Preliminary study on the aspects of the biology of snakehead Parachanna obscura, in a Nigerian wetland

Between October 2000 and March 2001, a preliminary study on the aspects of the biology of Parachanna obscura, was investigated. Sex ratio revealed female preponderance [X2=4,7338, df =1, p2 = 4.735, df = 1, p = 2697,n= 408, r = 0.869, [pC. obscura [size range 9.0 18.0 cm comprises food items. The items were re-classified into seven major groups consisting of detritus [coarse fine detritus], fish juvenile and remains of fish], Insecta [un-identified adult and remains of insects, macrophyte materials, mud, Oligochoetes [earth-worm], and abiogenic sand. Fish, insects Oligochoetes were eaten as primary foods items. There was a complete ingestion of the array the dietaries by both sexes. Exception of one item [coarse detritus] during the wet season, P. obscura consumed all the dietaries during the seasons. Nevertheless, the later season increased in the ingestion of 9 out of the 10 items in conformity with optimal foraging theory. Parachal obscura is considered as piscivore-insectivore-invertivore in feeding habits. In the wake of doubts about the viability and prospects of aquaculture, farming of P. obscura is a possibility. This species possesses a number of positive attributes with regards to aquaculture. It is likely that efforts to culture this hardy carnivorous and fast-growing fish will spread in the coming years in Nigeria, breeders and fish farmers will likely give it a chance

Comportamento sísmico de edifícios com paredes resistentes

O presente trabalho aborda a questão do comportamento estrutural de edifícios tridimensionais de betão armado, compostos por pórticos reticulados e paredes resistentes de betão armado, sujeitos à acção sísmica regulamentar. Para o efeito, foram considerados os Eurocódigos estruturais, nomeadamente o Eurocódigo 0, Eurocódigo 1 e Eurocódigo 8. As paredes resistentes situam-se nas zonas destinadas às caixas de escadas/elevadores, formando os núcleos resistentes que, perante a ocorrência de um sismo, garantem a estabilidade estrutural e a capacidade de dissipação de energia da estrutura. A consideração destes núcleos teve por base a prática corrente de considerar a zona da caixa de escadas e elevadores em betão armado. A fim de avaliar a importância da localização destes elementos estruturais, elemento fundamental para a caracterização da resposta dinâmica, foi desenvolvido um estudo paramétrico, fazendo-se variar a disposição do núcleo em planta, obtendo-se estruturas com distribuição simétrica e assimétrica da rigidez em planta. Os edifícios considerados neste trabalho foram modelados com base no programa comercial de cálculo automático SAP 2000. A análise sísmica foi realizada de acordo com o preconizado no Eurocódigo 8, e no respectivo Anexo Nacional (em preparação), nomeadamente em termos da definição da acção. Posteriormente, apresentam-se e discutem-se os resultados obtidos, nomeadamente a relação entre a disposição estrutural dos núcleos resistentes, as propriedades dinâmicas e a distribuição das forças sísmicas pelos vários elementos resistentes. Por fim, apresenta-se uma solução estrutural obtida a partir das configurações anteriores e capaz de ultrapassar o comportamento dinâmico/sísmico tido como menos satisfatório

La informatización de grandes excavaciones y proyectos arqueológico

Sin resume

Cyclic experimental response of reinforced concrete frames: validation methodology

This article validates numerically the experimental behavior of a reinforced concrete frame subject to cyclical loads, resorting to a commercial program using finite element analysis. The experimental results were obtained in the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC). In the numerical simulation several constitutive models were used, with different degrees of complexity, based on the concept of local plastification in critical zones (plastic hinges) of the elements that constitute the frame as well as on fiber models.This paper reports research developed on Cyclic Response and is associated with a thematic on Base Isolation under the R&D Eurocores Project COVICOCEPAD within the S3T Program, approved independently by European Science Foundation (ESF, Strasbourg), financially supported by “FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia” (Lisbon, Portugal) under Programa Operacional Ciência e Inovação 2010 (POCI 2010) of the III Quadro Comunitário de Apoio funded by FEDER

Numerical validation of the experimental cyclic response of RC frames

In this paper is estimated the numerical cyclic response of RC frames with and without masonry infill’s through a simplified nonlinear analysis using a commercial finite element method (FEM) package. The numerical model is based on the experiments carried out in the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) and the numerical and experimental results are compared to assess the accuracy of the simplified analysis for the bare frame and for the infill frame. To take into account the highly nonlinear behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) frames due to large deformations, a numerical model based on the inelastic hinge method is used with a higher complexity of the hinge constitutive laws, which allows verifying the suitability of every hinge model to the experimental results

Validação numérica da resposta cíclica experimental de pórticos de betão armado

Neste artigo avalia-se numericamente o comportamento experimental de um pórtico de betão armado sujeito a carregamento cíclico, com o recurso a um programa comercial de elementos finitos. Os resultados experimentais foram obtidos no Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil. Na simulação numérica utilizaram-se diversos modelos constitutivos, com diferentes graus de complexidade, baseados no conceito de plastificação localizada em zonas críticas (rótulas plásticas) dos elementos que constituem o pórtico

Comparison of cyclic response of reinforced concrete infilled frames with experimental results

This paper intends to estimate the numerical cyclic response of RC frames with and without masonry infill through a simplified nonlinear analysis using a commercial FEM package. The numerical model is based on the experiments carried out in the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) and the numerical and experimental results are compared to assess the accuracy of the simplified analysis based on the inelastic hinge method either for the bare frame and the infill frame

Stranger Danger: Parenthood and Child Presence Increase the Envisioned Bodily Formidability of Menacing Men

Due to altriciality and the importance of embodied capital, children’s fitness is contingent on parental investment. Injury suffered by a parent therefore degrades the parent’s fitness both by constraining reproduction and by diminishing the fitness of existing offspring. Due to the latter added cost, compared to non-parents, parents should be more cautious in hazardous situations, including potentially agonistic interactions. Prior research indicates that relative formidability is conceptualized in terms of size and strength. As erroneous under-estimation of a foe’s formidability heightens the risk of injury, parents should therefore conceptualize a potential antagonist as larger, stronger, and of more sinister intent than should non-parents; secondarily, the presence of one’s vulnerable children should exacerbate this pattern. We tested these predictions in the U.S. using reactions to an evocative vignette, administered via the Internet (Study 1), and in-person assessments of the facial photograph of a purported criminal, collected on the streets of Southern California (Study 2). As predicted, parents envisioned a potential antagonist to be more formidable than did non-parents. Significant differences between parents with children and non-parents without children in the threat that the foe was thought to pose (Study 1) were fully mediated by increases in estimated physical formidability

Focus on Niger State Housing Corporation (N.S.H.C.)

Established in 1979, Niger State Housing Corporation (NSHC)had the primary responsibility to address qualitative and quantitative housing inadequacy in Niger State, thereby enhancing the standard of living of her citizens, this article with the aim of elucidating the activities of the Corporation for performance rating , has the objectives to examine its consultancy and contracting services, and to assess its home ownership and other programmes. The methodology adopted for the study was the qualitative research design method which provides description of case studies with purposive sampling, hence the analyses also. The results of the study concluded that the NSHC’s performance from inception to date has been very satisfactory, and recommended that the Corporation enhances its programmes and continue to discharge its responsibilities to Nigerian citizens in the State with more enlightenment about its activitie