Synthesis of accelerograms compatible with the Chinese GB 50011-2001 design spectrum via harmonic wavelets: artificial and historic records

A versatile approach is employed to generate artificial accelerograms which satisfy the compatibility criteria prescribed by the Chinese aseismic code provisions GB 50011-2001. In particular, a frequency dependent peak factor derived by means of appropriate Monte Carlo analyses is introduced to relate the GB 50011-2001 design spectrum to a parametrically defined evolutionary power spectrum (EPS). Special attention is given to the definition of the frequency content of the EPS in order to accommodate the mathematical form of the aforementioned design spectrum. Further, a one-to-one relationship is established between the parameter controlling the time-varying intensity of the EPS and the effective strong ground motion duration. Subsequently, an efficient auto-regressive moving-average (ARMA) filtering technique is utilized to generate ensembles of non-stationary artificial accelerograms whose average response spectrum is in a close agreement with the considered design spectrum. Furthermore, a harmonic wavelet based iterative scheme is adopted to modify these artificial signals so that a close matching of the signals’ response spectra with the GB 50011-2001 design spectrum is achieved on an individual basis. This is also done for field recorded accelerograms pertaining to the May, 2008 Wenchuan seismic event. In the process, zero-phase high-pass filtering is performed to accomplish proper baseline correction of the acquired spectrum compatible artificial and field accelerograms. Numerical results are given in a tabulated format to expedite their use in practice

Lifetime measurements of excited states in neutron-rich nuclei around 48 Ca

The lifetimes of the first excited states of the N = 30 isotones 50Ca and 51Sc and the Z = 18 isotopes 44−46Ar isotopes have been determined using a novel technique that combines the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift method with the CLARA-PRISMA spectrometers in multinucleon transfer reactions. The results allow determinination of the effective charges above 48Ca and test the strength of the N = 28 magic number when moving away from the stability line.Gadea Raga, Andrés, [email protected] ; Algora, Alejandro, [email protected] ; Rubio Barroso, Berta, [email protected]

Theoretical STM signatures and transport properties of native defects in carbon nanotubes

Article on theoretical STM signatures and transport properties of native defects in carbon nanotubes

Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology

notes: As the primary author, O’Malley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. ‘Macrobe’ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes – the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history – will transform some of the philosophy of biology’s standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology – including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer – that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations

Involvement of the nitric oxide system in the anti-atherosclerotic potential of lacidipine in the ApoE-deficient mouse: a morphological, functional, and electrochemical study.

The present study investigated the anti-atherosclerotic activity of lacidipine, a calcium antagonist with antioxidant properties in apoE-deficient mice. These mice show widespread vascular lesions which closely resemble the inflammatory-fibrous plaques seen in humans in atherosclerosis. Mice were fed a Western-type diet (WTD), and treated for 8 weeks with either vehicle or lacidipine at 3 or 10 mg/kg/day. In parallel with histological studies of atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta, functional studies on vascular acetylcholine (ACh) reactivity and analysis of voltammetric levels of nitric oxide (NO) were performed. Recent work has suggested that dihydropyridines (DHPs) modulate vascular relaxation via an increase in the release of NO. Lacidipine treatment had no effect on the plasma lipid profile. However, a significant (p < 0.01) dose-related reduction of 36.4% and 43.3% of the aortic lesion area in respect to methocel-treated mice was observed. Moreover, the aortic ring from control apoE-deficient mice fed a WTD for 8 weeks showed a lower relaxation in response to ACh in comparison to wild-type C57BL/6J mice; on the contrary, lacidipine-treated apoE-deficient mice lacidipine-treated displayed a response similar to that of wildtype C57BL/6J mice. Voltammetric analyses demonstrated a significant decrease of NO release in apoE-deficient mice, while lacidipine-treated mice showed enhanced activity of the NO system. We conclude that lacidipine reduced the extent of atherosclerotic area in hypercholesterolemic apoE-deficient mice, and this reduction may be associated with the capacity of the drug to maintain endothelial NO levels at concentrations useful to protect against vascular damage

Geodetic Control of the Present Tectonics Deformation of the Betic Cordillers (Spain).

The Betic Cordillera, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, is currently subjected to NW-SE compression and NE-SW extension. Until a few years ago, there were hardly any geodetic studies to quantify the tectonic deformation taking place in the Betic Cordillera. In 1999, in the framework of an interdisciplinary research project to monitor the deformation, several geodetic studies were initiated by the Universities of Jaén, Granada and Alicante. These studies were centred on the basins of Granada and the Bajo Segura (Alicante), sectors in which the last two destructive earthquakes in the Iberian Peninsula took place. This paper describes the geodynamic context of these study areas and the main features of the geodetic studies, focusing on the deformation analysis of the three observation surveys carried out in 1999, 2000 and 2001 over a non-permanent GPS network established in the Granada Basin. The results agree with the low rates of deformation previously calculated from geological data. To detect such small rates, observation over a longer time span will be needed

Study of shape transition in the neutron-rich Os isotopes

International audienceThe neutron-rich isotopes of tungsten, osmium and platinum have different shapes in their ground states and present also shape transitions phenomena. Spectroscopic information for these nuclei is scarce and often limited to the gamma rays from the decay of isomeric states. For the neutron-rich even-even osmium isotopes Os-194 and Os-198, a shape transition between a slightly prolate deformed to an oblate deformed ground state was deduced from the observed level schemes. For the even-even nucleus lying in between, Os-196, no gamma ray transition is known. In order to elucidate the shape transition and to test the nuclear models describing it, this region was investigated through gamma-ray spectroscopy using the AGATA demonstrator and the large acceptance heavy-ion spectrometer PRISMA at LNL, Italy. A two-nucleon transfer from a Pt-198 target to a stable Se-82 beam was utilized to populate medium-high spin states of Os-196. The analysis method and preliminary results, including the first life-time measurement of isomeric states with AGATA, are presented