Concrete Reference Research Articles

La presencia de Virgilio en la obra de Carlos Montemayor

<p>La nutrida obra de Carlos Montemayor ha sido objeto de análisis, reflexiones y discusiones en los diferentes entornos y ámbitos en los que el autor participó. Su trabajo en las humanidades y artes ha sido reconocido por la diversidad de temas tratados en sus distintas obras, las cuales cuentan con amplias y concretas referencias a la época de los clásicos griegos. La trayectoria de Carlos Montemayor le permite ser una referencia importante para escritores e investigadores. En este ensayo, analizo particularmente la figura metafórica de Virgilio a través de la traducción que hace el mismo Montemayor de la Égloga IV, así como de los poemas contenidos en su obra póstuma "Apuntes del exilio", donde nuestro autor construye, a partir de las características que reconoce en los escritores clásicos y en el mismo Virgilio, un poemario de profundidad y sagacidad para el lector más dotado y también para el menos experimentado.</p>

Culvert Prototype Made with Seawater Concrete: Materials Characterization, Monitoring, and Environmental Impact

Abstract Recent developments in concrete research have considered the possible advantages related to the use of seawater as mixing water for concrete production. Specifically, the SEACON-INFRAVATION project investigated the performance of seawater concrete for the construction of sustainable and durable reinforced concrete structures. Besides laboratory activities aimed at characterizing the performance of seawater concrete and corrosion behavior of various types of embedded reinforcements, a demonstration project was executed in Italy. The prototype consisted of a concrete culvert built along the A1 motorway, close to the city of Piacenza, Italy. The demonstration activities led to testing of the on-site use of seawater and assessment of the corrosion conditions of the embedded reinforcements, allowing a thorough understanding of long-term durability and sustainability. For this purpose, the prototype culvert was divided into six segments; each segment was representative of a combination of type of concrete (reference, seawater, and recycled-asphalt-pavement concrete) and type of reinforcement (carbon steel, austenitic and duplex stainless steels, and glass fiber–reinforced polymer). This article presents concrete mix designs, materials characterization, embedded probes used to monitor the corrosion of the reinforcements, and test results obtained at various stages of execution and service conditions. In addition, a sampling campaign, one year from construction, is included. Finally, mention is made of the life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analyses performed to quantify the long-term benefits of seawater concrete combined with corrosion-resistant reinforcement.

Multi-objective optimized scheduling model for hydropower reservoir based on improved particle swarm optimization algorithm.

In order to make hydropower station's development and operation harmonious with ecological protection, the optimal operation of hydropower stations to meet the needs of ecological protection is studied. Firstly, the ecological protection function of river course is defined according to the minimum ecological runoff and suitable ecological runoff. Then, a multi-objective optimal running model of reservoir which can maximize the capacity of ecological protection and generation is proposed. Finally, an improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm (MOPSO), which can construct a neighborhood for each particle and choose the neighborhood optimal solution by adopting self-organizing mapping (SOM) method, is proposed to solve the model. The model is applied to the Shui-Kou Hydropower Station in Minjiang, China. The results show that the model can get the optimal schedule with balanced consideration of ecological benefits and power generation benefits, which has not a great impact on the economic benefits of reservoirs while achieving the goal of ecological environment. The research results can provide theoretical basis and concrete scheme reference for reservoir operation.

Development and Angiographic Use of the Rabbit VX2 Model for Liver Cancer

The rabbit VX2 tumor is an animal model commonly utilized for translational research regarding hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the field of Interventional Radiology. This model employs an anaplastic squamous cell carcinoma that is easily and reliably propagated in the skeletal muscle of donor rabbits for eventual harvest and allograft implantation into the liver of naïve recipients. This tumor graft rapidly grows within the liver of recipient rabbits into an angiographically identifiable tumor characterized by a necrotic core surrounded by a viable hypervascular capsule. The physical size of the rabbit anatomy is sufficient to facilitate vascular instrumentation allowing for the application and testing of various interventional techniques. Despite these benefits, there exists a paucity of technical resources to act as a concrete reference for researchers working with the model. Herein, we present a comprehensive visual outline for the technical aspects of development, growth, propagation, and angiographic utilization of the rabbit VX2 tumor model for use by novice and experienced researchers alike.

Klimaschutz aus völkerrechtlicher Sicht unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der zivilen Luftfahrt

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992 is the first treaty under international law aimed at stabilizing GHG concentrations and preventing a human-induced disruption of the climate system. Due to the inadequate schedule of duties of the UNFCCC, the international community decided in 1997 to adopt the Kyoto Protocol, which will officially expire in 2020. In order to have a climate rule beyond and for the period after the Kyoto Protocol, the international community passed the Paris Agreement in December 2015 after a negotiation process lasting several years. The Paris Agreement came into force prematurely. It is a legally binding international agreement plus accompanying decisions on the technical implementation of the UNFCCC. The Paris Agreement has secured a total package of long-term goals and it marks the beginning of a new form of global collaboration and the beginning of a technical implementation process. The Paris Agreement contains concrete references at 2 °C and 1.5 °C and is comprehensive for the first time, since all contracting states are obliged to protect the climate. A first Talanoa dialogue on climate protection measures took place in 2018 in Bonn. Launched in 2016 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), which will enter into force in 2021, is a global market-based mechanism for international aviation under international law and serves to support the goals of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.

Effect of Reference Price in PWYTF Pricing in Tourism Sector

While conventional pricing strategy involves sellers to decide price of a tourism product, tourism companies carry the risk of capacity underutilization in many occasions when fixed costs are already incurred. Pay What You Think Fair (PWYTF) pricing mechanism motivates tourists to pay a fair price for unutilized capacity, thereby, increasing sales and profit for marketers. This study shows that PWYTF pricing mechanism with a concrete reference price of customer can generate significantly higher revenue and profit for a long period of time. We have conducted three experiments to show that PWYTF pricing strategy is a profitable and sustainable pricing solution for tourism companies to increase revenue during off-season as well as underutilization of hired capacity. This study opens a new avenue in pricing methods used in tourism industry and contributes in significant way both in academic and practice.

Spanish spatial deictic adverbs: interpretation and discourse functioning with depersonalizing constructions

In this paper, I analyze the ways in which spatial deictic adverbs function in Spanish. More concretely, through an analysis of spatial deictic adverbs used with depersonalizing constructions, I show how, in the absence of person deictic forms, the interpretation of spatial deictic adverbs depends not only on the physical, but more crucially on contextual cues in the discursive context. Moreover, I show that spatial adverbs used with depersonalizing constructions fulfill different functions in discourse construction than when they are used in combination with person deixis or with a concrete 3rd person reference. Indeed, in the absence of person deixis, spatial deictic adverbs take up crucial functions for the cohesion of the linguistic production.

Connecting two Gaussian cluster states by quantum entanglement swapping.

Cluster state is an important resource for one-way quantum computation and quantum network. In this paper, we present a scheme for connecting two Gaussian cluster states by entanglement swapping, which can be used to connect two local quantum networks composed by cluster states. The connection schemes between different types of four-mode cluster states are analyzed and we show that the structure of the output states after entanglement swapping may be not the same as that of the input states. The entanglement of the obtained new cluster states are presented when suitable feedforward schemes are applied in the entanglement swapping process. By using optimal gains in the classical channel and inseparability criteria, the requirement of squeezing parameters for obtaining entanglement of output states are reduced. The presented scheme provides a concrete reference for constructing quantum networks with cluster states.

Homogeneous Substitute Material Model for Reinforced Concrete Modeling

Abstract This paper outlines a method of determining the deformation and strength parameters for a hypothetical, homogeneous, substitute material which approximates the properties of heterogeneous materials in reinforced concrete elements. The model of the substitute material creates a concrete reference model, in which the static - strength - deformation parameters were modified on the basis of the homogenizing function with the homogenization coefficient assumed as the effective reinforcement ratio of the reinforced concrete structural elements. The results of the comparative analysis of the numerical models using the hypothetical substitute material with experimental results for statically loaded beams and deep beams taken from the literature are presented.

Going beyond the flood insurance rate map: insights from flood hazard map co-production

Abstract. Flood hazard mapping in the United States (US) is deeply tied to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Consequently, publicly available flood maps provide essential information for insurance purposes, but they do not necessarily provide relevant information for non-insurance aspects of flood risk management (FRM) such as public education and emergency planning. Recent calls for flood hazard maps that support a wider variety of FRM tasks highlight the need to deepen our understanding about the factors that make flood maps useful and understandable for local end users. In this study, social scientists and engineers explore opportunities for improving the utility and relevance of flood hazard maps through the co-production of maps responsive to end users' FRM needs. Specifically, two-dimensional flood modeling produced a set of baseline hazard maps for stakeholders of the Tijuana River valley, US, and Los Laureles Canyon in Tijuana, Mexico. Focus groups with natural resource managers, city planners, emergency managers, academia, non-profit, and community leaders refined the baseline hazard maps by triggering additional modeling scenarios and map revisions. Several important end user preferences emerged, such as (1) legends that frame flood intensity both qualitatively and quantitatively, and (2) flood scenario descriptions that report flood magnitude in terms of rainfall, streamflow, and its relation to an historic event. Regarding desired hazard map content, end users' requests revealed general consistency with mapping needs reported in European studies and guidelines published in Australia. However, requested map content that is not commonly produced included (1) standing water depths following the flood, (2) the erosive potential of flowing water, and (3) pluvial flood hazards, or flooding caused directly by rainfall. We conclude that the relevance and utility of commonly produced flood hazard maps can be most improved by illustrating pluvial flood hazards and by using concrete reference points to describe flooding scenarios rather than exceedance probabilities or frequencies.

Improving Freeze–Thaw Resistance of Concrete Road Infrastructure by Means of Superabsorbent Polymers

The scope of the paper is to report an investigation on durability of infrastructure concrete for roads and bridges by creating a size and shape-designed pore systems in concrete in order to improve it, especially in terms of freeze–thaw resistance. By means of this experimental laboratory study, an alternative for usage of air entrainment agents (AEA) in concrete infrastructures was found in the way of using superabsorbent polymer materials (SAPs). The effect of the addition of SAPs of different amounts and different types into fresh concrete mix was investigated, including: compressive strength tests, weight loss measurements, visual and microscopic inspections and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The detrimental strength reduction effect was not observed. The freeze–thaw procedure was varied, using different types of de-icing salts and heating/cooling regimes. It can be concluded that an improvement of the freeze–thaw resistance of concrete infrastructure depends on the particle size and optimal amount of SAPs added into concrete mix. The addition of 0.26 wt % of dry SAPs into the fresh concrete reference mix led to the significant decrease of scaling up to 43% after 28 freeze–thaw cycles. Both dosage and particle size of the SAPs had a significant impact on the obtained results and the freeze–thaw resistance in this experimental laboratory study.

Asakusa's urban space and the incompleteness of the novel – The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa

Despite its frequent characterization as a ‘cinematic’ novel, Kawabata Yasunari's The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa uses linguistic expression's inherently selective nature to create a rich, yet always incomplete, picture of Asakusa in the reader's mind. Drawing both on intertextual references to contemporary accounts of Asakusa and on concrete references to touchstones of the neighborhood, Kawabata created a ‘mental map’ of Asakusa that would have differed for each reader, similar to characterizations of the neighborhood as a place that always escaped total capture in description. In this, The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa is emblematic not only of Asakusa but of the written form itself.

Gestures of the abstract

Abstract Speakers perform manual gestures in the physical space nearest them, called gesture space. We used a controlled elicitation task to explore whether speakers use gesture space in a consistent way (assign spaces to ideas and use those spaces for those ideas) and whether they use space in a contrastive way (assign different spaces to different ideas when using contrastive speech) when talking about abstract referents. Participants answered two questions designed to elicit contrastive, abstract discourse. We investigated manual gesture behavior. Gesture hand, location on the horizontal axis, and referent in corresponding speech were coded. We also coded contrast in speech. Participants’ overall tendency to use the same hand (t(17) = 13.12, p = .001, 95% CI [.31, .43], d = 2.53) and same location (t(17) = 7.47, p = .001, 95% CI [.27, .47], d = 1.69) when referring to an entity was higher than expected frequency. When comparing pairs of gestures produced with contrastive speech to pairs of gestures produced with non-contrastive speech, we found a greater tendency to produce gestures with different hands for contrastive speech: (t(17) = 4.19, p = .001, 95% CI [.27, .82], d = 1.42). We did not find associations between dominant side and positive concepts or between left, center, and right space and past, present, and future, respectively, as predicted by previous studies. Taken together, our findings suggest that speakers do produce spatially consistent and contrastive gestures for abstract as well as concrete referents. They may be using spatial resources to assist with abstract thinking, and/or to help interlocutors with reference tracking. Our findings also highlight the complexity of predicting gesture hand and location, which appears to be the outcome of many competing variables.

Contribuições do ensaio como experiência formadora do estagiário em filosofia

O texto reflete sobre as contribuições do ensaio como experiência formadora do estagiário no ensino de filosofia. Objetiva destacar suas potencialidades na relação teoria e prática como formação para a autonomia docente. A reflexão tem por referência concreta a experiência de acompanhamento de estágios pelo autor, como professor orientador, em escolas da cidade de Florianópolis. Com base nas contribuições conceituais de Theodor Adorno, apresenta-se a modalidade ensaio como abordagem pedagógica crítica orientadora à prática de ensino e, ao mesmo tempo, como exercício de elaboração textual sobre a experiência de ensinar. A sistematização escrita como atividade conceitual reflexiva sobre a prática pedagógica é processo de autoconhecimento. É nessa atividade de pensar a própria ação que o estagiário também se autoforma como docente.

Integración del arte mural en la arquitectura residencial de Ricardo Carbonell

During architectural modernity in El Salvador, that had its peak between 1940 and 1980, took place a meeting between art and architecture. In this process, there was a particular case of integration of art into housing, that proposed by Ricardo Carbonell (1929), himself both an architect and artist. He made mural works in private houses and some public buildings. This article analyzes this experiment of integration by Ricardo Carbonell as a contribution to the enrichment of the identity of salvadoran architecture. His work is studied from three key aspects: first, the definition of architecture as art; second, to underline the conexions of concrete referents in the art-architecture movements in Latin America that were contemporary of Carbonell; and, third, a close examination of the work of Carbonell from the standpoing of his artistc influences, and his training in the context of architectural modernity.Realidad: Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades No. 150, 2017: 91-117

Mixed metaphors: Electrophysiological brain responses to (un)expected concrete and abstract prepositional phrases

Languages around the world use spatial terminology, like prepositions, to describe non-spatial, abstract concepts, including time (e.g., in the moment). The Metaphoric Mapping Theory explains this pattern by positing that a universal human cognitive process underlies it, whereby abstract concepts are conceptualized via the application of concrete, three-dimensional space onto abstract domains. The alternative view is that the use of spatial propositions in abstract phrases is idiomatic, and thus does not trigger metaphoric mapping. In the current study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to examine the time-course of neural processing of concrete and abstract phrases consisting of the prepositions in or on followed by congruent and incongruent nouns (e.g., in the bowl/plate and in the moment/mend). ERPs were recorded from the onset of reference nouns in 28 adult participants using a 128-channel electrode net. Results show that congruency has differential effects on neural measures, depending on whether the noun is concrete or abstract. Incongruent reference nouns in concrete phrases (e.g., on the bowl) elicited a significant central negativity (an N400 effect), while incongruent reference nouns in abstract phrases (e.g., on the moment) did not. These results suggest that spatially incongruent concrete nouns are semantically unexpected (N400 effect). A P600 effect, which might indicate rechecking, reanalysis and/or reconstruction, was predicted for incongruent abstract nouns, but was not observed, possibly due to the variability in abstract stimuli. Findings cast doubt on accounts claiming that abstract uses of prepositions are cognitively and metaphorically linked to their spatial sense during natural, on-line processing.

Proficiency analysis of VCCTL results for heat of hydration and mortar cube strength

This paper establishes proof of concept that computational modeling can emulate the performance of physical testing laboratories for heat of hydration and compressive strength testing of type I, II and III portland cements. Simulation of 20 reference cements in a modified Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory produced compressive strength and heat of hydration results with mean absolute differences of 5.0% and 6.5% compared to experimental data obtained from the same cements through the proficiency sample program of the Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory. The findings suggest computational modeling can be a practical, reliable and economical alternative to physical testing for portland cements.

Social impact assessment of scientist from mainstream news and weblogs

Research policy makers, funding agencies, universities and government organizations evaluate research output or impact based on the traditional citation count, peer review, h-index and journal impact factors. These impact measures also known as bibliometric indicators are limited to the academic community and cannot provide the broad perspective of research impact in public, government or business. The understanding that scholarly impact outside scientific and academic sphere has given rise to an area of scientometrics called alternative metrics or “altmetrics.” Moreover, researchers in this area incline to center around gauging scientific activity via social media, namely Twitter. However, these count-based measurements of impact are sensitive to gaming as they lack concrete references to the primary source. In this work, we expand a conventional citation graph to a heterogeneous graph of publications, scientists, venues, organizations based on more reliable social media sources such as mainstream news and weblogs. Our method is composed of two components: the first one is combining the bibliometric data with social media data like blogs and mainstream news. The second component investigates how standard graph-based metrics can be applied to a heterogeneous graph to predict the academic impact. Our result showed moderate correlations and positive associations between the computed graph-based metrics with academic impact and also reasonably predict the academic impact of researchers.

Experimental study and numerical analysis on mechanical behavior of T-shape stiffened orthotropic steel-concrete composite bridge decks

A new-type of orthotropic steel-concrete composite bridge deck system was developed, by casting the concrete overlay on the top of the orthotropic steel deck ribbed with T-shape steel members. To study its mechanical behavior (in terms of failure mode, load-deflection relationship, concrete crack initiation and propagation, strength, stiffness and so on), two new-type orthotropic steel-concrete composite bridge decks with different section dimensions were experimentally investigated and two reference decks (reinforced concrete deck and orthotropic steel deck) were also involved in the research for comparison. For the two new-type orthotropic steel-concrete composite decks, the average value of ultimate loads per width is 885.7kN, which is 2.35 and 1.61 times of that of the concrete and steel reference decks with almost the same section height. Experimental results proved that the composite deck can effectively control the crack initiation and propagation in the concrete and postpone the yielding of the steel bars and steel plates, due to the composite action between the concrete overlay and the underlying steel plate. Furthermore, the Finite Element (FE) model of the orthotropic steel-concrete composite deck was developed and validated by test results. A parametric study is conducted regarding to the stiffness of shear studs. With the validated FE model, stress distribution in the underlying steel plate and T-shape stiffeners and development of concrete cracking in the concrete overlay were characterized at different load levels.

Environmental performance of social housing in emerging economies: life cycle assessment of conventional and alternative construction methods in the Philippines

PurposeThe environmental impact of the social building stock is relevant, particularly in emerging economies. Life cycle thinking is not yet established, however. Locally available, alternative building concepts could potentially reduce the environmental impact of the construction segment. This paper examines the environmental performance of “as-built” low-cost housing for an example of the Philippines, and the potential to reduce its environmental impact through use of three alternative building technologies: cement–bamboo frames, soil–cement blocks, and coconut board-based housing.MethodsLife cycle assessment models are implemented and evaluated with software SimaPro, using the single-impact indicators global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand (CED) and the multi-impact indicator Impact2002+. According to EN 15978, the life cycle phase product and construction process (A), use stage (B), end-of-life (C) and supplementary information beyond the building life cycle (D) have been assessed. Theoretically calculated inflows from standard construction procedures used in phase A have been verified with 3 years of empirical data from implemented construction projects. For phases B, C and D, attention was given to service life, use-phase, allocation of waste products, biogenic carbon and land-use assumptions. Scenarios reflect the actual situation in the emerging economy. Processes, such as heat recovery from thermal utilization, which are not existing nor near to implementation, were excluded.Results and discussionFor an assessment of the phases A–B–C–D with GWP, a 35% reduction of environmental impact for soil–cement blocks, 74% for cement–bamboo frame, and 83% for coconut board-based houses is obtained relative to a concrete reference house. In absolute terms, this relates to a reduction of 4.4, 9.3, and 10.3 t CO2 equivalents over a service life of 25 years. CED showed higher impacts for the biogenic construction methods coconut board and cement–bamboo frames of +8.0 and +4.7%, while the soil–cement technology was evaluated −7.1% compared to GWP. Sixteen of 17 midpoint categories of Impact2002+ confirmed an overall reduction potential of the alternative building methods, with the midpoint category land occupation being the exception rating the conventional practice over the alternatives.ConclusionsIt is concluded that the alternative construction technologies have substantial potential to reduce the environmental burden caused by the social housing sector. The service life of the alternative technologies plays a vital role for it. LCA for emerging economies needs to incorporate realistic scenarios applicable at their current state or belonging to the most probable alternatives to ensure valuable results. Recommendations for further research are provided.