Magnetic resonance imaging in cervical spinal cord compression

In patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy MRI sometimes shows increased signal intensity zones on the T2-weighted images. It has been suggested that these findings carry prognostic significance. We studied 56 subjects with cervical spinal cord compression. Twelve patients showed an increased signal intensity (21.4%) and a prevalence of narrowing of the AP-diameter (62% vs 24%). Furthemore, in this group, there was evidence of a longer mean duration of the symptoms and, in most of the patients, of more serious clinical conditions. The importance of these predisposing factors remains, however, to be clarified since they are also present in some patients without the increased signal intensity

DAL PIANO PARTICOLAREGGIATO AL PROGETTO DI IDENTIFICAZIONE DEI CENTRI STORICI. UN APPROCCIO ANALITICO AI COSTI PARAMETRICI NELLA PROSPETTIVA DI UN MODELLO DI PROGRAMMAZIONE STRATEGICA

In the perspective of the participatory programming, nowadays main-stream in all spheres of urban planning, the analysis of the parametric costs has been affirmed as an important design tool; it’s requested, at all levels, to increase the transparency and flexibility of the plan, and play an important role in the knowledge process for decision makers as well as for users and stakeholders. The experimental context of this study is the old town of Ragusa Superiore, a large urban fabric consisting of 8600 architectural units, quite homogeneous from the constructive point of view, but not from the typological and morphological ones. The analysis supports a strategic planning process based on the design of several option of intervention strategies (more conservative or transformative), envisaging a certain degree of flexibility in sorting the involved Architectural Units between the different Intervention Categories; in this role, the proposed pattern allows us to associate in real time the parametric cost to each of the different Intervention Categories supposed in each simulation. The parametric cost analysis is based on the typing of the analysed fabric, consisting of 1788 architectural units and provides a wide range of unit costs to indicate feasibility and convenience of the real estate investments in order to define a possible incentive program aimed at internalizing the urban externalities resulting from the more general process of enhancement of the entire old town.DOI: http://dx.medra.org/10.19254/LaborEst.14.0

The global ring of a smooth projective surface

Let X be a smooth projective variety over an algebraically closed field k. We associate to X , in a functorial way, a multigraded k-algebra G(X), called the global ring of X . We find some results when dim X = 2, and we explicitly determine the global ring in two particular cases

PROGRAMMAZIONE STRATEGICA E VALUTAZIONE GENERATIVA NELLA RIQUALIFICAZIONE DEI TESSUTI URBANI STORICI

The old town of Ragusa is undertaking a process of progressive urban enhancement in some different directions. Its differently valued parts should be covered by a general valorization strategy connecting the decision making process with functional and symbolic values that need to be adequately analyzed and represented. In such a multi-layered urban sub-system, the Architectural Unit can play the role of main information/value unit from which the valuation/decision making pattern starts. The proposed pattern includes, connects and systematizes the analysis, valuation and planning stages by coordinating quantitative appraisals and qualitative multi- criteria assessments based on a MAVT pattern. In particular, the planning stage is aimed at associating the fair Intervention Category to each Architectural Unit by generating a great number of overall intervention strategies in order to maximize different and conflicting objectives. Thus, the strategies are compared basing on their axiological profile, to lay down a trade-off scheme between them. The pattern endorses a semiotic interpretation of the urban fabric, sorting the single Architectural Units by signs, symbols and icons. DOI: http://dx.medra.org/10.19254/LaborEst.12.06            

Cap Rate as the Interpretative Variable of the Urban Real Estate Capital Asset: A Comparison of Different Sub\u2010Market Definitions in Palermo, Italy

Real estate capital is in constant competition with other capital assets due to its different and complementary economic functions such as direct use, productive investment, and speculative investment. These features and the resulting opportunities cannot be easily deduced from direct observation of the real estate markets, so some further insights need to be carried out in order to highlight the relationship between prices, rents and performances. This study aims at providing a multifaceted perspective of a specific urban real estate market to overcome the difficulties arising from opacities and informative asymmetries that hinder the decision of investors, by facilitating the comparison of different options such as capital value, income and performance. Within the mass appraisal approach, the study proposes a methodology for the analysis of the cap rate, intended as the expression of profitability and liquidity of the urban real estate capital asset. The methodology is based on a detailed survey of a sample of the housing market data, collected within a structured database, supported by statistical and territorial analyses of the sample, in order to display the range of cap rates featuring each sub\u2010market, and the related distributions. The methodology is applied to a case study of nearly 1000 properties distributed in a vast urban area of the municipality of Palermo, Italy. The consistency of the relationships between the three variables has been tested with reference to two hypotheses about the sub\u2010market definition, which has been carried out by cluster and by neighbourhood

The geography of values and the land of energy

This study provides a wind farm valuation/planning model, for territorial wind energy policies at a provincial scale. With reference to the case of territory of Syracuse, the pattern identifies the best layout of the plants under different conditions. The pattern, based on the integration of spatial-GIS and numeric calculation, provides a wide range of scenarios able to define a trade off energy/information function characterising the decision pattern of a whole land-energy policy. Energy function includes energy production and the consequent Net Present Value of each plant; Information function includes the visual impacts of each plant given the qualities and the distances of the areas, which the plant is visible from. The best layout maximizes the energy/information-value function.This study provides a wind farm valuation/planning model, for territorial wind energy policies at a provincial scale. With reference to the case of territory of Syracuse, the pattern identifies the best layout of the plants under different conditions. The pattern, based on the integration of spatial-GIS and numeric calculation, provides a wide range of scenarios able to define a trade off energy/information function characterising the decision pattern of a whole land-energy policy. Energy function includes energy production and the consequent Net Present Value of each plant; Information function includes the visual impacts of each plant given the qualities and the distances of the areas, which the plant is visible from. The best layout maximizes the energy/information-value function

Influence of Accessibility, Land Use and Transport Policies on the Transport Energy Dependence of a City

Abstract Transports can be considered as the main contributors of climate change and cities' total energy consumption. In order to reduce transport energy, which is mainly influenced by urban form and available systems, three strategies can be adopted: a land use distribution lowering the need of motorized mobility; adoption of measures fostering low impact transport modes; promotion of energy efficient vehicle fleets. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the suitability of accessibility measures as a planning tool to evaluate the effectiveness of integrated transport and land use policies adopted to reduce the transport energy dependence of an urban area