Sph propagation modelling of an earthflow from southern italy

Natural slopes in clayey soils are often affected by failures which may cause the onset of landslides of the flow type travelling large distances and damaging buildings and major infrastructures. Particularly, the so-called earthflows pose challenging tasks for the individuation and forecasting of the remobilized masses; as a consequence, the mathematical modelling of the propagation stage allows enhancing the understanding of earthflows in order to obtain reliable assessments of run-out distances and displaced soil volumes. This paper deals with the reactivations of Montaguto earthflow (Southern Italy) occurred from 1998 to 2009 that are simulated, through the depth-integrated “GeoFlow-SPH” model, thanks to the availability of a detailed data-set. The achieved results provide a satisfactory agreement with the in-situ information and outline how a change of the rheology of the mobilized masses can affect the whole phenomenon

Computation of the inverse Laplace Transform based on a Collocation method which uses only real values

We develop a numerical algorithm for inverting a Laplace transform (LT), based on Laguerre polynomial series expansion of the inverse function under the assumption that the LT is known on the real axis only. The method belongs to the class of Collocation methods (C-methods), and is applicable when the LT function is regular at infinity. Difficulties associated with these problems are due to their intrinsic ill-posedness. The main contribution of this paper is to provide computable estimates of truncation, discretization, conditioning and roundoff errors introduced by numerical computations. Moreover, we introduce the pseudoaccuracy which will be used by the numerical algorithm in order to provide uniform scaled accuracy of the computed approximation for any x with respect to ex . These estimates are then employed to dynamically truncate the series expansion. In other words, the number of the terms of the series acts like the regularization parameter which provides the trade-off between errors. With the aim to validate the reliability and usability of the algorithm experiments were carried out on several test functions

Continuance interaction intention in retailing: relations between customer values, satisfaction, loyalty, and identification

Purpose - Social media as a competitive marketing tool deliver online platforms for retailers to get closer to their consumers/visitors/shoppers through continued interaction. This study scrutinizes how customer values (functional, social, and experimental) enhance satisfaction, loyalty, identification and how such relationships, in turn, impact on user-continuance interaction intention. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method approach was designed to identify the consumers perception towards high-end retailers of worldwide brands. 12 interviews were conducted with experts in retailing and a survey with 390 respondents. Structural equation modeling/AMOS was employed to gain insight into the various relationships and influences. Findings - To augment user-continuance interaction intention, results indicate that retail managers should focus more on customer-based values when they design marketing strategies for brand pages on social media. The findings also provide guidelines for retail marketing and social media managers to generate consumer value in the retail environment via information quality, product-related learning, and economic benefits (functional value), interaction, collaboration, and social presence (social value), and experiential value (intellectual and effective value). Originality/value - The paper offers critical managerial contributions by presenting a comprehensive picture of the condition in which a favorable brand social media page could be constructed within a brand to satisfy consumers value and achieve satisfaction, loyalty, identification, and continuance interaction intention; all of which are critical objectives for every company. In other words, a clear knowledge of the dimensions of consumer value concepts can assist retail communication managers to improve consumers/visitors/shoppers intention to continue their interaction in a competitive market. The current study is one of the very few emerging research studies to have examined the relationships between consumers/visitors/shoppers functional, values, social values, and experimental values empirically, to have further explored the relationships between the research constructs

Finite deformation non-isotropic elasto-plasticity with evolving structural tensors. A framework

The paper discusses a constitutive model for finite deformation anisotropic elasto-plasticity, within the framework of the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient and of the theory of the structural tensors. It is shown that the driving force for the evolution of the anelastic deformation is not the classic stress, rather a thermodynamic force where the stress is corrected for a term caused by the transformation of the material directions due to plastic deformations. Two scenarios can arise, one in which the material directions do not evolve, and the other in which the material directions can evolve due to anelastic phenomena. The general framework model presented here can be applied to various phenomena in material science