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La presente Tesi si propone di analizzare la questione dell'energia nucleare sul piano scientifico, politico e giuridico, seguendone il percorso storico con l'intento di comprendere le dinamiche alla base del suo sviluppo bellico e misurare l'effettiva capacità degli strumenti adottati a livello internazionale per limitare il conseguente rischio di conflitto nucleare. Per svolgere il lavoro, le tematiche affrontate sono state suddivise in tre sezioni. La prima si occupa in particolare dello studio storico-scientifico relativo all'evoluzione dell'energia nucleare. Nell'ordine, l'obiettivo del capitolo è quello di: ripercorrere le principali tappe delle scoperte scientifiche e delle fasi storiche che hanno condotto all'uso bellico del nucleare; analizzare le differenze e i legami esistenti fra nucleare per uso bellico ed uso civile; descrivere le varie tipologie di armi nucleari conosciute ed i loro effetti; illustrare l'utilizzo di armi nucleari nei vari test atomici svolti nella storia. I contenuti della seconda parte, invece, riguardano l'analisi della politica di controllo avviata a livello internazionale e degli strumenti giuridici creati per vigilare sull'impiego dell'energia nucleare, al fine di valutare la reale applicazione delle regole e le carenze relative al sistema di monitoraggio. Le tematiche fondamentali approfondite in questa parte riguardano: le strategie nucleari sviluppate dai vari Paesi a partire dal dopoguerra e la nascita delle agenzie internazionali sul controllo del nucleare; i Trattati e gli accordi internazionali stipulati nel tempo; le problematiche relative all'efficacia del rispetto delle norme e la disamina dello stato attuale degli arsenali nel mondo. L'ultimo capitolo, infine, si propone di delineare gli odierni sviluppi e le prospettive future sul tema del nucleare, considerando sia le nuove minacce, sia le possibili soluzioni proposte dai diversi attori coinvolti in quest'ambito, volte ad abbassare la probabilità di un suo uso bellico. I punti principali dell'ultima sezione del lavoro toccano dunque i seguenti aspetti: la politica di Obama, il terrorismo nucleare e le situazioni critiche osservabili nel sistema mondiale, il programma Heu to Leu e le nuove tecnologie relative al nucleare; lo studio dello specifico caso iraniano e l'analisi dei suoi risvolti; il ruolo e le iniziative internazionali della società civile sulla questione del nucleare per uso bellico; le prospettive future del nucleare, tra la necessità del suo uso civile ed il rischio di conflitto. In termini più ampi, dalla disamina di questi argomenti, vogliono essere posti in evidenza due aspetti: da un lato, le implicazioni politiche e strategiche legate al discorso del nucleare, capaci di incidere ed influire, in passato come oggi, sugli equilibri del sistema internazionale; dall'altro, la via della sincera cooperazione pacifica fra Stati come risorsa imprescindibile per affrontare gli attuali rischi derivanti dalla complessa questione del nucleare.

ABSTRACT Citizen Science (CS) strengthens the relationship between society and science through education and engagement, with win-win benefits. Marine Citizen Science (MCS) is increasingly popular, thanks to society's growing interest in marine environments and marine issues. Scuba diving significantly increases the potential of MCS, thanks to the skills and behavioural properties of people who participate in the sport. To be able to exploit this potential, however, MCS needs to face challenges related to CS, to scuba diving activities and to the broader scuba diving industry. In particular, engagement and recruitment of potential volunteers, as well as retention of active participants, represent key milestones. In order to reach these milestones, information is required on current participation levels of scuba divers in MCS, as well as the motivations behind participation, and the opinions held by potential participants in MCS. This study explored different case studies and methods of data collection to provide an overview of actual and potential participation in MCS by the scuba diving community. The results show that scuba divers, whether active or potential marine citizen scientists, are well disposed towards MCS. Some barriers, however, prevent the full participation of scuba divers as marine citizen scientists. Certain barriers extend beyond the control of both divers and MCS projects, while others, such as limited access to MCS projects and poor feedback after participation, can and should be addressed. The recommendations of this research provide strategic direction to MCS, so that the broad scuba diving community can be successfully integrated into MCS. These recommendations acknowledge the important role played by stakeholders in the scuba diving industry, as well as professional intermediaries and hired experts. ; This paper has received funding from the European Union (EU)'s H2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 643712 to the project Green Bubbles ...

This is a report from the EU project Green Bubbles RISE, summarising results from the first Green Bubbles' stakeholders meeting in Ponta do Ouro (Mozambique). ; This report has received funding from the European Union (EU)'s H2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 643712 to the project Green Bubbles RISE for sustainable diving (Green Bubbles). This report reflects only the authors' view. The Research Executive Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Abstract Coral reefs play a key role in coastal protection and habitat provision. They are also well known for their recreational value. Attempts to protect these ecosystems have not successfully stopped large-scale degradation. Significant efforts have been made by government and research organizations to ensure that coral reefs are monitored systematically to gain a deeper understanding of the causes, the effects and the extent of threats affecting coral reefs. However, further research is needed to fully understand the importance that sampling design has on coral reef characterization and assessment. This study examines the effect that sampling design has on the estimation of seascape metrics when coupling semi-autonomous underwater vehicles, structure-from-motion photogrammetry techniques and high resolution (0.4 cm) underwater imagery. For this purpose, we use FRAGSTATS v4 to estimate key seascape metrics that enable quantification of the area, density, edge, shape, contagion, interspersion and diversity of sessile organisms for a range of sampling scales (0.5 m × 0.5 m, 2 m × 2 m, 5 m × 5 m, 7 m × 7 m), quadrat densities (from 1–100 quadrats) and sampling strategies (nested vs. random) within a 1655 m2 case study area in Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (Mozambique). Results show that the benthic community is rather disaggregated within a rocky matrix; the embedded patches frequently have a small size and a regular shape; and the population is highly represented by soft corals. The genus Acropora is the more frequent and shows bigger colonies in the group of hard corals. Each of the seascape metrics has specific requirements of the sampling scale and quadrat density for robust estimation. Overall, the majority of the metrics were accurately identified by sampling scales equal to or coarser than 5 m × 5 m and quadrat densities equal to or larger than 30. The study indicates that special attention needs to be dedicated to the design of coral reef monitoring programmes, with decisions being based on the ...

Coral reefs play a key role in coastal protection and habitat provision. They are also well known for their recreational value. Attempts to protect these ecosystems have not successfully stopped large-scale degradation. Significant efforts have been made by government and research organizations to ensure that coral reefs are monitored systematically to gain a deeper understanding of the causes, the effects and the extent of threats affecting coral reefs. However, further research is needed to fully understand the importance that sampling design has on coral reef characterization and assessment. This study examines the effect that sampling design has on the estimation of seascape metrics when coupling semi-autonomous underwater vehicles, structure-from-motion photogrammetry techniques and high resolution (0.4 cm) underwater imagery. For this purpose, we use FRAGSTATS v4 to estimate key seascape metrics that enable quantification of the area, density, edge, shape, contagion, interspersion and diversity of sessile organisms for a range of sampling scales (0.5 m × 0.5 m, 2 m × 2 m, 5 m × 5 m, 7 m × 7 m), quadrat densities (from 1–100 quadrats) and sampling strategies (nested vs. random) within a 1655 m2 case study area in Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (Mozambique). Results show that the benthic community is rather disaggregated within a rocky matrix; the embedded patches frequently have a small size and a regular shape; and the population is highly represented by soft corals. The genus Acropora is the more frequent and shows bigger colonies in the group of hard corals. Each of the seascape metrics has specific requirements of the sampling scale and quadrat density for robust estimation. Overall, the majority of the metrics were accurately identified by sampling scales equal to or coarser than 5 m × 5 m and quadrat densities equal to or larger than 30. The study indicates that special attention needs to be dedicated to the design of coral reef monitoring programmes, with decisions being based on the seascape metrics and statistics being determined. The results presented here are representative of the eastern South Africa coral reefs and are expected to be transferable to coral reefs with similar characteristics. The work presented here is limited to one study site and further research is required to confirm the findings.