Intelligent Information Systems for the representation and management of the city. Urban survey and design for resilience.

Recent emergencies have triggered a series of proposals, revisions and regulatory updates. In Italy, as part of the Italian Decreto Rilancio, a proposal to introduce a compulsory building file seems to have been accepted. If this proposal is followed up, we could soon see the collection of a series of data and information on the building stock of our cities. This contribution defines a proposal for the organisation of this systematic collection, suitably supported by advanced IT tools, to make possible the start of a renewed season of monitoring, management, planning and development of more resilient buildings and cities. The proposed idea is to channel the information and data on individual buildings into a single database that can provide a comprehensive, unambiguous and multi-scalar picture of the urban system

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Quality of Urban Walking Routes: Interaction of Knowledge Systems for Integrated Representations

The northern area of Turin is involved in complex processes of transformation and regeneration articulated in a plurality of functions that support social revitalization and housing policies alongside temporary residential and commercial interventions. A specific district of Turin, Pietra Alta, is presented as an application case of the indicators and graphic codes that the methodological approach of the research is gradually outlining. The results, guided and supported by effective modes of representation, broaden the understanding of the hierarchy and criteria of the needs to move independently on foot and confirm that, given a safe and comfortable environment, people seek utility, a sense of belonging, and pleasantness as additional and distinct needs to enhance their experience of living in the city. Using survey data and assuming relief given by geo-referenced interviews, the proposed work emphasizes the integration of residents’ perceptions and objective measures to understand the impact of environmental features on the behavior of neighborhood residents

Planning and Then Measuring Resilience in the Urban Periphery: The Case of the Northern Area of Turin in Italy

The expression crisis, from Greek “Krino”, means separating, choosing or, discern, evaluate, judge. The crisis therefore requires reflection, an assessment, a discernment that can be the conditions for improvement or rebirth, requires that society verify its ability to measure its own “resilience”. This can be done through techniques involving multiple representations with finely designed indicators that can unfold, through thematic descriptions, complexity and allow the intertwining of the results in a dynamic vision and a productive perspective. The northern suburbs of Turin (Italy) are today affected by complex urban transformation and regeneration processes articulated in functional mixes that support social regeneration and housing policies alongside temporary residential and commercial interventions. Two specific district of Turin, Borgata Vittoria and Pietra Alta, will be presented as an applicative case study of the indicators and graphic codes identified in the methodological approach

Social impact and urban quality: Graphic representation tools for programming and planning

he contribution proposes an ongoing part of a larger work that will be completed in the coming months. The pretext is the update of the evaluation of the social return on investment index carried out in 2015 by the Turin-based Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita CRT with Politecnico di Torino. In 2021 it will be ten years of activity for Sharing, the first example of social housing in Turin, and so it was decided to give an up-to-date reading of the social return by defining an assessment model that on the one hand makes the process of data collection and analysis more rapid, and on the other includes in the study variables of a broader context, at the scale of the neighbourhood, incorporating parameters and indicators of urban quality and resilience, always read through the filter of social impact and its implication with urban quality

Design and Characterization of Polymeric Blends for Biomedical Applications

In biomedical applications, it should be useful to have a system easy to administrate (the best would be a liquid injectable form), with structural properties in physiological conditions (the best would be a soft gel), able to resist to external stimulus (such us the erosion from body fluids, in this case the surface should be a hard gel). [...

Modeling of the reticulation kinetics of alginate/pluronic blends for biomedical applications

In this work, blends of alginate/pluronic (F127) for biomedical applications were investigated. In particular, the kinetics of alginate chain reticulation by bivalent cationswas studied by experimental and modeling approaches. Two kinds of sodium alginate were tested to obtain hard gel films. The thicknesses of the reticulated alginate films were measured as function of the exposure time and of the reticulating copper (Cu2+) solution concentration. The kinetics was described by a proper model able to reproduce the experimental data. The model parameters, evaluated based on the measurements of thicknesses as function of Cu2+ concentration and exposure time, were further validated by comparing the prediction of the modelwith another set of independent measurement; here, the depletion of Cu2+ ions in the conditioning solution above the reacting gel is measured as function of time. The tuned model could be used in the description of the future applications of the blend

Gelification of polymer blends for coating of eluting stents

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