Cities are exploding, occupying rural territory in dispersed and fragmented ways. A consequence of this phenomenon is that the demand for utilities includes more and more extensive territories. Among them, fulfilling the demand for services related to integrated water service presents many difficulties. The economic costs needed to meet service demand and the environmental costs associated with its non-fulfilment are inversely proportional to the population needing service in rural areas, since that population is distributed across a low-density gradient. Infrastructure planning, within the area of competence, generally follows a policy of economic sustainability, fixing a service coverage threshold in terms of a "sufficient" concentration of population and economic activity (91/271/CEE). This threshold, homogenous within the territorial limits of a water infrastructure plan, creates uncertainty in the planning of investments, which are not sized on the actual, appropriately spatialized, demand for service. Careful prediction of the location of infrastructure investments would guarantee not only economic savings but also reduce the environmental costs generated by the lack of utilities. Therefore, is necessary to create a link between water infrastructure planning and urban planning, which is responsible for the future spatial distribution of service demand. In this study, the relationships between the instruments of regulation and planning are compared by a multi-criteria spatial analysis network (analytic network process (ANP)). This method, tested on a sample of a city in southern Italy, allows us to optimize the design and location of the investment needed to meet the service criteria, looking at the actual efficiency of the networks. The result of this application is a suitability map that allows us to validate the criteria for defining urban transformations.
The demand for water is constantly increasing, while there are factors related to climate change and pollution that make it less and less available. Addressing this problem means being able to face it with a global approach, which takes into account that human beings need water to survive, as well as all the systems on which they rely, namely sanitation, health, education, business, and industry. While human behavior is influenced by the growing awareness on this topic promoted by organizations specifically targeting this mission, the need to protect water resources in operational terms has led mainly to the need for smart urban infrastructure planning, consistent with the objective of promoting sustainable development. To this aim, the authorities in charge of monitoring the implementation of the investment plans by operators need to perform accurate evaluations of the technical quality of the services provided. The present paper introduces a framework to design a Multi-criteria Spatial Decision Support System, conceived to help decision-makers define and analyze the investment priorities of the individual service operators. By building a knowledge model of the network under investigation, decision-makers are aware of physical components of the whole system and are provided with an intervention priority index related to the network objects that could be affected by the planning action to be implemented.
Intertrochanteric femur fractures are commonly observed in the elderly and may be associated with a complete fracture of the lesser trochanter in over 50% of cases. The migration of the lesser trochanter secondary to the psoas muscle contracture is a rare event. This case report presents a rare case of sudden groin pain three-week status after intramedullary fixation of a intertrochanteric femur fracture.
The value of water as a resource has now been recognized on a global scale, albeit with different levels of awareness due to its availability and accessibility. All western countries have regulated the management sector of this resource (Integrated Water System – SII), regarding both its distribution as well as the purification and collection of sewage waste. Italy has also moved towards privatizing its management, proposing a collaborative mechanism between the public regulatory Authority and the private operator. The investments for the maintenance and development of the asset are therefore supported by the private investors. The model proposed in this work is based on the use of AHP to encourage the conciliation of opposing interests and rationalize a rather complex regulatory phase. It facilitates the selection of technical investment alternatives for the improvement of the SII supply standards.
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