Migration, Mobility and the Making of a Global Europe

In 2017–18, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei created a special installation addressing the refugee crisis in Prague. ‘Law of the Journey’ consisted of an enormous black inflatable raft, crowded with inflatable rubber people wearing lifejackets. Their human forms were clear, but they lacked faces. The raft hung from the ceiling at an angle, casting a dark shadow over a list of quotations from thinkers and writers, beginning and ending with two locals: Franz Kafka and Václav Havel. A few isolated rubber tubes floated on the concrete floor next to the raft, with rubber humans reaching out to be saved. The exhibit conveyed both the desperation of the migrants and the inadequacy of the response.

Effect of Floor Enrichment with Rubber Mattress of Calving Pen on Prepartum Behaviour of Tharparkar Cow during Winter Season

Background: The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of floor enrichment with rubber mattress of calving pen on prepartum calving behaviour of Tharparkar cow during the winter season. Methods: A total 28 Tharparkar cows were taken in study during winter season (November to March) and divided into two groups each contain 14 animals. One group placed in floor enriched with rubber mattress and other group kept on bare concrete floor calving pen. Preparturient behaviours like lying time, standing time, lying bout duration, number of lying bouts, rumination time ,rumination bouts, self grooming and frequency of self grooming were evaluated on -12 hr, -7th day, -14th day and -21st day prepartum for period of 12 hr in a day. Repeated Meausures ANOVA was used for the analysis of the data. Result: It was found that lying time, lying bout duration was significantly more in rubber mattress group as compare to concrete floor. However, 12 hr before parturition standing time was significantly high compare to any other observational day within the group. Similarly, rubber mattress had positive effect on rumination time, lying duration and self grooming frequency as compare to bare concrete floor. It was concluded that rubber mattress had beneficial effect in calving pen of Tharparkar cow during winter season due to its softness and insulating property. It provided comfort and warmth to the parturient cows. which was evident by increase in rumination time, more lying duration and reduced self grooming frequency.

A Study of Sandwich Reinforced Concrete – Foamed Concrete Floor Slabs

The development of housing construction demands an application of building materials which ensure necessary functional performance of structures, have high heat-insulating properties, are environmentally friendly and their use is economically appropriate. Simultaneous ensuring of mentioned indices is possible because of complex combined joining of building materials with different physical-mechanical properties. This article presents experimental determination of useful load for sandwich reinforced concrete – foamed concrete floor slabs. Sandwich reinforced concrete – foamed concrete floor slabs are the floor slabs which are composed of normal concrete, non-autoclaved foamed concrete and spatial reinforcement frame. Experimental determination of useful load was carried out on series that compose of four sandwich reinforced concrete – foamed concrete floor slabs. Experimental test of sandwich reinforced concrete – foamed concrete floor slabs was carried out under condition of pure bending that was achieved by applying to floor slab in one third of its span two concentrated forces equal in magnitude. Useful load for sandwich reinforced concrete – foamed concrete floor slabs was 33.23÷77.87 kN/m2. Sandwich reinforced concrete – foamed concrete floor slabs are proposed to be used in construction of housing and social structures.

Experimental Study on an Innovative Hollow Concrete Floor System Assembled with Precast Panels and Self-Thermal-Insulation Infills

This paper presents an innovative hollow concrete floor system comprising hollow precast panels and self-thermal-insulation infills. The precast panels are connected by welded reinforcement bars and cast-in-situ concrete joints. To study the vertical load-carrying capacity and the working mechanism of this innovative floor system, a static loading test was carried out on a 1/2 scale model. The specimen consists of six precast slab members, four precast reinforced concrete beams and columns, respectively. Experimental and simulation results related to the crack development and vertical load-carrying capacity were analyzed. It is found that the innovative floor system could meet the capacity requirements of the Chinese code. Furthermore, the crack development of the innovative system shows similar characteristics with the solid floor. To explore the feasibility of the existed analysis methods, the specimen was simulated and compared by nonlinear analysis in ABAQUS. The comparison illustrates that the analogue cross beam method is more accurate and suitable for the simulation of the innovative hollow concrete floor system.