Damage-imperfection indicators for the assessment of multi-leaf masonry walls under different conditions

The complexity of multi-leaf masonry walls suggests further researches on the dy- namic behaviour mainly characterized by incoherent response between the different layers. The intrinsic discontinuity and the manufacturing imperfections are amplified by the incre- mental damage that triggers different failure mechanisms that affect the dynamic parameters, such as modal shapes, frequencies and damping ratios. The dynamic identification with out- put only methodology has been proposed in this work on different multi-leaf masonry walls subjected to uniaxial compressive load. The responses of full infill, damaged infill and strengthened infill masonry panels with different widespread damage have been recorded. The evolution of the damage scenario changes the modal shapes, the related frequencies and the damping ratios that through the comparison with the data of the initial conditions can de- tect the anomalies and then the intrinsic vulnerabilities. Through the curvature modal shape methods and the structural irregularity indices applied to different phases, it was possible evaluate the imperfection and the induced damage entity

Geostatistics as a tool to improve the natural background level definition: An application in groundwater

The Natural Background Level (NBL), suggested by UE BRIDGE project, is suited for spatially distributed datasets providing a regional value that could be higher than the Threshold Value (TV) set by every country. In hydrogeochemically dis-homogeneous areas, the use of a unique regional NBL, higher than TV, could arise problems to distinguish between natural occurrences and anthropogenic contaminant sources. Hence, the goal of this study is to improve the NBL definition employing a geostatistical approach, which reconstructs the contaminant spatial structure accounting geochemical and hydrogeological relationships. This integrated mapping is fundamental to evaluate the contaminant's distribution impact on the NBL, giving indications to improve it. We decided to test this method on the Drainage Basin of Venice Lagoon (DBVL, NE Italy), where the existing NBL is seven times higher than the TV. This area is notoriously affected by naturally occurring arsenic contamination. An available geochemical dataset collected by 50 piezometers was used to reconstruct the spatial distribution of arsenic in the densely populated area of the DBVL. A cokriging approachwas applied exploiting the geochemical relationships among As, Fe andNH4+. The obtained spatial predictions of arsenic concentrationswere divided into three different zones: i) areas with an As concentration lower than the TV, ii) areas with an As concentration between the TV and the median of the values higher than the TV, and iii) areas with an As concentration higher than the median. Following the BRIDGE suggestions, where enough samples were available, the 90th percentile for each zone was calculated to obtain a local NBL (LNBL). Differently from the original NBL, this local value gives more detailed water quality information accounting the hydrogeological and geochemical setting, and contaminant spatial variation. Hence, the LNBL could give more indications about the distinction between natural occurrence and anthropogenic contamination

Theory of the Neutrino Mass

Theoretical aspects of neutrino physics are reviewed, with emphasis on possible explanations of the smallness of neutrino masses and of the peculiar mixing pattern observed in the lepton sector. Some theoretically motivated frameworks, such as those based on spontaneously broken discrete flavour symmetries, are discussed, stressing the importance of low-energy observables, like anomalous magnetic moments, electric dipole moments and lepton flavour violating transitions, to test further features of these models.Comment: elaborated from talks given by the authors at ''Nu HoRIzons'' (February 13-15, 2008, Allahabad, India), ''Neutrino Oscillations in Venice'' (April 15-18, 2008, Venice, Italy), ''Melbourne Neutrino Theory Workshop'' (June 2-4, 2008, Melbourne, Australia) and ''International School of Astroparticle Physics'' (July 16-26, 2008, Valencia, Spain

Electric Waterborne Public Transportation in Venice: a Case Study

The paper reports the results of a study for moving the present diesel-based watercraft propulsion technology used for public transportation in Venice city and lagoon to a more efficient and smart electric propulsion technology, in view of its adopted in a near future. Energy generation and storage systems, electrical machines and drives, as well as economic, environmental and social issues are presented and discussed. Some alternative solutions based on hybrid diesel engine and electric and full electric powertrains are compared in terms of weights, costs and payback times. Previews researches on ship propulsion and electric energy storage developed by the University of Padua and preliminary experiences on electric boats carried out in Venice lagoon by the municipal transportation company ACTV and other stakeholders are the starting point for this study. Results can be transferred to other waterborne mobility systems

Potential future climatic conditions on tourists : a case study focusing on Malta and Venice

The main purpose of this study is to quantify important climatic shifts that took place over Malta and Venice that could be considered as a determining factor on their choice as two prime tourist destinations. Rather than making use of traditional tourist climate indices, this study identifi es long-term trends in weather variables and their derived bioclimatic indices. These climate derivatives are based on a set of high temporal observations (some of which are collected every 30 minutes) and are thus able to capture valuable information that traditional monthly distribution cannot provide. The derivatives obtained from the elementary meteorological observations showed that the level of comfort experienced by visiting tourists over the long term is deteriorating due to increased heat stress. Nonetheless, the increased occurrence of optimal wind speed conditions, as well as a reduced occurrence of gale storms and wind chill events is making these destinations more attractive. A careful study of the output of IPCC climate model projections sheds light on a critical future bioclimate condition during current peak visiting months (July and August) at both destinations. This may imply a required shift, as a form of adaptation, of the visiting periods at these two destinations. This study should allow tourist planners to determine which weather element is a likely future obstacle to the overall bioclimatic suitability of outdoor tourism activities.peer-reviewe

Doctoral Education in Planning and Urban Studies in Italy: what is it really for? Introduction and Editorial note

Data show the reduction of academic positions in Italy and invite to reconsider the role of PhD education and training as the highest level of university education. In fact, although PhDs seem to have a little advantage over Master’s level graduates in the job market, only about 10% find a job at universities. This suggests that changes in PhD programmes might be needed to match students’ needs and job market requirements. However, the opposite is also true with employers, either in the public or private sector, who should try to absorb more PhDs and use their skills and expertise. The aim of this special issue is to analyse PhD education in Italy with a focus on planning and urban studies programmes by emphasising the perspectives of PhD candidates and freshly awarded Doctors since they are generally neglected in reform processes. All authors who contributed to this special issue reflected on the same aim stressing different implications and perspectives. The topics investigated are: matching between students’ expectations and institutional goals, the international mobility of PhD candidates, experiences of international PhD students in Italy, and the evolution of two of the oldest PhD programmes in planning in Italy at Sapienza, Rome and Iuav, Venice

A Variational Stereo Method for the Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Ocean Waves

We develop a novel remote sensing technique for the observation of waves on the ocean surface. Our method infers the 3-D waveform and radiance of oceanic sea states via a variational stereo imagery formulation. In this setting, the shape and radiance of the wave surface are given by minimizers of a composite energy functional that combines a photometric matching term along with regularization terms involving the smoothness of the unknowns. The desired ocean surface shape and radiance are the solution of a system of coupled partial differential equations derived from the optimality conditions of the energy functional. The proposed method is naturally extended to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of ocean waves and applied to three sets of stereo video data. Statistical and spectral analysis are carried out. Our results provide evidence that the observed omnidirectional wavenumber spectrum S(k) decays as k-2.5 is in agreement with Zakharov's theory (1999). Furthermore, the 3-D spectrum of the reconstructed wave surface is exploited to estimate wave dispersion and currents