La catalogazione in rete dei manoscritti delle biblioteche venete: Nuova Biblioteca Manoscritta

Nuova Biblioteca Manoscritta (NBM) è il catalogo in linea dei manoscritti conservati nelle biblioteche del Veneto - stimati in ca. 90.000, non tenendo conto dei carteggi - senza limitazioni cronologiche o di contenuto. Questo patrimonio è fino ad oggi accessibile in maniera incompleta e insufficiente mediante cataloghi a stampa parziali, spesso per di più poco rispondenti alle esigenze scientifiche moderne. Il progetto, finanziato dalla Regione del Veneto, è iniziato nel 2003 e vi partecipano attualmente 38 biblioteche. Il lavoro di catalogazione, che privilegia in generale una descrizione di tipo sommario, si svolge via Internet attraverso la catalogazione partecipata di più biblioteche, che lavorano sulla stessa banca dati. I catalogatori condividono in rete le liste di autorità dei nomi, dei titoli, degli argomenti, delle antiche segnature, della tipologia del testo e del genere letterario, della bibliografia; si ha così il vantaggio di accedere a informazioni già strutturate e di poter aggiornare continuamente le notizie, nello spirito proprio di un catalogo aperto. Tutta la gestione di NBM si svolge attraverso Internet, dalla catalogazione sino alla revisione delle schede e alla pubblicazione finale, secondo diversi profili che corrispondono alle differenti funzioni nell`ambito del progetto. Un coordinamento scientifico provvede al controllo e alla revisione di ogni scheda descrittiva, all`assegnazione delle chiavi di accesso all`area di catalogazione, alla gestione dei contenuti del sito. Per garantire la maggiore uniformità possibile nelle descrizioni sono state elaborate delle linee guida per la catalogazione. In NBM è possibile allegare immagini relative ad ogni parte della scheda di descrizione, ma anche importare materiale digitalizzato integralmente, consentendone una consultazione pagina per pagina. L`interrogazione della banca dati di NBM è possibile attraverso l`OPAC presente sul sito e mediante il protocollo Z39.50. Fino ad oggi i manoscritti catalogati, pubblicati e consultabili sono più di 19.000.

Role of antiviral therapy in the natural history of hepatitis B virus-related chronic liver disease

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a dynamic state of interactions among HBV, hepatocytes, and the host immune system. Natural history studies of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection have shown an association between active viral replication and adverse clinical outcomes such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The goal of therapy for CHB is to improve quality of life and survival by preventing progression of the disease to cirrhosis, decompensation, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and death. This goal can be achieved if HBV replication is suppressed in a sustained manner. The accompanying reduction in histological activity of CHB lessens the risk of cirrhosis and of HCC, particularly in non-cirrhotic patients. However, CHB infection cannot be completely eradicated, due to the persistence of covalently closed circular DNA in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes, which may explain HBV reactivation. Moreover, the integration of the HBV genome into the host genome may favour oncogenesis, development of HCC and may also contribute to HBV reactivation

Application of a Point Estimate Method for incorporating the epistemic uncertainty in the seismic assessment of a masonry building

Several sources of uncertainty affect the assessment of existing buildings, including uncertainties associated with the material properties and the displacement capacity of the elements. In engineering practice, Monte Carlo simulations of the nonlinear seismic response of structures lead often to excessive computational costs and therefore rarely carried out. This paper proposes a simple logic tree approach, where a moment-matching technique is proposed to define the optimal sampling points and combination weights to apply to its branches. As a more refined method, a novel application to structural engineering of a recently proposed Point Estimate Method (PEM), which aims at reducing the required number of simulations further, is tested. Both methods are applied to a historical stone masonry building, which is modelled by an equivalent frame approach. The methods are benchmarked against the results of a Monte Carlo simulation and other approximate methods applied in the literature (FOSM, response surface method), which highlights the good accuracy of such methods for estimating the performance uncertainty of the tested building. Moreover, the effect of the different sources of uncertainty on the modelled performance of the building are discussed, identifying the displacement capacity as a major source of uncertainty, whose effect can be compared in terms of order of magnitude to the record-to-record variability

Experimental investigation of the behaviour of injection anchors in rubble stone masonry

The seismic response of historical masonry buildings is largely controlled by the effectiveness of wall-to-diaphragm connections, which can be improved using injection anchors. Despite their use, there is a need for a better understanding of the performance of such anchoring system in stone masonry walls. This paper presents quasi-static pull-out tests performed on twelve specimens to investigate the behaviour of injection anchors in rubble stone masonry walls when breakout failure occurs. For each specimen, the experimental results are presented in terms of force–displacement curves, propagation of damage and crack pattern. It is shown that the anchoring details adopted in this study had a negligible influence on the pull-out force capacity of the anchoring system, while an increase in peak pull-out force was observed with increasing overburden stress applied. Because stone masonry specific capacity formulations have not yet been presented in the literature, the capacity is predicted using state-of-the art formulations for the pull-out load capacity of anchors installed in brick masonry. The limits of their applicability are discussed using the obtained experimental results.FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(PD/BD/127910/2016

Modelling of the Cyclic Response of an Unreinforced Masonry Wall through a Force Based Beam Element

The seismic assessment of existing masonry buildings is based on the prediction of their nonlinear response under lateral loading. This requires a reliable estimation of the force and displacement demand. For this purpose, modelling strategies using structural component elements are widely applied both in research and in engineering practice, since they can provide a satisfactory description of the cyclic behaviour of a masonry building with a limited computational cost. One of such modelling strategies are equivalent frame models, in which beam elements describe the response of piers and spandrels. This paper proposes the use of two-node, force-based beam elements with distributed inelasticity to model the in-plane response of modern unreinforced brick masonry panels. The nonlinearity of the response is described through the use of numerically integrated fibre sections and a suitable material model, implemented for this scope in the open-source platform “OpenSees”, describing a coupling at the local level between axial and shear response. Experimental results from a shear and compression test are used to validate the approach and justify some details of the proposed modelling strategy. Since the experimental data included also local displacement measures, the comparison of the numerical and experimental results is extended to curvatures and shear strains. The good agreement between numerical and experimental response confirms the applicability of the proposed approach for modelling the cyclic response of unreinforced brick masonry walls

Years of life that could be saved from prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes premature death and loss of life expectancy worldwide. Its primary and secondary prevention can result in a significant number of years of life saved. AIM: To assess how many years of life are lost after HCC diagnosis. METHODS: Data from 5346 patients with first HCC diagnosis were used to estimate lifespan and number of years of life lost after tumour onset, using a semi-parametric extrapolation having as reference an age-, sex- and year-of-onset-matched population derived from national life tables. RESULTS: Between 1986 and 2014, HCC lead to an average of 11.5 years-of-life lost for each patient. The youngest age-quartile group (18-61 years) had the highest number of years-of-life lost, representing approximately 41% of the overall benefit obtainable from prevention. Advancements in HCC management have progressively reduced the number of years-of-life lost from 12.6 years in 1986-1999, to 10.7 in 2000-2006 and 7.4 years in 2007-2014. Currently, an HCC diagnosis when a single tumour <2 cm results in 3.7 years-of-life lost while the diagnosis when a single tumour 65 2 cm or 2/3 nodules still within the Milan criteria, results in 5.0 years-of-life lost, representing the loss of only approximately 5.5% and 7.2%, respectively, of the entire lifespan from birth. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence results in the loss of a considerable number of years-of-life, especially for younger patients. In recent years, the increased possibility of effectively treating this tumour has improved life expectancy, thus reducing years-of-life lost

Uncertainties in the Seismic Assessment of Historical Masonry Buildings

Seismic assessments of historical masonry buildings are affected by several sources of epistemic uncertainty. These are mainly the material and the modelling parameters and the displacement capacity of the elements. Additional sources of uncertainty lie in the non-linear connections, such as wall-to-wall and floor-to-wall connections. Latin Hypercube Sampling was performed to create 400 sets of 11 material and modelling parameters. The proposed approach is applied to historical stone masonry buildings with timber floors, which are modelled by an equivalent frame approach using a newly developed macroelement accounting for both in-plane and out-of-plane failure. Each building is modelled first with out-of-plane behaviour enabled and non-linear connections, and then with out-of-plane behaviour disabled and rigid connections. For each model and set of parameters, incremental dynamic analyses are performed until building failure and seismic fragility curves derived. The key material and modelling parameters influencing the performance of the buildings are determined based on the peak ground acceleration at failure, type of failure and failure location. This study finds that the predicted PGA at failure and the failure mode and location is as sensitive to the properties of the non-linear connections as to the material and displacement capacity parameters, indicating that analyses must account for this uncertainty to accurately assess the in-plane and out-of-plane failure modes of historical masonry buildings. It also shows that modelling the out-of-plane behaviour produces a significant impact on the seismic fragility curves