A database of the coseismic effects following the 30 October 2016 Norcia earthquake in Central Italy

We provide a database of the coseismic geological surface effects following the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake that hit central Italy on 30 October 2016. This was one of the strongest seismic events to occur in Europe in the past thirty years, causing complex surface ruptures over an area of >400 km 2. The database originated from the collaboration of several European teams (Open EMERGEO Working Group; about 130 researchers) coordinated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. The observations were collected by performing detailed field surveys in the epicentral region in order to describe the geometry and kinematics of surface faulting, and subsequently of landslides and other secondary coseismic effects. The resulting database consists of homogeneous georeferenced records identifying 7323 observation points, each of which contains 18 numeric and string fields of relevant information. This database will impact future earthquake studies focused on modelling of the seismic processes in active extensional settings, updating probabilistic estimates of slip distribution, and assessing the hazard of surface faulting

CYCLIC BEHAVIOUR OF A DOVETAIL-SHAPE NOTCHED CONNECTION FOR CROSS-LAMINATED-TIMBER-CONCRETE COMPOSITE SLABS

International audienceTimber-concrete composite members can be used in medium-to-large span structures as a more sustainable but structurally efficient solution. The performance of such members relies largely on the degree of composite action, which is in turn dependent on the type of shear connectors used. Concrete notches are seen to perform well in terms of high strength and stiffness while retaining simplicity in installation as an efficient fabrication of the notches with different shapes can be carried out by high capacity machinery in warehouses. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the cyclic behaviour of these connectors, particularly when used in CLT-concrete composite floors. This paper presents an experimental study on notched connectors for CLT-concrete composite slabs by three symmetrical pushout tests under reversed-cyclic loading. The notched connector has a dovetail shape, which is able to limit the separation between the concrete and the CLT without the need for metallic screws or dowels. Shear capacities and ductility ratio were determined. The test results showed noticeable pinching effect, which became more pronounced after each series of cycles. This phenomenon was originated from compressive settlement of CLT layers that were in contact with the concrete notches and the degradation of the cross layer of the CLT, creating gaps when the load was reversed. The failure mode was governed by shear rupture of the CLT layer caused by rolling shear action, thus achieving low ductility. © Fédération Internationale du Béton – International Federation for Structural Concrete

Articulatory Speech Synthesis from Static Context-Aware Articulatory Targets

Revised Selected Papers of the 11th International Seminar, ISSP 2017, Tianjin, China, October 16-19, 2017International audienceThe aim of this work is to develop an algorithm for controlling the articulators (the jaw, the tongue, the lips, the velum, the larynx and the epiglottis) to produce given speech sounds, syllables and phrases. This control has to take into account coarticulation and be flexible enough to be able to vary strategies for speech production. The data for the algorithm are 97 static MRI images capturing the articulation of French vowels and blocked consonant-vowel syllables. The results of this synthesis are evaluated visually, acoustically and perceptually, and the problems encountered are broken down by their origin: the dataset, its modeling, the algorithm for managing the vocal tract shapes, their translation to the area functions, and the acoustic simulation. We conclude that, among our test examples, the articulatory strategies for vowels and stops are most correct, followed by those of nasals and fricatives. Improving timing strategies with dynamic data is suggested as an avenue for future work

The role of sound intensity and stop-consonant voicing on McGurk fusions and combinations

When presented with an auditory /b/ dubbed onto a visual /g/, listeners sometimes perceive a fused phoneme like /d/ while with the reverse presentation, they experience a combination such as /bg/. This phenomenon reported by McGurk and MacDonald (1976) is here investigated in French for both voiced and voiceless stop consonants, using two levels of auditory intensity (70 dB vs 40 dB). In a first experiment, audiovisual incongruent monosyllables (A/bi/ V/gi/, A/gi/ V/bi/, A/ki/ V/pi/, A/pi/ V/ki/) uttered by a man and by a woman speaker were recorded and dubbed, using an analogical technology. In a second experiment, the same syllables articulated by the man speaker were recorded and dubbed according to digital technology. In a third experiment, the same materials as in the second experiment were used but the presentation procedure of the experimental items was changed: Audiovisual incongruent trials were mixed up with congruent ones. In the three experiments, the role of voicing and of auditory intensity were investigated. Overall, combinations were much more numerous than fusions and both types of illusions tended to increase at low intensity. Voicing had a differential effect on both types of illusions. Combinations were more numerous with voiceless consonants but fusions tended to occur more often with voiced ones. The number of illusions was affected by the dubbing technique but not by the presentation procedure.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe