typically conceived as being asymmetrical: the accompanee (landmark) is the pre-dominant participant, while the companion (trajector) is involved in the situation only via the accompanee (see Stolz et al. 2006: 26–27). However, markers such as mukana and mukaan are used in several syntactic constructions where the grammatical roles of expressions of the accompanees/landmarks vary. The main research question of the article is, how does the grammatical role of expression of the accompanee/landmark affect the asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation. Five syntactic construction types were analysed from a corpus data. On the basis of this study, it is shown that syntactic variation has an effect on the conceived asymmetry between the accompanee and the companion, and that syntax makes an important contribution to the semantics of comitative constructions. In strongly asymmetric accompaniment relations, a human accompanee is expressed by a possessive suffix affixed to the comitative marker, or by a clause-initial adverbial. On the other hand, the question of asymmetry contracts to the background when the accompanee is expressed by a non-clause-initial adverbial and when the accompanee is implicit, without any overt marking. The research is based on a corpus data comprising 19th-century written Finnish, dialect interviews, and modern written Finnish. The data shows that accompaniment relations expressed by mukana and mukaan have changed: in the 19th-century and dialect data, the majority of the landmarks are humans, but in the modern data activities dominate as (secondary) landmarks.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-142
Author(s):  
Fokky Fuad Wasitaatmadja ◽  
Susianto Susianto ◽  
Suartini Supendi

Research on the relation of gender in Islamic Jurisprudence field always sparks the interest to study because of several things: the idea of power relations which has been touted as a thought that subordinates the role of women in their dynamic movements. Second, the role of the text of the Holy Qur'an in seeing and explaining gender relations in Islam, specifically when influencing or influenced by local culture. The main research question to be revealed is: how does the concept developed in Islamic Jurisprudence schools interpret the relations of men and women? The theoretical framework developed in this study is based on the thought which built in the Islamic Jurisprudence Schools. Sachiko Murata sees that there is a relationship between cultural understanding and the understanding of God in the relationship of men and women. The research method applied in this research is prescriptive normative legal method with conceptual approach. The conclusion in this study states that in the narrative approach to the Holy Qur'an, there is no significant power relation that degrades, dominates, or subordinates the role of women in Islam. Spatial structure of culture becomes a matter of concern when there is submission in the role of women in their socio-cultural environment. The narrative text of the Holy Qur’an explains the high appreciation of domestic and public roles for women. Feminism itself can be traced in various narrative texts in the Holy Qur'an that place women in a place of honor.


Author(s):  
Ivanna Shubina ◽  
Atik Kulakli

This paper’s aim is to investigate the role of creativity and pervasive learning in a modern education paradigm. The research was conducted by relevant literature review along with reflective analysis on sub-context such as creativity, educational development, pedagogical methods, important factors behind of creativity development and technology-learning systems affects. Various issues may become a supportive factor or barrier for creativity development in educational processes. Technology in an education field provides many opportunities for creativity enhancement, among which supports to enhance curiosity to develop some skills to improve student's cognitive processes and engagement as well as to increase intrinsic motivation, self-regulation. Authors attempted to consider all the benefits, challenges and risks related to enhancing creativity with the help of technology in modern educational paradigm. Many studies have been analyzed in order to answer main research question: How technology-pervasive learning environment can enhance stimulation and development of creativity among students?


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdi Kruger ◽  
Ben De Klerk

This article researches two focal points, namely liturgical formation and the influence that social cognition has on liturgical formation. Within a South African context it is evident that Western liturgical traditions encounter African traditions and vice versa. This encounter is challenging because it creates new questions. The process of enculturation is prominent in recent research. The article refers to the process of social cognition as the manner in which people observe each other and try to make sense of other cultures and the people of those cultures. People’s cognition can be wrong, leading to distortions. The main research question for this investigation emanates from this possibility, namely: How does social cognition influence the process of liturgical formation? The authors first of all offer a descriptive– empirical vantage point to investigate this matter. Two local congregations were visited. The authors reflect on their own cognition, but also examine the cognition of the leaders through interviews. Based on the findings of this endeavour, normative perspectives are formulated from Acts 17:16–35 to highlight the role of cognition in liturgical formation. Throughout, the article includes consideration of the hermeneutic interaction between the various elements of this research and provides hermeneutic guidelines.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (sp) ◽  
pp. 603-607
Author(s):  
Akihiro Tokai ◽  
◽  
Naoya Kojima

Chemical related risk analysis and communication were discussed in connection with the role of risk assessment. Some of the chemicals are thought to be one of the hazards that tend to consider as dread and unknown risk. Owing to the institutionalization of Pollutant Release Transfer Register (PRTR) and development of risk assessment have gradually revealed new aspect of risk analysis and communication. In this review, we briefly discuss about the representative cases and discuss the role of risk assessment to risk communication.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Tuuli Turja ◽  
Oxana Krutova ◽  
Harri Melin

During COVID-19, telework has become a new form of work for broader groups of workers who were not teleworking prior to the pandemic. In this study, we ask what we will be returning to after COVID-19, if teleworking will become a new norm or if most workplaces will merely return to the old forms of work. The main research question of this study was to estimate the role of telework in perception of workload. More specifically, to gain an understanding of the stakes involved when reorganizing work after the pandemic, we analysed the relationship between perceived workload and opportunities to telework. Multilevel analysis utilized representative national data of wage earners in Finland (N = 4091). The findings showed that the opportunity to telework is associated with lower perceived workload in the capital area but not in the rural areas. More specifically, increasing telework opportunities among different-level workers, particularly in educational and social work in the capital area, would be beneficial in terms of increasing well-being at work. There could be good reasons for organizations to reject returning to the status quo ex ante after COVID-19 and to consider the new norm, where opportunities to telework are offered to wider worker groups.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Ilze Miķelsone

Abstract Social engagement and public participation is perceived as emerging social concern and coincidental annoyance for architects during the design and building processes. In the development of objects of public importance, especially those of ambiguous assessments, the knowledge of participatory methods, institutional support options, and knowledge of public relations and media literacy becomes an important element in contemporary architectural practice. Latvia’s legislation ensures standard public participation procedure in a unified system within the attribute of “significant architectural object”. This study attempts to recognize the origin and structure of multi-layered topic when the involvement of a wider public is applied in the development of architectural objects. It collects generally known major failures and maps component attributes within three stages. The Conclusion presents several observations on main research question, – how the development of notable architectural objects in the local market is de facto affected by engagement of wider public.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall Mc Guigan

This first-person study investigates the role of cognitive and embodied forms of knowledge in relation to the development of therapeutic presence as a student music therapist. In this paper, I will provide an introduction to the topic reviewing its relevance to the practice of music therapy, and I will argue that the development of therapeutic presence is a fundamental part of becoming a music therapist.  Although there are seminal articles in the music therapy literature that discuss the topic of therapeutic presence, I have not found any articles relating it to the development of being a student music therapist. Using heuristic methodology, I will describe the personal process of developing therapeutic presence as a student music therapist. To gain a broader perspective on the research topic, and to provide validation and transparency in relation to my personal heuristic process, three successive theoretical and experiential workshops were carried out with six student music therapists. Data, in the form of questionnaires, reflections and group musical improvisations were analysed systematically to validate my experience of the research topic, and also to discover and evaluate themes and practical methods. The research has culminated in the synthesis of data gathered during the study in relation to the main research question while also reviewing its relevance to music therapy practice and implications for further study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 316
Author(s):  
Ahmad Hanan ◽  
Sugianto Sugianto

This study was aimed at finding out the communication strategies on tourist guide professionalism in Lombok West Nusa Tenggara. The main research question raised in the study was “How the communication strategies were used by the tour guides in terms of being professional tourists guides ”. The research was categorized into a descriptive qualitative study where the researcher used purposive sampling with a specific subset of people to find out the exact criteria of respondents. The researcher adopted snowball techniques in describing and interpreting the role of self-presentation on tourist guide professionalism. There were five tourist guides on the bus tour in their videos recorder and questionnaires towards communication strategies of  English speech manner regarding tourist guides’ professionalism. The sample was purposively taken by involving the guided cruise ship passenger tour at Lembar harbor. The result of the study found that the tourist guide’s professionalism with the role of self-presentation was positively related with the categories of self-promotion, Ingratiation, supplication, exemplification, and Intimidation. Further, it was found as well that the tourist guides professionalism performances were positively related to the role of communication strategies under five main categories. The study concluded that five communication strategies were used by the tourist guide those are (1) Paraphrase with various Subcategories Approximation, Word  Coinage, and Circumlocution (2). Transfer with two elements: (a) Literal Translation (b) Language Switch (3). Appeal for Assistance. (4). Mime (5). Avoidance  Strategy consists of two subcategories (a) Topic  Avoidance and  (b)  Message Abandonment.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Pluta ◽  
Aleksandra Rudawska

PurposeThe contemporary world's pressure, oriented on flexibility and quick actions, has permanently changed work characteristics. Taking the employees' perspective into account, it seems important to identify whether and which of the employees' individual resources help them cope with those job demands. Therefore, the main research question is what is the relation between holistically conceptualised employees' individual resources and perceived work overload?Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature on individual resources and job demands, the authors test for relations between three components of individual resources (physical, emotional, spiritual potentials) and job characteristics (work variability and work diversity) and the perceived work overload. Data were collected using a survey method amongst 336 Polish knowledge workers.FindingsThe results partially supported the posed hypotheses. Both work variability and work diversity relate positively to work overload. Only the physical potential is related directly and negatively to perceived work overload. The spiritual potential relates indirectly to work overload through work diversity. The authors also found that age moderates the relation between physical and spiritual potential and overload.Research limitations/implicationsHuman resource management (HRM) practitioners and supervisors need to consider the level of employee's individual resources, especially when dealing with older employees and their physical resources.Originality/valueThis study contributes to research on the causes of work overload perception by identifying the role of individual resources and employees' age, thereby indicating that taking care of those resources could be another way of preventing occupational burnout in demanding work conditions.


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