Would RC wide-beam buildings in Spain have survived Lorca earthquake (11-05-2011)?

Lorca earthquake (11-05-2011) is most destructive event recorded in Spain, causing nine fatalities and other severe consequences. Its important intensity was rather unexpected, and serious concern arose regarding risk of building stock in Spain. This paper analyzes performance, under Lorca earthquake, of RC buildings with one-way slabs with wide beams. This construction type is chosen for its high vulnerability and for being vastly widespread in Spain. This study is conducted on 3 and 6-story prototype representative buildings. These buildings are designed for three major seismic zones in Spain: low seismicity, moderate seismicity (as Lorca) and medium seismicity (as Granada). Seismic performance under Lorca earthquake is numerically investigated through nonlinear time-history analyses. Results show that buildings designed without any seismic provision (i.e. those in low seismicity zones) do not survive Lorca record, even with cooperation of masonry infill walls. Buildings with seismic design (i.e. those in Lorca and Granada zones) can survive Lorca earthquake only with collaboration of infill walls. To raise reliability of these conclusions, a sensitivity analysis to most influencing parameters is conducted.Postprint (author's final draft

The US dollar and the euro – Deus Ex Machina: The dollar may be our currency, but it’s your problem. EUMA Papers, Vol.5, No.9 April 2008

[Introduction]. Until the 19th and mid-20th centuries, economic theory explained that the economic status of a country was represented by the strength of its currency.2 This strength is measured by the exchange rate of one currency vis-á-vis another currency, a “zero-sum” game in which one currency gains what the other loses. In fact, during the 19th century, the strength of the Pound Sterling facilitated Britain’s global hegemonic political and economic power known as the Pax Britanica. During the 20th century, the strength of the US dollar represented both the economic and political hegemony of the US around the world known as the Pax Americana. Nowadays, the weakness of the US dollar is making specialists wonder if we are witnessing the end of Pax Americana and the beginning of something else, possibly a Pax Europea, led by the strength of the euro. This is the argument surrounding the current behaviour of the US$-€ exchange rate and its effect on the economic performance of these two economic blocs. While the current exchange rate between the US dollar and the euro has been considered a blessing for the US, it has become a matter of concern for most Eurozone countries. In fact, we are witnessing an unprecedented scenario where the country with a weak currency is actually pleased and the group of countries with a strong currency is worried. The strength of the euro is becoming irritating for the Eurozone and, nevertheless, the weakness of the US dollar is also pushing it to the brink of losing its status as a global currency. This exchange rate debate is accompanied by another debate concerning how the latest monetary policy actions taken by the US and Eurozone monetary authorities3, aimed at solving current economic imbalances, are affecting the US$-€ exchange rate. Scholars, economists, and politicians argue that these monetary policies seem unable to solve today’s economic problems in the EU as well as in the Eurozone, but are having a tremendous impact on the US$-€ exchange rate. This paper will explain in layman’s terms the relationship (or lack thereof) between two of today’s most important economic issues: the US dollar and euro exchange rate, and the monetary policy behind it

Adaptive Robust Optimization with Dynamic Uncertainty Sets for Multi-Period Economic Dispatch under Significant Wind

The exceptional benefits of wind power as an environmentally responsible renewable energy resource have led to an increasing penetration of wind energy in today's power systems. This trend has started to reshape the paradigms of power system operations, as dealing with uncertainty caused by the highly intermittent and uncertain wind power becomes a significant issue. Motivated by this, we present a new framework using adaptive robust optimization for the economic dispatch of power systems with high level of wind penetration. In particular, we propose an adaptive robust optimization model for multi-period economic dispatch, and introduce the concept of dynamic uncertainty sets and methods to construct such sets to model temporal and spatial correlations of uncertainty. We also develop a simulation platform which combines the proposed robust economic dispatch model with statistical prediction tools in a rolling horizon framework. We have conducted extensive computational experiments on this platform using real wind data. The results are promising and demonstrate the benefits of our approach in terms of cost and reliability over existing robust optimization models as well as recent look-ahead dispatch models.Comment: Accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Power System

An Integrated Tool for Loop Calculations: aITALC

aITALC, a new tool for automating loop calculations in high energy physics, is described. The package creates Fortran code for two-fermion scattering processes automatically, starting from the generation and analysis of the Feynman graphs. We describe the modules of the tool, the intercommunication between them and illustrate its use with three examples.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, 8 table

Could Europe Take the Slack Caused by a Slowdown in US Growth?

According to the International Monetary Fund ¨World Economic Outlook¨ published September 6th, in 2006 the World will enjoy a fifth year of consecutive growth with an economy on track to grow at 5.1%. In the European Union, Joaquin Almunia – European Union monetary affairs commissioner - has raised the EU growth forecast from 2.1% to 2.5% for year 2006. In the ¨Macroeconomic and Financial Situation in the European Union ¨ report, presented in Madrid last Septermber, Almunia gave the most upbeat assessment of the Eurozone economy for years, claiming that the economic recovery was robust and that structural reform in the labor, financial and product markets were paying off. He explicitly reported that ¨Economic growth this year is set to be the best we have had since 2000¨ and even expressed confidence in a further economic growth update for 2007 since he believes that the economic reforms will continue. The latest unemployment rate for the Eurozone— 8% in July— together with an accelerating growth driven by a boost in domestic demand and investment are nothing but good news for Almunia for whom the inflation rate is under control at 2.3%. However, according with the mentioned IMF report, this economic boom is predicted to finish in 2007 and – while the IMF agrees with Almunia´s in an unprecedented economic growth for 2006— it forecasts a ¨soft landing¨ for the world economy for 2007, leaded by a slowdown in the US economy, ¨risk to the global outlook is clearly tilted to the downside, there is one-in-six chance of growth falling below 3.25 per cent in 2007¨ a significant decline compared with the 5.1% growth confirmed for 2006. While for Almunia structural changes, employment and domestic growth are the reason for a continuous economic boom, for the IMF the burst will come by a slowdown in the US housing market and the actual surge in inflationary expectations that are forcing central banks to raise interest rates.

Rezensionen einiger Veröffentlichungen zu García Lorca

- David Loughran: Federico García Lorca. The Poetry of limits, London 1978 - Norman Miller: García Lorcas Poema del Cante jondo, London 1978 - Derek Harris: Federico García Lorca, Poeta en Nueva York, London 1978 - R. Martínez Nadal, Marie Laffranque (Hg.): Federico García Lorca. El público y Comedia sin título, Barcelona 197

Is the Euro, as a Common Currency, a Tool for Integration?

The European Union (EU) has become an icon of successful regional integration. Despite this success, the on-going integration process has two different speeds; while economic integration has been fast, steady, and assertive, political integration has been slow and demoralizing at times. This is justified by the complicated idiosyncrasy of the EU structure. However, this complacency with integration difficulties is becoming dangerous as the EU is at a critical moment with respect to both economic and political integration. In fact, many voices are claiming that the EU integration process has come to an abrupt end due to the latest difficulties in encouraging important structural reforms, implementing sound economic requirements, and struggling to agree on the Reform Treaty. Gros and Micossi have stated that: “the EU’s inability to meet the challenges of integration is due to rigid economic structures and inadequate human capital—weaknesses that according to conventional wisdom can only be tackled by national policies, with little role for the Union and common policies. On the contrary, substantial policy spillovers across the EU justify strengthened policy coordination for labor-market, immigration and welfare reform”. However, this criticism is opportunistic because it does not take into account all that has been achieved in such a short period of time given the number of different countries involved, especially after the introduction of the EMU and the adoption of the euro as a common currency. Currently, there is an academic debate on whether economic integration precedes political integration or vice versa: this debate mainly focuses on explaining whether regional integration is caused by political or economic factors. Some assert that political decisions have been motivated by economic reasoning , and explain that historical evidence proves that “descriptions of fluctuations of international economic integration identify clear economic dynamics behind political decisions.” Others believe that political decisions are the propellers of regional integration and, as Balassa states, “political motives may prompt the first step in economic integration.” Regardless of this debate, this paper will explain how the introduction of the euro has facilitated the EU’s regional integration process, which encompasses both economic and political integration, and has allowed Europe to blossom ¨into a continent that is widely admired as prosperous, diverse and caring.¨

Five Years with the Euro

Since the start of the European Monetary Union there has been an intense debate on whether the euro would challenge the U.S. dollar’s dominant role first as an international currency, and then as an official reserve currency. Five years after the euro was born, it is considered without doubt an international currency since it has been reported that ¨in December (2006) the currency came of age by overtaking the U.S. dollar in terms of the value of notes in circulation¨1. Moreover, since the euro has successfully developed a solid financial market, it is consequently eroding some of the advantages that historically supported the hegemony of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. There are two intertwined reasons that explain why the U.S. dollar remains the leading international currency. To begin with, there is (1) inertia in the use of the U.S. dollar due to years of currency pre-eminence which (2) has helped the U.S. dollar to have an edge over the euro in terms of the size, credit quality and liquidity of the dollar financial markets over the euro market. Despite all this, the euro has been enjoying a successful moment in the last years since it is appreciating against the U.S. dollar especially since mid-2002Euro, international currency, definition of money,