INTEGRATED DIGITAL PLATFORMS FOR THE DOCUMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AT RISK

Research definition of strategies and instruments for the prevention, mitigation, and management of hazards resulting from natural or man-made catastrophes is increasingly experimenting with an integrated approach to the digital documentation and visualisation of the built and cultural heritage. In actuality, recent conflicts and events, as well as the rise in natural disasters in previously unaffected regions, demonstrate the growing interest of governments, public administrations and entities, as well as academics, in the development and preservation of the digital memory of man-made landscapes. However, the management of recent catastrophic events allowed for the development of techniques that today enable the transfer of tools and processes from emergency management to routine management.Based on data from recent earthquakes in northern Italy, the current work describes some outcomes of the development of an integrated digital platform for seismic risk management that aims to integrate historical data from previous seismic events, data from existing databases, integrated digital surveys, carried out using integrated survey techniques, and semantically enhanced BIM-based models. The tool is being created as part of a transnational research cooperation initiative with thirteen partners from nations and regions along the Adriatic Sea. The program's overall goal is to improve cross-border emergency services while also raising their degree of safety and efficacy.</p

Relational Regulation and Chinese Real Estate Investment in London: Moving Beyond the Territorial Trap

National governments, urban authorities and supra-national bodies increasingly see the provision of new housing as a core priority. There has been a strong emphasis on reforming the regulatory environments that exist within geographical territories and making them more welcoming to inward investment. However, such outlooks we claim often fall into a territorial trap and give too much prominence to the regulations and policy environments found in recipient destinations. The paper argues instead for a more recursive focus on the ways in which decisions taken in ‘source’ and ‘host’ locations need to be understood as part of a mutually constitutive system of governance. Using the example of Chinese residential investment into London, it argues that investment trends, processes and outcomes reflect a recursive combination of regulatory and political changes in both the city and within China, with the latter becoming increasingly influential. As we show, the Chinese Communist Party has been exerting greater control over the activities of Chinese real estate enterprises and what products are ‘permitted’ for investment and how this should be done. The paper reflects on the implications for recent academic and policy writings on urban territorial competition

INSPIRE PROJECT: INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES FOR SMART BUILDINGS AND PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE

Abstract. Applying integrated digital technologies for the management and maintenance of the existing built heritage appears to be one of the main current challenges for the definition and application of digitisation protocols for the construction supply chain. Key enabling technologies, collaborative platforms, Big Data management and information integration in a BIM environment are areas of increasing experimentation. In the field of intervention on the built heritage, it is the boundaries and opportunities offered by the integration of many different information sources that constitutes the main challenge. Furthermore, the study of the accessibility and usability of data and information from sources such as the three-dimensional terrestrial survey, existing databases, sensor networks, and satellite technologies make it possible to investigate both different ways of data modelling, even with a view to the development of predictive algorithms, and of visualisation and information management. The study illustrates part of the results of the InSPiRE project, an industrial research project financed with European structural funds and carried out in a public-private partnership by four universities and public research bodies, an innovation centre and six companies, SMEs, large enterprises, and start-ups. Specifically, the project highlights the growing importance of BIM-based modelling as a tool to lead users, both experts and non-experts, through the multiple information paths resulting from the relation between data and metadata

Clinical Outcomes of Shunting in Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. A Multicenter Prospective Observational Study

Background: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is characterized by the triad of dementia, gait disturbance and urinary incontinence, all potentially reversible following a ventricu-loperitoneal shunt (VPS). This study aims to evaluate the clinical outcomes of shunting in normal pressure hydrocephalus following a new standardized protocol. Methods: This study is designed according to the STROBE guidelines. Demographical, clinical, surgical and radiological data were collected from May 2015 to November 2019. Gait, balance and incontinence data based on the NPH European scale were collected before and after one, six and twelve months of treatment with a VPS. Clinical symptoms and changes of the stoke volume, measured on phase-contrast MRI, were used to evaluate improvement after VPS surgery. Results: One hundred and eighty-one consecutive patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was 73.1 years (59–86) and mean follow-up was 38.3 months (13–50). The gait (58.5 ± 14.3 to 70.1 ± 13.4, p &lt; 0.001), the balance (66.7 ± 21.5 to 71.7 ± 22.1, p = 0.001), continence domain (69.9 ± 20.5 to 76 ± 20, p = 0.002) scores and neuropsychological scales showed a statistically significant improvement over the follow-up. The overall improvement after 12 months was present in 91.2% of patients. An overall complication rate of 8.8% and a reoperation rate of 9.4% were recorded, respectively. Conclusions: Surgical treatment by VPS for NPH improves symptoms in most patients, when accurately selected. A standardized protocol and a multidisciplinary team dedicated to this disorder is needed to achieve an early and correct diagnosis of NPH. Follow-up with stroke volume measurement is a valuable tool for the early diagnosis of shunt malfunction or the need for valve adjustment

One-year follow-up diagnostic stability of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in a clinical sample of children and toddlers

Some studies show that the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder could be considered reliable and stable in children aged 18 to 24 months. Nevertheless, the diagnostic stability of early ASD diagnosis has not yet been fully demonstrated. This observational study examines the one-year diagnostic stability of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in a clinical sample of 147 children diagnosed between 18 and 48 months of age. The ADOS-2 scores were used in order to stratify children in three levels of symptom severity: Autism (AD; comparison score 5–7), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; comparison score 3–4), and Sub-Threshold Symptoms; (STS; comparison score 1–2). Results: Overall, the largest part of children and toddlers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between 18 and 48 months continued to show autistic symptoms at one-year follow-up evaluation. Neverthe-less, a significant percentage of children with higher ADOS severity scores exhibited a reduction of symptom severity and, therefore, moved towards a milder severity class one year later. Conversely, the number of subjects of the STS group meaningfully increased. Therefore, at one-year follow-up a statistically significant (χ2 (2) = 181.46, p &lt; 0.0001) percentage of subjects (25.2% of the total) who had received a categorical diagnosis of Autistic Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder in baseline no longer met the criteria for a categorical diagnosis. Furthermore, children who no longer met the criteria for autism spectrum disorder continue to show delays in one or more neurodevelopmental areas, possibly related to the emergence of other neurodevelopmental/neuropsychiatric disorders. Overall, the comprehensive results of the study account for a high sensibility but a moderate stability of ASD early diagnosis

Crystal Undulator As A Novel Compact Source Of Radiation

A crystalline undulator (CU) with periodically deformed crystallographic planes is capable of deflecting charged particles with the same strength as an equivalent magnetic field of 1000 T and could provide quite a short period L in the sub-millimeter range. We present an idea for creation of a CU and report its first realization. One face of a silicon crystal was given periodic micro-scratches (grooves), with a period of 1 mm, by means of a diamond blade. The X-ray tests of the crystal deformation have shown that a sinusoidal-like shape of crystalline planes goes through the bulk of the crystal. This opens up the possibility for experiments with high-energy particles channeled in CU, a novel compact source of radiation. The first experiment on photon emission in CU has been started at LNF with 800 MeV positrons aiming to produce 50 keV undulator photons.Comment: Presented at PAC 2003 (Portland, May 12-16

Promoting responsibility, shaping behaviour: housing management, mixed communities and the construction of citizenship

This article examines housing policies aimed at establishing mixed income communities. Based on stakeholder interviews and case study analysis in England and Scotland, the article pays particular attention to the impact of interventions in housing management. The first part of the article considers the policy context for mixed communities and considers the conceptual basis underlying contemporary housing management through discourses of culture and social control. The second part considers how this agenda has resulted in the adoption of intensive management strategies within mixed communities; illustrated in the development of allocation policies, initiatives designed to tackle anti-social behaviour and proposals to develop sustainable communities. The main argument is given that the concept of mixed communities is based on the premise of social housing failure, citizenship has been defined largely in response to private sector interests. This approach to management has been a contributory factor in the construction of social housing as a form of second-class citizenship

FACT-MNG: tumor site specific web-based outcome instrument for meningioma patients

To formulate Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Meningioma (FACT-MNG), a web-based tumor site-specific outcome instrument for assessing intracranial meningioma patients following surgical resection or stereotactic radiosurgery. We surveyed the relevant literature available on intracranial meningioma surgery and subsequent outcomes (38 papers), making note of which, if any, QOL/outcome instruments were utilized. None of the surgveyed papers included QOL assessment specific to tumor site. We subsequently developed questions that were relevant to the signs and symptoms that characterize each of 11 intracranial meningioma sites, and incorporated them into a modified combination of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-BR) and SF36 outcome instruments, thereby creating a new tumor site-specific outcome instrument, FACT-MNG. With outcomes analysis of surgical and radiosurgical treatments becoming more important, measures of the adequacy and success of treatment are needed. FACT-MNG represents a first effort to formalize such an instrument for meningioma patients. Questions specific to tumor site will allow surgeons to better assess specific quality of life issues not addressed in the past by more general questionnaires