Buy national campaigns promotionin the EU and EAEU countries

It is determined in the article that the promotion of the “Buy National” policy is of a protectionist nature and often may not comply with international trade rules, including within the framework of integration associations. It was determined that this approach of the states participating in integration associations (the EAEU is no exception) is a certain brake on the development of integration processes. As a result of the analysis of studies on this issue, it was revealed that consumers in certain countries support the policy “Buy national, but their purchasing habits are not fundamentally changed. The study analyzes individual ways of using the Buy National campaigns in the countries of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union and shows that countries are actively using this policy, explaining these measures by supporting the national economy, but such actions threaten the development of integration. Based on the results obtained, possible recommendations for cooperation of the EAEU member states have been developed for an equal representation of goods from the five countries in retail facilities. In particular, it was proposed to develop and adopt a model code of good practices for retail chains as norms of "soft" law, enshrining in it the principle of non-discrimination towards goods from the EAEU member states.

A stochastic contact network model for assessing outbreak risk of COVID-19 in workplaces

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically shifted the way people work. While many businesses can operate remotely, a large number of jobs can only be performed on-site. Moreover as businesses create plans for bringing workers back on-site, they are in need of tools to assess the risk of COVID-19 for their employees in the workplaces. This study aims to fill the gap in risk modeling of COVID-19 outbreaks in facilities like offices and warehouses. We propose a simulation-based stochastic contact network model to assess the cumulative incidence in workplaces. First-generation cases are introduced as a Bernoulli random variable using the local daily new case rate as the success rate. Contact networks are established through randomly sampled daily contacts for each of the first-generation cases and successful transmissions are established based on a randomized secondary attack rate (SAR). Modification factors are provided for SAR based on changes in airflow, speaking volume, and speaking activity within a facility. Control measures such as mask wearing are incorporated through modifications in SAR. We validated the model by comparing the distribution of cumulative incidence in model simulations against real-world outbreaks in workplaces and nursing homes. The comparisons support the model’s validity for estimating cumulative incidences for short forecasting periods of up to 15 days. We believe that the current study presents an effective tool for providing short-term forecasts of COVID-19 cases for workplaces and for quantifying the effectiveness of various control measures. The open source model code is made available at github.com/abhineetgupta/covid-workplace-risk.

Fracture behaviors of HVFA-SCC mixed with seawater and sea-sand under three-point bending

This paper aims to study the fracture behaviors of high-volume fly ash-self-compacting concrete (HVFA-SCC) mixed with seawater and sea-sand (SWSS) or freshwater and river sand (FWRS). Three-point bending test were performed on 24 notched beams fabricated with varying in replacement ratio of fly ash (0%, 30%, 50%, and 70%) and the type of water and sand (SWSS and FWRS). The initial and unstable fracture toughness of these test specimens are determined by the double- K fracture model. The effect of fly ash replacement ratio and type of water and sand on the fracture parameters is analyzed and discussed. In addition, the cohesive fracture toughness of all the test specimens is calculated by using Gauss–Chebyshev integral method and the weight function method based on the bilinear tensile softening curve given in CEP-FIP Model Code. A comparison of fracture toughness parameters of determined from the experimental approach and analytical approaches is presented in these SCC specimens. Results show that SCC mixed with SWSS replacing FWRS can improve the unstable fracture toughness and fracture energy, and decrease its brittleness behavior. The cohesive fracture toughness of SWSS-SCC specimens is underestimated by these analytical methods based on the tensile softening curve given in CEP-FIP Model Code.

Photometric Classification of Early-time Supernova Light Curves with SCONE

In this work, we present classification results on early supernova light curves from SCONE, a photometric classifier that uses convolutional neural networks to categorize supernovae (SNe) by type using light-curve data. SCONE is able to identify SN types from light curves at any stage, from the night of initial alert to the end of their lifetimes. Simulated LSST SNe light curves were truncated at 0, 5, 15, 25, and 50 days after the trigger date and used to train Gaussian processes in wavelength and time space to produce wavelength–time heatmaps. SCONE uses these heatmaps to perform six-way classification between SN types Ia, II, Ibc, Ia-91bg, Iax, and SLSN-I. SCONE is able to perform classification with or without redshift, but we show that incorporating redshift information improves performance at each epoch. SCONE achieved 75% overall accuracy at the date of trigger (60% without redshift), and 89% accuracy 50 days after trigger (82% without redshift). SCONE was also tested on bright subsets of SNe (r < 20 mag) and produced 91% accuracy at the date of trigger (83% without redshift) and 95% five days after trigger (94.7% without redshift). SCONE is the first application of convolutional neural networks to the early-time photometric transient classification problem. All of the data processing and model code developed for this paper can be found in the SCONE software package 1 1 github.com/helenqu/scone located at github.com/helenqu/scone (Qu 2021).

Reinforced concrete structures strengthened with CFRP (ACI x FIB) - Recommendations for bending design criteria

abstract: This work deals with the evaluation of the design criteria and security check (Ultimate Limit State - ULS) of the American (ACI-440.2R, 2017) and European (FIB Model Code, 2010) standards of reinforced concrete structures strengthened with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP), by the technique of Externally Bonded Reinforcement (EBR). It is intended to evaluate if, for a given database of 64 experimental tests of beams and slabs, the obtained results respect the safety conditions according to the mentioned standards, to increase the efficiency of this reinforcement technique and to lead to the establishment of regulatory design criteria in Brazil. Results show a conservative match among experimental and theoretical values calculated according to the two guidelines and it is concluded that a future regulation in Brazil on this subject should be based on the FIB Model Code.

Strengthening flat slabs without shear reinforcement against punching shear by concrete overlay

Research in this paper presents a theoretical study of increasing in punching shear capacity of the strengthened flat slab by concrete overlay. The parametric study is based on comparison of three different relevant standards design models and presents results how Eurocode 2 (EN 1992-1-1), Model Code 2010 and draft of second generation of Eurocode 2 (prEN 1992-1-1) take into account strengthening by concrete overlay. A reference specimen is represented by a fragment of a flat slab supported by circular column. Influence of concrete toppings depends on thickness and also on reinforcement ratio. In Eurocode 2 and new generation of Eurocode 2 the increase of punching shear resistance of the slab with concrete topping can be taken into account only by reinforcement ratio and thickness of the slab considering the perfect connection and bond between the original slab and new layer of concrete overlay. Model Code 2010 is based on Critical shear crack theory and the reinforcement ratio in concrete topping was considered in equation of moment of resistance and punching shear resistance is calculated by considering the rotation and deformation of the slab. Estimation of results by parametric study are compared by non-linear model from Atena software.

The eWaterCycle platform for Open and FAIR Hydrological collaboration

Hutton (2016) argued that computational hydrology can only be a proper science if the hydrological community makes sure that hydrological model studies are executed and presented in a reproducible manner. We replied that to achieve this, hydrologists shouldn't ‘re-invent the water wheel’ but rather use existing technology from other fields (such as containers and ESMValTool) and open interfaces (such as BMI) to do their computational science (Hut, 2017). With this paper and the associated release of the eWaterCycle platform and software package1 we are putting our money where our mouth is and provide the hydrological community with a ‘FAIR by design’ platform to do our science. eWaterCycle is a platform that separates the experiment done on the model from the model code. In eWaterCycle hydrological models are accessed through a common interface (BMI) in Python and run inside of software containers. In this way all models are accessed in a similar manner facilitating easy switching of models, model comparison and model coupling. Currently the following models are available through eWaterCycle: PCR-GLOBWB 2.0, wflow, Hype, LISFLOOD, TopoFlex HBV, MARRMoT and WALRUS. While these models are written in different programming languages they can all be run and interacted with from the Jupyter notebook environment within eWaterCycle. Furthermore, the pre-processing of input data for these models has been streamlined by making use of ESMValTool. Forcing for the models available in eWaterCycle from well known datasets such as ERA5 can be generated with a single line of code. To illustrate the type of research that eWaterCycle facilitates this manuscript includes five case studies: from a simple ‘Hello World’ where only a hydrograph is generated to a complex coupling of models in different languages. In this manuscript we stipulate the design choices made in building eWaterCycle and provide all the technical details to understand and work with the platform. For system administrators who want to install eWaterCycle on their infrastructure we offer a separate installation guide. For computational hydologist who want to work with eWaterCycle we also provide a video explaining the platform from a users point of view. With the eWaterCycle platform we are providing the hydrological community with a platform to conduct their research fully compatible with the principles of Open Science as well as FAIR science.1available on Zenodo: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5119389

Theoretical prediction of punching shear capacity of flat slabs without shear reinforcement strengthened by concrete topping

The main reasons for strengthening flat slabs are the change of the use of a building, increase in the value of loads, degradation of the concrete cover layer, or insufficient reinforcement. This paper is focused on the assessment of punching shear capacity of the strengthened flat slabs without shear reinforcement. One of the possibilities how to enhance punching shear capacity is the addition of reinforced concrete topping. The main goal of this paper is to compare the possibilities for calculation of the increase in the punching shear capacity by investigation of the influence of different thicknesses of concrete toppings and different reinforcement ratio. A reference specimen is represented by a fragment of a flat slab with the thickness of h = 200 mm supported by circular column with the diameter of 250 mm. Three different thicknesses (50 mm, 100 mm, 150 mm) of concrete toppings were considered together with three different reinforcement ratios for each thickness of concrete overlay. Theoretical predictions of the punching shear resistance of flat slabs were evaluated by design guidelines according to the relevant standards: Eurocode 2 (EN 1992-1-1), Model Code 2010 and draft of the second generation of Eurocode 2 (prEN 1992-1-1). The differences in the influence of reinforcement ratio are significant. In Model Code 2010 the reinforcement ratio in concrete topping was considered in equation of moment of resistance. This is unlike in both of the mentioned Eurocodes, where the reinforcement ratio was assumed as a geometric average value of the original reinforcement ratio in the slab before strengthening and of the reinforcement ratio of concrete topping. All the predicted theoretical calculations are based on the perfect connection and bond between the original and new layer of concrete. These predictions should be verified by experimental investigation, which is going to be prepared shortly. By the additional increase in the thickness of concrete topping or in the amount of added reinforcement the attention should be payed to the limitation of the punching shear resistance by the value of the maximum punching shear resistance in the compression concrete strut.

Anticipating and Adapting to the Future Impacts of Climate Change on the Health, Security and Welfare of Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) Communities in Southeastern USA

Low elevation coastal zones (LECZ) are extensive throughout the southeastern United States. LECZ communities are threatened by inundation from sea level rise, storm surge, wetland degradation, land subsidence, and hydrological flooding. Communication among scientists, stakeholders, policy makers and minority and poor residents must improve. We must predict processes spanning the ecological, physical, social, and health sciences. Communities need to address linkages of (1) human and socioeconomic vulnerabilities; (2) public health and safety; (3) economic concerns; (4) land loss; (5) wetland threats; and (6) coastal inundation. Essential capabilities must include a network to assemble and distribute data and model code to assess risk and its causes, support adaptive management, and improve the resiliency of communities. Better communication of information and understanding among residents and officials is essential. Here we review recent background literature on these matters and offer recommendations for integrating natural and social sciences. We advocate for a cyber-network of scientists, modelers, engineers, educators, and stakeholders from academia, federal state and local agencies, non-governmental organizations, residents, and the private sector. Our vision is to enhance future resilience of LECZ communities by offering approaches to mitigate hazards to human health, safety and welfare and reduce impacts to coastal residents and industries.

Consideration of the Heating of High-Performance Concretes during Cyclic Tests in the Evaluation of Results

Material-efficient, highly load-bearing members made of high-performance compressive concretes are often exposed to cyclical loads because of their slender construction, which can be relevant to the design. When investigating the fatigue behaviour of high-performance concretes in pressure swell tests, however, the specimen temperature rises strongly owing to the elevated loading rate at frequencies higher than 3 Hz. This leads to a negative influence on the achieved number of load cycles compared to tests carried out at slow speeds and calculated values, for example, according to fib Model Code 2010. This phenomenon, which was already observed, must be considered when generating design formulae or Wöhler lines for component design, as the test conditions with high constant load frequencies as well as sample storage in a climate chamber at constant conditions are prerequisites that cannot be expected in real material applications. Therefore, laboratory testing influences must be eliminated in order to avoid underestimating the material. Instead of adjusting the test conditions to prevent or control temperature development, as was the case in previous approaches, this article shows how the temperature effects can be corrected when analysing the results, considering both the applied stress and the maximum temperature reached. For this purpose, a calculation method was developed that was validated on the basis of a large number of fatigue tests. Thus, in the future, the application of one temperature sensor to the test specimen can effectively advance the extraction of values for Wöhler curves, even with high test frequencies.