Transverse single-spin asymmetry and cross section for pi(0) and eta mesons at large Feynman x in p(up arrow) + p collisions at root s=200 GeV

Measurements of the differential cross section and the transverse single-spin asymmetry, A(N), vs x(F) for pi(0) and eta mesons are reported for 0.4 < x(F) < 0.75 at an average pseudorapidity of 3.68. A data sample of approximately 6.3 pb(-1) was analyzed, which was recorded during p(up arrow) + p collisions at root s = 200 GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The average transverse beam polarization was 56%. The cross section for pi(0), including the previously unmeasured region of x(F) > 0.55, is consistent with a perturbative QCD prediction, and the eta/pi(0) cross-section ratio agrees with existing midrapidity measurements. For 0.55 < x(F) < 0.75, the average A(N) for eta is 0.210 +/- 0.056, and that for pi(0) is 0.081 +/- 0.016. The probability that these two asymmetries are equal is similar to 3%.

Guidelines for the Development of Comprehensive Care Centers for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: Guidance from the CARES Foundation Initiative

Patients with rare and complex diseases such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) often receive fragmented and inadequate care unless efforts are coordinated among providers. Translating the concepts of the medical home and comprehensive health care for individuals with CAH offers many benefits for the affected individuals and their families. This manuscript represents the recommendations of a 1.5 day meeting held in September 2009 to discuss the ideal goals for comprehensive care centers for newborns, infants, children, adolescents, and adults with CAH. Participants included pediatric endocrinologists, internal medicine and reproductive endocrinologists, pediatric urologists, pediatric surgeons, psychologists, and pediatric endocrine nurse educators. One unique aspect of this meeting was the active participation of individuals personally affected by CAH as patients or parents of patients. Representatives of Health Research and Services Administration (HRSA), New York-Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Genetics and Newborn Screening Services (NYMAC), and National Newborn Screening and Genetics Resource Center (NNSGRC) also participated. Thus, this document should serve as a "roadmap" for the development phases of comprehensive care centers (CCC) for individuals and families affected by CAH.

Numerical Model for the Dynamic Analysis of Pile Foundations

Programa de doctorado: Sistemas Inteligentes y Aplicaciones Numéricas en Ingeniería Instituto Universitario (SIANI)

BEM-FEM coupling model for the dynamic analysis of piles and pile groups

[EN] This paper shows a BEM-FEM coupling model for the time harmonic dynamic analysis of piles and pile groups embeddes in an elastic half-space. Piles are modelled using Finite Elements (FEM) as a beam according to the Bernoulli hypothesis, while the soil modelled using  Boundary Elements (BEM) as a continuum, semi-infinite, isotropic, homogeneous or zoned homogeneous, linear, viscoelastic medium.

Importance of footing-soil separation on dynamic stiffness of piled embedded footings

[EN]Different phenomena such a soil consolidation, erosion, and scour beneath an embedded footing supported on piles may lead to loss of contact between soil and the pile cap underside. The importance of this separation on the dynamic stiffness and damping of the foundation is assessed in this work.

Influence of type wave and angle of incidence on seismic bending moments in pile foundations.

[EN]When analysing the seismic response of pile groups, a vertically-incident wavefiel is usually employed even though it doesnot necessarily correspond to the worst case scenario. This work aims to study the influence of both type of seismic body wave and its angle of incidence on the dynamic response of pile foundations.

Influence of pile inclination angle on the dynamic properties and seismic response of piled structures.

[EN] This paper aims to contribute to clarify whether the use of battered piles has a positive or negative influence on the dynamic response of deep foundations and superstructures. For this purpose, the dynamic response of slender and non-slender structures supported on several configurations of 2X2 and 3X3 pile groups including battered elements is obtained through a procedure based on a substructuring model whick takes soil-structure interaction into account.

Do Academic and Private Entrepreneurs differ? An empirical analysis of the Micro-Foundation of Entrepreneurial Orientation

This Doctoral Thesis focuses on the study of individual behaviours as a result of organizational affiliation. The objective is to assess the Entrepreneurial Orientation of individuals proving the existence of a set of antecedents to that measure returning a structural model of its micro-foundation. Relying on the developed measurement model, I address the issue whether some Entrepreneurs experience different behaviours as a result of their academic affiliation, comparing a sample of ‘Academic Entrepreneurs’ to a control sample of ‘Private Entrepreneurs’ affiliated to a matched sample of Academic Spin-offs and Private Start-ups. Building on the Theory of the Planned Behaviour, proposed by Ajzen (1991), I present a model of causal antecedents of Entrepreneurial Orientation on constructs extensively used and validated, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective, in sociological and psychological studies. I focus my investigation on five major domains: (a) Situationally Specific Motivation, (b) Personal Traits and Characteristics, (c) Individual Skills, (d) Perception of the Business Environment and (e) Entrepreneurial Orientation Related Dimensions. I rely on a sample of 200 Entrepreneurs, affiliated to a matched sample of 72 Academic Spin-offs and Private Start-ups. Firms are matched by Industry, Year of Establishment and Localization and they are all located in the Emilia Romagna region, in northern Italy. I’ve gathered data by face to face interviews and used a Structural Equation Modeling technique (Lisrel 8.80, Joreskog, K., & Sorbom, D. 2006) to perform the empirical analysis. The results show that Entrepreneurial Orientation is a multi-dimensional micro-founded construct which can be better represented by a Second-Order Model. The t-tests on the latent means reveal that the Academic Entrepreneurs differ in terms of: Risk taking, Passion, Procedural and Organizational Skills, Perception of the Government, Context and University Supports. The Structural models also reveal that the main differences between the two groups lay in the predicting power of Technical Skills, Perceived Context Support and Perceived University Support in explaining the Entrepreneurial Orientation Related Dimensions.

Safety factors in sheet pile wall design: considerations by using traditional methods and FEM analysis

The purpose of the work is: define and calculate a factor of collapse related to traditional method to design sheet pile walls. Furthermore, we tried to find the parameters that most influence a finite element model representative of this problem. The text is structured in this way: from chapter 1 to 5, we analyzed a series of arguments which are usefull to understanding the problem, while the considerations mainly related to the purpose of the text are reported in the chapters from 6 to 10. In the first part of the document the following arguments are shown: what is a sheet pile wall, what are the codes to be followed for the design of these structures and what they say, how can be formulated a mathematical model of the soil, some fundamentals of finite element analysis, and finally, what are the traditional methods that support the design of sheet pile walls. In the chapter 6 we performed a parametric analysis, giving an answer to the second part of the purpose of the work. Comparing the results from a laboratory test for a cantilever sheet pile wall in a sandy soil, with those provided by a finite element model of the same problem, we concluded that:in modelling a sandy soil we should pay attention to the value of cohesion that we insert in the model (some programs, like Abaqus, don’t accept a null value for this parameter), friction angle and elastic modulus of the soil, they influence significantly the behavior of the system (structure-soil), others parameters, like the dilatancy angle or the Poisson’s ratio, they don’t seem influence it. The logical path that we followed in the second part of the text is reported here. We analyzed two different structures, the first is able to support an excavation of 4 m, while the second an excavation of 7 m. Both structures are first designed by using the traditional method, then these structures are implemented in a finite element program (Abaqus), and they are pushed to collapse by decreasing the friction angle of the soil. The factor of collapse is the ratio between tangents of the initial friction angle and of the friction angle at collapse. At the end, we performed a more detailed analysis of the first structure, observing that, the value of the factor of collapse is influenced by a wide range of parameters including: the value of the coefficients assumed in the traditional method and by the relative stiffness of the structure-soil system. In the majority of cases, we found that the value of the factor of collapse is between and 1.25 and 2. With some considerations, reported in the text, we can compare the values so far found, with the value of the safety factor proposed by the code (linked to the friction angle of the soil).

L'Aquila - Laboratori di ricerca e coworking nel nucleo industriale di Pile

Progetto di riqualificazione urbana di un'area industriale attraverso il riordino del verde. Inserimento di laboratori di ricerca e incubatori d'impresa e coworking e riorganizzazione degli impianti sportivi preesistenti.

Fondazioni a pozzo per pile da ponte. Confronti fra diversi modelli di interazione con il terreno

Descrizione dei vantaggi della tecnologia delle fondazioni da pozzo per le pile da ponte. Analisi dei carichi di un viadotto esistente a struttura mista e studio agli stati limite delle più svantaggiose condizioni di carico. Analisi sismica della pila. Progetto e verifica della pila, del plinto e del pozzo nelle diverse fasi di realizzazione e per le combinazioni di carico considerate. Verifiche del terreno, con riferimento ai criteri di dimensionamento del Prof. Jamiolkowski. Analisi tenso-deformativa del terreno con software Plaxis2D e Midas-GTS (3D). Confronti fra il metodo analitico adottato nelle verifiche ed i risultati numerici. Norme di riferimento: NTC2008, Istruzione N°I/SC/PS-OM/2298, Ordinanza 3274 come modificato dall'OPCM 3431

Criteri di rinforzo di pile da ponte mediante isolatori progettati secondo DDBD

Valutazione di metori per la progettazione di isolatori da ponte mediante DDBD

Application of Submerged Grouted Anchors in Sheet Pile Quay Walls

Sheet pile walls are one of the oldest earth retention systems utilized in civil engineering projects. They are used for various purposes; such as excavation support system, cofferdams, cut-off walls under dams, slope stabilization, waterfront structures, and flood walls. Sheet pile walls are one of the most common types of quay walls used in port construction. The worldwide increases in utilization of large ships for transportation have created an urgent need of deepening the seabed within port areas and consequently the rehabilitation of its wharfs. Several methods can be used to increase the load-carrying capacity of sheet-piling walls. The use of additional anchored tie rods grouted into the backfill soil and arranged along the exposed wall height is one of the most practical and appropriate solutions adopted for stabilization and rehabilitation of the existing quay wall. The Ravenna Port Authority initiated a project to deepen the harbor bottom at selected wharves. An extensive parametric study through the finite element program, PLAXIS 2D, version 2012 was carried out to investigate the enhancement of using submerged grouted anchors technique on the load response of sheet-piling quay wall. The influence of grout-ties area, length of grouted body, anchor inclination and anchor location were considered and evaluated due to the effect of different system parameters. Also a comparative study was conducted by Plaxis 2D and 3D program to investigate the behavior of these sheet pile quay walls in terms of horizontal displacements induced along the sheet pile wall and ground surface settlements as well as the anchor force and calculated factor of safety. Finally, a comprehensive study was carried out by using different constitutive models to simulate the mechanical behavior of the soil to investigate the effect of these two models (Mohr-Coulomb and Hardening Soil) on the behavior of these sheet pile quay walls.