Influence of Soil-Structure Interaction on Seismic Response of Shear Buildings

The beneficial or detrimental effect of dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) is a controversial issue. With reference to an idealized R/C shear building, a comprehensive comparison between the results obtained with a classical fixed-base analysis and a complete SSI analysis is provided in the present paper. The shear-type structure is modeled as generalized Single Degree Of Freedom (SDOF) system using the principle of virtual displacements. The foundation consists of surface square foundations resting on different soil conditions, consistent with the provisions of EC8-part I. SSI effects in the far-field of earthquakes was evaluated by direct application of the elastic pseudo-acceleration/displacement design spectra proposed in EC8, taking into account the change in natural period and damping of the soil-structure system. SSI effect in near-field area of earthquakes was analyzed using the computer program SASSI2000 (Lysmer et al., 1999), by means of a set of ten actual earthquakes recorded within a distance of 20 km from fault The proposed analyses can be easily used by consultants who want to face the task of SSI in an immediate and simplified manner, without devoting resources into complex analysis. The charts proposed in this paper could be incorporated in seismic guidelines

Correction of Mechanical CPT Data for Liquefaction Resistance Evaluation

Abstract -For more than 30 years, there has been considerable interest in using CPT also to evaluate the liquefaction resistance of soils. Unfortunately, most of the simplified methods used for liquefaction resistance evaluation only require in situ measurements from electrical cone penetrometers even if they are frequently applied using measurements from mechanical CPTs that are still preferred by current engineering practice in many countries. Erroneous estimates of liquefaction resistance and relevant non-conservative results are obtained by applying electrical CPT-based methods to mechanical CPT data without any form of correction. This study focuses on the developing of an appropriate procedure for correcting mechanical CPT data and provides modified equations for liquefaction resistance estimation by means of electrical CPT-based simplified methods. A dataset of more than 3900 pairs of measurements of cone tip resistance and sleeve friction were obtained from 44 sites selected in Northern and Central Italy and processed by means of statistical analyses. Suitable adjustments to CPT mechanical data were proposed for determining corrected liquefaction potential

Small RNA Sequencing Uncovers New miRNAs and moRNAs Differentially Expressed in Normal and Primary Myelofibrosis CD34+ Cells

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) are chronic myeloid cancers thought to arise at the level of CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. They include essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). All can progress to acute leukemia, but PMF carries the worst prognosis. Increasing evidences indicate that deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) might plays an important role in hematologic malignancies, including MPN. To attain deeper knowledge of short RNAs (sRNAs) expression pattern in CD34+ cells and of their possible role in mediating post-transcriptional regulation in PMF, we sequenced with Illumina HiSeq2000 technology CD34+ cells from healthy subjects and PMF patients. We detected the expression of 784 known miRNAs, with a prevalence of miRNA up-regulation in PMF samples, and discovered 34 new miRNAs and 99 new miRNA-offset RNAs (moRNAs), in CD34+ cells. Thirty-seven small RNAs were differentially expressed in PMF patients compared with healthy subjects, according to microRNA sequencing data. Five miRNAs (miR-10b-5p, miR-19b-3p, miR-29a-3p, miR-379-5p, and miR-543) were deregulated also in PMF granulocytes. Moreover, 3'-moR-128-2 resulted consistently downregulated in PMF according to RNA-seq and qRT-PCR data both in CD34+ cells and granulocytes. Target predictions of these validated small RNAs de-regulated in PMF and functional enrichment analyses highlighted many interesting pathways involved in tumor development and progression, such as signaling by FGFR and DAP12 and Oncogene Induced Senescence. As a whole, data obtained in this study deepened the knowledge of miRNAs and moRNAs altered expression in PMF CD34+ cells and allowed to identify and validate a specific small RNA profile that distinguishes PMF granulocytes from those of normal subjects. We thus provided new information regarding the possible role of miRNAs and, specifically, of new moRNAs in this disease

Symbolic verification of event–condition–action rules in intelligent environments

In this paper we show how state-of-the art SMT-based techniques for software verification can be employed in the verification of event–condition–action rules in intelligent environments. Moreover, we exploit the specific features of intelligent environments to optimise the verification process. We compare our approach with previous work in a detailed evaluation section, showing how it improves both performance and expressivity of the language for event–condition–action rules

Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Aspects of the 2012 Emilia-Romagna Earthquake (Italy)

On May 20, 2012 an earthquake of magnitude ML=5.9 struck the Emilia Romagna Region of Italy and a little portion of Lombardia Region. Successive earthquakes occurred on May 29, 2012 with ML=5.8 and ML=5.3. The earthquakes caused 27 deaths, of which 13 on industrial buildings. The damage was considerable. 12,000 buildings were severely damaged; big damages occurred also to monuments and cultural heritage of Italy, causing the collapse of 147 campaniles. The damage is estimated in about 5-6 billions of euro. To the damage caused to people and buildings, must be summed the indirect damage due to loss of industrial production and to the impossibility to operate for several months. The indirect damage could be bigger than the direct damage caused by the earthquake. The resilience of the damaged cities to the damage to the industrial buildings and the lifelines was good enough, because some industries built a smart campus to start again to operate in less of one month and structural and geotechnical guidelines were edited to start with the recovering the damage industrial buildings. In the paper a damage survey is presented and linked with the ground effects. Among these, soil amplification and liquefaction phenomena are analyzed, basing on the soil properties evaluation by field and laboratory tests. Particular emphasis is devoted to the damaged suffered by the industrial buildings and to the aspects of the remedial work linked with the shallow foundation inadequacy and to the liquefaction mitigation effects

La ceramica in Italia tra V e XIX secolo Nuove acquisizioni delle ricerche dal 1997 al 2003

Gli studi effettuati dal 1997 al 2003,accompagnati anche da indagini archeologiche hanno permesso di avere un quadro preciso delle tipologie ceramiche circolanti nella nostra penisola in epoca medievale e postmedievale. Bisogna sottolineare che le ricerche effettuate si differenziano, a livello quantitativo, tra il centro e il nord Italia e il Meridione. Infatti al sud, a eccezione della Campania,le ricerche sulla ceramica medievale sono ancora agli albori, poichè l'abbondanza sul territorio ditestimonianze dell'epoca classica ha indotto gli archeologi a concentrare su di esse la loro attenzione. Nonostante ciò i pochi studi hanno messo in luce l'esistenza di una vivace produzione locale e regionale, anche se le classi ceramiche note costituscono solo una parte di quelle che in realtà erano prodotte. Il problema è che non è stato ancora possibile individuare i maggiori centri di produzione. La situazione per il nord e il centro, tenendo conto anche qui di eccezzioni come l'Umbria e la Sardegna, è molto diversa. In quest'area dell'Italia gli studi hanno permesso di costruire una carta delle tipologie ceramiche e dei più importanti centri di fabbricazione in ogni singola regione