Accounting for variability in the truth-evaluation of bare epistemic possibility statement

It is hotly debated whose perspective is relevant for defining the truth-value of bare epistemic possibility statements: the utterer or the assessor. Central to this debate are findings on truth-value judgments of ‘might p’ statements in “eavesdropping” scenarios where the statement is appropriately asserted from the point of view of the speaker but does not correspond to how in reality things are. We offer findings from two studies suggesting that in these scenarios English speakers disagree on the truth-value not only of ‘might p’ but also, surprisingly, of bare ‘p’. We argue that underlying this behavior is not a disagreement on the semantic content of the statements but a disagreement on how to interpret the meaning of the adjectives ‘true’ and ‘false’ when applied to a statement uttered by another agent. Specifically, we compare two potential accounts: the first account ascribes to the adjective ‘true’ an ambiguity between a ‘coherent’ sense – a statement uttered by A is true as long as the statement coheres with A’s evidence – and a ‘correspondentist’ sense - a statement as uttered by A is true as long as the statement correspond to reality; the second account treats ‘true’ as having only the correspondentist sense but ascribes to it an inherent relative nature – to decide if a statement as uttered by A is true one has to first decide a perspective (A or the assessor). Lastly, we discuss the implications of the findings for the semantics of epistemic ‘might p’ statements

Earthquake Protection of Existing Structures with Limited Seismic Joint: Base Isolation with Supplemental Damping versus Rotational Inertia

Existing civil engineering structures having strategic importance, such as hospitals, fire stations, and power plants, often do not comply with seismic standards in force today, as they were designed and built based on past structural guidelines. On the other hand, due to their special importance, structural integrity of such buildings is of vital importance during and after earthquakes, which puts demands on strategies for their seismic protection. In this regard, seismic base isolation has been widely employed; however, the existing limited seismic joint between adjacent buildings may hamper this application because of the large displacements concentrated at the isolation floor. In this paper, we compare two possible remedies: the former is to provide supplemental damping in conventional base isolation systems and the latter consists in a combination of base isolation with supplemental rotational inertia. For the second strategy, a mechanical device, called inerter, is arranged in series with spring and dashpot elements to form the so-called tuned-mass-damper-inerter (TMDI) directly connected to an isolation floor. Several advantages of this second system as compared to the first one are outlined, especially with regard to the limitation of floor accelerations and interstory drifts, which may be an issue for nonstructural elements and equipment, in addition to disturbing occupants. Once the optimal design of the TMDI is established, possible implementation of this system into existing structures is discussed

Improving the dynamic performance of base-isolated structures via tuned mass damper and inerter devices: A comparative study

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Guided resonances in photonic quasicrystals

In this paper, we report on the first evidence of guided resonances (GRs) in aperiodically-ordered photonic crystals, tied to the concept of "quasicrystals" in solid-state physics. Via a full-wave numerical study of the transmittance response and the modal structure of a photonic quasicrystal (PQC) slab based on a representative aperiodic geometry (Ammann-Beenker octagonal tiling), we demonstrate the possibility of exciting GR modes, and highlight similarities and differences with the periodic case. In particular, we show that, as for the periodic case, GRs arise from the coupling of the incident plane-wave with degenerate modes of the PQC slab that exhibit a matching symmetry in the spatial distribution, and can still be parameterized via a Fano-like model. Besides the phenomenological implications, our results may provide new degrees of freedom in the engineering of GRs, and pave the way for new developments and applications.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Three figures added; Sec. 3.3 significantly expande

Territorial Ecosystem for circular economies: Eco3R research project

Among the transitional processes that could lead to building consistent sustainable solutions, circular economies practices (CE) are complex processes which must take into account diff erent topics such as stakeholder engagement, material fl ows opportunities, end of life expectations and EU limit perspectives or targets. This paper introduces briefl y the concept of circular territorial ecosystems with respect to the Eco3r research project, carried on by the Politecnico of Turin (DAD) from 2020, in collaboration with CCS, the in-house providing company of 19 municipalities in the area of Turin. Some crucial data on waste management and the main project’s targets are presented. Some Eco3r projects’ outputs are outlined in order to show this local experiment can become a model to scale or replicate in other communities in Europe. The paper is structured as follows: Section 1 describes the background problem with main data and critical issues regarding the case study; Section 2 is describing the target of the research project Eco3R and the scientifi c approach adopted; Section 3 is dedicated on the main output of Eco3R project and the discussion on the further research developments

Development of a weighted scale to assess the quality of cost-effectiveness studies and an application to the economic evaluations of tetravalent HPV vaccine

Aim: Interest in the quality of economic analyses is increasing in the field of decision-making. Drummond's checklist is a useful tool. This study aimed to use a weighted version of Drummond’s checklist together with a consensus of experts to derive a new scoring system to improve the evaluation of economic analyses of tetravalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as a case study. Methods: Drummond's checklist is composed of 35 items divided into 3 sections: study design, data collection and analysis and interpretation of results. To weight the items, a group of experts was asked to attribute a score according to their importance. A bibliographic search of economic evaluations of tetravalent HPV vaccine was performed. Two researchers assessed the quality of selected studies according to the original and weighted checklist. Results: The weighted scores assigned by the consensus to study design, data collection and analysis and interpretation of results were 26, 45 and 48, respectively. Thirteen papers were included in the review of economic evaluations of tetravalent HPV vaccine. According to the weighted Drummond's checklist, their median quality score was 74 with a maximum of 119. The highest score was reached in the study design section. Conclusion: According to the weighted Drummond's checklist, studies were judged to be of medium quality. The main pitfalls were found in issues assigned the highest scores by the consensus, underlying the utility of weighting available checklists to improve the estimate of the quality of economic analyses. The weighted checklist could be thus proposed as a scoring tool to assess the quality

Are community-based nurse-led self-management support interventions effective in chronic patients? Results of a systematic review and meta-analysis

The expansion of primary care and community-based service delivery systems is intended to meet emerging needs, reduce the costs of hospital-based ambulatory care and prevent avoidable hospital use by the provision of more appropriate care. Great emphasis has been placed on the role of self-management in the complex process of care of patient with long-term conditions. Several studies have determined that nurses, among the health professionals, are more recommended to promote health and deliver preventive programs within the primary care context. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to assess the efficacy of the nurse-led self-management support versus usual care evaluating patient outcomes in chronic care community programs. Systematic review was carried out in MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus and Web of Science including RCTs of nurse-led self-management support interventions performed to improve observer reported outcomes (OROs) and patients reported outcomes (PROs), with any method of communication exchange or education in a community setting on patients >18 years of age with a diagnosis of chronic diseases or multi-morbidity. Of the 7,279 papers initially retrieved, 29 met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses on systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure reduction (10 studies-3,881 patients) and HbA1c reduction (7 studies-2,669 patients) were carried-out. The pooled MD were: SBP -3.04 (95% CI -5.01--1.06), DBP -1.42 (95% CI -1.42--0.49) and HbA1c -0.15 (95% CI -0.32-0.01) in favor of the experimental groups. Meta-analyses of subgroups showed, among others, a statistically significant effect if the interventions were delivered to patients with diabetes (SBP) or CVD (DBP), if the nurses were specifically trained, if the studies had a sample size higher than 200 patients and if the allocation concealment was not clearly defined. Effects on other OROs and PROs as well as quality of life remain inconclusive