Identification of safety effects of infrastructure related measures, Deliverable 5.2 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

Identification of safety effects of infrastructure related measures, Deliverable 5.2 of the H2020 project SafetyCub

Cardiovascular responses to cognitive stress in patients with migraine and tension-type headache

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the temporal relationship between autonomic changes and pain activation in migraine and tension-type headache induced by stress in a model relevant for everyday office-work.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We measured pain, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and skin blood flow (BF) during and after controlled low-grade cognitive stress in 22 migraineurs during headache-free periods, 18 patients with tension-type headache (TTH) and 44 healthy controls. The stress lasted for one hour and was followed by 30 minutes of relaxation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cardiovascular responses to cognitive stress in migraine did not differ from those in control subjects. In TTH patients HR was maintained during stress, whereas it decreased for migraineurs and controls. A trend towards a delayed systolic BP response during stress was also observed in TTH. Finger BF recovery was delayed after stress and stress-induced pain was associated with less vasoconstriction in TTH during recovery.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is hypothesized that TTH patients have different stress adaptive mechanisms than controls and migraineurs, involving delayed cardiovascular adaptation and reduced pain control system inhibition.</p

Inventory of assessed infrastructure risk factors and measures, Deliverable 5.4 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

Inventory of assessed infrastructure risk factors and measures, Deliverable 5.4 of the H2020 project SafetyCub

Identification and safety effects of road user related measures. Deliverable 4.2 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

Safety CaUsation, Benefits and Efficiency (SafetyCube) is a European Commission supported Horizon 2020 project with the objective of developing an innovative road safety Decision Support System (DSS). The DSS will enable policy-makers and stakeholders to select and implement the most appropriate strategies, measures, and cost-effective approaches to reduce casualties of all road user types and all severities. This document is the second deliverable (4.2) of work package 4, which is dedicated to identifying and assessing road safety measures related to road users in terms of their effectiveness. The focus of deliverable 4.2 is on the identification and assessment of countermeasures and describes the corresponding operational procedure and outcomes. Measures which intend to increase road safety of all kind of road user groups have been considered [...continues]

Understanding the genesis of mass transport deposits (MTDs) for safe mining planning: Anhovo Quarry, Western Slovenia

Understanding the factors that contribute to anisotropic slopes instability provides important information for safe mining operations in flysch-type units. This work presents the results of sedimentological and structural analyses performed in the Anhovo Quarry (Western Slovenia), where carbonate-rich material is excavated from exhumed mass transport deposits (MTDs), generated by submarine landslides during late Paleocene. The architecture of mine design presents major challenges in terms of ideal configuration for optimized mining processes in one the largest MTDs, the Rodez Unit. A gradual increase in complexity of the slope failure mechanism is associated with different localized degrees of lithification and diagenesis depending directly on the mass transport processes. An estimation of the stability of the quarry walls is therefore based on the correct understanding of the distribution of structural features and anisotropies caused by the depositional characters of the MTD, such as paleo-transport directions, erosive potential and relationships with the basin physiography. Quarry operation planning in MTDs requires a multilayered approach for the geomechanical stability analysis, especially in terms of genesis, diagenesis, and anthropogenic activity.

Substrate deformation and incorporation in sedimentary m\ue9langes (olistostromes): Examples from the northern Apennines (Italy) and northwestern Dinarides (Slovenia)

Intense stratal disruption and lithological mixing is generated during sedimentary transport events, highlighting that gravitational processes are effluent mechanisms in the production of different types of mass transport deposits (MTDs) with internal block-in-matrix arrangement. Extra- and intrabasinal MTDs exhumed in orogenic belts worldwide, identified as olistostromes and sedimentary melanges in the first case, record the final products of the downslope evolution of landslide masses, from slope failures to gravity flows. Specific sedimentary fingerprints are commonly preserved within such "chaotic" rock units, even though usually reworked by polyphased tectonics and associated metamorphism. One of the main conceptual issues in this framework is the occurrence/incorporation of "exotic" clasts and blocks (baseline criterion for melange definition). We here provide an outline of the primary, multi-scale structures identified in key case studies from the northern Apennines of Italy and the northwestern Dinarides in Slovenia. We focus on mechanisms responsible for the entrainment of intra- (native) and extra- (exotic) basinal material and its progressive deformation. Important information, such as the kinematics of processes and internal strain partitioning, can be reconstructed from the study of such features, providing fundamental paleographic and paleo-physiographic constraints, as well as consolidating the basis for a possible updated reappraisal of some classic melanges