Slope Stability Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Techniques

During the past six years the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) has spent over nine million dollars repairing slope failures that have occurred in the state of Arkansas. Specifically, higher than average precipitation in 2004 and 2008 led to large quantities of slides, all of which were repaired. Two highways, within the state of Arkansas, with known historical movements along or across the highways are being monitored using traditional surveying techniques and advanced remote sensing techniques. These slides, both of which are located in fill slopes. One a 500-foot long slide located north of Chester, Arkansas, within the median of Interstate I-540. The other site is a 1200-foot long slide located east of Malvern, Arkansas, cutting across all four-lanes of Interstate I-30, have visible evidence of movement (tension cracks, traverse cracks, head scarps, flank displacement, etc.) A ground portable RADAR interferometer (GPRI-II) constructed by Gamma Remote Sensing is the first device in the United States being used to remotely monitor slopes. Surveying monuments (2.5-inch diameter aluminum monuments placed on 24-inch long, ½-inch diameter rebar encased in 6-inches of concrete) were installed inside and outside of the sliding mass at each site (29 monuments at the calibration site in Chester, Arkansas site and 54 monuments at the validation site in Malvern, Arkansas), and are being monitored using traditional surveying techniques (using a Nikon DTM-520 total station) to identify the movement of each monument as detected from two observation points. The GPRI-II and a Leica C-10 LIDAR are also being used to identify the movement of the slopes. Inclinometers have been also installed at the validation site near Malvern, Arkansas to compare the displacements obtained by remote sensing techniques with standard borehole slope monitoring methods. The results of the movements observed using in-situ instrumentation, total station, RADAR, and LIDAR are discussed. A full geotechnical subsurface investigation was perform at the validation site in Malvern, Arkansas during the summer of 2011. The drilling and sampling investigation provided the necessary soil and rock samples for laboratory testing. The results from the laboratory tests permitted the displacement rates to be inspected in the light of the shear strength of the soil strata and the depth to the shear failure plane. Since December 2010, site visits have been conducted every two weeks for the Chester site and every month for the Malvern site. During each visit total station, RADAR, and LIDAR observations were conducted

Novelle italiane antiche nella tradizione manoscritta: contenuto, struttura e genealogia del cod. Firenze, BNCF II III 343

Un significativo corpo di novelle due-trecentesche ha circolato per iscritto nei primi secoli della letteratura in volgare in forme diverse, prima di essere recuperato e sistemato nel Cinquecento su iniziativa di Pietro Bembo e Carlo Gualteruzzi, a cui si deve l’edizione antologica intitolata per l’occasione Le cento novelle antiche, ormai nota come Novellino. L’articolo verte su uno dei testimoni delle novelle, il quattrocentesco codice II III 343 della Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze: una compilazione contenente una serie di Vite di filosafi, una cinquantina di novelle del Novellino e infine dieci novellette non attestate altrove. Si dimostra qui l’importanza del ms. sia sul piano ecdotico, tra i testimoni del Novellino, sia in sé come antologia di copista. Anche se è un codice relativamente tardo e ha solo alcune delle novelle antiche, alla luce dello stemma codicum si rivela prezioso per ricostruire la complessa storia della loro circolazione nelle raccolte: esso conserva significative tracce della prima redazione di un’antologia trecentesca perduta – a sua volta cavata da un antico Libro di novelle d’autore, o Ur-Novellino – e nello stesso tempo mostra l’intraprendenza di un copista che ha assemblato una sua personale silloge sulla base di altre compilazioni. Si ha un’ul- teriore conferma sia del ruolo attivo avuto dai copisti-compilatori nel tramandare l’antico patrimonio novellistico in volgare, sia del fatto che la novella si sia andata codificando come genere letterario nelle antologie, fino alla monumentale collezione «bembiana-gualteruzziana».A rich corpus of Italian novelle is transmitted by a few codexes from the 14th to the 16th century, including the first printed edition published in 1525 under the apocryphal title of Le cento novelle antiche (The One Hundred Ancient Tales, namely the Vulgate Novellino), but they differ from each other in order and number of pieces. The article mainly focuses on the ms. II III 343 of the National Central Library of Florence, containing a series of Vite di filosofi (Lives of Eminent Philosophers), about fifty novelle of the Novellino and ten more short stories not attested elsewhere. The importance of this narrative collection from the 15th century is highlighted here: the ms. contains the fragment of an early version of the Novellino, but is also a remarkable anthology that assembles different collections composed by different authors and collected by the same copyst. The comparison of its sections with each other, and with the other codexes that partially share the corpus, spreads light on the laboratory of the novella, on some aspects of its written circulation in the first centuries, its definition and its developments since the ancient Libro di novelle e di bel parlar gentile (Book of Tales and of Lovely Gentle Speech) or Ur-Novellino

Computational Model for Delamination Growth at SMA-GFRP Interface of Hybrid Composite

AbstractA cohesive model of the new interface of the CuZnAl SMA/GFRP hybrid composite is proposed and the interfacial delamination under Mode II loading conditions, between plain CuZnAl SMA sheet insert and GFRP matrix, as well as between CuZnAl SMA sheet insert having elliptical hole pattern and GFRP matrix, are studied in detail.The results of the pull-out tests with plain sheet insert are used to calculate the interfacial parameters of the hybrid composite. With these parameters, the cohesive interaction and failure mechanism for hybrid composite with plain sheet, as well as with patterned sheet insert, is modelled. The efficacy of the laser patterned SMA sheet inserts to improve the overall interfacial strength in the new laminated SMA/GFRP hybrid composite for applications, such as light weight and high damping material under dynamic loads, is validated

Real world data in the era of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs): Increasing evidence and future applications in lung cancer.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed death 1 (PD-1) and PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) quickly subverted the standard of treatment in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), where they were first introduced in all comers previously treated advanced/metastatic NSCLC patients and subsequently in the first line of PD-L1 selected cases of metastatic and locally advanced disease. Treatment algorithm is an evolving landscape, where the introduction of front-line ICIs, with or without chemotherapy, unavoidably influences the following treatment lines. In this context, medical oncologists are currently facing many unclear issues, which have been not clarified so far by available data. Effectiveness and safety in special populations underrepresented in clinical trials - such as elderly, poor PS, hepatitis or human immunodeficiency virus-affected patients - are only a part of the unexplored side of ICIs in the real world. Indeed, pivotal randomized clinical trials (RCTs) often lack of external validity because eligibility criteria exclude some patient subgroups commonly treated in real-world clinical practice. Similarly, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of these innovative agents are important issues to be considered in the real-world. Though affected by several limitations, real-world evidence (RWE) studies allow to collect data regarding overall treated patients in clinical practice according to local authority regulations, overcoming the intrinsic limits of RCTs. The present review focuses on RWE about ICIs in lung cancer treatment, with particular reference to special patient populations, and discusses potential application of real-world data in a potential innovative drug development model

Zeolite-based ceramic components through hydrothermal dry synthesis

Zeolites are three-dimensional, microporous, crystalline solids with well-defined structures that contain aluminum, silicon and oxygen in their regular framework. Zeolites are generally formed in strong alkali solution (Na, K) and in hydrothermal conditions. In this work, inorganic compacts were produced using an innovative approach, where kaolinite was directly converted into a zeolite structure through a hydrothermal synthesis without the addition of any water, and therefore in dry conditions. Zeolite-based components reinforced with fillers were also produced. XRD analyses were conducted to confirm the formation of the desired phase. Strength and microstructure were evaluated to optimize the composition of the composites. The zeolite-based components could replace fiber reinforced plastic in terms of thermal resistance. Moreover, this class of ceramic composites can be process with the same technology of thermosetting based composites. References: Davidovits J, Legrand J (1977). Process for agglomerating compressible mineral substances under the form of powder, particles or fibres. US4028454

Dataset on gait patterns in degenerative neurological diseases

We collected the gait parameters and lower limb joint kinematics of patients with three different types of primary degenerative neurological diseases: (i) cerebellar ataxia (19 patients), (ii) hereditary spastic paraparesis (26 patients), and (iii) Parkinson's disease (32 patients). Sixty-five gender-age matched healthy subjects were enrolled as control group. An optoelectronic motion analysis system was used to measure time-distance parameters and lower limb joint kinematics during gait in both patients and healthy controls