The impact of a hot spot policing program in Montevideo, Uruguay: an evaluation using a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference negative binomial approach

Hot spot policing has proven to be effective in reducing crime in cities in North America, Europe and Australasia, but to date, its application and evaluation in Latin American settings has been limited. PADO (Programa de Alta Dedicación Operativa) is a large-scale hot spot policing program implemented by the Uruguay Police in April 2016 in the city of Montevideo. Using an evaluation technique that compares the differential effect between areas where PADO was deployed and control areas, a 23 percent reduction in the rate at which robberies occurred was experienced in the PADO areas, with no significant displacement to neighboring areas, or other areas of the city during the study period. The study indicates that hot spot policing programs can be effective in reducing crime in Latin American urban environments and illustrates how targeted police interventions can be robustly evaluated when control areas are not established at the outset of an intervention

Hybrid Storage System Control Strategy for All-Electric Powered Ships

Abstract In marine applications all-electric propulsion systems are employed on surface ships that are subjected to particular constraints, generally due to environmental restrictions. The technological advancement of electrochemical batteries, which are today characterized by higher capacity and efficiency, has widened their fields of application, although these storage systems require an accurate design to limit their initial and maintenance costs. In order to reduce battery charge and discharge peak currents, supercapacitor modules are generally adopted with the aim to extend batteries expected life. The proper management of energy fluxes within the hybrid architecture, and in particular among batteries, capacitors and loads requires a specific control, called EMS – Energy Management Strategy. In this paper, a novel EMS, based on constrained minimization problem, is proposed and verified with reference to a case study of a waterbus operating in restricted waterways on different routes. The procedure is based on a preliminary solution of an off-line optimization with respect to a known mission profile. Hence, a real-time control strategy is properly evaluated, in order to guarantee robustness against the unavoidable uncertainties, which occur during the operating conditions. In the last part of the paper, a numerical application is presented with the purpose to emphasize the feasibility of the proposal

NW Adriatic Sea variability in relation to chlorophyll-<I>a</I> dynamics in the last 20 years (1986?2005)

International audienceThis paper presents a long-term time series (1986?2005) of hydrological and biogeochemical data, both published and unpublished. Data were collected in the north-western area of the Adriatic Sea, at two stations that are considered hydrodynamically and trophically different. The time series have been statistically and graphically investigated on a monthly scale in order to find not only possible chlorophyll-a trends over time, but also links between the concentrations of chlorophyll-a and the variability in the environment, as well as trophic differences between the two areas. Basically, in both cases the statistical test results show no significant trends in either the average chlorophyll-a values or in dispersion of the data, in contrast with significant trends in temperature and salinity. The two areas have similar hydrological features, yet they present significant differences in the amount of nutrient inputs: these are in fact higher at the coastal site, which is characterized by a prevalence of surface blooms, while they are lower at the offshore station, which is mainly affected by intermediate blooms. Nonetheless, throughout the whole water column, chlorophyll-a concentrations are only slightly different. Both areas are affected by riverine discharge, though in the first case considered chlorophyll-a concentrations are also driven strongly by the seasonal cycle. Finally, the results show that the two stations are not trophically different, although some controlling factors, such as zooplankton grazing in one case and light attenuation in the other, may regulate the growth of phytoplankton

Cellular-Automata model for dense-snow avalanches

This paper introduces a three-dimensional model for simulating dense-snow avalanches, based on the numerical method of cellular automata. This method allows one to study the complex behavior of the avalanche by dividing it into small elements, whose interaction is described by simple laws, obtaining a reduction of the computational power needed to perform a three-dimensional simulation. Similar models by several authors have been used to model rock avalanches, mud and lava flows, and debris avalanches. A peculiar aspect of avalanche dynamics, i.e., the mechanisms of erosion of the snowpack and deposition of material from the avalanche is taken into account in the model. The capability of the proposed approach has been illustrated by modeling three documented avalanches that occurred in Susa Valley (Western Italian Alps). Despite the qualitative observations used for calibration, the proposed method is able to reproduce the correct three-dimensional avalanche path, using a digital terrain model, and the order of magnitude of the avalanche deposit volume

NW Adriatic Sea biogeochemical variability in the last 20 years (1986–2005)

International audience; This paper presents a long-term time series (1986?2005) of hydrological and biogeochemical data, both published and unpublished. Data were collected in the north-western area of the Adriatic Sea, at two stations that are considered hydrodynamically and trophically different. The time series have been statistically and graphically analysed on a monthly scale in order to study the annual climatologies, links between the concentrations of chlorophyll-a and the variability in the environment, trophic differences between the two areas and chlorophyll-a trends over time. Basically, the two areas have similar hydrological features, yet they present significant differences in the amount of nutrient inputs: these are in fact higher at the coastal site, which is characterized by a prevalence of surface blooms, while they are lower at the offshore station, which is mainly affected by blooms at intermediate depths. Nonetheless, throughout the whole water column, chlorophyll-a concentrations are only slightly different. Both areas are affected by riverine discharge, though chlorophyll-a concentrations are also driven strongly by the seasonal cycle at the station closer to the coast. Results show that the two stations are not trophically different, although some controlling factors, such as zooplankton grazing in one case and light attenuation in the other, may further regulate the growth of phytoplankton. In both cases no significant trends are detected in either the average chlorophyll-a values or in dispersion of the data, in contrast with significant trends in temperature and salinity

Adolescents and primary herpetic gingivostomatitis: an Italian overview

Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the therapies administered to Italian adolescents with primary herpetic gingivostomatitis (PHGS) Methods The medical records of 74 adolescents with PHSG were reviewed. The following data were recorded: age, gender, day of onset, type of treatment, lesions' severity, pain scoring, eating, and drinking ability. The oral examination was performed at the first evaluation (T0) and after one week (T1). Results All patients showed up at the first visit at least 48 h after the onset of symptoms. No patient was prescribed an antiviral therapy. An antibiotic therapy was prescribed in order to prevent secondary bacterial infections. Fifteen patients had been treated with non alcoholic chlorhexidine rinses (group A), 29 patients with non alcoholic chlorhexidine rinses plus hyaluronic acid gel (group B); 30 patients with non alcoholic chlorhexidine rinses plus Mucosyte (R) (group C). A significant improvement of the pain scoring and lesions' severity was noted in group C. Conclusion In Italian adolescents, PHGS is diagnosed at least 48 h after onset and the antibiotic therapy is widely prescribed in order to prevent overinfections. Among topical therapies, an association of verbascoside and sodium hyaluronhate seems to favour a faster healing

Interpretable Ranking Using LambdaMART (Abstract)

In this talk we present the main results of a short paper appearing at SIGIR 2022 [1]. Interpretable Learning to Rank (LtR) is an emerging field within the research area of explainable AI, aiming at developing intelligible and accurate predictive models. While most of the previous research efforts focus on creating post-hoc explanations, in this talk we investigate how to train effective and intrinsically-interpretable ranking models. Developing these models is particularly challenging and it also requires finding a trade-off between ranking quality and model complexity. State-of-the-art rankers, made of either large ensembles of trees or several neural layers, exploit in fact an unlimited number of feature interactions making them black boxes. Previous approaches on intrinsically-interpretable ranking models, as Neural RankGAM [2], address this issue by avoiding interactions between features thus paying a significant performance drop with respect to full-complexity models. Conversely, we propose Interpretable LambdaMART, an interpretable LtR solution based on LambdaMART that is able to train effective and intelligible models by exploiting a limited and controlled number of pairwise feature interactions. Exhaustive and reproducible experiments conducted on three publicly-available LtR datasets show that our approach outperforms the current state-of-the-art solution for interpretable ranking of a large margin with a gain of nDCG of up to 8%

Large-sized pleomorphic adenoma of the cheek treated with Nd:Yag laser: Report of a case and review of the literature

Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) mostly involves parotid glands, while extra-parotid localizations are relatively uncommon. Particularly, PAs of the cheek minor salivary glands with a size larger than 4 cm are exceedingly rare, with only few cases reported. Surgical treatment of PA usually consists in radical excision. However, despite a presumptive radicality, recurrences, sometimes followed by malignant transformation, may occur. Here we report a case of a large-sized (6 cm) PA of the cheek minor salivary glands in a 70 year-old female patient, successfully treated through a conservative approach, based on the use of Nd:YAG Laser (λ=1064 nm). No recurrences were observed after a 2-year follow-up. A concise review of the literature, describing the features of 14 cases is also provided. Advantages of laser treatment include a precise cut, reduction of trauma on surrounding tissues, the possibility of a very good intraoperative hemostasis. Such features may sometimes allow to avoid general anesthesia, even for removal of big lesions. Post-operative course, in terms of pain and swelling, is usually better for intervention performed with laser, when compared to traditional surgery

Effect of the Austempering Process on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 27MnCrB5-2 Steel

AbstractThe effect of austempering parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 27MnCrB5-2 steel has been investigated by means of: dilatometric, microstructural and fractographic analyses; tensile and Charpy V-notch (CVN) impact tests at room temperature and a low temperature.Microstructural analyses showed that upper bainite developed at a higher austempering temperature, while a mixed bainitic-martensitic microstructure formed at lower temperatures, with a different amount of bainite and martensite and a different size of bainite sheaf depending on the temperature. Tensile tests highlighted superior yield and tensile strengths (≈30%) for the mixed microstructure, with respect to both fully bainitic and Q&T microstructures, with only a low reduction in elongation to failure (≈10%). Impact tests confirmed that mixed microstructures have higher impact properties, at both room temperature and a low temperature