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Implementation of Bridge weigh-in-motion (B-WIM) measurements and probabilistic approaches in bridge assessment may reveal hidden bridge reserves and changes in reliability levels over their projected service life, providing a key input for optimized bridge management. But, as scientists and engineers and at the same time vendors of our own ideas, we need to be in position to present the results o
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has been a subject of major international research in Civil Engineering structures mainly during the last 20 years. While in the beginning, SHM mainly focused on sensor developments, nowadays practical implications regarding the acquisition, collecting and processing of data are being addressed. Indeed, SHM systems have been evolving along the two last decades an
There is a large financial incentive to minimise operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for offshore wind power by optimising the maintenance plan. The integration of condition monitoring (CM) and structural health monitoring (SHM) may help realise this. There is limited work on the integration of both CM and SHM for offshore wind power or the use of imperfectly operating monitoring equipment.
Safety in density (SID) potentially explains the safety in numbers (SIN) phenomenon by positing that ‘the SIN effect can be reproduced simply through encouraging behaviour that leads to the formation of higher-density cyclist groups’. The study further explores this hypothesis using event-based exposure, queues and groups of road users. Using three different definitions of encounters between road u
Most signals detected by genome-wide association studies map to non-coding sequence and their tissue-specific effects influence transcriptional regulation. However, key tissues and cell-types required for functional inference are absent from large-scale resources. Here we explore the relationship between genetic variants influencing predisposition to type 2 diabetes (T2D) and related glycemic trai
CONTEXT: Once islet autoantibody-positive individuals are identified, predicting which individuals are at highest risk for type 1 diabetes (T1D) is important. A metabolic risk score derived from 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) data, the Diabetes Prevention Trial-Type 1 risk score (DPTRS), can accurately predict T1D. However, 2-hour OGTTs are time-consuming and costly. OBJECTIVE: We aimed
Obesity is the main risk factor behind insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Still, the mechanism behind adipocyte dysfunction is not yet resolved. Recently, we reported that rapid actin remodeling correlates with adipose cell size changes after short-term overfeeding. Therefore, we hypothesized that the actin-driven myocardin-related transcription factor (MRTF-A) contributes to impaired mature
A modification to our previous simulation of breast anatomy is proposed to improve the quality of simulated x-ray projections images. The image quality is affected by the voxel size of the simulation. Large voxels can cause notable spatial quantization artifacts; small voxels extend the generation time and increase the memory requirements. An improvement in image quality is achievable without redu
Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death, and out of all stroke cases, 10-15% originate from a previously asymptomatic stenosis in the internal carotid artery. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate whether dietary and lifestyle habits were associated with future risk of incident carotid artery disease (CAD). Methods: Baseline examinations on middle-aged individuals (n = 30,
Based on extensive qualitative (interviews, n50) and quantitative data (survey questionnaire, n3200), this paper identifies management – and not only managerial regimes – as a problem in in public sector work places. The paper specifically explores what nurses and social workers identify as central areas of conflict shaping their work, and what forms of structural and organizational change they vi
Background: Empowered women have improved decision-making capacity and can demand equal access to health services. Community-based interventions based on building women’s groups for awareness generation on maternal and child health (MCH) are the best and cost-effective approaches in improving their access to health services. The present study evaluated a community-based intervention aimed at impro
Background and purpose: Infections with human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) have been linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) development. For EBV, late infection has been proposed as a risk factor, but serological support is lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate how age affects the EBV and HHV-6A associated risks of developing MS. Methods: In this nested case–co
Current large-scale deforestation poses a threat to ecosystems globally, and imposes substantial and prolonged changes on the hydrological and carbon cycles. The tropical forests of the Amazon and Indonesia are currently undergoing deforestation with catastrophic ecological consequences but widespread deforestation events have occurred several times in Earth's history and these provide lessons for
We show exponential lower bounds on resolution proof length for pigeonhole principle (PHP) formulas and perfect matching formulas over highly unbalanced, sparse expander graphs, thus answering the challenge to establish strong lower bounds in the regime between balanced constant-degree expanders as in [Ben-Sasson and Wigderson'01] and highly unbalanced, dense graphs as in [Raz'04] and [Razborov'03
We obtain the first true size-space trade-offs for the cutting planes proof system, where the upper bounds hold for size and total space for derivations with constantsize coefficients, and the lower bounds apply to length and formula space (i.e., number of inequalities in memory) even for derivations with exponentially large coefficients. These are also the first trade-offs to hold uniformly for r
Laser-induced fluorescence data for rats injected with the different tumor-marking drugs, dihematoporphyrin ether, poly hematoporphyrin esters, hematoporphyrin and phtalocyanine, are presented. Studies were performed at two different excitation wavelengths. Comparisons between the different drugs are made with regard to fluorescence intensity and tumor demarcation capability. Further, the origin o
Aim: To evaluate the long-term success rate of treatment with the Surgisis® (Biodesign®) anal fistula plug for complex anal fistulas, assess fistula plug failure over time and compare success rates for fistula plug between a group of patients with cryptoglandular fistula and another group with Crohn's fistula. Method: This is a single-centre study of consecutive patients treated with the Surgisis®
Optimization of the duration of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) campaigns is rarely performed. This article provides a utility-based solution to posteriorly determine: i) optimal monitoring durations and ii) the extension of the service life of the welds on a steel bridge deck. The approach is illustrated with a case study focusing on remaining fatigue life estimation of the welds on the orthot
