bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investigating the Effects of Social Goals in a Negotiation Game with Virtual Humans
Authors: Ogan Amy  , Aleven Vincent  , Jones Christopher
Published: February 2025

Educational games may be particularly suited to teaching social learning skills with virtual humans. We investigate the importance of social goals and engaging social interactions in learning from such games. In one experiment, students played a cultural negotiation game with an explicit social goal or only negotiation task goals. While the group without the explicit social goal learned significantly more, students who reported having social goals in a manipulation check learned the most. In future work, we will develop an intervention built into a virtual learning environment to implicitly scaffold social goals.
Thin soil layer detection by VisCPT and FEM simulations
Authors: Hryciw R.D.  , Jung Y.  , Susila E.  , Ibrahim A.
Published: February 2025

A comprehensive approach for locating, characterizing the dominant grain size and estimating the strength of thin anomalous layers in a cohesionless soil stratigraphy is presented. The approach utilizes the results of finite element simulations of cone penetration across thin layers of anomalous strength and identification of their location and thickness using the Vision Cone Penetrometer (VisCPT). Through developed image processing algorithms based on wavelet decomposition, the dominant grain size in soil images is obtained. FEM simulations utilizing adaptive remeshing reveal the changes in CPT tip resistance across thin layers. Field data confirms the VisCPT's ability to detect thin layers that are often missed by the conventional CPT.
Geothermal site investigation using the Geothermal Response Test (GRT) – Test analysis and enhancements
Authors: Katzenbach R.  , Clauss F.  , Waberseck T.  , Wagner I.
Published: February 2025

For an economic analysis and design of geothermal facilities a well-founded knowledge of the relevant thermal subsoil properties is indispensable. Therefore, the Geothermal Response Test (GRT) is a reliable and effective field investigation procedure. With this contribution the authors present fundamentals of the testing procedure and discuss new enhancements of the Geothermal Response Test in order to promote the application of the Geothermal Response Test into a standardized testing procedure and hereby to emphasize the practical usage of geothermal energy.
The performance of piled raft foundations
Authors: Justo J.L.  , Jaramillo A.  , Vázquez M.  , Justo E.  , Pérez M.T.
Published: February 2025

The structure of a copper concentrate store is founded on a reinforced concrete raft supported by 697 piles. The piles are fitted on a dense sand layer, but there are clay layers of medium consistency along the shaft and below the support soil. Owing to this, the piles are subject to negative skin friction, the raft has suffered important settlements, the structure has been damaged and the operation of the upper conveyor belt has experienced problems. A 3-D finite element (FE) calculation has permitted calculation of the displacements and stresses in the piles, raft and structure.
Numerical optimisation of geotechnical constructions
Authors: Kinzler S.  , Grabe J.
Published: February 2025

Geotechnical constructions are sophisticated buildings due to the complex behaviour of soil and its interaction with the structure. Passed design processes are commonly confined as difficult and, depending on possibilities and skills of the processor, more or less innovative, creative and heuristic search for defined objectives under given constraints. Wholistic approaches using numerical optimisation to support the constructive engineer in this task do not exist until now. Therefore, potential cost effectiveness, construction time, load capacity and/or serviceability are often not fully exploited.
Sandwich connection design for shored reinforced earth walls
Authors: Tavakolian R.  , Sankey J.
Published: February 2025

This paper presents three design cases modeled by a geotechnical finite difference program used to study behavior and overall performance of narrow Shored Reinforced Earth Walls (SREW). SREW is a technology that combines the relative flexibility of a Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) design in close proximity to an anchored or otherwise stabilized wall face with limited lateral space between. The design cases were selected based upon (1) a stand alone conventional MSE design for the narrow wall section, (2) a direct attachment design with anchors from new wall fascia to an existing stabilized face and (3) a “Sandwich Connection” design concept using overlapping reinforcements between the new wall fascia and existing stabilized face. By this study, the Sandwich Connection concept is a preferable design alternative for construction of a narrow wall section when space is available between new and existing wall facings.
Lateral spreading in basal reinforced embankments supported by pile-like elements
Authors: Fahmy G.S.  , Kempfert H.-G.  , Gebreselassie B.
Published: February 2025

A series of three-dimensional well- instrumented model tests at a scale of 1:3 has been carried out to investigate spreading and shear stresses at the base of a reinforced embankment and the results were verified by FE-model. Furthermore, numerical parameter study on the prototype using 3D-FEM had been performed under different parameter variations. A modified analytical method to calculate the spreading force in reinforcement had been derived which takes into account different factors. Dimensionless factors are developed to include these factors in determining the spreading forces.
An investigation on dispersive clay and examination of different additives to reduce dispersive tendency
Authors: Bolouri Bazaz J.  , Saghafi H.R.
Published: February 2025

Dispersive clay, with unique specification, is highly susceptible to erosion in certain circumstances. The erosion of the core of embankment dams in which dispersive clay are used can be usually led to hazardous occurrence. The primary factor contributing the susceptibility of a clay mass to erosion is the percent of sodium and other dissolved salts. The thickness of the double layer, which mainly depends on the type of clay soil, is another factor affecting the dispersivity phenomena. The existence cracks in dispersive clay core of embankment dams can also speed up erosion.
Stabilization of the landslides along the national roads
Authors: Gaszyński J.  , Posłajko M.
Published: February 2025

The aim of the analysis is to stabilize the landslide taking into consideration the extension of the road embankment. The Drucker - Prager elasto-plastic model in the plain state of strains was assumed for calculations. Z_Soil system was used for conducted analysis. The results regarding the stability of the embankment and the subsoil taking into account the stages of works.
Seismic analysis of the Lianghekou rockfill dam
Authors: Han-long Liu  , Kang Fei
Published: February 2025

The proposd Lianghekou dam is to be located at the Yalong River. It is a rockfill dam with an earth core. With a maximum height of 293 m, the dam creats a reservoir capacity of 101.54×109m3. At this site, the design peak ground acceleration (PGA) is 288gal. The safety of dam during earthquakes becomes an extremely important design consideration. Three dimensional dynamic finite element analysis was adopted to study the dynamic behaviour of the dam during earthquake. The dam materials were modeled as equivalent-linear material, whose shear modulus??? varys with the mean effective stress. By using the modified Hardin model, the modulus and damping ratio were modeled as strain dependent. The acceleration response was analyzed. The liquefaction resistance of the dam materials and the permanent deformation induced by earthquake were computed by combining the result of cyclic strength and residual strain obtained by the large-scale dynamic triaxial tests.
Application of virtual cohesion concept to stability analysis of reinforced soil massifs
Authors: Barvashov V.A.  , Djantimirov Ch.A.  , Iovlev I.M.
Published: February 2025

The paper is dedicated to analysis of stability of soil massifs, reinforced with soil nails or geomaterials, based on assumption that the effect of reinforcement is equivalent to additional soil cohesion. If virtual cohesion c* ensures stability of soil massif, having initial cohesion c, then cohesion deficit Δc=c*−c can be compensated by equivalent reinforcement. Formulas for reinforcement parameters, equivalent to Δc, are proposed, accounting for the reinforcement strength to rupture and pull-out force for geotextiles plus resistance to bending and shear for soil nails and stiff geogrids. Such approach enables application of all available non-reinforced soil stability analysis methods and computer codes to determine parameters of required reinforcement of soil massifs. This concept is applicable to 1D, 2D and 3D distributions of c*,c and Δc. Reinforcement parameters can be optimized.
Stress and seepage analysis of underground rock caverns
Authors: Usmani A.  , Nanda A.  , Sharma K.G.
Published: February 2025

This paper discusses the design aspects of unlined rock caverns for storage of hydrocarbons including the investigations and analysis necessary to arrive at cavern elevation, layout and cross-section. The investigation and studies carried out for an underground cavern storage facility are presented. Results of numerical analysis for stress, stability and seepage which were carried out to establish the design of the underground storage facility are presented.
Correlation of soil parameters and load-displacement curve of piles driven in the loam and clay ground in Astana, Kazakhstan
Authors: Zhusupbekov A.  , Seidmarova T.  , Matsumoto T.
Published: February 2025

Intensive soil investigations and soil tests were carried out in 2006 for the design of the foundation piles of twelve-storied buildings located in Astana, Kazakhstan. Static vertical load tests were performed in-situ on two RC piles of a square cross section. In order to investigate the correlation between the soil parameters and the load-displacement curves, the load-displacement curves of both tested piles were predicted using the soil data from the soil investigations and the soil tests. In the analysis, the pile was modelled as an elastic column supported by springs which represent the shaft and the tip resistances. The results of the odometer tests were used to estimate the stiffness of the soil springs. Moreover, a CPT was used to estimate the distribution of the maximum shaft resistance down the pile shaft. Good correlation between the calculated load-displacement curve and the experimental one was achieved.
The problem of controlling the mountain pressure when underground developing of ore deposits
Authors: Baimakhan R.B.  , Takishov A.A.  , Avdarsolkyzy S.A.  , Rysbayeva G.P.  , Altynbekov Sh.  , Kulmaganbetova Zh.K.  , Aliyeva A.M.  , Salgarayeva G.I.  , Zhakashbayev B.Zh.
Published: February 2025

Here the problem of rock mass controlling when exploring the sloping ore deposits is considered. The method of determination of stresses, deformations and displacements of thick mass under the sagging roofing over the worked out space is given.
Development of low-cost early warning system of slope instability for civilian use
Authors: Uchimura Taro  , Towhata Ikuo  , Wang Lin  , Seko Ichiro
Published: February 2025

A simple and low-cost early warning system is developed, and its applicability and effectiveness was tested on model slopes under artificial heavy rainfall. The system works with batteries, and transfer real time data via wireless network, and be low-cost and simple so that non-expert residents in risk area can handle it easily by themselves, even in developing countries. Traditional approaches to prevent rainfall-induced landslides, such as stabilization of unstable slopes by installation of retaining walls and ground anchors, has been useful. But, they are not very helpful in mitigation of small slope failures, which are less significant in scale but numerous in numbers, because of their cost of installation. In consequence of recent residential developments in hilly area, the risk of smaller landslides has been realized. There is extravagant number of slopes with potential of such failure, and it is not financially realistic to use traditional approaches for each of them. Low-cost and simple early warning system is needed to deal with such problems.
Field monitoring of pore-water pressure profile in a slope subjected to heavy rainfalls
Authors: Huang A.B.  , Lee J.T.  , Ho Y.T.  , Chiu Y.F.  , Tsai T.L.
Published: February 2025

Fiber optic piezometers developed by the authors were installed in a single 60 m deep borehole where the profile of pore-water pressure can be monitored at 5m intervals. The test site was located in a section referred to as the Five Turn Point of Highway 18 that connects Chiayi to Alishan, in Taiwan. The highway makes five turns in order to increase the linear dimension and maintain a desirable slope for the vehicles. At least eight sectors within the Five Turn Point area have been identified with either previous slope failure or signs of continuous movement. Subsurface explorations have revealed that the subject area is covered by over 200 m of fractured rock or colluvial material accumulated from earlier landslides. The groundwater could rise more than 20 m as a result of heavy rainfall. The sudden and significant change in groundwater table is believed to be a major cause for the slope instability. The field pore-water pressure profile measurements showed that a heavy rainfall tends to create significant hydraulic gradient in the vertical direction. The distribution of groundwater pressure deviates significantly from hydro-static conditions. It would be difficult if not impossible to capture this phenomenon with the conventional groundwater monitoring technique where one or two piezometers were placed in a borehole. The results demonstrate the advantages of distributive pore-water pressure monitoring by deploying an array of piezometers in a single borehole.
Ground modulus measurement and interpretation for wind turbine foundations
Authors: Wang D.  , Harris C.  , Fowler A.
Published: February 2025

The focus on the development of renewable wind energy technology has gained in popularity due to sky-rocketing petroleum costs as the direct result of increased energy consumption. Such demand has lead to the investments of billions of dollars in wind farm projects throughout the world. These projects require high level of engineering expertise due to significant overturning moments and shear forces caused by wind loads. The wind turbine manufacturers also require stringent rotational stiffness requirements, which often limit the foundation deflection to less than ten millimeter or less. Therefore, collecting in-situ field measurement such as the subgrade modulus can be useful in determining the stiffness and settlement of bearing stratum of foundations. In this paper, the practicality of two in-situ test methods, pressuremeter test and vertical seismic profile (VSP), which are often used to determine the subgrade modulus, are discussed. Some technical issues, such as data collection techniques, interpretation of different modulus by cyclic loading and static loading, measured and interpreted modulus of small strain, are discussed. Based on the projects completed to date, correlation between the modulus measured with these two methods was studied and analyzed.
Development of a new type of impervious material of final landfill with heavy metal adsorption
Authors: Takeda M.  , Sato K.
Published: February 2025

We are developing a new type of clay liner with heavy metal adsorption. This material consists of zeolite, doromite, hydrotalcite and sludge. These additive agents have not only cation exchange capacity but also anion exchange capacity. On the other hands, we used dehydrated cake made from sludges of the quarry. Sludge is not suitable for effective recycling and utilization. Sludge has high water content and contains many fine-grained particles. The original condition of sludge can not be used as ground materials. However we pay attention to the capability of recycling use of sludge and suggest that sludge can be effectively used for construction in order to enhance recycle use. In this study, we examined the workability and the execution management method of 2 kinds of sludge using additional agents. This study investigated the physical properties, compaction characteristics, permeability, leachate behaviour and cone index of new type of clay liner material. Especially, this paper describes the results of the examination in terms of the following four points ((1) Confirmation of trafficability, (2) Permeability properties, (3) Proposal of mechanical quality management and (4) Evaluation of long-term durability).
Lightweight fill using clay, EPS-beads and cement
Authors: Abdelrahman G.E.
Published: February 2025

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the mechanical characteristics of a lightweight fill composed of clay presented as Kaolin, Expanded Poly-Styrene (EPS) beads and a cementing agent as Portland cement. The effects of different compositions on the shear strength and compressibility characteristics of the lightweight mixture were studied using direct shear tests and unconfined compression test. It is observed that the density of the lightweight mixture can be effectively controlled by the amount and density of EPS-beads used. With the inclusion of 1 to 5 % of EPS-beads (of clay by weight), the dry density of the lightweight mixture formed can be inversely reduced. Also it causes decrease in unconfined compressive strength and shear strength parameters. Shear strength and stiffness of the lightweight mixture can be controlled by adjusting the amount of cement used (5 to 25% of clay by weight). The shearing resistance of the lightweight mixture increases with the increase of cement to soil ratio.
Very soft dredged mud improvement in the Port of Valencia (Spain)
Authors: Burgos M.  , Samper F.  , Alonso J.J.
Published: February 2025

The Valencia Port Authority plans to incorporate a new area of 140,000 m2for the storage of containers. A zone with a 65,000 m2surface in the area has been back filled with about 1,000,000 m3of dredged mud of a very low consistency. In order to improve the mud, a project has been done that basically consists of: the creation of a soil-cement crust with the mass-stabilization method, the installation of vertical drains, the construction of a horizontal drainage and the placement of a 9.5 m high preload. Afterwards, it has been necessary to wait for around 10-13 months for the mud to consolidate. Later, it will be necessary to remove the preload and to construct the pavement. In order to control this process, a complete monitoring system has been installed. In this paper, the project that is now reaching its final stages is described, as well as the data obtained from the job site and the instrumentation.
27 Years' investigation on property of in-situ quicklime treated clay
Authors: Kitazume M.  , Takahashi H.
Published: February 2025

Deep Mixing Method was developed in Japan and Scandinavian countries in 1970s. After then, a lot of research efforts have been carried out on the strength characteristics of treated soil, interaction of treated soil and surrounding soils, developments of new binder, development new execution machine and technique, establishment of design procedure, and so on. However, long term property of treated soil has not been throughout investigated. Authors have kept two columns of in-situ quicklime treated soil underground more than 27 years. Laboratory tests were carried out on one of them at 11 and 27 years' curing periods. In this article, unconfined compressive strength, wet density, water content and calcium content on 11 and 27 years' specimen are presented to reveal that the treated soil cured for 27 years has gain threefold strength of original treated soil.
Mineralogical influence on ring shear strength of landslide materials from Lesser Himalaya and Siwalik zones in Central Nepal
Authors: Bhandary N.P.  , Yatabe R.
Published: February 2025

Various studies in the past have revealed that the percentage of landslides and related failures occuring in low to middle class mountain ranges of Nepal in Central Himalaya is far greater than that occurring in any other parts of the country. Especially, the landslides and slope failures including debris flows that frequently damage road infrastructure in Central Nepal draw significant attention in terms of national concern over economic loss and public suffering. The most important national road network in Nepal connecting the capital area to rest of the business centers and dense settlement areas in southern plains frequently suffers from this problem. However, the efforts to study these landslides and their engineering properties to go for appropriate preventive techniques are insiginificant. With an aim to understand shear characteristics of clay material of landslides along this road network, this paper addresses land sliding mechanism in terms of material shear behavior and mineralogical influence. A total of 31 locations of landslides and failure sites were investigated for field verification and soil sampling. Due to field-related difficulties and limited resources, however, soil sampling was possible at about 15 locations only. The collected samples were then tested in ring shear apparatus for peak and residual shear strength parameters and in x-ray diffractometer for minerological composition to reveal the influence of chlorite and mica like weak minerals on the shear strength of landslide clays.
Large consolidation and experimental ageing of cement-based grouts
Authors: Karim U.F.A.  , Bangoyina P.  , van der Stoel A.E.C.
Published: February 2025

This paper describes a study of large consolidation of cement-based grouts. Bleeding (drainage) and efficiency (volume) losses result from reductions in the grouts water content under grouting (injection) pressures and soil compaction. Water content losses due to hydraulic drainage are found to be dominant in a standard consolidation and that the losses due to hydration (ageing) of the cement mix are negligible. This justifies use of small or large consolidation models to predict bleeding behaviors for this class of grouts. Comparisons with a previous experimental study show the large deformations solution to produce slight improvements to predictions. Improvement is expected to be more pronounced under true two or three dimensional strain conditions as in compaction and compensation grouting.
A study on disaster and restoration of debris flow landslides at Inje, Kangwon Province, Korea
Authors: Yoo N.J.  , Lee C.J.  , Choi Y.J.  , Lee H.S.
Published: February 2025

A series of site investigations have been carried out to study the characteristics of debris flows and losses occurring during heavy rainfall in the summer of 2006 at Inje, Kangwon Province, Korea. It has been found that major losses are caused by discharge of soil and rock fragments from debris flow landslides. During the record-high rainfall, precipitation of 113.5 mm/hour and 355 mm/day was recorded, which might occur at intervals of 80-500 years. It has also been found that occurrence of the landslides is directly related to heavy rainfall by comparing the record of rainfall with the time of the landslides. At present, several debris barriers have been built in valleys and natural slopes have been protected by the seed spray method.
Treatment of geoseismic data as a non-stationary process
Authors: García S.  , Romo M.
Published: February 2025

The traditional Fourier-spectra-based tools do not adequately capture the evolutionary and localized features of the natural-systems responses. When these systems are subjected to seismic loads the Fourier analysis may misinterpret the information due to the time-variation of frequency characteristics in non-stationary processes. This study explores the use of the Hilbert-Huang Transform for analyzing earthquake recordings and the associated dynamic-soil behavior. The HHT, integrated by the Empirical Mode Decomposition and the Hilbert Transformation, is an empirical based data-analysis method with an adaptive basis of expansion that can produce physically meaningful representations of data from nonlinear and non-stationary processes. Hilbert-Huang Transform enables engineers to analyze non-stationary oscillation systems and to obtain more detailed intensity descriptions on time-varying frequency diagrams. HHT is used in this work to examine responses of soft-soils deposits in Mexico City. The results indicate that the proposed methodology is able to extract some motion characteristics useful in geoseismic studies which are not properly seen when are employed conventional data processing techniques.
Pressurized vane shear test for soil conditioning
Authors: Zumsteg R.  , Messerklinger S.  , Puzrin A.M.  , Egli H.  , Walliser A.
Published: February 2025

Soil conditioning is increasingly used to improve the performance of tunneling in many types of soil. Addition of suitable agents leads to enhanced properties of the soil at various points of the tunneling process. In this paper a new vane shear device is introduced, which allows to measure shear strength of clay mixtures under pressure and with different vane velocities. The new testing apparatus and the corresponding procedure are evaluated on kaolinite clay conditioned with foam and polymer additives. A strong pressure and rate dependency of the shear strength and a large effect of polymer type could be observed.
A soil exploration exercise in Bachelor's level education in soil mechanics
Authors: Laue Jan  , Herzog Ralf  , Springman Sarah M.
Published: February 2025

Geotechnical education at Bachelor level usually commences with a simplified theoretical introduction into soil mechanics, which may be supported later during the course by hands-on laboratory experiments to cover classification of soils and provide the evidence for the elementary mechanical behaviour of soils. The application of such a curriculum to practice is challenging because the students are not confronted with practical reality where limited information is available to develop a model of the ground. An exercise on site investigation has been developed and incorporated into the ETH Zurich soil mechanics course to help to bridge this gap based on an initial development for undergraduate education in soil mechanics at the University of Sheffield.
Ecological geotechnics: Performance of benthos activities controlled by suction, voids, and shear strength in tidal flat soils
Authors: Sassa S.  , Watabe Y.
Published: February 2025

The present study aims to pioneer a new cross-disciplinary research field which we call “Ecological Geotechnics”. Recent findings about the salient physics involved in intertidal sediments made it possible to closely investigate the linkage between geophysical environment and benthic ecology in tidal flats. The results of a comprehensive set of field and laboratory experiments demonstrated that the waterfront suction, which thus far remained unexplored in soil mechanics, and the associated geophysical environments govern the performance of the basic living activities of benthos. These findings will enable engineering design and management for preservation and restoration of habitats with diverse benthic activity.
Development of a new TDR probe for assessing the soil water content at different depths
Authors: Esquivel E.R.  , Vaz C.M.P.
Published: February 2025

A system capable of measuring both gravimetric and volumetric water content of unsaturated soils, at different soil depths, is presented. This system, based on the Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), uses a new probe with helical electrodes assembled to a cylindrical core. The new probe was designed to work in conjunction with CPTU equipment. Tests performed in the field have demonstrated that the use of the proposed technique is perfectly feasible and could be of great usefulness in geotechnical applications.
Geotechnical properties of red sand mixed with tire grains and powders
Authors: Mardesic T.  , Shahin M.A.  , Nikraz H.R.
Published: February 2025

The re-use of waste materials is an essential step in creating a sustainable future, and research into the re-use of different by-products has often led to new materials that provide superior service or greater economy than those traditionally used. This paper aims to investigate the use of a mixture of red sand and recycled car tire grains and powders as a fill material. In Australia, 20,000 tons of red sand is produced daily as a by-product from the Aluminum industry and 20 million recycled car tires are disposed annually, leading to environmental health and hazard problems. In this paper, the geotechnical properties of the new mixture are investigated by conducting a series of laboratory tests including sieve analysis, compaction, permeability and shear strength. In addition, available solutions are used to examine the feasibility of the new material in geotechnical engineering applications such as slope stability.
Safety monitoring of the Yellow River dike using a fiber optic sensor system
Authors: Ma J.  , Zhang B.  , Cao J.  , Ho Y.T.  , Lee J.T.  , Huang A.B.
Published: February 2025

The Yellow river of China is known for having its bed that is higher than the neighboring land. For centuries, the river dikes have been an imperative part of the protection for those who live along the river. The river dikes are massive with its total length in excess of 2000 km. Manual inspection from the shoreline has been used to monitor the integrity of the river dike below the muddy water surface. This procedure is time consuming and dangerous, thus making an automated system highly desirable. A feasibility study on the use of an optic fiber Bragg grating based ground deformation monitoring device was conducted as a potential means for automated safety monitoring of the Yellow River dikes. Inclined boreholes were drilled and the sensors installed from the inside of the river dike. The dike surface scouring causes an unloading effect on the underlying soil mass. By detecting the ground deformation results from this unloading effect, the dike surface scouring can be detected at its early stage. The paper describes the principles of the fiber optic monitoring scheme, results of field experiment and discusses the implications in the safety monitoring of Yellow River dikes.
Administrative report: TC3 – Geotechnics of pavements
Authors: Correia A. Gomes
Published: February 2025

This report gives details of the Technical Committee 3 (TC3), “Geotechnics of Pavements”, covering the activities in the four year period September 2005 – October 2009. It includes: TC composition, terms of reference; activities initiated, activities completed and reported. During this period TC3 has focused on promoting and enhancing professional activities in geotechnical, pavement and rail track engineering in areas related geotechnical aspects in design, construction, maintenance and monitoring.
Effect of Disturbance on the Compressibility of Marine Clay in Korea
Authors: Chae Y.S.  , Lee W.J.  , Yoo N.J.  , Yu S.J.  , Kim J.K.
Published: February 2025

This study describes the compressibility of marine clays at southern and western coasts in Korea. In order to evaluate the effect of disturbance on the compressibility, a series of various laboratory consolidation tests are performed on the specimens obtained by large block sampling and piston sampler. It is observed that the volumetric strain of large block sample is smaller than that of piston samples and the compression index of large block sample is larger than that of piston sample. An empirical equation of compression index is suggested in this study, considering the effect of sampling. The usage of suggested empirical relation is expected to provide more reasonable prediction of settlement than using the compressibility obtained from the result of tests on piston samples.
The friction angle and critical state void ratio of sands
Authors: Sfriso Alejo O.
Published: February 2025

The friction angle of sands is computed by Bolton as the sum of the critical state friction angle and a dilatancy term which is a function of mean effective pressure and void ratio. Critical state is reached when dilatancy vanishes, either due to volume change – in drained shear – or effective pressure change – in undrained shear. Therefore, equating Bolton's dilatancy term to zero yields, at least theoretically, an implicit relationship between mean pressure and the critical state void ratio of sands. It is found that this relationship yields unrealistic results, mainly because Bolton's expression if of phenomenological nature and was not intended to be used for this purpose. In this paper, a minor modification to Bolton's dilatancy term is proposed. It is proved that the modified expression has the capacity to predict both the peak friction angle and the critical state void ratio for any void ratio and effective pressure within the range of engineering interest.
Characterization of post pampean clays
Authors: Leoni Augusto José
Published: February 2025

The Post Pampeano Formation is composed of high plastic clays and silts which was deposited in fresh fluvial water and in marine environments. Actually this formation covers the left bank of the Rio de la Plata and the Delta of the Paraná river. At some places the thickness of the deposit reach 30 m. In this work, the Post Pampean Formation was characterized by means of in situ and laboratory tests. The results were modelled by means of the Cam-Clay constitutive model. A procedure is described for the prediction of the undrained shear strength of the soil Formation if known: the index properties mean effective pressure and water content. The reported data will be used in a large-scale projected to be constructed in this soil Formation.
Undrained shear strength and compression properties of Swedish fine-grained sulphide soils
Authors: Westerberg B.  , Andersson M.
Published: February 2025

In this paper recently finished and on-going research of strength and deformation properties of Swedish fine-grained sulphide soils is presented. In the paper, some selected test results from the finished project are presented and recommendations are given for determination and evaluation of undrained shear strength of sulphide soils. A short description of the characteristics of the particular type of sulphide soil is also given. The overall purpose of the recently started research project is to improve the possibilities to predict long term settlements of structures founded on sulphide soils.
Mathematical characterization of pumice and quartz sands
Authors: Juárez-Badillo E.
Published: February 2025

The typical triaxial stress behaviour of pumice and quartz sands are mathematically characterized by the theoretical equations derived from the Principle of Natural Proportionality. Reference is made to triaxial compression tests results under confining stress of up to 200kPa performed in loose and dense specimens of both types of sands.
Engineering response to sinkholes in layered ground near the Dead Sea, Israel
Authors: Saltzman U.  , David D.
Published: February 2025

The paper describes the engineering response to sinkholes encountered along the coast of the Dead Sea in Israel.
Liquefaction potential of hydraulic fills
Authors: Alonso E.E.  , Gens A.  , Tarragó D.  , Madrid R.
Published: February 2025

A container terminal is under construction at the Port of Barcelona. The quay, 1.6 km long, is made of concrete caissons founded on granular rubble mounds. The natural soil is a sequence of normally consolidated fine-grained deltaic deposits that reach a thickness of over 60 m. The quay was backfilled with hydraulic fill dredged from the seabed soils in front of the caissons quay, deposited by a rainbowing technique. A failure of a section of the quay was attributed to the static liquefaction of the hydraulic fill. This failure prompted a field campaign to identify fill properties and its liquefaction potential. Standard and seismic CPTU´s and Marchetti dilatometer tests were performed as well as a programme of laboratory tests. Available indices to estimate liquefaction potential were calculated and compared. One of the relevant issues raised after the quay failure was the ability of preloading to eliminate the liquefaction potential of the fill. In situ tests were performed on the fill before and after a large scale preload test. Liquefaction indices at those two stages are compared showing, in some cases, a reduction of liquefaction potential after preloading.
Strategy for Implementation and First Results of Advanced Clinical Decision Support in Hospital Pharmacy Practice
Authors: Scheepers-Hoeks A.M.J.W.  , Grouls R.J.E.  , Neef C.  , Korsten H.H.M.
Published: February 2025

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are the new generation clinical support tools that ‘make it easy to do it right’. Despite promising results, these systems are not common practice, although experts agree that the necessary revolution in health care will depend on its implementation. To accelerate adoption a strategy is handed for structured development and validation of CDSS' content (clinical rules). The first results show that the proposed strategy is easily applicable for creating specific and reliable rules, generating relevant recommendations.
ReMINE: An Ontology-based Risk Management Platform
Authors: Carenini Michele
Published: February 2025

The ReMINE project aims at building a high performance prediction, detection and monitoring platform for managing Risks against Patient Safety (RAPS). The project will contribute to the optimization of RAPS management process in a healthcare system through the development of a platform allowing the (semantically based) fast and secure extraction of RAPS-related data and their correlation across several domains. In this respect the REMINE platform will promote early RAPS detection and mitigation by supporting the process of RAPS management both when a RAPS is foreseen, and the objective is the determination of the best set of preventive actions; and when a RAPS is detected, and the objective is the determination of the best possible reaction, the reliable distribution of the related action list to all involved parties, and the monitoring of the reaction effectiveness. These capabilities will be achieved by means of the establishment of an associated methodology and a framework/platform for integrated RAPS prediction/detection, analysis and mitigation. The overall platform structure assumes the presence of an “info-broker patient safety framework” connected with the Hospital Information System, which will support the process of collecting, aggregating, mining and assessing related data, distributing alerts, and suggesting actions to mitigate (or avoid) RAPS effects or occurrence. The underlying ontological system will support the semantic correlation of data with the hospital processes.
The Expert Explorer: A Tool for Hospital Data Visualization and Adverse Drug Event Rules Validation
Authors: Băceanu Adrian  , Atasiei Ionuţ  , Chazard Emmanuel  , Leroy Nicolas
Published: February 2025

An important part of adverse drug events (ADEs) detection is the validation of the clinical cases and the assessment of the decision rules to detect ADEs. For that purpose, a software called “Expert Explorer” has been designed by Ideea Advertising. Anonymized datasets have been extracted from hospitals into a common repository. The tool has 3 main features. (1) It can display hospital stays in a visual and comprehensive way (diagnoses, drugs, lab results, etc.) using tables and pretty charts. (2) It allows designing and executing dashboards in order to generate knowledge about ADEs. (3) It finally allows uploading decision rules obtained from data mining. Experts can then review the rules, the hospital stays that match the rules, and finally give their advice thanks to specialized forms. Then the rules can be validated, invalidated, or improved (knowledge elicitation phase).
Establishing a Personal Electronic Health Record in the Rhine-Neckar Region
Authors: Heinze Oliver  , Brandner Antje  , Bergh Björn
Published: February 2025

We present an approach to establish a personal and electronic health record (PEHR) system in our region, and describe the underlying vision, the technical aspects, the current status as well as the gained experiences. Applied are international standards (HL7, DICOM) and technologies existing today. Obstacles to overcome during the implementation have been the management of access rights, data privacy as well as the integration of the primary systems.
Relationship Groups in SNOMED CT
Authors: Cornet Ronald  , Schulz Stefan
Published: February 2025

Relationship groups are a construct which is particular for the representation of concepts in SNOMED CT. In this paper, the July 2008 version of SNOMED CT is analyzed to determine the usage of relationship groups. Relationship groups are used with 36 out of 65 relations, playing a role in 28% of all concepts. Relationship groups are used in the concept types: “procedure” (including “regime/therapy”), “finding” (including “disorder”), “situation with explicit context” and “specimen”. Examples are used to extract the purposes for using role groups, after which alternative approaches are discussed. The results indicate that relationship groups can be replaced by a small number of types of relationships such as “has sign” or “has subprocess”.
Social Care Informatics – The Missing Partner in eHealth
Authors: Rigby Michael  , Hill Penny  , Koch Sabine  , Kärki Jarmo
Published: February 2025

To the individual, social care can be an essential part of maintaining health, as is reflected by the WHO definition of health as being one of wellbeing. However, health informatics currently narrowly restricts itself to health organizations' activities. Digital records in social care are increasing, raising the need to recognize the area of social care informatics. This new domain needs support and nurture, whilst the delivery of social and related care needs to be harmonized with healthcare delivery. In turn, this raises important new issues as to how to best support the citizen, especially when they are dependent, including issues of information sharing, service co-ordination, sharing of meaning and objectives, and of respect for autonomy.
Towards a Semantic Framework for an Integrative Description of Neuroscience Patterns and Studies: A Case for Emotion-Related Data
Authors: Bratsas Charalampos  , Frantzidis Christos A.  , Klados Manousos  , Papadelis Christos  , Pappas Costas  , Bamidis Panagiotis D.
Published: February 2025

The continuously increasing number of neuroscience studies and the difficulties associated with searching for related information and properly tracking neuroscience findings makes it imperative that one may be lead to isolated theories and findings which may be incompatible to each other or partially occluded. Semantically describing several aspects of studies in this field, such as, research groups attributes, aims of studies, experimental procedures followed, hardware and software tools utilised, acquisition systems used, as well as, the emerging neuro-physiological patterns found, may facilitate an integrative view of neuroscience theories. To this end, the current piece of work aims to provide a global theoretical framework using ontologies and semantic rules to describe neuroscience studies. Implementation details and applicability of the proof of concept are illustrated by means of an example targeting the semantic description of an emotion related study. The importance of the proposed framework in facilitating the envisaged personalised healthcare of the information society is discussed.
An openEHR-Based Clinical Decision Support System: A Case Study
Authors: Kashfi Hajar
Published: February 2025

Experiences in developing a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) for dry mouth revealed that traditional approaches for creating clinical applications are not suitable because of the lack of structured knowledge in the domain and the complex nature of existing knowledge. Nevertheless, openEHR offers various benefits. This paper presents the issues related to developing an openEHR-based CDSS for this disease.
New Patient Interaction Formulas in Spanish and Catalan: A Case for Forumclinic
Authors: Grau Inmaculada  , Gene-Badia Joan  , Bernardo Miquel  , de Semir Marc  , Grajales III Francisco J.
Published: February 2025

On February of 2007, forumclinic (www.forumclinic.org) was launched. This free, first of its kind, collection of Evidence-Based Medicine chronic disease monograph resources, is targeted for Spanish and Catalan-speaking patients. Information is available both online (i.e., forums) and offline (i.e., DVDs) and is culturally sensitive to the target population. Forumclinic has cantered on active patient engagement through the use of disease-specialist moderated forms. Both the Health on the Net Foundation and the Medical Doctors College of Barcelona have accredited forumclinic as a quality, unbiased, health site that is based on the WHO premise of Social Determinants of Health – increased health education and interaction leads to better health. This descriptive paper will introduce forumclinic and describe the patient/user response to date.
Trauma Network North-West – Improving Holistic Care for Trauma Patients by Means of Internet and Mobile Technologies
Authors: Spitzer Michael  , Verst Hendrik  , Juhra Christian  , Ueckert Frank
Published: February 2025

The Trauma Network North-West as an initiative seeks to improve the initial and follow-up care for severely injured patients in need of immediate intensive care. The main goals are intensification and optimization of exchange of information, expertise and knowledge among participating clinics. By (a) foundation of the network itself and (b) establishment of a sophisticated IT infrastructure for web-based and mobile communication, instantaneous and concomitant care for trauma patients shall be significantly improved. The network's workflow incorporates participating clinics within a central platform, including parameters such as level of health care, geographic coordinates, overstrained care units and defective medical devices. Mobile components allow locating nearby clinics based on an emergency physician's coordinates and automatic triggering of disposition via coordination offices. A tight interplay between server components and location-based services shall reduce unnecessary transportation as well as financial expenditure. The central web-based system is currently established and evaluated in an initial test phase.
Inter-Institutional Care Process: Scenarios to Capture Demands for Workflow Support
Authors: Brattheim Berit
Published: February 2025

Care processes across hospitals challenge healthcare information systems. Shared care scenarios ensure the insight from different perspectives on detailed demands for workflow support in a changing clinical practice.
Rural Telemedicine Networks Using Store-and-Forward Voice-over-IP
Authors: Scholl Jeremiah  , Lambrinos Lambros  , Lindgren Anders
Published: February 2025

Store and forward Voice-over-IP is a suggested solution for supporting Telemedicine at rural health clinics in developing countries. Solutions described to date are designed to support communication by establishing point-to-point connectivity between two sites. In this paper we present an approach for creating scalable Telemedicine networks based on Delay Tolerant Networking. This holds potential for allowing Telemedicine networks to be created that can enable sharing of Teleconsultation and other medical information among a large number of locations in areas that cannot be served by existing solutions.