Tele-echocardiography between Italy and Balkan area

A project (PIS-SRCE) has been started for promoting international medical cooperation in the Balkan area according to the Stabilization and Association Process, the European Union\u27s policy framework for the Western Balkan countries. Information and communication technology is presently mature to set up a telemedicine network breaking down geographical barriers and providing specialized medical care virtually anywhere in the world. Videoconferencing equipment is commercially available to transmit securely over Internet echocardiography or other modality images in addition to standard audio/video signals. Real-time transmission capability is crucial for allowing specialists to drive remotely proper echo scanning of cardiac structures in patient or foetus with suspected congenital heart disease

Optimization of the arch construction of a prototype of an integral bridge with arch-tension tie-action

Der konventionelle Brückenbau weist aufgrund seiner wartungsintensiven sowie kostspieligen Verschleißteile, wie Lager und Fahrbahnübergangskonstruktionen, hohe Lebenszykluskosten auf. Um diese Kosten von konventionellen Brücken zu optimieren, geht der Trend in Richtung der integralen Brückenbauweise. Durch die spezifische monolithische integrale Bauweise erfolgt die Ausführung des Ober- und Unterbaus ohne Fugen und Fahrbahnübergänge. Integrale Brücken sind jedoch bei langen Spannweiten über 70m, aufgrund von temperatur- und materialbedingten Langzeiteinflüssen, wie Schwinden und Kriechen, nur bedingt realisierbar. Um die genannten Nachteile der integralen Brückenbauweise zu kompensieren, wird am Institut für Tragkonstruktion der Technischen Universität Wien – Forschungsbereich für Stahlbeton- und Massivbau – vertiefend in Richtung unendlich langer integraler Bogenbrücken geforscht. Der wesentliche Vorteil dieser neuen Betrachtungsweise ist die aktivierte Bogen-Zugband-Tragwirkung, wo bei asymmetrischen Belastungen ein Zugband zum Einsatz kommt und somit das Tragverhalten jedes einzelnen Bogens verbessert wird. Dadurch werden die Biegebelastungen verringert und es lassen sich somit schlanke und optisch sehr ansprechende Brücken realisieren. Ein weiterer Vorteil des Zugbands ist, dass die Standsicherheit der Gesamtkonstruktion bei einem Ausfall eines Bogens gewährleistet wird und so einen Totaleinsturz verhindert.Am Lagerplatz der Firma Franz Oberndorfer GmbH & Co KG in Gars am Kamp werden, seit Mai 2018 an einem 28 m langen Prototyp, Großversuche durchgeführt. Der Prototyp wird als ein Ausschnitt aus einer unendlich langen integralen Bogenbrücke gesehen. Die durch Temperatureinflüsse induzierten Messgrößen sind horizontale und vertikale Verformungen, Horizontalschub am Widerlager sowie Rissbildungen im Tragwerk.Anhand des Großversuches erfolgte die Verifizierung von numerischen Modellen. Zur Optimierung der temperaturabhängigen Simulationen der Überbauten wurde die Software ATENA herangezogen, sowie Variantenstudien zur weiteren Optimierung der Bogenaufbauten durchgeführt. Unter Verwendung verschiedener Materialien für verschiedene Anwendungen wird, unter Beachtung der nicht-linearen Materialeigenschaften, eine optimale Lösung untersucht. Darüber hinaus werden bei linear-elastischen Modellen deren Anwendungsgrenzen aufgezeigt und mit nicht-linearen Berechnungsmodellen verglichen. Die Folgen einer möglichen Rissbildung auf das Tragwerk können quantifiziert werden.Conventional bridge construction has high life cycle costs due to its maintenance-intensive as well as costly wearing parts. In order to optimize the life cycle costs of conventional bridges, the trend is moving towards integral bridge construction. Due to the specific monolithic integral construction method, the superstructure and substructure are made without joints and deck transitions. However, integral bridges lead to long spans of up to more than 70 m, which can only be realized to a limited extent due to temperature and material-related long-term influences such as shrinkage and creep. In order to compensate for the above-mentioned disadvantages of the integral bridge construction method, the Institute of Structural Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology – Institute of Structural Engineering - is conducting in-depth research in the direction of infinitely long integral arch bridges. The main advantage of this approach is the activated arch tension-tie load-bearing effect, where a tension-tie is used for asymmetric loads, thus improving the load-bearing behavior of each individual arch. This reduces the bending loads on the piers and thus allows slender and visually very attractive bridges to be realized. Another advantage is the tension-tie, which ensures the stability of the overall structure in the event of failure of an arch, thus preventing total collapse.At the storage yard of the company Franz Oberndorfer GmbH & Co KG in Gars am Kamp, large-scale tests have been carried out on a 28 m long prototype since May 2018. The prototype is seen as a section of an infinitely long integral arch bridge. The measured variables induced by temperature effects are horizontal and vertical deformations, horizontal shear at the abutment, and cracks in the structure.The large-scale test was used to verify numerical models. The ATENA software was used to optimize the temperature-dependent simulations and variant studies were carried out for further optimization. Using different materials for different applications, taking into account the non-linear material properties, an optimal solution is investigated. In addition, for linear-elastic models, their application limits are shown and compared with non-linear calculation models. The consequences of possible cracking on the structure can be quantified.8

Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

[Departement_IRSTEA]Territoires [TR1_IRSTEA]SEDYVINInternational audienceThrough litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging fro

Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

Through litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging from −9 to +26 °C MAT and from 60 to 3113 mm MAP) across different ecosystems. In this study we tested the effect of climate (temperature and moisture), litter type and land-use on early stage decomposition (3 months) across nine biomes. We show that litter quality was the predominant controlling factor in early stage litter decomposition, which explained about 65% of the variability in litter decomposition at a global scale. The effect of climate, on the other hand, was not litter specific and explained <0.5% of the variation for Green tea and 5% for Rooibos tea, and was of significance only under unfavorable decomposition conditions (i.e. xeric versus mesic environments). When the data were aggregated at the biome scale, climate played a significant role on decomposition of both litter types (explaining 64% of the variation for Green tea and 72% for Rooibos tea). No significant effect of land-use on early stage litter decomposition was noted within the temperate biome. Our results indicate that multiple drivers are affecting early stage litter mass loss with litter quality being dominant. In order to be able to quantify the relative importance of the different drivers over time, long-term studies combined with experimental trials are needed.This work was performed within the TeaComposition initiative, carried out by 190 institutions worldwide. We thank Gabrielle Drozdowski for her help with the packaging and shipping of tea, Zora Wessely and Johannes Spiegel for the creative implementation of the acknowledgement card, Josip Dusper for creative implementation of the graphical abstract, Christine Brendle for the GIS editing, and Marianne Debue for her help with the data cleaning. Further acknowledgements go to Adriana Principe, Melanie Köbel, Pedro Pinho, Thomas Parker, Steve Unger, Jon Gewirtzman and Margot McKleeven for the implementation of the study at their respective sites. We are very grateful to UNILEVER for sponsoring the Lipton tea bags and to the COST action ClimMani for scientific discussions, adoption and support to the idea of TeaComposition as a common metric. The initiative was supported by the following grants: ILTER Initiative Grant, ClimMani Short-Term Scientific Missions Grant (COST action ES1308; COST-STSM-ES1308-36004; COST-STM-ES1308-39006; ES1308-231015-068365), INTERACT (EU H2020 Grant No. 730938), and Austrian Environment Agency (UBA). Franz Zehetner acknowledges the support granted by the Prometeo Project of Ecuador's Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) as well as Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (2190). Ana I. Sousa, Ana I. Lillebø and Marta Lopes thanks for the financial support to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017), to FCT/MEC through national funds (PIDDAC), and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. The research was also funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT, through SFRH/BPD/107823/2015 (A.I. Sousa), co-funded by POPH/FSE. Thomas Mozdzer thanks US National Science Foundation NSF DEB-1557009. Helena C. Serrano thanks Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (UID/BIA/00329/2013). Milan Barna acknowledges Scientific Grant Agency VEGA (2/0101/18). Anzar A Khuroo acknowledges financial support under HIMADRI project from SAC-ISRO, India