Search results for " Cost"
showing 10 items of 3966 documents
Welfare, Home Market Effects, and Horizontal Foreign Direct Investment
2005
We investigate the spatial distribution and organization of an imperfectly competitive industry when firms may choose to operate more than a single production unit. Focusing on a short-run setting with a fixed mass of firms, we fully characterize the spatial equilibria analytically. Comparing the equilibrium and the first-best, we show that both organizational and spatial inefficiencies may arise. In particular, when fixed costs are low enough the market outcome may well lead to overinvestment and, therefore, to too many multinationals operating from a social point of view. Furthermore, once multinationals are taken into account, the market outcome may well lead too little agglomeration.
Stackelberg Equilibrium with Many Leaders and Followers. The Case of Setup Costs
2016
I provide conditions that guarantee that a Stackelberg game with a setup cost and an integer number of leaders and followers has an equilibrium in pure strategies. The main feature of the game is that when the marginal follower leaves the market the price jumps up, so that a leader’s payoff is neither continuous nor quasiconcave. To show existence I check that a leader’s value function satisfies the following single crossing condition: When the other leaders produce more the leader never accommodates entry of more followers. If demand is strictly logconcave, and if marginal costs are both non decreasing and not flatter than average costs, then a Stackelberg equilibrium exists. Besides showi…
Storm Energy Flux Characterization along the Mediterranean Coast of Andalusia (Spain)
2019
This paper investigates wave climate and storm characteristics along the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia, for the period 1979&ndash
Interaction between Longitudinal Shear and Transverse Bending in Prestressed Concrete Box Girders
2017
In box girder bridges, the quantity and distribution of reinforcement to be put in concrete elements of sections can be evaluated only by considering the deformation of the cross section in addition to the longitudinal analysis of the static scheme, establishing the entire state of stress of box sections. This leads to a need to evaluate the interaction between internal forces obtained by the global analysis and the ones obtained by the local analysis of the cross sections. The frame effect implies the elastic deformation of slabs and webs, whereas eccentrically applied loads lead to cross-section distortion with the loss of the box shape. Hence, the reinforcement is strongly influenced by …
Optimal contract length for biodiversity conservation under conservation budget constraint
2014
We examine the optimal length of a contract period in a conservation program with payments for ecosystem services aiming at protecting biodiversity on privately owned forests. The government chooses the number of stands and the length of contracts so as to maximize biodiversity benefits under a binding conservation budget. We examine the implication of two alternative budgets: a separate budget for each period (periodic budget) or one budget that to be used in all periods (intertemporal budget). The impact of the budget type shows up in the fact that with intertemporal budget choice set is larger and more high quality stands are available for contracting. Based on theoretical characterizati…
Comparative experimental analysis on the compressive behaviour of masonry columns strengthened by FRP, BFRCM or steel wires
2017
Abstract In the last decade, several studies have investigated the application of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) wraps to masonry piers in order to provide a confinement effect and enhance compressive strength and ductility. Although this technique has proved to be quite effective, various drawbacks arise when organic resins are used to bind fibres. To solve these problems, different techniques have been developed to be used as alternative methods for enhancing the structural performances of weak masonry columns. Among these, the use of Basalt Fibre Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (BFRCM) wrapping, or the application of steel wires at mortar joints. This paper presents the results of an expe…
Analysis of multi degree of freedom systems with fractional derivative elements of rational order
2014
In this paper a novel method based on complex eigenanalysis in the state variables domain is proposed to uncouple the set of rational order fractional differential equations governing the dynamics of multi-degree-of-freedom system. The traditional complex eigenanalysis is appropriately modified to be applicable to the coupled fractional differential equations. This is done by expanding the dimension of the problem and solving the system in the state variable domain. Examples of applications are given pertaining to multi-degree-of-freedom systems under both deterministic and stochastic loads.
Simplified equivalent finite element modelling of concrete-filled steel tubular K-joints with and without studs
2022
Concrete Filled Steel Tubular (CFST) K-joints employed for truss structures gained high interest in the last years due to their widespread use in engineering practice. The overall performances of these joints can be efficiently improved by using steel studs welded in the inner surface of the steel chord filled with the concrete, avoiding punching shear failure, and improving the overall strength and ductility. However, a reliable prediction of the structural behavior of the joints is outmost of importance for the assessment of the capacity of new and existing structures, and there are no standardized design methods nowadays. In this paper, the structural performances of CFST K-joints with a…
Thermal and structural properties of a hemp–lime biocomposite
2013
Abstract The need to reduce greenhouse gases emission produced by the building sector leads to the research of renewable and less impacting materials that can replace traditional ones. This subject has encouraged new researches on biocomposite concretes with the aim to exploit renewable resources like vegetal fibres intended as materials whose production processes are generally characterized by low costs and energy demand. This biocomposite is obviously much lighter than concrete and, therefore, can be suitably used in such cases where a structure cannot be overloaded, for instance in the realization of a green covering on top of a preexistent building. In this work, a first analysis of the…
A discontinuous Galerkin formulation for nonlinear analysis of multilayered shells refined theories
2023
A novel pure penalty discontinuous Galerkin method is proposed for the geometrically nonlinear analysis of multilayered composite plates and shells, modelled via high-order refined theories. The approach allows to build different two-dimensional equivalent single layer structural models, which are obtained by expressing the covariant components of the displacement field through-the-thickness via Taylor’s polynomial expansion of different order. The problem governing equations are deduced starting from the geometrically nonlinear principle of virtual displacements in a total Lagrangian formulation. They are addressed with a pure penalty discontinuous Galerkin method using Legendre polynomial…