12,753 research outputs found
Evaluation of analytical methodologies to derive vulnerability functions
The recognition of fragility functions as a fundamental tool in seismic risk assessment has led to the
development of more and more complex and elaborate procedures for their computation. Although vulnerability
functions have been traditionally produced using observed damage and loss data, more recent studies propose the
employment of analytical methodologies as a way to overcome the frequent lack of post-earthquake data. The
variation of the structural modelling approaches on the estimation of building capacity has been the target of
many studies in the past, however, its influence in the resulting vulnerability model, impact in loss estimations or
propagation of the uncertainty to the seismic risk calculations has so far been the object of restricted scrutiny.
Hence, in this paper, an extensive study of static and dynamic procedures for estimating the nonlinear response
of buildings has been carried out in order to evaluate the impact of the chosen methodology on the resulting
vulnerability and risk outputs. Moreover, the computational effort and numerical stability provided by each
approach were evaluated and conclusions were obtained regarding which one offers the optimal balance between
accuracy and complexity
A model for companies to overcome US–China conflict on international trade
This article aims to study international trade specificity and the main activities of Chinese companies in US markets. It addresses the strategic tools of companies and their application in a global and very competitive market, framed by public policies and governments’ strategies. It explores the principles of the internal and external environment of the countries. The main research question is: what are the dimensions of a model to potentiate the US–China Companies? The principal methodology used in this research was a literature review, and the analysis was based on the papers that research the theme US and China trade relations. The findings reflect that international trade is conditioned by the government politics, and there are several other obstacles that a US or Chinese company need to overcome: (a) economic forces; (b) technological forces; (c) political–legal forces; (d) sociocultural forces; and (e) physical forces.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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Enhancing Fault / Intrusion Tolerance through Design and Configuration Diversity
Fault/intrusion tolerance is usually the only viable way of improving the system dependability and security in the presence of continuously evolving threats. Many of the solutions in the literature concern a specific snapshot in the production or deployment of a fault-tolerant system and no immediate considerations are made about how the system should evolve to deal with novel threats. In this paper we outline and evaluate a set of operating systems’ and applications’ reconfiguration rules which can be used to modify the state of a system replica prior to deployment or in between recoveries, and hence increase the replicas chance of a longer intrusion-free operation
Alterações nas caracterĂsticas quĂmicas de um latossolo amarelo sob sistemas agroflorestais com cupuaçuzeiro no municĂpio de Presidente Figueiredo, AM.
Avaliação de algumas caracterĂsticas quĂmicas de um latossolo amarelo distrĂłfico, sob dois sistemas agroflorestais com trĂŞs tipos de manejo de adubação, durante oito anos
Graviton resonances on two-field thick branes
This work presents new results about the graviton massive spectrum in
two-field thick branes. Analyzing the massive spectra with a relative
probability method we have firstly showed the presence of resonance structures
and obtained a connection between the thickness of the defect and the lifetimes
of such resonances. We obtain another interesting results considering the
degenerate Bloch brane solutions. In these thick brane models, we have the
emergence of a splitting effect controlled by a degeneracy parameter. When the
degeneracy constant tends to a critical value, we have found massive resonances
to the gravitational field indicating the existence of modes highly coupled to
the brane. We also discussed the influence of the brane splitting effect over
the resonance lifetimes.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Exponentially Localized Magnetic Fields for Single-Spin Quantum Logic Gates
An infinite array of parallel current-carrying wires is known, from the field
of neutral particle optics, to produce an exponentially localized magnetic
field when the current direction is antiparallel in adjacent wires. We show
that a finite array of several tens of superconducting Nb nanowires can produce
a peak magnetic field of 10mT that decays by a factor of 10^4 over a length
scale of 500nm. Such an array is readily manufacturable with current
technology, and is compatible with both semiconductor and superconducting
quantum computer architectures. A series of such arrays can be used to
individually address single single-spin or flux qubits spaced as little as
100nm apart, and can lead to quantum logic gate times of 5ns.Comment: 5 pages, incl. 4 figure
Response to tilted magnetic fields in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 with columnar defects: Evidence for transverse Meissner effect
The transverse Meissner effect (TME) in the highly layered superconductor
Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+y) with columnar defects is investigated by transport
measurements. We present detailed evidence for the persistence of the
Bose-glass phase when H is tilted at an angle theta < theta_c (T) away from the
column direction: (i) the variable-range vortex hopping process for low
currents crosses over to the half-loops regime for high currents; (ii) in both
regimes near theta_c(T) the energy barriers vanish linearly with tan(theta) ;
(iii) the transition temperature is governed by T_{BG}(0) -T_{BG}(theta) sim
|tan(theta)|^{1/\nu_{\perp}} with \nu_{\perp}=1.0 +/- 0.1. Furthermore, above
the transition as theta->\theta_c+, moving kink chains consistent with a
commensurate-incommensurate transition scenario are observed. These results
thereby clearly show the existence of the TME for theta < theta_c(T).Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 5 EPS figure
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