305 research outputs found
Mozambique and natural disasters: human capital under threat
This paper assesses the effect of a sequence of natural disasters on children’s health that hit Mozambique at the start of the 21st Century. The disasters in question were the floods of 2000 and the droughts of the years 2002 and 2003. Height-for-age z-scores of children between 1 and 3 years old is used to capture the cumulative effects of this sequence of natural disasters. It was found that the effect of the disasters on these children’s height was, on average, -0.4236 standard deviations, which corresponds to the affected children being more than 1.5 cm shorter by the time of the survey. The findings in this paper are important because of the long term economic cost associated with the disasters, and urge the need for further public intervention to mitigate the damage caused by the shocks. This paper also contributes to the existing literature on the subject of the impact of shocks on child health in the developing world by focusing on measurement errors, differences in physical stature among ethnic groups and migratory movements.Mozambique; Health; Natural Disaster; Human Capital; Developing Country
Recommended from our members
Strong embedded discontinuities for simulating fracture in quasi-brittle materials
In this paper embedded strong discontinuities are used to model discrete cracking in materials like concrete. In the approach followed a discontinuous displacement field is considered and the deformation is localized at a surface of zero width. Both a damage law and a plasticity law are adopted to describe the constitutive relation between tractions and displacement jumps at the discontinuity surface. An algorithm is introduced to enforce the continuity of the crack path, permitting a clear identification of the discontinuities in the mesh. Both mode-I and mixed-mode cracking have been considered and the importance of the shear tractions on the global behaviour of a structure is assessed. With the formulation adopted it is concluded that: i) realistic crack patterns are obtained, similar to those found in experiments and ii) the dissipation of energy can be objectively found irrespective of the mesh that is used
THE IMPORTANCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, OPPORTUNITY, AND GOVERNANCE FOR LATIN AMERICA: PROSPERITY INDEX TRENDS BETWEEN 2009 AND 2014
The Latin American and Caribbean region has witnessed noticeable economic growth over the last decade. How some countries in the region have resisted the financial crisis by continuing to grow has also not gone unnoticed by the international community. Whether said development and growth can keep its pace or not, however, remains the big question. This paper addresses this issue using a multidimensional approach that provides a broader picture of the current situation in Latin America. Using the rich data included in the Legatum Prosperity Index, an index that measures prosperity as a combination of wealth and wellbeing across 142 countries, this paper analyses how entrepreneurship, opportunity, and good governance are key elements to promote prosperity. In particular, this paper discusses how the enhancement of entrepreneurial activities, backed up by improvement in technological infrastructure, can only produce lasting, positive results in Latin America if inequality of opportunity is reduced, and good governance – an area showing acute problems in the region – is promoted
Arbitrary bi-dimensional finite strain crack propagation
In the past two decades numerous numerical procedures for crack propagation have been developed. Lately,
enrichment methods (either local, such as SDA or global, such as XFEM) have been applied with success to simple
problems, typically involving some intersections. For arbitrary finite strain propagation, numerous difficulties are
encountered: modeling of intersection and coalescence, step size dependence and the presence of distorted finite
elements. In order to overcome these difficulties, an approach fully capable of dealing with multiple advancing
cracks and self-contact is presented (see Fig.1). This approach makes use of a coupled Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian
method (ALE) and local tip remeshing. This is substantially less costly than a full remeshing while retaining its full
versatility. Compared to full remeshing, angle measures and crack paths are superior. A consistent continuationbased
linear control is used to force the critical tip to be exactly critical, while moving around the candidate set.
The critical crack front is identified and propagated when one of the following criteria reaches a material limiting
value: (i) the stress intensity factor; or (ii) the element-ahead tip stress. These are the control equations.
The ability to solve crack intersection and coalescence problems is shown. Additionally, the independence from
crack tip and step size and the absence of blade and dagger-shaped finite elements is observed. Classic benchmarks
are computed leading to excellent crack path and load-deflection results, where convergence rate is quadratic
Conforming finite elements with embedded strong discontinuities
A kinematically consistent approach for embedded discontinuitie
The influence of load misalignment on frp-concrete bond behaviour, a numerical study
Various authors have used pure shear test models in order to describe the bond between FRP and concrete. However, considerable dispersion of the parameters which characterize the bond behaviour has been found. In pure shear models it is assumed that the load applied to the FRP is parallel to the axis of the concrete specimen and acts on the plane of symmetry. In this work, a numerical model is presented to analyse the influence of load misalignment on FRP-concrete bond behaviour
An embedded formulation with conforming
Use of strong discontinuities with satisfaction of compatibilit
O reforço de vigas de betão armado com chapas metálicas coladas com resina
Neste trabalho efectua-se a simulação do reforço com chapas metálicas coladas com resinas epoxy, em vigas de betão armado. Cada viga é inicialmente carregada à flexão e submetida a um elevado nível de dano. Posteriormente, sob carga constante, as fendas são reparadas com resina epoxy e aplica-se o reforço, colando a chapa metálica na face traccionada da viga. Conclui-se o teste aumentando a carga até se obter a rotura da viga reforçada. O nível de dano pré-reforço é modelado recorrendo a uma abordagem discreta com fendas embebidas e a ligação betão-resina-chapa é modelada em modo II de fractura através de elementos de interface com espessura inicial nula. Os resultados numéricos são comparados com os resultados obtidos em vigas ensaiadas experimentalmente de acordo com os procedimentos referidos
Modelling the behaviour of the bonding of fibre reinforced concrete at the plate end
Comunicação apresentada em International Symposium Polymers in Concrete (ISPIC 2006), Guimarães, 2006In this paper, the finite element method is used to analyse the behaviour of concrete
externally strengthened by fibre reinforced polymers (FRP). This model aims to analyse the stress distribution in the FRP-concrete interface at the plate end of a bending beam. The behaviour of the concrete-poxy-FRP arrangement is modelled with interface elements with initial zero thickness, using a discrete crack approach. A localized damage model is adopted for the interface and a parametric study is performed to approximate the material parameters adopted. The importance of each parameter is assessed. This model is subsequently verified
using experimental data collected from the literature. Finally, a proposal is made concerning the adoption of a relation GF
II/GF for the interface behaviour. Mention is also made to some of the main mathematical models found in the literature, which are compared to the present approach
Water - Actor and system for the re-invention of landscape
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
- …