Integrated Simulation Modeling Approach for Investigating Pore Water Pressure Induced Landslides

Soil pore water pressure analysis is crucial for understanding landslide initiation and prediction. However, field-scale transient pore water pressure measurements are complex. This study investigates the integrated application of simulation models (HYDRUS-2D/3D and GeoStudio–Slope/W) to analyze pore water pressure-induced landslides. The proposed methodology is illustrated and validated using a case study (landslide in India, 2018). Model simulated pore water pressure was correlated with the stability of hillslope, and simulation results were found to be co-aligned with the actual landslide that occurred in 2018. Simulations were carried out for natural and modified hill slope geometry in the study area. The volume of water in the hill slope, temporal and spatial evolution of pore water pressure, and factor of safety were analysed. Results indicated higher stability in natural hillslope (factor of safety of 1.243) compared to modified hill slope (factor of safety of 0.946) despite a higher pore water pressure in the natural hillslope. The study demonstrates the integrated applicability of the physics-based models in analyzing the stability of hill slopes under varying pore water pressure and hill slope geometry and its accuracy in predicting future landslides.

Soil moisture observation in a forested headwater catchment: combining a dense cosmic-ray neutron sensor network with roving and hydrogravimetry at the TERENO site Wüstebach

Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) has become an effective method to measure soil moisture at a horizontal scale of hundreds of meters and a depth of decimeters. Recent studies proposed to operate CRNS in a network with overlapping footprints in order to cover root-zone water dynamics at the small catchment scale, and, at the same time, to represent spatial heterogeneity. In a joint field campaign from September to November 2020 (JFC-2020), five German research institutions deployed 15 CRNS sensors in the 0.4 km2 Wüstebach catchment (Eifel mountains, Germany). The catchment is dominantly forested (but includes a substantial fraction of open vegetation), and features a topographically distinct watershed. In addition to the dense CRNS coverage, the campaign featured a unique combination of additional instruments and techniques: hydro-gravimetry (to detect water storage dynamics also below the root zone); ground-based and, for the first time, airborne CRNS roving; an extensive wireless soil sensor network, supplemented by manual measurements; and six weighable lysimeters. Together with comprehensive data from the long-term local research infrastructure, the published dataset (available at https://doi.org/10.23728/b2share.afb20a34a6ac429ca6b759238d842765) will be a valuable asset in various research contexts: to advance the retrieval of landscape water storage from CRNS, wireless soil sensor networks, or hydrogravimetry; to identify scale-specific combinations of sensors and methods to represent soil moisture variability; to improve the understanding and simulation of land-atmosphere exchange as well as hydrological and hydrogeological processes at the hill-slope and the catchment scale; and to support the retrieval soil water content from airborne and spaceborne remote sensing platforms.

Khao San Dam: The Archaeological Evidence of Burnt Rice Festival in Southern Thailand | ข้าวสารดำา: หลักฐานทางโบราณคดีเกี่ยวกับประเพณีการเผาข้าวในภาคใต้ของ ประเทศไทย

Recently in 2021the 11th office of the Fine Arts Department, Songkhla has reported their annual excavations in Trang Province that archaeologists have found some set of rice while excavation in process namely,1) Khao Kurum Archaeological Site, Huai Yod District and 2) Napala Archaeological Site, Muang District. The artifacts which were found associated with the rice grains on the habitation layer consisted of potsherds, animal bones, grindstone, beads, etc. The grains of rice are short and brown in colour which is examined as carbonized since the beginning at its first left. The primary examination by archaeologists has classified the rice of Napala Archaeological Site as short grain of probably Orysa sativa (Indica or Aus) rice. AMS Radiocarbon dating by Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory shows the AMS standard results and calibration dating of charred material measured radiocarbon age:1440±30BP. Because of their geographical location, both sites are incredibly located on one side of the hill slope, where they were suitable for habitat and plantation, especially tiny paddy fields and farms with sufficient water supply either small stream or well. The found rice, which now still grows uphill, probably called ‘Khao rai’ needs less water or no marsh. Comparative study of ethnographic “Atong” 1 of 12 sub-tribes of the “Garos” Tibeto-Burman in Meghalaya, India which originated slash-and-burnt socio-groups, have shown an interest in growing rice activity. According to their ritual ceremony for planting of paddy, other grain, and seeds takes place. There are many ritualistic offerings of rice such as (1) flattened rice by asking for permission to cultivate the land from the first harvested paddy in May. (2) After the harvesting in September or October, the 1st ceremony of the agricultural year is a thanksgiving ceremony to mark the end of a period of toil in the fields and harvesting of bumper crops, which is probably the most important festival of the Garos locally called “Maidan syla” meant to celebrate the after-harvested festival or burnt rice festival. Their 2nd ceremony is to revive the monsoon clouds. People throw cooked rice on the floor to symbolize hailstones. Noticing the rice, were probably the assemblage of “Khao San Dam” in many activities of these ceremonies, that is the archaeological evidence found in Khao Kurum and Napala Archaeological Sites. In the Southern part of Thailand, once the crops have already cultivated, people celebrate to welcome their outcrops most probably at the end of September to October and mark their end of plantation before the monsoon come. People prepare 4 main rice desserts put together with other necessity stuffs in the “hmrub” special large containers and donate to the ancestors through Buddhist ceremony. Though archaeological evidence shows that southern peninsular was where the migrants from the west especially India origins, who shared same habitat of hillslope, might brought their different traditions through both land trans-peninsular and sea routes then settled down inner western or eastern coast since prehistoric times. The beliefs in animism might belong to some other western migrants and with having “hmrub” is one of their unique cultural characteristic material and tradition remain. Once they settled down then converged to Buddhism, the ritual ceremony may be changed due to religion, but tradition remains the same today, that is, Bun Duean Sib on the 10th of the lunar month or September-October.

Inhibition of sodium conductance by cannabigerol contributes to a reduction of neuronal dorsal root ganglion excitability

Cannabigerol (CBG), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid, is a precursor for cannabis derivatives, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol (CBD). Like CBD, CBG has been suggested as an analgesic. A previous study reported CBG (10 µM) blocks voltage-gated sodium (Nav) currents in CNS neurons. However, the manner in which CBG inhibits Nav channels, and whether this effect contributes to CBG′s potential analgesic behavior remain unknown. Genetic and functional studies have validated Nav1.7 as an opportune target for analgesic drug development. The efforts to develop therapeutic selective Nav1.7 blockers have been unsuccessful thus far, possibly due to issues in occupancy; drugs have been administered at concentrations many folds above IC50, resulting in loss of isoform-selectivity, and increasing off-target effects. We reasoned that an alternative approach could use compounds possessing 2 important properties: ultra-hydrophobicity and functional selectivity. Hydrophobicity could enhance absorption into neuronal cells especially with local administration. Functional selectivity could reduce the likelihood of side-effects. As CBG is ultra-hydrophobic (cLogD=7.04), we sought to determine whether it also possesses functional selectivity against Nav channels that are expressed in dorsal root ganglion (DRG). We found that CBG is a ~10-fold state-dependent Nav inhibitor (KI-KR: ~2-20 µM) with an average Hill-slope of ~2. We determined that at lower concentrations, CBG predominantly blocks sodium Gmax and slows recovery from inactivation; however, as concentration is increased, CBG also hyperpolarizes Nav inactivation curves. Our modeling and multielectrode array recordings suggest that CBG attenuates DRG excitability, which is likely linked with Nav inhibition. As most Nav1.7 channels are inactivated at DRG resting membrane potential, they are more likely to be inhibited by lower CBG concentrations, suggesting functional selectivity against Nav1.7 compared to other Navs (via Gmax block).

Characterization and Taxonomy Classification of Soils of Hill Slope Land and Stream Terrace Land Located at North-Eastern Ghat Agro-Climatic Zone of Odisha, India

The present investigation was carried out to study the characterization, fertility status and taxonomic classification of some soils of North-Eastern Ghat Agro-Climatic zone of Odisha. Hill slope (pedon 1) and stream terrace land (pedon 2) two representative pedons of the Nayagarh district located in different topographic positions were studied for their physico-chemical characteristics and taxonomic classification. Results show that in pedon 1, percentage of sand, silt and clay range between 78.4 to 86.4, 3.2 to 3.4 and 10.4 to 17.4 respectively and in pedon 2, sand, silt and clay percentages range between 72 to 84, 3.2 to 7.2 and 10.8 to 18.8 respectively in different horizons. In pedons 1 and 2, pH increases along with depth from 4.80 to 5.82 and 5.80 to 7.60 respectively. Organic carbon content in pedons 1 and 2, ranges from 3.4 to 5.1 and 1.6 to 6.3 g kg-1 respectively. Cation exchange capacity decreases in pedon 1 from 13.25 to 8.66 c mol (p+) kg-1 and in pedon 2, range 7.66 to 16.65 c mol (p+) kg-1. The exchangeable sodium percentage in pedon 1 and 2, ranges from 4.53 to 9.23, and 2.56 to 6.53 per cent in different horizons respectively. The base saturation percentage in pedon 1, range from 58.11 to 98.15 per cent and in pedon 2, from 59.54 to 97.91 percent. The Hill slope (pedon 1) and stream terrace land (pedon 2) have little or no evidence of development of pedogenic horizons except ochric epipedon, therefore these soil are classified under the order Entisols. These soils have A-C profile with no distinct horizonation. Pedon 1, are classified under sub order Orthents, great group Ustorthents and sub group Typic Ustorthents. In case of pedon 2 the soils are put under the sub order Aquents, great group Fluvaquents and sub group Aeric Fluvaquents.

MuSyC is a consensus framework that unifies multi-drug synergy metrics for combinatorial drug discovery

Drug combination discovery depends on reliable synergy metrics but no consensus exists on the correct synergy criterion to characterize combined interactions. The fragmented state of the field confounds analysis, impedes reproducibility, and delays clinical translation of potential combination treatments. Here we present a mass-action based formalism to quantify synergy. With this formalism, we clarify the relationship between the dominant drug synergy principles, and present a mapping of commonly used frameworks onto a unified synergy landscape. From this, we show how biases emerge due to intrinsic assumptions which hinder their broad applicability and impact the interpretation of synergy in discovery efforts. Specifically, we describe how traditional metrics mask consequential synergistic interactions, and contain biases dependent on the Hill-slope and maximal effect of single-drugs. We show how these biases systematically impact synergy classification in large combination screens, potentially misleading discovery efforts. Thus the proposed formalism can provide a consistent, unbiased interpretation of drug synergy, and accelerate the translatability of synergy studies.

Wind tunnel tests and dynamic analysis of wind-induced response of a transmission tower on a hill

A hill with a lattice transmission tower presents complex wind field characteristics. The commonly used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are difficult to analyze the wind resistance and dynamic responses of the transmission tower due to structural complexity. In this study, wind tunnel tests and numerical simulations are conducted to analyze the wind field of the hill and the dynamic responses of the transmission tower built on it. The hill models with different slopes are investigated by wind tunnel tests to measure the wind field characteristics, such as mean speed and turbulence intensity. The study shows that the existence of a transmission tower reduces the wind speed on the leeward slope significantly but has little effect on the windward slope. To study the dynamic behavior of the transmission tower, a hybrid analysis procedure is used by introducing the measured experimental wind information to the finite element tower model established using ANSYS. The effects of hill slope on the maximum displacement response of the tower are studied. The results show that the maximum value of the response is the largest when the hill slope is 25° compared to those when hill slope is 15° and 35°. The results extend the knowledge concerning wind tunnel tests on hills of different terrain and provide a comprehensive understanding of the interactive effects between the hill and existing transmission tower regarding to the wind field characteristics and structural dynamic responses.

Program Mitigasi Bencana Banjir dan Tanah Longsor Akibat Cuaca Ekstrim di Desa Sade Lombok Tengah NTB

The condition of the situation in Sade Village is a hill, slope and mountainous area with and has a marble of more than 20 degrees, a thick layer of soil above the hillside, there is a poor water and land use system, resulting in flooding and landslides. The incident occurred in early 2021. This was carried out by a community service program to anticipate the possibility of floods and landslides due to extreme weather. This service was carried out by the Research Group on Electro Magnetic Technology and Environmental Conservation for Humanity. One of the missions related to the village community is towards Tangguh Bencara Village (DESTANA).

From Point Clouds to Surfaces: Overview on a Case Study

<p>The process of transforming point cloud data into high-quality meshes or CAD objects is, in general, not a trivial task. Many problems, such as holes, enclosed pockets, or small tunnels, can occur during the surface reconstruction process, even if the point cloud is of excellent quality. These issues are often difficult to resolve automatically and may require detailed manual adjustments. Nevertheless, in this work, we present a semi-automatic pipeline that requires minimal user-provided input and still allows for high-quality surface reconstruction. Moreover, the presented pipeline can be successfully used by non-specialists and only relies commonly available tools.</p><p>Our pipeline consists of the following main steps: First, a normal field over the point cloud is estimated, and Screened Poisson Surface Reconstruction is applied to obtain the initial mesh. At this stage, the reconstructed mesh usually contains holes, small tunnels, and excess parts – i.e., surface parts that do not correspond to the point cloud geometry. In the next step, we apply morphological and geometrical filtering in order to resolve the problems mentioned before. Some fine details are also removed during the filtration process; however, we show how these can be restored – without reintroducing the problems – using a distance guided projection. In the last step, the filtered mesh is re-meshed to obtain a high-quality triangular mesh, which – if needed – can be converted to a CAD object represented by a small number of quadrangular NURBS patches.</p><p>Our workflow is designed for a point cloud recorded by a laser scanner inside one of seven artificially carved caves resembling chapels with several niches and passages to the outside of a sandstone hill slope in Georgia. We note that we have not tested the approach for other data. Nevertheless, we believe that a similar pipeline can be applied for other types of point cloud data, – e.g., natural caves or mining shafts, geotechnical constructions, rock cliffs, geo-archeological sites, etc. This workflow was created independently, it is not part of a funded project and does not advertise particular software. The case study's point cloud data was used by courtesy of the Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ambiente e della Terra of the Università degli Studi di Milano–Bicocca.</p>