1,720,983 research outputs found
Recent developments in the Italian technical rules for dams and barrages
Full text linkThe paper describes the Italian technical regulations for dams and barrages issued in 2014 by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, where substantial changes in the existing rules are introduced by suggesting a design approach based on the semi-probabilistic method at limit states. The paper highlights the most innovative aspects as well as the critical issues, suggests some improvements and underlines the need for further updating of the legislation
Fracture Mechanics characterization of an anisotropic geomaterial
No full textArgillites are considered worldwide as potential host rock for high level radioactive waste given the low permeability and strong adsorption potential. However, the excavation of the galleries of a repository would produce a disturbed zone around the boundaries rich of new fractures which may enhance the conductivity of the rock along the gallery axis.
Several mine-by experiments have been performed in underground rock labs to investigate the features of the disturbed zone. In Mont Terri URL (Kanton Jura, Switzerland) the EZ-B experiment was specifically conceived for the measurement of excavation induced fractures around a small chamber. The host rock of the URL is a particularly compact and resistant argillite, known as the Opalinus Clay (OPA) excavated and OPA samples were subjected to fracture mechanics tests at the rock mechanics lab of IGAG-CNR in Torino, Italy. The tests aimed at the understanding aspects of the fracturing process occurring in OPA of Mont Terri, which may be considered a transversely isotropic geomaterial, whose planes of isotropy coincide with the bedding
Work-in-progress: Pedestrian bridge application in a fundamentals of structural analysis course inside an architecture bachelor program
Full text linkThe paper presents an application of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) methodology in a structural analysis course taught in English of the third year Architecture bachelor program at Politecnico di Torino (Italy). This experimentation regards a class which is composed mostly of international students, that is, a heterogeneous audience with different background. In general, students struggle with the technical aspects typical of structural analysis course. PBL has been found as a possible solution to this problem in Engineering programs. The aim of redesigning the course is to support students' learning while evaluating the PBL application in a non-technical context with an international audience. This work-in-progress article explains its implementation with the first observations. In particular, the participation has increased compared to the previous academic year in terms of presence during the lectures, interest in the subject and interaction between the lecturer and the students. These preliminary results are encouraging and confirm the validity of the PBL methodology as actually applied
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Failure mechanics of snow layers through image analysis
Full text linkThis paper is devoted to analyze the micro-mechanical behavior of snow layers subjected to shear force. A number of cold laboratory tests were performed on reconstructed snow samples on a specially designed direct shear apparatus and the loading process leading to the failure was recorded by a high-speed camera. The specimens were prepared under isothermal conditions and immediately tested in order to avoid sintering between the snow grains. Image analysis techniques (digital image correlation and particle image velocimetry) were applied on the camera records in order to obtain the snow strain history (during the loading phase) and the velocity field after the failure. Sequences of jamming and unjamming phases with the formation of vortices were observed. These observations confirm that snow layer failure process is similar to the one observed in other natural materials (e.g., sands). These results give an insight into triggering and failure propagation in a weak snow layer
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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