Establishment of performance-based seismic design factors for precast concrete floor diaphragms

This paper presents an analytical study used to establish design factors for a new seismic design methodology for precast concrete floor diaphragms. The design factors include diaphragm force amplification factors Ψ and diaphragm shear overstrength factors Ωv

Reliability analysis of moment redistribution in reinforced concrete beams

Design codes allow a limited amount of moment redistribution in continuous reinforced concrete beams and often make use of lower bound values in the procedure for estimating the moment redistribution factors. Here, based on the concept of demand and capacity rotation, and by means of Monte Carlo simulation, a probabilistic model is derived for the evaluation of moment redistribution factors. Results show that in all considered cases, the evaluated mean and nominal values of moment redistribution factor are greater than the values provided by the ACI code. On the other hand, the 5th percentile value of moment redistribution factor could be lower than those specified by the code. Although the reduction of strength limit state reliability index attributable to uncertainty in moment redistribution factors is not large, it is comparable to the reduction in reliability index resulting from increasing the ratio of live to dead load

Civil aviation, air pollution and human health

Air pollutant emissions from aircraft have been subjected to less rigorous control than road traffic emissions, and the rapid growth of global aviation is a matter of concern in relation to human exposures to pollutants, and consequent effects upon health. Yim et al (2015 Environ. Res. Lett. 3 034001) estimate exposures globally arising from aircraft engine emissions of primary particulate matter, and from secondary sulphates and ozone, and use concentration-response functions to calculate the impact upon mortality, which is monetised using the value of statistical life. This study makes a valuable contribution to estimating the magnitude of public health impact at various scales, ranging from local, near airport, regional and global. The results highlight the need to implement future mitigation actions to limit impacts of aviation upon air quality and public health. The approach adopted in Yim et al only accounts for the air pollutants emitted by aircraft engine exhausts. Whilst aircraft emissions are often considered as dominant near runways, there are a number of other sources and processes related to aviation that still need to be accounted for. This includes impacts of nitrate aerosol formed from NOx emissions, but probably more important, are the other airport-related emissions from ground service equipment and road traffic. By inclusion of these, and consideration of non-fatal impacts, future research will generate comprehensive estimates of impact related to aviation and airports

Genetic diversity in Algerian maize (Zea mays L) landraces using SSR markers

In the Sahara, maize (Zea mays L) has been adapted to extreme environmental conditions during the last five centuries; therefore, this germplasm has a potential value as source of tolerance to stress. No previous report of the genetic diversity of Saharan maize has been published so far. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of a collection of Saharan maize. Fifteen accessions representing the geographic diversity of Algeria were characterized with 18 SSR. Most loci (93%) were polymorphic; the total amount of alleles was 87 and the average of alleles per locus was 5.8. The total genetic diversity (He) was 0.57, being 69% intra-accessions and 31% inter-accession. Eight of the alleles were accession-specific and belonged to six populations. Genetic distance among the 15 accessions resulted in the definition of three main clusters related to the geographic origin. Maize germplasm from the Algerian Sahara can be classified at least in three groups and the most variable accessions are in the southern oasis. Some accessions were highly variable and can be sources of favorable alleles for breeding for tolerance to extreme stress conditions.This research was supported by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID project A/023430/09), the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ENSA) Algiers,Algeria,the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Algerian Ministry of high Education and scientific research (MESRS).Peer reviewe

Growth performance and quality traits of siberian sturgeon (A. baerii) juveniles fed diets including Nannochloropsis gaditana and Scenedesmus almeriensis microalgae meal

The demand for aquafeed grown exponentially in the last decade and is expected to increase further in the coming years (FAO 2018). The wild fish used for the fish meal and oil, currently used in feed formulated for carnivorous species, will be used in human consumption and less available for aquaculture. Among the potential ingredients of future use in aquafeed, microalgae represent a promising matrix, as characterized by nutritional, nutraceuticals and immunostimulant properties ( Camacho-Rodr\uedguez et al., 2017) . However the high production cost is a limiting factor for their use. The development of a microalgae-based biorefinery, able to use some by-products and agro-industrial waste to produce biomass would enable to limit the disposal costs sustained by the companies and to lower the production costs of the microalgae. The present research was undertaken to evaluate effect on growth response and fillet quality traits of sturgeon ( A. baerii) fed with two microalgae freeze-dried biomass Nannochloropsis gaditana and Scenedesmus almeriensis grown in Sinthetic Medium (SM) or in diluted Pig Manure (PM) and included in partial substitution of dietary fish meal and oil. Materials and methods Four complete diets were formulated to be grossly iso-proteic and iso-lipidic . A control diet (C ) was prepared using a blend of conventional animal and vegetal protein sources. The test diets coined respectively N. gaditana grown o n Synthetic Medium (NSM ), N. gaditana growno in pig manure (NPM), S. almeriensis grown on Synthetic Medium (SSM) and S. almeriensis grown on Pig Manure (SPM) were prepared by replacing the 10% of protein and lipid supplied by the blend of conventional protein and lipid-rich ingredients with microalgae . All the ingredients are mixed and pelleted by a cold extrusion process (70\ub0C). Each diet were randomly assigned to tank and tested in triplicate according to a monofactorial design. Microalgae dried biomass and diets were analized microbiologically and verified for nutritional quality. To carried out the feeding trials 240 j uvenile A. baerii ( average 12.8\ub10.3g each ) were randomly allocated among 15 circular tanks (16 fish/tank) in RAS system under controlled rearing conditions (temperature, 19\ub0C, DO 9.6 mg/L, artificial daylenght, 12h). Diets were offered in two daily meals with a fixed feed ratio (3 % body mass) over 6 weeks and each group were weighted every week under moderate anaesthesia. At the end of the trial, survival rate (%), Final Body Weight (FBW), Specific Growth Rate (SGR), Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), Feed Intake (FI), were evaluated. Furthermore, nine fish per feed treatment were analized to determine the biometric indeces , fillet proximate composition and oxidation parameters (SOD, CAT, GPX, 8-isoprostanes). Data were subjected to ANOVA and differences tested by the Tukey's test (P < 0.05). Results The macronutrient composition of the dried micoalgae biomass are reported in Table I. Microbiological analysis of microalgae biomass showed no difference in TBC (Total Bacterial Count) among the different thesis (average 5.9\ub10. 07 log CFU/g). E. coli were found below the detection limits of the method (< 2 log CFU/g) in N. gaditana grown on P M and S. almeriensis grown in both SM and PM, while its value was 3log CFU/g in N.gaditana grown on SM. Enterobacteriaceae resulted respectively 2.7 and 2.0 log CFU/g in N. gaditana and S. almeriensis grown on SM and under detection limits of the method (< 2 log CFU/g) in N. gaditana and S. almeriensis grown on PM . Salmonella resulted absent in all the microagae biomass. All the diets used in feeding trial resulted similar for their proximate, fatty acid composition and microbiological quality (data not reported). Dietary treatments significantly affected FBW that resulted sim ilar in the groups C (44.2g), NSM (44.7g) e NPM (43.9g), while it was significantly lower (P<0.05) in the SSM (40.8g) and SPM (40.5g) groups. However, did not result in significant changes in survival rate, SGR, FCR and of the biometric index (K), nor fillet composition. Also oxidation parameters (SOD, CAT, GPX, 8-isoprostanes) of fillet were not significantly affected by dietary treatments (P>0.05). Discussion and Conclusion Very few data are available on the use of microalgae biomass in acipenserids diet . Spirulina meal integrated with plant oils was found to be a good alternative to replace fish oil in white ( A. transmontanus) and siberian ( A. baerii ) sturgeon diet (Palmegiano et al., 2008; 2002) . The data observed in this study confirm the potential use of the microalgae N. gaditana and S. almeriensis in the siberian sturgeon diet, in fact all the experimental diets tested, both based on microalgae grown o n SM and o n PM ensure a balanced and complete level of the nutrient s, suitable for the gr owth of sturgeon juveniles and nutritional quality of the fillet , analogous to the control group fed with a fish meal/oil-based diet . Moreover the use of agrozootenic by-products, such as pig manure, for the growth of microalgae, appears to be a good alternative to common fertilizers, to reduce production costs. Acknowledgments This work has received funding from the European Union HORIZON 2020 Research and Innovation Program under the Grant Agreement No. 727874 (project SABANA)

Flexural strengthening of RC continuous slab strips using NSM CFRP laminates

To assess the effectiveness of the near surface mounted (NSM) technique, in terms of load carrying and moment redistribution capacities, for the flexural strengthening of continuous reinforced concrete (RC) slabs, an experimental program was carried out. The experimental program is composed of three series of three slab strips of two equal span length, in order to verify the possibility of increasing the negative (at the intermediate support region) resisting bending moment in 25% and 50% and maintaining moment redistribution levels of 15%, 30% and 45%. Though the flexural resistance of the NSM strengthened sections has exceeded the target values, the moment redistribution was relatively low, and the increase of the load carrying capacity of the strengthened slabs did not exceed 25%. This experimental program is analyzed to highlight the possibilities of NSM technique for statically indeterminate RC slabs in terms of flexural strengthening effectiveness, moment redistribution and ductility performance. Using a FEM-based computer program, which predictive performance was appraised using the obtained experimental results, a high effective NSM flexural strengthening strategy is proposed, capable of enhancing the slab’s load carrying capacity and maintaining high levels of ductility.The study reported in this paper forms a part of the research program "CUTINEMO - Carbon fiber laminates applied according to the near surface mounted technique to increase the flexural resistance to negative moments of continuous reinforced concrete structures" supported by FCT, PTDC/ECM/73099/2006. The authors wish to acknowledge the support also provided by the S&P, Casais and Artecanter Companies. The first Author acknowledges the financial support of National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) - Brazil, Ph.D. Grant no. 200953/2007-9. The second Author wishes to acknowledge the support provided by FCT, by means of the SFRH/BSAB/818/2008 and SFRH/BSAB/913/2009 sabbatical grants

Combined effect of steel fibres and steel rebars on impact resistance of high performance concrete

The investigation on the impact properties of normal concrete (NC)and reinforced concrete (RC) specimens, steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) specimens and RC+SFRC specimens with different steel fibres dosages were carried out with the drop-weight impact test recommended by ACI Committee 544. The results indicate that the number of blows to final failure greatly increased by addition of steel fibres. Moreover, the combination of steel fibres and steel rebars demonstrates a significant positive composite effect on the impact resistance, which results on the improvement in impact toughness of concrete specimens. In view of the variation of impact test results, the two-parameter Weibull distribution was adopted to analyze the experimental data. It is proved that the probabilistic distribution of the blows to first crack and to final failure of six types of samples are approximately two-parameter Weibull distribution.Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No.50578026)Financial support provided by the Research Center of Mathematics of the University of Minho through the FCT Pluriannual Funding Progra

Spending time, spending money: passenger segmentation in an international airport

Changes within the air transport sector have required many European airports to either develop or expand their commercial activities. Strategies have included the expansion of retail space, a broadening of the tenant and merchandise mix and the development of a passenger segmentation strategy. This paper explores the efficacy of this approach by identifying the behaviour of different passenger segments while in an international airport. Using a framework of strategic market segmentation, it identifies how travellers allocate their time having entered 'airside' and details any purchases made. Using observational research and a face to face quantitative survey, 301 passengers were tracked and interviewed. Through a broad based, a priori form of segmentation, significant differences in shopping behaviour are identified. Such findings assist with the development of the airport's commercial strategy and allow a number of observations to be made about the value of market segmentation from both a theoretical and managerial perspective

Prediction of the shear strength of reinforced masonry walls using a large experimental database and artificial neural networks

This paper analyses the accuracy of a selection of expressions currently available to estimate the in-plane shear strength of reinforced masonry (RM) walls, including those presented in some international masonry codes. For this purpose, predictions of such expressions are compared with a set of xperimental results reported in the literature. The experimental database includes specimens built with ceramic bricks and concrete blocks tested in partially and fully grouted conditions, which typically present a shear failure mode. Based on the experimental data collected and using artificial neural networks (ANN), this paper presents alternative expressions to the different existing methods to predict the in-plane shear strength of RM walls. The wall aspect ratio, the axial pre-compression level on the wall, the compressive strength of masonry, as well as the amount and spacing of vertical and horizontal reinforcement throughout the wall are taken into consideration as the input parameters for the proposed expressions. The results obtained show that ANN-based proposals give good predictions and in general fit the experimental results better than other calculation methods.This work was supported by the Fondo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia de Chile, (Fondecyt de Iniciacion) [grant number 11121161].Aguilar, V.; Sandoval, C.; Adam Martínez, JM.; Garzón-Roca, J.; Valdebenito, G. (2016). Prediction of the shear strength of reinforced masonry walls using a large experimental database and artificial neural networks. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering. 12(12):1661-1674. https://doi.org/10.1080/15732479.2016.1157824S16611674121

Genetic diversity in Algerian maize (Zea mays L) landraces using SSR markers

In the Sahara, maize (Zea mays L) has been adapted to extreme environmental conditions during the last five centuries; therefore, this germplasm has a potential value as source of tolerance to stress. No previous report of the genetic diversity of Saharan maize has been published so far. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of a collection of Saharan maize. Fifteen accessions representing the geographic diversity of Algeria were characterized with 18 SSR. Most loci (93%) were polymorphic; the total amount of alleles was 87 and the average of alleles per locus was 5.8. The total genetic diversity (He) was 0.57, being 69% intra-accessions and 31% inter-accession. Eight of the alleles were accession-specific and belonged to six populations. Genetic distance among the 15 accessions resulted in the definition of three main clusters related to the geographic origin. Maize germplasm from the Algerian Sahara can be classified at least in three groups and the most variable acces¬sions are in the southern oasis. Some accessions were highly variable and can be sources of favorable alleles for breeding for tolerance to extreme stress conditions