Nonlinear modelling of the seismic response of masonry structures: Calibration strategies

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - In this paper, a simple and practitioners-friendly calibration strategy to consistently link target panel-scale mechanical properties (that can be found in...     

GIS analysis of the trafficability determined by slope in the eastern Tyrol front (WWI,Eastern Alps): a military history reading

In the autumn of 1914, Austria-Hungary began to prepare for the possibility of an Italian offensive by building field fortifications, which formed the Tyrol Defense Line (TDL). Mountainous areas, such as the area of the TDL, present obstacles to trafficability in large part caused by terrain slope. On the eastern Tyrol front, steep slope obstructed trafficability when the Italians attacked the TDL and represented, in turn, an advantage for the Austro-Hungarian defense. This paper focuses on the assessment of the conditions of trafficability determined by slope in the eastern Tyrol front, using a GIS cost distance analysis. Key sources were the maps of Austrian and Italian official histories, parameters derived mainly from Marinelli’s slope classification, and from the interpretation of the particular historical circumstances. The advantages and disadvantages were considered from the perspective of the defensive and offensive and their significance for the history of this conflict. In particular, these were related to the perimeter to be defended by alternative Austro-Hungarian lines.     

Innovative monitoring tools for the complex spatial dynamics of river chemistry: case study for the Alpine region

Chemical reactions in aqueous geochemical systems are driven by nonequilibrium conditions, and their dynamics can be deduced through the distributional analysis (identification of probability laws) of complex compositional indices. In this perspective, compositional data analysis offers the possibility to investigate the behavior of the composition as a whole instead of isolated chemical species, with the awareness that multispecies systems are characterized by the simultaneous interactions among all their parts. We addressed this problem using D???1 isometric log-ratio coordinates describing the D compositional dataset of the river chemistry of the Alpine region (D number of variables), thus working in the \({{\mathbb{R}}^{D - 1}}\) statistical sample space. The D???1 coordinates were chosen using the decreasing variance criterion so that each one could provide information about different space–time properties for the investigated geochemical system. Coordinates dominated by heterogeneity appear to be able to capture regime shifts only on a long-time period and monitor processes on a very wide scale. On the other hand, coordinates characterized by lower variability present multimodality, thus capturing the presence of alternative states in the analyzed spatial domain also for the current time. Further developments are needed to determine the ranges of conditions for which variability and other statistics can be useful indicators of regime shifts on different time–space scales in geochemical systems.     

Assessing the influence of morpho-structural setting on landslide abundance

Knowing the factors that influence landslide abundance and distribution is important to evaluate landslide susceptibility and hazard. Visual interpretation of aerial photographs (API) can be used to collect spatially distributed information on bedding attitude (BA), in an area. Where a map of the location of bedding traces (BTs), i.e. lines showing the intersection of bedding planes with the local topography, is available, the map can be used to obtain BA point data and to prepare maps showing morpho-structural domains. The possibility of using BA maps to investigate the influence of morpho-structural settings on landslide abundance is hampered by the lack of understanding of the influence of the length of the BTs, and of the parameters used to interpolate the BA data on the structural zonation. To investigate the problem, we used information on 207 BTs obtained through API in the Collazzone area, Central Italy, and we prepared 150 maps showing BA information. This was accomplished using 15 different values for the segmentation length of the BTs (S), and 10 different values for the tension parameter (T) used for the interpolation. We compare the results against previous results obtained for the same area adopting a heuristic approach to the segmentation of the same set of BTs. Next, we compare the geographical distribution of old deep-seated, deep-seated and shallow landslides in five morpho-structural domains in the study area, and we analyse the influence of the structural settings on the abundance of the different types of landslides.