Ground Failure During Loma Prieta EQ - Downtown Santa Cruz

Ground failure occurred in numerous locations in the downtown Santa Cruz area during the Lorna Prieta Earthquake. These failures included liquefaction, lateral spreading and lurch cracking. Mapping of many of these features was made within three days of the earthquake, before heavy rains obscured much of the surface evidence. Data from a United States Geological Survey study of liquefaction potential in Santa Cruz has been examined. In addition, subsurface information has been collected from several downtown subsurface exploration studies. A comparison has been made between areas where ground failure was predicted and where it occurred during the Lorna Prieta Earthquake. This comparison yielded a relatively good correlation between predictive tools and observed damage, although the highly complex geologic environment makes some aspects of interpretation difficult

A General Equilibrium Theory of Contracts in Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) contracts allow consumers to buy claims on a farm\u27s future production. In turn, the consumer provides working capital to the farm during the growing season. CSA contracts also provide risk management for farmers with limited access to Federal crop insurance by transferring part of the farm\u27s risk to the consumer. We derive a theory of CSA contract pricing for the two most prevalent types of CSA contracts: yield contracts, in which consumers receive a percentage of the farm\u27s production, and weight contracts, in which consumers receive fixed quantities. We develop a two-period model in which expected utility maximizing producers and consumers engage in CSA contracting in the first period based on anticipation of yields and spot prices in the second period. Using the model, we generate several testable hypotheses to be explored in future research. Additionally, we present an overview of the data necessary to test the propositions and potential challenges that might arise in related empirical work

On the efficient simulation of pass-by noise signals from railway wheels

The article presents an approach for calculating pass-by sound pressure radiated from railway wheels in the time domain using moving Green\u27s functions. The Green\u27s functions are obtained by using Finite Element (FE) and Boundary Element (BE) methods in the frequency domain, subsequent inverse Fourier transform, followed by convolution with a time series of rolling contact forces to obtain the pass-by time signals. However, traditional BE methods are computationally expensive due to the low structural damping of the wheel, necessitating a high frequency resolution. To overcome this issue, a modal approach is introduced in which the pass-by sound radiated by each wheel mode is calculated separately. This approach incorporates the dynamic response of the wheel in the time-domain processing and thus reduces the cost of the BE solution. A modal source signal is introduced to describe the excitation of each mode at each time step. The sound field radiated by unit modal amplitudes is calculated in BE and subsequently approximated by spherical harmonic (SH) equivalent sources, which allows for efficiently calculating acoustic transfer functions for varying relative positions of the wheel and a stationary receiver. Convolution of the source signal with the moving acoustic transfer function produces the pass-by pressure signal. The article investigates the directivity of the radiation from each mode and finds that most modes, including those with dominant radial deflection, radiate in mostly axial direction at high frequencies. Modes that dominate the pass-by pressure level are identified, both in frequency bands and with respect to the relative positioning of the wheel to the receiver. Finally, it is found that an SH expansion order of approximately 30 is required to satisfy the employed error measures, although lower orders may suffice for an auralisation of the signal

The contribution of air-pumping to tyre/road noise

It is generally accepted that there are at least two tyre/road noise generation mechanisms commonly referred to as tyre vibrations and air-pumping. While the modelling of tyre vibrations is rather mature, the modelling of air-pumping is still on a basic stage and unsatisfactory in many aspects. Applying the fact that tyre vibrations and air-pumping have different vehicle speed dependency allows for identifying the contribution from each mechanism in field measurements of tyre/road noise. This paper presents an analysis of controlled pass-by measurements and simulations with the tyre/road simulation model at Chalmers. Results show that air-pumping is a major contributor to tyre/road noise. The question arises which physical mechanisms are behind the air-pumping noise observed in measurements and simulations. The analysis indicates that tyre vibrations in the contact may lead to air-pumping noise. This suggestion deviates from generation mechanisms usually assumed in the air-pumping context

The Pricing of Community Supported Agriculture Shares: Evidence from New England

Purpose: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs allow consumers to buy a share of a farm’s production while providing working capital and risk management benefits for farmers. Several different types of CSA arrangements have emerged in the market with terms varying in the degree to which consumers share in the farm’s risk. No-arbitrage principles of futures and options pricing suggest that CSA shares should be priced to reflect the degree of risk transfer. Methodology: We evaluate the three most common share types using a cross-sectional dataset of 226 CSA farms from New England to determine if there is empirical evidence in support of the theoretical price relationship between share types. Findings: The degree of risk transfer from farmers to consumers has a significant effect on the share price. There are statistically significant returns to scale and higher prices for organics. Farm characteristics and product offerings predict which type of shares is offered for sale. Research limitations: The data set does not contain information pertaining to actual deliveries, expected deliveries, variance of expected deliveries, or covariance information; thus differences in share prices could be due to differences in these uncontrolled factors. Value: This paper provides empirical evidence that CSA share prices reflect the degree of risk transferred from the producer to the consumer. It also highlights challenges in conducting empirical work pertaining to CSA contracting

Growth characterization of CHO DP-12 cell lines with different high passage histories

Heinrich C, Timo W, Christina K, Northoff S, Noll T. Growth characterization of CHO DP-12 cell lines with different high passage histories. In: Hansjörg H, ed. BMC Proceedings. BMC Proceedings. Vol 5. BioMed Central; 2011

Das Management des EDV-Einkaufs 1999: Codebook

Die Datenerhebung verfolgte das Ziel, Informationen über den Einkauf von EDV-Produkten bei kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen zu gewinnen. Schwerpunktmäßig interessierte uns, wie Unternehmen dem Risiko opportunistischen Verhaltens von Lieferanten in einem so dynamischen Marktbereich wie den EDV-Markt begegnen. Dementsprechend nehmen Fragen über das Management des EDV-Einkaufs, z.B. zur Auswahl von Produkt und Lieferant und der vertraglichen Absicherung der Transaktionen einen wesentlichen Teil des Fragebogens ein. Neben formellen Mechanismen der Absicherung wird jedoch auch die Bedeutung der \"sozialen Einbettung\" von Unternehmen untersucht. Es wurden darum Daten sowohl über die Entwicklung der spezifische Beziehung zwischen beiden Transaktionspartnern als auch deren Beziehungen zu Dritten erhoben. Schließlich beinhaltet der Fragebogen auch eine Reihe von Standardfragen zu den Unternehmen und den befragten Referenzpersonen. Eine Besonderheit dieses Projekts besteht darin, dass wesentliche Teile des Designs der empirischen Studie und insbesondere der verwendete Fragebogen mit einer in den Niederlanden im Jahre 1995 erfolgreich durchgeführten Erhebung weitgehend identisch sind. In der Befragung \"The External Management of Automation 1995” wurden ca. 1000 Interviews mit etwa 800 Firmen über den Einkauf von EDV-Produkten geführt (vgl. Batenburg 1995)

Cerebrovascular reactivity during the Valsalva maneuver in migraine, tension-type headache and medication overuse headache

The aim of this study was to investigate, by means of transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD), cerebrovascular reactivity during the Valsalva maneuver (VM) during the headache-free interval in patients with migraine (M), migraine plus tension-type headache (M+TTH), and migraine plus medication overuse headache (M+MOH). A total of 114 patients (n=60 M, n=38 M+TTH, n=16 M+MOH) and n=60 controls were investigated; diagnoses were made according to the International Headache Society criteria. All subjects underwent TCD monitoring and, simultaneously, non-invasive assessment of arterial blood pressure and end-tidal CO2. Two indices were determined: the cerebrovascular Valsalva ratio (CVR) was calculated as the maximum end-diastolic flow velocity acceleration during the late straining phase of the VM [cm/s2] and the centroperipheral Valsalva ratio (CPVR) was defined as the quotient of CVR to the concomitant arterial blood pressure acceleration [cm/mmHg x s]. The dynamic cerebrovascular autoregulatory response to the VM, measured as CVR, was increased in patients with M and M+TTH compared to age-matched healthy subjects. By contrast, CPVR (i.e. the quotient of the cerebrovascular to the peripheral autonomic response), was increased in M patients compared to healthy subjects and all other headache conditions tested. Cerebrovascular autoregulatory response during the VM was increased in M patients compared to agematched normal healthy subjects, indicating a disturbed autonomic control of cerebral vasoreactivity. The CPVR seems to be a sensitive parameter for distinguishing between M patients and M+TTH or M+MOH patients

The contribution of the German building sector to achieve the 1.5 °C target

The melting greenhouse gas emissions budget of the German building sector for the 1.5 °C target requires fast counteraction. In this paper, an analysis of the applicable legal and regulatory framework, the funding situation as well as national and international strategies on a transformation towards climate neutrality elucidates that the suggested approaches do not take a holistic view into account. They neglect, that embodied emissions from construction and emissions from operations phases of buildings must be oriented on the remaining budget, as well as material and human resources associated with the required actions. Therefore a framework to decarbonise the German building sector with eleven recommendations for action, which addresses these findings, is developed with a panel of experts. The results clarify, that the focus must be on adapting the existing building stock since renovation processes release significantly fewer emissions than the construction of new buildings. Stricter legal requirements for building envelopes have no significant effect on the reduction of emissions. Instead, fast-acting measures, such as the usage of district heating, photovoltaics, heat pumps, the optimisation of building operation and digitalisation, must be implemented in a prioritised manner to save resources and maintain the emissions budget longer. To be able to align effective measures it is necessary to engage all Stakeholders and to establish reliable political guidance down to the building level