Effect of Vinyl Flooring on the Modal Properties of a Steel Footbridge

Damping ratios associated with non structural elements play an important role in mitigating the pedestrian-induced vibrations of slender footbridges. In particular, this paper analyses the effect of vinyl flooring on the modal parameters of steel footbridges. Motivated by the unexpected high experimental damping ratios of the first vibration modes of a real footbridge, whose deck was covered by a vinyl flooring, this paper aims at assessing more accurately the experimental damping ratios generated by this non-structural element on steel footbridges. For this purpose, a laboratory footbridge was built and vinyl flooring was installed on it. Its numerical and experimental modal parameters without and with the vinyl flooring were determined. The operational modal analysis method was used to estimate experimentally the modal parameters of the structure. The damping ratios associated with the vinyl flooring were obtained via the substraction between the experimental damping ratios of the laboratory footbridge with and without the vinyl flooring. An average increase of the damping ratios of 2.069% was observed due to the vinyl flooring installed. According to this result, this type of pavement may be a useful tool to significantly increase the damping ratios of steel footbridges in order to reduce pedestrian-induced vibrationsMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2014-53947-RFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional DPI2014-53947-

Manual de procedimientos y trámites para el desarrollo de proyectos públicos en el municipio de Medellín

A través de este manual se ha recogido de manera secuencial y práctica los trámites que deben considerarse a medida que se va avanzando en el desarrollo de un proyecto de infraestructura pública en la ciudad de Medellín, tal que muestre con un nivel de detalle cuales son las licencias, permisos y cumplimiento de normas que se deben tener en cuenta para su ejecución y entrega a la entidad correspondiente. Para tal finalidad se consultaron en el medio las normas técnicas de construcción, la legislación que rige esta actividad, los decretos ambientales, el plan de ordenamiento territorial, y los trámites antes las entidades donde se expiden los diferentes permisos, certificados y documentos que se exigen para la entrega de los proyectos, tales como: notarías, catastro municipal, planeación municipal, EE.PP.MM., secretaría de infraestructura municipal, oficina de registro de instrumentos públicos, rentas y registro, curadurías urbanas, secretaria de planeación entre otras. Ninguno de los textos encontrados presenta el tema con el enfoque de nuestro trabajo ya que no se muestran en forma secuencial y por etapas, todos los requerimientos legales y técnicos incluyendo los diferentes documentos y formatos que se requieren para emprender un proyecto constructivo de infraestructura pública.Through this manual, sequential and practical information has been collected about the permits required, as the different stages of public infrastructure projects in Medellin are developed, showing in detail, which licenses, permits and regulations are needed for its execution and hand-in to the corresponding institution. For this purpose, technical regulations of construction, legislation regarding this activity, environmental ordinances, land use plan, and other formalities were consulted, as well as the procedures required by the different entities that issue the different permits, certificates and documents required for the delivery of projects. Such entities are: notaries, cadastral municipality, municipal planning, EE.PP.M., secretary of municipal infrastructure, office for registration of public instruments, rentals and registration, curatorial urban planning secretary, among others. None of the texts found show the subject with the focus of our work, since all legal and technical requirements are not shown sequentially and in stages, or include different documents and forms required to undertake a construction project for public infrastructure

Estudio de potencial turístico en el municipio del Guamo Bolívar /

El municipio del Guamo Bolívar cuenta con unas características naturales y socioculturales increíbles las cuales aún no han sido descubiertas por la gente que viven en la capital del departamento y/o llegan al departamento de Bolívar. La falta de interés y el estigma que ha vivido la zona por efectos de un pasado que ha quedado atrás, ha hecho de este municipio un lugar con potencial turístico que aún está sin explotar. El ejercicio de la actividad turística podría beneficiar a la región y a sus habitantes, que en el momento viven la falta de progreso a causa de su economía rezagada, a pesar de ser uno de los municipios con menores necesidades básicas insatisfechas en la región de Montes de María. No obstante, es un municipio de grandes disparidades, en las que unos pocos propietarios son dueños de grandes extensiones de tierra y han jalonado el desarrollo del Guamo, pero a la vez, más del 95% de los pobladores pertenecen al SISBEN 1 y 2, indicando las precarias condiciones en las que viven. Infortunadamente, este no es el único caso que en Colombia se presenta, son muchos pueblos que viven el mismo retraso y abandono. Con este trabajo se busca pensar en alternativas no solo para los residentes del Guamo sino también para los visitantes que llegan a Cartagena en busca de conocimiento cultural y actividades ecológicas; para de esta forma promoverse un desarrollo económico, social y cultural en beneficio de propios y foráneos. Todo ello, aprovechando por un lado, la demanda que existe por planes turísticos de carácter ecológico y cultural, y por otro, la riqueza en cuanto a los activos naturales y culturales que tiene este municipio, los cuales como se observará en el capítulo de Inventario Turístico son varios, develando un gran potencial en esta región que le ayudaría a salir adelante. Por esto, es importante la redirección o reforma de políticas de desarrollo e invertir en el capital humano de este pueblo para que en un futuro toda la población se convierta en una comunidad próspera y enmarcada en una senda de desarrollo a largo plazoIncluye bibliografí

Real time passenger information systems and quality of bus services

One of the main problems in urban areas is the steady growth in car ownership and traffic levels. Therefore, the challenge of sustainability is focused on a shift of the demand for mobility from cars to collective means of transport. For this end, buses are a key element of the public transport systems. In this respect Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) systems help citizens change their travel behaviour towards more sustainable transport modes. This paper provides an assessment methodology which evaluates how RTPI systems improve the quality of bus services in two European cities, Madrid and Bremerhaven. In the case of Madrid, bus punctuality has increased by 3%. Regarding the travellers perception, Madrid raised its quality of service by 6% while Bremerhaven increased by 13%. On the other hand, the users ́ perception of Public Transport (PT) image increased by 14%

Quality of bus services performance: benefits of real time passenger information systems

One of the main problems in urban areas is the steady growth in car ownership and traffic levels. Therefore, the challenge of sustainability is focused on a shift of the demand for mobility from cars to collective means of transport. For this purpose, buses are a key element of the public transport systems. In this respect Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) systems help people change their travel behaviour towards more sustainable transport modes. This paper provides an assessment methodology which evaluates how RTPI systems improve the quality of bus services performance in two European cities, Madrid and Bremerhaven. In the case of Madrid, bus punctuality has increased by 3%. Regarding the travellers perception, Madrid raised its quality of service by 6% while Bremerhaven increased by 13%. On the other hand, the users¿ perception of Public Transport (PT) image increased by 14%

Percepção da igualdade de gênero e do equilíbrio entre trabalho e família em trabalhadores de empresas públicas e privadas no Chile

It is analyzed whether there are significant differences in the Perception of Gender Equity and Work-Family Balance in workers belonging to public and private companies. The instruments Work-Family Balance (Moreno, Sanz, Rodríguez & Geurts, 2009) and Gender Equity Perception (Gómez & Jiménez, 2015) were applied to 300 workers from public and private companies. It is observed that there are statistically significant differences between workers belonging to public and private companies in the levels of Gender Equity Perception and Work-Family Balance, where workers in private companies have a higher Gender Equity Perception. Likewise, they have a higher perception of Work-Family Balance. There are significant and positive correlations between the perception of gender equity and work-family balance. It is concluded that the companies present differences in their actions in favor of establishing good reconciliation practices that have an impact on the perception of equity.Se analiza si existen diferencias significativas en la Percepción de Equidad de Género y Equilibrio Trabajo-Familia en trabajadores pertenecientes a empresas públicas y privadas. A 300 trabajadores de empresas públicas y privadas, se les aplicaron los instrumentos, Equilibrio Trabajo-Familia (Moreno, Sanz, Rodríguez & Geurts, 2009) y Percepción de Equidad de Género (Gómez & Jiménez, 2015). Se observa que existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los trabajadores pertenecientes a empresas públicas y privadas en los niveles de Percepción de Equidad de Género y Equilibrio Trabajo-Familia, donde los trabajadores de empresas privadas tienen una mayor Percepción de Equidad de Género. Asimismo, presentan una mayor percepción de Equilibrio Trabajo-Familia. Se presentan correlaciones significativas y positivas entre Percepción de Equidad de Género y Equilibrio Trabajo-Familia. Se concluye que las empresas presentan diferencias en sus accionar en pro de establecer las buenas prácticas de conciliación que repercuten en la percepción de equidad.Se analisa a existência de diferenças significativas na percepção de equidade de gênero e equilíbrio entre trabalho e família em trabalhadores de empresas públicas e privadas. Para 300 trabalhadores de empresas públicas e privadas, foram aplicados os instrumentos de Equilíbrio Trabalho-Família (Moreno, Sanz, Rodríguez & Geurts, 2009) e Percepção da Equidade de Gênero (Gómez & Jiménez, 2015). Observa-se que existem diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre trabalhadores de empresas públicas e privadas nos níveis de Percepção da Equidade de Gênero e Equilíbrio Trabalho-Família, na qual trabalhadores de empresas privadas apresentam maior Percepção de Equidade de Gênero, assim como, apresentam uma maior percepção do Equilíbrio Trabalho-Família. São apresentadas correlações significativas e positivas entre a Percepção da Equidade de Gênero e o Equilíbrio entre Trabalho e Família. Conclui-se que as empresas apresentam diferenças em suas ações em pro de estabelecer boas práticas de conciliação que impactam a percepção da equidade

Performance and risk in the Brazilian banking industry

Andres J. Picazo-Tadeo aknowledges the financial support from the Generalitat Valenciana (project PROMETEO 2018/102).This paper assesses the technical performance of Brazilian banks while accounting for risk, which is considered as an undesirable outcome of banking. To this end, frontier techniques based on Data Envelopment Analysis and directional distance functions are applied to a sample of 124 banks and data for the six-year period 2014-19. Our main finding is that the Brazilian banking industry could notably increase its production of conventional outputs without additional input usage and while maintaining the same levels of risk. Besides, investment banks are found to be more efficient than commercial banks mainly because of their superior managerial performance.Generalitat Valenciana European Commission PROMETEO 2018/10

Legionella pneumophila pangenome reveals strain-specific virulence factors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Legionella pneumophila </it>subsp. <it>pneumophila </it>is a gram-negative <it>γ-Proteobacterium </it>and the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, a form of epidemic pneumonia. It has a water-related life cycle. In industrialized cities <it>L. pneumophila </it>is commonly encountered in refrigeration towers and water pipes. Infection is always via infected aerosols to humans. Although many efforts have been made to eradicate <it>Legionella </it>from buildings, it still contaminates the water systems. The town of Alcoy (Valencian Region, Spain) has had recurrent outbreaks since 1999. The strain "Alcoy 2300/99" is a particularly persistent and recurrent strain that was isolated during one of the most significant outbreaks between the years 1999-2000.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have sequenced the genome of the particularly persistent <it>L. pneumophila </it>strain Alcoy 2300/99 and have compared it with four previously sequenced strains known as Philadelphia (USA), Lens (France), Paris (France) and Corby (England).</p> <p>Pangenome analysis facilitated the identification of strain-specific features, as well as some that are shared by two or more strains. We identified: (1) three islands related to anti-drug resistance systems; (2) a system for transport and secretion of heavy metals; (3) three systems related to DNA transfer; (4) two CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) systems, known to provide resistance against phage infections, one similar in the Lens and Alcoy strains, and another specific to the Paris strain; and (5) seven islands of phage-related proteins, five of which seem to be strain-specific and two shared.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The dispensable genome disclosed by the pangenomic analysis seems to be a reservoir of new traits that have mainly been acquired by horizontal gene transfer and could confer evolutionary advantages over strains lacking them.</p

Self-control of a lively footbridge under pedestrian flow

Congreso celebrado en la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Sevilla desde el 24 hasta el 26 de junio de 2015.In this paper, a case study about a lively footbridge is developed; the vibration levels caused by the pedestrian action are controlled by the change of the modal parameters of the structure due to the pedestrian-structure interaction. A detailed finite element model of the structure has been updated from an operational modal analysis. The updated model has been used to obtain the numerical acceleration at the mid-span of the footbridge under different pedestrian flows. A relation between the maximum acceleration and the pedestrian density on the deck has been obtained numerically, pointing out an improvement in the comfort level of the structure when the number of pedestrians increases. This result validates a design rule for cable-stayed footbridges in order to avoid vibratory problems, since the first vertical natural frequency of the structure remains below the range that characterizes the pedestrian walking action

Non-conventional tube shapes for lifetime extend of solar external receivers

In this work, several novel tube shapes of solar tubular receivers that differ from the classical circular shape are analysed aiming to reduce the stresses of the receiver tubes, without penalizing its thermal efficiency. The analysis is performed using analytical thermal and mechanical models of the literature adapted for their use with non-circular tube shapes, verifying the assumptions made with FEM simulations due to the lack of experimental data available. Among the geometries studied, the results show that oval cross-section tubes improve the thermal efficiency of the receiver at the expense of increasing the stresses considerably. Ovoidal tubes show worse thermal and mechanical behaviour when the frontal part becomes peakier. Semicircle tubes reduce the stress by 10.9%, while keeping constant or even slightly improving the thermal performance. The last ones, increase the lifetime of the receiver and reduces the receiver costs if the manufacturing of the new geometries does no overpass 3.5 times the present price of production of the circular tubes. Therefore, the use of asymmetric cross-section tubes with low rear-front surface ratios, and smooth front surfaces can be considered a good alternative for substituting traditional circular cross-section tubes in central receivers.This research is partially funded by the Spanish government under the project RTI2018-096664-B-C21 (MICINN/FEDER, UE) and by the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid) under the Multiannual Agreement with UC3M in the line of "Fostering Young Doctors Research" (RETOrenovable-CM-UC3M), and in the context of the V PRICIT (Regional Programme of Research and Technological Innovation)