1,612 research outputs found

    a quantitative approach

    Get PDF
    publishersversionpublishe

    Earthquake source effect and impact of the applied methodology to assess the overstrength factors of RC bridges

    Get PDF
    Seismic hazard assessment in several sites worldwide depends on two or more seismic sources. Many countries affected by subduction zones have strong motions earthquakes originated in at least two important seismic sources. In Mexico, interplate earthquakes (subduction process) have epicenters located in the Pacific coast with hypocenter depths less than 45 km and intraplate earthquakes (intermediate-depth earthquakes) normally have epicenters inside the continent with depth hypocenters greater than 45 km. Both seismic sources can potentially produce events with magnitudes Mw greater than 8.0 and, therefore, generate severe damage to the country's infrastructure. The design process of the bridges in Mexico is based on the chapter of Seismic Design of the Manual of Civil Structures of the Federal Electricity Commission. The standard allows to reduce the spectral ordinates of the design spectra by ductility and overstrength. It establishes an overstrength factor of 1.5 to reduce the design spectra, value not well supported by the Manual. This study evaluates the effect of the seismic source and methodology used to compute overstrength factors of common typologies of reinforced concrete bridges. The seismic capacity of the bridges was calculated with nonlinear static analysis and nonlinear time history analysis. The results showed that the importance of the seismic source on the overstrength factors depends on the seismic location of the bridges and, in general terms, nonlinear static analysis overestimates the bridges overstrength.6612-034D-AE05 | PEDRO DA SILVA DELGADON/

    Overstrength factors of RC bridges supported on single and multi-column RC piers in Mexico

    Get PDF
    Mexico highway network has more than 14,000 bridges. Most of them are reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The bridges design process incorporates the use of an overstrength factor that is not justified and has received little attention in published works. Mexican regulations allow using an overstrength factor for buildings in the range of 2?3, to reduce the design spectra as a function of the selected seismic behavior factor. However, for bridges, a single factor of 1.5 is proposed independent of any design parameter. The bridges in Mexico are mostly simply supported structures with maximum span lengths of 50 m. A relevant and distinctive aspect of the bridges designed in Mexico is the large load amplitudes of the trucks used to define the live load and the high seismic activity in the country. This study determines overstrength factors of a family of medium-length RC bridges composed of simply supported superstructures and substructure made up of single and multi-column RC piers. Non-linear dynamic analyzes using a set of 80 accelerograms were carried out. The results show that the height of the bridges and their seismic location are relevant parameters in the overstrength of the structures. Finally, analytical expressions are proposed to assess the overstrength factors of a very common bridge typology in Mexico and the world.6612-034D-AE05 | PEDRO DA SILVA DELGADON/

    Methodological considerations for kinematic analysis of upper limbs in healthy and poststroke adults Part II: a systematic review of motion capture systems and kinematic metrics

    Get PDF
    To review the methods used to analyze the kinematics of upper limbs (ULs) of healthy and poststroke adults, namely the motion capture systems and kinematic metrics. A database of articles published in the last decade was compiled using the following search terms combinations: (“upper extremity” OR “upper limb” OR arm) AND (kinematic OR motion OR movement) AND (analysis OR assessment OR measurement). The articles included in this review: (1) had the purpose to analyze objectively three-dimension kinematics of ULs, (2) studied functional movements or activities of daily living involving ULs, and (3) studied healthy and/or poststroke adults. Fourteen articles were included (four studied a healthy sample, three analyzed poststroke patients, and seven examined both poststroke and healthy participants). Most articles used optoelectronic systems with markers; however, the presentation of laboratory and task-specific errors is missing. Markerless systems, used in some studies, seem to be promising alternatives for implementation of kinematic analysis in hospitals and clinics, but the literature proving their validity is scarce. Most articles analyzed “joint kinematics” and “end-point kinematics,” mainly related with reaching. The different stroke locations of the samples were not considered in their analysis and only three articles described their psychometric properties. Future research should validate portable motion capture systems, document their specific error at the acquisition place and for the studied task, include grasping and manipulation analysis, and describe psychometric properties.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Direct Evidence of an Excited-State Triplet Species upon Photoactivation of the Chlorophyll Precursor Protochlorophyllide

    Get PDF
    The chlorophyll precursor protochlorophyllide (Pchlide), which is the substrate for the light-driven enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase, has unique excited-state properties that facilitate photocatalysis. Previous time-resolved spectroscopy measurements have implied that a long-lived triplet state is formed during the excited-state relaxation of Pchlide, although direct evidence of its existence is still lacking. Here we use time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in combination with time-resolved absorption measurements at a range of temperatures (10–290 K), solvents, and oxygen concentrations to provide a detailed characterization of the triplet state of Pchlide. The triplet decays in a biphasic, oxygen-dependent manner, while the first reported EPR signature of a Pchlide triplet displays both emissive and absorptive features and an antisymmetric spectrum similar to other porphyrin triplet states. This work demonstrates that the Pchlide triplet is accessible to various cryogenic spectroscopic probes over a range of time scales and paves the way for understanding its potential role in catalysis

    Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

    Get PDF
    This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}andcorrespondtoanintegratedluminosityof and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}.ThemeasurementisperformedbyreconstructingtheboostedWorZbosonsinsinglejets.ThereconstructedjetmassisusedtoidentifytheWandZbosons,andajetsubstructuremethodbasedonenergyclusterinformationinthejetcentre−of−massframeisusedtosuppressthelargemulti−jetbackground.Thecross−sectionforeventswithahadronicallydecayingWorZboson,withtransversemomentum. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum {{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}andpseudorapidity and pseudorapidity |\eta |\lt 1.9,ismeasuredtobe, is measured to be {{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

    An unusual case of an isolated capitellar fracture of the right elbow in a child: a case report

    Get PDF
    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Although elbow fractures have a high incidence in the pediatric population, fractures of the capitellum are almost exclusively observed in individuals older than 12 years of age. Due to their rarity in children, reports with large numbers of cases are lacking in the literature and the surgical treatment options are poorly defined.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present the case of an 11-year-old Portuguese girl with a displaced fracture of the capitellum of the right elbow, a typical Hahn-Steinthal or Type 1 fracture, which was followed for one year. The treatment and outcome of this fracture are described. Our patient underwent an open reduction and internal fixation with two cannulated screws. There were no complications and normal elbow function was recovered.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The authors believe that cannulated screw fixation is a reliable method of treatment for Type 1 capitellar fracture in children because it enables good interfragmentary compression, early mobilization, faster functional elbow recovery and implant removal is rarely necessary.</p
    • 

    corecore