Possibilities of high-speed railway turnout data description

This paper aims to summarize possibilities how to create data models of high-speed railway turnouts. The turnouts designed for high-speed operation require specific geometric solution. As the UIC RailTopoModel is considered an international recommendation in the field of data modeling of railway infrastructure, this issue is assessed in terms of models based on its principles. Solving this problem can affect the future development of the Multipurpose Railway Infrastructure Model gradually emerging at the CTU Railway Laboratory in Prague using the RailTopoModel principles.Whereas the RailTopoModel itself does not define any specific types of entities, the railML® 3.1 specifications are also used for assessment purposes. Turnouts are viewed both in terms of topology and in terms of functional infrastructure. In the final sections, recommendations are given on how to deal with the problems found, e. g. in terms of implementation into the Multipurpose Railway Infrastructure Model.

THE GADGET GENERATION: BODY MASS INDEX AND DURATION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SCREEN-VIEWING AMONG PRESCHOOLERS IN KUANTAN, PAHANG

Sedentary lifestyle due to physical inactivity and increased screen-viewing (SV) duration is one of the risk factors for childhood obesity. Thus, this study aimed to assess body mass index (BMI), SV and physical activity (PA) durations among children aged four-to-six years (N=284) attending kindergartens in urban and rural areas of Kuantan, Pahang. The SV and PA durations were estimated via a questionnaire completed by their parents. The preschoolers’ height and weight were measured using a stadiometer and a digital weighing scale, respectively. The BMI-for-age status was interpreted using the CDC growth charts and cut-off points. A total of 37.8% of respondents were underweight, 16.7% overweight/obese, while the rest had normal BMI. Almost 90% of the children were using electronic gadgets. In addition, 89.8% of them recorded >two hours/day of total SV duration, exceeding the international recommendation of <two hours/day of screen time and the Malaysian Dietary Guideline’s recommendation of <two hours/day of sedentary activity. Only 49.8% (on weekdays) and 75.4% (on weekends) of the children met the recommended one hour/day of moderate PA by the WHO. There were no significant differences of BMI, SV and PA durations between urban and rural respondents. The preschoolers in Kuantan were largely found to exceed the recommended SV duration and only half of them met the recommended PA duration on most days. This suggests that intervention is needed to curb these obesity-inducing sedentary behaviours due to long SV duration and physical inactivity among preschoolers across urban and rural areas of the Pahang capital district.

Basic Protocol for On-Site Testing Consolidant Nanoparticles on Stone Cultural Heritage

Currently the application of consolidants based on nanoparticles is common practice among restorers. Consolidants should not modify the properties of original materials according to international recommendation, which requires previous studies to decide the optimal option. The selection must be based on empirical results, and not only in the expertise of the restorer, because the consolidant’s effectiveness is influenced by its own properties and other factors such as the characteristics of the artwork (elemental composition, porosity, texture, etc.) and its context (temperature, relative humidity, etc.). Moreover, new protocols must be sustainable and compatible with on-site restoration. A new protocol to test consolidant nanoparticles has been designed and assessed. This is based on easy trials and low-cost techniques—digital microscope, colorimeter, peeling test and ultrasound—that could be employed by restorers in situ. In this paper, different consolidant nanoparticles were tested on stones from two historical quarries. The first treatment was SiO2 nanoparticles, and the second, a new nanocomposite of Ca(OH)2 and ZnO quantum dots that allows us to measure penetration depth easily and discern the treated areas under UV lights. This second treatment was the best option for the studied stones, validating the protocol designed for the choice of consolidants.

Analysis of corporate governance disclosure: a study on Brazilian companies

This study aims to compare Brazilian legislation to United Nations’ international recommendation with respect to the influence of each on the disclosure level of Brazilian companies’ CG practices. The theoretical approach is institutional theory. It is an exploratory study because CG disclosure is an insufficiently studied phenomenon in the light of institutional theory. The research amounts to a qualitative but also a quantitative one since its procedures encompass content analysis techniques to collect data and statistical tools to analyze them. Data were collected from all the companies belonging to IBOV Index, an indicator of the average quotations of Brazilian stock market’s most traded, representative shares. It was concluded that coercive forces exert more influence on the disclosure of corporate governance by the Brazilian companies studied, which means legally required indicators were more disclosed than those simply recommended by United Nations.

Radionuclide content in laundry detergents commercially available on the Serbian market and assessment of radiological environmental hazards

Laundry detergents are chemicals widely used in everyday life, and in numerous industry branches. In order to perceive the radiological aspect of environmental pollution by wastewater, the analysis of laundry detergents available on the Serbian market was undertaken. Laundry detergent samples were measured by means of gamma spectrometry and the results are presented in this paper. Analysis of the obtained activity concentrations showed that laundry detergents in Serbia mostly fulfill the international recommendation and requirements regarding the phosphate content. Besides that, the content of the detected radionuclides in laundry detergent samples indicates the minor radiological risk to the environment via wastewaters.

An analysis of a measure system of weight-in-motion load vehicles

There are bodies responsible for monitoring and controlling heavy loads of vehicles on the road system, some local reports indicate that overweight situations in those vehicles can cause damage to the roads. The purpose of this paper is to present a descriptive study of a system of weigh-in-motion for trucks in order to design a measurement protocol that conforms to the requirements of the International Recommendation OIML R-134. In order to achieve the objective some eccentricity and accuracy for static loads tests were performed using ten vehicles charging. The calculated error in these tests is within the tolerance range between -20 and +20 Kg, which determined that the protocol was adjusted to the requirements. With respect to weigh-in-motion, Repeatability (r) and Reproducibility (R) tests at three different speeds were performed. The variability was measured by applying the statistical method ANOVA, where the percentage of the ratio Repeatability (r) and reproducibility (R) was below 10%, which means that the measurement system used is acceptable.Keywords: weighting, repeatability, reproducibility, variability.