Dissipated energy in undrained cyclic triaxial tests

Energy-based methods are an emerging tool for the evaluation of liquefaction potential. These methods relate excess pore water pressure build-up to seismic energy dissipated per unit volume. Further development of these methods require their validation through laboratory testing. In this paper, a comprehensive study of energy dissipated during cyclic triaxial tests is undertaken. Results of undrained cyclic triaxial tests performed on air-pluviated samples of Hostun sand prepared with different initial densities and subjected to several confining pressures and loading amplitudes are presented. The energy dissipated per unit volume is estimated from the experimental results and correlated to the generated excess pore water pressure. The correlation between those quantities appear to be independent of the initial relative density of the sample, isotropic consolidation pressure and cyclic stress ratio used in the tests. Moreover, the relationship between observed doubleamplitude axial strain and the energy dissipated per unit volume is examined. It is found that this relationship is greatly dependent on the relative density of the sample

Correlação entre os custos dos acidentes de trabalho e o investimento em SST em sistemas de gestão de resíduos

Dissertação de mestrado em Segurança e Higiene no TrabalhoOs custos dos acidentes de trabalho representam um problema económico e não apenas para as empresas. Por esse motivo, nos últimos anos tem havido uma preocupação crescente com a implementação de medidas preventivas, em meio laboral, que visam atenuar este problema. No entanto, as empresas questionam-se sobre a relação custo/benefício dos investimentos em segurança e saúde no trabalho. Muitas são as metodologias apresentadas na literatura, que efetuam a correlação entre os custos dos acidentes de trabalho e o investimento em segurança e saúde no trabalho, mas difícil é selecionar uma metodologia que se adapte à realidade da empresa em estudo. A metodologia proposta no FACTS 28 pela Agência Europeia para a Segurança e Saúde no Trabalho, demostrou ser ineficaz em empresas gestoras de resíduos. A organização contabilística das empresas não possui as rubricas de investimentos e de custos com o pormenor requerido naquela metodologia. Para além disso, quanto maior é a quantidade de resíduos a tratar (maior é o número de trabalhadores afetos à empresa), mais expressiva é a quantidade de acidentes de trabalho e, consequentemente, os custos a eles associados. Assim, para empresas com um baixo número de trabalhadores uma avaliação desta natureza é prescindível. Os números referentes aos investimentos expressam-se pela estabilidade da atividade da empresa. Após o período inicial, a fase de manutenção da atividade, os investimentos em segurança e saúde no trabalho são pouco relevantes e, por isso, difíceis de se relacionar com os números/custos dos acidentes de trabalho. No entanto, a correlação efetuada em sistemas de gestão de resíduos demostra que quando os investimentos em segurança e saúde no trabalho aumentam ligeiramente, acontece um ligeiro decréscimo em acidentes de trabalho.The costs of occupational accidents represent an economical problem, but not just for companies. For this reason, in recent years there has been a growing concern with the implementation of preventive measures in workplaces, intended to alleviate this problem. However, companies may question about the cost/benefit of investments in safety and health at work. There are many methodologies presented in literature, which perform the correlation between the costs of occupational accidents and investments in safety and health at work, but it is difficult to select a methodology that fits the reality of this case-study. The methodology proposed in FACTS 28 by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, has shown to be ineffective in waste management companies. Their accounting organization doesn’t have the items of investments and costs with the required detail in that methodology. Furthermore, the greater the amount of waste to be treated (the greater the number of employees assigned to the company), the greater the amount of occupational accidents and, consequently, the costs associated. Thus, for companies with a low number of employees an evaluation of this nature is dispensable. The investment figures are expressed by the stability of the company's activity. After the initial period, the maintenance phase, investments in safety and health at work are not relevant so it is difficult to relate with the numbers/costs of occupational accidents. Nevertheless, the correlation performed in waste management systems shows that when investments in safety and health at work increase slightly, a slight decrease in occupational accidents is observed

CNO abundances and carbon isotope ratios in evolved stars of the open clusters NGC 2324, NGC 2477, and NGC 3960

Our main aim is to determine carbon-to-nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios for evolved giants in the open clusters NGC 2324, NGC 2477, and NGC 3960, which have turn-off masses of about 2 Msun, and to compare them with predictions of theoretical models. High-resolution spectra were analysed using a differential synthetic spectrum method. Abundances of carbon were derived using the C2 Swan (0,1) band heads at 5135 and 5635.5 A. The wavelength interval 7940-8130 A with strong CN features was analysed to determine nitrogen abundances and carbon isotope ratios. The oxygen abundances were determined from the [Oi] line at 6300 A. The mean values of the CNO abundances are [C/Fe]=-0.35+-0.06 (s.d.), [N/Fe]=0.28+-0.05, and [O/Fe]=-0.02+-0.10 in seven stars of NGC 2324; [C/Fe]=-0.26+-0.02, [N/Fe]=0.39+-0.04, and [O/Fe]=-0.11+-0.06 in six stars of NGC 2477; and [C/Fe]=-0.39+-0.04, [N/Fe]=0.32+-0.05, and [O/Fe]=-0.19+-0.06 in six stars of NGC 3960. The mean C/N ratio is equal to 0.92+-0.12, 0.91+-0.09, and 0.80+-0.13, respectively. The mean 12C/13C ratio is equal to 21+-1, 20+-1, and 16+-4, respectively. The 12C/13C and C/N ratios of stars in the investigated open clusters were compared with the ratios predicted by stellar evolution models. The mean values of the 12C/13C and C/N ratios in NGC 2324 and NGC 2477 agree well with the first dredge-up and thermohaline-induced extra-mixing models, which are similar for intermediate turn-off mass stars. The 12C/13C ratios in the investigated clump stars of NGC 3960 span from 10 to 20. The mean carbon isotope and C/N ratios in NGC 3960 are close to predictions of the model in which the thermohaline- and rotation-induced (if rotation velocity at the zero-age main sequence was 30% of the critical velocity) extra-mixing act together.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1603.0952

THE RESOLUTION OF CONFLICT BETWEEN TEACHER AND STUDENT: TEACHERS’ NARRATIVES

The significant thing for teachers is to settle conflicts with students correctly and effectively without disrupting educational process and damaging the relationship. Dispite teacher-student conflicts are unevitable, and important consequences arise there from, teacher-student conflicts remain poorly studied. The present study aims to examine the strategies teachers use to resolve teacher-student conflicts. To investigate the process of conflict between a teacher and a student, a case study method was used. Respondents – teachers - were asked to recall a conflict occurring between them and a student during the school years, describe how the incident was handled, and the consequences of it. The number of respondents constituted 31 teachers. Their average age was 43, 6 years. By gender there were 2 males and 29 females; work experience was from 2 till 35 years.An analysis of the cases enabled to distinguish two groups of teachers’ reactions to the conflicts. One of them is focus on communication with student on the issue and discovering of the reasons of his / her behaviour. Resolving conflict in a cooperative way involves teacher’s endeavours to perceive accurately student’s positions and motivation, recognise the legitimacy of each other’s interests, and search for a solution accommodating the needs of both sides. The second group of teachers’ reactions to the conflicts manifests itself by the lack of the reflection of the motives and causes of the student’s inappropriate behaviour. Thus, recorded conflicts are considered as non cooperative (destructive) ones.This study give insight into the role of teacher in relation to conflict resolution with student. Findings of the study emphasize the need for teachers to critically determine meaningful conflict resolution strategies

The Relationship Between Protein Fractions of Wheat Gluten and the Quality of Ring-Shaped Rolls Evaluated by the Echolocation Method

This paper presents the results of the relationship between separate protein fractions and the quality of baked ring-shaped rolls. The qualitative and quantitative protein composition of flour derived from some wheat varieties grown in Lithuania has been determined. The protein properties are evaluated by SDS-PAGE. A new method of the analysis of swelling, based on the principle of echolocation, has been used to determine the quality of this specific kind of baked goods. For the application of this method the wheat flour, which is most suitable for the production of ring-shaped rolls, made from the wheat variety Portal (Pasvalys PVRS), has been selected. This flour has the following quality parameters: proteins 10.5 %, gluten 22.0 %, gluten index 47 r.u. Correlation between the flour quality parameters and the quality of the final bread product shows that γ-gliadins (r=–0.63), LMM glutenins (r=0.55), HMM glutenins (r=0.63) and the content of gluten (r=0.87) have the greatest influence on the quality of the ring-shaped rolls

Myxomycetes of the island of Saaremaa, Estonia

Forty three species and infraspecific taxa of myxomycetes were recorded in different ecotopes of the Saaremaa island, the West Estonian Archipelago, during the 17th Symposium of the Baltic Mycologists and Lichenologists in 2008. Among them, thirteen species were found for the first time in Estonia: Arcyria abietina, Comatricha ellae, Craterium leucocephalum, Diderma effusum, Didymium nigripes, Echinostelium apitectum, Licea minima, L. operculata, Physarum robustum, P. viride, Stemonaria irregularis, Stemonitopsis amoena, and Trichia munda.

Dynamic behaviour of saturated poroelastic layers with embedded wall submited to seismic actions

Behaviour of poroelastic saturated materials submitted to dynamic actions is strongly dependent of the solid skeleton permeability and the frequency of the movement. Depending on these quantities, undrained behaviour or fully drained behaviour occurs for total coupled interaction or for null interaction, respectively. Between these limit cases, some relative movement occurs among solid skeleton and fluid, generating viscous damping, which, in turn, modifies the elastic response of the system. This paper presents results of coupled behaviour in poroelastic saturated layers with an embedded impermeable wall, submitted to seismic actions. A Finite Element code developed at the University of Coimbra (FEMEPDYN), with coupled formulation us−uw−p, was used for this purpose. Dynamic responses of poroelastic layers with an embedded wall are compared with non-porous materials for similar conditions. Damping of non-porous materials was previously calculated by calibration of the Rayleigh coefficients in order to match the free field responses for both materials types. Unlike for the free field analysis, results reveal some differences between both materials responses with the presence of the wall, due to the volumetric deformations imposed by the embedded wall. Also, those volumetric deformations have a more uniform distribution in poroelastic layers with permeabilities that represent near total and near fully drained behaviour

Factors that influence the success of customer relationship management adoption

Mestrado em Ciências EmpresariaisThe global market is constantly evolving which means companies need to continuously innovate their businesses and understand new ways to keep in touch with their customers. One way to do it is by resorting to Information Technologies (IT) such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This kind of information system allows companies to gather data from their customers and transform it into information they can use to better achieve any expectations their clients may have while engaging in closer relationships with them. However, not all companies can successfully adopt or implement a CRM system, and because of that, they may lose their investments or worse, their customers. The purpose of this research is to find an answer to the question – What factors can help companies adopt a successful CRM system? To answer it, it is necessary to understand what aspects marketing and information systems (IS) professionals think as essential to successfully adopt the system. To accomplish this, we build two instruments based on a previous work (Pedron, 2009) in which a set of fundamental objectives (23) and a set of means objectives (49) were identified as influencing factors of a successful CRM system adoption. Using a sample of about 200 professionals we applied Churchill’s (1979) recommendations regarding the item’s purification. All data gathered was analysed through exploratory factor analysis and, consequently, an output resulted with all the factors perceived as important by the professionals that can indeed help with the adoption of a CRM system. Although there are several studies about CRM adoption they are mainly exploratory. Indeed, no measures of CRM adoption success have been previously proposed. This study tries to fulfil this gap in the literature by proposing and validating two instruments for assessing the CRM adoption success.O mercado mundial está em constante evolução, o que significa que as empresas necessitam de continuamente inovar os seus negócios e passar a entender novas formas para se manter em contato com os seus clientes. Uma forma de o fazer é através do recurso às Tecnologias de Informação (TI), como é o caso do Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Este tipo de sistema de informação permite que as empresas recolham dados dos seus clientes e transformem-nos em informação que poderão usar para conseguir atingir da melhor forma as suas expectativas, ao mesmo tempo que se tentam relacionar de forma mais estreita com estes. No entanto, nem todas as empresas conseguem adotar ou implementar um sistema de CRM com sucesso, e por isso, arriscam-se a perder investimentos ou pior, clientes. O objetivo deste trabalho é o de encontrar uma resposta para a pergunta - Quais os fatores que podem ajudar as empresas a adotar um sistema de CRM de sucesso? Para responder a essa questão, é necessário entender quais os aspetos que tanto profissionais de marketing como de sistemas de informação (SI) têm como essencial para adotar com sucesso o sistema. Para tal, vamos construir dois instrumentos com base num trabalho anterior (Pedron, 2009), no qual um conjunto de fundamental objectives (23) e um conjunto de mean objectives (49) foram identificados como fatores influenciadores para uma correta adoção do sistema CRM. Através de uma amostra de cerca de 200 profissionais utilizámos as recomendações de Churchill (1979) sobre a purificação de itens. Todos os dados recolhidos foram analisados por meio da análise fatorial exploratória, do qual resultou um output composto por todos os fatores percebidos como importantes pelos profissionais que podem realmente ajudar na adoção de um sistema de CRM. Embora haja vários estudos sobre a adoção de CRM estes são principalmente exploratórios. Ainda nenhuma forma de medição de sucesso da adoção do CRM foi até então proposta. Este estudo tenta preencher essa lacuna na literatura, propondo e validando dois instrumentos para avaliar o sucesso da adoção do CRM

Utjecaj novih fermentiranih proizvoda, koji sadržavaju ekstrudiranu pšenicu, na kakvoću pšeničnoga kruha

Lactobacillus sakei MI806, Pediococcus pentosaceus MI810 and Pediococcus acidilactici MI807, able to produce bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances, were originally isolated from Lithuanian spontaneous rye sourdough and adapted in the novel fermentation medium containing extruded wheat material. The novel fermented products (50 and 65 % moisture content) were stored at the temperatures used in bakeries (15 days at 30–35 °C in the summer period or 20 days under refrigeration conditions at 0–6 °C). The number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was determined during the storage of fermented products for 15–20 days. Furthermore, the effect of novel fermented products stored under different conditions on wheat bread quality was examined. Extruded wheat material was found to have a higher positive effect on LAB growth compared to the control medium by lowering the reduction of LAB populations in fermented products with the extension of storage time and increase of temperature. During storage, lower variation and lower decrease in LAB count were measured in the novel fermented products with a moisture content of 65 % compared to those with 50 %. Furthermore, this humidity allows for the production of a product with higher moisture content in continuous production processes. The addition of the new fermented products with 65 % humidity to the wheat bread recipe (10 % of the quantity of flour) had a significant effect on bread quality: it increased the acidity of the crumb and specific volume of the bread, and decreased the fractal dimension of the crumb pores and crumb firmness. Based on the microbiological investigations of fermented products during storage and baking tests, the conditions of LAB cultivation in novel fermentation media were optimized (time of cultivation approx. 20 days at 0–6 °C and approx. 10 days at 30–35 °C).Lactobacillus sakei MI806, Pediococcus pentosaceus MI810 i Pediococcus acidilactici MI807, bakterije koje proizvode inhibitore slične bakteriocinu, izolirane su iz litvanskoga kiselog tijesta što se proizvodi od raženoga brašna, te prilagođene za uporabu u novoj fermentacijskoj podlozi s ekstrudiranom pšenicom. Da bi se ispitala mogućnost njihove primjene u pekarama, ti novi fermentirani proizvodi (s 50 i 65 % vlažnosti) skladišteni su 15 dana pri ljetnim temperaturama od 30 do 35 °C i 20 dana u hladnjaku pri 0 do 6 °C. Tijekom tih 15 do 20 dana ispitivan je broj mliječno-kiselih bakterija u fermentiranim proizvodima, te njihov utjecaj na kakvoću kruha. Dodatak ekstrudirane pšenice bitno je utjecao na rast mliječno-kiselih bakterija, u usporedbi s kontrolnom podlogom, smanjujući njihovo odumiranje u fermentiranim proizvodima tijekom duljeg skladištenja pri povišenoj temperaturi. Tijekom skladištenja primijećene su manje promjene broja mliječno-kiselih bakterija u novim fermentiranim proizvodima sa 65 % vlažnosti nego u onima s 50 % vlažnosti, pa je zaključeno da se njihovim dodatkom u kontinuiranom procesu može proizvesti kruh s većim udjelom vlage. Dodatak 10 % novih fermentiranih proizvoda sa 65 % vlažnosti pšeničnom brašnu bitno je utjecao na kakvoću kruha: povećali su se kiselost krušnih mrvica i specifični volumen kruha, a smanjila fraktalna dimenzija pora te čvrstoća mrvica. Na osnovi mikrobioloških istraživanja fermentiranih proizvoda tijekom skladištenja te pokusnog pečenja kruha optimirani su uvjeti uzgoja mliječno-kiselih bakterija u novim fermentiranim proizvodima (optimalno vrijeme uzgoja bilo je otprilike 20 dana pri 0-6 °C i 10 dana pri 30-35 °C)