Communication and visiting policies in Italian intensive care units during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave and lockdown: a nationwide survey

Background: During the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic wave, an unprecedented number of patients with respiratory failure due to a new, highly contagious virus needed hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The aim of the present study was to describe the communication and visiting policies of Italian intensive care units (ICUs) during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave and national lockdown and compare these data with prepandemic conditions. Methods: A national web-based survey was conducted among 290 Italian hospitals. Each ICU (active between February 24 and May 31, 2020) was encouraged to complete an individual questionnaire inquiring the hospital/ICU structure/organization, communication/visiting habits and the role of clinical psychology prior to, and during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave. Results: Two hundred and nine ICUs from 154 hospitals (53% of the contacted hospitals) completed the survey (202 adult and 7 pediatric ICUs). Among adult ICUs, 60% were dedicated to COVID-19 patients, 21% were dedicated to patients without COVID-19 and 19% were dedicated to both categories (Mixed). A total of 11,102 adult patients were admitted to the participating ICUs during the study period and only approximately 6% of patients received at least one visit. Communication with family members was guaranteed daily through an increased use of electronic devices and was preferentially addressed to the same family member. Compared to the prepandemic period, clinical psychologists supported physicians more often regarding communication with family members. Fewer patients received at least one visit from family members in COVID and mixed-ICUs than in non-COVID ICUs, l (0 [0–6]%, 0 [0–4]% and 11 [2–25]%, respectively, p < 0.001). Habits of pediatric ICUs were less affected by the pandemic. Conclusions: Visiting policies of Italian ICUs dedicated to adult patients were markedly altered during the first COVID-19 wave. Remote communication was widely adopted as a surrogate for family meetings. New strategies to favor a family-centered approach during the current and future pandemics are warranted

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCE OFA SCRAPED SURFACE HEAT EXCHANGER FOR HIGHLY VISCOUS FOODS

Scraped Surface Heat Exchangers (SSHEs) provide an interesting solution in order to actively enhance the convective heat transfer mechanism when highly viscous fluids have to be treated. The investigations available in literature about these heat exchangers are rare, especially under laminar flow regime conditions. Moreover, due to the specificity of each product, it is difficult to generalize the few data available, by making the thermal design of these apparatuses a critical point. This paper concerns with a pilot plant designed in order to evaluate the performance of a concentric SSHE, especially intended for highly viscous fluid foods. Preliminary experimental results are compared to the prediction of an analytical model and to the few empirical heat transfer correlations available in literature suitable for this application

DISPOSAL AND RECYCLING PROCESS FOR END OF LIFE SILICON PV MODULES: FEASIBILITY OF A PLANT BUILT IN ITALY

The disposal and recycling processes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) have assumed an increasing importance during the last years, as confirmed by the rapidly growing waste stream experienced in particular in 2010: in fact, in Italy the collection target of four kilograms per annum per inhabitant has been achieved. Also Photovoltaic Modules, as their disposal has not been regulated yet, are included within WEEE. Since the promulgation of the Ministry for Economic Development Decree referring to the Fourth Feed in Tariff on May 5, 2011, the attention to this issue has increased. Moreover, this problem will become even more important in the next years, due to the wide spread of the photovoltaic technology, promoted by government incentives. In the present paper the feasibility of an end of life silicon PV modules recycling plant, built in Italy, was studied. Recycling processes have already been used in Germany, a country leader in the utilization of renewable energy resources, and the only one where an infrastructure of this type operates on industrial scale. Waste stream, capital, process and logistics costs were the basic parameters taken into account in order to define the economic feasibility of this method

Il fontanile dell'Ariolo a Gavasseto (Reggio Emilia): ambiente di valore culturale e naturalistico da tutelare e valorizzare.

La forte pressione antropica, soprattutto a partire dalla seconda metà del secolo scorso, ha determinato notevoli cambiamenti nel paesaggio della Pianura padana; ne sono un esempio il degrado, la rarefazione e/o la scomparsa di zone umide, maceri, fontanili e corsi d’acqua. Sono quasi completamente scomparse anche molte componenti caratterizzanti il paesaggio agricolo, le fasce boscate ripariali, i pascoli, i prati stabili, le piantate, i filari e le siepi, che si possono definire “elementi semi-naturali” di interesse conservazionistico-storico. Il Fontanile dell’Ariolo, situato a sud-est della città di Reggio Emilia, in località Gavasseto, è costituto da un affioramento di carattere artesiano di acque limpide, ricche di ossigeno, con temperatura poco variabile nel corso dell’anno, mediamente tra i 12 e i 16 °C. Indagini svolte presso gli Archivi di Stato di Reggio Emilia e Modena hanno consentito di reperire notizie e documenti sulla presenza del Fontanile nel passato e su i suoi utilizzi; tra le carte consultate una, del 1422, riferisce di una vendita di terreni a Gavasseto e fa cenno ad un luogo dicto ad paludem. Nel cabreo Communa Gallana del 1719, il Fontanile viene chiaramente indicato sulla mappa di un podere denominato “Le Fontane”. La tutela del Fontanile è stata resa possibile attraverso il suo inserimento in un SIC (Sito di Importanza Comunitaria) ed è in corso la realizzazione di un progetto per la caratterizzazione della componente floristica e vegetazionale. Sono inoltre previsti interventi di valorizzazione del sito in ambito storico-culturale e naturalistico, con finalità anche didattiche

Il progetto di tutela e valorizzazione del Fontanile dell'Ariolo, un ambiente di valore culturale e naturalistico a Gavasseto (Reggio Emilia)

Heavy anthropic pressure, mainly during the second half of the 20th century, has led to considerable changes in the Po Plain landscape, such as degradation, rarefaction or disappearance of wetlands, ponds, water springs (locally called Fontanili) and watercourses. At present many elements characterizing the agricultural landscape, i.e. riparian woods, grasslands, stable meadows, “‘piantate” (these are typical vineyards where the grapevines are supported by trees, usually elms or maples), rows of plants and hedgerows have almost completely disappeared. They all can be defined semi-wild landscape elements of environmental and historical interest. The “Fontanile dell’Ariolo”, placed south-east of Reggio Emilia (northern Italy), is an emergence of limpid groundwater, with little temperature variations, throughout the year. These conditions support the life of a micro-habitat in which peculiar plant and animal species find refuge. As a part of a project for the re-qualification and valorization of the Fontanile, following up its recognition as an SCI (Site of Community Importance), documentary researches were conduced at Public Records Offices of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Moreover the main phases of the project carried out to re-establish areas near the Fontanile, are described

Inverse estimation of the local heat transfer coefficient in curved tubes: a numerical validation

Wall curvature represents one of the most used passive techniques to enhance convective heat transfer. The effectiveness of wall curvature is due to the fact that it gives origin to the centrifugal force: this phenomenon induces local maxima in the velocity distribution that locally increase the temperature gradients at the wall by then maximizing the heat transfer. This fact brings to a significant variation of the wall temperature and of the wall heat flux along the circumferential coordinate. The convective heat transfer coefficient is consequently not uniformly distributed along the tube’s perimeter and is characterized by higher values at the extrados wall surface in comparison to the ones at the intrados wall surface. Therefore, for predicting the overall performance of heat transfer apparatuses that involve the use of curved tubes, it becomes important to know the local distribution of the convective heat transfer coefficient not only along the axis of the heat transfer section, but also on the internal tube’s surface along the cross section circumference. The present paper is intended to the assessment of a procedure developed to evaluate the local convective heat transfer coefficient, along the circumferential coordinate, at the internal wall of a coiled pipe

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE CONVECTIVEHEAT TRANSFER IN COILED CORRUGATED TUBES

In the present analysis, the forced convective heat transfer in coiled tubes having corrugated wall was experimentally studied in the Reynolds number range 50÷1100 by adopting Ethylene Glycol as working fluid. The primary aim of the investigation was to study the combined effect of the wall curvature and of wall corrugation in heat exchangers for highly viscous fluids. Two coiled tubes having a spirally corrugated wall with curvature ratios of 0.031 and 0.056, were investigated under the uniform heat flux boundary condition. The main conclusion is that the effect of the curvature ratio on the Nusselt number is small for Re<500. Moreover, in this flow regime the wall corrugation does not produce any significant beneficial effect. By increasing the Reynolds number the effect of the wall corrugation becomes instead more important and a sudden increase, over the smooth wall behavior, of the average Nusselt number is observed. Moreover the wall corrugation effect is amplified by the curvature effect. The enhancement is ascribable to an early transition to an unstable regime and, for the here considered corrugation profile, the critical Reynolds number value which demarcates the onset of this flow regime is close to the one expected for straight spirally enhanced tubes