Analytical Solutions for Lateral Bearing Capacity of Piles in Nonhomogeneous Soil

In routine design, the lateral bearing capacity of a single pile is commonly evaluated using analytical expressions which are derived under the hypothesis of rigid-plastic behavior of both the foundation soil and the pile cross section. Existing solutions are available for a limited number of lateral soil resistance distributions, namely constant and linearly increasing variations with depth. However, in real-world applications the profiles for the ultimate soil reaction can be significantly different from available idealized distributions. This study provides a design tool for a wide range of geotechnical scenarios encountered in engineering practice. Analytical solutions were developed for the lateral bearing capacity of piles for two types of generalized distributions of soil resistance with depth, extending those already available in literature. Furthermore, the new developments provide insight into the soil resistance mechanism occurring along the pile, and its effect on the bearing capacity considering pertinent failure modes. A rational manner to apply the solutions in routine engineering is also proposed. The predictions were validated against results obtained from available full-scale pile tests

Laboratory determination of aggradation wave celerity due to sediment overloading in supercritical flow

The manuscript presents an experiment-based formula to estimate the celerity of propagation of an aggradation wave along a river channel overloaded with sediment. The celerity parameter is important from an engineering point of view, since changes in river morphology can largely contribute to hydraulic hazard; managing the latter may require a reliable prediction of how long it would take for an aggradation wave to propagate from sediment source areas to a critical spot. In the present study, the determination of the aggradation wave celerity was approached experimentally, realizing laboratory runs with sediment overloading and detailed temporal measurement of the resulting bed profiles. Supercritical flow conditions were considered, as most representative of upland environments. In these conditions the aggradation process is dispersive, requiring particular care in quantifying a representative celerity for the wave; exploiting a synergy with a literature analytical depiction of the aggradation process, the local and instantaneous celerity of propagation of the bed elevation was suitably averaged to estimate a bulk celerity value for each experiment of the campaign. A formula is provided allowing to predict the experimental values of this bulk celerity within ±25 % accuracy; the only control parameter in the formula is the load ratio that represents the degree of sediment overloading

Clinical and MRI features contributing to the clinico-radiological dissociation in a large cohort of people with multiple sclerosis

Background: People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) often show a mismatch between disability and T2-hyperintense white matter (WM) lesion volume (LV), that in general is referred to as the clinico-radiological paradox. Objectives: This study aimed to understand how an extensive clinical, neuropsychological, and MRI analysis could better elucidate the clinico-radiological dissociation in a large cohort of PwMS. Methods: Clinical scores, such as Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), 9 Hole Peg Test (9HPT), 25-foot Walking Test (25-FWT), Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test at 3 s (PASAT3), Symbol digit Modalities Test (SDMT), demographics, and 3 T-MRI of 717 PwMS and 284 healthy subjects (HS) were downloaded from the INNI database. Considering medians of LV and EDSS scores, PwMS were divided into four groups: low LV and disability (LL/LD); high LV and low disability (HL/LD); low LV and high disability (LL/HD); high LV and disability (HL/HD). MRI measures included: volumes of gray matter (GM), WM, cerebellum, basal ganglia and thalamus, spinal cord (SC) area, and functional connectivity of resting-state networks. Results: The clinico-radiological dissociation involved 36% of our sample. HL/LD showed worse SDMT scores and lower global and deep GM volumes than HS and LL/LD. LL/HD showed lower GM, thalamus, and cerebellum volumes, and SC area than HS, and lower SC area than LL/LD. Conclusions: A more extensive clinical assessment, including cognitive tests, and MRI evaluation including deep GM and SC, could better describe the real status of the disease and help clinicians in early and tailored treatment in PwMS

Osteosarcopenic obesity: a systematic review and a call for consensus on definitions and diagnostic criteria

Background&Aims Osteosarcopenic obesity (OSO) is a clinical and functional condition characterized by the coexistence of osteopenia/osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and obesity (excess adiposity). Currently, the lack of consensus on diagnostic criteria and cut-off values complicates prevalence estimates and limits its potential role as a predictor for various diseases. This systematic review aimed at examining current definitions and diagnostic criteria adopted in individuals with OSO. Methods A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science from inception until July 31st, 2024. Human studies involving all ages, sexes, and ethnicities were included, excluding those lacking well-specified definitions or cut-offs for osteopenia/osteoporosis, sarcopenia and obesity. Results were reported in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, with methodological quality assessed using the Quality Assessment Tools of the National Institutes of Health. Results After removing duplicates and screening titles and abstracts, 64 potentially eligible studies were examined. Of these, 39 studies involving 118,791 participants met the inclusion criteria. Significant heterogeneity was observed in the diagnostic approaches, largely due to the variability in parameters and methods used to assess sarcopenia and obesity, and reference cut-offs. This may partly be explained by differences in the availability of body composition techniques across settings, investigators’ level of expertise and the study population involved. Conclusion These findings underscore the need for consensus guidelines that provide a standardized definition of OSO, diagnostic criteria with practical and clinically relevant cut-offs, and consistent methodologies. This will help identify the prevalence of OSO, define its clinical and functional significance, and develop effective prevention and treatment strategies

Il territorio di Casagiove. Presentazione dei luoghi e storia degli studi

The territory of Casagiove, known in ancient times as Casanova, borders the vast park of the Royal Palace of Caserta. It was part of the ager Campanus, about 4 km from the eastern gate of Capua, from which the Via Appia extended, also passing through the area under investigation. The contribution outlines its morphological features, from the wide flatlands to the junction with the steep slopes of the Tifatini Mountains. Historical cartography help in reconstructing the original appearance of the territory, which underwent significant changes in the twentieth century due to intense urbanization and the presence of extensive quarries. T he first archaeological reports are attributed to F.M. Pratilli in the late eighteenth century. He was also responsible for the mistaken association of Casagiove with Casa Jovis, a hypothesis that was later adopted uncritically by most scholars. The chapter outlines the history of archaeological studies and discoveries, mainly burials, proposing a critical examination.Il territorio di Casagiove, in antico Casanova, al confine con il grande parco della Reggia di Caserta, era parte dell’ager campa nus, a circa 4 km dalla porta orientale di Capua, dalla quale usciva la via Appia, che interessa anche l’area indagata. Nel contributo sono delineate le caratteristiche morfologiche, dalla vasta fascia pianeggiante al raccordo con i ripidi versanti delle estreme pro paggini meridionali dei Monti Tifatini. La cartografia storica aiuta nella ricostruzione dell’aspetto originario dei luoghi, che nel Novecento hanno subito modifiche dovute all’intensa urbanizzazione e alla presenza di estese cave. Le prime notizie di carattere archeologico si devono a F.M. Pratilli alla fine del Settecento, al quale va ascritta anche l’errata consonanza Casagiove - Casa Jovis, ripresa, la gran parte delle volte acriticamente, dagli studiosi successivi. Nel capitolo si delinea la storia degli studi e dei rinvenimenti archeologici, per lo più sepolture, proponendone una disamina critica

Cloud-based analysis of aerial imagery for unveiling ancient archaeological patterns

Image processing and artificial intelligence techniques represent new and effective tools for supporting archaeological research to bring ancient finds to light. They can help archaeologists to discover remains that are difficult to identify using traditional approaches. The design and development of such applications, which aim at processing large amounts of data to cover extended areas, requires the use of Cloud paradigms for exploiting Cloud elasticity and scaling with the problem size. This paper presents an original methodology that integrates deep learning, computer vision, and optimization models to identify archaeological remains from aerial images. Results demonstrate how the proposed approach can search for the remains of Centuriation, which is an ancient Roman system for dividing the land over a large area, and evaluate the scalability of a map-reduce implementation in the Cloud

Origins and Development of Narrative-Based Medicine

In the early days of medicine, diagnosis was based on what a patient told the Hippocratic doctor. With the establishment of hospitals and their spread over the 18th century, objective data collection about disease began to be regarded as fundamental, with a patient’s narrative taking second place. Over time, disease increasingly began to coincide with a biological entity that could be objectively observed and quantified, while medicine became a science on a par with physics and chemistry

HistoricO: An Ontology for Modeling Social Classes, Power Positions, Institutions, Events and Rituals in Historical Narratives

The clear and precise modeling of complex concepts present in historical narratives, such as concepts relating to social classes, places and institutions, is of great importance for the analysis and deep understanding of historical texts. In this work we present HistoricO, a domain ontology designed to semantically represent such entities and their relationships in a coherent and structured way, providing a standardized, uninterrupted and shared vocabulary. This ontology, realized through the collaboration of knowledge engineers and historical domain experts, facilitates the automated analysis of historical texts, enables extraction and classification of key concepts and relevant information. The representation of social classes and historical institutions allows to visually and in a structured way capture all the complexity of the social and institutional context of a given historical period, offering a useful tool both for academic studies and for innovative applications in the field of artificial intelligence to support the management and organization of digital cultural contents, such as the analysis and automatic generation of historical contents. The work proposed in this article is a way to improve the accuracy of historical research and at the same time opens the way for interdisciplinary research activities involving the world of computer science with the humanities