Set-up effects of piles in sand tested in the centrifuge

The bearing capacity of piles increases over time. Research has shown that this is caused by an increase in shaft friction combined with a constant or only slightly increasing base capacity. Although there are some ideas on the mechanisms that play a role there is no quantitative model to describe this mechanism. From the literature the shaft friction seems to increase linearly with the logarithm of time. For piles in the field this is proven by load tests performed between 1 until approximately 1000 days after installation. Literature indicates that set-up as a function of time is also present minutes and hours after installation. This allows investigating the set-up mechanisms under controlled conditions in a centrifuge. Therefore two test series have been performed to investigate the set-up for a single pile and a pile group. This paper presents the relevant literature and describes the position of the tests in the on-going research program on piles in The Netherlands. Furthermore, the results will be described and discussed. Time dependency in bearing capacity in sand can be observed in the centrifuge tests, although it is not certain whether some of the increase has not been caused by other mechanisms. It appears that the testing conditions as well as the effects of installation of neighboring piles are of great importance on the time effects

A comparative Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) study using a non-supervised clustering analysis and an expert knowledge based model - A case study from Ahuachapán, El Salvador

DSM is the inference of spatial and temporal soil property variations using mathematical models based on quantitative relationships between environmental information and soil measurements. The quality of DSM information depends on the method and environmental covariates used for its estimations. We compared two DSM methods to predict soil properties such as Organic Matter “MO” (%), Sand (%), Clay (%), pH (H2O), Phosphorus (mg/kg), Effective Cationic Exchange Capacity “CICE” (cmol/L), Potassium (cmol/L) and Water Holding Capacity (mm/m) for the department of Ahuachapán in El Salvador to support the activities of the Agriculture Landscape Restoration Initiative (ALRI) in the countr

A comparative Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) study using a non-supervised clustering analysis and an expert knowledge based model - A case study from Ahuachapán, El Salvador

DSM is the inference of spatial and temporal soil property variations using mathematical models based on quantitative relationships between environmental information and soil measurements. The quality of DSM information depends on the method and environmental covariates used for its estimations. We compared two DSM methods to predict soil properties such as Organic Matter “MO” (%), Sand (%), Clay (%), pH (H2O), Phosphorus (mg/kg), Effective Cationic Exchange Capacity “CICE” (cmol/L), Potassium (cmol/L) and Water Holding Capacity (mm/m) for the department of Ahuachapán in El Salvador to support the activities of the Agriculture Landscape Restoration Initiative (ALRI) in the countr

Chemically activated reactions on the C7H5 energy surface: Propargyl + diacetylene, i-C5H3 + acetylene, and n-C5H3 + acetylene

This study uses computational chemistry and statistical reaction rate theory to investigate the chemically activated reaction of diacetylene (butadiyne, C4H2) with the propargyl radical (C •H2CCH) and the reaction of acetylene (C 2H2) with the i-C5H3 (CH 2CCCC•H) and n-C5H3 (CHCC •HCCH) radicals. A detailed G3SX-level C7H 5 energy surface demonstrates that the C3H3 + C4H2 and C5H3 + C2H 2 addition reactions proceed with moderate barriers, on the order of 10 to 15 kcal mol-1, and form activated open-chain C 7H5 species that can isomerize to the fulvenallenyl radical with the highest barrier still significantly below the entrance channel energy. Higher-energy pathways are available leading to other C 7H5 isomers and to a number of C7H4 species + H. Rate constants in the large multiple-well (15) multiple-channel (30) chemically activated system are obtained from a stochastic solution of the one-dimensional master equation, with RRKM theory for microcanonical rate constants. The dominant products of the C4H2 + C 3H3 reaction at combustion-relevant temperatures and pressures are i-C5H3 + C2H2 and CH2CCHCCCCH + H, along with several quenched C7H 5 intermediate species below 1500 K. The major products in the n-C5H3 + C2H2 reaction are i-C 5H3 + C2H2 and a number of C 7H4 species + H, with C7H5 radical stabilization at lower temperatures. The i-C5H3 + C 2H2 reaction predominantly leads to C7H 4 + H and to stabilized C7H5 products. The title reactions may play an important role in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation in combustion systems. The C7H5 potential energy surface developed here also provides insight into several other important reacting gas-phase systems relevant to combustion and astrochemistry, including C2H + the C3H4 isomers propyne and allene, benzyne + CH, benzene + C(3P), and C7H5 radical decomposition, for which some preliminary analysis is presented. © 2011 the Owner Societies

Mechanism for spatial organization in quantum dot self-assembly

Inspired by experimental observations of spatially ordered growth hillocks on the (001) surfaces of natural graphite crystals, a mechanism for spatial organization in quantum dotself-assembly is proposed. The regular arrangement of steps from a screw dislocation-generated growth spiral provides the overall template for such ordering. An ordered array of quantum dots may be formed or nucleated from impurities driven to the step corners by diffusion and by their interactions with the spiral’s steps and kinks. Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of a solid-on-solid model supports the feasibility of such a mechanism

The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2009-10

Examines trends in the impact of special interest groups' spending on judicial elections, TV advertising, and implications such as threats of impeachment for unpopular decisions, attacks on merit selection systems, and danger to public election financing