3-Dimensional Contribution to Frame-Wall Lateral Behavior

Behavior of the first floor of the U.S.-Japan seven story reinforced concrete test structure was modeled by a finite element model. The constitutive matrix describing material behavior is a normal concrete model which included a smeared cracking capability. The computed response of the system was shown to have a dependence on the level of tension stiffening present in the concrete. The selection too Iowa value distorted the behavior observed in the model. The 3-dimensional effects presented in the test structure was also observed in the computational model. Motion of the tension I column was transmitted through the slab and beams to the outer frames. This mechanism . provided a significant contribution to the lateral load resistance.National Science Foundation Research Grant CEE 83-1204

Multicentre narrative research on major depression to integrate the experiences of patients, their caregivers and healthcare providers in Italy

OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to investigate the experience of major depression by integrating the perspectives of patients, caregivers and healthcare providers through narrative-based medicine (NBM) to provide new insights to improve care relationships. DESIGN AND SETTING: The research was conducted in 2019 and involved five Italian psychiatric centres and targeted adult patients, their caregivers and healthcare providers to address data source triangulation. A sociodemographic survey and a narrative plot, based on Natural Semantic Metalanguage were collected. Narratives were analysed through NBM classifications, NVivo software and interpretative coding. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-six patients with a diagnosis of major depression, 27 caregivers and 33 healthcare providers participated in the research. RESULTS: Among the 96 collected narratives, 'lonely' was the word patients used most frequently, while 'sad' and 'lifeless' were used most respectively by caregivers and healthcare providers. A positive care relationship was crucial for 84% of patients in relation to their care pathway, and nature (36%) and the arts (28%) were the most frequent resources. Caregivers expressed feelings of powerlessness and inadequacy, and 21% of them reported a declining social life while providing care to a loved one with depression. Thirty-one percent of mental health professionals experienced difficulties in their first encounter with patients; however, their emotions progressively moved towards trust and satisfaction. Furthermore, 89% of patients and healthcare providers and 58% of caregivers evaluated writing the narrative to be a positive experience. CONCLUSION: Findings suggested the possible role for language in understanding major depression, thereby improving care relationships between patients and physicians. Care pathways might also be more attentive to caregivers, to reduce their risk of burnout. Finally, narrative medicine could be integrated with the care pathway as an additional space of expression, dialogue, reflection and development of empathy

Casa de la Lhéngua: A set of language resources and natural language processing tools for Mirandese

This paper describes the efforts for the construction of Language Resources and NLP tools for Mirandese, a minority language spoken in North-eastern Portugal, now available on a community-led portal, Casa de la Lhéngua. The resources were developed in the context of a collaborative citizenship project led by Microsoft, in the context of the creation of the first TTS system for Mirandese. Development efforts encompassed the compilation of a corpus with over 1M tokens, the construction of a GTP system, syllable-division, inflection and a Part-of-Speech (POS) tagger modules, leading to the creation of an inflected lexicon of about 200.000 entries with phonetic transcription, detailed POS tagging, syllable division, and stress mark-up. Alongside these tasks, which were made easier through the adaptation and reuse of existing tools for closely related languages, a casting for voice talents among the speaking community was conducted and the first speech database for speech synthesis was recorded for Mirandese. These resources were combined to fulfil the requirements of a well-tested statistical parameter synthesis model, leading to an intelligible voice font. These language resources are available freely at Casa de la Lhéngua, aiming at promoting the development of real-life applications and fostering linguistic research on Mirandese.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

High Precision Axial Coordinate Readout for an Axial 3-D PET Detector Module using a Wave Length Shifter Strip Matrix

We describe a novel method to extract the axial coordinate from a matrix of long axially oriented crystals, which is based on wavelength shifting plastic strips. The method allows building compact 3-D axial gamma detector modules for PET scanners with excellent 3-dimensional spatial, timing and energy resolution while keeping the number of readout channels reasonably low. A voxel resolution of about 10 mm3 is expected. We assess the performance of the method in two independent ways, using classical PMTs and G-APDs to read out the LYSO (LSO) scintillation crystals and the wavelength shifting strips. We observe yields in excess of 35 photoelectrons from the strips for a 511 keV gamma and reconstruct the axial coordinate with a precision of about 2.5 mm (FWHM)

New indirect evidence of Permian bi-modal volcanism from sediment petrology in the Orobic Basin (Central Southern Alps, Italy)

The Lower Permian Cabianca Volcanite (lower Collio Fm. Auct.), representing the filling of a large caldera, is dominantly acidic, as most coeval volcanics in the Southern Alps: intermediate rocks are rare and nearly irrelevant by volume (only two small andesite breccia pipes outcrop on the flanks of Mt. Cabianca). Subsurface data document the occurrence of an andesite body in the Novazza mine and a diatreme 2 km to the east (crossed by a prospection well), on the left Serio River valley. Out of the moat, Lower Permian pyroclastics outcrop along tens of kilometres, but intermediate rocks are unreported, except for the Val Pradini \u201cporfirite amigdalare\u201d in the west (Ornica). Permian volcanics and Variscan metamorphics are covered by Lower Permian sediments deposited in a transtensional basin, bound by steep faults and fringed by alluvial fans. The alluvial fan conglomerate of Val Sanguigno, north of Novazza, is dominated by andesitic clasts (cobbles-boulders), which reasonably derived from lavas that were outcropping beyond the southern boundary fault of the basin. Investigations of the petrographic composition of the alluvial fan conglomerates carried out east and west of Mt. Cabianca, allowed comparing the composition of the volcanic rocks preserved in the depocentre (Cabianca Caldera) with the volcanic rocks cropping out outside of it, recorded in the clasts of the alluvial fans at the borders of the Orobic Basin. In the eastern (Lake Barbellino) and central (Val Sanguigno) parts of the basin, conglomerates at the southern border of the basin contain abundant intermediate pebbles, and an increasing proportion of basement clasts to the west. Conglomerates from the northern margin of the basin (Ponteranica Conglomerate, Pizzo dei Tre Signori massif) mainly contain pebbles and cobbles of metamorphic basement, acidic welded tuffs and, subordinately, of grey-green volcanics. In both cases, microscope analysis of associated litharenites revealed significant quantities of intermediate to basic volcanic lithic fragments. Visual estimates suggest that basic to intermediate clasts represent 15 to 20% of the bulk volume. Petrographic composition of Lower Permian conglomerates confirms that Permian streams eroded both volcanic rocks and the Variscan basement, but documents that in the source area of the siliciclastics (i.e. highs bordering the basin) intermediate-basic volcanics were more abundant than in the Cabianca Volcanite. The relatively scarcer acidic pebbles in the conglomerate can be partly ascribed to the fact that they were still incoherent and reluctant to produce pebbles transportable over significant distance. Nevertheless, the high amount of basic-intermediate rocks documents that outside of the caldera these rocks were volumetrically abundant. This fact may be explained suggesting the existence of fractures and faults able to drive and trap basic-intermediate lavas documenting a clear bi-modal distribution of extrusives at the surface

Efficient creation of multipartite entanglement in flux qubits

We investigate three superconducting flux qubits coupled in a loop. In this setup, tripartite entanglement can be created in a natural, controllable, and stable way. Both generic kinds of tripartite entanglement -the W type as well as the GHZ type entanglement- can be identified among the eigenstates. We also discuss the violation of Bell inequalities in this system and show the impact of a limited measurement fidelity on the detection of entanglement and quantum nonlocality.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures; extended sections on coupling strength, system preparation, and entanglement detectio

Lithostratigraphy and facies architecture of a Lower Permian continental succession in Central Southern Alps (Orobic Basin, Italy)

The Lower Permian Pizzo del Diavolo Fm. of the Orobic Alps (Laghi Gemelli Gr., upper Collio Fm. Auct.) records, along an E-W area more than 50 km long, events that occurred in a complex continental depositional system, during semi-arid climatic condiitons and in a transtensional tectonic setting. This formation postdates intense volcanic activity and overlays parts of a large caldera and its vast surrounding areas, covered by dominating pyroclastic deposits interbedded with rare braid-plain and lacustrine sediments (Cabianca Volcanite). Post-volcanic sediment distribution reflects the existence of connected half-grabens, characterised by transverse sedimentary input (coarse-grained alluvial fans) evolving into fine-grained heterolitic deposits in the depocentre, hosting ephemeral playa-lakes. Field mapping of two marginal sectors of the Orobic Basin (Pizzo dei Tre Signori massif and Lake Barbellino area), coupled with facies analysis of the Pizzo del Diavolo Fm., led to the identification of significantly different sedimentary evolutions. At the eastern and western ends of the basin, the Pizzo del Diavolo Fm. consists of alluvial fan and floodplain facies associations that differ from the previously studied stratigraphic architecture described in the central part of the basin. The southern borders of the studied areas are characterised by coarse-grained, fining-upward alluvial fan deposits (Val Sanguigno Conglomerate) at their base. The petrographic composition of the conglomerates from the northern border of the basin (Ponteranica Conglomerate) indicates differences in the exposed and eroded rocks from the northern and southern highs, with changes along the basin borders, where conglomeratic units with dominating basement clasts (Mt. Aga Conglomerate) occur. Floodplain facies are similar all along the basin, even if with thickness changes (up to 700 metres in the western part). The stratigraphic architecture observed in the eastern and western sectors markedly differs from that described in the central part of the basin (where a well-organised succession of two fining-upward cycles is described), preventing a detailed correlation of the events across the basin. Also the relative abundance of facies in these three sectors of the basin is different: fine-grained sediments dominate in the central part, whereas coarser deposits occur to the west (Pizzo dei Tre Signori massif) and to the east (Lake Barbellino). The complex architecture of the basin, the difficulty in recognising events or trends that can be traced all across the basin and the different petrographic composition of conglomerates along the northern and southern margins of the basin suggest not only that tectonics controlled facies distribution and depositional environments but also the existence of sub-basins characterised by different evolutions within the greater Orobic Basin, further supporting the envisaged role of strike-slip tectonics

Performance of a 128 channel analogue front-end chip for read-out of Si strip detector modules for LHC experiments

We present a 128-channel analogue front-end chip, SCT128A-HC, for readout of silicon strip detectors employed in the inner tracking detectors of the LHC experiment. The chip is produced in the radiation hard DMILL technology. The architecture of the chip and critical design issues are discussed. The performance of the chip has been evaluated in details in the test bench and is presented in the paper. The chip is used to read out prototype analogue modules compatible in size, functionality and performance with the ATLAS SCT base line modules. Several full size detector modules equipped with SCT128A-HC chips has been built and tested successfully in the lab with beta particles as well as in the test beam. The results concerning the signal-to-noise ratio, noise occupancy, efficiency and spatial resolution are presented. The radiation hardness issues are discussed. (5 refs)