bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Daylighting Analysis: A Contribution to the Urban Planning of the City of Marilândia - ES (Brazil)
Authors: Drago K , Brunoro S , Engel C
Published: June 2020

Daylighting is one of the environmental resources that deliver quality to the built area by making it more comfortable and efficient and by promoting people’s well-being, besides reducing the consumption of electrical energy. The amount of daylighting indoors is related to the construction features, whose parameters are those of the urban legislation, as well as to the location features where the building stands. This research aimed to get a better knowledge of the interference of the urban typologies of Marilândia, Espírito Santo (Brazil), in the availability of daylight in the internal environment. The methodology consisted of the identification and representation of the main typologies found in the city, or of those which might be built due to the current construction law; computer simulations of three sky patterns CIE (3, 7 and 12) using the Troplus 6 program; and the analysis of the results. Founded on this analysis, it was possible to see that the application of the current urban legislation has favored the better use of daylighting inside the constructions through the allowed front setback, which is three meters, and the number of floors allowed in each building, which is eight. As for the use of daylighting, the Typology 03 presented the best performance, making it possible to have a more comfortable environment with better energy savings potential.
Potential of the Residual Fibers of Pisum Sativum (PS), for use in a Development of a Thermal Insulator Material
Authors: Soto M , Vera M , Parra K , Rojas C , Cárdenas J P
Published: June 2020

In the context of climate change, a special interest has been aroused by thermal insulator materials from natural fibers, which can promote sustainable construction in the sector. The objective of this research was to evaluate the potential of the residual fibers of Pisum Sativum (PS), for their future use in the development of a thermal insulator material with low environmental impact. The physical, chemical and thermal properties of the fiber were determined. The results shows that the residual fiber has a great potential with an extraction of raw material of 11.6%. It shows a good proportion in the length of its fibers and roughness and significant number of grooves, which is verified using a scanning electron microscope and after thermal conductivity tests that indicate a best value of 0.033 W/mK. It is therefore concluded that from the residual fibers of PS, an opportunity is generated for the food residual fibers within the sustainable construction industry, given the proposed innovation and its interesting results, which could contribute with its low environmental impact throughout the life cycle of buildings.
Urban Growth and Sustainability. Case Study, Ribera Norte Project, Concepción, Chile
Authors: Rodríguez M T
Published: June 2020

During the last decade of the past century, a new term emerges that extends and introduces all human activity, sustainability. The second World Habitat Conference in Istanbul, under Agenda 21, highlights the role of cities and local authorities in the implementation of the global environment compromises and the generation of life quality and habitat. The design, development and management of “sustainable human communities” points to good urban life quality. Chile joins Agenda 21 and in 1998 promulgates a Law of Environment, together with the launch of various urban projects as mechanisms for recuperation and “relaunching” of its cities. One of these projects was Ribera Norte Project, an initiative that sought to recuperate a degraded area of the city of Concepción and generate urban soil in response of an increasing demand for a sustainable urban growth. The present study attempts to explore the relation and/or articulation between urban growth and sustainability through a concrete urban action, such as the Ribera Norte Project. The objective is to deepen the theoretical knowledge of one of the most discussed urban interventions of the past years in Chile, with the goal to gather lessons about sustainable urban planning in our cities. Starting with the premise that underdeveloped countries have to resolve both problems of urban poverty today and ecological preservation tomorrow, a task that becomes titanic in nature and almost impossible to resolve due to the lack of resources to cover so many urban problems at a time.
Streets as Public Spaces, a Challenge in Urban Planning for Intermediate Cities in Chile
Authors: Figueroa O , Gurdon C
Published: June 2020

In the past 10 years, the concept of public space has gradually become a new key topic in Chile’s urban planning debate. Most often linked to sustainable urban growth and sustainable mobility, the concept arises in a context of legal changes aiming to reinforce the street as a public space dedicated to all type of mobilities, including active modes of transport (walking and cycling). These recent legal transformations represent an important shift in Chile’s urban planning, establishing guidelines for the future in order to encourage sustainable mobility and increase public space quality and access in Chile’s cities. This integrated approach to urban development represents a clear tendency to promote a more cohesive society in a context of increasing urban complexity and environmental challenges. It recognizes spatial, socio-economic and environmental issues and aims to articulate urban planning with mobility by seeking a balanced distribution of urban functions in Chilean cities. Although at first glance this new approach seems positive, it is important to analyse these changes through the lens of Chile’s urban production, especially in the case of intermediate Chilean cities that, due to their scale, still have the possibility to redirect their development towards a more sustainable growth. We propose a critical analysis of urban public space production in intermediate Chilean cities. By defining streets as public spaces and enabling specific social practices in line with specific urban contexts, we are able to define streets as a social space dedicated to mobilities. From this position, under what type of conditions are these public spaces planned and designed? What social consequences or conflicts emerge through their implementation? These processes will be illustrated through examples of public space projects and policies developed in intermediate Chilean cities these past few years.
Energy Efficiency Measures and Data Needs. The Case of the European Building Portfolio Owners
Authors: Camarasa C , Roussou E , Wallbaum H , Sousanabadi Farahani A
Published: June 2020

In line with EU Directives, European building portfolio owners are required to bring their stock to nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) standards by 2050. To fulfil this goal in a timely and cost-effective manner, they will need to have a comprehensive understanding of their buildings’ condition, as well as consistent information on viable energy and low-carbon technology measures. Currently, in Europe, there is a lack of knowledge of what energy efficiency measures are being implemented in residential buildings. It is also unknown what are the decision-making processes behind the selection of these measures. On this basis, the aim of this study is to shed light on (1) what energy efficiency measures are currently carried out across European building portfolio owners (BPOs), (2) how are these measures selected (i.e. decision-making processes and information sources), and (3) what data would be needed to foster the uptake of low carbon energy efficiency technologies. The applied methodology combines desk research on scientific and grey literature, with findings in the field of building maintenance & operation. The later based on semi-structured interviews with 23 selected private and public BPOs across 7 European countries: Sweden, UK, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Results show that the most often implemented actions are the maintenance of the roof and the upgrade of the heating system. Measures are decided based on a combined planned and “reactive” (i.e. problem/solution) approach. The data that is typically used by BPOs is basic building information, such as gross floor area or year built. Although currently unavailable, the most often solicited evidence by the BPOS in favour of energy efficiency and low carbon technology measures is related to energy consumption and other user data.
Comparison of undergrowth diversity between post burned and unburned land in PT National Sago Prima, Riau Province
Authors: Masyithoh G , Purnamasari I , Santosa Y
Published: June 2020

PT NSP is the only sago industrial plantation in Indonesia. Unfortunately, in 2014 there was a fire on the land with an area of burning estimated around 3,000 ha from the total area of 21,418 Ha. This caused PT NSP to be accused of reducing biodiversity in the area. However, there were no research results that show the amount of damage experienced by the fire. Damage caused by fire to vegetation can cause succession. Changes in vegetation caused by succession can be seen from the composition and structure of vegetation in the area. The purpose of this study was to determine the comparison of composition and structure of undergrowth between post-burned and unburned land. This research was conducted in February 2017 and 2019. The method used was a single plot method. The results showed that in post-burnt land 16 species were found in 2017 and 25 species in 2019. While in unburnt land, 20 species were found in 2017 and 21 species in 2019. The species that dominates was Nephrolepis hirsutula, this was due to the condition of the open land cover causing pioneer plants such as N. hirsutula to rapidly develop to cover all exposed land surfaces.
Method of Estimating Forest Fire Impact on Vegetation
Authors: Hilwan Iwan
Published: June 2020

The most significant impact of forest fire can be seen on vegetation. Plants usually die instantly due to considerably severe forest fire. Impact of forest fire is difference in terms of values of several vegetation variables in the forest, before fire and those after fire. Therefore, estimation of magnitude of forest fire impact on vegetation was conducted by comparing vegetation condition in burned area with that of unburned area. The higher the level of severity and intensity of the fire, the greater would be the change occurring in the vegetation condition. The occurring change were in the form of among others change in species composition, stand structure, stand density and basal area. For assessing the magnitude of forest fire impact on vegetation, the very important first step is identifying the various vegetation variables which will exhibit value change. After these vegetation variables are known, there are afterwards observation and measurements in the field, and analysis, both in the burned forest area and in the unburned forest area. In the assessment of fire impact, the vegetation components being measured are: (1) change in size of land cover, with variables in the form of stand density, basal area size, number of species and status of species conservation; and (2) change in level of plant species diversity, with variables in the form of species diversity index, community similarity index, and number of species being lost and gained (diversity loss-gain). Based on difference in values of the two vegetation components, the magnitude of forest fire impact on vegetation can be classified into five levels, namely very small, small, moderate, large and very large.
Forest fires and management efforts in Indonesia (a review)
Authors: Aminah  , Krah CY , Perdinan
Published: June 2020

The area of Indonesia’s forests has continues to shrink from year to year. The causes of this reduction have been mainly forest fires and the clearing of forest land into plantations and other nonagricultural uses. The area of Indonesia’s forest consumed by fires in 2018 alone was about three times that of the previous year, 2017. These rising concern has pushed the Government into putting up divers efforts to control forest fires. This paper makes a general review of the forest fires in Indonesia, its impacts on humans and the natural resources with a special focus on water. The paper also discusses and brings out some possible loopholes in the system that might have contributed to the persistence of the forest fires. The major source of data for this review is secondary data from the ministry of environment and forestry, Indonesia, other sources were also considered for supporting data. This paper consists of 1. Introduction, 2. Causes of Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia, 3. Effects and impacts of Forest and Land Fires, 4. Water Footprint on Forest and Land Fires, 5. Fire Management Systems in Indonesia.
Quantification methods of forest and land fires impact on the atmospheric environment (case study: oil palm plantation in Kayuagung District, OKI Regency, South Sumatra)
Authors: Risdiyanto Idung , Turyanti Ana , Kurniawan Farhan
Published: June 2020

The impact of forest and land fires on the atmospheric environment can be classified into three components, namely ambient air quality, its contribution to greenhouse gases, and microclimate change. Each component has a different method for assessing and measuring the magnitude of its impact. The aim of the study is to obtain quantitative methods to assess the magnitude of the impact of forest and land fires on the atmospheric environment so that they can be used for the valuation of environmental losses. The magnitude of the impact of the air quality component is measured based on the Air Pollution Index (ISPU) and visibility, the component of the greenhouse gas is assessed by approaching the amount of GHG emissions and / or loss of carbon stocks, while changes in the microclimate by assessing changes in the level of thermal comfort. Gas and particulate emissions values of forest and land fires use the carbon mass balance approach and emission factors. Analysis of air pollution dispersion is conducted use the Gaussian model, with case study is the incidence of land fires in oil palm plantations located in Kayuagung sub-district, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency, South Sumatra Province in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The data used in this study consisted of Landsat 8 satellite imagery, MODIS and VIIRS Hotspots, measurements of vegetation biomass in the field, organic C-peat and climate data during fires. The results of the assessment show that land fires covering 551 ha in 2015, 59 ha in 2016 and 253 ha in 2018 have resulted in changes in the air pollutant standard index in Kayuagung from the medium category (ISPU PM10 = 75) to very unhealthy (ISPU PM10 = 272) in 2015, unhealthy (ISPU CO = 116) in 2016 and very unhealthy (ISPU CO = 205) in 2018. Visibility in an area of about 500-600 meters in the direction of the wind from the fire’s location was less than 1 km with PM10 of more than 176 µg m−3. The contribution of GHGs to each fire’s year is 26.8, 2.8 and 12.3 kilo tons of CO2e consist of CO2 and CH4. The results of this study can be used to quantify the magnitude of the land fires impact on the atmospheric environment.
Legal analysis on application of strict liability in oil palm plantation fire cases in Indonesia
Authors: Sadino, S.H., M.H. Dr. , Surono, S.H., M.H. Dr. Agus , Zainal Arifin, S.H Muhamad
Published: June 2020

Forest fire cases become the main issue in Indonesia in the period of 2015-2019. The impacts resulted by the land and forest fires are extraordinary, not only affecting the people of Indonesia, but it has also spread to disrupt the activities of the community in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The community is also infuriated by the occurrence of forest and land fires continuing from year to year. The public negative opinion is then aimed to the oil palm companies considered as the main cause of the fire occurrence. The community considers that the oil palm companies are still burning in order to clear the land. Therefore, is it true that the oil palm companies are the ones to be responsible for the fire as the community believe and can the strict liability principle be applied if fires occur in their areas?
Experimental and Numerical study Behaviors on Single Cement Flyash Gravel pile under the combined effect of axial compression and Lateral load
Authors: Umravia N B , Solanki C H
Published: June 2020

A CFG Cement, Fly-ash and Gravel piles are one of the most popular approaches in geotechnical engineering for load transfer in soft soil and ground improvement in railway, road embankment, high rise building. Its behaviors are like as semi-rigid types of the pile. The analysis and computation of ultimate axial compression load and lateral load in soft soil experiments were conducted in a laboratory to obtaining the response of a single CFG pile. The experimental model of CFG pile is made up of cement fly ash and gravel cast in situ types ascertained using physical scaling fundamental, based on material size, properties, a grade of Mix and prototype of pile foundation. Moreover, the in-situ bored CFG piles have been cast in 70 mm and 100 mm external diameters for Laboratory tests. Hence the different CFG pile lengths are considered for variable L/D ratios. All the experiments were performed on soft clay under independent axial compression and lateral load test; it is also to investigate the combined effect of axial compression and lateral load. It has been observed that the behavior of CFG piles under independent individual loading is significantly different when compared with combined loading. It also derives the relationship between the ultimate load in axial compression and lateral loading as well as in the combined effect of loading. It observed that the ratio of ultimate lateral load and axial load in individual to combined loading are significantly increasing. However, the CFG pile vertical deflection/Lateral displacement at considering with its safe factor of lateral load/axial compression was increasing effectively. In addition to determining the safe axial load / lateral load that has been considering in the present study may be required for design limiting displacement/deflection failure criteria of the CFG pile effectively under combined load. It is noted that the CFG pile imposition with combined loading can substantially improve the soil properties and can lead to the economy in the design of foundations.
Investigation of Hot Piercing method for manufacturing of conveyor chain link of bagasse carrier of the sugar industry to enhance the breaking load
Authors: Gaikwad B. D. , Khomane S. M. , Wangikar S. S. , Jadhav C. C. , Jagtap T. A.
Published: June 2020

A chain is the most crucial element of sugar industry required for transmitting power and conveying of sugar cane, sugar & bagasse, etc. As these chains operate under various forces, failure of chain assembly is the major problem. The main cause of this failure is ineffective manufacturing processes like cold piercing method. The bearing length of the conveyor link hole is lesser (approx 33% straight and the remaining 67 % taper). The breaking strength is directly proportional to the bearing length of the conveyor chain link hole. Therefore, the bearing length is always desired higher. Only a few studies report in the literature related to the effect of bearing length on braking load. Thus, there is scope for work. This work is focused on hot piercing of the conveyor chain link of bagasse carrier to enhance the breaking load by increasing the bearing length of the pierced hole. It is carried out by varying heating temperature of chain link from 650°c to 850°c with an interval of100°c, by keeping variable clearance between punch and die. The bearing length is measured by using a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM). The comparative analysis is carried out for bearing lengths obtained at the cold condition and three hot conditions at temperatures650°c, 750°c, 850°c, respectively. The higher bearing length required for enhancing the breaking strength of the conveyor chain is predicted as an outcome of the study. This study is useful in Conveyor Manufacturing Industry.
Hard Turning Cutting Tool Materials used in Automotive and Bearing Manufacturing Applications – A review
Authors: Samantaraya Debabrata , Lakade Sanjay
Published: June 2020

Hard turning for the machining of hardened steels by using super abrasive cutting tool materials is a comparatively newer manufacturing technology. Due to phenomenal advancements in super abrasive tool materials and machine tool technologies, hard turning becoming a potential alternate machining process to the traditional grinding. Hard turning offers many distinguished benefits over grinding process including fewer machining setups, shorter manufacturing time, lower manufacturing cost, achieving grinding comparable product quality. Fewer machining setups bring higher manufacturing flexibility, and lower the investment cost in machine tools in comparison to grinding. It is possible to carryout hard turning without coolant that eliminates the detrimental effect of coolants on the human health and environment. These benefits made hard turning a popular alternative for the automotive and bearing manufacturing industries for machining of cam shafts, gears, crank shafts, bearings, dies and mould. This paper reviews the researches that were performed on hard turning using cutting tool materials; cemented tungsten carbide (WC), poly-crystalline cubic-boron-nitride (PCBN) and ceramics. The research findings related to the effect of cutting parameters, tool geometry and surface coating on the tool life and tool wear phenomena of these hard turning tool materials in the hard turning of major steels used in automotive and bearing manufacturing industries have been discussed.
Naturally Available Materials and Manufacturing Processes for Development of Biodegradable Composite
Authors: Kulkarni Pratik , Kulkarni Swanand
Published: June 2020

The hazardous effect of plastic is increasing day by day due to its usage in household and kitchen appliances. The researchers all over the world are looking for alternate material and Sustainable development without appropriate and biodegradable material is not possible. Use of natural resources in various material applications will give support for a rural development as well as it will help ecosystem. The present work provides information about availability of various natural substances which possesses great potential to be used in composite material. The present work also provides information of various techniques useful for manufacturing natural composites
Seismic Performance of Bridge Piers Reinforced with Shape Memory Alloys in Plastic Hinge Region
Authors: Thakkar Kanan , Parghi Anant
Published: June 2020

The recent earthquake reconnaissance reports revealed that a large residual displacement had led to the devastation of bridge piers due to serviceability concerns. Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) is the distinctive category of smart materials, which can sustain enormous deformations and reappear to a parent shape after removal of loading or by removal of heat. Replacing the typical steel reinforcement with SMA reinforcement in the potential plastic hinge regions of bridge piers could reduce the residual displacement of a pier. This study is focused on the numerical investigation of circular bridge piers with SMA-based reinforcement in the plastic hinge regions to mitigate the residual displacement. The numerical model of a bridge pier is validated using the experimental results of SMA-reinforced bridge pier. Dynamic time history analyses are performed to compare the performance of SMA-reinforced bridge piers with steel-reinforced bridge piers under the effect of various earthquake ground motions. The results are represented in terms of displacement, base shear, and ductility. Moreover, the influence of several parameters on the performance of bridge piers is investigated, i.e., aspect ratio, axial load ratio, and compositions of SMA. The numerical results have indicated the effectiveness of bridge piers reinforced with SMA by reducing the residual displacement after major earthquake events.
Fracture analysis of single edge cracked functionally graded material plate under various loading conditions by extended finite element method
Authors: Lal Achchhe , Sutaria B.M , Mishra Kundan
Published: June 2020

Functionally graded material (FGM) is the perfect blend of two (or more) material phases of different materials and functional performance that vary in definite direction within the geometry. It was first introduced by group of scientist in 1984 for shielding and thermal barrier. In the present paper single edge cracked plate under different loadings are used to observe the behavior of FGM plate under different loading conditions by using extended finite element method (XFEM). The basic formulation is carried out in MATLAB environment by XFEM using interaction integral (M-integral) through partition of unity method. In the presentstudy the main focus is to utilize XFEM to find mixed mode stress intensity factor (MMSIF) of edge cracked FGM plate under the action of uniform tensile, shear, combined (tensile and shear) and point load.
Additive Manufacturing of Concrete: Challenges and opportunities
Authors: Nair Avinash , Aditya S D , Adarsh R N , Nandan M , Dharek Manish S , Sreedhara B M , Prashant Sunagar C , Sreekeshava K S
Published: June 2020

A modern incipient trend is being witnessed in the construction industry wherein concrete is pumped which flows through a nozzle connected to a robotic arm in successive layers in order to develop structural load bearing members generally referred as “Additive manufacturing of Concrete(AMOC)” or 3D Printing of Concrete (3DPC). Numerous challenges are being faced by the construction industry for implementation of Additive manufacturing of concrete to a large scale due to the scarcity of information available w.r.t this technology. This technology has opened up new opportunities which requires intensive research to be carried out to ensure that concrete gets pumped through the pipe(pumpability), extrudes through the nozzle (extrudability), retains its shape once this concrete is extruded from the nozzle(buildability). In addition to this, concrete has to be strong enough to withstand loads induced by upper layers without any deformations (shape retentivity). If the challenges related to pumpability, extrudability, buildability and shape retentivity can be addressed in a better manner, this technology of 3D concrete printing can be utilized to construct houses/building components at a rapid rate and bring down the overall construction costs exponentially with optimal usage and minimal wastage of resources. This paper addresses the various challenges which are commonly encountered in the Additive manufacturing of Concrete (AMOC) summarizing the potential solutions to it discussing some of the case studies of projects which have used this technology.
Buckling analysis of laminated composite plate due to localised in plane loading
Authors: Lal Achchhe , Parghi Anant , Mahto Anil Kumar , Kumar Rahul
Published: June 2020

Laminated composite plates are inevitable parts of structure due to its superior properties than that of conventional material. Many times, these structural elements are subjected to the partial loadings during various applications which arises buckling in the elements. This necessitates proper analysis of these types of structural member for better safety and stability. In the present paper buckling analysis of laminated composite stiffened plate under in-plane localized edge loading is presented. Buckling load for various cases of partial edge loading are investigated for different fiber orientations and loading extent. Finite element method-based MATLAB program is developed for the present analysis. Validation study is done, which shows well agreement with the results already published.
A Systematic Ergonomics Approach of Maintenance Workstation
Authors: Mujmule N S , Katekar S D , Gaikwad A P , Mali S C , Koli S R
Published: June 2020

The transportation systems contribute very vital role in growth of country, either it may private, public or own transportation system, and to keep the automobiles or machine in good condition without any interruption consistent corrective or preventive maintenance has to be done, and this maintenance activities should take the least time and cost of maintenance along with good quality, and to achieve this it is preferred to design a good maintenance workstation with a systematic ergonomic consideration which has a great influence on time, service, comfort, quality, productivity. For the design of a maintenance workstation, systematic ergonomic procedures are considered these procedures should concern for good ergonomically design of workstation. In an actual design of workstation ergonomically approach is needed concern of the worker anthropometric data with the various parameter of the workstation like adequate posture, work table or chair height, position of the operating nobs and levers comfortable sufficient working areas that help to reduce MSD (Musculoskeletal disorder) and prevent injuries of worker along with enhancing productivity. The main objective of this paper is to propose a systematic ergonomically designed maintenance workstation. Existing workstation of Maintenance in MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) Solapur workshop, is not designed with consideration of Ergonomic principle, so the ergonomic analysis has been made for different posture of maintenance activity, and modifications in workstation has been suggested. For analysis CATIA software is used, Manikin (simulated posture of worker) has been developed based on the anthropometric data collected from MSRTC for RULA analysis under quasi-static loading and dynamic loading conditions.
Theoretical Analysis of LC Filter to Three Level Diode Clamped Inverters in Low/Medium Voltage Applications
Authors: Hunachal Santoshkumar M. , Chodankar Bhagyraj , Salgonkar Rahul , Nakhwa Durvesh
Published: June 2020

The employing of power electronic devices for converters plays a vital role in the conversion of AC to DC vice versa. Applications of these converters more demand in renewable energy, hybrid vehicles, Drives, HVDC, etc. In renewable energy, especially a solar-based power generation stations require inverter stations. These inverters stations have the multilevel inverters. Multilevel inverters are emerging day by day in the sector of the renewable energy sector. The increasing level of multilevel inverters can be effectively utilized in low and medium voltage applications to get the desired voltage and frequency. But output voltage is not in sinusoidal. However, most of the loads require a pure sinusoidal form of voltage. To get sinusoidal voltage across loads a high switching frequency is required to switch the MOSFETs or IGBTs. Along with a suitable value of LC, filters make the sinusoidal nature of waveform with less total harmonic distortion (THD) levels. To get a sinusoidal wave, a proper theoretical analysis of filters is required. In this paper theoretical analysis has been done for LC filters and checked with simulation results for various loads. The performance of theoretical LC filters values checked using diode clamped multi-level inverters have been examined through MATLAB/SIMULINK by POD PWM by POD PWM.
Stress strain characteristics of reinforced hollow concrete block masonry melded with mesh reinforcement
Authors: Dharek Manish S , Raghunath S , Sunagar Prashant C , Bhashyam Aravind H , Sreekeshava K S
Published: June 2020

Plain Masonry similar to unreinforced concrete, is resilient in compression and weak in tension. Masonry gains strength with age similar to concrete. Inspite of these resemblances, there exist numerous differences between masonry and concrete. The major difference is the regular pattern of horizontal joints(known as bed joints) at specific intervals along the height of walls introduce due to the method of construction of masonry. These bed joints make masonry a direction dependent material possessing orthotropic properties, unlike concrete which is usually regarded as isotropic atleast in the elastic range. Mechanical properties such as compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength are a pre-requisite as part of the design of masonry walls. The present study deals with the experimental study to evaluate the mechanical properties of hollow concrete block masonry specimens for varying cement mortar proportions melded with mesh reinforcement at bed joints. Parameters such as compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, failure pattern have been studied and compared for reinforced and unreinforced hollow concrete block prisms. The study showed higher compressive strength and improved elastic modulus for specimens with higher grade of mortar
Prediction of mechanical properties of high strength steel fiber reinforced concrete with multiple regression technique
Authors: Kadam Shriganesh S , Karjinni Vilas V
Published: June 2020

High strength steel fiber reinforced concrete which has cube compressive strength greater than 60 N/mm2 was prepared with OPC 53 grade cement confirming IS 269. Sand passing through IS sieve 4.75mm and retaining on IS sieve 150 micron was used in the investigation. Steel fiber with aspect ratio 80 reinforced randomly and at one third position from top of the concrete surface. The percentage of steel fiber varies from 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% by volume of concrete specimen. The percentage of silica fume varies from 5%, 10% and 15% by weight of cement used in concrete. Mechanical properties of concrete such as compressive strength, flexural strength were investigated for both the position of steel fiber in concrete. A multiple regression model was employed to predict the mechanical properties of HSSFRC. The regression analysis was performed based on the relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variables. Scatter plot was used to determine the relationship between predictor and criterion variables. The relationship between dependant and independent variable is explained by the magnitude (or the strength) and the direction of the relationship. The magnitude of relationship was calculated using “CORRELATION” formula, which gives the strength of the relationship. The actual shape of the curve determines the direction of the relationship.
Effect on bubble dynamics during pool boiling heat transfer in a novel aqueous binary mixture of surfactants
Authors: Pawar Prashant B. , Rakate Ganesh N. , Yadav Sujit V. , Gondkar Vivek S. , Chittewar Suresh L. , Daingade Prashant S.
Published: June 2020

Temperature near the heating region changes with the water boiling curve when the heat flux applied. In this study, experiments were carried out by maintaining a cylindrical subcutaneous hypodermic needle as a single active nucleation site. By controlling heat supplied to the site, a single bubble was formed in the saturated water. The boiling phenomenon was recorded. The surfactants used were sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and centrimonium bromide (CTAB). Aqueous binary mixture SDS-CTAB was prepared on a volume percent basis. The effect was measured by studying a single bubble. The vapor bubble resulting from the nucleation site was observed. Bubble parameters, without and with a surfactant, were plotted in two heat fluxes concerning the excess temperature. It is found that, compared with saturated water, the average measurements of bubble detachment diameters and terminal velocities decreased, but the bubble departure frequency increased. On the other side of analysis, with increasing excess needle temperature of site, at 601 kW/m2, the detachment diameter decreased, departure frequency increased, rising velocity was increased and at 950 kW/m2, the detachment diameter increased, departure frequency increased, rising velocity decreased.
Antibacterial activities and cytocompatibility of zinc-contained strontium phosphate coating on titanium
Authors: Zuo Kangqing , Yin Yixin , Yao Liping , Wang Kai , Yan Yuanyuan , Ma Zongliang , Liu Bing , Lu Yupeng , Li Xiaoyan , Xiao Guiyong
Published: June 2020

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is one of the most pivotal issues accounting for clinical failure of titanium (Ti)-based implants. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop an antibacterial coating with high biocompatibility on the Ti implant surface. In this article, a novel zinc-doped strontium phosphate coating, denoted as Sr-Zn-PCC, was deposited on Ti substrates by phosphate chemical conversion (PCC) method. The texture characterizations indicated that continuous coatings containing SrHPO4, Sr3(PO4)2 and SrZn2(PO4)2 phases were formed on the Ti surface. It is found that the doping of Zn could tune the surface microstructure, roughness, wettability and corrosion resistance of the coatings. The Sr-Zn-PCC coating showed the same bacterial adhesion property at short time (2 h), but tended to hinder biofilm formation on coatings after incubation for up to 24 h. Up to 80% of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were killed within 24 h by contact with the Sr-Zn-PCC surface. Moreover, cytocompatibility assay indicated that MC-3T3 cells had good adhesion, spreading properties on the coatings, suggesting that it is a promising alloy with both excellent antibacterial ability and high biocompatibility for the applications on orthopedic implants.
Modulation-enhanced localization microscopy
Authors: Reymond Loïc , Huser Thomas , Ruprecht Verena , Wieser Stefan
Published: June 2020

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy has become a powerful tool in cell biology to observe sub-cellular organization and molecular details below the diffraction limit of light. Super-resolution methods are generally classified into three main concepts: stimulated emission depletion (STED), single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) and structured illumination microscopy (SIM). Here, we highlight the novel concept of modulation-enhanced localization microscopy (meLM) which we designate as the 4th super-resolution method. Recently, a series of modulation-enhanced localization microscopy methods have emerged, namely MINFLUX, SIMPLE, SIMFLUX, ModLoc and ROSE. Although meLM combines key ideas from STED, SIM and SMLM, the main concept of meLM relies on a different idea: isolated emitters are localized by measuring their modulated fluorescence intensities in a precisely shifted structured illumination pattern. To position meLM alongside state-of-the-art super-resolution methods we first highlight the basic principles of existing techniques and show which parts of these principles are utilized by the meLM method. We then present the overall novel super-resolution principle of meLM that can theoretically reach unlimited localization precision whenever illumination patterns are translated by an arbitrarily small distance.
Sublinear quasiconformality and the large-scale geometry of Heintze groups
Authors: Pallier Gabriel
Published: June 2020

This article analyzes sublinearly quasisymmetric homeomorphisms (generalized quasisymmetric mappings), and draws applications to the sublinear large-scale geometry of negatively curved groups and spaces. It is proven that those homeomorphisms lack analytical properties but preserve a conformal dimension and appropriate function spaces, distinguishing certain (nonsymmetric) Riemannian negatively curved homogeneous spaces, and Fuchsian buildings, up to sublinearly biLipschitz equivalence (generalized quasi-isometry).
Multiple kernel learning for integrative consensus clustering of omic datasets
Authors: Cabassi Alessandra , Kirk Paul D W
Published: June 2020

Motivation

Diverse applications—particularly in tumour subtyping—have demonstrated the importance of integrative clustering techniques for combining information from multiple data sources. Cluster Of Clusters Analysis (COCA) is one such approach that has been widely applied in the context of tumour subtyping. However, the properties of COCA have never been systematically explored, and its robustness to the inclusion of noisy datasets is unclear.

Results

We rigorously benchmark COCA, and present Kernel Learning Integrative Clustering (KLIC) as an alternative strategy. KLIC frames the challenge of combining clustering structures as a multiple kernel learning problem, in which different datasets each provide a weighted contribution to the final clustering. This allows the contribution of noisy datasets to be down-weighted relative to more informative datasets. We compare the performances of KLIC and COCA in a variety of situations through simulation studies. We also present the output of KLIC and COCA in real data applications to cancer subtyping and transcriptional module discovery.

Availability and implementation

R packages klic and coca are available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Coevolution-based prediction of protein–protein interactions in polyketide biosynthetic assembly lines
Authors: Wang Yan , Correa Marrero Miguel , Medema Marnix H , van Dijk Aalt D J
Published: June 2020

Motivation

Polyketide synthases (PKSs) are enzymes that generate diverse molecules of great pharmaceutical importance, including a range of clinically used antimicrobials and antitumor agents. Many polyketides are synthesized by cis-AT modular PKSs, which are organized in assembly lines, in which multiple enzymes line up in a specific order. This order is defined by specific protein–protein interactions (PPIs). The unique modular structure and catalyzing mechanism of these assembly lines makes their products predictable and also spurred combinatorial biosynthesis studies to produce novel polyketides using synthetic biology. However, predicting the interactions of PKSs, and thereby inferring the order of their assembly line, is still challenging, especially for cases in which this order is not reflected by the ordering of the PKS-encoding genes in the genome.

Results

Here, we introduce PKSpop, which uses a coevolution-based PPI algorithm to infer protein order in PKS assembly lines. Our method accurately predicts protein orders (93% accuracy). Additionally, we identify new residue pairs that are key in determining interaction specificity, and show that coevolution of N- and C-terminal docking domains of PKSs is significantly more predictive for PPIs than coevolution between ketosynthase and acyl carrier protein domains.

Availability and implementation

The code is available on http://www.bif.wur.nl/ (under ‘Software’).

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The political economy of state regulation: the case of the British Factory Acts
Authors: Moos Katherine A
Published: June 2020

This paper examines the British Factory Acts (enacted 1833–78) to articulate a political economic theory of policy formation. It argues that the British Factory Acts stabilised conditions for both capital accumulation and social reproduction, while perpetuating patriarchal–capitalist relations. Through these Acts, the state intervened in industrial relations to address social coordination problems and overexploitation caused by the incentive structure of firms and households. Overexploitation posed three threats to social reproduction: the deterioration of the health of the working class, the destabilisation of gender norms and patriarchal structures and political mobilisation of the working and middle classes. By conceptualising protective policy as the solution to social coordination problems in the industrial capitalist labour market, this paper builds upon Polanyian insights into the ‘double movement’, with an explicit Marxian theory of exploitation, the classical theory of competition and insights from feminist theories of social reproduction, unwaged labour and the patriarchal–capitalist system.
Hormone comparison between right and left baleen whale earplugs
Authors: Crain Danielle D , Thomas Amanda , Mansouri Farzaneh , Potter Charles W , Usenko Sascha , Trumble Stephen J
Published: June 2020

Marine animals experience additional stressors as humans continue to industrialize the oceans and as the climate continues to rapidly change. To examine how the environment or humans impact animal stress, many researchers analyse hormones from biological matrices. Scientists have begun to examine hormones in continuously growing biological matrices, such as baleen whale earwax plugs, baleen and pinniped vibrissae. Few of these studies have determined if the hormones in these tissues across the body of the organism are interchangeable. Here, hormone values in the right and left earplugs from the same individual were compared for two reasons: (i) to determine whether right and left earplug hormone values can be used interchangeably and (ii) to assess methods of standardizing hormones in right and left earplugs to control for individuals’ naturally varying hormone expressions. We analysed how absolute, baseline-corrected and Z-score normalized hormones performed in reaching these goals. Absolute hormones in the right and left earplugs displayed a positive relationship, while using Z-score normalization was necessary to standardize the variance in hormone expression. After Z-score normalization, it was possible to show that the 95% confidence intervals of the differences in corresponding lamina of the right and left earplugs include zero for both cortisol and progesterone. This indicates that the hormones in corresponding lamina of right and left earplugs are no different from zero. The results of this study reveal that both right and left earplugs from the same baleen whale can be used in hormone analyses after Z-score normalization. This study also shows the importance of Z-score normalization to interpretation of results and methodologies associated with analysing long-term trends using whale earplugs.
Screen-detected atrial fibrillation predicts mortality in elderly subjects
Authors: Zink Matthias D , Mischke Karl G , Keszei Andras P , Rummey Christian , Freedman Ben , Neumann Gabriele , Tolksdorf Alina , Frank Friederike , Wienströer Jan , Kuth Nicole , Schulz Jörg B , Marx Nikolaus
Published: June 2020

Aims

Current guidelines recommend opportunistic screening for atrial fibrillation (AF) but the prognosis of individuals is unclear. The aim of this investigation is to determine prevalence and 1-year outcome of individuals with screen-detected AF.

Methods and results

We performed a prospective, pharmacy-based single time point AF screening study in 7107 elderly citizens (≥65 years) using a hand-held, single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) device. Prevalence of AF was assessed, and data on all-cause death and hospitalization for cardiovascular (CV) causes were collected over a median follow-up of 401 (372; 435) days. Mean age of participants was 74 ± 5.9 years, with 58% (N = 4130) of female sex. Automated heart rhythm analyses identified AF in 432 (6.1%) participants, with newly diagnosed AF in 3.6% of all subjects. During follow-up, 62 participants (0.9%) died and 390 (6.0%) were hospitalized for CV causes. Total mortality was 2.3% in participants with a screen-detected AF and 0.8% in subjects with a normal ECG [hazard ratio (HR) 2.94; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.49–5.78; P = 0.002]; hospitalization for CV causes occurred in 10.6% and 5.5%, respectively (HR 2.08; 95% CI 1.52–2.84; P < 0.001). Compared with subjects without a history of AF at baseline and a normal ECG, participants with newly diagnosed or known AF had a significantly higher mortality risk with HRs of 2.64 (95% CI 1.05–6.66; P = 0.04) and 2.68 (95% CI 1.44–4.97; P = 0.002), respectively. After multivariable adjustment, screen-detected AF remained a significant predictor of death or hospitalization for CV causes.

Conclusion

Pharmacy-based, automated AF screening in elderly citizens identified subjects with unknown AF and an excess mortality risk over the next year.