Chapter Architettura e Distruzione. Sperimentazioni sui disegni di Lebbeus Woods

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences

A Copula-Based Joint Model of Commute Mode Choice and Number of Non-Work Stops during the Commute

At the time of publication A. Portoghese, E. Spissu, and I. Meloni were at University of Cagliari, and C.R. Bhat and N. Eluru were at the University of Texas at Austin.In this paper, in the spirit of a tour-based frame of analysis, we examine the commute mode choice and the number of non-work stops during the commute. Understanding the mode and activity stop dimensions of weekday commute travel is important since the highest level of weekday traffic congestion in urban areas occurs during the commute periods. The paper employs a copula-based joint multinomial logit – ordered modeling framework in which commute mode choice is modeled using a multinomial logit formulation and the number of commute stops is modeled using an ordered response formulation. The data used in this study are drawn from the “Time use” multipurpose survey conducted between 2002 and 2003 by the Turin Town Council and the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in the Greater Turin metropolitan area of Italy. The results highlight the importance of accommodating the inter-relationship between commute mode choice and commute stops behavior. The results also point to the stronger effect of household responsibilities and demographic characteristics in the Italian context compared to the US context.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

An efficient decomposition approach for surgical planning

This talk presents an efficient decomposition approach to surgical planning. Given a set of surgical waiting lists (one for each discipline) and an operating theater, the problem is to decide the room-to-discipline assignment for the next planning period (Master Surgical Schedule), and the surgical cases to be performed (Surgical Case Assignment), with the objective of optimizing a score related to priority and current waiting time of the cases. While in general MSS and SCA may be concurrently found by solving a complex integer programming problem, we propose an effective decomposition algorithm which does not require expensive or sophisticated computational resources, and is therefore suitable for implementation in any real-life setting. Our decomposition approach consists in first producing a number of subsets of surgical cases for each discipline (potential OR sessions), and select a subset of them. The surgical cases in the selected potential sessions are then discarded, and only the structure of the MSS is retained. A detailed surgical case assignment is then devised filling the MSS obtained with cases from the waiting lists, via an exact optimization model. The quality of the plan obtained is assessed by comparing it with the plan obtained by solving the exact integrated formulation for MSS and SCA. Nine different scenarios are considered, for various operating theater sizes and management policies. The results on instances concerning a medium-size hospital show that the decomposition method produces comparable solutions with the exact method in much smaller computation time

Characterising two-pathogen competition in spatially structured environments

Different pathogens spreading in the same host population often generate complex co-circulation dynamics because of the many possible interactions between the pathogens and the host immune system, the host life cycle, and the space structure of the population. Here we focus on the competition between two acute infections and we address the role of host mobility and cross-immunity in shaping possible dominance/co-dominance regimes. Host mobility is modelled as a network of traveling flows connecting nodes of a metapopulation, and the two-pathogen dynamics is simulated with a stochastic mechanistic approach. Results depict a complex scenario where, according to the relation among the epidemiological parameters of the two pathogens, mobility can either be non-influential for the competition dynamics or play a critical role in selecting the dominant pathogen. The characterisation of the parameter space can be explained in terms of the trade-off between pathogen's spreading velocity and its ability to diffuse in a sparse environment. Variations in the cross-immunity level induce a transition between presence and absence of competition. The present study disentangles the role of the relevant biological and ecological factors in the competition dynamics, and provides relevant insights into the spatial ecology of infectious diseases.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Final version accepted for publication in Scientific Report

Estimating Route Choice Models from Stochastically Generated Choice Sets on Large-Scale Networks Correcting for Unequal Sampling Probability:Correcting for Unequal Sampling Probability

Route choice is one of the most complex decision-making contexts to represent mathematically, and the most frequently used approach to model route choice consists of generating alternative routes and modeling the preferences of utility-maximizing travelers. The main drawback of this approach is the dependency of the parameter estimates from the choice set generation technique. Bias introduced in model estimation has been corrected only for the random walk algorithm, which has problematic applicability to large-scale networks. This study proposes a correction term for the sampling probability of routes extracted with stochastic route generation. The term is easily applicable to large-scale networks and various environments, given its dependence only on a random number generator and the Dijkstra shortest path algorithm. The implementation for revealed preferences data, which consist of actual route choices collected in Cagliari, Italy, shows the feasibility of generating routes stochastically in a high-resolution network and calculating the correction factor. The model estimation with and without correction illustrates how the correction not only improves the goodness of fit but also turns illogical signs for parameter estimates to logical signs

Percezione, rappresentazione e wayfinding. Una comunicazione multisensoriale e accessibile per il Museo di Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone

La ricerca approfondisce l’interazione tra le persone e lo spazio, confrontando utenze dalle caratteristiche differenti e rivolgendo particolare attenzione al tema della disabilità. Lo studio analizza e confronta i processi percettivi che incidono sulla comprensione dell’architettura. L’obiettivo è duplice: da una parte si intende riconoscere e attribuire il giusto valore alle sensazioni sostitutive della vista, non sempre percepite da chi osserva lo spazio, dall’altra si intende implementare l’accessibilità estendendola alla comprensione delle qualità spaziali che contraddistinguono l’architettura, considerando in primo luogo la disabilità visiva, nella consapevolezza dell’impossibile parzializzazione del concetto di accessibilità. Il caso studio, scelto per la complessità spaziale dei suoi percorsi, è il Museo d’Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone di Genova progettato dall’architetto Mario Labò (1884-1961) a partire dal 1948. L’obiettivo della tesi è quello di evidenziare e comprendere la capacità da parte della persona non vedente di interagire con lo spazio architettonico e coglierne le sue qualità. La ricerca mira, nel suo limitato campo di indagine, a modificare il concetto di accessibilità, abbandonando i luoghi comuni relativi alla concezione di un’architettura strettamente visiva. Comprendere l’importanza di questi fattori consente di porre in evidenza alcuni aspetti capaci di arricchire l’esperienza di tutti, non solo delle persone con disabilità.The research explores the interaction between people and space, comparing users with different characteristics and paying particular attention to the issue of disability. The study analyses and compares the perceptive processes that affect the understanding of architecture. The objective is twofold: on the one hand we intend to recognize and attribute a correct value to the sensations that substitute sight, not always perceived by those who observe a space, on the other we intend to implement accessibility by extending it to the understanding of the spatial qualities that distinguish the architecture, considering firstly visual impairment, being aware that the concept of accessibility cannot be partitioned. The case study, chosen for the spatial complexity of its routes, is the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art in Genoa designed by the architect Mario Labò (1884-1961) from 1948 onwards. The aim of the thesis is to highlight and understand a blind person's ability to interact with the architectural space and grasp its qualities. The research aims, in its limited field of investigation, to modify the concept of accessibility, abandoning the clichés related to the conception of strictly visual architecture. Understanding the importance of these factors allows us to highlight some aspects capable of enriching the everyone’s experience, not only that of those with disabilities

Smart home energy management including renewable sources: A QoE-driven Approach

Smart Home Energy Management (SHEM) systems can introduce adjustments in the working period and operations of the home appliances to allow for energy cost savings, which can however affect the Quality of Experience (QoE) perceived by the user. This paper analyses this issue and proposes a QoE-aware SHEM system, which relies on the knowledge of the annoyance suffered by the users when the operations of appliances are changed with respect to the ideal user's preferences. Accordingly, a number of profiles which describe different usages are created in the design phase. At the deployment stage, users behavior and annoyance are registered to assign one of these profiles per appliance. The assigned profile is then exploited by the QoE-aware Cost Saving Appliance Scheduling and the QoEaware Renewable Source Power Allocation algorithms. The former is aimed at scheduling controlled loads based on users profile preferences and electricity prices making use of a greedy approach. The latter re-allocates appliances' operations whenever a surplus of energy has been made available by renewable energy sources. Experimental results demonstrate that the annoyance perceived by the users is severely diminished with respect to a QoE-unaware strategy, at the expenses of only a limited reduction in energy saving

Prognostic impact of coronary microcirculation abnormalities in systemic sclerosis: a prospective study to evaluate the role of non-invasive tests

INTRODUCTION: Microcirculation dysfunction is a typical feature of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and represents the earliest abnormality of primary myocardial involvement. We assessed coronary microcirculation status by combining two functional tests in SSc patients and estimating its impact on disease outcome. METHODS: Forty-one SSc patients, asymptomatic for coronary artery disease, were tested for coronary flow velocity reserve (CFR) by transthoracic-echo-Doppler with adenosine infusion (A-TTE) and for left ventricular wall motion abnormalities (WMA) by dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). Myocardial multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) enabled the presence of epicardial stenosis, which could interfere with the accuracy of the tests, to be excluded. Patient survival rate was assessed over a 6.7- ± 3.5-year follow-up. RESULTS: Nineteen out of 41 (46%) SSc patients had a reduced CFR (≤2.5) and in 16/41 (39%) a WMA was observed during DSE. Furthermore, 13/41 (32%) patients showed pathological CFR and WMA. An inverse correlation between wall motion score index (WMSI) during DSE and CFR value (r = -0.57, P <0.0001) was observed; in addition, CFR was significantly reduced (2.21 ± 0.38) in patients with WMA as compared to those without (2.94 ± 0.60) (P <0.0001). In 12 patients with abnormal DSE, MDCT was used to exclude macrovasculopathy. During a 6.7- ± 3.5-year follow-up seven patients with abnormal coronary functional tests died of disease-related causes, compared to only one patient with normal tests. CONCLUSIONS: A-TTE and DSE tests are useful tools to detect non-invasively pre-clinical microcirculation abnormalities in SSc patients; moreover, abnormal CFR and WMA might be related to a worse disease outcome suggesting a prognostic value of these tests, similar to other myocardial diseases

Sistema di diagnosi collaborativa per cardiologia pediatrica

In questo rapporto viene dimostrato come è possibile costruire, partendo da tecnologie COTS, un sistema di telemedicina in grado di permettere ad un gruppo di esperti localizzati centralmente di fornire a personale clinico remoto supporto e guida in tempo reale per procedure ecografiche complesse. La prima applicazione del sistema è nella ecocardiologia neonatale, in particolare per la valutazione della pericolosità di potenziali patologie cardiache in neonati immediatamente dopo il parto

Structural Identification from Operational Modal Analysis: The Case of Steel Structures

In the case of old existing structures where the cultural value is very high, structural health analyses and investigations would be better performed without damages or service interruptions. Thus, modal analysis aimed at identifying eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes represents a very effective strategy to identify structural characteristics. In this paper, an innovative strategy to identify structural parameters exploiting the modal information obtained from operational modal analysis is proposed. The importance of the structural modeling in the problem formulation is highlighted. In the case of a simply supported beam, it was possible to assess the beam steel elastic modulus, while in the case of a cantilever beam, some constraint characteristics have been evaluated as well. In the steel frame case, the focus was on the constraint conditions of the structure determining the flexural stiffness of the springs representing the column base constraints. The method performances are promising for applications in larger structures such as bridges and buildings