Restorations in post-war period

The choice of the monument care methodology depends not only on the preference of the author of the restoration or the opinion of a professional monument commission, but also on the state in which the historic building is and historical stages it developed through. After the Second World War, much of the architectural historical heritage in the territory of the former Czechoslovakia was devastated, and the then professional society faced challenges of how to restore and preserve these destroyed buildings. The following article explains the starting points and selected methods of post-war monument care on the example of three churches in the former Czechoslovakia. Buildings selected for comparison originated in approximately the same epoch, underwent a rather complex building developments, and the extent of their damage was also similar. Specifically, we focus on the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Handlová, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Bíňa and the Church of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Slavic Patrons in Prague. Although the three compared cases show similarities, different restoration methodologies were used. The majority opinion of the then professional public tended towards reconstructing historic buildings to the state before their destruction, as is also evident in the cases being compared. Nevertheless, each of the churches is restored with some deviations from the original condition. In the case of the church in Bíňa, we follow traces of a purist reconstruction, in Prague we witness a restoration by indicative reconstruction, also applied in Handlová, where, moreover, the methodology of reconstruction to the state before destruction was completely abandoned. Our ambition is to point out the diversity of opinion in the care of monuments, which at that time saw a change in paradigm and began to accept authors’ new inputs while preserving the historical essence of the building.

Research on a reference signal optimisation algorithm for indoor Bluetooth positioning

GPS has a sharp performance decline in terms of accuracy indoors due to the complex building structure. A combined algorithm, targeting at received signal strength indication (RSSI) calibration optimisation, depending on deep neural network training via input vector Γ and the target output vector Ψ, termed reference signal optimisation algorithm (RSOA) is proposed to improve the positioning accuracy in the indoor Bluetooth positioning networks. Experimental results show that the relative error of the proposed RSOA between the estimated results and the measured ones can reach as low as 0.2%, and the absolute errors can be reduced to 0.13 m at most within 10 m.

Paleogenetic Analysis of the Residents from the Moscow Kremlin’s Podol (Lower Area) of the 14th Century (According to the Materials of Excavations in the Taynitsky Garden)

Introduction. The article presents the results of paleogenetic studies of medieval human remains of three people found in a closed archaeological complex (building 32) revealed during the excavations in 2007 in the Taynitsky Garden of the Moscow Kremlin (supervisor of excavations: N.A. Makarov). Previous studies on the dating of the complex links it to the devastation of Moscow by the troops of Tokhtamysh Khan in August 1382. The archaeological layer was formed at a time as a result of a fire and contained the remains of two adults and a 3-4 year old child who remained unburied. The aim of this work was the genetic study of the ancient DNA of the remains of people who died in the 14th century, clarification of their gender, determination of kinship and presumptive origin. Material and methods. For genetic examination, teeth were selected (permanent for adults, primary for a child). The laboratory research algorithm included a set of measures to protect archaeological DNA from contamination, sample preparation and extraction of DNA from dental remains, analysis of STR markers of the Y chromosome in males, analysis of ALU markers of autosomal chromosomes, targeted NGS sequencing of hyper-variable segments of mitochondrial DNA. Results and conclusion. Using the methods of molecular genetic research, it was possible to confirm that a man, a young woman and a child (boy) died in the fire. Based on the analysis of autosomal markers, with a high degree of probability (99.9%), a close biological relationship between a woman and a child (mother-son) was revealed. The man was not a relative of either the woman or the child. The mtDNA haplogroups and STR markers of the male specific Y chromosome identified in all three individuals are generally characteristic of the Slavic population of modern Europe. The mt haplogroup J1c, found in mother and child, is now most characteristic of the inhabitants of Europe. The man has a mitochondrial haplogroup K2, which is found mainly in Northwestern Europe.

A Study on the Analysis of Vertical Walking Speed Considering the Confluence of Occupants in the Stairwell of a High-rise Building

In a fire incident case in a modern high-rise complex building, most occupants use the stairs to evacuate; hence, it is critical to secure the safety of vertical escape routes, such as the stairs. However, in Korea, the size of the stairwell is stipulated as a universal standard, and there are insufficient regulations and studies on the behavioral characteristics of occupants that may occur during the vertical evacuation of buildings. Therefore, in the evacuation experiment conducted at the W University in Japan, the relationship between the density and velocity of the occupants and the flow coefficient were analyzed during merging in the stairwell to derive a regression equation. When the stair width acted as a variable, the behavioral characteristics of the occupants and the evacuation time inside the stairwell were analyzed to obtain the basic data for improving the evacuation safety in the stairwell.

From Separation to Incorporation - A Full-Circle Application of Computational Approaches to Performance-Based Architectural Design

In performance-based architectural design, most existing techniques and design approaches to assisting designers are primarily for a single design problem such as building massing, spatial layouts, or facade design. However, architectural design is a synthesis process that considers multiple design problems. Thus, for achieving an overall improvement in building performance, it is critical to incorporate computational techniques and methods into all key design problems. In this regard, this paper presents a full-circle application of different computational design approaches and tools to exploit the potential of building performance in driving architectural design towards more novel and sustainable buildings as well as to explore new research design paradigms for performance-based architectural design in real-world design scenarios. This paper takes a commercial complex building design as an example to demonstrate how building performance can be incorporated into different building design problems and reflect on the limitations of existing tools in supporting the architectural design.

Patient narratives of hope in stem cell technologies: Trust in biomedicine and the body’s natural ability to heal itself

The scholarship on patient hope in biomedical technologies describes two narratives of hope: the biomedical and the individual. The biomedical narrative represents patients’ beliefs that the institution of science will eventually produce treatment for their disease, whereas the individual narrative represents patients’ beliefs that they can alter their prognosis through affective and behavioral modifications. The distinct analytical categories of “biomedical” and “individual,” however, fail to account for the fact that patient hope has been found to be much more complex. Building upon extant literature, we contribute to the understanding of the complexity of patient hope in biomedical technologies by examining a case that highlights interdependencies between the biomedical and individual narratives: hope in stem cell technologies (SCTs). We draw upon interviews with patients with Parkinson’s Disease, and find two narratives of hope: a biomedical narrative, as captured above, and an additional hybrid narrative, which we call a nature narrative. The nature narrative reflects patients’ beliefs that scientists will eventually create SCTs that will allow their individual body to naturally heal itself, which combines a biomedical and an individual narrative.

Efficient Operating Control of Fire Protection of In-House Inspection Systems

Installation of ancillary facilities such as electrical rooms is crucial due to the complicated structure and division of the interior of a complex building. Furthermore, carbon-dioxide extinguishing systems are mainly installed in these ancillary facilities, and the number of systems installed has been increasing annually. Accordingly, the importance of in-house inspection is being emphasized. In this study, the literature and statistics related to the in-house inspection of fire-fighting facilities were reviewed. Based on the results, problems were derived from the overlap between in-house inspection and similar inspection, the installation location of the pressure switch, the installation standard of the air respirator, the safety awareness of people involved, and the technical qualification level of the in-house inspection assistant. Additionally, improvement measures to enact, amend, and establish public notices were proposed for self-inspection systems.

Identification and Prioritization of Critical Risk Factors of Commercial and Recreational Complex Building Projects: A Delphi Study Using the TOPSIS Method

Construction development of Commercial and Recreational Complex Building Projects (CRCBPs) is one of the community needs of many developing countries. Since the implementation of these projects is usually very costly, identifying and evaluating their Critical Risk Factors (CRFs) are of significant importance. Therefore, the current study aims to identify and prioritize CRFs of CRCBPs in the Iranian context. A descriptive-survey method was used in this research; the statistical population, selected based on the purposive sampling method, includes 30 construction experts with hands-on experience in CRCBPs. A questionnaire related to the risk identification stage was developed based on a detailed study of the research literature and also using the Delphi survey method; 82 various risks were finally identified. In order to confirm the opinions of experts in identifying the potential risks, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was used. In the first stage of data analysis, qualitative evaluation was performed by calculating the severity of risk effect and determining the cumulative risk index, based on which 25 CRFs of CRCBPs were identified for more accurate evaluation. At this stage, the identified CRFs were evaluated based on multi-criteria decision-making techniques and using the TOPSIS technique. Results show that the ten CRFs of CRCBPs are external threats from international relations, exchange rate changes, bank interest rate fluctuations, traffic licenses, access to skilled labor, changes in regional regulations, the condition of adjacent buildings, fluctuations and changes in inflation, failure to select a suitable and qualified consultant, and employer’s previous experiences and records. Obviously, the current study’s results and findings can be considered by CRCBPs in both the private and public sectors for proper effective risk identification, evaluation, and mitigation.