Deck-tower interaction in the transverse seismic response of cable-stayed bridges and optimum con figurations

Modern design solutions in cable-stayed bridges give a significant importance to the seismic response in the transverse direction. This work is focused on the dynamic interaction between the deck and the towers, exploring the key role of different vibration modes. An extensive parametric analysis is proposed to address the influence of the main span length, the tower geometry, the cable-system arrangement, the width and height of the deck and the soil conditions. It is demonstrated that the vibration modes that govern the seismic response of cable-stayed bridges in the transverse direction involve the interaction between the tower and the deck, but the order of these modes and the parts of the deck that are affected change with the main span length. It is also observed that the interaction between the deck and the towers during the earthquake is maximised if their isolated vibration frequencies are close to each other, leading to a significantly large seismic demand. Analytical expressions are proposed to obtain the critical frequencies of the towers for which these interactions arise, and recommendations are given to define the tower geometry in order to avoid such problematic scenarios

Effect of spatial variability of earthquakes on cable-stayed bridges

This paper focuses on the effect of spatially variable ground motions on the towers of cable-stayed bridges with 200, 400 and 600m main spans. Seismic analysis of the bridges is performed, taking account of different sources of the spatial variability, namely; incoherence and wave passage effects. To address these effects, the response of the towers is assessed under the effect of different propagation velocities of the seismic waves and different assumptions on the coherency of the ground motion, to conclude that the effect of spatially variable motions on the seismic response of cable-stayed bridges is dependent on the assumed wave propagation velocity and rate of coherency

Application of multiple-wireless to a visual localisation system for emergency services

Abstract—In this paper we discuss the application of multiplewireless technology to a practical context-enhanced service system called ViewNet. ViewNet develops technologies to support enhanced coordination and cooperation between operation teams in the emergency services and the police. Distributed localisation of users and mapping of environments implemented over a secure wireless network enables teams of operatives to search and map an incident area rapidly and in full coordination with each other and with a control centre. Sensing is based on fusing absolute positioning systems (UWB and GPS) with relative localisation and mapping from on-body or handheld vision and inertial sensors. This paper focuses on the case for multiple-wireless capabilities in such a system and the benefits it can provide. We describe our work of developing a software API to support both WLAN and TETRA in ViewNet. It also provides a basis for incorporating future wireless technologies into ViewNet. I

Life after care: psychological adjustment to bereavement in family carers of people with dementia

BACKGROUND: Despite well-documented evidence of the psychological effects of caring for a relative with dementia, little is known about the bereavement experiences of family carers. The aim of this study was to explore the key psychological changes associated with carers' adjustment to bereavement and "life after care." METHODS: All carers taking part were recruited from a day care center, providing specialist services to people with dementia. We asked carers to describe the key changes associated with psychological adjustment to bereavement through semi-structured qualitative in-depth interviews. Strategies carers used to cope with and adapt to their new role were also explored. All data were thematically analysed. RESULTS: Thirty-one carers were interviewed. The most frequent emotional reactions to bereavement were feelings of loneliness, loss, void, sadness, anger, and relief. Most carers were able to adapt to their new role, and engaging in pleasant activities was the most frequent strategy used to cope with loss and "life after care." CONCLUSIONS: Feelings of loneliness and loss are amongst the key emotional reactions shaping carers' adjustment to bereavement. Most carers are able to adapt to loss; however, a minority experience increased psychological distress after the death of their loved one. A small percentage of carers continues caring for other dependants. Further research is required to identify how carers of people with dementia adapt to bereavement and how this increasing number of individuals can be best supported

The genetics of intellectual disability: advancing technology and gene editing [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Intellectual disability (ID) is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting 1–3% of the world’s population. Genetic factors play a key role causing the congenital limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. The heterogeneity of ID makes it more challenging for genetic and clinical diagnosis, but the advent of large-scale genome sequencing projects in a trio approach has proven very effective. However, many variants are still difficult to interpret. A combined approach of next-generation sequencing and functional, electrophysiological, and bioinformatics analysis has identified new ways to understand the causes of ID and help to interpret novel ID-causing genes. This approach offers new targets for ID therapy and increases the efficiency of ID diagnosis. The most recent functional advancements and new gene editing techniques involving the use of CRISPR–Cas9 allow for targeted editing of DNA in in vitro and more effective mammalian and human tissue-derived disease models. The expansion of genomic analysis of ID patients in diverse and ancient populations can reveal rare novel disease-causing genes

A Review of Copy Number Variants in Inherited Neuropathies

The rapid development in the last 10-15 years of microarray technologies, such as oligonucleotide array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) genotyping array, has improved the identification of fine chromosomal structural variants, ranging in length from kilobases (kb) to megabases (Mb), as an important cause of genetic differences among healthy individuals and also as disease-susceptibility and/or disease-causing factors. Structural genomic variations due to unbalanced chromosomal rearrangements are known as Copy-Number Variants (CNVs) and these include variably sized deletions, duplications, triplications and translocations. CNVs can significantly contribute to human diseases and rearrangements in several dosagesensitive genes have been identified as an important causative mechanism in the molecular aetiology of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease and of several CMT-related disorders, a group of inherited neuropathies with a broad range of clinical phenotypes, inheritance patterns and causative genes. Duplications or deletions of the dosage-sensitive gene PMP22 mapped to chromosome 17p12 represent the most frequent causes of CMT type 1A and Hereditary Neuropathy with liability to Pressure Palsies (HNPP), respectively. Additionally, CNVs have been identified in patients with other CMT types (e.g., CMT1X, CMT1B, CMT4D) and different hereditary poly- (e.g., giant axonal neuropathy) and focal- (e.g., hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy) neuropathies, supporting the notion of hereditary peripheral nerve diseases as possible genomic disorders and making crucial the identification of fine chromosomal rearrangements in the molecular assessment of such patients. Notably, the application of advanced computational tools in the analysis of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) data has emerged in recent years as a powerful technique for identifying a genome-wide scale complex structural variants (e.g., as the ones resulted from balanced rearrangements) and also smaller pathogenic (intragenic) CNVs that often remain beyond the detection limit of most conventional genomic microarray analyses; in the context of inherited neuropathies where more than 70 disease-causing genes have been identified to date, NGS and particularly Whole-Genome Sequencing (WGS) hold the potential to reduce the number of genomic assays required per patient to reach a diagnosis, analyzing with a single test all the Single Nucleotide Variants (SNVs) and CNVs in the genes possibly implicated in this heterogeneous group of disorders

SemTab 2019: Resources to Benchmark Tabular Data to Knowledge Graph Matching Systems

Tabular data to Knowledge Graph matching is the process of assigning semantic tags from knowledge graphs (e.g., Wikidata or DBpedia) to the elements of a table. This task is a challenging problem for various reasons, including the lack of metadata (e.g., table and column names), the noisiness, heterogeneity, incompleteness and ambiguity in the data. The results of this task provide significant insights about potentially highly valuable tabular data, as recent works have shown, enabling a new family of data analytics and data science applications. Despite significant amount of work on various flavors of this problem, there is a lack of a common framework to conduct a systematic evaluation of state-of-the-art systems. The creation of the Semantic Web Challenge on Tabular Data to Knowledge Graph Matching (SemTab) aims at filling this gap. In this paper, we report about the datasets, infrastructure and lessons learned from the first edition of the SemTab challenge

Market Developments on Chinese International Air Passenger Markets in Light of COVID-19 Policy Measures

The world’s governments imposed a plethora of restrictions and quarantine rules to prevent the rapid spread of COVID-19. China was chosen for this study as it was the first market to be impacted. The overall aim of this paper was to analyse international air travel to and from China since the start of COVID-19 and to assess the impact of policy initiatives on seat capacity during this time. The key findings are that implementation of the so called Five one policy in March 2020 was associated with an almost immediate reduction in seat capacity on China to the rest of the world, partially suppressing the more typical impact of underlying GDP and air fares on capacity. It was further found that Chinese international gateways, as airports with substantial proportions of international and connecting traffic, remain the most distressed. Long haul international traffic and revenues from European and North American destinations all experienced unprecedented and sharp reductions. Traffic and revenues from other Asian markets was even more sporadic. Alarmingly, the study extracted that revenues from premium classes were deteriorating much faster than economy class, which is of imminent concern for long-haul carriers reliant on premium traffic coming into the pandemic