Structural compliance, misfit strain and stripe nanostructures in cuprate superconductors

Structural compliance is the ability of a crystal structure to accommodate variations in local atomic bond-lengths without incurring large strain energies. We show that the structural compliance of cuprates is relatively small, so that short, highly doped, Cu-O-Cu bonds in stripes are subject to a tensile misfit strain. We develop a model to describe the effect of misfit strain on charge ordering in the copper oxygen planes of oxide materials and illustrate some of the low energy stripe nanostructures that can result.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure

Application de la méthode de rétrodiffusion des électrons à la mesure en continu des faibles épaisseurs de revêtements légers sur métaux ou alliages légers

Le problème envisagé concerne la mesure en continu des faibles épaisseurs de revêtements organiques sur métaux ou alliages légers. Nous étudions les caractéristiques d'une jauge à rétrodiffusion β opérant sous atmosphère d'hélium. Nous montrons que le fait de travailler sous hélium améliore les résultats de façon très importante. L'influence de l'énergie de la source radio-active et du numéro atomique du revêtement sont examinés. Les résultats obtenus concernent également la précision, le temps de mesure ainsi que la surface de l'échantillon sous investigation

Influence of Heat Control on Residual Stresses in Low Transformation Temperature (LTT) Large Scale Welds

The current paper presents residual stress analyses of large scale LTT Low Transformation Temperature welds. LTT filler materials are specially designed for residual stress engineering by means of an adjusted martensite phase transformation. Controlling the level of mostly detrimental residual stresses already during the welding process would be highly attractive as time and cost consuming post processing may be prevented. In large scale welds the residual stress state is influenced by the heat control e.g. interpass temperature during welding. Therefore, welding residual stresses are studied here putting the focus on the influence of welding process parameters while joining heavy steel sections with a thickness of 25 mm. The residual stress state was determined at the top surface using X ray diffraction as well as in the bulk by neutron diffraction. The results show that control of the interpass temperature is vital for the residual stresses present in the joints. This accounts for the top surface but is most pronounced for the bulk of the welds. While high interpass temperatures are appropriate to induce compressive residual stresses in the weld metal, low interpass temperatures favor unwanted tensile residual stresses instea

The changing nature of risk and risk management: the challenge of borders, uncertainty and resilience

No abstract available

Continuity Culture: A Key Factor for Building Resilience and Sound Recovery Capabilities

This article investigates the extent to which Jordanian service organizations seek to establish continuity culture through testing, training, and updating of their business continuity plans. A survey strategy was adopted in this research. Primary and secondary data were used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with five senior managers from five large Jordanian service organizations registered with the Amman Stock Exchange. The selection of organizations was made on the basis of simple random sampling. Interviews targeted the headquarters only in order to obtain a homogenous sample. Three out of five organizations could be regarded as crisis prepared and have better chances for recovery. The other two organizations exhibited characteristics of standard practice that only emphasizes the recovery aspect of business continuity management (BCM), while paying less attention to establishing resilient cultures and embedding BCM. The findings reveal that the ability to recover following major incidents can be improved by embedding BCM in the culture of the organization and by making BCM an enterprise-wide process. This is one of few meticulous studies that have been undertaken in the Middle East and the first in Jordan to investigate the extent to which service organizations focus on embedding BCM in the organizational culture

The logic of tact:How decisions happen in situations of crisis

The mass-migration of refugees in the fall 2015 posed an immense humanitarian and logistical challenge: exhausted from their week-long journeys, refugees arrived in Vienna in need of care, shelter, food, medical aid, and onward transport. The refugee crisis was managed by an emerging polycentric and inter-sectoral collective of organizations. In this paper, we investigate how, during such a situation, leaders of these organizations made decisions in concert with each other and hence sustained the collective's capacity to act collectively. We ask: what was the logic of decision-making that orchestrated collective action during the crisis? In answering this question, we make the following contribution: departing from March's logics of consequences and appropriateness as well as Weick's work on sensemaking during crisis, we introduce an alternative logic that informed decision-making: the logic of tact. With this concept we (a) offer a better understanding of how managers make decisions under the condition of bounded rationality and the simultaneous transgression of their institutional identity in situations of crisis; and we (b) show that in decision-making under duress cognition is neither ahead of action, nor is action ahead of cognition; rather, tact explicates the rapid switching between cognition and action, orchestrating decision-making through this interplay

Blaming Active Volcanoes or Active Volcanic Blame? Volcanic Crisis Communication and Blame Management in the Cameroon

This chapter examines the key role of blame management and avoidance in crisis communication with particular reference to developing countries and areas that frequently experience volcanic episodes and disasters. In these contexts, the chapter explores a key paradox prevalent within crisis communication and blame management concepts that has been rarely tested in empirical terms (see De Vries 2004; Brändström 2016a). In particular, the chapter examines, what it calls, the ‘paradox of frequency’ where frequency of disasters leads to twin dispositions for crisis framed as either: (i) policy failure (active about volcanic blame on others), where issues of blame for internal incompetency takes centre stage, and blame management becomes a focus of disaster managers, and/or: (ii) as event failure (in this case, the blaming of lack of external capacity on active volcanoes and thereby the blame avoidance of disaster managers). Put simply, the authors investigate whether perceptions of frequency itself is a major determinant shaping the existence, operation, and even perceived success of crisis communication in developing regions, and countries experiencing regular disaster episodes. The authors argue frequency is important in shaping the behaviour of disaster managers and rather ironically as part of crisis communication can shape expectations of community resilience and (non)-compliance. In order to explore the implications of the ‘paradox of frequency’ further, the chapter examines the case of the Cameroon, where volcanic activity and events have been regular, paying particular attention to the major disasters in 1986 (Lake Nyos Disaster - LND) and 1999 (Mount Cameroon volcanic eruption - MCE)

Caracterização dos graus de fragilidades em estados geoecológicos da Unidade de Gerenciamento de Recursos Hídricos do Pontal do Paranapanema (SP, Brasil)

The Oeste Paulista, the second most degraded region in the State of São Paulo, has, in the Water Resources Management Unit - UGRHI 22 / Pontal do Paranapanema, the largest representation of the environmental damage that occurred in recent years in this portion of the state. The present paper aims to characterize the environmental units, potentialities and physical fragilities, throughout the integrated and systematic analysis of the natural components of the hydrographic basin that composes UGRHI 22. Therefore, the study in question brings as its theoretical and conceptual basis the Landscape Geoecology theory, which establishes that the relationships and interrelations between the components of the physical environment make possible to reflex and understand its dynamics. Thus, in order to achieve the objectives of this work, we initially conduct a survey of the regional natural components, such as Geology, Pedology, Geomorphology, and others, which resulted in the elaboration of thematic maps that enabled the identification of the characteristics of the elements of the landscape. We assigned weights from one to five for the landscape’s components, in which the lowest corresponds to a stabilized landscape - and the highest to a degraded landscape -, in order to identify the fragility according to its physical characteristics. Then, from the overlapping of the maps produced from these weights, their arithmetic averages were calculated. The results display a definition of the degrees attributed to each of the features and an arrangement of a synthesis map of the geoecological state, which contributes to the planning of UGHR-22’s anthropogenic activities.O Oeste Paulista, a segunda região mais degradada do Estado de São Paulo, tem na Unidade de Gerenciamento de Recursos Hídricos – UGRHI 22 / Pontal do Paranapanema a maior representação dos danos ao meio ambiente ocorridos nos últimos anos, nesta porção do estado. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo caracterizar as unidades ambientais, potencialidades e fragilidades físicas da bacia hidrográfica que compõe a UGRHI 22 por meio da análise integrada e sistêmica dos seus componentes naturais. Nesse sentido, o estudo em questão traz como embasamento teórico e conceitual a teoria da Geoecologia da Paisagem, a qual estabelece que as relações e inter-relações entre os componentes do meio físico possibilitam a reflexão e a compreensão de sua dinâmica. Assim, para a concretização dos objetivos do trabalho, inicialmente, realizou-se o levantamento dos componentes naturais da região, tais como a Geologia, Pedologia, Geomorfologia, dentre outros, o que resultou na elaboração de mapas temáticos que possibilitaram a identificação das características dos elementos da paisagem. Aos componentes atribuiu-se peso de um a cinco, no qual o mais baixo corresponde a uma paisagem estabilizada – e o mais alto a uma paisagem degradada –, tendo vista a identificação da fragilidade segundo suas características físicas Em seguida, a partir da sobreposição dos mapas produzidos a partir desses pesos, calcularam-se suas médias aritmé- ticas. Os resultados apresentam uma definição dos graus atribuídos a cada uma das feições e uma apresentação de um mapa síntese do estado geoecológico, que contribui para o planejamento das atividades antrópicas da UGHR – 22

Two cases of variceal haemorrhage during living-donor liver transplantation

Some patients with cirrhosis experience rupture of venous varices before operation, and liver transplantation is a therapy of last resort for these patients. However, we have experienced two cases of intraoperative rupture in whom no abnormalities of the venous varices were seen on endoscopy before operation. One patient with ruptured gastrointestinal varices was treated by direct surgical ligation and the other with ruptured oesophageal gastric varices, spontaneously recovered with a Sengstaken–Blakemore tube. These cases suggest that acute variceal haemorrhage should always be considered as a possibility during living-donor liver transplantation in patients with a history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Careful observation of the nasogastic tube is important during clamping of the hepatic portal vein

Making a Step Forward Towards Urban Resilience. The Contribution of Digital Innovation

Starting from 'wicked problem' theory as the landmark for framing disaster events in terms of policy issue for city governments, this paper highlights the contribution provided by Big Data analytics and digital innovation in dealing with disaster risks. The research aims at answering the following question: what is the role that 'smart technologies' play in strengthening urban resilience to disaster risks