Nonlinear Pile Behavior in Integral Abutment Bridges, HR-227, Part 1, 1982

The highway departments of all fifty states were contacted to find the extent of application of integral abutment bridges, to survey the different guidelines used for analysis and design of integral abutment bridges, and to assess the performance of such bridges through the years. The variation in design assumptions and length limitations among the various states in their approach to the use of integral abutments is discussed. The problems associated with lateral displacements at the abutment, and the solutions developed by the different states for most of the ill effects of abutment movements are summarized in the report. An algorithm based on a state-of-the-art nonlinear finite element procedure was developed and used to study piling stresses and pile-soil interaction in integral abutment bridges. The finite element idealization consists of beam-column elements with geometric and material nonlinearities for the pile and nonlinear springs for the soil. An idealized soil model (modified Ramberg-Osgood model) was introduced in this investigation to obtain the tangent stiffness of the nonlinear spring elements. Several numerical examples are presented in order to establish the reliability of the finite element model and the computer software developed. Three problems with analytical solutions were first solved and compared with theoretical solutions. A 40 ft H pile (HP 10 X 42) in six typical Iowa soils was then analyzed by first applying a horizontal displacement (to simulate bridge motion) and no rotation at the top and then applying a vertical load V incrementally until failure occurred. Based on the numerical results, the failure mechanisms were generalized to be of two types: (a) lateral type failure and (b) vertical type failure. It appears that most piles in Iowa soils (sand, soft clay and stiff clay) failed when the applied vertical load reached the ultimate soil frictional resistance (vertical type failure). In very stiff clays, however, the lateral type failure occurs before vertical type failure because the soil is sufficiently stiff to force a plastic hinge to form in the pile as the specified lateral displacement is applied. Preliminary results from this investigation showed that the vertical load-carrying capacity of H piles is not significantly affected by lateral displacements of 2 inches in soft clay, stiff clay, loose sand, medium sand and dense sand. However, in very stiff clay (average blow count of 50 from standard penetration tests), it was found that the vertical load carrying capacity of the H pile is reduced by about 50 percent for 2 inches of lateral displacement and by about 20 percent for lateral displacement of 1 inch. On the basis of the preliminary results of this investigation, the 265-feet length limitation in Iowa for integral abutment concrete bridges appears to be very conservative.

R commands secondary production

R commands to calculate the secondary production estimates using the size-frequency method after Hynes and Coleman (1968), Benke (1979) and Huryn (1996).

Aplicación CABIRA (Calidad Biológica de los Ríos Altoandinos)

La aplicación CABIRA (Calidad Biológica de los Ríos Altoandinos) está diseñada para el cálculo de métricas representativas de la calidad biológica de la comunidad de los macroinvertebrados acuáticos que viven en los ríos altoandinos (por encima de los 2000 m.s.n.m.) y muy especialmente para el cálculo del índice multimétrico IMEERA (Índice Multimétrico de Estado Ecológico de Ríos Altoandinos) (Villamarín et al., 2013). Esta aplicación informática ha sido desarrollada por el grupo de investigación F.E.M. (Freshwater Ecology and Management) del Departamento de Ecología de la Universitat de Barcelona (España) bajo la dirección del profesor Narcís Prat.

Estimació de la massa d'un porc a partir de l'anàlisi d'imatges digitals

El programa permet estimar la massa d'un porc a partir de sis longituds (la llargada i l'amplada en cinc posicions corresponents a espatlla, abdomen i malucs) obtingudes en una imatge digital de l'animal amb la càmera situada en posició zenital. S'adjunten dos conjunts de dades de referència que permeten obtenir l'equació que relaciona la massa del porc amb el seu volum, considerat com una esfera o un cilindre. Manual d'us: Per a usar el programa només cal indicar en la primera secció de codi el nom del fitxer de dades que es vol importar per generar el model pes / volum i en la darrera de totes, la llargada i les cinc amplades (en cm) del porc per al qual es vol estimar la massa.

Multidimensional Adaptations for Open Learning Management Systems

Our work is focused on alleviating the workload for designers of adaptive courses on the complexity task of authoring adaptive learning designs adjusted to specific user characteristics and the user context. We propose an adaptation platform that consists in a set of intelligent agents where each agent carries out an independent adaptation task. The agents apply machine learning techniques to support the user modelling for the adaptation process

Four novel Loci (19q13, 6q24, 12q24, and 5q14) influence the microcirculation in vivo.

There is increasing evidence that the microcirculation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Changes in retinal vascular caliber reflect early microvascular disease and predict incident cardiovascular events. We performed a genome-wide association study to identify genetic variants associated with retinal vascular caliber. We analyzed data from four population-based discovery cohorts with 15,358 unrelated Caucasian individuals, who are members of the Cohort for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, and replicated findings in four independent Caucasian cohorts (n  =  6,652). All participants had retinal photography and retinal arteriolar and venular caliber measured from computer software. In the discovery cohorts, 179 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) spread across five loci were significantly associated (p<5.0×10(-8)) with retinal venular caliber, but none showed association with arteriolar caliber. Collectively, these five loci explain 1.0%-3.2% of the variation in retinal venular caliber. Four out of these five loci were confirmed in independent replication samples. In the combined analyses, the top SNPs at each locus were: rs2287921 (19q13; p  =  1.61×10(-25), within the RASIP1 locus), rs225717 (6q24; p = 1.25×10(-16), adjacent to the VTA1 and NMBR loci), rs10774625 (12q24; p  =  2.15×10(-13), in the region of ATXN2,SH2B3 and PTPN11 loci), and rs17421627 (5q14; p = 7.32×10(-16), adjacent to the MEF2C locus). In two independent samples, locus 12q24 was also associated with coronary heart disease and hypertension. Our population-based genome-wide association study demonstrates four novel loci associated with retinal venular caliber, an endophenotype of the microcirculation associated with clinical cardiovascular disease. These data provide further insights into the contribution and biological mechanisms of microcirculatory changes that underlie cardiovascular disease.

BadiRate: Estimating Family Turnover Rates by Likelihood-Based Methods

Motivation: The comparative analysis of gene gain and loss rates is critical for understanding the role of natural selection and adaptation in shaping gene family sizes. Studying complete genome data from closely related species allows accurate estimation of gene family turnover rates. Current methods and software tools, however, are not well designed for dealing with certain kinds of functional elements, such as microRNAs or transcription factor binding sites. Results: Here, we describe BadiRate, a new software tool to estimate family turnover rates, as well as the number of elements in internal phylogenetic nodes, by likelihood-based methods and parsimony. It implements two stochastic population models, which provide the appropriate statistical framework for testing hypothesis, such as lineage-specific gene family expansions or contractions. We have assessed the accuracy of BadiRate by computer simulations, and have also illustrated its functionality by analyzing a representative empirical dataset.

BadiRate: estimating family turnover rates by likelihood-based methods

Motivation: The comparative analysis of gene gain and loss rates is critical for understanding the role of natural selection and adaptation in shaping gene family sizes. Studying complete genome data from closely related species allows accurate estimation of gene family turnover rates. Current methods and software tools, however, are not well designed for dealing with certain kinds of functional elements, such as microRNAs or transcription factor binding sites. Results: Here, we describe BadiRate, a new software tool to estimate family turnover rates, as well as the number of elements in internal phylogenetic nodes, by likelihood-based methods and parsimony. It implements two stochastic population models, which provide the appropriate statistical framework for testing hypothesis, such as lineage-specific gene family expansions or contractions. We have assessed the accuracy of BadiRate by computer simulations, and have also illustrated its functionality by analyzing a representative empirical dataset.

Promoting the development of secure mobile agent applications

Peer-reviewed

RiskDiff: A web tool for the analysis of the difference due to risk and demographic factors for incidence or mortality data.

Background Analysing the observed differences for incidence or mortality of a particular disease between two different situations (such as time points, geographical areas, gender or other social characteristics) can be useful both for scientific or administrative purposes. From an epidemiological and public health point of view, it is of great interest to assess the effect of demographic factors in these observed differences in order to elucidate the effect of the risk of developing a disease or dying from it. The method proposed by Bashir and Estève, which splits the observed variation into three components: risk, population structure and population size is a common choice at practice. Results A web-based application, called RiskDiff has been implemented (available at http://rht.iconcologia.net/riskdiff.htm webcite), to perform this kind of statistical analyses, providing text and graphical summaries. Code from the implemented functions in R is also provided. An application to cancer mortality data from Catalonia is used for illustration. Conclusions Combining epidemiological with demographical factors is crucial for analysing incidence or mortality from a disease, especially if the population pyramids show substantial differences. The tool implemented may serve to promote and divulgate the use of this method to give advice for epidemiologic interpretation and decision making in public health.

DnaSP Version 5. DNA Sequence Polymorphism

DnaSP, DNA Sequence Polymorphism, is a software package for the analysis of nucleotide polymorphism from aligned DNA sequence data. DnaSP can estimate several measures of DNA sequence variation within and between populations (in noncoding, synonymous or nonsynonymous sites, or in various sorts of codon positions), as well as linkage disequilibrium, recombination, gene flow and gene conversion parameters. DnaSP can also carry out several tests of neutrality: Hudson, Kreitman and Aguadé (1987), Tajima (1989), McDonald and Kreitman (1991), Fu and Li (1993), and Fu (1997) tests. Additionally, DnaSP can estimate the confidence intervals of some test-statistics by the coalescent. The results of the analyses are displayed on tabular and graphic form.

Programa de Càlcul Nutricional Professional (PCN Pro)

Aplicació de càlcul nutricional que permet les següents funcionalitats: Gestió d’Individus/Pacients permet organitzar els pacients en carpetes i subcarpetes, podent incorporar un històric de dades antropomètriques i dietètic i calcular els següents dades: IMC (Índex de Massa Corporal), Índex Cintura / Maluc, Estima el pes ideal orientatiu, Estimació de Despesa Energètica per: Harris-Benedict, FAO-OMS, Mifflin-St. Jeor. En base a la informació introduïda a la pestanya Activitat Física estima també la despesa energètica tenint en compte l’activitat física realitzada per l’individu (permet estimar la despesa energètica per 605 activitats).Estimació de necessitats energètiques en malalts per Long et al. i Ireton-Jones amb la base del càlcul del Metabolisme Basal de Harris-Benedict. Introduint els plecs (Plec Pectoral, Plec Bíceps, Plec Abdominal, Plec Supraespinal, Plec Cuixa anterior, Plec Cama medial, Plec Subescapular, Plec Tricipital), els diàmetres (Diàmetre Antero-Posterior Tòrax, Diàmetre Sagital, Diàmetre Húmer, Diàmetre Fèmur, Diàmetre Biacromial, Diàmetre Transversal Tòrax, Diàmetre Biileocrestal) i els perímetres (Perímetre Braç flexionat, Perímetre Braç, Perímetre Canell, Perímetre Cuixa, Perímetre Cama, Perímetre Tòrax) el programa és capaç de calcular el % de greix, massa òssia, massa muscular i massa residual per diferents fórmules (% Gas Yuhasz, % Gras Faulkner, % Gras Siri, % Gras Brozek, Distribució corporal de Drinkwater). També calcula el perímetre muscular del braç i la cama. També calcula el Pes Objectiu en relació a un % Greix objectiu, calculant quin pes hauria de tenir el pacient per un % de Greix donat.

Paperitehtaan melukartoitus

Tässä diplomityössä on selvitetty Stora Enso Publication Papers Oy Ltd:n Summan tehtaiden ympäristömelun leviämistä tehtaiden ympärillä oleviin häiriintyviin kohteisiin. Ympäristömelua tutkittiin ympäristömelumittauksilla ja mallintamalla SoundPLAN –ohjelmalla. Työssä on ympäristömelun lisäksi tarkastelu työsuojelumielessä Summan tehtaiden voimalaitoksen melua. Työssä selvitettiin Summan tehtaiden merkittävimpien äänilähteiden äänitehotasot. Maastotietojen ja äänitehotasojen perusteella luotiin melumallit koko tehtaalle ja melua tuottaville osastoille. Melumallien avulla saatiin selville, miten melu leviää ympäristöön. Suurimpiin melulähteisiin, kuorimoon ja PK2:n ilmastointikoneisiin, laadittiin meluntorjuntaehdotukset ja tarkasteltiin uusien mallien avulla toimenpiteiden vaikutusta melun leviämiseen. Tulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että Summan tehtaiden ympäristömelu ei ylitä lupa-arvoja häiriintyvissä kohteissa. Summan tehtaiden voimalaitoksella suoritettiin annosmelumittaukset ja laadittiin meluntorjuntaohjelma. Meluntorjuntaohjelmassa selvitettiin melun syyt, esitettiin meluntorjuntatoimenpiteitä ja niiden toteuttamissuunnitelma sekä ohjelman uusimisajankohta.

ACACIA: an agent-based program for simulating behavior to reach long-term goals

We present ACACIA, an agent-based program implemented in Java StarLogo 2.0 that simulates a two-dimensional microworld populated by agents, obstacles and goals. Our program simulates how agents can reach long-term goals by following sensorial-motor couplings (SMCs) that control how the agents interact with their environment and other agents through a process of local categorization. Thus, while acting in accordance with this set of SMCs, the agents reach their goals through the emergence of global behaviors. This agent-based simulation program would allow us to understand some psychological processes such as planning behavior from the point of view that the complexity of these processes is the result of agent-environment interaction.

DSpace: aspectes rellevants d'ús per a gestors de la informació i la documentació

DSpace és un dels programes de codi obert preferits per les institucions acadèmiques per gestionar dipòsits de fitxers (textuals, àudio, vídeo, etc.), que en faciliten el dipòsit, els organitzen en comunitats, els assignen metadades i en permeten la difusió a recol·lectors o agregadors. El manual que presentem no és el típic manual genèric sobre el funcionament (com es consulta, com s'hi dipositen documents, com es revisen, etc.), sinó un d'específic per a gestors de la informació i la documentació, centrat en les funcions del programa que es troben més directament relacionades amb la nostra professió (esquema de metadades, vocabularis controlats, interfícies de consulta, eines de difusió, estadístiques, etc.).