The soil engineer needs to be able to readily identify difficult or problematic soils and to determine the amount of settlement that may occur. This paper deals with the assessment and identification of three types of difficult soils: collapsible soils, swelling soils, and liquefiable soils. In the first instance, the study investigates the effect of some soil properties on wetting-induced collapse strain and the swelling potential of soils. Also, two new methods for predicting soil collapse and swelling potential are developed. The proposed relationships correlate between collapse strain and swelling potential and some soil parameters which are believed to govern soil collapse and swelling. Validation of these two relationships with some data reported in literature is also examined. Furthermore, the paper describes the different steps suggested in a new procedure for soil liquefaction assessment. The procedure was presented in the form of an evaluation guide. In addition, a relationship was suggested for computing the potential for liquefaction. An application of the proposed procedure to a practical case is included in order to validate and illustrate the different steps to be followed in the suggested evaluation procedure.
V dějinách idejí se vitalismu dostalo různých definic a různé postavy byly označeny za vitalisty. Když se soustředíme na 17. století, zjistíme, že badatelé identifikovali jako vitalisty autory, kteří zastávají názory, jež jsou v diametrálním protikladu. Stručně představím názory dualistických vitalistů (Henry More, Ralph Cudworth a Nehemiah Grew) a monistických vitalistů (Francis Glisson, Margaret Cavendishová, Anne Conwayová), a filosofické a teologické uvažování, které formovalo jejich myšelní. Ve všech těchto různých podobách vitalismu se nacházejí identifikovatelné společné motivy: bytostná neredukovatelnost života (považovaná za vlastnost buď nehmotného ducha nebo samotného hmoty) a univerzalita života (sahající daleko za "organickou" oblast přírody až "anorganické")., Vitalism has been given different definitions and diverse figures have been labelled as vitalists throughout the history of ideas. Concentrating on the seventeenth century, we find that scholars identify as vitalists authors who endorse notions that are in diametrical opposition with each other. I briefly present the ideas of dualist vitalists (Henry More, Ralph Cudworth and Nehemiah Grew) and monist vitalists (Francis Glisson, Margaret Cavendish and Anne Conway) and the philosophical and theological considerations informing their thought. In all these varied forms of vitalism the identifiable common motives are the essential irreducibility of life (regarded as a property of either an immaterial spirit or matter itself) and the universality of life (extending well beyond the “organic” realm of nature, incorporating the “inorganic”)., and Veronika Szántó.