A COMPARISON BETWEEN PREDICTION POWER OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS AND MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS IN ROAD SAFETY MANAGEMENT

This paper presents a methodology for the management of road safety on two-lane highways. The methodology is based on an experimental investigation carried out on a stretch of road located in southern Italy (the two-lane highway SS106). The study analyses accidents occurring between 2000 and 2005 and the data concerning the accidents that were acquired from police reports. The geometric data were acquired from the official cartography, while the traffic and environmental data were provided by the regional agency for roadway management. The data, organized and stored in a specific designed Geographic Information System (GIS), were processed using a series of statistical procedures, in particular, the results took out the following two models: Model 1 was produced by MultiVariate Analysis (MVA) and the Model 2 was obtained using the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique. Comparing the two models, it emerged that Model 2 is better than Model 1 because the total sum of the residual is lower. However, Model 1 is more efficient in estimating the more dangerous black spots

Evaluation of Runway Bearing Capacity using International Roughness Index

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An atypical case of trigeminal trophic syndrome: a legal medicine perspective in medical responsibility

BACKGROUND: Trigeminal trophic syndrome is a rare complication of peripheral or central damage to the trigeminal nerve characterized by anesthesia, paresthesia and a secondary persistent facial ulceration. METHODS: We describe the case of a 40-year-old woman with previous history of Le Fort I osteotomy for a class III malocclusion who developed trigeminal trophic syndrome. Atypically, the cutaneous symptoms appeared bilaterally and 8 years after surgery. RESULTS: Differential diagnosis was based on clinical history, tissue biopsy and serologic evaluation. Atypical findings could be linked to the surgical burdens of Le Fort I osteotomy, a procedure characterized by a bilateral incision on the maxillofacial bones with a reasonable probability of causing a bilateral injury of the peripheral branches of the trigeminal nerve. CONCLUSION: Although the long delay between trigeminal trophic syndrome onset and surgery and the absence of adequate medical evidence cannot confirm a link with previous surgery in this case, the increasing number of maxillofacial surgery cases suggests that this complication may be more frequent in the next decades, and thus, involved specialists should be aware of this condition as a possible complication of maxillofacial surgery procedures

Teaching Construction in the Virtual University: the WINDS project

This paper introduces some of the Information Technology solutions adopted in Web based INtelligent Design Support (WINDS) to support education in A/E/C design. The WINDS project WINDS is an EC-funded project in the 5th Framework, Information Society Technologies programme, Flexible University key action. WINDS is divided into two actions: ·The research technology action is going to implement a learning environment integrating an intelligent tutoring system, a computer instruction management system and a set of co-operative supporting tools. ·The development action is going to build a large knowledge base supporting Architecture and Civil Engineering Design Courses and to experiment a comprehensive Virtual School of Architecture and Engineering Design. During the third year of the project, more than 400 students all over Europe will attend the Virtual School. During the next three years the WINDS project will span a total effort of about 150 man-years from 28 partners of 10 European countries. The missions of the WINDS project are: Advanced Methodologies in Design Education. WINDS drives a breakdown with conventional models in design education, i.e. classroom or distance education. WINDS implements a problem oriented knowledge transfer methodology following Roger Schank's Goal Based Scenario (GBS) pedagogical methodology. GBS encourages the learning of both skills and cases, and fosters creative problem solving. Multidisciplinary Design Education. Design requires creative synthesis and open-end problem definition at the intersection of several disciplines. WINDS experiments a valuable integration of multidisciplinary design knowledge and expertise to produce a high level standard of education. Innovative Representation, Delivery and Access to Construction Education. WINDS delivers individual education customisation by allowing the learner access through the Internet to a wide range of on-line courses and structured learning objects by means of personally tailored learning strategies. WINDS promotes the 3W paradigm: learn What you need, Where you want, When you require. Construction Practice. Construction industry is a repository of ""best practices"" and knowledge that the WINDS will profit. WINDS system benefits the ISO10303 and IFC standards to acquire knowledge of the construction process directly in digital format. On the other hand, WINDS reengineers the knowledge in up-to-date courses, educational services, which the industries can use to provide just-in-time rather than in-advance learning. WINDS IT Solutions The missions of the WINDS project state many challenging requirements both in knowledge and system architecture. Many of the solutions adopted in these fields are innovative; others are evolution of existing technologies. This paper focuses on the integration of this set of state-of-the-art technologies in an advanced and functionally sound Computer Aided Instruction system for A/E/C Design. In particular the paper deals with the following aspects: Standard Learning Technology Architecture The WINDS system relies on the in progress IEEE 1484.1 Learning Technology Standard Architecture. According to this standard the system consists of two data stores, the Knowledge Library and the Record Database, and four process: System Coach, Delivery, Evaluation and the Learner. WINDS implements the Knowledge Library into a three-tier architecture: 1.Learning Objects: ·Learning Units are collections of text and multimedia data. ·Models are represented in either IFC or STEP formats. ·Cases are sets of Learning Units and Models. Cases are noteworthy stories, which describes solutions, integrate technical detail, contain relevant design failures etc. 2.Indexes refer to the process in which the identification of relevant topics in design cases and learning units takes place. Indexing process creates structures of Learning Objects for course management, profile planning procedures and reasoning processes. 3.Courses are taxonomies of either Learning Units or a design task and Course Units. Knowledge Representation WINDS demonstrates that it is possible and valuable to integrate a widespread design expertise so that it can be effectively used to produce a high level standard of education. To this aim WINDS gathers area knowledge, design skills and expertise under the umbrellas of common knowledge representation structures and unambiguous semantics. Cases are one of the most valuable means for the representation of design expertise. A Case is a set of Learning Units and Product Models. Cases are noteworthy stories, which describe solutions, integrate technical details, contain relevant design failures, etc. Knowledge Integration Indexes are a medium among different kind of knowledge: they implement networks for navigation and access to disparate documents: HTML, video, images, CAD and product models (STEP or IFC). Concept indexes link learning topics to learning objects and group them into competencies. Index relationships are the base of the WINDS reasoning processes, and provide the foundation for system coaching functions, which proactively suggest strategies, solutions, examples and avoids students' design deadlock. Knowledge Distribution To support the data stores and the process among the partners in 10 countries efficiently, WINDS implements an object oriented client/server as COM objects. Behind the DCOM components there is the Dynamic Kernel, which dynamically embodies and maintains data stores and process. Components of the Knowledge Library can reside on several servers across the Internet. This provides for distributed transactions, e.g. a change in one Learning Object affects the Knowledge Library spread across several servers in different countries. Learning objects implemented as COM objects can wrap ownership data. Clear and univocal definition of ownerships rights enables Universities, in collaboration with telecommunication and publisher companies, to act as "education brokers". Brokerage in education and training is an innovative paradigm to provide just-in-time and personally customised value added learning knowledg

Community core detection in transportation networks

This work analyses methods for the identification and the stability under perturbation of a territorial community structure with specific reference to transportation networks. We considered networks of commuters for a city and an insular region. In both cases, we have studied the distribution of commuters' trips (i.e., home-to-work trips and viceversa). The identification and stability of the communities' cores are linked to the land-use distribution within the zone system, and therefore their proper definition may be useful to transport planners.Comment: 8 pages, 13 figure

6th April 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, Italy:Reinforced concrete building performance

On 6th April 2009 an earthquake of magnitude M (w) = 6.3 occurred in the Abruzzo region; the epicentre was very close to the city of L'Aquila (about 6 km away). The event produced casualties and damage to buildings, lifelines and other infrastructures. An analysis of the main damage that reinforced concrete (RC) structures showed after the event is presented in this study. In order to isolate the main causes of structural and non-structural damage, the seismological characteristics of the event are examined, followed by an analysis of the existing RC building stock in the area. The latter issue came under scrutiny after the release of official data about structural types and times of construction, combined with a detailed review of the most important seismic codes in force in the last 100 years in Italy. Comparison of the current design provisions of the Italian and European codes with previous standards allows the main weaknesses of the existing building stock to be determined. Damage to structural and non-structural elements is finally analyzed thanks to photographic material collected in the first week after the event; the main causes of damage are then inferred

Applicazione di nuove tecnologie per il monitoraggio di ambienti marino-costieri

In my PhD project, two low cost detection systems have been tested: a marine one to acquire high resolution data in the bathymetric range between 0 and -10m and, a terrestrial to acquire high resolution data on the beaches. High resolution Side Scan Sonar data acquisition strategies have been developed in shallow water (-5 and -2.5m), capable of communicate integrating data acquired with non-oceanographic systems (Georadar “G.P.R.”). These integrations allowed us to study the emerged shallow and deep submerged areas, and to create very detailed cartographies of the seabed of the Alghero bay, of the Bay of Porto Conte (De Luca et al., 2018) and of the some areas of the Asinara island. In addition to the Side Scan Sonar and the Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), the classic satellite detection systems have been used as well as high resolution images acquired with drones (UAVs). This latest technology, simple to use and very cheap, allows the creation of aerial photographs of marine areas close to the coast, where the oceanographic instruments, at the moment are unable to acquire data (depth less than 2.5 m). The information acquired made possible to evaluate the state of the Posidonia oceanica seagrass, the coastal dynamics present in the Alghero harbour and to characterize two temporary storage sites used for the accumulation of the banquettes of Posidonia oceanica. The coast of Alghero has a unique peculiarity in Sardinian realm, that is; the accumulations of Posidonia leaves. These per year are about 3000 m3, mostly concentrated in the beaches of San Giovanni, Maria Pia and Punta Negra. The large accumulations of leaves are a problem for the recreational use of the beach. The formed banquettes can frequently reach one meter in height, occasionally exceeding two meters. Currently Posidonia oceanica (both leaves and banquettes) is moved by tractors and stored in temporary accumulation sites located near the beaches. For this reason, an action plan was prepared for the dismantling of the temporary storage sites of San Giovanni and Villa Segni. This was aimed to recover as much sand as possible the beach. The Ground Penetrating Radar (G.P.R.) was used to obtain information on the subsurface deposits in the San Giovanni are, to better correct management of the Posidonia accumulated leaves. The area has a surface layer composed of 10 to 50 cm of Posidonia residues mixed with sand, overlying about 3 meters of sand. Between the layers, some wastes with an expiry date or production date were found, useful for stratigraphic dating. These analyses allowed us to establish that the temporary storage areas are not a dump sites and that an accurate managing of them could reclaim sand to the beaches

Source and dynamics of a volcanic caldera unrest : Campi Flegrei, 1983–84

Acknowledgements We thank Tiziana Vanorio, Antonella Amoruso, Luca Crescentini, Nicholas Rawlinson, Yasuko Takei, and David Cornwell for the valuable suggestions regarding the methodology and interpretation. Reviews from Tim Greenfield and two anonymous reviewers helped improving both clarity of the manuscript and interpretation. The Royal Society of Edinburgh - Accademia dei Lincei Bilateral Agreement, the Santander Mobility Award of the College of Physical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, and the TIDES EU COST action granted L.D.S. travel grants for the realisation of this study. E.D.P. has been supported by the EPHESTO and KNOWAVES projects, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Peer reviewedPublisher PD