Development of a contactless sensor system to support rail track geometry on-board monitoring

This paper is focused on the ongoing research, within a work package of the Shift2Rail project Assets4Rail, related to the development of an on-board contactless sensor system able to measure the wheel's transversal position in relation to the rail in order to support track geometry measurements. In particular, this research work focuses on developing a sensor system to support track geometry monitoring performed by the master system under development in other Shift2Rail projects. The aim is to develop a sensor system to detect the relative transversal position between the wheelset and the rail, suitable for the use on commercial (in-service) vehicles. In fact, a possible track geometry monitoring system alternative to the sophisticated and expensive optical/inertial systems and suitable for use on commercial vehicles, could be based on the measurement of accelerations. However, some parameters of the track geometry, such as lateral alignment, are extremely difficult to determine through the measurement of accelerations. In this case, it is necessary to find an innovative sensor system able to determine the wheel's transversal position in relation to the rail. For this reason, this project intends to focus on innovative systems that allow the detection of the wheel-track position by avoiding the optical/inertial systems already used on diagnostic trains. After a state-of-the-art overview on the potentially applicable technologies for the sensor system to be developed, a corresponding analytical tool for comparison of contactless sensors to choose the most suitable technology has been developed and two candidate technologies (stereo and thermal cameras) have been selected and assessed by means of a test platform in the facilities laboratory of VGTU (Vilnius Tech). This work will be the basis for developing a concept design of the sensor system together with a montage solution, which will be finally tested on a vehicle in real operation conditions

Is There a Crucial Link Between Vitamin D Status and Inflammatory Response in Patients With COVID-19?

Background: Hypovitaminosis D has been suggested to play a possible role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Methods: The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between vitamin D status and a biochemical panel of inflammatory markers in a cohort of patients with COVID-19. A secondary endpoint was to evaluate the correlation between 25OHD levels and the severity of the disease. Ninety-three consecutive patients with COVID-19-related pneumonia were evaluated from March to May 2020 in two hospital units in Pisa, in whom biochemical inflammatory markers, 25OHD levels, P/F ratio at nadir during hospitalization, and complete clinical data were available. Results: Sixty-five percent of patients presented hypovitaminosis D (25OHD ≤ 20 ng/ml) and showed significantly higher IL-6 [20.8 (10.9–45.6) vs. 12.9 (8.7–21.1) pg/ml, p = 0.02], CRP [10.7 (4.2–19.2) vs. 5.9 (1.6–8.1) mg/dl, p = 0.003], TNF-a [8.9 (6.0–14.8) vs. 4.4 (1.5–10.6) pg/ml, p = 0.01], D-dimer [0.53 (0.25–0.72) vs. 0.22 (0.17–0.35) mg/l, p = 0.002], and IL-10 [3.7 (1.8–6.9) vs. 2.3 (0.5–5.8) pg/ml, p = 0.03]. A significant inverse correlation was found between 25OHD and all these markers, even adjusted for age and sex. Hypovitaminosis D was prevalent in patients with severe ARDS, compared with the other groups (75% vs. 68% vs. 55%, p < 0.001), and 25OHD levels were lower in nonsurvivor patients. Conclusions: The relationship between 25OHD levels and inflammatory markers suggests that vitamin D status needs to be taken into account in the management of these patients. If vitamin D is a marker of poor prognosis or a possible risk factor with beneficial effects from supplementation, this still needs to be elucidated

PREDICT identifies precipitating events associated with the clinical course of acutely decompensated cirrhosis

Background & Aims: Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis may present without acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) (ADNo ACLF), or with ACLF (AD-ACLF), defined by organ failure(s). Herein, we aimed to analyze and characterize the precipitants leading to both of these AD phenotypes. Methods: The multicenter, prospective, observational PREDICT study (NCT03056612) included 1,273 non-electively hospitalized patients with AD (No ACLF = 1,071; ACLF = 202). Medical history, clinical data and laboratory data were collected at enrolment and during 90-day follow-up, with particular attention given to the following characteristics of precipitants: induction of organ dysfunction or failure, systemic inflammation, chronology, intensity, and relationship to outcome. Results: Among various clinical events, 4 distinct events were precipitants consistently related to AD: proven bacterial infections, severe alcoholic hepatitis, gastrointestinal bleeding with shock and toxic encephalopathy. Among patients with precipitants in the AD-No ACLF cohort and the AD-ACLF cohort (38% and 71%, respectively), almost all (96% and 97%, respectively) showed proven bacterial infection and severe alcoholic hepatitis, either alone or in combination with other events. Survival was similar in patients with proven bacterial infections or severe alcoholic hepatitis in both AD phenotypes. The number of precipitants was associated with significantly increased 90day mortality and was paralleled by increasing levels of surrogates for systemic inflammation. Importantly, adequate first-line antibiotic treatment of proven bacterial infections was associated with a lower ACLF development rate and lower 90-day mortality. Conclusions: This study identified precipitants that are significantly associated with a distinct clinical course and prognosis in patients with AD. Specific preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting these events may improve outcomes in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Lay summary: Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis is characterized by a rapid deterioration in patient health. Herein, we aimed to analyze the precipitating events that cause AD in patients with cirrhosis. Proven bacterial infections and severe alcoholic hepatitis, either alone or in combination, accounted for almost all (96-97%) cases of AD and acute-on-chronic liver failure. Whilst the type of precipitant was not associated with mortality, the number of precipitant(s) was. This study identified precipitants that are significantly associated with a distinct clinical course and prognosis of patients with AD. Specific preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting these events may improve patient outcomes. (c) 2020 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The PREDICT study uncovers three clinical courses of acutely decompensated cirrhosis that have distinct pathophysiology

Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis is defined as the acute development of ascites, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hepatic encephalopathy, infection or any combination thereof, requiring hospitalization. The presence of organ failure(s) in patients with AD defines acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). The PREDICT study is a European, prospective, observational study, designed to characterize the clinical course of AD and to identify predictors of ACLF. A total of 1,071 patients with AD were enrolled. We collected detailed pre-specified information on the 3-month period prior to enrollment, and clinical and laboratory data at enrollment. Patients were then closely followed up for 3 months. Outcomes (liver transplantation and death) at 1 year were also recorded. Three groups of patients were identified. Pre-ACLF patients (n = 218) developed ACLF and had 3-month and 1-year mortality rates of 53.7% and 67.4%, respectively. Unstable decompensated cirrhosis (UDC) patients (n = 233) required ≥1 readmission but did not develop ACLF and had mortality rates of 21.0% and 35.6%, respectively. Stable decompensated cirrhosis (SDC) patients (n = 620) were not readmitted, did not develop ACLF and had a 1-year mortality rate of only 9.5%. The 3 groups differed significantly regarding the grade and course of systemic inflammation (high-grade at enrollment with aggravation during follow-up in pre-ACLF; low-grade at enrollment with subsequent steady-course in UDC; and low-grade at enrollment with subsequent improvement in SDC) and the prevalence of surrogates of severe portal hypertension throughout the study (high in UDC vs. low in pre-ACLF and SDC). Acute decompensation without ACLF is a heterogeneous condition with 3 different clinical courses and 2 major pathophysiological mechanisms: systemic inflammation and portal hypertension. Predicting the development of ACLF remains a major future challenge. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT03056612. Lay summary: Herein, we describe, for the first time, 3 different clinical courses of acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis after hospital admission. The first clinical course includes patients who develop acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and have a high short-term risk of death - termed pre-ACLF. The second clinical course (unstable decompensated cirrhosis) includes patients requiring frequent hospitalizations unrelated to ACLF and is associated with a lower mortality risk than pre-ACLF. Finally, the third clinical course (stable decompensated cirrhosis), includes two-thirds of all patients admitted to hospital with AD - patients in this group rarely require hospital admission and have a much lower 1-year mortality risk

Infrastrutture ferroviarie

Assieme alla rete telefonica, strade e autostrade sono in Italia le infrastrutture più vecchie. Quella elettrica, la rete gas e la ferroviaria lo sono in media un po’ meno.L’Osservatorio sulle Imprese della Facoltà di Ingegneria Civile e Industriale della Sapienza ha sviscerato il quadro infrastrutturale nel quale si inseriranno le risorse europee della Next Generation EU attese dal governo italiano. In tale contesto, l’Alta Velocità è unanimemente riconosciuta essenziale per la sostenibilità economica, ambientale e sociale dell’Italia. La strategia perseguita è corroborata da una programmazione degli investimenti che nella sostanza si presenta già congrua. In merito alle tempistiche di erogazione dei fondi sarebbe tuttavia opportuno porre maggiore attenzione alla fattibilità (priorità) e fruibilità delle opere in ottica sistemic

Operation automation level in an underground line and service reliability

On the basis of operational observations, carried out on a metro line, equipped with ATP, the achievement is to develop a theoretical formulation of the reliability concept through definition of suitable indices, focussing its aleatory components. It is proved, more over, through data coming from a case study, how automation in line operation reduce variability of such aleatory components, increasing reliability. Headway reliability is one of the most important factors for evaluation of the quality of an underground railway operation. Control and regulation actions have the scope to restore a regular headway of train transit when they shift from the theoretical sequence due to a perturbation. For this reason reliability has been chosen as parameter to evaluate the effects of automation introduction in some operational aspects. It has been defined a reliability index which is the difference between real headway and theoretical headway, measured in a given section of the line. Furthermore a reliability coefficient represent a percentage of reliability index average. Actual headway is a aleatory quantity depending on other aleatory quantities like running times, stop times and times for the headline operations. The concept of the adopted theoretical model is that headway between two train running a certain section is a sum of terms depending upon running time of the section itself, transit time through stations and headline operation time

Requirement specifications for track measuring and monitoring systems // Specifiche di requisiti per sistemi di misura e monitoraggio del binario

L’articolo descrive i primi risultati di Assets4Rail, un progetto, finanziato con fondi UE, che vuole offrire un contributo al trasferimento modale a favore della ferrovia attraverso lo studio, l’adattamento e la sperimentazione delle più avanzate tecnologie di monitoraggio e manutenzione, in modo da realizzare un sistema di intervento proattivo ed economicamente efficiente sugli asset ferroviari (intesi sia come infrastruttura, sia come materiale rotabile con particolare riguardo ai difetti che hanno conseguenze sull’armamento)). Il cuore del progetto è lo sviluppo di un sistema integrato per raccogliere ed analizzare informazioni, utilizzando specifici sensori lungo la linea o sistemi automatici di monitoraggio, montati a bordo dei veicoli commerciali, per la rilevazione di difetti che hanno impatti non trascurabili sull’infrastruttura. La prima parte del progetto, come descritto nel presente articolo, è costituita dall’indagine sullo stato dell’arte, attraverso l’esame di precedenti progetti nazionali ed europei, articoli scientifici, idee proposte dall’industria, con lo scopo di individuare catalizzatori, riferimenti e soluzioni emergenti e di valutare tecnologie e soluzioni potenzialmente applicabili nel campo dei sistemi di sensori per il monitoraggio della geometria del binario. In questo contesto l’articolo definisce i requisiti funzionali, operativi, di sicurezza e le prestazioni per lo sviluppo e la sperimentazione di un sistema di sensori da istallare a bordo, in grado di misurare la posizione trasversale della ruota rispetto alla rotaia per coadiuvare le misure della geometria del binario.The paper shows some initial results of Assets4Rail, an EU founded project that aims to contribute to the modal shift towards rail by exploring, adapting and testing the most advanced technologies for railway asset monitoring and maintenance, in order to ensure a proactive and cost-effective maintenance and intervention systems on the assets (both rail infrastructure and rolling stock with regard to defects affecting the track). The core of the project is to develop an integrated system to gather and analyse information, collected by specific on-site sensors, as well as train mounted automated monitoring systems, for detecting defects that have non-negligible impacts on infrastructure. The first step of the project, as described in the present paper, is the state-of-the-art review of previous EU/national funded projects, industry solutions and research papers, to identify drivers, benchmarks and emerging solutions and assess potentially applicable technologies and solutions in the fields of sensor system for track geometry monitoring. In this context, the paper defines the requirements, classified into functional, operational, performances and safety for further developments and testing of an on-board sensor system able to measure the transversal position of the wheel in relation to the rail in order to support track geometry measurement

Measuring Performances of Multi-mode Marshalling Yards

The chapter deals with the wagon-load freight transport. This kind of transport used to be the core business of railways during the last century, while in last decades it began to see its market share reduced in favor of other transport typologies (e.g. intermodal transport). Today wagon-load transport seems no longer economically viable and the smaller and medium volumes used majorly road vehicles and sometimes combined transport. One of many possible ways to try reversing the trend is to convert the old and increasingly frequent abandoned marshalling yards in technological terminals able to receive different kinds of trains equipped with different technologies. These terminals are the Multi-Mode marshalling yards (MMM). This definition refers mainly to the mode of transport and the different railway operation. In this paper are presented the most relevant results obtained through the modelling the operation of a real marshalling yard sited in Hallsberg, Sweden. There are under introduction some innovative technologies and operative measures to quantify the improvements in operations that could contribute to a recovery of the wagon-load transport, reducing the wagons mean transit time through the yards while increasing reliabilit

Present and future operation of rail freight terminals

Rail freight has not progressed coherently to economy: during the last century, the wagonload was the core business of railways, later declining in favor of combined transport, which include the notion of transshipment in an intermediate terminal. Terminals are a key element of transport services and, in this study, the main goal are methods suitable to evaluate the performances of different types of rail freight terminals: Rail to road for long distance and shorter range units transfer, Rail to rail for shunting and/or gauge interchange, Rail to waterways (sea and inland). The evaluation of the performances of terminals and the influence on them of innovative operational measures and technologies is based on a selected combination of tested analytical methods based on sequential application of algorithms and discrete events simulation models, capable to quantify different Key Performance Indicators