Stochastic Multiscale Characterization of Short-Fiber Reinforced Composites

A framework for stochastic modelling and optimization of materials with engineered microstructures is presented. Numerical methods for solving problems with short-fiber inclusions are discussed. Addition of fiber reinforcement has been shown to improve the performance of various materials in a number of applications. The response of fiber reinforced concrete under tensile stress is dependent upon several properties, including fiber geometry, fiber material properties, fiber length, and orientation of the fibers with respect to the applied load. In a real-world system the distribution of the fibers may be random, with orientation angle and configuration varying locally. Stochastic multiscale methods enable the connection of the scales to analyze the effect of randomly distributed short-fiber inclusions on the global response of the system. Randomly generated characteristic volume elements (CVE) are analyzed using the extended finite element method (XFEM) to capture local material response without the need for a mesh that conforms to the material morphology, ideal for situations with arbitrary fiber distributions. The variation observed in statistically equivalent CVE models is quantified. Correlation is determined between FRC descriptor variables and the tensile response of the composite. It is demonstrated that machine learning can be used to predict composite material properties of FRC to a reasonable degree of accuracy using information about the material microstructur

Scientific basis for safely shutting in the Macondo Well after the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout

As part of the government response to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, a Well Integrity Team evaluated the geologic hazards of shutting in the Macondo Well at the seafloor and determined the conditions under which it could safely be undertaken. Of particular concern was the possibility that, under the anticipated high shut-in pressures, oil could leak out of the well casing below the seafloor. Such a leak could lead to new geologic pathways for hydrocarbon release to the Gulf of Mexico. Evaluating this hazard required analyses of 2D and 3D seismic surveys, seafloor bathymetry, sediment properties, geophysical well logs, and drilling data to assess the geological, hydrological, and geomechanical conditions around the Macondo Well. After the well was successfully capped and shut in on July 15, 2010, a variety of monitoring activities were used to assess subsurface well integrity. These activities included acquisition of wellhead pressure data, marine multichannel seismic pro- files, seafloor and water-column sonar surveys, and wellhead visual/acoustic monitoring. These data showed that the Macondo Well was not leaking after shut in, and therefore, it could remain safely shut until reservoir pressures were suppressed (killed) with heavy drilling mud and the well was sealed with cement

Protocol for a national monthly survey of alcohol use in England with 6-month follow-up: 'The Alcohol Toolkit Study'.

Timely tracking of national patterns of alcohol consumption is needed to inform and evaluate strategies and policies aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm. Between 2014 until at least 2017, the Alcohol Toolkit Study (ATS) will provide such tracking data and link these with policy changes and campaigns. By virtue of its connection with the 'Smoking Toolkit Study' (STS), links will also be examined between alcohol and smoking-related behaviour

Nano-enabled biosensing systems for intelligent healthcare: towards COVID-19 management

Biosensors are emerging as efficient (sensitive and selective) and affordable analytical diagnostic tools for early-stage disease detection, as required for personalized health wellness management. Low-level detection of a targeted disease biomarker (pM level) has emerged extremely useful to evaluate the progression of disease under therapy. Such collected bioinformatics and its multi-aspects-oriented analytics is in demand to explore the effectiveness of a prescribed treatment, optimize therapy, and correlate biomarker level with disease pathogenesis. Owing to nanotechnology-enabled advancements in sensing unit fabrication, device integration, interfacing, packaging, and sensing performance at point-of-care (POC) has rendered diagnostics according to the requirements of disease management and patient disease profile i.e. in a personalized manner. Efforts are continuously being made to promote the state of art biosensing technology as a next-generation non-invasive disease diagnostics methodology. Keeping this in view, this progressive opinion article describes personalized health care management related analytical tools which can provide access to better health for everyone, with overreaching aim to manage healthy tomorrow timely. Considering accomplishments and predictions, such affordable intelligent diagnostics tools are urgently required to manage COVID-19 pandemic, a life-threatening respiratory infectious disease, where a rapid, selective and sensitive detection of human beta severe acute respiratory system coronavirus (SARS-COoV-2) protein is the key factor

A new method for ranking academic journals in accounting and finance

Given the many and varied uses to which journal rankings are put, interest in ranking journal 'quality' is likely to persist. Unfortunately, existing methods of constructing such rankings all have inherent limitations. This paper proposes a new (complementary) approach, based on submissions to RAE 2001, which is not restricted to a pre-defined journal set and, importantly, is based on quality choice decisions driven by economic incentives. For three metrics, submissions to RAE 2001 are compared with the available set of publications to provide evidence on the perception of journal quality, a fourth metric is based on the overall RAE grades, and an overall ranking is produced

HS 2325+8205 - an ideal laboratory for accretion disk physics

We identify HS 2325+8205 as an eclipsing, frequently outbursting dwarf nova with an orbital period of 279.841731(5) min. Spectroscopic observations are used to derive the radial velocity curve of the secondary star from absorption features and also from the H-alpha emission lines, originating from the accretion disc, yielding K_secondary = K_abs = 237 +- 28 km/s and K_emn = 145 +- 9 km/s respectively. The distance to the system is calculated to be 400 (+200, -140) pc. A photometric monitoring campaign reveals an outburst recurrence time of 12-14 d, The combination of magnitude range (17-14 mag), high declination, eclipsing nature and frequency of outbursts makes HS 2325+8205 the ideal system for "real-time" studies of the accretion disc evolution and behavior in dwarf nova outbursts.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi

Efecto del cribado social sobre la eficiencia de los fondos: evidencia empírica de los fondos de renta variable europeos

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to evaluate the financial performance of European socially responsible investment (SRI) funds for the period 1993–2012 to contrast whether there is a relationship between the application of social screening on investment decisions and funds’ financial performance measured by Carhart’s alpha. Regression analysis has been used to test the hypotheses of this research with a sample free of survivorship bias of 184 SRI equity funds from 14 European countries and the population of conventional funds from the same country and investment objective. The main conclusion of this study is that the application of social criteria in investment decisions carries a cost to the investor in terms of lower financial performance caused by differences in screening intensity.RESUMEN: El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar la eficiencia financiera de los fondos socialmente responsables europeos durante el periodo 1993–2012 a fin de contrastar si existe una relación entre la aplicación del cribado social en las decisiones de inversión y la eficiencia financiera del fondo medida con el alfa de Carhart. El análisis de regresión ha sido empleado para contrastar las hipótesis de esta investigación con una muestra libre de sesgo de supervivencia de 184 fondos sociales de renta variable de 14 países europeos y la población de fondos convencionales del mismo país y objetivo de inversión. La principal conclusión de este estudio es que la aplicación de criterios sociales en las decisiones de inversión conlleva un coste para el inversor en términos de una menor eficiencia financiera causada por diferencias en la intensidad del cribado social

Population of ground and lowest excited states of Sulfur via the dissociative recombination of SH+ in the diffuse interstellar medium

Our previous study on dissociative recombination of ground state SH$^+$ into $^2\Pi$ states of SH is extended by taking into account the contribution of $^4\Pi$ states recently explored by quantum chemistry methods. Multichannel quantum defect theory is employed for the computation of cross sections and rate coefficients for dissociative recombination, but also for vibrational excitation. Furthermore, we produce the atomic yields resulting from recombination, quantifying the generation of sulfur atoms in their ground (\mbox{$^3$P}) and lowest excited (\mbox{$^1$D}) states respectively.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 3 table

The Claims Culture: A Taxonomy of Industry Attitudes

This paper presents an analysis of a familiar aspect of construction industry culture that we have dubbed 'the claims culture'. This is a culture of contract administration that lays a strong emphasis on the planning and management of claims. The principal elements of the analysis are two sets of distinctions. The first comprises economic and occupational orders, referring to two kinds of control that are exercised over the construction process; predicated respectively on economic ownership and occupational competence. The second refers to contrasting attitudes towards relationships and problem solving within these orders: respectively 'distributive' and 'integrative'. The concepts of economic and occupational order entail further sub-categories. The various attitudes associated with these categories and sub-categories are described. They are assessed as to their consequences for change initiatives in the industry