Some Problems in Obtaining the Green's Function of the Layered Soil

The frame of this paper is the development of methods and procedures for the description of the motion of an arbitrary shaped foundation. Since the infinite half-space cannot be properly described by a model of finite dimensions without violating the radiation condition, the basic problems are infinite dimensions of the half-space as well as its non-homogeneous nature. Consequently, an approach has been investigated to solve this problem indirectly by developing Green's function in which the non-homogeneity and the infiniteness of the half-space has been included. When the Green's function is known, the next step will be the evaluation of contact stresses acting between the foundation and the surface of the half-space through an integral equation. The equation should be solved in the area of the foundation using Green's function as the kernel. The derivation of three-dimensional Green's function for the homogeneous half-space (Kobayashi and Sasaki 1991) has been made using the potential method. Partial differential equations occurring in the problem have been made ordinary ones through the Hankel integral transform. The general idea for obtaining the three-dimensional Green's function for the layered half-space is similar. But in that case some additional phenomena may occur. One of them is the possibility of the appearance of Stonely surface waves propagating along the contact surfaces of layers. Their contribution to the final result is in most cases important enough that they should not be neglected. The main advantage of results presented in comparing to other obtained with numerical methods is their accuracy especially in the case of thin layers because all essential steps of Green's function evaluation except of the contour integration along the branch cut have been made analytically. On the other hand the disadvantage of this method is that the mathematical effort for obtaining the Green's function is increasing drastically with the increase of the number of layers. Future work will therefore be directed in simplifying of the above described proces

Some Problems in Obtaining the Green's Function of the Layered Soil

The frame of this paper is the development of methods and procedures for the description of the motion of an arbitrary shaped foundation. Since the infinite half-space cannot be properly described by a model of finite dimensions without violating the radiation condition, the basic problems are infinite dimensions of the half-space as well as its non-homogeneous nature. Consequently, an approach has been investigated to solve this problem indirectly by developing Green's function in which the non-homogeneity and the infiniteness of the half-space has been included. When the Green's function is known, the next step will be the evaluation of contact stresses acting between the foundation and the surface of the half-space through an integral equation. The equation should be solved in the area of the foundation using Green's function as the kernel. The derivation of three-dimensional Green's function for the homogeneous half-space (Kobayashi and Sasaki 1991) has been made using the potential method. Partial differential equations occurring in the problem have been made ordinary ones through the Hankel integral transform. The general idea for obtaining the three-dimensional Green's function for the layered half-space is similar. But in that case some additional phenomena may occur. One of them is the possibility of the appearance of Stonely surface waves propagating along the contact surfaces of layers. Their contribution to the final result is in most cases important enough that they should not be neglected. The main advantage of results presented in comparing to other obtained with numerical methods is their accuracy especially in the case of thin layers because all essential steps of Green's function evaluation except of the contour integration along the branch cut have been made analytically. On the other hand the disadvantage of this method is that the mathematical effort for obtaining the Green's function is increasing drastically with the increase of the number of layers. Future work will therefore be directed in simplifying of the above described proces

The Evaluation of the Dynamical Soil-Bridge Interaction

In the design of a structure, the implementation of reliable soil-foundation-structure interaction into the analysis process plays a very important role. The paper presents a determination of parameters of a suitably chosen soil-foundation model and their influence on the structure response. Since the mechanical data for the structure can be determined with satisfactory accuracy, the properties of the soil-foundation model were identified using measured dynamic response of the real structure. A simple model describing soil-foundation structure was incorporated into the classical 3-D finite element analysis of the structure with commercial software. Results obtained from the measured data on the pier were afterwards compared with those obtained with the finite model of the pier-foundation-soil structure. On the basis of this comparison the coefficients describing the properties in the soil-foundation model were adjusted until the calculated dynamic response coincided with the measured ones. In this way, the difference between both results was reduced to 1%. Full-scale tests measuring eigenmotion of the bridge were performed through all erection stages of the new bridge in Maribor. In this way an effective and experimentally verified 3-D model for a complex dynamic analysis of the bridge under the earthquake loading was obtained. The significant advantage of the obtained model is that it was updated on the basis of the dynamic measurements thus improving the model on the basis of in-situ geomechanical measurements. The model is very accurate in describing the upper structure and economical in describing the soil mass thus representing an optimal solution regarding computational efforts

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world

Expression of Sea Anemone Equistatin in Potato. Effects of Plant Proteases on Heterologous Protein Production

Plants are increasingly used as production platforms of various heterologous proteins, but rapid protein turnover can seriously limit the steady-state expression level. Little is known about specific plant proteases involved in this process. In an attempt to obtain potato (Solanum tuberosum cv Desirée) plants resistant to Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) larvae, the protease inhibitor equistatin was expressed under the control of strong, light-inducible and constitutive promoters and was targeted to the secretory pathway with and without endoplasmic reticulum retention signal. All constructs yielded similar stepwise protein degradation patterns, which considerably reduced the amount of active inhibitor in planta and resulted in insufficient levels for resistance against Colorado potato beetle larvae. Affinity purification of the degradation products and N-terminal sequencing allowed the identification of the amino acid P(1)-positions (asparagine [Asn]-13, lysine-56, Asn-82, and arginine-151) that were cleaved in planta. The proteases involved in the equistatin degradation were characterized with synthetic substrates and inhibitors. Kininogen domain 3 completely inhibited equistatin degradation in vitro. The results indicate that arginine/lysine-specific and legumain-type Asn-specific cysteine proteases seriously impede the functional accumulation of recombinant equistatin in planta. General strategies to improve the resistance to proteases of heterologous proteins in plants are proposed

Esposizioni : Atti del convegno internazionale : Parma, 27-28 gennaio 2017

Atti del convegno internazionale Esposizioni/Exhibitions, Parma, CSAC, 27-28 gennaio 201