Bologna, la citta dei flussi: Riqualificare e connettere tra architettura e movimento

La città di Bologna, la storia, i flussi e le connessioni. Questo progetto di gruppo nasce dalla necessità di ripensare il ruolo dell’infrastruttura nella contemporaneità e nell’atteggiamento che l’architettura può assumere di fronte alle rinnovate priorità delle città italiane che, tra espansione demografica, monumenti e centri storici da preservare, nuove reti di comunicazione e scambio delle informazioni, necessitano sempre più di una pianificazione che prenda in analisi il passato, interpreti il presente e si ponga l’obiettivo primario di dialogare con il futuro. Il capoluogo Emiliano è collocato in una posizione strategica per le comunicazioni d i trasporti, tenendo uniti gli estremi dello stivale e svolgendo un ruolo di snodo a cui oggi la penisola Italiana non può in alcun modo rinunciare. Ogni giorno una quantità spropositata di pendolari e viaggiatori è indotta nella città concentrandosi in un primo momento nell’area della stazione ferroviaria e dei piazzali antistanti, per poi distribuirsi all’interno del tessuto urbano, chi utilizzando il sistema di rete tramviaria, chi a piedi o in bicicletta. L’intento principale del masterplan proposto è quindi valutare un range di informazioni supplementari ai tradizionali studi urbani. Si è notato come le aree più degradate della città (spesso limitrofe ad infrastrutture consegnate al comune senza valutarne l’integrazione e l’impatto urbano e ambientale) manchino di una circolazione costante e di attività. Si è identificato nelle migliaia di soggetti che ogni giorno giungono a Bologna usufruendo dei servizi delle Ferrovie dello Stato la linfa vitale di un’importante parte della città. Poiché progettare per un futuro prossimo è pensare a un presente in grado di accettare i propri limiti e assimilare le aberrazioni del passato, rifacendosi ad un immaginario che non può che sconfinare i paradigmi prefissati che hanno portato ad uno status irrisolto ma non irrisolvibile

Appliance Recognition in an OSGi-based Home Energy Management Gateway

The rational use and management of energy is considered a key societal and technological challenge. Home energy management systems (HEMS) have been introduced especially in private home domains to support users in managing and controlling energy consuming devices. Recent studies have shown that informing users about their habits with appliances as well as their usage pattern can help to achieve energy reduction in private households. This requires instruments able to monitor energy consumption at fine grain level and provide this information to consumers. While the most existing approaches for load disaggregation and classification require high-frequency monitoring data, in this paper we propose an approach that exploits low-frequency monitoring data gathered by meters (i.e., Smart Plugs) displaced in the home. Moreover, while the most existing works dealing with appliance classification delegate the classification task to a remote central server, we propose a distributed approach where data processing and appliance recognition are performed locally in the Home Gateway. Our approach is based on a distributed load monitoring system made of Smart Plugs attached to devices and connected to a Home Gateway via the ZigBee protocol. The Home Gateway is based on the OSGi platform, collects data from home devices, and hosts both data processing and user interaction logic

Spirituality for Late Adolescents Coping with Grief and Loss

Experiencing the death of a loved one is often life changing, and learning ways to cope is an important part of the healing process. Such a change can be particularly difficult for late adolescents (individuals between 18 and 25 years of age) who are already going through significant life changes. Spirituality and mental health has received increasing scholarly attention in recent years, and the Association for Spirituality, Ethics, and Religious Values in Counseling has developed competencies for counselors to use when working with clients who wish to incorporate spirituality in their treatment. Despite increased interest in the field, there is little scholarly literature on the use of spirituality in counseling late adolescents who are experiencing grief and loss. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the meaning and role of spirituality and spiritual practices in the grieving processes of late adolescents. Existential theory provided the framework for the study. Participants were recruited from a local grief center, college, and university as well as CESnet and ASERVIC listservs. Seven late adolescents took part in semistructured interviews regarding their grieving process. Lindseth and Norberg\u27s phenomenological hermeneutical method was used to analyze the data consisting of naïve reading, structural analysis, and comprehensive understanding. Themes included experiences with death, surviving the loss, and changes. Findings indicated that spiritual practices were beneficial in helping grieving late adolescents cope with the death of a loved one. Results may provide counselors with additional ways to work with this population during their grieving process

Out-of-hospital versus in-hospital status epilepticus: the role of etiology and comorbidities

Background: To identify differences in clinical characteristics between patients with out-of-hospital and in-hospital status epilepticus (SE) onset, and to evaluate the influence of SE onset setting on 30-day mortality and SE cessation. Methods: We included consecutive patients with SE admitted from 2013 to 2021 at Modena Academic Hospital. A propensity score was performed with clinical variables unevenly distributed between the two groups. Results: 711 patients were included; 55.8% (397/711) with an out-of-hospital and 44.2% (314/711) with an in-hospital onset. Patients with in-hospital SE onset were older, had a higher frequency of comorbidities, acute and/or potentially fatal etiologies, impaired consciousness before treatment, and nonconvulsive or myoclonic SE. No difference was found in SE cessation between the groups. Patients with in-hospital SE had higher 30-day mortality (127/314, 62.9% versus 75/397, 37.1; p <0.001). In-hospital onset was an independent risk factor for 30-day mortality (adjusted OR of 1.720; 95% CI: 1.107-2.674; p = 0.016). In the propensity group (n = 244), no difference was found in 30-day mortality and SE cessation between out-of-hospital and in-hospital SE onset groups (36/122, 29.5% versus 34/122, 27.9%; p=0.888; and 47/122, 38.5% versus 39/122; 32%; p = 0.347, respectively). Conclusion: In-hospital SE is associated with higher 30-day mortality without difference in SE cessation. The two groups differ considerably for age, acute and possibly fatal etiologies, comorbidities, and SE semiology. The patient location at SE onset is an important prognostic predictor. However, the increased mortality is probably unrelated to the setting of SE onset and reflects intrinsic prognostic predictors

Plasma adiponectin is a marker of severity in heart failure

Purpose. Adiponectin, a 247 aminoacid protein produced mainly by adipose tissue, beside its effects on glucose metabolism, plays important protective function against cardiovascular disease. Adiponectin is inversely correlated with an increased cardiovascular risk and hypo-adiponectinemia is considered an independent cardiovascular risk factor. On the contrary, the role of adiponectin in heart failure (HF) is not fully known. In order to evaluate the prognostic value of circulating adiponectin, we measured total adiponectin plasma levels in patients with HF of different severity. Methods. Total adiponectin, leptin and interleukin(IL)-6 levels were measured in plasma samples of 159 no diabetic patients with different etiology HF (17 in NYHA class I, 82 in NYHA class II, 46 in NYHA class III and 14 in NYHA class IV, age 62?14 yrs, LEVF% 32.5?0.79, mean?sem) and in 31 healthy subjects as control, by dedicated ELISA (Linco Res-US, DRG Diagnostics-Germany, Diaclone Research-France, respectively). In the same group brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels were determined by IRMA (Shionogi, Osaka, Japan). Results. Our findings indicated that total adiponectin levels increased significantly as a function of disease severity (7.1?0.61 mg/ml vs 10.9?1.4 in NYHA class I vs 12.8?0.95 in NYHA class II vs 15.7?1.3 in NYHA III vs 16.7?1.8 in NYHA class IV; p<0.001 NYHA II, III and IV vs controls) and they correlated negatively with LVEF% (p=0.0009), positively with cardiac function (BNP levels) (p<0.0001) and inflammation (IL-6 levels) (p<0.0001). We did not observe any correlation with metabolism (BMI) in patients with HF, while a significant correlation was found between leptin and BMI (p<0.0001). Conclusion. Circulating adiponectin is associated with cardiovascular function and inflammation in HF patients. The increased adiponectin plasma levels in HF is a marker of disease severity, indipendent of metabolism

Ictal apnea: A prospective monocentric study in patients with epilepsy

Background and purpose Ictal respiratory disturbances have increasingly been reported, in both generalized and focal seizures, especially involving the temporal lobe. Recognition of ictal breathing impairment has gained importance for the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of ictal apnea (IA) and related hypoxemia during seizures. Methods We collected and analyzed electroclinical data from consecutive patients undergoing long-term video-electroencephalographic (video-EEG) monitoring with cardiorespiratory polygraphy. Patients were recruited at the epilepsy monitoring unit of the Civil Hospital of Baggiovara, Modena Academic Hospital, from April 2020 to February 2022. Results A total of 552 seizures were recorded in 63 patients. IA was observed in 57 of 552 (10.3%) seizures in 16 of 63 (25.4%) patients. Thirteen (81.2%) patients had focal seizures, and 11 of 16 patients showing IA had a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy; two had a diagnosis of frontal lobe epilepsy and three of epileptic encephalopathy. Apnea agnosia was reported in all seizure types. Hypoxemia was observed in 25 of 57 (43.9%) seizures with IA, and the severity of hypoxemia was related to apnea duration. Apnea duration was significantly associated with epilepsy of unknown etiology (magnetic resonance imaging negative) and with older age at epilepsy onset (p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions Ictal respiratory changes are a frequent clinical phenomenon, more likely to occur in focal epilepsies, although detected even in patients with epileptic encephalopathy. Our findings emphasize the need for respiratory polygraphy during long-term video-EEG monitoring for diagnostic and prognostic purposes, as well as in relation to the potential link of ictal apnea with the SUDEP risk

Visceral Fat in Hypertension

Preferential visceral adipose tissue (VAT) deposition has been associated with the presence of insulin resistance in obese and diabetic subjects. The independent association of VAT accumulation with hypertension and its impact on insulin sensitivity and β-cell function have not been assessed. We measured VAT and subcutaneous fat depots by multiscan MRI in 13 nondiabetic men with newly detected, untreated essential hypertension (blood pressure=151±2/94±2 mm Hg, age=47±2 years, body mass index [BMI]=28.4±0.7 kg · m −2 ) and 26 age-matched and BMI-matched normotensive men (blood pressure=123±1/69±2 mm Hg). Insulin secretion was measured by deconvolution of C-peptide data obtained during an oral glucose tolerance test, and dynamic indices of β-cell function were calculated by mathematical modeling. For a similar fat mass in the scanned abdominal region (4.8±0.3 versus 3.9±0.3 kg, hypertensive subjects versus controls, P =0.06), hypertensive subjects had 60% more VAT than controls (1.6±0.2 versus 1.0±0.1 kg, P =0.003). Intrathoracic fat also was expanded in patients versus controls (45±5 versus 28±3 cm 2 , P =0.005). Insulin sensitivity was reduced (10.7±0.7 versus 12.9±0.4 mL · min −1 · kg ffm −1 , P =0.006), and total insulin output was proportionally increased (64 [21] versus 45 [24] nmol · m −2 · h, median [interquartile range], P =0.01), but dynamic indices of β-cell function (glucose sensitivity, rate sensitivity, and potentiation) were similar in the 2 groups. Abdominal VAT, insulin resistance, and blood pressure were quantitatively interrelated (ρ's of 0.39 to 0.47, P <0.02 or less). In newly found, untreated men with essential hypertension, fat is preferentially accumulated intraabdominally and intrathoracically. Such visceral adiposity is quantitatively related to both height of blood pressure and severity of insulin resistance, but has no impact on the dynamics of β-cell function