Ratcheting of granular materials

We investigate the quasi-static mechanical response of soils under cyclic loading using a discrete model of randomly generated convex polygons. This response exhibits a sequence of regimes, each one characterized by a linear accumulation of plastic deformation with the number of cycles. At the grain level, a quasi-periodic ratchet-like behavior is observed at the contacts, which excludes the existence of an elastic regime. The study of this slow dynamics allows to explore the role of friction in the permanent deformation of unbound granular materials supporting railroads and streets.Comment: Changed content Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Research Project / Management as a Liberal Art / The Virtue of Profit

In this memo sent to his grandson, Pollard provides a summary of the concept of Management as a Liberal Art in addition to a letter from Peter Drucker and several documents with Drucker quotations. The latter are taking from the following sources: Drucker, P. (1942) The Freedom of Industrial Man. Virginia Quarterly Review 18 (4),481-499. The citation comes from pp. 482-483. Drucker, P.F. (1988). Teaching the Work of Management. New Management 6 (2), 2-5. The citation comes from p. 5. Drucker, P.F. (1989). The New Realities: In government and politics, in economics and business, in society and worldview. New York: Harper and Row. The citation comes from p. 231. Drucker, P.F. (1959). Landmarks of Tomorrow. New York: Harper and Brothers. The citation comes from pp. 264-65

Navigation/traffic control satellite mission study. Volume 3 - System concepts

Satellite network for air traffic control, solar flare warning, and collision avoidanc

Impact of a Proposed Reservoir on Local Land Values

This project was designed to study the impact of private preconstruction land acquisition in a Central Kentucky area in which a flood-control dam and reservoir impoundment is planned. The research design was built around use of anthropological concepts and research techniques. By these means it was possible to analyze the perceived values of land to traditionalist residents, among which social and economic security concepts are paramount. Recent land purchases, locally believed to have been made chiefly by outsiders, (urbanites from nearby Louisville), at prices out of line in terms of local agricultural worth, has been extremely unsettling contributing to the anxiety pattern typical of persons facing dislocation and their sympathizers. The newly developing pattern of land purchase, with values related to residential convenience, and access to the urban center, rather than to traditional agricultural values, has been accepted by a certain segment of the local population who appear to be trying to take advantage of the urban economic opportunities while retaining at least part of the rural value system and continuing to participate in rural society and rurally esteemed activities

CSI Accounting: A New Trend In Educational Training

Recently, members of the Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business, Department of Accounting and Law, have been approached by IRS and accounting practitioners concerning the addition of fraud and forensic accounting courses to the curriculum.  This seems to be a new trend in expanding the education and training of accounting majors as evidenced by a U.S. Department of Justice, NIJ Special Report titled, “Education and Training in Fraud and Forensic Accounting: A Guide for Educational Institutions, Stakeholder Organizations, faculty and Students.” The December 20, 2005 Draft Report provides that as a result of recent corporate scandals, there has been a substantial increase in both legal and regulatory requirements. “These requirements address internal controls for detecting and deterring fraud and encourage financial statement auditors to be more aggressive in searching for fraud.” Students desirous of becoming “CSI Accountants” are in need of a better understanding surrounding the field and the knowledge and skills required to succeed.  This paper will begin with a brief mention of various financial scandals and certain regulatory requirements which followed.  The motivation for a need for this new educational training will then be reviewed along with the problems faced by institutions of higher education when adding new courses and changing current curriculum. Finally, a brief overview of the contents of the NIJ Report will be made

Preservação e organização da geoinformação em instituições: o caso da construção da Infraestrutura de Dados Espaciais da Embrapa.

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar a estratégia da Embrapa para construir sua Infraestrutura de Dados Espaciais de forma a contribuir com o debate sobre a organização, preservação e integração de dados geoespaciais heterogêneos de acordo com as diretrizes federais estabelecidas pela INDE. Para esse fim, apresentaremos as etapas do processo interno realizado na Embrapa para elaboração o plano de adesão à INDE, o qual contou com a formação de um grupo de trabalho e, em seguida, descreveremos a estratégia elaborada

I RAPPORTI ECONOMICO-FINANZIARI TRA ITALIA E REPUBBLICA DI SAN MARINO

Circadian clocks coordinate 24-hr rhythms of behavior and physiology. In mammals, a master clock residing in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is reset by the light-dark cycle, while timed food intake is a potent synchronizer of peripheral clocks such as the liver. Alterations in food intake rhythms can uncouple peripheral clocks from the SCN, resulting in internal desynchrony, which promotes obesity and metabolic disorders. Pancreas-derived hormones such as insulin and glucagon have been implicated in signaling mealtime to peripheral clocks. In this study, we identify a novel, more direct pathway of food-driven liver clock resetting involving oxyntomodulin (OXM). In mice, food intake stimulates OXM secretion from the gut, which resets liver transcription rhythms via induction of the core clock genes Per1 and 2. Inhibition of OXM signaling blocks food-mediated resetting of hepatocyte clocks. These data reveal a direct link between gastric filling with food and circadian rhythm phasing in metabolic tissues

Synthesis of new DPP-4 inhibitors based on a novel tricyclic scaffold

A novel molecular scaffold has been synthesized and its synthesis and incorporation into new analogues of biologically active molecules will be discussed. A comparison of the inhibitory activity of these compounds to the known type-2 diabetes compound (sitagliptin) against dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) will be shown