RC slabs can be subjected simultaneously to transverse loads and in-plane tensile forces, as it happens in top of continuous box girder bridges decks, the regions negative moments, or flat horizontal loads, produced by wind earth pressure. Tensile forces reduce shear punching capacity slabs. However, few studies have been carried out quantify this effect. With purpose, a mechanical model has de...

The cost of tooling in sheet metal industries contributes a considerable part to the overall cost of manufacturing a component. It is therefore imperative to keep down this cost by ensuring that the tool works for a long period in production without interruption. One way of achieving this objective is to reduce the stress on the tool during punching/blanking. This paper deals with the study of ...

The effects of reinforcement and extinction on response variability and stimulus generalization in the punching and kicking techniques of 2 martial arts students were evaluated across drill and sparring conditions. During both conditions, the students were asked to demonstrate different techniques in response to an instructor's punching attack. During baseline, the students received no feedback...

Does distraction or rumination work better to diffuse anger? Catharsis theory predicts that rumination works best, but empirical evidence is lacking. In this study, angered participants hit a punching bag and thought about the person who had angered them (rumination group) or thought about becoming physically fit (distraction group). After hitting the punching bag, they reported how angry they ...

This paper discusses the problem of minimizing the cost of sheet metal punching when nesting (batching) orders. Although the problem is NP-complete, the solution to a linear programming relaxation yields an efficient heuristic. This paper analyzes the heuristic’s worst-case performance and discusses experimental results that demonstrate its ability to find good solutions across a range of cost ...

This paper describes models that estimate the cost and time of sheet metal punching when nesting (batching) orders. These models help decision{makers plan production and evaluate the impact of changing the nesting policy. In addition, we use them to formulate a nesting optimization problem. Finally, we use the models to evaluate the sensitivity of the nesting policy to manufacturing parameters....

Segmenting human motion into distinct actions is a highly challenging problem. From the motion analysis perspective, segmentation is difficult due to large stylistic variations, temporal scaling, changes in physical appearance, irregularity in the periodicity of human motions and the huge number of actions and their combinations. From a semantic viewpoint, segmentation is inherently elusive and...

Does media endorsement for catharsis produce a self-fulfilling or a self-defeating prophecy? In Study 1, participants who read a procatharsis message (claiming that aggressive action is a good way to relax and reduce anger) subsequently expressed a greater desire to hit a punching bag than did participants who read an anticatharsis message. In Study 2, participants read the same messages and th...