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The evaluation of a bridge's structural damage state following a seismic event and the decision on whether or not to open it to traffic under the threat of aftershocks (ASs) can significantly benefit from information about the mainshock (MS) earthquake's intensity at the site, the bridge's structural response, and the resulting damage experienced by critical structural components. This paper illustrates a Bayesian network (BN)-based probabilistic framework for updating the AS risk of bridges, allowing integration of such information to reduce the uncertainty in evaluating the risk of bridge failure. Specifically, a BN is developed for describing the probabilistic relationship among various random variables (e.g., earthquake-inducedground-motion intensity, bridge response parameters, seismic damage, etc.) involved in the seismic damage assessment. This configuration allows users to leverage data observations from seismic stations, structural health monitoring (SHM) sensors and visual inspections (VIs). The framework is applied to a hypothetical bridge in Central Italy exposed to earthquake sequences. The uncertainty reduction in the estimate of the AS damage risk is evaluated by utilising various sources of information. It is shown that the information from accelerometers and VIs can significantly impact bridge damage estimates, thus affecting decision-making under the threat of future ASs. more...

The private library of Francesco d’Aguirre, man of letters and book-collector - This article concerns the Sicilian jurist Francesco d’Aguirre (1682-1745), a prominent figure of the early eighteenth century. A pupil of Gravina in Roma, he played a key role in university reform in Turin under Victor Amadeus II, and was later a leading member of the Giunta del censimento established by Charles VI in Milan. Turchetti examines a catalogue of part of his library (which was sold by his son Vittorio after his death) printed by Antonio Agnelli in 1753 and kept in the Biblioteca Trivulziana in Milan. Tha authoress also examines the correspondence exchange by Aguirre with some of the leading intellectuals of his time, such as Muratori, Lama, Maffei, Metastasio, Cmpailla. These letters illustratee d’Aguirre’s cultural interests and throw light on the provenance of some of the books included in the catalogue Key words: Francesco d’Aguirre; Private Libraries; Eighteenth century; Italy; Correspondence. more...