Reinforced Concrete Building with IED Detonation: Test and Simulation

There is growing concern about the possibility of a suicide bomber being immolated when the army forces or the law enforcement agencies discover the place where they prepare their material or simply find themselves inside a building. To study the possible effects that these improvised explosive devices (IEDs) would have on the structures, eight tests were carried out with various configurations of IEDs with vest bombs inside a reinforced concrete (including walls and roof) building constructed ad hoc for these tests. These vests were made with different explosives (black powder, ANFO, AN/AL, PG2). For the characterization of these tests, a high-speed camera and pressure and acceleration sensors were used. The structure behaved surprisingly well, as it withstood all the first seven detonations without apparent structural damage. In the last detonation, located on the ground and with a significant explosive charge, the structural integrity of the roof and some of the walls was compromised. The simulation of the building was carried out with the LS-DYNA software with a Lagrangian formulation for the walls, using the LBE (based on CONWEP) module for the application of the charge. Despite the difficulty of this simulation, the results obtained, in terms of applied pressures and measured accelerations, are acceptable with differences of about 20%

Estimación de la economía sumergida en México mediante el enfoque de las variables no observadas

En este trabajo se estima el tamaño de la economía sumergida en Mexico mediante un enfoque basado en la teoría de las variables no observadas. Esta metodología implica la estimación de modelos estructurales (MIMIC) que analizan un conjunto de causas de la economía sumergida a la vez que tienen en cuenta su influencia sobre una serie de indicadores. Los principales determinantes de la economía sumergida en México parecen ser las cotizaciones sociales y el peso del Estado, medido en términos de consumo público. Sin embargo, variables que habían mostrado su relevancia en otros trabajos como el desempleo, los empleados autónomos o la imposición indirecta no son estadísticamente significativos. Asímismo, en este trabajo también se llevan a cabo una serie de simulaciones que permiten analizar los efectos sobre la economía sumergida de determinadas medidas de política económica

Shadow Economy in three different Mediterranean Countries: France, Spain and Greece. A MIMIC Approach

This paper offers estimations of the evolution of the shadow economy in three Mediterranean countries, namely France, Spain and Greece. A multiple indicators and multiple causes model based on the latent variable structural theory has been applied. As established by Giles (Working paper on monitoring the health of the tax system, 1995), filtered data to solve the non-stationary problems are used. The model includes the tax burden (both as a whole and disaggregated into direct taxes, indirect taxes and social security contributions), a proxy of regulation burden, the unemployment rate and self-employment as causes of the shadow economy and the GDP growth rate, the labour force participation ratio and the currency ratio as indicators of the underground economy. The results confirm that unemployment, the fiscal burden and self-employment are the main causes of the shadow economy in these countries, and confirm that an inverse relationship exists between the official GDP growth rate and that of the unofficial economy

Desensitization of adenosine A(1) receptor-mediated inhibition of adenylyl cyclase in cerebellar granule cells

Agonist-induced desensitization of adenosine A(1) receptor-mediated inhibition of adenylyl cyclase has been studied in cerebellar granule cells. Exposure of cells to the adenosine A(1) receptor agonist R-phenylisopropyl adenosine (R-PIA) from 2 to 48 h brings about desensitization of this signal transduction pathway. Associated with the desensitization process, a decrease in radioligand binding performed in intact cells with the adenosine A(1) receptor agonist [H-3]cyclohexyladenosine (CHA) has been detected. Simultaneously, an increase of adenosine A(1) radioligand binding has also been detected in microsomes. A decrease in the steady-state level of alpha-Gi in both, plasma membrane and microsomes also has been detected during the desensitization process. These data may account for the desensitization of the inhibitory pathway of the adenylyl cyclase in cerebellar granule cells described herein. After a transient increase in adenosine A(1) receptor mRNA, no changes were observed in this parameter after 12 hr of treatment with the adenosine A(1) agonist R-PIA, suggesting a post-transcriptional regulation of this receptor during long-term desensitization

Comprehensive review of natural based hydrogels as an upcoming trend for food packing

The overwhelming use of plastic related to food packing is a major concern for governmental institutions around the world that are developing new policies aimed at reducing it and developing innovative and biodegradable food packaging materials. Hydrogels are composed of three-dimensionally cross-linked polymer chains capable of interacting and holding large amounts of water with high malleability and biocompatibility with foodstuff, prompting their application in the food industry as they can control moisture loss, transpiration produced by the food and can even reduce antimicrobial growth. However, under the significance of hydrogels, fresh research horizons are being unfolded as food packaging. The current status of the use of natural hydrogels based on proteins, polysaccharides, lipids and other biodegradable polymers as sustainable materials for food packaging has been reviewed. Moreover, special interest has been paid on their functionalization with bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds. Their incorporations into hydrogel's formulation seem to improve the mechanical, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the films obtained, as well as extent the shelf-life of foodstuff. Finally, the recent applications of natural-based hydrogels in foodstuff have been compiled in this review. Although current research is still in its infancy, the outcomes obtained so far are promising and represent an interesting, innovative, and sustainable alternative to plastic materials in order to extend shelf-life of food products

The determinants of inward foreign direct investment in business services across European regions

The determinants of inward foreign direct investment in business services across European regions, Regional Studies. The role of forward linkages with manufacturing sectors and other service sectors as attractors of business services foreign direct investment (FDI) is studied at the regional level. Using data on 146 NUTS-2 regions, it is found that regions specialized in those (manufacturing) sectors that are high potential users of business services attract more FDI in the business services than other regions. Results are robust to the inclusion of the traditional determinants of foreign investments at the regional level as well as to controls for spatial dependence. The results suggest that regional policies aimed at attracting foreign investors in the business service industry might prove ineffective in the absence of a pre-existing local intermediate deman