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

Prediction of ductile fracture in anisotropic steels for pipeline applications

Large diameter steel pipelines for gas transportation may experience extreme overloads due to external actions such as soil sliding, faults movements, third part interactions. In these scenarios the material undergoes severe plastic strains which locally may reach the fracture limits. Due to the manufacturing process, the steels used in such applications have an anisotropic behavior both for plasticity and fracture. In this paper two steel grades have been characterized in view of anisotropic plastic fracture. Fracture tests have been planned to characterize the fracture behavior under different stress states and in different directions to define the anisotropic sensitivity. Finite element modelling, incorporating an anisotropic plasticity formulation, has been used to calculate the local fracture parameters in the specimens and to define the complete ductile fracture locus. An uncoupled damage evolution law has been finally used to evaluate the fracture limits on real pipelines failed in full scale laboratory tests. The strain to fracture prediction has been verified by local strain measurements on the fractured pipes. The model robustness has been also verified on global parameter predictions, such us the burst pressur

How fertility and union stability interact in shaping new family patterns in Italy and Spain

In this paper we investigate the interrelationships between fertility decisions and union dissolution in Italy and Spain. We argue that there might exist a spurious relationship between these two life trajectories. The analysis is based on the 1996 Fertility and Family Survey data for Italy and Spain. Results show that there is a spurious relationship between fertility and union dissolution in Italy but not in Spain. Nevertheless, in both countries, there is an evident direct effect of each process on the other: union dissolution decreases the risk of further childbearing, while childbirths decrease the risk of union dissolution

Papal Sin: Structures Of Deceit, by Gary Wills

Book review by David L. Coppola. Wills, Garry. Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit. New York: Doubleday, 2000

The Problem of Religion, Violence, and Peace: An Uneasy Trilogy

Drawing primarily on Jewish, Christian, and Islamic texts, as well as on philosophical and sociological concepts, I will examine religion and its relationship to violence from three distinct, but related perspectives; namely, that 1) religion is directly linked with violence; 2) religion functions as one among many factors that influence violence; and 3) religions are unwilling participants in the practice of violence. This essay begins by setting a context for the study of religion, violence, and peace, followed by a presentation of the three perspectives mentioned above, concluding with possibilities for the study and practice of future peace-making

Creating Space for Dialogue

Judaism, Christianity and Islam teach that it is God’s will that all people live in peace with each other. Peace will be adequately advanced only when religious people and religious institutions are integral to the processes of social justice in every part of the globe. It is religion that can help to reach into the depths of humanity’s struggles and the heights of human accomplishments to salve such injuries. Unfortunately, dialogue for the sake of building mutual respect, understanding and ultimately, peaceful coexistence seems more difficult than ever, in part due to the resistance and obstruction by some who claim to be faithful religious adherents

Simulation-based evaluation of advanced public transportation information systems (APTIS)

Despite the great success and the broad diffusion of Advanced Public Transportation Information System (APTIS), there is a lack of studies, in the literature, investigating “systematically” how and to what extend such systems can affect network performances and travelers’ path choices. In this paper, with respect to the realistic case study of the city of Naples (South-Italy), we investigate the impacts of information offer in a Public Transportation (PT) network under different network condition, i.e. irregular vs. regular services, congested vs. un-congested lines. The focus is on APTIS deploying shared en-route descriptive information. The presented results are based on the simulation of the three main components of the PT system, namely the network performances, the information provider (i.e. the Operation Control Center) and the travelers. The simulation of these components and their interaction is achieved using different modeling approach: the schedule-based approach for the network representation and the traffic assignment, a statistical model based on the Kalman filter for the prediction of the link travel times within the simulation period, and behavioral discrete choice models, following the Random Utility Theory, for simulating travelers’ behavior

Electrically Mediated Delivery of Vector Plasmid DNA Elicits an Antitumor Effect

In vivo electroporation is an efficient means of increasing plasmid DNA delivery to normal tissues, such as skin and muscle, as well as directly to tumors. In the experiments described here, plasmid DNA was delivered by in vivo electroporation to B16 mouse melanomas using two very different pulsing protocols. Reporter expression increased 21- or 42-fold, respectively with electroporation over injection alone. The growth of experimental melanomas with an approximate diameter of 4 mm on the day of treatment was monitored after electroporation delivery of reporter plasmid DNA. Remarkably, short-term complete regressions using one of these pulsing protocols occurred in up to 100% of mice. These regressions continued long term in up to 83% of animals. 70% of these mice were resistant to challenge with B16 melanoma cells. Histological analysis revealed large numbers of apoptotic cells 24 h after treatment. This antitumor effect did not require therapeutic cDNA expression or eukaryotic sequences