Assessing Seismic Resilience of School Educational Sector. An attempt to establish the initial conditions in Calabria Region, Southern Italy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cora Fontana ◽  
Eleonora Cianci ◽  
Massimiliano Moscatelli
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
School Buildings ◽  
Calabria Region ◽  
Structural Improvement ◽  
First Case ◽  
School Sector ◽  
Seismic Resilience

<p>School education constitutes one of the strategic functions to be recovered after an earthquake. The structural improvement of school buildings together with the strengthening of the administrators’ capacity to react positively following an earthquake are key factors that contribute to social vulnerability’s reduction. Nevertheless, in Italy, the issue of risk reduction policies related to school sector is not yet consolidated in the institutional agendas. Observing the last major Italian earthquakes what remains predominant is school buildings’ damage degree with consequent interruption of the system functionality. Among the causes: the building heritage vulnerability and the lack of risk mitigation policies, capable of building a resilient community for future earthquakes. That of resilience is considered a relevant paradigm to address the issue of how to strengthen the school sector’s capacity to ensure the buildings physical safety and to guarantee the maintenance of the school function, looking at pre and post-event phases.</p><p>The paper proposes a set of indicators and a methodology for a preliminary assessment of the educational sector’s seismic resilience, in terms of initial conditions. The method has been tested on a first case study: Calabria Region, Southern Italy. The results show that spatial differences in the educational sector’s seismic resilience are evident. Except for some large urban areas, the less resilient areas are grouped mainly in the southern part of the Region, while the most resilient ones are located mostly in the central-northern sector. The ambition is to identify a repeatable approach, useful as guidelines for school seismic prevention policies.</p>

scholarly journals Small-scale analysis to rank municipalities requiring slow-moving landslide risk mitigation measures: the case study of the Calabria region (southern Italy)

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Gullà ◽  
Gianfranco Nicodemo ◽  
Settimio Ferlisi ◽  
Luigi Borrelli ◽  
Dario Peduto
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Phase Method ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Landslide Risk ◽  
Calabria Region ◽  
Slow Moving ◽  
Gis Environment

AbstractThis paper proposes a three-phase method that combines multi-source (i.e. topographic, thematic, monitoring) input data in a GIS environment to rank—at small (1:250,000) scale—administrative units (e.g. municipalities) based on their exposure to slow-moving landslide risk within a selected area (e.g. a region) and, accordingly, detect those primarily requiring mitigation measures. The method is applied in the Calabria region (southern Italy) where several municipalities are widely affected by slow-moving landslides that systematically cause damage to buildings and infrastructure networks resulting in significant economic losses. The results obtained are validated based on the information gathered from previous studies carried out at large (municipal) scale. The work undertaken represents a first, fundamental step of a wider circular approach that can profitably facilitate the decision makers in addressing the issue of the slow-moving landslide risk mitigation in a sustainable way.

scholarly journals Professional Acquisition ofM. bovisin Calabria Region (Southern Italy): A Challenging Case of Osteomyelitis in a Migrant Patient from Bulgaria

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Angela Quirino ◽  
Carlo Torti ◽  
Alessio Strazzulla ◽  
Salvatore Nisticò ◽  
Luisa Galati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Typing ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Enterobacter Cloacae ◽  
Calabria Region ◽  
First Case

We report herein the first case of a coinfection withBrucellaspp.,M. bovis, andEnterobacter cloacaein a butcher who moved from Bulgaria to Italy. Molecular typing suggested professional acquisition ofM. bovisin Italy. So, surveillance and preventive measures need to be implemented.

scholarly journals Initial-Condition Sensitivities and the Predictability of Downslope Winds

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 3401-3418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick A. Reinecke ◽  
Dale R. Durran
Keyword(s):  
Wave Breaking ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Synoptic Scale ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Downslope Winds ◽  
First Case ◽  
Downslope Wind ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Strong Winds

Abstract The sensitivity of downslope wind forecasts to small changes in initial conditions is explored by using 70-member ensemble simulations of two prototypical windstorms observed during the Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX). The 10 weakest and 10 strongest ensemble members are composited and compared for each event. In the first case, the 6-h ensemble-mean forecast shows a large-amplitude breaking mountain wave and severe downslope winds. Nevertheless, the forecasts are very sensitive to the initial conditions because the difference in the downslope wind speeds predicted by the strong- and weak-member composites grows to larger than 28 m s−1 over the 6-h forecast. The structure of the synoptic-scale flow one hour prior to the windstorm and during the windstorm is very similar in both the weak- and strong-member composites. Wave breaking is not a significant factor in the second case, in which the strong winds are generated by a layer of high static stability flowing beneath a layer of weaker mid- and upper-tropospheric stability. In this case, the sensitivity to initial conditions is weaker but still significant. The difference in downslope wind speeds between the weak- and strong-member composites grows to 22 m s−1 over 12 h. During and one hour before the windstorm, the synoptic-scale flow exhibits appreciable differences between the strong- and weak-member composites. Although this case appears to be more predictable than the wave-breaking event, neither case suggests that much confidence should be placed in the intensity of downslope winds forecast 12 or more hours in advance.

scholarly journals Debris-flow susceptibility assessment through cellular automata modeling: an example from 15–16 December 1999 disaster at Cervinara and San Martino Valle Caudina (Campania, southern Italy)

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 457-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Iovine ◽  
S. Di Gregorio ◽  
V. Lupiano
Keyword(s):  
Cellular Automata ◽  
Debris Flow ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Debris Flows ◽  
Soil Cover ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Landslide Risk ◽  
Campania Region ◽  
Optimal Values ◽  
Debris Flow Susceptibility

Abstract. On 15–16 December 1999, heavy rainfall severely stroke Campania region (southern Italy), triggering numerous debris flows on the slopes of the San Martino Valle Caudina-Cervinara area. Soil slips originated within the weathered volcaniclastic mantle of soil cover overlying the carbonate skeleton of the massif. Debris slides turned into fast flowing mixtures of matrix and large blocks, downslope eroding the soil cover and increasing their original volume. At the base of the slopes, debris flows impacted on the urban areas, causing victims and severe destruction (Vittori et al., 2000). Starting from a recent study on landslide risk conditions in Campania, carried out by the Regional Authority (PAI –Hydrogeological setting plan, in press), an evaluation of the debris-flow susceptibility has been performed for selected areas of the above mentioned villages. According to that study, such zones would be in fact characterised by the highest risk levels within the administrative boundaries of the same villages ("HR-zones"). Our susceptibility analysis has been performed by applying SCIDDICA S3–hex – a hexagonal Cellular Automata model (von Neumann, 1966), specifically developed for simulating the spatial evolution of debris flows (Iovine et al., 2002). In order to apply the model to a given study area, detailed topographic data and a map of the erodable soil cover overlying the bedrock of the massif must be provided (as input matrices); moreover, extent and location of landslide source must also be given. Real landslides, selected among those triggered on winter 1999, have first been utilised for calibrating SCIDDICA S3–hex and for defining "optimal" values for parameters. Calibration has been carried out with a GIS tool, by quantitatively comparing simulations with actual cases: optimal values correspond to best simulations. Through geological evaluations, source locations of new phenomena have then been hypothesised within the HR-zones. Initial volume for these new cases has been estimated by considering the actual statistics of the 1999 landslides. Finally, by merging the results of simulations, a deterministic susceptibility zonation of the considered area has been obtained. In this paper, aiming at illustrating the potential for debris-flow hazard analyses of the model SCIDDICA S3–hex, a methodological example of susceptibility zonation of the Vallicelle HR-zone is presented.

scholarly journals Internal volumetric heat generation and heat capacity prediction during a material electromagnetic treatment process using hybrid algorithms

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-82
Author(s):  
Edgar García-Morantes ◽  
Iván Amaya-Contreras ◽  
Rodrigo Correa-Cely
Keyword(s):  
Inverse Problem ◽  
Heat Capacity ◽  
Electromagnetic Field ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
First Case ◽  
Realistic Situation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Volumetric Heat Generation

This work considers the estimation of internal volumetric heat generation, as well as the heat capacity of a solid spherical sample, heated by a homogeneous, time-varying electromagnetic field. To that end, the numerical strategy solves the corresponding inverse problem. Three functional forms (linear, sinusoidal, and exponential) for the electromagnetic field were considered. White Gaussian noise was incorporated into the theoretical temperature profile (i.e. the solution of the direct problem) to simulate a more realistic situation. Temperature was pretended to be read through four sensors. The inverse problem was solved through three different kinds of approach: using a traditional optimizer, using modern techniques, and using a mixture of both. In the first case, we used a traditional, deterministic Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm. In the second one, we considered three stochastic algorithms: Spiral Optimization Algorithm (SOA), Vortex Search (VS), and Weighted Attraction Method (WAM). In the final case, we proposed a hybrid between LM and the metaheuristics algorithms. Results show that LM converges to the expected solutions only if the initial conditions (IC) are within a limited range. Oppositely, metaheuristics converge in a wide range of IC but exhibit low accuracy. The hybrid approaches converge and improve the accuracy obtained with the metaheuristics. The difference between expected and obtained values, as well as the RMS errors, are reported and compared for all three methods.

scholarly journals ROAD TEMPERATURE MODELLING WITHOUT IN-SITU SENSORS

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karol Opara ◽  
Jan Zieliński
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Forecast Error ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Forecast Errors ◽  
The Road ◽  
In Situ Sensors ◽  
Pavement Temperature

Modelling of the pavement temperature facilitates winter road maintenance. It is used for predicting the glaze formation and for scheduling the spraying of the de-icing brine. The road weather is commonly forecasted by solving the energy balance equations. It requires setting the initial vertical profile of the pavement temperature, which is often obtained from the Road Weather Information Stations. The paper proposes the use of average air temperature from seven preceding days as a pseudo-observation of the subsurface temperature. Next, the road weather model is run with a few days offset. It first uses the recent, historical weather data and then the available forecasts. This approach exploits the fact that the energy balance models tend to “forget” their initial conditions and converge to the baseline solution. The experimental verification was conducted using the Model of the Environment and Temperature of Roads and the data from a road weather station in Warsaw over a period of two years. The additional forecast error introduced by the proposed pseudo-observational initialization averages 1.2 °C in the first prediction hour and then decreases in time. The paper also discusses the use of Digital Surface Models to take into account the shading effects, which are an essential source of forecast errors in urban areas. Limiting the use of in-situ sensors opens a perspective for an economical, largescale implementation of road meteorological models.

scholarly journals A Neglected Parasite: Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus, First Report in Feral Pigs in a Natural Park of Sicily (Southern Italy)

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Migliore ◽  
Roberto Puleio ◽  
Gabriella Gaglio ◽  
Domenico Vicari ◽  
Salvatore Seminara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Population Control ◽  
Intestinal Wall ◽  
Pathological Examination ◽  
Inflammatory Reactions ◽  
Feral Pigs ◽  
Natural Park ◽  
First Case ◽  
Extensive Farming ◽  
Macracanthorhynchus Hirudinaceus

Sanitary management and population control of feral pigs remains a major problem in public health, particularly in natural parks where hunting is prohibited and the extensive farming of livestock is common. Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus is a zoonotic parasite species with a worldwide distribution of which the natural definitive hosts are primarily pigs and wild boars (Sus scrofa). The present study describes the main anatomo-pathological and parasitological findings in the first case of M. hirudinaceus in feral pigs in the Madonie park in Sicily (Southern Italy). Overall, 52 acanthocephalans were collected from the small intestine of four infected feral pigs. The prevalence among the 36 examined animals was 11.1% with a mean Abundance (mA) and mean Intensity (mI) of 1.4 and 13, respectively. Pathological examination revealed grossly visible nodules on the external surface of the intestines, corresponding to the proboscis of M. hirudinaceus attached deeply into the intestinal wall. In these sites, severe inflammatory reactions in the tissue involved and the destruction of normal intestinal architecture, as well as necrosis and ulceration in the mucosa, submucosa, and part of the muscolaris mucosae were described. This is the first official report of this neglected zoonosis in Italy, in particular in a natural park where the extensive farming of domestic pigs is practiced. This could favor the spread of this parasite in domestic animals and the environment, increasing the accidental risk of infection in human residents of these areas.

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