322,947 research outputs found
Temporary migration and the shortcomings of citizenship: The case of female circular migration from Romania to Italy
No full textIn this chapter we analyze and discuss a specifi c kind of circular migration, which is oriented to return and whose rationale and goals imply that migrants do not seek, and indeed actively avoid, any sort of involvement and investment in the receiving society. We show that neither the traditional notion of national citizenship, nor the more fl exible notion of post-national citizenship can accommodate the life plans and address the specifi c vulnerabilities of this special category of migrants. As an illustration of the phenomenology of this kind of migratory practices, and of the normative issues they raise, we refer to the case of circular migration of Romanian domestic and care workers in Italy. In order to tackle the specifi c needs and plans of these migrants, we suggest, we had better put aside the language of equal citizenship and of citizenship rights, and envision instead special rights meant to facilitate their unorthodox life projects.Valeria Ottonelli and Tiziana Torres
Displacement-Based Simplified Seismic Loss Assessment of Masonry Buildings
No full textIn the framework of the evaluation of the consequences of an earthquake, the paper provides a procedure for the economic loss assessment in unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, proposing an analytical approach based on a cost function directly dependent on the damage level associated to different structural elements and identified by specific engineering demand parameters. The procedure follows a component-based approach, to be implemented within modern probabilistic seismic risk analyses, and it includes both the in-plane and out-of-plane damage modes that can be activated in a URM structure. It is applied to a three-storey building, examined varying some configurations of structural details, aimed to simulate two different in-plane collapse mechanisms (with damage concentrated mostly on piers or also in spandrels), or to allow, in one case, also the activation of local out-of-plane mechanisms
The heuristic vulnerability model: fragility curves for masonry buildings
No full textIn the framework of seismic risk analyses at large scale, among the available methods for the vulnerability assessment the empirical and expert elicitation based ones still represent one of most widely used options. In fact, despite some drawbacks, they benefit of a direct correlation to the actual seismic behaviour of buildings and they are easy to handle also on huge stocks of buildings. Within this context, the paper illustrates a macroseismic vulnerability model for unreinforced masonry existing buildings that starts from the original proposal of Lagomarsino and Giovinazzi (Bull Earthquake Eng 4(4):445–463, 2006) and has further developed in recent years. The method may be classified as heuristic, in the sense that: (a) it is based on the expertise that is implicit in the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS98), with fuzzy assumptions on the binomial damage distribution; (b) it is calibrated on the observed damage in Italy, available in the database Da.D.O. developed by the Italian Department of Civil Protection (DPC). This approach guarantees a fairly well fitting with actual damage but, at the same time, ensures physically consistent results for both low and high values of the seismic intensity (for which observed data are incomplete or lacking). Moreover, the method provides a coherent distribution between the different damage levels. The valuable data in Da.D.O. allowed significant improvements of the method than its original version. The model has been recently applied in the context of ReLUIS project, funded by the DPC to support the development of Italian Risk Maps. To this aim, the vulnerability model has been applied for deriving fragility curves. This step requires to introduce a correlation law between the Macroseismic Intensity (adopted for the calibration of the model from a wide set of real damage data) and the Peak Ground Acceleration (at present, one of most used instrumental intensity measures); this conversion further increases the potential of the macroseismic method. As presented in the paper, the first applications of the model have produced plausible and consistent results at national scale, both in terms of damage scenarios and total risk (economic loss, consequences to people)
Performance-based assessment of masonry churches: Application to San Clemente Abbey in Castiglione a Casauria (Italy)
No full textThe damage assessment of monumental buildings after several seismic events in different countries has systematically highlighted the vulnerability of cultural heritage, in particular churches. In order to reduce their vulnerability with compatible and light interventions, it is necessary to have accurate procedures aimed at guaranteeing an acceptable level of risk for the occupants and for the conservation of the monument itself. This chapter outlines a performance-based assessment procedure for masonry churches that allows the definition of fragility curves, starting from the evaluation of the nonlinear response of each macroelement, after the estimation of the seismic actions distribution with a linear analysis carried out on a finite element model of the whole church. To illustrate the procedure, the chapter describes its application to the Abbey of San Clemente in Castiglione a Casauria (Pescara, Italy), an important monument hit by the L’Aquila earthquake, 2009, and restored in 2011
The Right to Stay as a Control Right
No full textIn this paper, I side with those who believe that a right to stay should be counted among fundamental human rights. However, I also acknowledge that there are good reasons for objecting to the most popular justifications of the right to stay, which are based on the assumption that people have valuable ties to their community of residence and that people’s life plans are located where they live. In response to these qualms, I argue that the best way to make sense of the right to stay is to conceive it as belonging to the category of “control rights”; these are the rights that protect people’s control over their own bodies and personal space, which is an essential condition for personhood and human dignity. This account of the right to stay can overcome the most pressing objections to its recognition as a fundamental human right
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