An analytical study was carried out to evaluate shear wall indexes for low to mid-rise reinforced concrete structures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different shear wall ratios on performance of buildings to be utilized in the preliminary assessment and design stages of reinforced concrete buildings with shear walls. In order to achieve this aim, forty five 3D building models with two, five and eight storeys having different wall ratios were generated. Linearly elastic and nonlinear static pushover analyses of the models were performed by SAP2000. Variation of roof drift and interstorey drift with shear wall ratio was obtained and results were compared with the results of approximate procedures in the literature. Additionally, performance evaluation of building models was carried out according to the linearly elastic method of Turkish Earthquake Code 2007 with Probina Orion. According to the results of the analysis, it was concluded that drift is generally not the primary concern for low to mid-rise buildings with shear walls. A direct relationship could not be established between wall index and code performance criteria. However, approximate limits for wall indexes that can be used in the preliminary design and assessment stages of buildings were proposed for different performance levels.

Diffraction Enhanced Imaging (DEI) is an X-ray imaging technique providing specific information about the molecular structure of a tissue by means of coherently scattered photons. A Controlled Drift Detector (CDD) is a novel 2D silicon imager developed to be used in X-ray imaging techniques. In this work a final (complete and detailed) analysis of DEI data taken with the CDD in the ELETTRA synchrotron light source facility in Trieste (Italy) in 2005, is presented and the applicability of both this new technique and the novel detector are discussed.

Most of the older reinforced concrete (RC) buildings have columns that are deficient when the current code requirements are considered. Therefore, performance of the columns determines the performance of the structure under the effects of earthquake induced lateral loads. It is recognized that no provision is proposed in TEC2007 to estimate the failure type called flexure-shear. Behavior of columns having probability of failing in flexure-shear failure mode is mostly underestimated by TEC2007 procedures. In addition, failure type classification of columns performed according to the linear and nonlinear procedures of TEC2007 needs to be examined with respect to the test results to cover all failure types including flexure-shear failure in order to lead the engineers develop economical and realistic retrofit solutions. In this study, different methods are explored to obtain reliable estimates for the performance of code deficient shear critical RC columns. Special considerations are given to Axial-Shear-Flexure interaction (ASFI) approach due to its mechanical background. After examination of different approaches, ASFI method with proposed modifications was selected as the most reliable model and lateral load-displacement analyses were performed on a database of shear critical columns. Findings were compared with the estimations of the nonlinear procedure given in Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC2007) for database columns. In addition, drift capacity equations and simplified safe drift capacity equations are proposed in light of statistical studies on the selected column specimens. In the last part of the study, performance evaluation of columns according to nonlinear procedures of FEMA 356, TEC2007, ASCE/SEI 41 update supplement, and EUROCODE 8 were conducted.

An analytical study was performed to evaluate the effect of shear wall ratio on the dynamic behavior of mid-rise reinforced concrete structures. The primary aim of this study is to examine the influence of shear wall area to floor area ratio on the dynamic performance of a building. Besides, the effect of shear wall configuration and area of existing columns on the seismic performance of the buildings were also investigated. For this purpose, twenty four mid-rise building models that have five and eight stories and shear wall ratios ranging between 0.51 and 2.17 percent in both directions were generated. These building models were examined by carrying out nonlinear time-history analyses using PERFORM 3D. The analytical model used in this study was verified by comparing the analytical results with the experimental results of a full-scale seven-story reinforced concrete shear wall building that was tested for U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research Program in 1981. In the analyses, seven different ground motion time histories were used and obtained data was averaged and utilized in the evaluation of the seismic performance. Main parameters affecting the overall performance were taken as roof and interstory drifts, their distribution throughout the structure and the base shear characteristics. The analytical results indicated that at least 1.0 percent shear wall ratio should be provided in the design of mid-rise buildings, in order to control observed drift. In addition / when the shear wall ratio increased beyond 1.5 percent, it was observed that the improvement of the seismic performance is not as significant.

<p>Bakgrund</p><p>Richard J. Rendleman, Charles P. Jones & Henry A. Latané påvisade i en studie år 1982 med hjälp av en regressionsmodell att tidsförskjutningar i prissättningen av aktier existerat på den amerikanska marknaden vid kvartalsresultat som avvek från en trend. Det inspirerade oss att med samma metod undersöka om liknande tidsförskjutningar även existerat på den svenska marknaden.</p><p>Syfte</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att empiriskt studera om det existerat tidsförskjutna aktieprisjusteringar kvartalsvis, baserade på standardiserade oförväntade kvartalsresultat respektive standardiserade oförväntade kassaflöden, på den svenska aktiemarknaden under åren 2004-2006. Om sådana tidsförskjutningar av prisbildning existerat avser vi även att diskutera dem utifrån teorier om behavioral finance.</p><p>Genomförande</p><p>Med linjär regression estimeras EPS respektive kassaflöden utifrån historiska data. Estimeringarnas avvikelse från rapporterade data jämförs sedan med aktiekursutveckling för att se om samband föreligger mellan storleken på avvikelserna och efterföljande tidsförskjutning.</p><p>Resultat</p><p>Under tidsperioden 2004-2006 påvisar vi tidsförskjutningar med standardiserade oförväntade kvartalsresultat men inte med standardiserade oförväntade kassaflöden.</p> / <p>Background</p><p>Richard J. Rendleman, Charles P. Jones & Henry A. Latané presented a study in 1982 where they showed anomalies on the American stock exchange when using standardized unexpected earnings. Their result inspired us to do a similar research on the Swedish stock exchange. </p><p>Purpose</p><p>The purpose of this study is to do an empirical study of the existence of drifts in stock price adjustments, based on standardized unexpected earnings and standardized unexpected cash-flows on the Swedish stock exchange during the years 2004-2006. If anomalies are discovered we intend to discuss them in terms of behavioral finance. </p><p>Implementation</p><p>With a linear regression we estimate EPS respective cash-flow from historical data. The deviations from quarterly reported data are compared with the development of stock-prices. </p><p>Conclusion</p><p>During the time period 2004-2006 we show that anomalies have existed when standardized unexpected earnings are applied and that no anomalies can be found with standardized unexpected cash-flows.</p>

Over the past century the study of gas exchange rates between the atmosphere and the ocean has received increased attention because of concern about the fate of greenhouse gases such as CO2 released into the atmosphere. Of interest is the oceanic uptake of CO2 in shallow water coastal regions as biological productivity in these regions is on average about three times larger than in the open ocean. It is well-known that in the absence of breaking surface waves, the water side turbulence controls gas transfer of sparingly soluble gases such as CO2 from the air to the water. The dependence of gas transfer on wind-driven shear turbulence and convection turbulence generated by surface cooling has been investigated previously by others. However, the effect of Langmuir turbulence generated by wave-current interaction has not been investigated before. More specifically, Langmuir turbulence is generated by the interaction of the wind-driven shear current with the Stokes drift velocity induced by surface gravity waves. In this dissertation, large-eddy simulations (LES) of wind-driven shallow water flows with Langmuir turbulence have been conducted and scalar transport and surface scalar transfer dynamics analyzed. The scalar represents the concentration of a dissolved gas such as CO2 in the water. In flows with Langmuir turbulence, the largest scales of the turbulence consist of full-depth Langmuir circulation (LC), parallel downwind-elongated, counter-rotating vortices acting as a secondary structure to the mean flow. LES guided by the full-depth LC field measurements of Gargett & Wells (2007) shows that Langmuir turbulence plays a major role in determining scalar transport throughout the entire water column and scalar transfer at the surface. Langmuir turbulence affects scalar transport and its surface transfer through 1. the full-depth homogenizing action of the large scale LC and 2. the near-surface vertical turbulence intensity induced by the Stokes drift velocity shear. Two key parameters controlling the extent of these two mechanisms are the dominant wavelength (λ) of the surface waves generating the turbulence and the turbulent Langmuir number, Lat , which is inversely proportional to wave forcing relative to wind forcing. Furthermore, LES representative of the field measurements of Gargett et al. (2004) shows that Langmuir turbulence increases transfer velocity (a measure of mass transfer efficiency across the air-water interface) dramatically with respect to shear-dominated turbulence. Finally, direct resolution of the surface mass transfer boundary layer allows for the LES to serve as a testing ground for bulk parameterizations of transfer velocity. Several wellestablished parameterizations are tested and a new parameterization based on Stokes drift velocity shear is proposed leading to encouraging results.

In the first essay titled "The Information Role of Analysts' Contrarian Revisions," I study a special group of revisions: contrarian revisions, defined as recommendation changes that are inconsistent with sizable stock price movements during the past week. I find that contrarian revisions are relatively more informative than trending revisions. In particular, contrarian revisions are associated with a both statistically and economically larger post-announcement drift. I also find contrarian downgrades are less likely to be issued by all-star analysts and analysts with more experience. After implementation of Regulation RD, the market reaction to contrarian revisions issued by all-stars significantly decreases, indicating private information contained in contrarian recommendations has declined. Overall, our results suggest analyst recommendations are important information sources for market participants. In the second essay titled "Market Reaction to Earnings When Investors Disagree," I investigate how the divergence of opinions between individual and institutional investors affects stock price movements around public news events, specifically earnings announcements. I use a discrete static market equilibrium model to illustrate that divergence of investors' opinions has a significant impact on stock price movements around earnings announcements. Specifically, the divergence of opinion has a negative relation with the immediate market reaction but a positive relation with the subsequent stock price drift. I also investigate trading volume around earnings announcements to explore how traders respond to changes in the divergence of investors' opinions. Empirical evidence supports the model implications and indicates announcement trading volume decreases inversely to the divergence of opinions.

Langmuir turbulence in the upper ocean is generated by the interaction between the wind-driven shear current and the Stokes drift velocity induced by surface gravity waves. In homogenous (neutrally stratified) shallow water, the largest scales of Langmuir turbulence are characterized by full-depth Langmuir circulation (LC). LC consists of parallel counter-rotating vortices aligned roughly in the direction of the wind. In shallow coastal shelves, LC has been observed engulfing the entire water column, interacting with the boundary layer and serving as an important mechanism for sediment re-suspension. In this research, large-eddy simulations (LES) of Langmuir turbulence with full-depth LC in a wind-driven shear current have revealed deviations from classical log-layer dynamics in the surface and bottom of the water column. For example, mixing due to full-depth LC induces a large wake region eroding the classical bottom (bed) log-law velocity profile. Meanwhile, near the surface, Stokes drift shear serves to intensify small scale eddies leading to enhanced mixing and disruption of the surface velocity log-law. The modified surface and bottom log-layer dynamics induced by Langmuir turbulence and full-depth LC have important implications on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations (RANSS) of the general coastal ocean circulation. Turbulence models in RANSS are typically calibrated under the assumption of log-layer dynamics, which could potentially be invalid during occurrence of Langmuir turbulence and associated full-depth LC. A K-Profile Parameterization (KPP) of the Reynolds shear stress in RANSS is introduced capturing the basic mechanisms by which shallow water Langmuir turbulence and full-depth LC impact the mean flow. Single water column RANS simulations with the new parameterization are presented showing good agreement with LES

During the production and transportation of oil and gas, flow assurance issues may occur due to the solid deposits that are formed and carried by the flowing fluid. Solid deposition may cause serious damage and possible failure to production equipment in the flow lines. The major flow assurance problems that are faced in the fields are concerned with asphaltene, wax and scale deposition, as well as hydrate formations. Hydrates, wax and asphaltene deposition are mostly addressed in deep-water environments, where fluid flows through a long path with a wide range of pressure and temperature variations (Hydrates are generated at high pressure and low temperature conditions). In fact, a large change in the thermodynamic condition of the fluid yields phase instability and triggers solid deposit formations. In contrast, scales are formed in aqueous phase when some incompatible ions are mixed. Among the different flow assurance issues in hydrocarbon reservoirs, asphaltenes are the most complicated one. In fact, the difference in the nature of these molecules with respect to other hydrocarbon components makes this distinction. Asphaltene molecules are the heaviest and the most polar compounds in the crude oils, being insoluble in light n-alkenes and readily soluble in aromatic solvents. Asphaltene is attached to similarly structured molecules, resins, to become stable in the crude oils. Changing the crude oil composition and increasing the light component fractions destabilize asphaltene molecules. For instance, in some field situations, CO₂ flooding for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery destabilizes asphaltene. Other potential parameters that promote asphaltene precipitation in the crude oil streams are significant pressure and temperature variation. In fact, in such situations the entrainment of solid particulates in the flowing fluid and deposition on different zones of the flow line yields serious operational challenges and an overall decrease in production efficiency. The loss of productivity leads to a large number of costly remediation work during a well life cycle. In some cases up to $5 Million per year is the estimated cost of removing the blockage plus the production losses during downtimes. Furthermore, some of the oil and gas fields may be left abandoned prematurely, because of the significance of the damage which may cause loss about $100 Million. In this dissertation, we developed a robust wellbore model which is coupled to our in-house developed compositional reservoir model (UTCOMP). The coupled wellbore/reservoir simulator can address flow restrictions in the wellbore as well as the near-wellbore area. This simulator can be a tool not only to diagnose the potential flow assurance problems in the developments of new fields, but also as a tool to study and design an optimum solution for the reservoir development with different types of flow assurance problems. In addition, the predictive capability of this simulator can prescribe a production schedule for the wells that can never survive from flow assurance problems. In our wellbore simulator, different numerical methods such as, semi-implicit, nearly implicit, and fully implicit schemes along with blackoil and Equation-of-State compositional models are considered. The Equation-of-State is used as state relations for updating the properties and the equilibrium calculation among all the phases (oil, gas, wax, asphaltene). To handle the aqueous phase reaction for possible scales formation in the wellbore a geochemical software package (PHREEQC) is coupled to our simulator as well. The governing equations for the wellbore/reservoir model comprise mass conservation of each phase and each component, momentum conservation of liquid, and gas phase, energy conservation of mixture of fluids and fugacity equations between three phases and wax or asphaltene. The governing equations are solved using finite difference discretization methods. Our simulation results show that scale deposition is mostly initiated from the bottom of the wellbore and near-wellbore where it can extend to the upper part of the well, asphaltene deposition can start in the middle of the well and the wax deposition begins in the colder part of the well near the wellhead. In addition, our simulation studies show that asphaltene deposition is significantly affected by CO₂ and the location of deposition is changed to the lower part of the well in the presence of CO₂. Finally, we applied the developed model for the mechanical remediation and prevention procedures and our simulation results reveal that there is a possibility to reduce the asphaltene deposition in the wellbore by adjusting the well operation condition. / text

On the first part, we consider nonlinear operators I depending on a family of nonlocal linear operators [mathematical equations]. We study the solutions of the Dirichlet initial and boundary value problems [mathematical equations]. We do not assume even symmetry for the kernels. The odd part bring some sort of nonlocal drift term, which in principle competes against the regularization of the solution. Existence and uniqueness is established for viscosity solutions. Several Hölder estimates are established for u and its derivatives under special assumptions. Moreover, the estimates remain uniform as the order of the equation approaches the second order case. This allows to consider our results as an extension of the classical theory of second order fully nonlinear equations. On the second part, we study two phase problems posed over a two dimensional cone generated by a smooth curve [mathematical symbol] on the unit sphere. We show that when [mathematical equation] the free boundary avoids the vertex of the cone. When [mathematical equation]we provide examples of minimizers such that the vertex belongs to the free boundary. / text