ON SHEAR BEHAVIOR OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS MADE OF STEEL FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE

Cuenca Asensio, E. (2012). ON SHEAR BEHAVIOR OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS MADE OF STEEL FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/18326Palanci

A meta-analysis of the magnetic line broadening in the solar atmosphere

A multi-line Bayesian analysis of the Zeeman broadening in the solar atmosphere is presented. A hierarchical probabilistic model, based on the simple but realistic Milne-Eddington approximation to the solution of the radiative transfer equation, is used to explain the data in the optical and near infrared. Our method makes use of the full line profiles of a more than 500 spectral lines from 4000 $\AA$ to 1.8 $\mu$m. Although the problem suffers from a strong degeneracy between the magnetic broadening and any other remaining broadening mechanism, the hierarchical model allows to isolate the magnetic contribution with reliability. We obtain the cumulative distribution function for the field strength and use it to put reliable upper limits to the unresolved magnetic field strength in the solar atmosphere. The field is below 160-180 G with 90% probability.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Fixed reference

Applications of an exact counting formula in the Bousso-Polchinski Landscape

The Bousso-Polchinski (BP) Landscape is a proposal for solving the Cosmological Constant Problem. The solution requires counting the states in a very thin shell in flux space. We find an exact formula for this counting problem which has two simple asymptotic regime one of them being the method of counting low $\Lambda$ states given originally by Bousso and Polchinski. We finally give some applications of the extended formula: a robust property of the Landscape which can be identified with an effective occupation number, an estimator for the minimum cosmological constant and a possible influence on the KKLT stabilization mechanism.Comment: 43 pages, 11 figures, 2 appendices. We have added a new section (3.4) on the influence of the fraction of non-vanishing fluxes in the KKLT mechanism. Other minor changes also mad

Between the cup and the lip

The paper states that, although Post Keynesian interest rules may be feasible and sustainable in favourable circumstances, there is a shared difficulty as for the setting of long-term interest rates in a context of strong uncertainty and shifting liquidity preference. According to Keynes theory of the interest rate, the variation in the long-term interest rate that authorities are seeking for must correspond to the market convention, in order to preserve the state of the confidence and avoid disruptive shifts in the demand for money. It is argued that authorities should therefore announce a long-term interest rate target in accordance with the normative objective the opinion has debated on and agreed with. Also, such a conventional target cannot be very distant from the current rate, and the short-term rates authorities control should be adjusted gradually (but not slowly). Moving the interest rate convention is harder to get in the context of the current crisis, because of the deleterious effects on private and public accounts, and thereby on the state of confidence, that the innumerable amounts of bad debts have carried. We put forward strong arguments in favour of reducing the amount of bad debts by means of temporary large public deficits and accommodating monetary policies (which is not to say permanent large deficits and inflationary policies), even though long-term interest rate do not respond much to the short-term impulses of central banks.interest rate; rule; convention; monetary policy; financial crisis

Destabilizing competition and institutional stabilizersThe contribution of J.M. Keynes

Orthodox economics rests on the belief that if markets were fully competitive, there would be general efficiency. The current financial malfunctions, accordingly, would not result from free competition, but rather from insufficient competition. This statement is strong, for it rests on a sophisticated conceptual framework within which there is no dysfunction when perfect competition prevails. But it is also strongly unrealistic, for it rejects public interventions even when markets obviously lost there bearings in the storm. In fact much of those who referred to the orthodox approach before the financial crisis, are now, inconsistently, claiming for public interventions. This short paper argues that there is a consistent way of thinking about necessary public interventions. Indeed, John Maynard Keynes focus on fundamental uncertainty consequences questioned the supposed virtues of competition and offered the most elaborated alternative as for thinking about the current turnmoils and designing the necessary stabilizers.Equilibrium, competition, stability, institutional stabilizers

New-Consensus Macroeconomic Governance in a Keynesian world, and the Keynesian alternative

The paper presents both the New Consensus and Keynesian equilibrium within the usual fourcompetitive macro-markets structure. It gives theoretical explanations of the perniciouseffects that the NCM governance, which has been designed for ergodic stationary regimes,brings about in Keynesian non-ergodic regimes. It put forward Keynesian principles ofgovernance which include monetary, budgetary and fiscal instruments, and suggest newdirections for the positive and normative analysis of macro-policies.Fiscal policy, Macroeconomic governance, Monetary policy, Post-Keynesian

(Post) Keynesian alternative to inflation targeting*

While the mainstream policies can not be surpassed in the enchanted ‘optimizable'world, (Post) Keynesians have to resign themselves to manage without magic wand inthe uncertain real world. The paper discusses the monetary rules proposed in the recentPost Keynesian literature. It argues that the long-term interest rate is too imperfectlycontrolled for such rules being feasible. Consequently, the quest for credibility isirrelevant, for it makes not much sense to wonder whether authorities will honour theircommitment on an unfeasible ideal target. The right question is whether authoritiespursue convincing objectives so as to move the conventional expectation of the future(and the related interest rate) towards full employment. It is a matter of confidence.The basic principles involved in such an approach to economic policy are discussed.Interest rate rule; Inflation targeting, PostKeynesian, Monetary policy