Leak behaviour in pressurized PVC pipes.

The correct definition of the leak law, i.e. the relationship between the leak outflow, the total head at the leak and other relevant parameters such as the pipe material, can seriously affect the accuracy of the numerical models used for the management of water distribution systems, either if they are used to forecast the leakage reduction by pressure management or to locate and size the leaks within an inverse analysis. In recent decades the use of the classical Torricelli or orifice equation has been questioned in the sense that some experimental results clearly demonstrated that the assumption of a leak outflow proportional to the square root of the head drop can yield unsatisfactory results. To investigate this behaviour, an experimental activity has been carried out at the Water Engineering Laboratory of the University of Perugia, Italy. Part of the results of the carried out tests are presented in this paper for a leak in a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe. Leak laws based on the assumption of a leak area variation with the pressure are compared and validated by strain measures close to the leak

Transient tests for locating and sizing illegal branches in pipe systems

In pipe systems illegal branches can take away remarkable water resources with negative effects from both the economic and technical points of view. Difficulties in pointing out illegal branches by means of steady-state pressure and discharge measurements are mainly due to the fact that, of course, such systems are not active according to a regular time schedule. In this paper the possibility of using Transient Test-Based Techniques (TTBT) for the location and sizing of branches is shown. Specifically, tests carried out in different branched pipe systems at the Water Engineering Laboratory of the University of Perugia, Italy, show that TTBT allow us to detect branches irrespective of whether they are active or not. To improve the precision of the localization, arrival times of pressure waves are detected by means of wavelet analysis. Finally, a simple relation based on the water hammer theory is proposed to size the branch reliably

Experimental investigation of leak hydraulics

In recent decades the hydraulics of leaks, i.e. the definition of the relationships linking the hydraulic quantities in pipes with leaks, has received increasing attention. On the one hand, the definition of the relationship between the leak outflow and the relevant parameters – e.g. the leak area and shape, the pressure inside the pipe and outside the leak, and the pipe material – is crucial for pressure control and inverse analysis techniques. On the other hand, if the effect of the leakage on the governing equations is not taken into account, i.e. the loss of the flow axial momentum is not considered, significant errors can be introduced in the simulation of water distribution systems. In this paper, the governing equations for a pipe with a leak are derived. The basic equations, obtained within different approaches, are presented in a consistent formulation and then compared with the results of some experimental tests. The leak jet angle and other major features of the results are analysed. The estimated values of the parameters can be used in the water distribution network models when pipes with a diffuse leakage are considered

Equivalent hydraulic resistance to simulate pipes subject to diffuse outflows

In water distribution network simulation models, pipes subject to diffuse outflow, either due to connections or to distributed demand or to leaks along their length, are generally converted into pipe elements only subject to lumped demand at their ending nodes. This approximation, which disregards the flow variation along the pipes, generates a loss of axial momentum, which is not correctly taken into account in the present generation of water distribution network models. In this paper a correction to the lumped demand approximation is provided and this equivalence is analyzed within the framework of the Global Gradient Algorithm. This is obtained through a correction of the pipe hydraulic resistance; this approach has proven to be more effective than the use of an asymmetrical lumped demand of the total distributed outflow at the pipe ending nodes. In order to assess the effect of the introduced correction, an application to a simple water distribution system is finally provided

Risk factors and outcome among a large patient cohort with community-acquired acute hepatitis C in Italy

BACKGROUND: The epidemiology of acute hepatitis C has changed during the past decade in Western countries. Acute HCV infection has a high rate of chronicity, but it is unclear when patients with acute infection should be treated. METHODS: To evaluate current sources of hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission in Italy and to assess the rate of and factors associated with chronic infection, we enrolled 214 consecutive patients with newly acquired hepatitis C during 1999-2004. The patients were from 12 health care centers throughout the country, and they were followed up for a mean (+/- SD) period of 14+/-15.8 months. Biochemical liver tests were performed, and HCV RNA levels were monitored. RESULTS: A total of 146 patients (68%) had symptomatic disease. The most common risk factors for acquiring hepatitis C that were reported were intravenous drug use and medical procedures. The proportion of subjects with spontaneous resolution of infection was 36%. The average timespan from disease onset to HCV RNA clearance was 71 days (range, 27-173 days). In fact, 58 (80%) of 73 patients with self-limiting hepatitis experienced HCV RNA clearance within 3 months of disease onset. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that none of the variables considered (including asymptomatic disease) were associated with increased risk of developing chronic hepatitis C. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the importance of medical procedures as risk factors in the current spread of HCV infection in Italy. Because nearly all patients with acute, self-limiting hepatitis C - both symptomatic and asymptomatic - have spontaneous viral clearance within 3 months of disease onset, it seems reasonable to start treatment after this time period ends to avoid costly and useless treatment

A Self-Contained and Automated Method for Flood Hazard Maps Prediction in Urban Areas

Water depths and velocities predicted inside urban areas during severe storms are traditionally the final result of a chain of hydrologic and hydraulic models. The use of a single model embedding all the components of the rainfall–runoff transformation, including the flux concentration in the river network, can reduce the subjectivity and, as a consequence, the final uncertainty of the computed water depths and velocities. In the model construction, a crucial issue is the management of the topographic data. The information given by a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) available on a regular grid, as well as all the other elevation data provided by single points or contour lines, allow the creation of a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) based unstructured digital terrain model, which provides the spatial discretization for both the hydraulic and the hydrologic models. The procedure is split into four steps: (1) correction of the elevation z* measured in the nodes of a preliminary network connecting the edges with all the DEM cell centers; (2) the selection of a suitable hydrographic network where at least one edge of each node has a strictly descending elevation, (3) the generation of the computational mesh, whose edges include all the edges of the hydrographic network and also other lines following internal boundaries provided by roads or other infrastructures, and (4) the estimation of the elevation of the nodes of the computational mesh. A suitable rainfall–runoff transformation model is finally applied to each cell of the identified computational mesh. The proposed methodology is applied to the Sovara stream basin, in central Italy, for two flood events—one is used for parameter calibration and the other one for validation purpose. The comparison between the simulated and the observed flooded areas for the validation flood event shows a good reconstruction of the urban flooding

Predictors of Lung Cancer Risk: An Ecological Study Using Mortality and Environmental Data by Municipalities in Italy

Lung cancer (LC) mortality remains a consistent part of the total deaths occurring world-wide. Its etiology is complex as it involves multifactorial components. This work aims in providing an epidemiological assessment on occupational and environmental factors associated to LC risk by means of an ecological study involving the 8092 Italian municipalities for the period 2006–2015. We consider mortality data from mesothelioma as proxy of asbestos exposure, as well as PM2.5 and radon levels as a proxy of environmental origin. The compensated cases for occupational respiratory diseases, urbanization and deprivation were included as predictors. We used a negative binomial distribution for the response, with analysis stratified by gender. We estimated that asbestos is responsible for about 1.1% (95% CI: 0.8, 1.4) and 0.5% (95% CI: 0.2, 0.8) of LC mortality in males and females, respectively. The corresponding figures are 14.0% (95% CI: 12.5, 15.7) and 16.3% (95% CI: 16.2, 16.3) for PM2.5 exposure, and 3.9% (95% CI: 3.5, 4.2) and 1.6% (95% CI: 1.4, 1.7) for radon expo-sure. The assessment of determinants contribution to observed LC deaths is crucial for improving awareness of its origin, leading to increase the equity of the welfare system

Detection and sizing of extended partial blockages in pipelines by means of a stochastic successive linear estimator

Effective water system management depends upon knowledge of the current state of a water pipeline system network. For example, in many cases, partial blockages in a water pipeline system are a source of inefficiencies, and result in an increase of pumping costs. These anomalies must be detected and corrected as early as possible. In this study, an algorithm is developed for detecting blockages by means of pressure transient measurements and estimating the diameter distribution resulting from their formation. The algorithm is a stochastic successive linear estimator that provides statistically the best unbiased estimate of diameter distribution due to partial blockages and quantifies the uncertainty associated with these estimates. We first present the theoretical formulation of the algorithm and then test it with a numerical case study

Impact of ancestral sequence reconstruction on mechanistic and structural enzymology

Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) provides insight into the changes within a protein sequence across evolution. More specifically, it can illustrate how specific amino acid changes give rise to different phenotypes within a protein family. Over the last few decades it has established itself as a powerful technique for revealing molecular common denominators that govern enzyme function. Here, we describe the strength of ASR in unveiling catalytic mechanisms and emerging phenotypes for a range of different proteins, also highlighting biotechnological applications the methodology can provide.</p