Demountable Column - Girder Joint

Traditional precast reinforced concrete structures are characterised by joints of individual components executed with the use of cement grouts or mortars, or by welding reinforcement. The joints produced in this way cannot be demounted in the case of need without damaging the precast components. Demountable precast structures with a long life cycle enable repeated assembly and demounting thus contributing to the saving of the basic input resources and the environment. The main feature of demountable precast structures are patent-protected joints which allow the assembly of the precast components without the necessity of using “wet” processes. The article addresses the characteristics of a demountable girder - column joint. It presents the results of static load tests carried out within extensive experimental research. To conclude, the article specifies the benefits and the applications of demountable structures.

Devastating rainstorm of June-2013 in Uttarakhand

The state of Uttarakhand is prone to floods and landslides due to its topographic location. The state of Uttarakhand and neighbouring states experienced heavy to very heavy rainfall during 15-18 June, 2013. The analysis of this rainstorm is important because it caused severe floods, landslides, loss of thousands of lives, property etc. During this period, many stations reported very heavy rainfall with a few extremely heavy rainfall (more than 24.5 cm in a day) in Uttarakhand and also in the neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Most part of the state of Uttarakhand lies in the Greater Himalayan region. For safety from floods, one of the methods is to store water in hydraulic structures. For planning and designing of hydraulic structures, the estimation of design storm is the primary and the basic input for the computation of design flood. In the estimation of design storm, all the heavy rainstorms occurred over or near the area have to be analysed. In this paper, this rainstorm and other heavy rainstorms over a wide area has been analysed for the purpose of computation of Design storm estimates of hydraulic structures in that area. The rainstorm of June 2013 is compared with the earlier historical heaviest rainstorm of 28th to 30th September, 1924 at Lansdowne and it is observed that the rainstorm of June 2013 has contributed more rainfall than the rainstorm of September 1924 rainstorm for an area up to 5000 km2 for 1-day duration, while the DAD estimates for two day and three duration of rainstorm of September 1924 are higher than the rainstorm of June 2013 for area up to 20,000 km2.

Wood flooring in combination with underfloor heating systems

The main objective of the article is to inform about the wood flooring in combination with underfloor water heating systems. Wood is a very sensitive material that responds to its surroundings. For this reason, it is necessary to select a suitable wood, meeting the criteria of suitability for laying as flooring in combination with underfloor heating systems. It is also important to comply with the conditions of storage of wooden flooring and its installation under acceptable climatic conditions at the construction site, together with the technical regulations for the installation of wooden flooring in combination with underfloor heating systems, during the whole life cycle of the wood flooring. This article defines the basic input premise for the implementation of wooden floors in combination with underfloor heating systems, regarding the relevant technical standards and technological procedures valid in the Czech Republic. At the same time, the article describes possible failures of wooden floors in case of non-compliance with the above conditions. In the conclusion, we propose measures based on the described installation process failures of the wooden flooring in combination with underfloor heating systems, and after its use.

Model for Risk Calculation and Reliability Comparison of Level Crossings

There is not a single country in the world that is so rich that it can remove all level crossings or provide their denivelation in order to absolutely avoid the possibility of accidents at the intersections of railways and road traffic. In the Republic of Serbia alone, the largest number of accidents occur at passive crossings, which make up three-quarters of the total number of crossings. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly find solutions to the problem of priorities when choosing level crossings where it is necessary to raise the level of security, primarily by analyzing the risk and reliability at all level crossings. This paper presents a model that enables this. The calculation of the maximal risk of a level crossing is achieved under the conditions of generating the maximum entropy in the virtual operating mode. The basis of the model is a heterogeneous queuing system. Maximum entropy is based on the mandatory application of an exponential distribution. The system is Markovian and is solved by a standard analytical concept. The basic input parameters for the calculation of the maximal risk are the geometric characteristics of the level crossing and the intensities and structure of the flows of road and railway vehicles. The real risk is based on statistical records of accidents and flow intensities. The exact reliability of the level crossing is calculated from the ratio of real and maximal risk, which enables their further comparison in order to raise the level of safety, and that is the basic idea of this paper.

Advanced UI test automation (AUTA) for BIOS validation using OpenCV and OCR

<p>Basic input output system (BIOS) validation is performed on both graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line interface (CLI) by a test engineer. Keyboard and mouse are used to insert test cases commands into system under test (SUT). Test engineer monitors test cases progress on a monitor for validation. This method is time-consuming and relatively more expensive than automation. In this project we designed an independent automation system that able to mimic human interaction in BIOS validation. The approach can be divided into two main parts. The first part is the input device to enter commands into SUT and the second part is the advanced image recognizer. The keyboard and mouse emulator is used as an input device to reproduce test commands and send them to an SUT. The image analyzer algorithm is developed using OpenCV and optical character recognizer (OCR) tools to help automate some test challenges. Our result shows that advanced user interface (UI) test automation (AUTA) can perform a 125 test cases within 5 hours compared to 48 hours for a human to complete the job.</p>

Improvement of a Dasymetric Method for Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 11 Indicators at an Intra-Urban Scale

Local and Regional Authorities require indicators at the intra-urban scale to design adequate policies to foster the achievement of the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11. Updated high-resolution population density and settlement maps are the basic input products for such indicators and their sub-indicators. When provided at the intra-urban scale, these essential variables can facilitate the extraction of population flows, including both local and regular migrant components. This paper discusses a modification of the dasymetric method implemented in our previous work, aimed at improving the population density estimation. The novelties of our paper include the introduction of building height information and site-specific weight values for population density correction. Based on the proposed improvements, selected indicators/sub-indicators of four SDG 11 targets were updated or newly implemented. The output density map error values are provided in terms of the mean absolute error, root mean square error and mean absolute percentage indicators. The values obtained (i.e., 2.3 and 4.1 people, and 8.6%, respectively) were lower than those of the previous dasymetric method. The findings suggest that the new methodology can provide updated information about population fluxes and processes occurring over the period 2011–2020 in the study site—Bari city in southern Italy.

Transformation and Preprocessing of Single-Cell RNA-Seq Data

The count table, a numeric matrix of genes × cells, is a basic input data structure in the analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data. A common preprocessing step is to adjust the counts for variable sampling efficiency and to transform them so that the variance is similar across the dynamic range. These steps are intended to make subsequent application of generic statistical methods more palatable. Here, we describe three transformations (based on the delta method, model residuals, or inferred latent expression state) and compare their strengths and weaknesses. We conclude with an outlook on future needs for the development of transformations for single-cell count data.

Performance Evaluation of Numerical Tools for Hurricane Forecast (NTHF) System during 2020 North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones Season

This study evaluates the performance of the Numerical Tools for Hurricane Forecast (NTHF) system during the 2020 North Atlantic (NATL) tropical cyclones (TCs) season. The system is configured to provide 5-day forecasts with basic input from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the Global Forecast System. For the NTHF validation, the NHC operational best track was used. The average track errors for 2020 NATL TCs ranged from 62 km at 12 h to 368 km at 120 h. The NTHF track forecast errors displayed an improvement over 60% above the guidance Climatology and Persistence (CLIPER) model from 36 h to 96 h, although the NTHF was better than the CLIPER in all forecast periods. The forecast errors for the maximum wind speed (minimum central pressure) ranged between 20 km/h and 25 km/h (4 hPa to 8 hPa), but the NTHF model intensity forecasts showed only marginal improvement of less than 20% after 78 h over the baseline Decay Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme (D-SHIPS) model. Nevertheless, the NTHF’s ability to provide accurate intensity forecasts for the 2020 NATL TCs was higher than the NTHF’s average ability during the 2016–2019 period.

Recovery of Unicellular Cyanobacteria from Nitrogen Chlorosis: A Model for Resuscitation of Dormant Bacteria

Nitrogen starvation induces developmental transitions in cyanobacteria. Whereas complex multicellular cyanobacteria of the order Nostocales can differentiate specialized cells that perform nitrogen fixation in the presence of oxygenic photosynthesis, non-diazotrophic unicellular strains, such as <i>Synechococcus elongatus</i> or <i>Synechocystis</i> PCC 6803, undergo a transition into a dormant non-growing state. Due to loss of pigments during this acclimation, the process is termed chlorosis. Cells maintain viability in this state for prolonged periods of time, until they encounter a useable nitrogen source, which triggers a highly coordinated awakening process, termed resuscitation. The minimal set of cellular activity that maintains the viability of cells during chlorosis and ensures efficient resuscitation represents the organism’s equivalent of the BIOS, the basic input/output system of a computer, that helps “booting” the operation system after switching on. This review summarizes the recent research in the resuscitation of cyanobacteria, representing a powerful model for the awakening of dormant bacteria.