Vibration control of a cluster of buildings through the Vibrating Barrier

A novel device, called vibrating barrier (ViBa), that aims to reduce the vibrations of adjacent structures subjected to ground motion waves has been recently proposed. The ViBa is a structure buried in the soil and detached from surrounding buildings that is able to absorb a significant portion of the dynamic energy arising from the ground motion. The working principle exploits the dynamic interaction among vibrating structures due to the propagation of waves through the soil, namely the structure-soil-structure interaction. In this paper the efficiency of the ViBa is investigated to control the vibrations of a cluster of buildings. To this aim a discrete model of structures-site interaction involving multiple buildings and the ViBa is developed. In particular, the effects of the soil on the structures, i.e. the soil-structure interaction (SSI) as well as the structure-soilstructure interaction (SSSI) and the ViBa-soil-structures interaction are taken into account in this paper by means of linear elastic springs as in the conventional Winkler approach for a linear elastic soil medium. Closed-form solutions are derived to design the ViBa in the case of harmonic excitation from the analysis of discrete models. Advanced Finite Element numerical simulations are performing in order to assess the efficiency of the ViBa in protecting one or more buildings. Parametric studies are also conducted to identify beneficial/adverse effects in the use of the proposed vibration control strategy to protect cluster of buildings

Vibration control of a cluster of buildings through the Vibrating Barrier

A novel device, called vibrating barrier (ViBa), that aims to reduce the vibrations of adjacent structures subjected to ground motion waves has been recently proposed. The ViBa is a structure buried in the soil and detached from surrounding buildings that is able to absorb a significant portion of the dynamic energy arising from the ground motion. The working principle exploits the dynamic interaction among vibrating structures due to the propagation of waves through the soil, namely the structure-soil-structure interaction. In this paper the efficiency of the ViBa is investigated to control the vibrations of a cluster of buildings. To this aim a discrete model of structures-site interaction involving multiple buildings and the ViBa is developed. In particular, the effects of the soil on the structures, i.e. the soil-structure interaction (SSI) as well as the structure-soilstructure interaction (SSSI) and the ViBa-soil-structures interaction are taken into account in this paper by means of linear elastic springs as in the conventional Winkler approach for a linear elastic soil medium. Closed-form solutions are derived to design the ViBa in the case of harmonic excitation from the analysis of discrete models. Advanced Finite Element numerical simulations are performing in order to assess the efficiency of the ViBa in protecting one or more buildings. Parametric studies are also conducted to identify beneficial/adverse effects in the use of the proposed vibration control strategy to protect cluster of buildings

Efficient and versatile data analytics for deep networks

Deep networks (DN) perform cognitive tasks related with image and text at human-level. To extract and exploit the knowledge coded within these networks we propose a framework which combines state-of-the-art technology in parallelization, storage and analysis. Our goal, to make DN models available to all data scientists

Dietary intake of trans fatty acids in children aged 4–5 in Spain: The INMA cohort study

Trans fatty acid (TFA) intake has been identified as a health hazard in adults, but data on preschool children are scarce. We analyzed the data from the Spanish INMA Project to determine the intake of total, industrial and natural TFA, their main sources and the associated socio-demographic and lifestyle factors in children aged 4–5 (n = 1793). TFA intake was estimated using a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire, and multiple linear regression was used to explore associated factors. The mean daily intakes of total, industrial and natural TFA were 1.36, 0.60, and 0.71 g/day, respectively. Ten percent of the children obtained >1% of their energy intake from TFA. The main sources of industrial TFA were fast food, white bread and processed baked goods. Milk, red and processed meat and processed baked goods were the main sources of natural TFA. Having parents from countries other than Spain was significantly associated with higher natural TFA (in mg/day) intake (β 45.5) and television viewing was significantly associated with higher industrial TFA intake (β 18.3). Higher fruits and vegetables intake was significantly associated with lower intakes of all TFAs, whereas higher sweetened beverages intake was significantly associated with lower total and natural TFA intake. Thus, total and industrial TFA intake was associated with less healthy food patterns and lifestyles in Spanish preschool children

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum