Effect of retrofit interventions on seismic fragility of Italian residential masonry buildings

In this paper, the vulnerability of ordinary unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings is analyzed, and the literature related to possible seismic retrofit interventions is reviewed in order to investigate their feasibility and effectiveness. These interventions are then simulated on a data-base of 445 buildings through Vulnus_4.0 software, that performs simplified mechanical analyses accounting for both global and local behavior of masonry buildings. The fragility of each building is assessed both in its as-built state and after the simulation of retrofit interventions. Fragility curves are then processed, and a fragility model for four building typologies is obtained for the as -built and the seismic retrofitted configurations. Lastly, mean damage maps are elaborated, and the performance of the proposed retrofit interventions is analyzed. The results of this work allow evaluating and comparing the improvement of seismic behavior brought by various retrofit in-terventions and could serve as a basis for further theoretical studies and for practical design in real cases

Impact of Erasmus mobility for study on the development of Tuning Europe generic competences, as assessed by outgoing and incoming students in a large university: a revealing analysis

We explore on the basis of a simple survey tool the perceived impact of the Erasmus mobility experience on the improvement of the thirty generic competences of the Tuning Europe list. We rely on a self-assessment procedure, i.e. on data collected by the Erasmus Office of the University of Padova, Italy, through end-of-stay questionnaires, as returned by both outgoing and incoming Erasmus students. Processed data yield the percentage number of ticks, by which a given competence was chosen by the answering samples. We introduce a quantity “importance of improvement”, which measures the perceived degree of development of a given generic competence during the mobility experience and allows a consistent comparison among different samples. On this basis, we can order the thirty competences according to decreasing perceived importance of improvement in the two above samples. From a general point of view, Erasmus students perceive the most important improvement in instrumental competences. We can then carry out meaningful comparisons between the profiles of competences’ improvement of outgoing and incoming students, both in qualitative and in quantitative terms. Such a comparison reveals interesting features linked to the academic and human environments of mobile students. A further step in the analysis describes how country effects give more insight into the previous results. In such a context, we analyze the country impact on each given competence for both outgoing (visiting the country) and incoming (from the country) students, on the country subgroup  competences’ profile and on the exchange of competences, which occurs between paired country subgroups.</p

Characterisation of an urban bridge portfolio and multi-risk prioritisation accounting for deterioration and seismic vulnerability

This contribution proposes a procedure to prioritise retrofit interventions on stocks of bridges according to their seismic vulnerability. The procedure also combines a previously presented approach to evaluate deterioration effects on bridges at a territorial scale. Thereby, the combi-nation of the two approaches provides a multi-risk classification method for bridge stocks. This method also allows refined prioritisation within each class, based on the proposed quantitative indices and on multicriteria decision-making methods. The method was applied to the bridge stock managed by the municipality of Padova, in North-East Italy. First, an extensive charac-terisation of the analysed stock is provided, according to typological, geometric, and structural parameters. Then, the application of the combined approach is presented, highlighting which bridge types resulted more vulnerable to either seismic actions or deterioration effects

Mechanics-based fragility curves for Italian residential URM buildings

Seismic risk assessment at the territorial level is now widely recognised as essential for countries with intense seismic activity, such as Italy. Academia is called to give its contribution in order to synergically deepen the knowledge about the various components of this risk, starting from the complex evaluation of vulnerability of the built heritage. In line with this, a mechanics-based seismic fragility model for Italian residential masonry buildings was developed and presented in this paper. This model is based on the classification of the building stock in macro-typologies, defined by age of construction and number of storeys, which being information available at national level, allow simulating damage scenarios and carrying out risk analyses on a territorial scale. The model is developed on the fragility of over 500 buildings, sampled according to national representativeness criteria and analysed through the Vulnus_4.0 software. The calculated fragility functions were extended on the basis of a reference model available in the literature, which provides generic fragilities for the EMS98 vulnerability classes, thus obtaining a fragility model defined on the five EMS98 damage states. Lastly, to assess the reliability of the proposed model, this was used to simulate damage scenarios due to the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. Overall, the comparison between model results and observed damage showed a good fit, proving the model effectiveness

20th Anniversary of the Bologna Declaration: From overview of processes to ongoing activities and experiences

The present Issue comes to the light in May 2019, exactly twenty years after the signing of the Bologna Declaration on May 19th, 1999. For this important event, the Editorial Team of TJHE planned to edit an Anniversary Issue. Meanwhile, the Tuning Academy has also published an impressive book “REFORM! TUNING the Modernisation Process of Higher Education in Europe”, by Robert Wagenaar, Director of the University of Groningen branch of the International Tuning Academy and cofounder of Tuning. Those interested in knowing more about the last three decades of HE policies in Europe will find real pleasure in reading those pages. In such a context, the present Issue relies on two invited papers, plus some ordinarily submitted manuscripts, which witness a grass-root situation, rich in critical awareness and creativeness.Published online: 29 May 2019</p

Four years of TJHE at a glance

As an answer to a kind invitation from the present Editor Prof Mary Gobbi, we dare to share as past TJHE Editors some reflections about our four-year period, which edited 8 issues out of a total of 12 issues since when the Journal was born (2013).Published online: 29 November 201

Editorial: Academics, programmes, and methodologies for fostering students’ competences

The title of the present Issue is Academics, programmes, and methodologies for fostering students’ competences. The focus is again “fostering students’ competences”, but – given the complexity of higher education systems – “fostering” may best occur if the several involved actors are accordingly prepared and if the many intermediate steps are properly taken care of. In other terms, as we all know, the winds of innovation may follow quite different paths for new implementations and actual improvements, according to local situations, country- and time- priorities and according to the good will of actors. Indeed, the present Issue starts with the assessment made among some U.S. history academics on the impact of the paradigm shift in teaching and learning brought about by the Tuning and other projects. Next, a quite comprehensive overview of the innovative changes occurring in the field Engineering Education in China in recent years is presented (a most important step at discipline and programme level). The following article deals with the challenge of measuring with a compact operational tool the quality of a degree programme and at the same time the quality of its component units (an innovative step for programme planners and evaluators, carried out in Japan). Then, an experience aimed at re-designing a fourth year of the Bachelor of Education in a South African university on the basis of a constructive alignment methodology is described (again a step at programme planners level). The conclusive article in this issue is quite different from the others and deals with the possible global role to be played by universities as institutions for research, education and any other third mission, in our quickly changing world. We hope that the fundamentals extensively described in this paper may start a fruitful debate among readers and potential future authors.Published online: 29 November 2018</p

Effect of clinical pathways on antibiotic prescriptions in an emergency department: Italian pediatric antimicrobial stewardship starts here

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Analysis of lower limb internal kinetics and electromyography in elite race walking.

The aim of this study was to analyse lower limb joint moments, powers and electromyography patterns in elite race walking. Twenty international male and female race walkers performed at their competitive pace in a laboratory setting. The collection of ground reaction forces (1000 Hz) was synchronised with two-dimensional high-speed videography (100 Hz) and electromyography of seven lower limb muscles (1000 Hz). As well as measuring key performance variables such as speed and stride length, normalised joint moments and powers were calculated. The rule in race walking which requires the knee to be extended from initial contact to midstance effectively made the knee redundant during stance with regard to energy generation. Instead, the leg functioned as a rigid lever which affected the role of the hip and ankle joints. The main contributors to energy generation were the hip extensors during late swing and early stance, and the ankle plantarflexors during late stance. The restricted functioning of the knee during stance meant that the importance of the swing leg in contributing to forward momentum was increased. The knee flexors underwent a phase of great energy absorption during the swing phase and this could increase the risk of injury to the hamstring muscles

FoxO3a as a positive prognostic marker and a therapeutic target in Tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer

Background: Resistance to endocrine treatments is a major clinical challenge in the management of estrogen receptor positive breast cancers. Although multiple mechanisms leading to endocrine resistance have been proposed, the poor outcome of this subgroup of patients demands additional studies. Methods: FoxO3a involvement in the acquisition and reversion of tamoxifen resistance was assessed in vitro in three parental ER+ breast cancer cells, MCF-7, T47D and ZR-75-1, in the deriving Tamoxifen resistant models (TamR) and in Tet-inducible TamR/FoxO3a stable cell lines, by growth curves, PLA, siRNA, RT-PCR, Western blot, Immunofluorescence, Transmission Electron Microscopy, TUNEL, cell cycle, proteomics analyses and animal models. FoxO3a clinical relevance was validated in silico by Kaplan−Meier survival curves. Results: Here, we show that tamoxifen resistant breast cancer cells (TamR) express low FoxO3a levels. The hyperactive growth factors signaling, characterizing these cells, leads to FoxO3a hyper-phosphorylation and subsequent proteasomal degradation. FoxO3a re-expression by using TamR tetracycline inducible cells or by treating TamR with the anticonvulsant lamotrigine (LTG), restored the sensitivity to the antiestrogen and strongly reduced tumor mass in TamR-derived mouse xenografts. Proteomics data unveiled novel potential mediators of FoxO3a anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activity, while the Kaplan−Meier analysis showed that FoxO3a is predictive of a positive response to tamoxifen therapy in Luminal A breast cancer patients. Conclusions: Altogether, our data indicate that FoxO3a is a key target to be exploited in endocrine-resistant tumors. In this context, LTG, being able to induce FoxO3a, might represent a valid candidate in combination therapy to prevent resistance to tamoxifen in patients at risk