Renal recovery

Acute kidney injury (AKI) research in the past decade has mostly focused upon development of a standard AKI definition, validation of early novel biomarkers to predict AKI prior to serum creatinine rise and predict AKI severity, and assessment of aspects of renal replacement therapies and their impact on survival. Given the independent association between AKI and mortality in the acute phase, such focus makes imminent sense. More recently, the recognition that AKI is associated with subsequent development of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease, with the attendant increase in mortality, has led to interest in the clinical epidemiology and the mechanistic understanding of renal recovery after an AKI episode in critically ill patients. We review the current knowledge surrounding renal recovery after an AKI episode, including renal replacement therapy initiation timing and modality impact, biomarker assessment and mechanistic targets to guide potential future clinical trials

Development of an OpenFOAM multiphysics solver for solid fission products transport in the Molten Salt Fast Reactor

The analysis of innovative reactor concepts such as the Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) requires the development of new modeling and simulation tools. In the case of the MSFR, the strong intrinsic coupling between thermal-hydraulics, neutronics and fuel chemistry has led to the adoption of the multiphysics approach as a state-of-the-art paradigm. One of the peculiar aspects of liquid-fuel reactors such as the MSFR is the mobility of fission products (FPs) in the reactor circuit. Some FP species appear in form of solid precipitates carried by the fuel flow and can deposit on reactor boundaries (e.g., heat exchangers), potentially representing design issues related to the degradation of heat exchange performance or radioactive hotspots. The integration of transport models for solid particles in multiphysics codes is therefore relevant for the prediction of deposited fractions. To this aim, we develop a multiphysics solver based on the OpenFOAM library to address the issue of solid fission products transport. Single-phase incompressible thermal hydraulics are coupled with neutron diffusion, and advection-diffusion-decay equations are implemented for fission products concentrations. Particle deposition and precipitation are considered as well. The developed solver is tested on two different MSFR application to showcase the capabilities of the solver in steady-state simulation and to investigate the role of precipitation and turbulence modeling in the determination of particle concentration distributions

3D Reconstruction and Presentation of Cultural Heritage: AR and VR Experiences at the Museo d’Arte Orientale di Torino

For years, virtual reconstruction in the figurative arts, and sculpture, in particular, has been developing and consolidating. The workflow from the acquisition to three-dimensional modelling and to the integration of missing parts, has been optimized through processes entirely implemented in the digital dimension. The most recent developments in augmented reality and virtual reality technologies, together with the possibility of using low-cost and widely available devices, have made it possible to establish new links between the real and the virtual. The experiences presented in this paper comes up within the agreement between the Politecnico di Torino and the Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO). The workflow set up for this research involves: structure from motion (SfM) survey, 3D modelling, and 3D philological reconstruction, then develops a proposal to implement augmented and virtual reality experiences aimed at the communication and fruition of the exhibits. The case study concerns two Japanese statues, and proposes their visualisation with the respective weapons virtually reconstructed, and through VR, involving the reconstruction of the interior space of a temple recognised as philologically compatible with the location of the statues within a statuary complex

Beating noise with abstention in state estimation

We address the problem of estimating pure qubit states with non-ideal (noisy) measurements in the multiple-copy scenario, where the data consists of a number N of identically prepared qubits. We show that the average fidelity of the estimates can increase significantly if the estimation protocol allows for inconclusive answers, or abstentions. We present the optimal such protocol and compute its fidelity for a given probability of abstention. The improvement over standard estimation, without abstention, can be viewed as an effective noise reduction. These and other results are exemplified for small values of N. For asymptotically large N, we derive analytical expressions of the fidelity and the probability of abstention, and show that for a fixed fidelity gain the latter decreases with N at an exponential rate given by a Kulback-Leibler (relative) entropy. As a byproduct, we obtain an asymptotic expression in terms of this very entropy of the probability that a system of N qubits, all prepared in the same state, has a given total angular momentum. We also discuss an extreme situation where noise increases with N and where estimation with abstention provides a most significant improvement as compared to the standard approach

The KULTURisk Regional Risk Assessment methodology for water-related natural hazards – Part 1: Physical–environmental assessment

Abstract. In recent years, the frequency of catastrophes induced by natural hazards has increased, and flood events in particular have been recognized as one of the most threatening water-related disasters. Severe floods have occurred in Europe over the last decade, causing loss of life, displacement of people and heavy economic losses. Flood disasters are growing in frequency as a consequence of many factors, both climatic and non-climatic. Indeed, the current increase of water-related disasters can be mainly attributed to the increase of exposure (elements potentially at risk in flood-prone area) and vulnerability (i.e. economic, social, geographic, cultural and physical/environmental characteristics of the exposure). Besides these factors, the undeniable effect of climate change is projected to strongly modify the usual pattern of the hydrological cycle by intensifying the frequency and severity of flood events at the local, regional and global scale. Within this context, the need for developing effective and pro-active strategies, tools and actions which allow one to assess and (possibly) to reduce the flood risks that threatens different relevant receptors becomes urgent. Several methodologies to assess the risk posed by water-related natural hazards have been proposed so far, but very few of them can be adopted to implement the last European Flood Directive (FD). This paper is intended to introduce and present a state-of-the-art Regional Risk Assessment (RRA) methodology to appraise the risk posed by floods from a physical–environmental perspective. The methodology, developed within the recently completed FP7-KULTURisk Project (Knowledge-based approach to develop a cULTUre of Risk prevention – KR) is flexible and can be adapted to different case studies (i.e. plain rivers, mountain torrents, urban and coastal areas) and spatial scales (i.e. from catchment to the urban scale). The FD compliant KR-RRA methodology is based on the concept of risk being function of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. It integrates the outputs of various hydrodynamic models with site-specific bio-geophysical and socio-economic indicators (e.g. slope, land cover, population density, economic activities etc.) to develop tailored risk indexes and GIS-based maps for each of the selected receptors (i.e. people, buildings, infrastructure, agriculture, natural and semi-natural systems, cultural heritage) in the considered region. It further compares the baseline scenario with alternative scenarios, where different structural and/or non-structural mitigation measures are planned and eventually implemented. As demonstrated in the companion paper (Part 2, Ronco et al., 2014), risk maps, along with related statistics, allow one to identify and classify, on a relative scale, areas at risk which are more likely to be affected by floods and support the development of strategic adaptation and prevention measures to minimizing flood impacts. In addition, the outcomes of the RRA can be eventually used for a further socio-economic assessment, considering the tangible and intangible costs as well as the human dimension of vulnerability

oXirisNet Registry: A Prospective, National Registry on the oXiris Membrane.

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Quantum metrology assisted by abstention

The main goal of quantum metrology is to obtain accurate values of physical parameters using quantum probes. In this context, we show that abstention, i.e., the possibility of getting an inconclusive answer at readout, can drastically improve the measurement precision and even lead to a change in its asymptotic behavior, from the shot-noise to the Heisenberg scaling. We focus on phase estimation and quantify the required amount of abstention for a given precision. We also develop analytical tools to obtain the asymptotic behavior of the precision and required rate of abstention for arbitrary pure states