1,720,993 research outputs found
An empirical seismic vulnerability model
No full textThis paper proposes a novel seismic vulnerability model for the classification of the existing residential building stock. The vulnerability model rests on a data-driven approach, taking advantage of observed seismic damages detected on several Italian building typologies, struck by the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. Unsupervised machine learning techniques are exploited for clustering empirical damage data and objectively identifying vulnerability classes of decreasing vulnerability. The cascading use of different strategies, involving clustering analysis and probability theory, results in a comprehensive vulnerability model, which allows for determining, into a probabilistic framework, the degree of belonging of a given building typology to multiple vulnerability classes. The adoption of the peak ground acceleration for characterising the ground shaking is a further advantage of this study, overcoming several limitations related to the use of macroseismic intensity
Influence of seismic input characterisation on empirical damage probability matrices for the 2009 L'Aquila event
No full textA suitable characterisation of seismic input at the sites where damage is reported is a key aspect of the study of empirical seismic fragility. The availability of a shakemap, specifically derived for the event of interest from recorded ground motions, allows considering site conditions, spatial variability and possible directivity effects. Whenever this is not available, alternative solutions must be considered, such as for example the use of ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) or the generation of conditional spatially correlated ground motion random fields (CSCRFs). Each of these approaches bears several uncertainties, which obviously have an effect on the derived empirical damage probability matrices. This paper explores issues and procedures related with the ground motion characterisation and assesses their impact on empirical damage distributions derived from a comprehensive post-earthquake damage database, compiled after the 2009 L'Aquila (Italy) seismic event. Several GMPEs are qualitatively and quantitatively ranked with respect to the available accelerometric data and the damage probability matrices obtained with the best performing GMPE are then compared with results obtained using more refined ground motion characterisations
Synergies and trade-offs between OHS and productivity: An assessment method to support the design of new interventions
Full text linkGoing Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Laryngeal tuberculosis in patients treated with adalimumab: A casual or causal connection?
No full textThis article presents two consecutive cases of laryngeal tuberculosis in patients treated with a specific anti-tumour necrosis factor-alpha (adalimumab), with a focus on their diagnostic process and therapeutic management. Both patients presented with aspecific chronic laryngeal symptoms that had been worsening for a few months in one case and for almost 1 year in the other one. They were both studied with fibreoptic laryngoscopy and contrast-enhanced CT and MRI scans. In both cases, the laryngeal biopsy proved negative to Ziehl-Neelsen test, while positive to Koch's bacillus sensitive to rifampicin at PCR test. Both patients completely responded to standard antitubercular antibiotic therapy with rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide and etambutol protocol. In the differential diagnosis of such patients, laryngeal tuberculosis should be considered due to the reasonable linkage between the immunosuppressant therapy with adalimumab and the tuberculosis infection/reactivation
Augmented bimedial rectus muscles recession in acute acquired concomitant esotropia associated with myopia
No full textObjective: To review the clinical features of acute acquired concomitant esotropia in myopia and the results of augmented bilateral symmetrical medial rectus recession. Methods: The medical charts of 50 patients diagnosed with acute acquired concomitant esotropia associated with myopia between 2013 and 2018 were reviewed. The dose-response was calculated, and the relationship of sex, age, refraction, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), preoperative deviation angle, and stereopsis with surgical results were analysed. Results: Forty-six patients (mean age 40.1 ± 18.1 years) were included in the study. Preoperative esotropia angle at near and distance were, respectively, 26.0 ± 7.5 PD and 25.2 ± 7.9 PD. Surgery amount was 12.1 ± 1.8 mm of recession, and surgical success was achieved in 38 patients (82.6%). No overcorrections were recorded. At 1-year follow-up, the mean deviation angle at distance and at near was 1.9 ± 2.4 and 1.7 ± 2.1 PD, and no recurrences were observed. The average dose-response was 1.8 ± 0.6 PD/mm and was positively correlated with preoperative angle of deviation (R2 = 0.799, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with age (R2 = −0.365, p = 0.013). Conversely, there were no significant associations between dose-response and sex, refractive error, BCVA, or stereopsis (all p > 0.05). Factors associated with surgical failure were a lower amount of recession and absence of stereopsis. Conclusions: Augmented bilateral medial rectus recession allows good motor and sensory results in patients with acute acquired concomitant esotropia associated with myopia
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