Minimum volume for a liquid bridge between equal disks

The lower stability limit for axisymmetric floating zones at rest between equal coaxial disks has been experimentally verified for several disk-separation/disk-diameter ratios by using the neutral buoyancy technique. Results show a close agre ment with theory in the case of bridge disruption and a wide scatter in the case of bridge etachment.

Minimum volume of long liquid bridges between noncoaxial, nonequal diameter circular disks under lateral acceleration

The stability limit of minimum volume and the breaking dynamics of liquid bridges between nonequal, noncoaxial, circular supporting disks subject to a lateral acceleration were experimentally analyzed by working with liquid bridges of very small dimensions. Experimental results are compared with asymptotic theoretical predictions, with the agreement between experimental results and asymptotic ones being satisfactory

Factores de riesgo que inciden negativamente en los cumplimientos de tiempo y coste programados en la ejecución de proyectos de edificios de uso hotelero en España

Las desviaciones de tiempo y coste constituyen un fenómeno muy frecuente en la industria de la construcción. Existe un gran número de proyectos que no se terminan en el plazo y el tiempo estipulados, y esto parece que se ha convertido más en la norma que en la excepción. Los proyectos de construcción son heterogéneos por naturaleza y pueden llegar a ser muy complejos, involucrando numerosos procesos y expuestos a infinidad de variables y factores que pueden afectar el cumplimiento de los objetivos de tiempo y coste. Las desviaciones de tiempo y coste no favorecen ni al promotor ni al resto de equipos participantes del proyecto, dando lugar además la mayoría de las veces a situaciones de conflictos y relaciones adversas entre participantes del proyecto. Es por todo ello que surge la necesidad de atender a una estrategia de gestión de riesgos eficaz, como herramienta esencial de la gestión de proyectos para contribuir al éxito de los mismos. Es preciso considerar también que los proyectos de construcción pueden presentar distintas características específicas según el tipo de proyecto de que se traten. El presente trabajo de investigación estudia concretamente los proyectos de edificios de uso hotelero, los cuales pueden presentar estructuras organizativas muy diversas, incluyendo numerosos agentes participantes y procesos que a su vez se desarrollan en un entorno que ya es muy dinámico por su propia naturaleza. En el sector hotelero el cumplimiento de los objetivos de tiempo y coste del proyecto son especialmente importantes ya que cualquier retraso en la fecha de apertura estimada del hotel se traducirá en pérdidas importantes de negocio y cuota de mercado y podrá llevar asociadas también repercusiones importantes en otros aspectos relacionados con la operativa hotelera. Si se conocen las causas que originan tales desviaciones de tiempo y coste, se podrán establecer las correspondientes medidas de actuación para anticiparnos a ellas y que no se produzcan, siendo ésta la base del propósito de esta tesis. Así, la identificación de riesgos supone el primer paso para una gestión de riesgos eficaz, fundamental para contribuir al éxito de un proyecto. El contexto de la investigación delimita como lugar geográfico de estudio España, donde el sector turístico constituye un motor importante de la economía y en el que la eficiencia y competitividad debe estar reflejada también en el proceso del proyecto edificatorio, minimizándose los retrasos y sobrecostes. El presente estudio investiga por tanto los factores de riesgo más críticos que dan lugar a desviaciones de tiempo y coste en proyectos de edificios de uso hotelero en España. A partir del análisis de la literatura existente se genera una propuesta de identificación de factores de riesgo, que se analiza mediante un análisis cualitativo basado en la opinión de expertos y estudio de casos específicos. De los resultados de este análisis se determinan los niveles críticos para cada factor de riesgo, se comparan además las percepciones de niveles de riesgo según distintos tipos de grupos profesionales, y se establece un procedimiento en cuanto a prioridad de acción de respuesta. Así, se desarrolla una propuesta final de identificación y matriz de factores de riesgo con el objetivo de que pueda servir de base a propietarios, empresas gestoras y otros participantes de proyectos hoteleros para diseñar un plan de gestión de riesgos eficaz, contribuyendo de este modo al éxito del proyecto en cuanto a cumplimiento de objetivos de tiempo y coste programados. ABSTRACT Cost and schedule overruns constitute a very frequent phenomenon in the construction industry. A large number of construction projects do not finish on the estimated time and cost, and this scenario seems to be becoming the norm rather than the exception. Construction projects are heterogeneous by nature and they can become very complex as they involve a large number of processes which are subject to many variables and factors that may give rise to time and cost overruns. Time and cost overruns cause dissatisfaction not only to owners but all stakeholders involved in the project, leading most of the times to undesirable situations of conflicts and adversarial relationships between project participants. Hence, it becomes necessary to adopt an effective risk management strategy as an essential part of project management in order to achieve project success. Construction projects may have different characteristics depending on the type of project. This research specifically focuses on hotel construction projects. Hotel projects usually involve complex organizational structures, including many project participants and processes which develop in an environment that is already dynamic by nature. In this type of projects, the achievement of time and cost objectives is particularly important, as any delay of the hotel opening date will result in significant loss of business and market share and may also involve key important implications related to hotel operations. If the risk factors that lead to time and cost overrun are known in advance, preventive actions could be established in order to avoid them, so that time and cost overruns are minimized. This constitutes the aim of this research, being risk identification the first step of any effective risk management strategy for project success. The context of this research is focused on a particular geographical area, being this Spain. Tourism in Spain is a major contributor to the Spanish economy, and efficiency and competiveness should also be reflected in the building processes of the hotel industry, where delays and cost overruns should be kept to the minimum. The aim of this study is to explore the most critical risk factors leading to time and cost overruns in hotel construction projects in Spain. From the analysis of the literature review, a proposal of a risk identification framework is developed, which will be further analyzed by a qualitative assessment based on expert opinions and the study of specific case studies. From the results of this assessment, the levels of risk criticality are determined for the identified factors, a comparison of the perceptions of risk levels among different groups of respondents is also carried out, and a procedure for prioritization of factors in terms of needs of response is established. A final proposal of a risk register matrix framework is then developed in order to assist hotel owners, project management companies or other hotel project stakeholders, and provide them with a base to design their own specific risk management plans, contributing in this way to project success with regards to the achievement of cost and time objectives.

Minimum size limit for useful locomotion by free-swimming microbes

Formulas are derived for the effect of size on a free-swimming microbe’s ability to follow chemical, light, or temperature stimuli or to disperse in random directions. The four main assumptions are as follows: (i) the organisms can be modeled as spheres, (ii) the power available to the organism for swimming is proportional to its volume, (iii) the noise in measuring a signal limits determination of the direction of a stimulus, and (iv) the time available to determine stimulus direction or to swim a straight path is limited by rotational diffusion caused by Brownian motion. In all cases, it is found that there is a sharp size limit below which locomotion has no apparent benefit. This size limit is estimated to most probably be about 0.6 μm diameter and is relatively insensitive to assumed values of the other parameters. A review of existing descriptions of free-floating bacteria reveals that the smallest of 97 motile genera has a mean length of 0.8 μm, whereas 18 of 94 nonmotile genera are smaller. Similar calculations have led to the conclusion that a minimum size also exists for use of pheromones in mate location, although this size limit is about three orders of magnitude larger. In both cases, the application of well-established physical laws and biological generalities has demonstrated that a common feature of animal behavior is of no use to small free-swimming organisms.

Brownian flocculation of polymer colloids in the presence of a secondary minimum

Most analyses of Brownian flocculation apply to conditions where London–van der Waals attractive forces cause particles to be strongly bound in a deep interparticle potential well. In this paper, results are reported that show the interaction between primary- and secondary-minimum flocculation when the interparticle potential curve reflects both attractive and electrostatic repulsive forces. The process is highly time-dependent because of transfer of particles from secondary- to primary-minimum flocculation. Essential features of the analysis are corroborated by experiments with 0.80-μm polystyrene spheres suspended in aqueous solutions of NaCl over a range of ionic strengths. In all cases, experiments were restricted to the initial stage of coagulation, where singlets and doublets predominate.

The impact of a future solar minimum on climate change projections in the Northern Hemisphere

Solar variability represents a source of uncertainty in the future forcings used in climate model simulations. Current knowledge indicates that a descent of solar activity into an extended minimum state is a possible scenario. With aid of experiments from a state-of-the-art Earth system model, we investigate the impact of a future solar minimum on Northern Hemisphere climate change projections. This scenario is constructed from recent 11 year solar-cycle minima of the solar spectral irradiance, and is therefore more conservative than the 'grand' minima employed in some previous modeling studies. Despite the small reduction in total solar irradiance (0.36 W m^-2), relatively large responses emerge in the winter Northern Hemisphere, with a reduction in regional-scale projected warming by up to 40%. To identify the origin of the enhanced regional signals, we assess the role of the different mechanisms by performing additional experiments forced only by irradiance changes at different wavelengths of the solar spectrum. We find that a reduction in visible irradiance drives changes in the stationary wave pattern of the North Pacific and sea-ice cover. A decrease in UV irradiance leads to smaller surface signals, although its regional effects are not negligible. These results point to a distinct but additive role of UV and visible irradiance in the Earth's climate, and stress the need to account for solar forcing as a source of uncertainty in regional scale projections.

CB-norm estimates for maps between noncommutative Lp-spaces and quantum channel theory.

In the first part of this work, we show how certain techniques from quantum information theory can be used in order to obtain very sharp embeddings between noncommutative Lp-spaces. Then, we use these estimates to study the classical capacity with restricted assisted entanglement of the quantum erasure channel and the quantum depolarizing channel. In particular, we exactly compute the capacity of the first one and we show that certain nonmultiplicative results hold for the second one.

The Relationship Between Feminine Gender Norm Conformity and Purpose and Meaning in Life Among Female College Students.

This study explores the relationship between conformity to traditional feminine gender norms and meaning and purpose in life among female college students. Based on previous research findings that show a negative correlation between specific traditional feminine gender norm conformity factors and psychological well-being, we posited that participants with higher levels of traditional gender norm conformity will experience a lower sense of meaning and purpose in life. Self-report data was obtained from 338 female undergraduate college students using the Conformity to Feminine Norms Inventory (CFNI) and the Purpose in Life Test (PIL). A standard multiple regression assessed the accuracy of eight feminine norms in predicting purpose and meaning in life. Results partially supported the hypothesis, with Modesty as the most significant contributor to meaning and purpose. Inconsistent with our hypothesis, participants who endorsed high scores on Nice in Relationships, Involvement with Children, Sexual Fidelity, and Domestic, scored higher on the PIL.

Truth Values in t-norm based Systems Many-valued FUZZY Logic

In t-norm based systems many-valued logic, valuations of propositions form a non-countable set: interval [0,1]. In addition, we are given a set E of truth values p, subject to certain conditions, the valuation v is v=V(p), V reciprocal application of E on [0,1]. The general propositional algebra of t-norm based many-valued logic is then constructed from seven axioms. It contains classical logic (not many-valued) as a special case. It is first applied to the case where E=[0,1] and V is the identity. The result is a t-norm based many-valued logic in which contradiction can have a nonzero degree of truth but cannot be true; for this reason, this logic is called quasi-paraconsistent.

Invariability, orbits and fuzzy attractors

In this paper, we present a generalization of a new systemic approach to abstract fuzzy systems. Using a fuzzy relations structure will retain the information provided by degrees of membership. In addition, to better suit the situation to be modelled, it is advisable to use T-norm or T-conorm distinct from the minimum and maximum, respectively. This gain in generality is due to the completeness of the work on a higher level of abstraction. You cannot always reproduce the results obtained previously, and also sometimes different definitions with different views are obtained. In any case this approach proves to be much more effective when modelling reality.

Políticas europeas para la competitividad, salarios mìnimos y tutela del poder adquisitivo de las retribuciones en Italia tras el acuerdo de noviembre de 2012 [European Policies for competitiveness, minimum wages and purchasing power protection in Italy after the November 2012 agreement]. WP C.S.D.L.E. “Massimo D’Antona”.INT – 99/2013

On the floor of the Global Wage Report 2012/2013 by ILO, entitled Wages and equitable growth, the A. thinks that the wage regulation has to take into account competitiveness without compressing global aggregate demand. Therefore, International and European rules are necessary to avoid the spiral towards the wages dampen, which is bad for the economic development. The rules in action at the different levels are inadequate. The A. proposes an interpretation of Article 153 and Article 155 TFEU that is more suitable for a European regulation promoting better minimum wages and more coherent with the current legal framework of the right to pay, which can be considered, even if partially, as a social right.