Abstract. In the last years a research project aimed at the assessment of the landslide hazard and susceptibility in the high Cordevole river basin (Eastern Dolomites, Italy) have been carried out. The hazard map was made adopting the Swiss Confederation semi-deterministic approach that takes into account parameters such as velocity, geometry and frequency of landslides. Usually these parameters are collected by means of geological and morphological surveys, historical archive researches, aerophotogrammetric analysis etc. In this framework however the dynamics of an instable slope can be difficult to determine. This work aims at illustrating some progress in landslide hazard assessment using a modified version of the Swiss Confederation semi-deterministic approach in which the values of some parameters have been refined in order to accomplish more reliable results in hazard assessment. A validation of the accuracy of these new values, using GPS and inclinometric measurements, has been carried out on a test site located inside the high Cordevole river basin.
Abstract. The Sauris reservoir is a hydroelectric basin closed downstream by a 136 m high, double arc concrete dam. The dam is firmly anchored to a consistent rock (Dolomia dello Schlern), but the Lower Triassic clayey formations, cropping out especially in the lower part of the slopes, have made the whole catchment basin increasingly prone to landslides. In recent years, the "La Maina landslide" has opened up several joints over a surface of about 100 000 m2, displacing about 1 500 000 m3 of material. Particular attention is now being given to the evolution of the instability area, as the reservoir is located at the foot of the landslide. Under the commission of the Regional Authority for Civil Protection a numerical modelling simulation in a pseudo-time condition of the slope was developed, in order to understand the risk for transport infrastructures, for some houses and for the reservoir and to take urgent mesaures to stabilize the slope. A monitoring system consisting of four inclinometers, three wire extensometers and ten GPS bench-mark pillars was immediately set up to check on surface and deep displacements. The data collected and the geological and geomorphological evidences was used to carry out a numerical simulation. The reliability of the results was checked by comparing the model with the morphological evidence of the movement. The mitigation measures were designed and realised following the indications provided by the model.
Abstract. The aim of the paper is to present the modelling of the ground effects of seismic waves on a large debris deposit lying on a steep mountain slope, with particular attention paid to the potential triggering of slope movements. The study site is a mass of 2.5 million m3 rock fall deposit, named "Monte Salta Landslide", located on the northern slope of the Vajont valley, at the border between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions in north-eastern Italy. Several historical landslide events were reported in the area in the past, first one dating back to the 17th century. The landslide deposit completely mantles the slope with a thick cover of rock blocks. The Mt. Salta landslide is conditioned by the presence of Mt. Borgà regional thrust, which uplifts Jurassic limestone on the top of Cretaceous rock units. Above the thrust zone, folded and highly fractured rock mass dips steeply towards the slope free face, producing highly unstable setting. The study area has been classified as high seismic hazard and different vulnerable elements can be affected by the remobilisation of debris, among which a village, a national road and a big quarry that was opened, with the intent to exploit the part of the landslide deposit for construction purposes. In this study, numerical analysis was performed, to simulate the slope behaviour using distinct element method and applying UDEC code. The 2-D models were built on three cross-sections and elasto-plastic behaviour was assumed, both for rock matrix and discontinuities. The earthquake effect was modelled in pseudo-dynamic way, i.e. by magnifying the acceleration and applying also its horizontal component. The expected seismic acceleration in the study area was calculated on the basis of previous studies as equal to 0.28 g. The results proved that the increase of the vertical component alone has a small influence on the deformational behaviour of the system. Hence, the acceleration vector was deviated at 5° and then at 10° from the vertical. A small increment of the displacement was observed in the first case, whereas very large movements occurred in the second. Therefore, it can be concluded that, besides the magnitude of the earthquake, even small seismic waves in horizontal direction could trigger significant movements and therefore hazardous conditions. The modelled scenario should be helpful for planning of the functional countermeasure works and civil defence evacuation plan.
16 páginas, 5 figuras ; Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer's disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer's disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer's disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer's disease. ; The present work has been performed as part of the doctoral program of I. de Rojas at the Universitat de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) supported by national grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III FI20/00215. The Genome Research @ Fundació ACE project (GR@ACE) is supported by Grifols SA, Fundación bancaria "La Caixa", Fundació ACE, and CIBERNED. A.R. and M.B. receive support from the European Union/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint undertaking ADAPTED and MOPEAD projects (grant numbers 115975 and 115985, respectively). M.B. and A.R. are also supported by national grants PI13/02434, PI16/01861, PI17/01474, PI19/01240 and PI19/01301. Acción Estratégica en Salud is integrated into the Spanish National R + D + I Plan and funded by ISCIII (Instituto de Salud Carlos III)—Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER—"Una manera de hacer Europa"). Some control samples and data from patients included in this study were provided in part by the National DNA Bank Carlos III (www.bancoadn.org, University of Salamanca, Spain) and Hospital Universitario Virgen de Valme (Sevilla, Spain); they were processed following standard operating procedures with the appropriate approval of the Ethical and Scientific Committee. Amsterdam dementia Cohort (ADC): Research of the Alzheimer center Amsterdam is part of the neurodegeneration research program of Amsterdam Neuroscience. The Alzheimer Center Amsterdam is supported by Stichting Alzheimer Nederland and Stichting VUmc fonds. The clinical database structure was developed with funding from Stichting Dioraphte. Genotyping of the Dutch case-control samples was performed in the context of EADB (European Alzheimer DNA biobank) funded by the JPco-fuND FP-829-029 (ZonMW project number 733051061). 100-Plus study: We are grateful for the collaborative efforts of all participating centenarians and their family members and/or relations. This work was supported by Stichting Alzheimer Nederland (WE09.2014-03), Stichting Diorapthe, horstingstuit foundation, Memorabel (ZonMW project number 733050814, 733050512) and Stichting VUmc Fonds. Genotyping of the 100-Plus Study was performed in the context of EADB (European Alzheimer DNA biobank) funded by the JPco-fuND FP-829-029 (ZonMW project number 733051061). Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) is largely supported by a grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, Directorate of Long-Term Care. The authors are grateful to all LASA participants, the fieldwork team and all researchers for their ongoing commitment to the study. This work was supported by a grant (European Alzheimer DNA BioBank, EADB) from the EU Joint Program—Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) and also funded by Inserm, Institut Pasteur de Lille, the Lille Métropole Communauté Urbaine, the French government's LABEX DISTALZ program (development of innovative strategies for a transdisciplinary approach to AD). Genotyping of the German case-control samples was performed in the context of EADB (European Alzheimer DNA biobank) funded by the JPco-fuND (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF: 01ED1619A). Full acknowledgments for the studies that contributed data can be found in the Supplementary Note. We thank the numerous participants, researchers, and staff from many studies who collected and contributed to the data. We thank the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP) for providing summary results data for these analyses. The investigators within IGAP contributed to the design and implementation of IGAP and/or provided data but did not participate in analysis or writing of this report. IGAP was made possible by the generous participation of the control subjects, the patients, and their families. The i–Select chips was funded by the French National Foundation on AD and related disorders. EADI was supported by the LABEX (laboratory of excellence program investment for the future) DISTALZ grant, Inserm, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Université de Lille 2 and the Lille University Hospital. GERAD was supported by the Medical Research Council (Grant n° 503480), Alzheimer's Research UK (Grant n° 503176), the Wellcome Trust (Grant n° 082604/2/07/Z) and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Competence Network Dementia (CND) grant n° 01GI0102, 01GI0711, 01GI0420. CHARGE was partly supported by the NIA/NHLBI grants AG049505, AG058589, HL105756 and AGES contract N01–AG–12100, the Icelandic Heart Association, and the Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University. ADGC was supported by the NIH/NIA grants: U01 AG032984, U24 AG021886, U01 AG016976, and the Alzheimer's Association grant ADGC–10–196728. This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank public resource obtained through the University of Edinburg Data Share (https://datashare.is.ed.ac.uk/handle/10283/3364). ; Peer reviewed
