An alternative technique of dealing special cases of bronchopleural fistulas

The closure of a bronchopleural fistula (BPF) complicating pneumonectomy remains a serious challenge for the surgeon. Although several endoscopic, surgical and combined (surgical + endoscopic) techniques have been proposed to manage this complication, serious technical challenges appear when the bronchial stump is too rigid and/or is in very close proximity to the carina. In such cases the use of common staplers can be proved ineffective or even hazardous. In the present we describe a tension-free technique for buttressing the bronchial stump with intercostal muscle flap. Although we have not applied this technique neither in humans nor in animals yet, its theoretic advantages are obvious and we believe that it can be applied to specific cases of BPF’s with very short and rigid bronchial stump

Reinforcement of wood with natural fibers

This paper describes an experimental programme which examines the reinforcement in flexure of timber beams with composite materials based on natural fibers in the form of fabrics made from hemp, flax, basalt and bamboo fibers. The industrial use of natural fibers has been continuously increasing since 1990s due to their advantages in terms of production costs, pollution emissions and energy consumption for production and disposal. The technique allows the reinforcement of the intrados of beams, avoiding the dismantling of the overlying part of the structure with significant savings in terms of costs and work time. The test program consists of three phases incorporating 45 beams. The bending tests on the wooden elements made it possible to measure the increase in capacity and stiffness resulting from the composite reinforcement. This was applied to beams, creating different arrangements and using different quantities (number of layers). Despite the diversity of the various tests carried out, the results obtained in some cases showed significant increases in terms of load-carrying capacity and in deflection ductility

Integrated seismic and energy retrofitting of existing buildings: A state-of-the-art review

Ageing of the building stock is an issue affecting many regions in the world. This means a large proportion of existing buildings being considered energy inefficient, with associated high energy use for heating and cooling. Through renovation, it is possible to improve their energy-efficiency, hence reducing their significant impact on the total energy household and associated greenhouse gas emissions. In seismic regions, additionally, recent earthquakes have caused significant economic losses, largely due to the vulnerability of older buildings not designed to modern standards. Addressing seismic and energy performance by separate interventions is the common approach currently taken, however to achieve better cost-effectiveness, safety and efficiency, a novel holistic approach to building renovation is an emerging topic in the scientific literature. Proposed solutions range from integrated exoskeleton solutions, over strengthening and insulation solutions for the existing building envelope or their replacement with better materials, to integrated interventions on horizontal elements like roof and floor slabs. To identify pathways to combined seismic and energy retrofitting of buildings, a state-of-the-art review of all materials and solutions investigated to date is presented. This is followed by a critical analysis of their effectiveness, invasiveness, building use disruption as well as their impact on the environment. The assessment of current combined retrofitting research highlights a great potential for their application, with a potential to provide cost-effective renovation solutions for regions with moderate to high seismic risk. Still, to-date there is a lack of experimental research in this field, a need for further work on truly integrated technologies and their validation through applications on existing large-scale buildings. Moreover, there is a need for adequate design methods, regulations and incentives that further the implementation of integrated retrofitting approaches

Distributed top-k aggregation queries at large

Top-k query processing is a fundamental building block for efficient ranking in a large number of applications. Efficiency is a central issue, especially for distributed settings, when the data is spread across different nodes in a network. This paper introduces novel optimization methods for top-k aggregation queries in such distributed environments. The optimizations can be applied to all algorithms that fall into the frameworks of the prior TPUT and KLEE methods. The optimizations address three degrees of freedom: 1) hierarchically grouping input lists into top-k operator trees and optimizing the tree structure, 2) computing data-adaptive scan depths for different input sources, and 3) data-adaptive sampling of a small subset of input sources in scenarios with hundreds or thousands of query-relevant network nodes. All optimizations are based on a statistical cost model that utilizes local synopses, e.g., in the form of histograms, efficiently computed convolutions, and estimators based on order statistics. The paper presents comprehensive experiments, with three different real-life datasets and using the ns-2 network simulator for a packet-level simulation of a large Internet-style network

EU-NICE, Eurasian University Network for International Cooperation in Earthquakes

Despite the remarkable scientific advancements of earthquake engineering and seismology in many countries, seismic risk is still growing at a high rate in the world’s most vulnerable communities. Successful practices have shown that a community’s capacity to manage and reduce its seismic risk relies on capitalization on policies, on technology and research results. An important role is played by education, than contribute to strengthening technical curricula of future practitioners and researchers through university and higher education programmes. In recent years an increasing number of initiatives have been launched in this field at the international and global cooperation level. Cooperative international academic research and training is key to reducing the gap between advanced and more vulnerable regions. EU-NICE is a European Commission funded higher education partnership for international development cooperation with the objective to build capacity of individuals who will operate at institutions located in seismic prone Asian Countries. The project involves five European Universities, eight Asian universities and four associations and NGOs active in advanced research on seismic mitigation, disaster risk management and international development. The project consists of a comprehensive mobility scheme open to nationals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, North Korea, Philippines, and Sri Lanka who plan to enrol in school or conduct research at one of five European partner universities in Italy, Greece and Portugal. During the 2010-14 time span a total number of 104 mobilities are being involved in scientific activities at the undergraduate, masters, PhD, postdoctoral and academic-staff exchange levels. This high number of mobilities and activities is selected and designed so as to produce an overall increase of knowledge that can result in an impact on earthquake mitigation. Researchers, future policymakers and practitioners build up their curricula over a range of disciplines in the fields of engineering, seismology, disaster risk management and urban planning. Specific educational and research activities focus on earthquake risk mitigation related topics such as: anti-seismic structural design, structural engineering, advanced computer structural collapse analysis, seismology, experimental laboratory studies, international and development issues in disaster risk management, social-economical impact studies, international relations and conflict resolution

A development cooperation Erasmus Mundus partnership for capacity building in earthquake mitigation science and higher education

Successful practices have shown that a community’s capacity to manage and reduce its seismic risk relies on capitalization on policies, on technology and research results. An important role is played by education, than contribute to strengthening technical curricula of future practitioners and researchers through university and higher education programs. EUNICE is a European Commission funded higher education partnership for international development cooperation with the objective to build capacity of individuals who will operate at institutions located in seismic prone Asian Countries. The project involves five European Universities, eight Asian universities and four associations and NGOs active in advanced research on seismic mitigation, disaster risk management and international development. The project consists of a comprehensive mobility scheme open to nationals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, North Korea, Philippines, and Sri Lanka who plan to enroll in school or conduct research at one of five European partner universities in Italy, Greece and Portugal. During the 2010-14 time span a total number of 104 mobilities are being involved in scientific activities at the undergraduate, masters, PhD, postdoctoral and academic-staff exchange levels. Researchers, future policymakers and practitioners build up their curricula over a range of disciplines in the fields of earthquake engineering, seismology, disaster risk management and urban planning

Debatable results of surgery for lung cancer in a patient with long existing pulmonary metastases from differentiated thyroid carcinoma

Introduction: The appropriate following treatment in a patient with a new presented non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and history of chronic lung metastases of thyroid origin has never been reported. In such cases, the presence of long­standing thyroid metastatic disease with proven “limited malignant potential” could be considered as a minor treatment problem justifying one’s the decision to focus on the primary lung carcinoma as the only serious threat for the patient’s life.Case report: We report the surgical treatment of a new presented NSCLC in a patient with chronic lung metastases of thyroid origin and we present all the diagnostic, staging and treatment problems.Conclusion: The therapeutic results of our surgical approach were not encouraging. This could be owed to our staging prob­lems of NSCLC and the well documented limited immunological response of such patients with multiple neoplasms

Flexural Strengthening of Two-Way RC Slabs with Textile-Reinforced Mortar: Experimental Investigation and Design Equations

The application of textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) as a means of increasing the flexural capacity of two-way reinforced concrete (RC) slabs is experimentally investigated in this study. The parameters examined include the number of TRM layers, the strengthening configuration, the textile fibers material (carbon versus glass), and the role of initial cracking in the slab. For this purpose six largescale RC slabs were built and tested to failure under monotonic loading distributed at four points. It is concluded that TRM increases substantially the precracking stiffness, the cracking load, the postcracking stiffness, and eventually the flexural capacity of two-way RC slabs, whereas the strengthening configuration plays an important role in the effectiveness of the technique. Simple design equations that provide good estimation of the experimental flexural moment of resistance are proposed

Optimal design of ferronickel slag alkali-activated mortar for repair exposed to high thermal load

In this work, the optimal design of a mortar based on alkali-activated material technology is presented. Ferronickel slag, a byproduct of the ferronickel alloy industry, was used both as a binder component (in a finely ground form) and as fine aggregate in alignment with a circular economy approach. The proportions of binder, fine aggregate, and water were optimized using Design of Experiment Design of Mixtures. The performance indicators evaluated were flow, flexural and compressive strength both before and after high-temperature exposure, mass loss, and thermal shrinkage. Life cycle assessment was used to calculate the relative environmental cost of the studied mixes in comparison to a counterpart traditional Ordinary Portland Cement mortar. The optimal mix design exhibited high flexural strength (8.5 and 10.5 MPa, before and after high-temperature exposure, respectively), an unheated compressive strength equal to 69.5 MPa, and a post-heating residual one of 33.9 MPa, 7.7% mass loss and 3.4% thermal shrinkage. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry along with Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis were also performed on optimal mortar samples in order to link micro-structural heat-induced changes to residual (post-heating) macro-mechanical performances. Finally, when compared to OPC-based products, the optimized mortar mix resulted in 70% lower CO2 emissions indicating great potential for the construction sector where concern about environmental impact keeps growing