277 research outputs found
Reporting of unintended events in an intensive care unit: comparison between staff and observer
No full textAbstract Background In order to identify relevant targets for change, it is essential to know the reliability of incident staff reporting. The aim of this study is to compare the incidence and type of unintended events (UE) reported by facilitated Intensive Care Unit (ICU) staff with those recorded concurrently by an observer. Methods The study is a prospective data collection performed in two 4-bed multidisciplinary ICUs of a teaching hospital. The format of the UE reporting system was voluntary, facilitated and not necessarily anonymous, and used a structured form with a predetermined list of items. UEs were reported by ICU staff over a period of 4 weeks. The reporting incidence during the first fourteen days was compared with that during the second fourteen. During morning shifts in the second fourteen days, one observer in each ICU recorded any UE seen. The staff was not aware of the observers' study. The incidence of UEs reported by staff was compared with that recorded by the observers. Results The staff reported 36 UEs in the first fourteen days and 31 in the second.. The incidence of UE detection during morning shifts was significantly higher than during afternoon or night shifts (p Conclusion UE incidence is strongly underreported by staff in comparison with observers. Also the types of UEs reported are different. Invaluable information about incidents in ICU can be obtained in a few days by observer monitoring.</p
Sensitivity tests and risk evaluation for steelworks portal systems
No full textFourteen portal systems installed at the entrance of as many iron scrap recycling plants have been tested. The systems which
underwent the test were supplied bythree manufacturers: Bicron, Eberline and Exploranium. For the tests, a truck trailer loaded
with iron scrap was equipped with guide tubes for the introduction of radioactive sources. During the whole experimental
campaign, the truck trailer was not modified, to assure test reproducibility. Analyzing the collected data, it was determined the
lowest exposure intensityin air from a 137Cs source still able to cause an alarm when, centered in the load, passes through
anyportal. On the basis of this value it follows a risk evaluation for a steelworks equipped (in agreement with the rules of
Lombardia region) with a portal at the entrance, area monitors for critical sites and gamma spectrometer for steel specimen.
© 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Orphan sources; Portal system; Smelting accident
1. Introduction
Several reports (Lubenau and Yusko, 1998) on accidental
smelting of radioactive sources in furnaces confirm the possibilitythat
radioactive material might be mixed with scrap.
In Italysome accidents took place in the past; the major
are here listed (Risica and Neccetelli, 2000):
• 1990 137Cs contamination of an aluminium refineryin
two facilities and the relevant waste dump;
• 1991 137Cs contamination of an unauthorized dump of
wastes from aluminium melting;
• 1991 241Am contamination of some copper alloymanufacturer
and melting firms;
• 1993 137Cs contamination of a part of the Brescia and
Montirone goods yard;
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-223996366; fax: +39-
223996309.
E-mail address: [email protected] (F. Campi).
1350-4487/$ - see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.radmeas.2004.05.007
• 1995 137Cs contamination of dust from settled fumes in
a steel mill in the decommissioning phase;
• 1997 137Cs and 60Co contamination of the Alfa Acciai
steel mill;
• 1998 137Cs contamination of the soil in a scrap storage
depot.
The most severe accident was that happened at Alfa Acciai
steel mill, in which 7 GBq of 60Co and 150 GBq of 137Cs
were molten in furnace. The consequences of the accident
were rather limited. Indeed, part of the final product was
contaminated byCo-60, but the dust abatement plant had
been effective in avoiding release of 137Cs in the surrounding
environment. Nevertheless, the total cost of the accident
was more than 25 million Euros, including the decontamination
of the plant and the missed profits.
After this accident, the Lombardia Regional Council issued
an Ordinance (Regione Lombardia, 1997) to impose
different radiometric surveys on metal scrap to be recycled.
A first monitoring must be performed on the scrap container
at the entrance of the steel mill. The Ordinance does
not specifywha
On a recent Italian edition of Voltaire’s Essai sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations
No full textMost readers at once associate Voltaire’s name with the noble figure of the
paladin of tolerance, author of the Traité sur la Tolérance, and with the image
of the brilliant narrator and inimitable stylist with his cutting irony, inventor
of that literary genre called conte philosophique and characters who have
become part of the pantheon of world literature, such as Candide and Zadig.
But all too often the average reader’s knowledge is reduced to this. The rest of
Voltaire’s immense production (which includes verse tragedies and comedies,
epic poems, poetry of all kinds, educational treatises on science, philosophical
texts, historical works, all sorts of pamphlets, and an immense correspondence)
remains a heritage open to a small coterie of experts on 18th-century French
literature. Voltaire’s posthumous fame has distorted his image or, at the very
least, has shed light only on some aspects of his complex personality and, what
is worse, his multifaceted work
Energy efficiency management in public university campi - a Brazilian case
No full textThe Brazilian pioneer experience in energy efficiency management in public university campi is the Permanent Program in Efficient Energy Use of the University of São Paulo (PURe), running since 1997. Total built area of the university totalizes above 1 million square meters throughout more than 20 cities in the state of São Paulo, which results in a very complex energy use network comprising several different end uses. Interaction between actions and appliance purchases throughout our campi under the scope of PURe, for the sake of energy management in the University, is described along this paper. Energy bills and contracting, retrofits, experiences in usage of renewables, education and diffusion of information on energy efficiency and rational energy use are some among the described instruments, and accruing savings are shown
Discussion on paper: "Why is resorting to fate wise? A critical look at randomized algorithms in systems and control" - Final comments by the author
No full textRi-costruire una natura contemporanea
No full textLa crisi ambientale ci costringe con urgenza a formulare nuovi modelli di sviluppo che mirino a re-inserire la società umana all’interno dell’ecosistema naturale e trovare un equilibrio tra il sistema dei bisogni e il sistema degli oggetti. Il presente contributo esplora le opportunità offerte dall’incontro di
due approcci progettuali di recente sviluppo: la biomimesi e la biofilia, due campi dalle sostanziali differenze applicative e teoriche,che vedono nella riscoperta della natura e dei suoi processi l’opportunità per ridefinire la società nelle sue componenti materiali e immateriali
On Venetian Campi Resilience to Climate Change
No full textVenice is known for its history and beauty and its fragility and potential demise. The city is experiencing an increase in yearly average temperatures affecting outdoor - indoor comfort and average energy expenditure. Owing to existing literature demonstrating how local microclimate depends on urban density, shape, and orientation of buildings and materials, the work studies the influence of changing Venice temperatures by targeting such issues, focusing on an urban fabric typical form, known as Campi. Based on IPCC's future weather predictions for 2050 scenario A1B, the work highlights how the urban fabric configuration affects the local microclimate and outdoor conditions to define how buildings will mitigate and adapt to environmental transitions. The method couples microclimate and outdoor comfort users' perception of Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), via ENVI-met. Preliminary results show that the compactness of the urban fabric in Venetian Campi significantly reduces outdoor temperatures due to the increased density of shadow areas in the courtyard or in narrow Venice streets. The role of water is also simulated via ENVI-met, as buildings' materials and indoor energy consumption are assumed as invariant to evaluate the historic urban fabric climate resilience. The results constitute a first step towards understanding to what extent a particular urban fabric type is thermally resilient.Environmental Technology and Desig
S/M, Splatter, and Body Modifications in the early Clive Barker. Birth of a Political Aesthetic
No full textThis paper deals with three components of the aesthetic framework elaborated by author, artist, and filmmaker Clive Barker in his first works during the first half of the 1980s, with a particular focus on the fictional creatures known as Cenobites featured in the novella The Hellbound Heart (1986): the references to S/M visuals and culture, the taste for gore/splatter and the aspect related to (self)induced body modifications. In the first part, these three elements will be discussed, and their origins tracked down in Barker’s biographical background and artistic career. In the final part I will try to contextualize this composite aesthetics in its historical setting to show how its elements combined to outline a coherent worldview, different and subversive with respect to the one imposed by the then hegemonic and heteronormative narrative, and how they became one of the main grounds for political criticism and contestation in the ultraconservative United Kingdom during the Thatcher era
Contesti Urbani, processi migratori e giovani migranti
No full textIl presente Programma di ricerca intende focalizzare la sua attenzione su ragazzi e adolescenti appartenenti a comunità migranti e sui processi di negoziazione sociale e identitaria agiti da questi ultimi in contesti multiculturali urbani attraverso l'analisi culturale ed etnografica di due contesti urbani a confronto: Bologna e Perugia. In particolare, la ricerca intende indagare alcune delle comunità migranti presenti sul territorio - sia a Bologna che a Perugia - al fine di approfondire l'analisi sia sul piano delle pratiche - intese come le forme e i modi di abitare diversi spazi della città (scuola, associazioni, strada, ecc.) - sia sul piano delle rappresentazioni prodotte da questi gruppi (narrazioni che hanno per oggetto la città di approdo, relazioni con gli abitanti, il Paese d’origine).
Sfruttando una metodologia già sperimentata con risultati interessanti nello studio delle migrazioni e delle politiche nei confronti dei migranti in Emilia Romagna, la ricerca si propone, da un lato, un’esplorazione etnografica dei giovani migranti appartenenti, per il contesto bolognese, a famiglie provenienti dal Marocco, dalla Romania e dall’Africa Occidentale (ghanesi e senegalesi), mentre per il contesto della città di Perugia i gruppi oggetto dell'indagine, in quanto più presenti sul territorio, saranno: Albania 40,3% (2860), Marocco 21,6% (1535), Romania 13,1 (928), seguiti da Ex-Jugoslavia, 5,2% (371). Dall'altro e contemporaneamente, il programma di ricerca intende approfondire l’esperienza di tale immigrazione da parte della società italiana, in termini di pratiche istituzionali, rappresentazioni sociali e modelli organizzativi caratterizzanti “l’arcipelago dei servizi” scolastici ed extra scolastici a livello locale.
L’obiettivo generale della ricerca è di accrescere la comprensione specifica sia delle configurazioni socio-culturali che si dispiegano in alcune migrazioni nella società italiana, sia del loro impatto sulla società stessa, con particolare riguardo alle dinamiche di trasformazione dei contesti urbani.
Se sul piano teorico e in stretta relazione con l'indagine etnografica il Programma di Ricerca intende ridefinire la nozione stessa di "seconda generazione", sul piano metodologico entrambi i campi di ricerca - Bologna e Perugia - intendono avvalersi di un impianto metodologico articolato in momenti di osservazione partecipante, interviste in profondità, focus group e attività guidate nelle scuole superiori rivolte ai ragazzi e ai giovani stranieri e ai soggetti istituzionali che sono maggiormente coinvolti nella vita quotidiana con loro
Evaluation of Geophysical Data from Campi Flegrei Caldera with a VAR model
No full textThe Campi Flegrei caldera, during the period 1994-2016, showed two
opposite bradyseismic trends. The second period (2004-2016) is characterized by an
acceleration in the number of earthquakes and in the ground deformation. The aim
of this study is to investigate whether, in the second period, causal relationships
exist, according to the Granger causality test, between some geochemical and
geophysical variables, using the VAR model and the Impulse Response Function.
The results reveal interesting considerations regarding the causality and forecasting
of the events connected with the caldera inflatio
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