Fatigue behaviour and residual service life of existing masonry arch bridges

The conservation and safety assessment of old masonry arch bridges represent nowadays a research field of considerable interest. Most of them are testimonies of the past with a significant historical and cultural value, and represent nowadays a large part of the transport infrastructures serving strategic link for roads and railways networks. In many cases their masonry primary elements are already deteriorated due to weather conditions and to the effects of cyclic traffic loads that are increased in both the frequency and the intensity with respect to the past. Even if the ultimate load is not reached, the cumulated damage along with the localised deterioration can reach levels not acceptable leading the entire structure out of service. This paper is addressed to the fatigue assessment of old masonry arch bridges with particular attention to the residual service life evaluation of the arch elements. Unlike of metals and metallic structures, little informations are available to date on the fatigue behaviour of masonry elements, also confirmed by the fact that there are no specific guidelines for assessing the fatigue limit and the residual life. The paper at first shows a critical review of the damage models for the fatigue performance assessment of masonry arch bridges. Then, an application to a case study is presented, where also the influence of intradosal C-FRP reinforcement on the residual service life and the ultimate capacity is discussed

Seismic vulnerability of old Italian fortifications

The damages recorded in the recent seismic events have highlighted that also very robust structures, such as old castles, are vulnerable with respect to not too high seismic actions. However, the damages have allowed not only of understanding the structural behavior of these ancient old fortifications, but also the influence of many factors affecting the specific response. In this paper an overview of the most recent developments in the seismic assessment of Italian medieval castles is presented. The study discusses on the identification of the most vulnerable elements and on their analytical evaluation. Then, an application to an ancient castle chosen as case study is shown

ELARCH Project: Prioritization of threats of cultural heritage for the development of a hazard map. The case study of Aragon’s Castle, Venosa (Italy).

In recent years it has highlighted global interest in disaster prevention and risk mitigation, and the importance of cultural heritage and conservation. According to the literature, the risk is directly linked to two variables: vulnerability and threat, the first related to intrinsic causes of the element and the second to external phenomena. This work is aimed to risk analyses of the Castle of the municipality of Venosa, located in the region of Basilicata (Italy). By studying the threats of the area, based also on historical records of the territory, it has been developed a classification of them, categorized in according to their impact level that could be catastrophic, mild or no harm. Development of threats map by using geographic information systems (GIS) is also discussed

Seismic assessment of masonry churches in Matera landscape

Dramatic human and economic consequences are nowadays still resulting from disasters caused by natural phenomena, as in seismic-prone areas, where comprehensive risk management plans for the conservation of cultural property have not been yet completely developed. In particular, earthquakes have destroyed a large amount of cultural heritage in Italy, country which has currently the largest number of World Heritage sites. Matera landscape, located in Southern Italy into a seismic-prone area with moderate seismicity, is characterized by many and important ancient masonry churches, concentrated in The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera, recognized as Cultural World Heritage by UNESCO since 1993. Some masonry churches are evaluated with two simplified procedures for seismic risk assessment, which are based on qualitative and quantitative parameters. Both procedures are complementary and they allow us to define a numeric priority for planning the preventive conservation of the Cultural Property at territorial scale. The qualitative tools aim to identify the main vulnerabilities and hazards for guiding preventive conservation projects, specific studies and risk mitigation. Whereas, the quantitative procedure allows to identify the most vulnerable macro-elements and to plan the retrofitting interventions depending on the assumed reduced nominal life

Seismic risk assessment of historic constructions: comparative analysis of masonry and adobe churches in Italy and Chile

This paper proposes to compare seismic risk assessment of historic constructions in Chile and Italy - two seismic prone countries with their own seismological conditions, construction histories and heritage buildings - in order to contribute to the construction of a rapid seismic risk assessment method of heritage buildings in Chile by using innovations and lessons learned in past earthquakes in Italy. To that end, this paper focuses on applying two simplified methods, based on expert judgement and observed damage in old masonry churches, with the aim of identifying the most vulnerable elements and correlated threats that would act as site effects under the seismic action, for establishing intervention priority lists and for planning preventive conservation projects. The case studies are two churches in Matera, Italy; one church in the Andean northern Chile; and two churches in Valparaíso, Chile. Finally, the paper discusses the applicability of these methods for Chilean conservation management plans for cultural propert

Seismic behaviour of steel modular buildings: numerical analysis and comparisons between different design solutions

Recently, there is an increasing interest to develop modular multi-storey structures that can be adapted to any use like hospitals, schools, housing, etc, characterized by versatility and speed of use in several conditions. Modular buildings may form complete building blocks with structural systems composed by several elements, such as steel frames, X-LAM timber floors and walls. These modular solutions are then completed with suspended ceilings and facilities including electrical and water systems. This work is focused on the structural behaviour of steel modular buildings with different configurations. To this scope, a case study is considered, characterized by steel elements with connections allowing a rapid on-site assemblage, without any need of skilled workmanship. A comparison among numerical results obtained with time history analyses is shown and discussed. The work presented is a first part of an on-going research addressed to propose reference solutions for modules, suitable in seismic prone areas and characterized by a low-seismic damage

La recalificación arquitectónico-ambiental del centro histórico: Recuperación y resignificación de los “Sassi de Matera” The Architectonic-Environmental Requalification of the Historical Centre: Recovery and Resignification of the “Sassi of Matera”

Los Sassi de Matera se encuentran sobre una colina de piedra empinada, donde grupos de casas se asientan paralelamente sobre el terreno, de manera superpuesta, en círculos concéntricos. Conforman un enorme patrimonio arquitectónico que estuvo habitado hasta el año 1952 en condiciones prehistóricas, careciendo de servicios básicos de habitabilidad y urbanismo adaptados a la vida moderna. Durante cuarenta años de abandono, se han estudiado técnicas de restauración y conservación tradicionales para garantizar la adecuada recuperación del lugar. Se presentan dos intervenciones realizadas por los autores, tomadas como casos de estudio, sus problemáticas particulares, y las soluciones concretas dadas a cada uno. Matera ofrece un recorrido por la historia más antigua de la humanidad y sus tradiciones: su adecuada recalificación arquitectónica puede servir de modelo en un futuro para la conservación de los ecosistemas urbanos logrados gracias al correcto uso de los recursos hídricos, del sol y de la piedra disponibles en su momento

Dynamics of the Fermentation Process and Chemical Profiling of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Wines Obtained by Different Cultivar×Yeast Combinations

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is one of the historical tree crops in the Mediterranean region and is nowadays commercialized for its beneficial properties in the form of fruits, juice, jams and, in some East countries, as fermented juice (pomegranate wine). However, pomegranate wines are not established as a common beverage in Western countries. In this work, we produced pomegranate wines using two cultivars and two yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain Clos and S. cerevisiae ex-bayanus strain EC1118) with contrasting characteristics. A comprehensive chemical profile of the wines was obtained. Notable differences were observed in the function of the cultivars and the yeasts. Different cultivar×yeast combinations provided wines with clearly different chemical profiles and specific features in the patterns of organic acids, phenolics, and volatile compounds. This highlights the opportunity to obtain tailored pomegranate wines with desired chemical profiles and, consequently, sensory properties, through management optimization of pomegranate winemaking. In this view, pomegranate wines have the potential to become an established beverage in Western countries

Congenital hip dysplasia treated by total hip arthroplasty using cementless tapered stem in patients younger than 50 years old: results after 12-years follow-up

Background Congenital hip dysplasia may lead to severe acetabular and femoral abnormalities that can make total hip arthroplasty a challenging procedure. We assessed a series of patients affected by developmental hip dysplasia treated with total hip arthroplasty using cementless tapered stem and here we report the outcomes at long-term follow-up. Materials and methods Twenty-eight patients (24 women and 4 men) aged between 44 and 50 years (mean 47 years) were observed. Clinical evaluation was rated with the Harris Hip Score. Radiographic evaluation consisted in standard anteroposterior and axial view radiographs of the hip. According to Crowe’s classification, 16 hips presented dysplasia grade 1, 14 grade 2, and 4 grade 3. All patients were treated with total hip arthroplasty using a cementless tapered stem (Wagner Cone Prosthesis). Six patients were operated bilaterally, with a totally of 34 hips operated. After surgery, the patients were clinically and radiographically checked at 3, 6, and 12 months and yearly thereafter until an average follow-up of 12 years (range 10–14 years). Results Average Harris Hip Score was 56 ± 9 (range 45–69) preoperatively, 90 ± 9 (range 81–100) 12 months after surgery, and 91 ± 8 (range 83–100) at last follow-up. Radiographic evaluation demonstrated excellent osteointegration of the implants. Signs of bone resorption were present in 6 hips, nevertheless no evidence of loosening was observed and none of the implants has been revised. Conclusions Even in dysplasic femur, the tapered stem allowed adequate stability and orientation of the implant. We consider tapered stem a suitable option for total hip arthroplasty in developmental hip dysplasia, also in case of young patients, thanks to the favourable long-term results

Detailed stratified GWAS analysis for severe COVID-19 in four European populations

Given the highly variable clinical phenotype of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a deeper analysis of the host genetic contribution to severe COVID-19 is important to improve our understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. Here, we describe an extended genome-wide association meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3255 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12 488 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, including stratified analyses based on age, sex and disease severity, as well as targeted analyses of chromosome Y haplotypes, the human leukocyte antigen region and the SARS-CoV-2 peptidome. By inversion imputation, we traced a reported association at 17q21.31 to a ~0.9-Mb inversion polymorphism that creates two highly differentiated haplotypes and characterized the potential effects of the inversion in detail. Our data, together with the 5th release of summary statistics from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative including non-Caucasian individuals, also identified a new locus at 19q13.33, including NAPSA, a gene which is expressed primarily in alveolar cells responsible for gas exchange in the lung.S.E.H. and C.A.S. partially supported genotyping through a philanthropic donation. A.F. and D.E. were supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and COVID-19 grant Research (BMBF; ID:01KI20197); A.F., D.E. and F.D. were supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation’ (EXC2167). D.E. was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the Computational Life Sciences funding concept (CompLS grant 031L0165). D.E., K.B. and S.B. acknowledge the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF14CC0001 and NNF17OC0027594). T.L.L., A.T. and O.Ö. were funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project numbers 279645989; 433116033; 437857095. M.W. and H.E. are supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Research Training Group 1743, ‘Genes, Environment and Inflammation’. L.V. received funding from: Ricerca Finalizzata Ministero della Salute (RF-2016-02364358), Italian Ministry of Health ‘CV PREVITAL’—strategie di prevenzione primaria cardiovascolare primaria nella popolazione italiana; The European Union (EU) Programme Horizon 2020 (under grant agreement No. 777377) for the project LITMUS- and for the project ‘REVEAL’; Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda ‘Ricerca corrente’, Fondazione Sviluppo Ca’ Granda ‘Liver-BIBLE’ (PR-0391), Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda ‘5permille’ ‘COVID-19 Biobank’ (RC100017A). A.B. was supported by a grant from Fondazione Cariplo to Fondazione Tettamanti: ‘Bio-banking of Covid-19 patient samples to support national and international research (Covid-Bank). This research was partly funded by an MIUR grant to the Department of Medical Sciences, under the program ‘Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022’. This study makes use of data generated by the GCAT-Genomes for Life. Cohort study of the Genomes of Catalonia, Fundació IGTP (The Institute for Health Science Research Germans Trias i Pujol) IGTP is part of the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. GCAT is supported by Acción de Dinamización del ISCIII-MINECO and the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya (ADE 10/00026); the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) (2017-SGR 529). M.M. received research funding from grant PI19/00335 Acción Estratégica en Salud, integrated in the Spanish National RDI Plan and financed by ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)-Una manera de hacer Europa’). B.C. is supported by national grants PI18/01512. X.F. is supported by the VEIS project (001-P-001647) (co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ‘A way to build Europe’). Additional data included in this study were obtained in part by the COVICAT Study Group (Cohort Covid de Catalunya) supported by IsGlobal and IGTP, European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, COVID-19 Rapid Response activity 73A and SR20-01024 La Caixa Foundation. A.J. and S.M. were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant numbers: PSE-010000-2006-6 and IPT-010000-2010-36). A.J. was also supported by national grant PI17/00019 from the Acción Estratégica en Salud (ISCIII) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The Basque Biobank, a hospital-related platform that also involves all Osakidetza health centres, the Basque government’s Department of Health and Onkologikoa, is operated by the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research-BIOEF. M.C. received Grants BFU2016-77244-R and PID2019-107836RB-I00 funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, EU). M.R.G., J.A.H., R.G.D. and D.M.M. are supported by the ‘Spanish Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Competition, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III’ (PI19/01404, PI16/01842, PI19/00589, PI17/00535 and GLD19/00100) and by the Andalussian government (Proyectos Estratégicos-Fondos Feder PE-0451-2018, COVID-Premed, COVID GWAs). The position held by Itziar de Rojas Salarich is funded by grant FI20/00215, PFIS Contratos Predoctorales de Formación en Investigación en Salud. Enrique Calderón’s team is supported by CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’. J.C.H. reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no 312780 during the conduct of the study. E.S. reports grants from Research Council of Norway grant no. 312769. The BioMaterialBank Nord is supported by the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Airway Research Center North (ARCN). The BioMaterialBank Nord is member of popgen 2.0 network (P2N). P.K. Bergisch Gladbach, Germany and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. He is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). O.A.C. is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education and is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy—CECAD, EXC 2030–390661388. The COMRI cohort is funded by Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. This work was supported by grants of the Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung, the Saarland University, BMBF and The States of Saarland and Lower Saxony. K.U.L. is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG, LU-1944/3-1). Genotyping for the BoSCO study is funded by the Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Bonn. F.H. was supported by the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Arts. Part of the genotyping was supported by a grant to A.R. from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grant: 01ED1619A, European Alzheimer DNA BioBank, EADB) within the context of the EU Joint Programme—Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND). Additional funding was derived from the German Research Foundation (DFG) grant: RA 1971/6-1 to A.R. P.R. is supported by the DFG (CCGA Sequencing Centre and DFG ExC2167 PMI and by SH state funds for COVID19 research). F.T. is supported by the Clinician Scientist Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation’ (EXC2167). C.L. and J.H. are supported by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). T.B., M.M.B., O.W. und A.H. are supported by the Stiftung Universitätsmedizin Essen. M.A.-H. was supported by Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion program, grant IJC2018-035131-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. E.C.S. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SCHU 2419/2-1).Peer reviewe