Search results for "CONSTRUCTION"

An ANN model to correlate roughness and structural performance in asphalt pavements

2017

Abstract In this paper, using a large database from the Long Term Pavement Performance program, the authors developed an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to estimate the structural performance of asphalt pavements from roughness data. Considering advantages of modern high-performance survey devices in the acquisition of road pavement functional parameters, it would be of practical significance if the structural state of a pavement could be estimated from its functional conditions. To differentiate various road section conditions, several significant input parameters, related to traffic, weather, and structural aspects, have been included in the analysis. The results are very interesting and …

Development of Eco-Friendly and Self-Cleaning Lime-Pozzolan Plasters for Bio-Construction and Cultural Heritage

2020

Summarization: Nowadays, the design and use of multi-functional mortars has increased significantly, with interesting applications in the green building and cultural heritage conservation sectors. A key point for a correct adoption of these innovative materials is their behavior along time and their resistance to the weathering. The objective of this project was to define the performance and durability of innovative mortars, in order to use them correctly and to avoid irreparable damage over time. For the development of this project, lime–metakaolin and hydraulic lime–metakaolin based mortars (hereinafter called A, B), as well as A and B with the addition of nano-TiO2 and perlite (hereinaft…

Application of optimized artificial intelligence algorithm to evaluate the heating energy demand of non-residential buildings at European level

2019

Abstract A reliable preliminary forecast of heating energy demand of a building by using a detailed dynamic simulation software typically requires an in-depth knowledge of the thermal balance, several input data and a very skilled user. The authors will describe how to use Artificial Neural Networks to predict the demand for thermal energy linked to the winter climatization of non-residential buildings. To train the neural network it was necessary to develop an accurate energy database that represents the basis of the training of a specific Artificial Neural Networks. Data came from detailed dynamic simulations performed in the TRNSYS environment. The models were built according to the stan…

Multiple criteria assessment of methods for forecasting building thermal energy demand

2020

Abstract Nowadays worldwide directives have focused the attention on improving energy efficiency in the building sector. The research of models able to predict the energy consumption from the first design and energy planning phase is conducted to improve building sustainability. Use of traditional forecasting tools for building thermal energy demand tends to encounter difficulties relevant to the amount of data required, implementation of the models, computational costs and inability to generalize the output. Therefore, many studies focused on the research and development of alternative resolution methods, but the choice of the most convenient is not clear and simple. Single comparison of s…

The shaping of public economic discourse in postwar America: the 1947 meat shortage and Franco Modigliani's meat plan

2015

This paper discusses the American debate over price controls and economic stabilization after World War II, when the transition from a war economy to a peace economy was characterized by bottlenecks in the productive system and shortages of food and other basic consumer goods, directly affecting the living standard of the population, the public opinion, and political discourse. Specifically, we will focus on the economist Franco Modigliani and his proposal for a "Plan to meet the problem of rising meat and other food prices without bureaucratic controls." The plan prepared by Modigliani in October 1947 was based on a system of taxes and subsidies to foster a proper distribution of disposabl…

Reconstruction of inclined air showers detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

2014

We describe the method devised to reconstruct inclined cosmic-ray air showers with zenith angles greater than $60^\circ$ detected with the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The measured signals at the ground level are fitted to muon density distributions predicted with atmospheric cascade models to obtain the relative shower size as an overall normalization parameter. The method is evaluated using simulated showers to test its performance. The energy of the cosmic rays is calibrated using a sub-sample of events reconstructed with both the fluorescence and surface array techniques. The reconstruction method described here provides the basis of complementary analyses including an…

Voices behind and beyond the label : the master narrative of ADHD (de)constructed by diagnosed children and their parents

2016

Artikkeliväitöskirja. Sisältää yhteenveto-osan ja neljä artikkelia. Article dissertation. Contains an introduction part and four articles. The dominant understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is that of diagnosed children “suffering” from neurodevelopmental condition owing to which they are prone to develop adverse life trajectories. This master narrative of ADHD and psychomedical and normative discourses it adheres to and employs have been integrated into the daily activities of homes and schools. This compilation dissertation study employs a social constructionist discourse framework and is located in the intersection of the disciplines of disability studies and s…

Etude des mortiers et enduits de l’église de Nogent-en-Othe (Aube)

2009

Adaptive Mid-Term Representations for Robust Audio Event Classification

2018

Low-level audio features are commonly used in many audio analysis tasks, such as audio scene classification or acoustic event detection. Due to the variable length of audio signals, it is a common approach to create fixed-length feature vectors consisting of a set of statistics that summarize the temporal variability of such short-term features. To avoid the loss of temporal information, the audio event can be divided into a set of mid-term segments or texture windows. However, such an approach requires to estimate accurately the onset and offset times of the audio events in order to obtain a robust mid-term statistical description of their temporal evolution. This paper proposes the use of…

Techniques and procedures for the definition of AR applications in architectural and archaeological contexts

2022

The growth and development of Augmented reality applications and their use in different contexts has been recently fostered by two factors: i) the hardware and computing power of mobile devices has been radically improved; ii) Apple and Google have released two development platforms for AR applications. AR has been a major topic in research on cultural heritage fruition for many years, but the latest developments are really promising, and they seem capable of overcoming the difficulties that have delayed the diffusion of this technology. The paper focuses the potential and criticalities of augmented reality systems used for fruition purposes in architectural and archaeological contexts. The…