Seismic assessment of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, India

The present paper describes the seismic assessment of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, India. Three models with different levels of complexity and simplifications were developed. The use of these models allows to overcome the complexity on the study of the seismic behavior of ancient masonry structures; by combining the results of the different models it is possible to obtain a better and more comprehensive interpretation of the seismic behavior. The models were used for non-linear static (pushover) and non-linear dynamic analyses. The static and dynamic analyses give different behaviors, indicating that push-over analysis should be used carefully in the seismic assessment of masonry structures. For the static analysis, the base of the tower is the most vulnerable part; while according to the dynamic analysis, it is the upper part of the tower. This last behavior is according to the historical damage suffered by the tower due to earthquakes. The different behaviors can be explained by the influence of the higher modes of vibration

Analyzing a Bose polaron across resonant interactions

Recently, two independent experiments reported the observation of long-lived polarons in a Bose-Einstein condensate, providing an excellent setting to study the generic scenario of a mobile impurity interacting with a quantum reservoir. Here, we expand the experimental analysis by disentangling the effects of trap inhomogeneities and the many-body continuum in one of these experiments. This makes it possible to extract the energy of the polaron at a well-defined density as a function of the interaction strength. Comparisons with quantum Monte-Carlo as well as diagrammatic calculations show good agreement, and provide a more detailed picture of the polaron properties at stronger interactions than previously possible. Moreover, we develop a semi-classical theory for the motional dynamics and three-body loss of the polarons, which partly explains a previously unresolved discrepancy between theory and experimental observations for repulsive interactions. Finally, we utilize quantum Monte-Carlo calculations to demonstrate that the findings reported in the two experiments are consistent with each other

Nonuniversal dynamic conductance fluctuations in disordered systems

Sample-to-sample fluctuations of the time-dependent conductance of a system with static disorder have been studied by means of diagrammatic theory and microwave pulsed transmission measurements. The fluctuations of time-dependent conductance are not universal, i.e., depend on sample parameters, in contrast to the universal conductance fluctuations in the steady-state regime. The variance of normalized conductance, determined by the infinite-range intensity correlation C_3(t), is found to increase as a third power of delay time from an exciting pulse, t. C_3(t) grows larger than the long-range intensity correlation C_2(t) after a time t_q ~ ^{1/2} t_D (t_D being the diffusion time, being the average dimensionless conductance).Comment: Revised version, 6 pages, 5 figure

Numerical models for the seismic assessment of an old masonry tower

The present paper describes the seismic assessment of the Qutb Minar in Delhi, India. Three models with different levels of complexity and simplifications were developed. The use of these models allows to overcome the complexity on the study of the seismic behavior of ancient masonry structures; by combining the results of the different models it is possible to obtain a better and more comprehensive interpretation of the seismic behavior. The models were used for non-linear static (pushover) and non-linear dynamic analyses. The static and dynamic analyses give different behaviors, indicating that push-over analysis should be used carefully in the seismic assessment of masonry structures. For the static analysis, the base of the tower is the most vulnerable part; while according to the dynamic analysis, it is the upper part of the tower. This last behavior is according to the historical damage suffered by the tower due to earthquakes. The different behaviors can be explained by the influence of the higher modes of vibration.This research was part of the activities of the EU-India Economic Cross Cultural Programme "Improving the Seismic Resistance of Cultural Heritage Buildings", Contract ALA-95-23-2003-077-122. F. Pefia acknowledges funding from the FCT grant contract SFRH/BPD/17449/2004, as well as the partial support of the project PAPIIT IN105409

Desempenho sísmico de um minarete de alvenaria

Esta comunicação apresenta a avaliação do desempenho sísmico do Qutb Minar, minarete em Nova Deli, Índia. A modelação numérica foi realizada com recurso a três modelos diferentes, calibrados através de ensaios de identificação dinâmica. A combinação de resultados dos modelos permitiu compreender melhor o comportamento do minarete e validar os modelos mais simples. No estudo do desempenho sísmico da estrutura foram consideradas a análise não-linear estática e a análise não-linear dinâmica com integração no tempo. As técnicas de análise conduziram a resultados diferentes em termos de capacidade e mecanismo de colapso, indicando que o uso de análises estáticas para a avaliação do desempenho sísmico de construções históricas de alvenaria deve ser realizado com precaução. Os resultados da análise não-linear dinâmica estão de acordo com os danos causados por sismos no passado e com os modos identificados experimentalmente, concluindo-se que os dois últimos pisos correspondem à parte mais vulnerável do minarete

On the puzzle of Bremsstrahlung as described by coaccelerated observers

We consider anew some puzzling aspects of the equivalence of the quantum field theoretical description of Bremsstrahlung from the inertial and accelerated observer's perspectives. More concretely, we focus on the seemingly paradoxical situation that arises when noting that the radiating source is in thermal equilibrium with the thermal state of the quantum field in the wedge in which it is located, and thus its presence does not change there the state of the field, while it clearly does not affect the state of the field on the opposite wedge. How then is the state of the quantum field on the future wedge changed, as it must in order to account for the changed energy momentum tensor there? This and related issues are carefully discussed.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure; Revtex, minor changes, PACS correcte

Bioeutectic® ceramics for biomedical application obtained by laser floating zone method. In vivo evaluation

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license.In this study, the Bioeutectic® blocks were inserted into the critical size defects of eight rabbits, using both tibiae, and the physical and chemical nature of the remodeled interface between the Bioeutectic® implants and the surrounding bone were performed at four and 15 months. The results showed a new fully mineralized bone growing in direct contact with the implants. The ionic exchange, taking place at the implant interface with the body fluids was essential in the process of the implant integration through a dissolution-precipitation-transformation mechanism. The study found the interface biologically and chemically active over the 15 months implantation period. The osteoblastic cells migrated towards the interface and colonized the surface at the contact areas with the bone. The new developed apatite structure of porous morphology mimics natural bone. © 2014 by the authors.The authors wish to acknowledge funding from the European Community at the 7th Framework Program EU No. 314630-UV Marking and Generalitat Valenciana (GVA) within the Project ACOMP/2009/173.Peer Reviewe

The Geometry of Integrable and Superintegrable Systems

The group of automorphisms of the geometry of an integrable system is considered. The geometrical structure used to obtain it is provided by a normal form representation of integrable systems that do not depend on any additional geometrical structure like symplectic, Poisson, etc. Such geometrical structure provides a generalized toroidal bundle on the carrier space of the system. Non--canonical diffeomorphisms of such structure generate alternative Hamiltonian structures for complete integrable Hamiltonian systems. The energy-period theorem provides the first non--trivial obstruction for the equivalence of integrable systems

Radon, water chemistry and pollution check by volatile organic compounds in springs around Popocatepetl volcano, Mexico

Popocatepetl volcano is a high-risk active volcano in Central Mexico where the highest population density in the country is settled. Radon in the soil and groundwater together with water chemistry from samples of nearby springs were analysed as a function of the 2002-2003 volcanic activity. The measurements of soil radon indicated fluctuations related to both the meteorological and sporadic explosive events. Groundwater radon showed essential differences in concentration due to the specific characteristics of the studied springs. Water chemistry showed also stability along the monitoring period. No anthropogenic pollution from Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) was observed. An overview of the soil radon behaviour as a function of the volcanic activity in the period 1994-2002 is also discussed

Mechanical 144 GHz beam steering with all-metallic epsilon-near-zero lens antenna

The following article appeared in Pacheco-Peña, V., Torres, V., Orazbayev, B., Beruete, M., Sorolla, M., Navarro-Cía, M., & Engheta, N. (2014). Mechanical 144GHz beam steering with all-metallic epsilon-near-zero lens antenna. Applied Physics Letters, 105(24), doi:10.1063/1.4903865, and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4903865.An all-metallic steerable beam antenna composed of an ε-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterial lens is experimentally demonstrated at 144 GHz (λ0 = 2.083 mm). The ENZ lens is realized by an array of narrow hollow rectangular waveguides working just near and above the cut-off of the TE10 mode. The lens focal arc on the xz-plane is initially estimated analytically as well as numerically and compared with experimental results demonstrating good agreement. Next, an open-ended waveguide is placed along the lens focal arc to evaluate the ENZ-lens antenna steerability. A gain scan loss below 3 dB is achieved for angles up to plus/minus 15º.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Government under Contract Consolider Engineering Metamaterials CSD2008-00066 and Contract TEC2011- 28664-C02-01. V.P.-P. is sponsored by Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte under grant FPU AP-2012- 3796. V.T. is sponsored by the Universidad Publica de Navarra. B.O. is sponsored by Spanish Ministerio de Economıa y Competitividad under Grant FPI BES-2012- 054909. M.B. is sponsored by the Spanish Government via RYC-2011-08221. M.N.-C. is supported by the Imperial College Junior Research Fellowship