Discussion to: ‘Guidelines on the use of inverse velocity method as a tool for setting alarm thresholds and forecasting landslides and structure collapses’ by T. Carlà, E. Intrieri, F. Di Traglia, T. Nolesini, G. Gigli and N. Casagli

The paper ‘Guidelines on the use of inverse velocity method as a tool for setting alarm thresholds and forecasting landslides and structure collapses’ by T. Carlà, E. Intrieri, F. Di Traglia, T. Nolesini, G. Gigli and N. Casagli deals with a sensitive topic for landslide risk management. Exploring the pre-failure behaviour of four different case histories, the authors proposed standard procedures for the application of the inverse velocity method (INV, Fukuzono 1985). Specifically, they suggested guidelines for the filtering of velocity data and an original and simple approach to automatically set the first and the second alarm thresholds using the inverse velocity method. The present discussion addresses three different topics: (1) data filter selection according to the features of monitoring instrument; (2) the importance of data sampling frequency for the forecasting analysis and (3) the influence of the starting point (SP in this discussion) for the application of INV analysis. Moreover, based on this matter, a new method is proposed to update the INV analysis on an ongoing basis

Spectral Efficiency Optimization in Flexi-Grid Long-Haul Optical Systems

Flexible grid optical networks allow a better exploitation of fiber capacity, by enabling a denser frequency allocation. A tighter channel spacing, however, requires narrower filters, which increase linear intersymbol interference (ISI), and may dramatically reduce system reach. Commercial coherent receivers are based on symbol by symbol detectors, which are quite sensitive to ISI. In this context, Nyquist spacing is considered as the ultimate limit to wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) packing. In this paper, we show that by introducing a limited-complexity trellis processing at the receiver, either the reach of Nyquist WDM flexi-grid networks can be significantly extended, or a denser-than-Nyquist channel packing (i.e., a higher spectral efficiency (SE)) is possible at equal reach. By adopting well-known information-theoretic techniques, we design a limited-complexity trellis processing and quantify its SE gain in flexi-grid architectures where wavelength selective switches over a frequency grid of 12.5GHz are employed.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

Il modello tedesco. Sistema elettorale: un modello da seguire?

Il sistema elettorale tedesco, da pi\uf9 parti invocato come modello ai fini di un compiuto bipolarismo e di una maggiore stabilit\ue0 di governo, \ue8 descritto nelle sue caratteristiche dagli autori, per mostrare come in realt\ue0 la governabilit\ue0 di questa democrazia dipenda pi\uf9 dal sistema partitico e dalla cultura politica che dalle regole elettorali e sia in quanto tale difficilmente esportabile nel nostro paese

Ambiguity in Asset Markets: Theory and Experiment

This paper studies the impact of ambiguity and ambiguity aversion on equilibrium asset prices and portfolio holdings in competitive financial markets. It argues that attitudes toward ambiguity are heterogeneous across the population, just as attitudes toward risk are heterogeneous across the population, but that heterogeneity of attitudes toward ambiguity has different implications than heterogeneity of attitudes toward risk. In particular, when some state probabilities are not known, agents who are sufficiently ambiguity averse find open sets of prices for which they refuse to hold an ambiguous portfolio. This suggests a different cross-section of portfolio choices, a wider range of state price/probability ratios and different rankings of state price/probability ratios than would be predicted if state probabilities were known. Experiments confirm all of these suggestions. Our findings contradict the claim that investors who have cognitive biases do not affect prices because they are infra-marginal: ambiguity averse investors have an indirect effect on prices because they change the per-capita amount of risk that is to be shared among the marginal investors. Our experimental data also suggest a positive correlation between risk aversion and ambiguity aversion that might explain the "value effect" in historical data.Ambiguity, Experiments, Financial Markets, Heterogeneity

Peripartum patient with epigastric pain

A 44-year-old female, gravida 2, para 1, abortus 1, presented to the emergency department with epigastric pain, vomiting and nosebleed at 36 weeks gestation. She had right upper quadrant tenderness and was hypertensive at 138/90 mmHg. Laboratory studies demonstrated decreased platelets of 122 k/mcL, Hb of 11.2 g/dL and RBC of 3.48 M/mcL, elevated AST of 371 U/L and ALT of 522 U/L, and proteinuria of 13 mg/dL

Relationship between pulmonary exacerbations and daily physical activity in adults with cystic fibrosis

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between pulmonary exacerbations and physical activity (PA) in adults with cystic fibrosis (CF)

Genetic analysis for two italian siblings with usher syndrome and schizophrenia.

Usher syndrome is a group of autosomal recessive genetic disorders characterized by deafness, retinitis pigmentosa, and sometimes vestibular areflexia. The relationship between Usher syndrome and mental disorders, most commonly a "schizophrenia-like" psychosis, is sometimes described in the literature. The etiology of psychiatric expression of Usher syndrome is still unclear. We reported a case of two natural siblings with congenital hypoacusis, retinitis pigmentosa, and psychiatric symptoms. Clinical features and genetic analysis were also reported. We analyzed possible causes to explain the high prevalence of psychiatric manifestations in Usher syndrome: genetic factors, brain damage, and "stress-related" hypothesis

Bow-Tie Cavity for Terahertz Radiation

We report on the development, testing, and performance analysis of a bow-tie resonant cavity for terahertz (THz) radiation, injected with a continuous-wave 2.55 THz quantum cascade laser. The bow-tie cavity employs a wire-grid polarizer as input/output coupler and a pair of copper spherical mirrors coated with an unprotected 500 nm thick gold layer. The improvements with respect to previous setups have led to a measured finesse value F=123, and a quality factor Q = 5.1x10^5. The resonator performances and the relevant parameters are theoretically predicted and discussed, and a comparison among simulated and experimental spectra is given

PSYCHIATRY IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM: CLINICAL EXPERIENCE IN PERUGIA

Background: We examined all psychiatric consultations carried out over 3 years at the Emergency Room (ER) of the hospital of Perugia, with the aim of describing the epidemiologic characteristics of patients with any psychiatric illness and their management. We also assessed the distribution of psychiatric emergencies over this period of observation. Subjects and methods: We recruited patients consecutively admitted to the ER, between June the 20th 2011 and June the 20th 2014, for which a psychiatric consultation was required. We analysed socio-demographic and clinical data as well as the type of long-range plan after discharge. Continuous variables were presented as means and standard deviations. Categorical variables were presented as number and percentages. For comparing the means we used the Student\u27s t-test. For analyzing the association between categorical variables we performed Pearson’s chi-squared test or the Fisher\u27s exact test where appropriate. We considered significant test results with p<0.05. The post-hoc analyses were carried out by means of standardized Pearson residuals, in order to assess the significance of the cell-wise divergences from homogeneity. Spearman’s correlations were computed for reasons for a psychiatric consultation request across months. Multinomial logistics regression model was used for analyzing the variability of the reasons for the admission to the ER for the 12 months. Statistical analyses were performed using the R software v 3.1. Results: Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders were the most represented. The most frequent approach to patients with psychiatric complaints did not imply the use of psychopharmacological treatments or coercive interventions. No particular seasonality of psychopathology was observed. Conclusions: ERs may represent the place where the first psychiatric visit occurs and a point of reference for the chronic patients. It can also represent an opportunity for further examination of organic comorbidity

PSYCHIATRY IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM: ONE YEAR PERIOD OF CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

Objective: We examined the psychiatric consultations carried out over one year at the Emergency Room (ER) of the hospital of Perugia, with the aim of describing the epidemiologic characteristics of patients with any psychiatric illness and their management. We also assessed the distribution of psychiatric emergencies over this year of observation. Method: We recruited patients admitted to the ER, between July 2011 and June 2012, for which a psychiatric consultation was required. We used the t-test for continuous variables. Categorical variables were analyzed with the chi-squared test and the Fisher exact test. We considered significant test results with p<0.05. The post-hoc analyses were carried out with Bonferroni or Sidak correction. Statistical analyses were performed using STATA 12.0. Results: Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders were the most represented. The most frequent approach to patients with psychiatric complaints did not imply the use of psychopharmacological treatments or coercive interventions. No particular seasonality of psychopathology was observed. Conclusions: One of the fundamental aspects of the psychiatric intervention is empathy along with the attempt to enter into a relationship with the patient, in order to share, where possible, the therapeutic project, particularly in the case the of patients with acute and severe psychiatric illnesses