IL METODO DEGLI SCHEMI ELASTICI PARZIALI NELLA COSTRUZIONE A SBALZO DEI PONTI AD ARCO

In questo lavoro viene presentato uno studio sulle sequenze di tesatura degli stralli nei ponti ad arco costruiti per sbalzi successivi con l’ausilio di tiranti provvisori. In particolare viene presentato il metodo degli schemi elastici parziali, proposto per la determinazione degli sforzi iniziali nei cavi. Tale metodologia è stata dapprima applicata sui ponti strallati e viene estesa in questo studio al caso dei ponti ad arco costruiti per sbalzi successivi. La trattazione teorica è seguita da un’applicazione numerica su un caso studio di un ponte ad arco in calcestruzzo

CREEP EFFECTS AND STRESS ADJUSTMENTS IN CABLE-STAYED BRIDGES WITH CONCRETE DECK

In construction stages of cable-stayed bridges with prestressed concrete deck, the influence of creep on stresses and strains is very important in order to foresee the final patterns of internal forces and displacements. In cantilever construction, the concrete deck can be considered, in each stage, as a continuous beam resting on elastic restraints, which modify with successive additions of new segments, until the last one has been assembled. In these stages stress relaxation in concrete occurs as well as vertical displacements increase. Ehen structure has been closed by inserting midspan segment, stress redistribution begins, due to creep. Deformation and internal force development in construction and service life modify stay stresses such as deck and pylon final profiles. It is necessary to prevent undesirable deformed shape of deck and pylon and to control the final stress pattern of deck and stays. The requested final geometry of the bridge is reached by adjusting stay axial forces during construction. A study is presented in which, by taking into account creep effects, the optimization in terms of deck and pylon deformed shape can be achieved through a sequence of stay force adjustments during construction stages. The presented analysis is based on the theory of aging linear viscoelasticity in order to give a useful tool for the conceptual design of cable-stayed bridges with concrete deck. The proposed procedure allows engineers to design by reducing and avoiding creep effects instead of calculating them with refined models since the first design step

"Delirium Day": A nationwide point prevalence study of delirium in older hospitalized patients using an easy standardized diagnostic tool

Background: To date, delirium prevalence in adult acute hospital populations has been estimated generally from pooled findings of single-center studies and/or among specific patient populations. Furthermore, the number of participants in these studies has not exceeded a few hundred. To overcome these limitations, we have determined, in a multicenter study, the prevalence of delirium over a single day among a large population of patients admitted to acute and rehabilitation hospital wards in Italy. Methods: This is a point prevalence study (called "Delirium Day") including 1867 older patients (aged 65 years or more) across 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italian hospitals. Delirium was assessed on the same day in all patients using the 4AT, a validated and briefly administered tool which does not require training. We also collected data regarding motoric subtypes of delirium, functional and nutritional status, dementia, comorbidity, medications, feeding tubes, peripheral venous and urinary catheters, and physical restraints. Results: The mean sample age was 82.0 ± 7.5 years (58 % female). Overall, 429 patients (22.9 %) had delirium. Hypoactive was the commonest subtype (132/344 patients, 38.5 %), followed by mixed, hyperactive, and nonmotoric delirium. The prevalence was highest in Neurology (28.5 %) and Geriatrics (24.7 %), lowest in Rehabilitation (14.0 %), and intermediate in Orthopedic (20.6 %) and Internal Medicine wards (21.4 %). In a multivariable logistic regression, age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.05), Activities of Daily Living dependence (OR 1.19, 95 % CI 1.12-1.27), dementia (OR 3.25, 95 % CI 2.41-4.38), malnutrition (OR 2.01, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), and use of antipsychotics (OR 2.03, 95 % CI 1.45-2.82), feeding tubes (OR 2.51, 95 % CI 1.11-5.66), peripheral venous catheters (OR 1.41, 95 % CI 1.06-1.87), urinary catheters (OR 1.73, 95 % CI 1.30-2.29), and physical restraints (OR 1.84, 95 % CI 1.40-2.40) were associated with delirium. Admission to Neurology wards was also associated with delirium (OR 2.00, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), while admission to other settings was not. Conclusions: Delirium occurred in more than one out of five patients in acute and rehabilitation hospital wards. Prevalence was highest in Neurology and lowest in Rehabilitation divisions. The "Delirium Day" project might become a useful method to assess delirium across hospital settings and a benchmarking platform for future surveys

Event reconstruction for KM3NeT/ORCA using convolutional neural networks

The KM3NeT research infrastructure is currently under construction at two locations in the Mediterranean Sea. The KM3NeT/ORCA water-Cherenkov neutrino detector off the French coast will instrument several megatons of seawater with photosensors. Its main objective is the determination of the neutrino mass ordering. This work aims at demonstrating the general applicability of deep convolutional neural networks to neutrino telescopes, using simulated datasets for the KM3NeT/ORCA detector as an example. To this end, the networks are employed to achieve reconstruction and classification tasks that constitute an alternative to the analysis pipeline presented for KM3NeT/ORCA in the KM3NeT Letter of Intent. They are used to infer event reconstruction estimates for the energy, the direction, and the interaction point of incident neutrinos. The spatial distribution of Cherenkov light generated by charged particles induced in neutrino interactions is classified as shower- or track-like, and the main background processes associated with the detection of atmospheric neutrinos are recognized. Performance comparisons to machine-learning classification and maximum-likelihood reconstruction algorithms previously developed for KM3NeT/ORCA are provided. It is shown that this application of deep convolutional neural networks to simulated datasets for a large-volume neutrino telescope yields competitive reconstruction results and performance improvements with respect to classical approaches

Event reconstruction for KM3NeT/ORCA using convolutional neural networks

The KM3NeT research infrastructure is currently under construction at two locations in the Mediterranean Sea. The KM3NeT/ORCA water-Cherenkov neutrino de tector off the French coast will instrument several megatons of seawater with photosensors. Its main objective is the determination of the neutrino mass ordering. This work aims at demonstrating the general applicability of deep convolutional neural networks to neutrino telescopes, using simulated datasets for the KM3NeT/ORCA detector as an example. To this end, the networks are employed to achieve reconstruction and classification tasks that constitute an alternative to the analysis pipeline presented for KM3NeT/ORCA in the KM3NeT Letter of Intent. They are used to infer event reconstruction estimates for the energy, the direction, and the interaction point of incident neutrinos. The spatial distribution of Cherenkov light generated by charged particles induced in neutrino interactions is classified as shower-or track-like, and the main background processes associated with the detection of atmospheric neutrinos are recognized. Performance comparisons to machine-learning classification and maximum-likelihood reconstruction algorithms previously developed for KM3NeT/ORCA are provided. It is shown that this application of deep convolutional neural networks to simulated datasets for a large-volume neutrino telescope yields competitive reconstruction results and performance improvements with respect to classical approaches

"Delirium Day": A nationwide point prevalence study of delirium in older hospitalized patients using an easy standardized diagnostic tool

Background: To date, delirium prevalence in adult acute hospital populations has been estimated generally from pooled findings of single-center studies and/or among specific patient populations. Furthermore, the number of participants in these studies has not exceeded a few hundred. To overcome these limitations, we have determined, in a multicenter study, the prevalence of delirium over a single day among a large population of patients admitted to acute and rehabilitation hospital wards in Italy. Methods: This is a point prevalence study (called "Delirium Day") including 1867 older patients (aged 65 years or more) across 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italian hospitals. Delirium was assessed on the same day in all patients using the 4AT, a validated and briefly administered tool which does not require training. We also collected data regarding motoric subtypes of delirium, functional and nutritional status, dementia, comorbidity, medications, feeding tubes, peripheral venous and urinary catheters, and physical restraints. Results: The mean sample age was 82.0 \ub1 7.5 years (58 % female). Overall, 429 patients (22.9 %) had delirium. Hypoactive was the commonest subtype (132/344 patients, 38.5 %), followed by mixed, hyperactive, and nonmotoric delirium. The prevalence was highest in Neurology (28.5 %) and Geriatrics (24.7 %), lowest in Rehabilitation (14.0 %), and intermediate in Orthopedic (20.6 %) and Internal Medicine wards (21.4 %). In a multivariable logistic regression, age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.05), Activities of Daily Living dependence (OR 1.19, 95 % CI 1.12-1.27), dementia (OR 3.25, 95 % CI 2.41-4.38), malnutrition (OR 2.01, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), and use of antipsychotics (OR 2.03, 95 % CI 1.45-2.82), feeding tubes (OR 2.51, 95 % CI 1.11-5.66), peripheral venous catheters (OR 1.41, 95 % CI 1.06-1.87), urinary catheters (OR 1.73, 95 % CI 1.30-2.29), and physical restraints (OR 1.84, 95 % CI 1.40-2.40) were associated with delirium. Admission to Neurology wards was also associated with delirium (OR 2.00, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), while admission to other settings was not. Conclusions: Delirium occurred in more than one out of five patients in acute and rehabilitation hospital wards. Prevalence was highest in Neurology and lowest in Rehabilitation divisions. The "Delirium Day" project might become a useful method to assess delirium across hospital settings and a benchmarking platform for future surveys

Prevalence and co-variates of burnout in consultant hospital doctors: burnout in consultants in Ireland Study (BICDIS)

Objectives Burnout is prevalent among doctors and affects the quality of patient care. Little research on burnout in consultant-level doctors has been done. The objective of this study was to measure burnout in the hospital consultant population in Ireland.Methods Surveys were distributed to consultants in Ireland from September to December 2016. The anonymous online survey combined demographic questions and the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey.Results Four hundred seventy-seven (22%) consultants completed the survey. Of these, 42% reported high levels of burnout. We found that face-to-face contact with patients, specialty, exercise, remuneration and type of contract influenced burnout levels.Conclusions This study demonstrated that over 40% of the consultants studied are affected by burnout. This finding raises concerns for patient safety and standard of care as well as doctors well-being. Interventions to address and minimise burnout are important to guarantee high patient outcomes and retain medical staff.peer-reviewe

Correlation between geochemical, mineralogical and physical characters of sediments and salinization phenomena in a pilot area in the ionian plain (Southern Italy)

Superficial and sub-superficial soils affected by salinization were studied on a pilot site on an Ionian coastal plain in Basilicata, Southern Italy. Grain-size, mineralogical, and geochemical features favouring soil degradation were analyzed. This study identifies the main mechanisms for triggering soil salinization, including electrical conductivity which provide a physical marker by measuring the level of salinization and silty grain component size and halite and/or chlorite percentages provided compositional markers. A critical depth of about 20 cm was identified, impacting the downward diffusion mechanism of the superficial salt and a possible chloritization of smectite from/by soluble magnesium relating to saline water-soil interaction from weathering processes