"Offshore tower or platform foundations: numerical analysis of a laterally loaded single pile or pile group in soft clay and analysis of actions on a jacket structure"

Laterally loaded piles are a typical situation for a large number of cases in which deep foundations are used. Dissertation herein reported, is a focus upon the numerical simulation of laterally loaded piles. In the first chapter the best model settings are largely discussed, so a clear idea about the effects of interface adoption, model dimension, refinement cluster and mesh coarseness is reached. At a second stage, there are three distinct parametric analyses, in which the model response sensibility is studied for variation of interface reduction factor, Eps50 and tensile cut-off. In addition, the adoption of an advanced soil model is analysed (NGI-ADP). This was done in order to use the complex behaviour (different undrained shear strengths are involved) that governs the resisting process of clay under short time static loads. Once set a definitive model, a series of analyses has been carried out with the objective of defining the resistance-deflection (P-y) curves for Plaxis3D (2013) data. Major results of a large number of comparisons made with curves from API (America Petroleum Institute) recommendation are that the empirical curves have almost the same ultimate resistance but a bigger initial stiffness. In the second part of the thesis a simplified structural preliminary design of a jacket structure has been carried out to evaluate the environmental forces that act on it and on its piles foundation. Finally, pile lateral response is studied using the empirical curves.

Holomorphic families of nonequivalent embeddings and of holomorphic group actions on affine space

We construct holomorphic families of proper holomorphic embeddings of \mathbb {C}^{k} into \mathbb {C}^{n} (0\textless k\textless n-1), so that for any two different parameters in the family, no holomorphic automorphism of \mathbb {C}^{n} can map the image of the corresponding two embeddings onto each other. As an application to the study of the group of holomorphic automorphisms of \mathbb {C}^{n}, we derive the existence of families of holomorphic \mathbb {C}^{*}-actions on \mathbb {C}^{n} (n\ge5) so that different actions in the family are not conjugate. This result is surprising in view of the long-standing holomorphic linearization problem, which, in particular, asked whether there would be more than one conjugacy class of \mathbb {C}^{*}-actions on \mathbb {C}^{n} (with prescribed linear part at a fixed point).

Lions-type compactness and Rubik actions on the Heisenberg group

In this paper we prove a Lions-type compactness embedding result for symmetric unbounded domains of the Heisenberg group. The natural group action on the Heisenberg group TeX is provided by the unitary group U(n) × {1} and its appropriate subgroups, which will be used to construct subspaces with specific symmetry and compactness properties in the Folland-Stein’s horizontal Sobolev space TeX. As an application, we study the multiplicity of solutions for a singular subelliptic problem by exploiting a technique of solving the Rubik-cube applied to subgroups of U(n) × {1}. In our approach we employ concentration compactness, group-theoretical arguments, and variational methods.

Convolution roots and differentiability of isotropic positive definite functions on spheres

We prove that any isotropic positive definite function on the sphere can be written as the spherical self-convolution of an isotropic real-valued function. It is known that isotropic positive definite functions on d-dimensional Euclidean space admit a continuous derivative of order [(d − 1)/2]. We show that the same holds true for isotropic positive definite functions on spheres and prove that this result is optimal for all odd dimensions.

Recommendations on seismic actions on bridges

The paper describes the main features of a technical Recommendation first draft on Seismic Actions on Bridges, promoted by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works (MOPT). Although much more research is needed to clarify the seismic behaviour of the vast class of problems present in port structures the current state of the art allows at least a classificaton of subjects and the establishment of minimum requirements to guide the design. Also the use of more refined methods for specially dangerous situations needs some general guidelines that contribute to mantein the design under reasonable safety margins. The Recommendations of the Spanish MOPT are a first try in those directions.

Recommendations on seismic actions on port structures

The paper describes the main features of a Technical Recommendation first draft on Seismic Action on port structures promoted recently by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works (MOPT). Although much more research is needed to clarify the seismic behaviour of the vast class of problems present in port structures the current state of the art allows at least a classification of subjects and the establishment of minimum requirements to guide the design. Also the use of more refined methods for specially dangerous situations needs some general guidelines that contribute to mantein the design under reasonable safety margins. The Recommendations of the Spanish MOPT are a first try in those directions.

The impact of the economic crisis and policy actions on GHG emissions from road transport in Spain

Road traffic is the greatest contributor to the carbon footprint of the transport sector and reducing it has become one of the main targets of sustainable transport policies. An analysis of the main factors influencing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential for designing new energy- and environmentally efficient strategies for the road transport. This paper addresses this need by (i) identifying factors which influence the carbon footprint, including traffic activity, fuel economy and socioeconomic development; and (ii) proposing a methodological framework which uses Modified Laspeyres Index decomposition to analyze the effect of important drivers on the changes in emissions of road transport in Spain during the period from 1990 to 2010. The results demonstrate that the country׳s economic growth has been closely linked to the rise in GHG emissions. The innovative contribution of this paper is the special analysis of the changes in mobility patterns and GHG emissions during the economic crisis, when, for the first time, Spanish road traffic emissions decreased. The reduction of road transport and improved energy efficiency has been powerful contributors to this decrease, demonstrating the effectiveness of energy-saving measures. On the basis of this analysis, several tailored policy recommendations have been suggested for future implementation.

Fashion in Actions on Social Media – Spanish SME Fashion Brands Case Studies

Fashion is one of the most vibrant sectors in Europe and important contributors to the European Union (EU) economy. In particular, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a major part in European fashion industry (EU 2012). Just like fashion, where people¿s style has inherently meant to be shared as it is foremost a representation of one¿s self-image, social media allow the reflection of ones' personality and emotions. Although fashion practitioners have embraced social media in their marketing activities, it is still relatively few known at an academic level about the specificities of fashion industry when approaching social media marketing (SMM) strategies. This study sets out to explore fashion companies' SMM strategy and its activities. From an exploratory approach, we present case studies of two Spanish SME fashion companies, anonymously named hereafter as Company A and Company B, to deepen our understanding on how fashion brands implement their SMM strategy. Company A offers high-end fashion products while Company B produces medium fashion products. We analyzed the case studies using qualitative (interviews to companies' executives) and a mix of qualitative and quantitative (content analysis of companies' social media platform) methods. Public posts data of both companies' Facebook brand pages were used to perform the content analysis. Our findings through case studies of the two companies reveal that branding-oriented strategic objectives are the main drivers of their SMM implementations. There are significant differences between both companies. The main strategic action employed by Company A is engaging customers to participate into brand's offline social gathering events by inviting them through social media platform, while Company B focuses its effort on posting product promotion related contents and engaging influencers such as fashion bloggers. Our results are expected to serve as a basis of further investigations on how SMM strategy and strategic actions implemented by fashion brands may influence marketing outcomes.