La nuova industria del costruire

Nel mondo delle costruzioni odierno diventa sempre più difficile rinunciare a quei vantaggi qualitativi e quantitativi che solo un’industrializzazione edilizia avanzata può offrire. Mentre nei campi delle costruzioni commerciali ed industriali questo concetto è già affermato con successo sul mercato, nel campo degli edifici residenziali, tipicamente caratterizzato da una più complessa interazione tra architettura, struttura ed impiantistica, la metodologia tradizionale di costruzione è ancora legata a metodi semiartigianali. L’articolo mostra una soluzione completa per interventi di urbanizzazione complessa caratterizzata da un elevato tasso di industrializzazione. L’ottimizzazione ingegneristica dei componenti e l’innovazione tecnologica delle metodologie di progettazione e di produzione conferiscono ai prodotti edilizi robustezza, velocità di realizzazione ed alta competitività

Seismic actions induced by cladding panels on precast concrete frame structures

The strong earthquakes occurred in Southern Europe in the last decade pointed out a poor seismic performance of the connection system of the cladding of precast industrial structures. The cladding of these buildings usually consists of sandwich concrete panels of remarkable mass, connected to the frame structure with mechanical devices. The estimation of the out-of-plane seismic action on these connections is a key step for their correct proportioning. However, the formulation currently provided in the Eurocode 8 for the estimation of the seismic action on non-structural elements was calibrated with different objectives. Furthermore, given there is no in-plane structure-panel interaction, a quote of the panel mass is lumped in correspondence of their connection for a correct proportioning of the frame structure. The designers need to make assumptions on both aspects that often bring to remarkably different solutions. The paper presents a consistent dynamic formulation of the problem of the vibration of rigid bodies connected with cantilever columns. The solution brings to closed-form equations to evaluate the exact out-of-plane action on the connections and the correct amount of panel mass to be lumped

Super-heróis: um produto e suas modificações

Os super-heróis são produtos construídos, principalmente, por duas empresas: Marvel Comics e DC Comics. Com o passar dos anos, as características que regem seu público-alvo se modificam e as empresa necessitam que seu produto acompanhe. Esta monografia vai analisar algumas destas modificações. Começa conceituando os termos herói e super-herói, passando por uma tabela comparativa entre os heróis da Grécia Antiga e os atuais. Por fim mostrará as analises a partir de cinco tópicos distintos e sua relação com a população norte-americana

Extracting spatial-temporal features that describe a team match demands when considering the effects of the quality of opposition in elite football

Spatiotemporal patterns of play can be extracted from competitive environments to design representative training tasks and underlying processes that sustain performance outcomes. To support this statement, the aims of this study were: (i) describe the collective behavioural patterns that relies upon the use of player positioning in interaction with teammates, opponents and ball positioning; (ii) and define the underlying structure among the variables through application of a factorial analysis. The sample comprised a total of 1,413 ball possession sequences, obtained from twelve elite football matches from one team (the team ended the season in the top-5 position). The dynamic position of the players (from both competing teams), as well as the ball, were captured and transformed to two-dimensional coordinates. Data included the ball possession sequences from six matches played against top opponents (TOP, the three teams classified in the first 3 places at the end of the season) and six matches against bottom opponents (BOTTOM, the three teams classified in the last 3 at the end of the season). The variables calculated for each ball possession were the following: ball position; team space in possession; game space (comprising the outfield players of both teams); position and space at the end of ball possession. Statistical comparisons were carried with magnitude-based decisions and null-hypothesis analysis and factor analysis to define the underlying structure among variables according to the considered contexts. Results showed that playing against TOP opponents, there was ~38 meters game length per ~43 meters game width with 12% of coefficient of variation (%). Ball possessions lasted for ~28 seconds and tended to end at ~83m of pitch length. Against BOTTOM opponents, a decrease in the game length with an increase in game width and in the deepest location was observed in comparison with playing against TOP opponents. The duration of ball possession increased considerable (~37 seconds), and the ball speed entropy was higher, suggesting lower levels of regularity in comparison with TOP opponents. The BOTTOM teams revealed a small EPS. The Principal Component Analysis showed a strong association of the ball speed, entropy of the ball speed and the coefficient of variation (%) of the ball speed. The EPS of the team in possession was well correlated with the game space, especially the game width facing TOP opponents. Against BOTTOM opponents, there was a strong association of ball possession duration, game width, distance covered by the ball, and length/width ratio of the ball movement. The overall approach carried out in this study may serve as the starting point to elaborate normative models of positioning behaviours measures to support the coaches' operating decisions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A novel orientation-dependent potential model for prolate mesogens

An intermolecular potential is introduced for the study of molecular mesogenic fluids. The model combines distinct features of the well-known Gay-Berne and Kihara potentials by incorporating dispersive interactions dependent on the relative pair orientation to a spherocylinder molecular core. Results of a Monte Carlo simulation study focused on the liquid crystal phases exhibited by the model fluid are presented. For the chosen potential parameters, molecular aspect ratio L*55 and temperatures T*52, 3, and 5, isotropic, nematic, smectic-A, and hexatic phases are found. The location of the phase boundaries as well as the equation of state of the fluid and further thermodynamical and structural parameters are discussed and contrasted to the Kihara fluid. In comparison to this latter fluid, the model induces the formation of ordered liquid crystalline phases at lower packing fractions and it favors, in particular, the appearance of layered hexatic ordering as a consequence of the greater attractive interaction assigned to the parallel side-to-side molecular pair configurations. The results contribute to the evaluation of the role of specific interaction energies in the mesogenic behavior of prolate molecular liquids in dense environments

Liquid crystal behavior of the Kihara fluid

The liquid crystal phases of the Kihara fluid have been studied in computer simulations. The work focuses on the isotropic–nematic–smectic-A triple point region, especially relevant for the understanding of the properties and the design of real mesogens with specific phase diagrams. The Kihara interaction resembles more appropriately than other related models, the shape of elongated polymers and biomolecules, and a closer assertion is provided for the role of the configurational entropy and the dispersive interactions in the behavior of such molecules in dense phases or under macromolecular crowding conditions.Dirección Genaral de Investigación Científico y Técnica BQU2001-3615-C02Instituto de Salud Carlos III 01/1664Plan Andaluz de Investigación FQM-205, FQM-31

Use of Parsons-Lee and Onsager theories to predict nematic and demixing behavior in binary mixtures of hard rods and hard spheres

Parsons-Lee and Onsager theories are formulated for the isotropic-nematic transition in a binary mixture of hard rods and hard spheres. Results for the phase coexistence and for the equation of state in both phases for mixtures with different relative sizes and composition are presented. The two theories explain correctly the general behavior observed in experiments and computer simulations for these fluids. In particular, the theory accounts for the destabilization of the nematic phase when spherical or globular macromolecules are added to a system of rodlike colloids, and the entrance of the system into a demixed regime at high volume fractions of the spherical particles. Upon demixing a nematic state rich in rods coexists in equilibrium with an isotropic state much more diluted in the rodlike component. Onsager theory fails on quantitative grounds for aspect ratios of the rodlike molecules smaller than 100, and in the cases where the molar fractions of spheres becomes close to unity. On the contrary, the Parsons-Lee approximation remains accurate down to aspect ratios as small as 5. The spinodal analysis indicates that the isotropic-isotropic and nematic-nematic coexistences become feasible for sufficiently large spheres and long rods, respectively. The latter type of coexistence interferes partially with the isotropic-nematic coexistence regime of interest to the present work. Overall, the study serves to rationalize and control key aspects of the behavior of these binary nematogenic colloidal systems, which can be tuned with an appropriate choice of the relative size and molar fractions of the particles.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia CTQ2004- 07730-C02 VEM2003-20574-C03Junta de Andalucía PAI FQM-205 FQM-31

Monte Carlo study of liquid crystal phases of hard and soft spherocylinders

We report on a Monte Carlo study of the liquid crystal phases of two model fluids of linear elongated molecules: ~a! hard spherocylinders with an attractive square-well ~SWSC! and ~b! purely repulsive soft spherocylinders ~SRS!, in both cases for a length-to-breadth ratio L*55. Monte Carlo simulations in the isothermal–isobaric ensemble have been performed at a reduced temperature T*55 probing thermodynamic states within the isotropic ~I!, nematic ~N!, and smectic A ~Sm A! regions exhibited by each of the models. In addition, the performance of an entropy criterion to allocate liquid crystalline phase boundaries, recently proposed for the isotropic–nematic transition of the hard spherocylinder ~HSC! fluid, is successfully tested for the SWSC and the SRS fluids and furthermore extended to the study of the nematic–smectic transition. With respect to the more extensively studied HSC fluid, the introduction of the attractive square well in the SWSC model brings the I–N and N–Sm A transitions to higher pressures and densities. Moreover, the soft repulsive core of the SRS fluid induces a similar but quite more significant shift of both of these phase boundaries toward higher densities. This latter effect is apparently in contrast with very recent studies of the SRS fluid at lower temperatures, but this discrepancy can be traced back to the different effective size of the molecular repulsive core at different temperatures

Verso elementi in calcestruzzo armato precompresso senza acciaio: uno studio sperimentale

I materiali compositi sono i principali attori nella sfida verso la ricerca di alternative sostenibili e durevoli all’acciaio per il rinforzo di elementi strutturali in calcestruzzo armato. Tra di essi, le barre costituite da fibre di basalto annegate in matrice polimerica rappresentano un’interessante novità, visto il loro basso costo di produzione, sia ambientale sia economico, e le loro proprietà meccaniche e di resistenza alla corrosione. In questo lavoro vengono presentati i risultati di una campagna di studio, svolta nell’ambito di un più ampio progetto di ricerca europeo denominato EiroCrete, che ha visto la collaborazione del Politecnico di Milano e della Queen’s University of Belfast con aziende italiane (Azichem srl) ed irlandesi (Banager Precast ltd.), e finalizzata a verificare la possibilità di utilizzare tali barre per la precompressione di elementi in prefabbricati in calcestruzzo armato precompresso, realizzati in calcestruzzo autocompattante rinforzato con fibre polimeriche