Validation of a measurement procedure for the assessment of the safety of buildings in urgent technical rescue operations

This work would like to provide a preliminary contribution to the draft of standard procedures for the adoption of Total Stations by rescuers in emergency situations, so as to offer a reliable and effective support to their assessment activities. In particular, some considerations will be made regarding the effect of the number and positioning of monitoring points on the tilt determination of a building façade, in order to set up simplified procedures, which are quick and easy to implement in emergency situations, at the same time guaranteeing the reliability of the results. Two types of building will be taken into account as test cases, which have different characteristics in terms of height, distance and angle with respect to the Total Station. Some considerations will be made about the aspects to be explored in future work, for the calibration of the method as a whole and the definition of all the steps of a procedure for the evaluation of the safety of a building.

Ewolucja cywilnych postępowań nakazowych i upominawczych w kierunku respektowania wymogów demokratycznego państwa prawnego

Although writ proceedings in the Polish civil proceedings have been in operation since the beginning of the modern Polish civil process, there are still controversies in the aspect of fairly structured court proceedings. The defendant may be convinced that their procedural rights have been violated. It is a consequence of considering the case without prior notification of the defendant about the initiation of the proceedings. In such an approach, the judiciary may be perceived as not respecting the standards of a democratic state ruled by law. At the same time, to be closer to the notions of a totalitarian or authoritarian state, because it is not the procedural rights of an individual that are primary, but the effectiveness of the authorities’ actions. However, the concerns about the order for payment mechanism are unfounded as long as the model in which the order for payment is applied complies with the necessary requirements. First, the public authority deciding the case should have the attribute of impartiality. It is not necessary that payment orders are issued by a court. However, if the case is not heard by the court, the judicial control of such decisions is necessary. Second, the evidence should not be assessed. The presentation of specific evidence may, however, be a necessary condition for issuing an order for payment. The issue of the public body examining cases is related to the issue of evidentiary proceedings. These two elements define the nature of the order for payment by defining a procedure model. Finally, it should be pointed out that the order mechanism in a democratic state ruled by law should only supplement the examination of cases in ordinary proceedings (or separate proceedings distinguished by the party types). If the number of cases examined in separate proceedings is significant, and even more so if this way of dealing with cases prevails, ordinary proceedings may be merely an illusion. If in a significant number of cases simplified procedures leading to issuing an order for payment are applied, procedural guarantees related only to ordinary proceedings are irrelevant in such cases.

Rapid Public-Private Partnership Deployment in Kazakhstan: Enablers and Implications

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a relatively new phenomenon in Kazakh-stan – their development began in 2005 in the transport and energy sectors. Initially sluggish growth transformed into rapid PPP deployment from 2016 to 2019 when hundreds of PPPs were launched in many industries (infrastructure, hospitals, schools), which was in sharp contrast to just a handful of PPPs formed prior to 2016. Rapid PPP deployment raised deep concerns whether the government’s supporting schemes and PPP launch procedures are appropriate and whether they may backfire for the government in the form of increasing debt. This paper aims to investigate the enablers and implications of accelerated PPP formation. The study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with a range of actors in the field, including PPP operators (railroad, energy company, kindergarten), regional and local governments, national and regional PPP centres, lawyers and private investors, which afforded an opportunity to mitigate bias in opinions. The study has identified three principal enablers: simplified procedures for a PPP launch, pressure exerted on regional governments, and extensive government financial support to PPPs. By making use of agency theory, property rights theory and the value-for-money concept, the paper offers a conceptualisation of rapid PPP growth in Kazakhstan in recent years and argues that growth was disproportionally fast and unintended. Policy implications include a need to re-establish the value-for-money approach to PPP formation, a significant increase in government liabilities to PPPs, and a misconception regarding the role of PPP collaborative governance.

A simplified procedure to improve the usability of hydrodynamic modelling software in regenerative urban design

Densely urbanized areas are greatly exposed to the risks from climate change as reported by IPCC in 2018. In particular, compact urban settings afflicted by heavy storms and droughts, coupled with the intensification of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and incremental heat waves require a requalification of the outdoor environment that accommodates for both strategic water management and enhanced microclimatic conditions. The present study proposes simplified procedures to enable the application of complex hydrodynamic modelling software (SWMM), by non-expert users (such as planners and designers), in the preliminary phases of an urban space project according to a water-sensitive urban design approach. In the paper, Italian multi-level regulations aimed at controlling the impacts of excessive rainfall in urban areas are taken into account as well as the integration of circular water management systems with evaporative cooling strategies. The proposed procedure is focused on two aspects: 1- to simplify the steps needed to convert the existing climatic data to provide a numerical sequence, to insert into the software; 2- to define a set of pre-compiled and multi-purposed solutions toolkits for the design of urban spaces that can be imported into the software through an external database.

Solving Complex Fuzzy Linear Matrix Equations

In this paper, a kind of complex fuzzy linear matrix equation A X ˜ B = C ˜ , in which C ˜ is a complex fuzzy matrix and A and B are crisp matrices, is investigated by using a matrix method. The complex fuzzy matrix equation is extended into a crisp system of matrix equations by means of arithmetic operations of fuzzy numbers. Two brand new and simplified procedures for solving the original fuzzy equation are proposed and the correspondingly sufficient condition for strong fuzzy solution are analysed. Some examples are calculated in detail to illustrate our proposed method.

Solid Truss to Shell Numerical Homogenization of Prefabricated Composite Slabs

The need for quick and easy deflection calculations of various prefabricated slabs causes simplified procedures and numerical tools to be used more often. Modelling of full 3D finite element (FE) geometry of such plates is not only uneconomical but often requires the use of complex software and advanced numerical knowledge. Therefore, numerical homogenization is an excellent tool, which can be easily employed to simplify a model, especially when accurate modelling is not necessary. Homogenization allows for simplifying a computational model and replacing a complicated composite structure with a homogeneous plate. Here, a numerical homogenization method based on strain energy equivalence is derived. Based on the method proposed, the structure of the prefabricated concrete slabs reinforced with steel spatial trusses is homogenized to a single plate element with an effective stiffness. There is a complete equivalence between the full 3D FE model built with solid elements combined with truss structural elements and the simplified homogenized plate FE model. The method allows for the correct homogenization of any complex composite structures made of both solid and structural elements, without the need to perform advanced numerical analyses. The only requirement is a correctly formulated stiffness matrix of a representative volume element (RVE) and appropriate formulation of the transformation between kinematic constrains on the RVE boundary and generalized strains.

A Simplified Procedures for Cellulase Filter Paper Assay

A new procedures to minimize labor intensiveness and complexity that has long been recognized in cellulase filter paper activity measurement (FPAase) described by the international union of pure and applied chemistry (IUPAC) was developed. It follows the main idea of IUPAC with only exception finding at least two cellulase dilutions have optical densities slightly more and less than a reference optical density of an arbitrary fixed 2 mg absolute glucose amount after a red-ox color reaction and due to cellulase-filter paper hydrolysis. The yielding glucose amount difference as compared to this reference is expressed in terms of absorbance difference percent determined by 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS), in case of cellulase is cellubiase rich. If not, an external supplemental portion should be added. The intersection of the line of these two cellulase dilutions with abscissa intersect a vertical at a hypothetical 0% absorbance difference percent corresponding to a critical cellulase dilution exactly release this fixed arbitrary 2 mg glucose amount value. The factor 0.37 of this critical cellulase dilution equals to its filter paper units expressed in FPU per ml.

Parametric Study on the Applicability of AASHTO LRFD for Simply Supported Reinforced Concrete Skewed Slab Bridges

Simplified code provisions can be used for the analysis and design of straight slab bridges. However, several studies question the appropriateness of simplified procedures for skewed geometries. This paper provides practical insights to the designer regarding the effects of skewness in reinforced concrete slab bridges by evaluating how simplified and more refined analysis procedures impact the design magnitudes and resulting reinforcement layouts. The methods used for this study are analytical and numerical case studies. Eighty case study slab bridges with varying lengths, widths, and skew angles are subjected to the AASHTO HL-93 loading. Then, the governing moments and shear forces are determined using the AASHTO LRFD simplified procedures with hand calculations, and using linear finite element analysis (LFEA). Afterwards, the reinforcement is designed according to the AASHTO LRFD design provisions. From these case studies, it is found through the LFEA that increasing skew angles result in decreasing amounts of longitudinal reinforcement and increasing amounts of transverse flexural reinforcement. Comparing the reinforcement layouts using AASHTO LRFD-based hand calculations and LFEA, we find that using LFEA reduces the total weight of steel reinforcement needed. Moreover, as the skew increases, LFEA captures increased shear forces at the obtuse corner that AASHTO LRFD does not. In conclusion, it is preferable to design the reinforcement of skewed reinforced concrete slab bridges using LFEA instead of hand calculations based on AASHTO LRFD for cost reduction and safety in terms of shear resistance in the obtuse corners.

A Simplified Procedures for Cellulase Filter Paper Assay

<p>A new procedures to minimize labor intensiveness and complexity that has long been recognized in cellulase filter paper activity measurement (FPAase) described by the international union of pure and applied chemistry (IUPAC)was developed. It follows the main idea of IUPAC with only exception finding at least two cellulase dilutions have optical densities slightly more and less than a reference optical density of an arbitrary fixed 2 mg absolute glucose amount after a red-ox color reaction and due to cellulase-filter paper hydrolysis. The yielding glucose amount difference as compared to this reference is expressed in terms of absorbance difference percent determined by 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS), in case of cellulase is cellubiase rich. If not, an external supplemental portion should be added. The intersection of the line of these two cellulase dilutions with abscissa intersect a vertical at a hypothetical 0% absorbance difference percent corresponding to a critical cellulase dilution exactly release this fixed arbitrary 2 mg glucose amount value. The factor 0.37 of this critical cellulase dilution equals to its filter paper units expressed in FPU per ml.</p><br>

A Simplified Procedures for Cellulase Filter Paper Assay

<p>A new procedures to minimize labor intensiveness and complexity that has long been recognized in cellulase filter paper activity measurement (FPAase) described by the international union of pure and applied chemistry (IUPAC)was developed. It follows the main idea of IUPAC with only exception finding at least two cellulase dilutions have optical densities slightly more and less than a reference optical density of an arbitrary fixed 2 mg absolute glucose amount after a red-ox color reaction and due to cellulase-filter paper hydrolysis. The yielding glucose amount difference as compared to this reference is expressed in terms of absorbance difference percent determined by 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS), in case of cellulase is cellubiase rich. If not, an external supplemental portion should be added. The intersection of the line of these two cellulase dilutions with abscissa intersect a vertical at a hypothetical 0% absorbance difference percent corresponding to a critical cellulase dilution exactly release this fixed arbitrary 2 mg glucose amount value. The factor 0.37 of this critical cellulase dilution equals to its filter paper units expressed in FPU per ml.</p><br>