Search

Vertical jump is a fundamental metric for monitoring and regulating lower body capacities, especially in assessing sports performance through the countermovement jump (CMJ). In recent years, various instruments aimed at estimating vertical jump heights have emerged. However, ensuring effective performance monitoring requires that jump mats prove consistency in measuring jumps across repeated tests, i.e., they must prove reliability. This study focuses on evaluating the intra-session and within-session test-retest reliability of the Chronojump jump mat in highly trained female volleyball players. Ten athletes from the Spanish Superliga 2 league participated in 100 CMJs over two sessions spaced a week apart. A repeated measures design collected jump height data using Chronojump jump mat. The protocol included a 10-min warm-up, a 5-min rest, and the execution of 5 CMJs with 2 min of rest between trials. Intra-session test-retest consistency was assessed by analyzing consecutive pairings of the first five trials. The study reveals moderate noise for SEM (1.56 cm) and standardized SEM (0.37), accompanied high SDC (4.33 cm) and SWC (0.44 cm). Correlation analysis indicated very high reliability (ICC =0.89), high concordance (CCC = 0.82) and a moderate CV (5.97%). Regarding within-session reliability, no significant differences were observed (Paired t-test p = 0.08; Hedges effect size g = 0.09). Additionally, very high correlations between both sessions were observed (r = 0.86). Absolute reliability analysis revealed a noise of 1.65 cm (SEM), resulting in high SDC (4.59 cm) and SWC (0.47 cm). Relative reliability, assessed through correlation coefficients, displayed very high values (ICC = 0.89 and CCC =0.89), although a moderate standardized SEM of 0.44 was observed. The Bland-Altman plot indicated systematic errors of the mean of 0.41 cm without substantial dispersion. Linear regression analyses between sessions showed a high correlation (r = 0.86), with a systematic err

Logically constrained term rewriting is a relatively new formalism where rules are equipped with constraints over some arbitrary theory. Although there are many recent advances with respect to rewriting induction, completion, complexity analysis and confluence analysis for logically constrained term rewriting, these works solely focus on the syntactic side of the formalism lacking detailed investigations on semantics. In this paper, we investigate a semantic side of logically constrained term rewriting. To this end, we first define constrained equations, constrained equational theories and validity of the former based on the latter. After presenting the relationship of validity and conversion of rewriting, we then construct a sound inference system to prove validity of constrained equations in constrained equational theories. Finally, we give an algebraic semantics, which enables one to establish invalidity of constrained equations in constrained equational theories. This algebraic semantics derives a new notion of consistency for constrained equational theories.

The rise of digital brands has forced traditional retail brands to introduce the digital channel in the purchase of goods and services. Traditional retail brands went from having only physical points to having digital channels and applications, becoming multichannel businesses, and more recently omnichannel. In Latin America, the adoption of the digital channel has intensified due to the increase in digital culture during the Covid 19 pandemic, however, at the beginning of the pandemic, consumers are still exploring digital channels as an option for purchase. of essential products. This article presents exploratory results on the use of retail brand channels in Colombia, specifically presenting the results on the perception of consistency between them and their relationship with retail brands of consumer products, this being one of the essential conditions of the integration. The data was collected during the months of April and May 2020 and is part of a study that seeks to understand the omnichannel purchasing behavior of consumers in emerging economies. Through the approach of a model type SEM (Structural Equation Model) revised with the PLS software, the relationship between the concepts of consistency and brand value is analyzed. The results confirm the relationship between brand value and consistency between channels, El aumento de marcas digitales ha forzado a las marcas minoristas tradicionales a introducir el canal digital en la compra de bienes y servicios. Las marcas minoristas tradicionales, pasaron de tener únicamente puntos físicos a tener canales digitales y aplicaciones convirtiéndose en negocios multicanal, y más recientemente omnicanal. En América Latina, la adopción del canal digital se ha intensificado debido al aumento de la cultura digital durante la pandemia de Covid 19, no obstante, en el inicio de la pandemia, los consumidores aún estan explorando los canales digitales como una opción para la compra de productos de primera necesidad. Este artículo presenta resultados exploratorios sobre el uso de los canales de las marcas minoristas en Colombia, específicamente presentan los resultados sobre la percepción de la consistencia entre ellos y su relación con marcas minoristas de productos de gran consumo, siendo esta una de las condiciones esenciales de la integración. Los datos fueron recogidos durante los meses de abril y mayo del 2020 y hacen parte de un estudio que busca comprender el comportamiento de compra omnicanal de consumidores en economías emergentes. A través del planteamiento de un modelo tipo SEM (Structural Equation Model) revisado con el software PLS se analiza la relación entre los conceptos consistencia y valor de marca. Los resultados confirman la relación del valor de marca y la consistencia entre los canales.

For the sake of the effectiveness of Directive 93/13 on unfair terms in consumer contracts, the CJEU judgments in Unicaja, Ibercaja and SPV Project urge the courts of Spain and Italy to disregard essential principles of national procedural law, such as res judicata, preclusion, party disposition, consistency of judgments or prohibition that an appellant is prejudiced by her own appeal. After looking at the judgments themselves, this contribution discusses the consequences for consumers, businesses and national courts. Next, several points of critique are made. These points refer to the potential risks to the principles of equality, legal certainty and impartiality; the accuracy of the CJEU’s argument on the effectiveness of Directive 93/13, as, on the one hand, the said basic principles of national procedural law do not prevent diligent consumers from availing themselves of the full protection granted by the Directive and, on the other hand, the proper enforcement of mandatory rules with a strong dimension of public interest do not necessarily require exceptions to the application of those principles; the undermining of the principle of procedural autonomy; the new risks of reluctance to accept the primacy of EU law and the authority of the CJEU; and the doubts as to the scope and limits of the jurisprudence stemming from Unicaja, Ibercaja and SPV Project. Subsequently, the alternative approach of Impuls Leasing – focussing on particular provisions of national procedural law rather than on basic principles – is considered. Ultimately, looking a subsequent cases decided by the CJEU, it appears that the Court is willing to make the approach in Impuls Leasing prevail and to keep the jurisprudence emanating from Unicaja, Ibercaja and SPV Project contained., Depto. de Derecho Procesal y Derecho Penal, Fac. de Derecho, TRUE, pub

The proper construction of aerodynamic databases to support an ascent vehicle during the development phases, and flight, is a difficult task. It encompasses many different flight regimes and several types of aerodynamic coefficient data. The focus of this work addresses integrated force and moment, line load, and surface pressure aerodynamic databases covering the ascent phase of the vehicles flight. In particular, the work deals with a missing component in the uncertainty quantification of these databases, in which existing processes are able to estimate integrated aerodynamic coefficient uncertainty, however estimating an equivalent uncertainty for corresponding distributed loads is not done. The phrase "distributed loads" is used to refer to both line load and surface pressure data, as opposed to the scalar-valued integrated aerodynamic coefficients.The primary motivation of this work was to create a method that could generate uncertain distributed loads that are consistent with the quantified uncertainty in the integrated aerodynamic coefficients, while also being consistent with the statistical distributions of known data. A brief motivation and outline is included, before Chapter 2 introduces required background concepts. The methods developed for this work are described in Chapter 3 along with a brief survey of similar published works. The methods are validated and tested in a simulated uncertainty scenario, using both line load and surface pressure data, which are presented in Chapter 4. These results showed that the method using a multivariate normal copula was the most successful of the presented methods. Discussions of the performance of the methods in the various results is also included in Chapter 4, with summarizing conclusions and future work included in Chapter 5.

There are various perspectives on the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum Towards Pancasila profiles at various eds that still need to impact learner efficacy. This article discusses and examines the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum towards Pancasila Profiles at Various Education Levels. This article used a theoretical study based on a qualitative and quantitative approach. This approach prioritizes theoretical studies, articles, and other sources that are considered very relevant to the discussion. The discussion method uses five levels: In-depth description, holistic approach, qualitative analysis, use of primary data, and limited data generalization. Meanwhile, the quantitative approach uses a questionnaire distribution with 57 items and involves 45 respondents using purposive random sampling. Based on the study of this article, it was found that curriculum consistency Towards the Profile of Pancasila Students at the education level can be categorized as high, with an average score of 75.5. It could be done by prioritizing various positive perspectives to develop a specific ability to achieve the Golden Indonesia in 2045 goal. This research implies that it can be the solution alternative for making future education decisions.

This paper considers financial networks for which the population of agents can vary and where network clearing occurs under limited liability, absolute priority, and general agent-specific division rules. After clearing the network, each agent's equity is determined by its initial assets plus the difference between what it received and paid. We introduce reduced financial networks to study how the equity of agents changes when some agents exit. We define equity consistency as the principle that no subset of agents should have an incentive to break away and revise the initial equity assigned to them. We show that equity consistency is achieved if and only if the division rules used for clearing are consistent. For instance, the proportional rule and priority rules are consistent. Nevertheless, one should be careful when using a decentralized procedure to clear the network. Even with consistent division rules, agents' equities may change if they decide to break away. Interestingly, although clearing in accordance with consistent division rules ensures consistent equity to the agents, we demonstrate that the underlying clearing payments are not always consistent.

There are various perspectives on the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum Towards Pancasila profiles at various eds that still need to impact learner efficacy. This article discusses and examines the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum towards Pancasila Profiles at Various Education Levels. This article used a theoretical study based on a qualitative and quantitative approach. This approach prioritizes theoretical studies, articles, and other sources that are considered very relevant to the discussion. The discussion method uses five levels: In-depth description, holistic approach, qualitative analysis, use of primary data, and limited data generalization. Meanwhile, the quantitative approach uses a questionnaire distribution with 57 items and involves 45 respondents using purposive random sampling. Based on the study of this article, it was found that curriculum consistency Towards the Profile of Pancasila Students at the education level can be categorized as high, with an average score of 75.5. It could be done by prioritizing various positive perspectives to develop a specific ability to achieve the Golden Indonesia in 2045 goal. This research implies that it can be the solution alternative for making future education decisions.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There has been much concern regarding potential harmful effects of video game-play in the past 40 years, but limited progress in understanding its causal role. This paper discusses the basic requirements for identifying causal effects of video game-play and argues that most research to date has focused upon ambiguous causal questions. METHODS: Video games and mental health are discussed from the perspective of causal inference with compound exposures; that is, exposures with multiple relevant variants that affect outcomes in different ways. RESULTS: Not only does exposure to video games encompass multiple different factors, but also not playing video games is equally ambiguous. Estimating causal effects of a compound exposure introduces the additional challenge of exposure-version confounding. CONCLUSIONS: Without a comparison of well-defined interventions, research investigating the effects of video game-play will be difficult to translate into actionable health interventions. Interventions that target games should be compared with other interventions aimed at improving the same outcomes.

Refined instrumental variable methods have been broadly used for identification of continuous-time systems in both open and closed-loop settings. However, the theoretical properties of these methods are still yet to be fully understood when operating in closed-loop. In this paper, we address the consistency of the simplified refined instrumental variable method for continuous-time systems (SRIVC) and its closed-loop variant CLSRIVC when they are applied on data that is generated from a feedback loop. In particular, we consider feedback loops consisting of continuous-time controllers, as well as the discrete-time control case. This paper proves that the SRIVC and CLSRIVC estimators are not generically consistent when there is a continuous-time controller in the loop, and that generic consistency can be achieved when the controller is implemented in discrete-time. Numerical simulations are presented to support the theoretical results., QC 20240620

The paper discusses duration effects on the consistency of mean parameter and dispersion parameter estimators in exponential dispersion families (EDFs) that are the standard models used for non-life insurance pricing. Focus is on the standard generalised linear model assumptions where both the mean and variance, conditional on duration, are linear functions in terms of duration. We derive simple convergence results that highlight consequences when the linear conditional moment assumptions are not satisfied. These results illustrate that: (i) the resulting mean estimators always have a relevant asymptotic interpretation in terms of the duration adjusted actuarially fair premium—a premium that only agrees with the standard actuarial premium using a duration equal to one, given that the expected value is linear in the duration; (ii) deviance based estimators of the dispersion parameter in an EDF should be avoided in favour of Pearson estimators; (iii) unless the linear moment assumptions are satisfied, consistency of dispersion and plug-in variance estimators can not be guaranteed and may result in spurious over-dispersion. The results provide explicit conditions on the underlying data generating process that will lead to spurious over-dispersion that can be used for model checking. This is illustrated based on real insurance data, where it is concluded that the linear moment assumptions are violated, which results in non-negligible spurious over-dispersion.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There has been much concern regarding potential harmful effects of video game-play in the past 40 years, but limited progress in understanding its causal role. This paper discusses the basic requirements for identifying causal effects of video game-play and argues that most research to date has focused upon ambiguous causal questions. METHODS: Video games and mental health are discussed from the perspective of causal inference with compound exposures; that is, exposures with multiple relevant variants that affect outcomes in different ways. RESULTS: Not only does exposure to video games encompass multiple different factors, but also not playing video games is equally ambiguous. Estimating causal effects of a compound exposure introduces the additional challenge of exposure-version confounding. CONCLUSIONS: Without a comparison of well-defined interventions, research investigating the effects of video game-play will be difficult to translate into actionable health interventions. Interventions that target games should be compared with other interventions aimed at improving the same outcomes.

There are various perspectives on the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum Towards Pancasila profiles at various eds that still need to impact learner efficacy. This article discusses and examines the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum towards Pancasila Profiles at Various Education Levels. This article used a theoretical study based on a qualitative and quantitative approach. This approach prioritizes theoretical studies, articles, and other sources that are considered very relevant to the discussion. The discussion method uses five levels: In-depth description, holistic approach, qualitative analysis, use of primary data, and limited data generalization. Meanwhile, the quantitative approach uses a questionnaire distribution with 57 items and involves 45 respondents using purposive random sampling. Based on the study of this article, it was found that curriculum consistency Towards the Profile of Pancasila Students at the education level can be categorized as high, with an average score of 75.5. It could be done by prioritizing various positive perspectives to develop a specific ability to achieve the Golden Indonesia in 2045 goal. This research implies that it can be the solution alternative for making future education decisions.

There are various perspectives on the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum Towards Pancasila profiles at various eds that still need to impact learner efficacy. This article discusses and examines the consistency of the Merdeka Curriculum towards Pancasila Profiles at Various Education Levels. This article used a theoretical study based on a qualitative and quantitative approach. This approach prioritizes theoretical studies, articles, and other sources that are considered very relevant to the discussion. The discussion method uses five levels: In-depth description, holistic approach, qualitative analysis, use of primary data, and limited data generalization. Meanwhile, the quantitative approach uses a questionnaire distribution with 57 items and involves 45 respondents using purposive random sampling. Based on the study of this article, it was found that curriculum consistency Towards the Profile of Pancasila Students at the education level can be categorized as high, with an average score of 75.5. It could be done by prioritizing various positive perspectives to develop a specific ability to achieve the Golden Indonesia in 2045 goal. This research implies that it can be the solution alternative for making future education decisions.

Two independent random elements taking values in a separable Hilbert space are considered. The aim is to develop a test with bootstrap calibration to check whether they have the same distribution or not. A transformation of both random elements into a new separable Hilbert space is considered so that the equality of expectations of the transformed random elements is equivalent to the equality of distributions. Thus, a bootstrap test procedure to check the equality of means can be used in order to solve the original problem. It will be shown that both the asymptotic and bootstrap approaches proposed are asymptotically correct and consistent. The results can be applied, for example, in functional data analysis. In practice, the test can be solved with simple operations in the original space without applying the mentioned transformation, which is used only to guarantee the theoretical results. Empirical results and comparisons with related methods support and complement the theory.

The study aimed to analyse serum haptoglobin concentrations by calving number and lactation phase in clinically healthy dairy cattle and to determine the correlation between concentrations in serum and milk samples. For this purpose, serum samples were collected from 228 clinically healthy cows after milking from 14 randomly selected herds. Additionally, milk samples were collected from 80 out of the 228 cows from the milking prior to blood collection. Both serum and milk samples were analysed with a commercial ELISA test. The effect of the calving number and lactation phase on mean serum haptoglobin concentrations was examined by Kruskal–Wallis/Jonckheere–Terpstra tests. After that, in a multivariate approach, a mixed-effects linear model was also performed. In addition, intraclass correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the correlation between concentrations in serum and milk samples. Results indicated a downward trend in haptoglobin concentrations throughout lactation, that was statistically significant when comparing fresh cows with the remaining lactation phases. The higher haptoglobin concentrations in fresh cows could be the result of inflammatory illnesses without clinical disease, stress or variations within the physiological state. Although previous studies showed some discrepancies, a good correlation between serum and milk concentrations has been observed in the present paper.

Consider an opaque medium that contains 3D particles. All particles are convex bodies of the same shape, but they vary in size. The particles are randomly positioned and oriented within the medium and cannot be observed directly. Taking a planar section of the medium we obtain a sample of observed 2D section profile areas of the intersected particles. In this paper, the distribution of interest is the underlying 3D particle size distribution for which an identifiability result is obtained. Moreover, a non-parametric estimator is proposed for this size distribution. The estimator is proven to be consistent and its performance is assessed in a simulation study., Statistics

Actualment la dona no té cam impediment legal per ha estudiar qualsevol carrera que vulgui, és més, en la gran majoria de carreres i àmbits la presencia de la dona és inclús més alta que la d’homes. En un àmbit en concret és just el contrari, en enginyeria, i tampoc té cap impediment per a estudiar aquesta carrera. Però es veu que en la gran majoria d’aules d’universitats on s’imparteix l’enginyeria la seva presencia acostuma a ser molt petita, la pregunta és per quina raó passa això. Els estereotips que tenim inculcats fa que no ens adonem d’ells, i que les obviem i diguem que el motiu és que simplement la dona no te interès per aquest àmbit. La dona mateixa sense donar-se conte té aquest estereotip tant inculcat que moltes vegades ella mateix prefereix estudiar una alta cosa, però aquesta elecció esta disfressada de lliure quan realment ha estat tota la seva vida influenciada per no veure models de dona enginyera i per a que des del principi a ella se la associï amb carreres com ensenyament o salut i als seus companys i amics amb carreres més tècniques. Aquesta problemàtica no ha estat ignorada per tothom, i s`han emprès accions per a millorar la situació, i ho ha fet, però no el suficient, encara falta treball per fer i sobretot constància., Currently, women have no legal impediment to study any career they want, what’s more, in the vast majority of careers and fields, the presence of women is even higher than of men. In a specific field it is just the opposite, in engineering, and there is no impediment to studying this career either. But it can be seen that the vast majority off university classrooms where engineering is taught, its presence tends to be very small, the question is why this happens. The stereotypes we have instilled mean that we don’t notice them, and that we ignore them and say that the reason is that the women is simply not interested in this area. The women herself, without realizing it, has this stereotype so instilled that many times she herself prefer to study something else, but this choice is disguised as free when really she has been influenced all her life by not seeing models of female engineers and for that from the beginning she is associated with careers such as teaching or health and her colleagues and friends with more technical careers. This problem has not been ignored by everyone, and actions have been taken to improve the situation, and they have done so, but not enough, there is still work to be done and above all consistency.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There has been much concern regarding potential harmful effects of video game-play in the past 40 years, but limited progress in understanding its causal role. This paper discusses the basic requirements for identifying causal effects of video game-play and argues that most research to date has focused upon ambiguous causal questions. METHODS: Video games and mental health are discussed from the perspective of causal inference with compound exposures; that is, exposures with multiple relevant variants that affect outcomes in different ways. RESULTS: Not only does exposure to video games encompass multiple different factors, but also not playing video games is equally ambiguous. Estimating causal effects of a compound exposure introduces the additional challenge of exposure-version confounding. CONCLUSIONS: Without a comparison of well-defined interventions, research investigating the effects of video game-play will be difficult to translate into actionable health interventions. Interventions that target games should be compared with other interventions aimed at improving the same outcomes.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There has been much concern regarding potential harmful effects of video game-play in the past 40 years, but limited progress in understanding its causal role. This paper discusses the basic requirements for identifying causal effects of video game-play and argues that most research to date has focused upon ambiguous causal questions. METHODS: Video games and mental health are discussed from the perspective of causal inference with compound exposures; that is, exposures with multiple relevant variants that affect outcomes in different ways. RESULTS: Not only does exposure to video games encompass multiple different factors, but also not playing video games is equally ambiguous. Estimating causal effects of a compound exposure introduces the additional challenge of exposure-version confounding. CONCLUSIONS: Without a comparison of well-defined interventions, research investigating the effects of video game-play will be difficult to translate into actionable health interventions. Interventions that target games should be compared with other interventions aimed at improving the same outcomes.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There has been much concern regarding potential harmful effects of video game-play in the past 40 years, but limited progress in understanding its causal role. This paper discusses the basic requirements for identifying causal effects of video game-play and argues that most research to date has focused upon ambiguous causal questions. METHODS: Video games and mental health are discussed from the perspective of causal inference with compound exposures; that is, exposures with multiple relevant variants that affect outcomes in different ways. RESULTS: Not only does exposure to video games encompass multiple different factors, but also not playing video games is equally ambiguous. Estimating causal effects of a compound exposure introduces the additional challenge of exposure-version confounding. CONCLUSIONS: Without a comparison of well-defined interventions, research investigating the effects of video game-play will be difficult to translate into actionable health interventions. Interventions that target games should be compared with other interventions aimed at improving the same outcomes.

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0047259X16301737-mmc1.pdf, This paper presents new results on the prediction of linear processes in function spaces. The autoregressive Hilbertian process framework of order one (ARH(1) framework) is adopted. A component-wise estimator of the autocorrelation operator is derived from the momentbased estimation of its diagonal coefficients with respect to the orthogonal eigenvectors of the autocovariance operator, which are assumed to be known. Mean-square convergence to the theoretical autocorrelation operator is proved in the space of Hilbert–Schmidt operators. Consistency then follows in that space. Mean absolute convergence, in the underlying Hilbert space, of the ARH(1) plug-in predictor to the conditional expectation is obtained as well. A simulation study is undertaken to illustrate the large-sample behavior of the formulated component-wise estimator and predictor. Additionally, alternative component-wise (with known and unknown eigenvectors), regularized, wavelet-based penalized, and nonparametric kernel estimators of the autocorrelation operator are compared with the one presented here, in terms of prediction, Dirección General de Investigación (DGI). Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO). España, Depto. de Estadística y Ciencia de los Datos, Fac. de Estudios Estadísticos, TRUE, pub

We combine two fundamental optimization problems related to the construction of phylogenetic trees called maximum rooted triplets consistency and minimally resolved supertree into a new problem, which we call q-maximum rooted triplets consistency (q-MAXRTC). It takes as input a set R of rooted, binary phylogenetic trees with three leaves each and asks for a phylogenetic tree with exactly q internal nodes that contains the largest possible number of trees from R. We prove that q-MAXRTC is NP-hard to approximate within a constant, develop polynomial-time approximation algorithms for different values of q, and show experimentally that representing a phylogenetic tree by one having much fewer nodes typically does not destroy too much branching information. To demonstrate the algorithmic advantage of using trees with few internal nodes, we also propose a new algorithm for computing the rooted triplet distance that is faster than the existing algorithms when restricted to such trees.

In this article, the physico-mechanical properties and hydration processes of cement pastes containing three additives are introduced. Cement was replaced with pumice, trass, waste chalcedonite powder at 30% by mass and a combination of pumice or trass and waste chalcedonite powder in the amounts of 15% each. The main aim of this research was to assess the properties of two- or three-component binders to save cement in these binders. Rheological properties such as consistency, yield stress, viscosity and thixotropy were determined, in addition to porosity, 7-day and 28-day flexural and compressive strength and bulk density. Additionally, the heat evolution and degree of hydration of the tested pastes were compared. The use of all additives resulted in a reduction in the consistency of the tested pastes. The highest compressive strength measured after 28 days was observed for the cement paste with a 30% content of waste chalcedonite powder, which is related to it having the best pozzolanic activity of the materials used. The results of this research have confirmed that pumice, trass and waste chalcedonite powder can be used as components of blended Portland cements.

In this article, the physico-mechanical properties and hydration processes of cement pastes containing three additives are introduced. Cement was replaced with pumice, trass, waste chalcedonite powder at 30% by mass and a combination of pumice or trass and waste chalcedonite powder in the amounts of 15% each. The main aim of this research was to assess the properties of two- or three-component binders to save cement in these binders. Rheological properties such as consistency, yield stress, viscosity and thixotropy were determined, in addition to porosity, 7-day and 28-day flexural and compressive strength and bulk density. Additionally, the heat evolution and degree of hydration of the tested pastes were compared. The use of all additives resulted in a reduction in the consistency of the tested pastes. The highest compressive strength measured after 28 days was observed for the cement paste with a 30% content of waste chalcedonite powder, which is related to it having the best pozzolanic activity of the materials used. The results of this research have confirmed that pumice, trass and waste chalcedonite powder can be used as components of blended Portland cements.

The version of record of this article, first published in Computational particle mechanics, is available online at Publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-023-00673-z, This paper presents a set of novel refined schemes to enhance the accuracy and stability of the updated Lagrangian SPH (ULSPH) for structural modelling. The original ULSPH structure model was first proposed by Gray et al. (Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 190:6641–6662, 2001) and has been utilised for a wide range of structural analyses including metal, soil, rubber, ice, etc., although the model often faces several drawbacks including unphysical numerical damping, high-frequency noise in reproduced stress fields, presence of several artificial terms requiring ad hoc tunings and numerical instability in the presence of tensile stresses. In these regards, this study presents a set of enhanced schemes corresponding to (1) consistency correction on discretisation schemes for differential operators, (2) a numerical diffusive term incorporated in the continuity or the density rate equation, (3) tuning-free stabilising term based on Riemann solution and (4) careful control/switch of stress divergence differential operator model under tensile stresses. Qualitative/quantitative validations are conducted through several well-known benchmark tests., This study was supported by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) KAKENHI Grants Number JP21H01433, JP18K04368, JP21K14250 and JP22H01599. Antonio Gil and Chun Hean Lee would like to acknowledge the financial support received through the project Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN-EJD ProTechTion, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program with grant number 764636. The first author acknowledges the contribution of Mr. Kazuhiro Kinuta and Mr. Kazunori Yunoki, students of Applied Mechanics Laboratory, Kyoto University, in conducting several preliminary simulations corresponding to this study back in 2021 and 2022, respectively., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (author's final draft)

The current condition of US infrastructure requires a data-driven, risk-based approach to asset management. In the case of bridges, inspectors in every state visit these structures and collect data, and based on the information they report, state departments evaluate bridge conditions, predict deterioration, and make repair and retrofit decisions. However, the capacity of inspectors for defect detection might vary due to several factors, such as the inspectors’ experience or eyesight, which results in differences when reporting their results. Through the development of a virtual reality (VR)-based testbed, the variability among inspectors in examination and documentation practices in steel and concrete bridges in Indiana will be measured and analyzed. As a result, training programs could be enhanced according to the outcome analyses of the VR system.

This paper discusses temporal reasoning with respect to constraints on two concurrent sequences of events. If two given sequences of events can be mapped into one sequence that satisfies a given constraint, then the constraint is said to be consistent. First, we mention that the consistency of such constraints is NP-complete. Then we introduce the notion of graph representations of constraints. If a graph representation of a given constraint c can be constructed in polynomial time, then the consistency of c is decidable in polynomial time. However, it is shown that the graph representability of a given c is coNP-complete. Next, we propose a subclass CDC$^{\neq} of constraints such that for each constraint c in CDC$^{\neq}$, a graph representation of c can be constructed in polynomial time. The expressive power of CDC$^{\neq}$ is incomparable to any other subclasses of constraints for which the consistency problem is known to be tractable.

In modern mechanical engineering, the development of a technological process for processing stamping forms on shaped surfaces remains the most important task of today. Before processing the shaped surfaces, it will be necessary to study the working surfaces of the stamping molds. This article describes methods for determining the geometric parameters of the surface when processing stamping forms on shaped surfaces, in particular, the drawing structures of the cutting zone of shaped surfaces, the penetration of the cutter into the cutting zone and data on the conditions of editing in the cutting zone.

In modern mechanical engineering, the development of a technological process for processing stamping forms on shaped surfaces remains the most important task of today. Before processing the shaped surfaces, it will be necessary to study the working surfaces of the stamping molds. This article describes methods for determining the geometric parameters of the surface when processing stamping forms on shaped surfaces, in particular, the drawing structures of the cutting zone of shaped surfaces, the penetration of the cutter into the cutting zone and data on the conditions of editing in the cutting zone.

The ability to detect small changes in a vertical jump is crucial when data are used by sports science specialists to monitor their athletes. This study aimed to analyze the intrasession reliability of the ADR jumping photocell and the reliability relative to the position of the transmitter when it is located facing the phalanges of the foot (forefoot) or the metatarsal area (midfoot). A total of 12 female volleyball players performed 240 countermovement jumps (CMJ), alternating both methods. The intersession reliability was higher for the forefoot method (ICC = 0.96; CCC = 0.95; SEM = 1.15 cm; CV = 4.11%) than for the midfoot method (ICC = 0.85; CCC = 0.81; SEM = 3.68 cm; CV = 8.75%). Similarly, the sensitivity values were better for the forefoot method (SWC = 0.32) than for the midfoot method (SWC = 1.04). Significant differences were found between the methods (13.5 cm, p < 0.05, ES = 2.1) with low agreement (rs = 0.57; ICC = 0.49; CCC = 0.15; SEM = 4.7 cm) and heteroscedasticity was observed (r2 > 0.1). In conclusion, the ADR jumping photocell is shown to be a reliable tool for measuring CMJs. However, the reliability of the instrument can be influenced depending on the placement of the device. Comparing the two methods, the midfoot placement was less reliable as indicated by higher values of SEM and systematic error, and thus its use is not recommended.

In the present work, the NRTL model has been analyzed to obtain a good representation of the different ternary liquid-liquid equilibria that this thermodynamic model can reproduce satisfactorily. To do that, the main characteristics of different possible binary subsystems, ternary binodal curves (location in the composition diagram, size, tie-lines orientation, and plait point location), and LLLE tie triangles have been evaluated. With more than two hundred systems studied, the different behaviors have been parametrized to create, as the main objective of the present work, a database and a graphical user interface associated (ParamIni_LL_NRTL, Labarta et al. 2022. RUA: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/130017). This resource (publicly available for teaching and research uses) allows, given a set of ternary experimental LLE data to obtain by comparison with the elements of the database, a consistent set of initial NRTL parameters (taui,j, alfai,j) to start the corresponding correlation data procedure with enough guarantees.

Introduction In order to evaluate aerobic, power and strength abilities coaches typically has performed all the physical tests at the same testing session. Today there is a lack of instruments tested for reliability in that kind of setting. Aim The purpose of this study was to investigate intra-session reliability for countermovement jump (CMJ) and Isometric Midthigh Pull (IMTP) after a fatiguing cycle-ergometer VO2-maxtest. Method: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study design where 25 Swedish elite athletes, 11 women (age 26.9 ± 8.3 year, weight 63.3 ± 7.4 kg, length 169.8 ± 7.4 cm and BMI 21.9 ± 1.4) and 14 men (age 23.4 ± 2.9 year, weight 77.9 ± 12.4 kg, length 179.0 ± 8.3 cm and BMI 24.2 ± 2.0), from different sports were recruited through a stratified comfort selection from the initial survey study within the project: Relative Energy Deficit in Swedish Athletes (the REI-project). The study-participants performed physical testing in one test session, the test-protocol consisted of a incremental VO2-max cycle-ergometer test to fatigue followed by 3 attempts CMJ and 3 attempts IMTP. Results The relative reliability was excellent for both CMJ and IMTP (Intraclass correlation (ICC) 0,948 and 0,983 respectively), not surprisingly due to the heterogeneous population. The absolute reliability was excellent as well (percentage of typical Error (TE%) 5,84 and 4,02, percentage of coefficient of variation (CV%) 6,81 and 7,63 respectively). Conclusion The CMJ and IMTP are intra-session reliable in measuring jump hight and isometric strength in a state of fatigue., Abstrakt Introduktion I syfte att utvärdera såväl aerob kapacitet, spänst och styrka utför tränare ofta dessa fysiska tester vid ett och samma testtillfälle. Idag saknas det testinstrument som reliabilitetstestats i en sådan kontext.Syfte Avsikten med denna studie var att undersöka intra-session reliabiliteten i Countermovement Jump (CMJ) och Isometriskt Mid Thigh Pull (IMTP) utförda efter ett utmattande cykelergometertest för VO2-max. Metod En kvantitativ, deskriptiv, tvärsnittsstudie valdes där 25 svenska elitidrottare, 11 kvinnor (ålder 26.9 ± 8.3 år, vikt 63.3 ± 7.4 kg, längd 169.8 ± 7.4 cm and BMI 21.9 ± 1.4) och 14 män (ålder 23.4 ± 2.9 år, vikt 77.9 ± 12.4 kg, längd 179.0 ± 8.3 cm and BMI 24.2 ± 2.0), inom olika idrotter rekryterades genom ett stratifierat bekvämlighetsurval från projektet Relativ energibrist i svensk idrott (REI-projektet) initiala enkätstudie. Forskningspersonerna utförde fysiska tester vid ett tillfälle, testprotokollet bestod av ett stegrat VO2-max cykelergometertest till utmattning följt av 3 maximala försök CMJ och 3 maximala försök IMTP. Resultat Relativ reliabilitet visades utmärkt för både CMJ och IMTP (intraclass correlation (ICC) 0,948 respektive 0,983), vilket inte var förvånande med tanke på den heterogena populationen. Absolut reliabilitet visades även den vara utmärkt (typfel uttryckt i procent (TE%) 5,84 respektive 4,02 och variationskoefficient uttryckt i procent (CV%) 6,81 respektive 7,63). Slutsats CMJ och IMTP är reliabla testinstrument, intra-session, för mätning av hopphöjd och isometrisk styrka i ett utmattat tillstånd., Projekt: Relativ energibrist i svensk idrott (REI-projektet)

Introduction In order to evaluate aerobic, power and strength abilities coaches typically has performed all the physical tests at the same testing session. Today there is a lack of instruments tested for reliability in that kind of setting. Aim The purpose of this study was to investigate intra-session reliability for countermovement jump (CMJ) and Isometric Midthigh Pull (IMTP) after a fatiguing cycle-ergometer VO2-maxtest. Method: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study design where 25 Swedish elite athletes, 11 women (age 26.9 ± 8.3 year, weight 63.3 ± 7.4 kg, length 169.8 ± 7.4 cm and BMI 21.9 ± 1.4) and 14 men (age 23.4 ± 2.9 year, weight 77.9 ± 12.4 kg, length 179.0 ± 8.3 cm and BMI 24.2 ± 2.0), from different sports were recruited through a stratified comfort selection from the initial survey study within the project: Relative Energy Deficit in Swedish Athletes (the REI-project). The study-participants performed physical testing in one test session, the test-protocol consisted of a incremental VO2-max cycle-ergometer test to fatigue followed by 3 attempts CMJ and 3 attempts IMTP. Results The relative reliability was excellent for both CMJ and IMTP (Intraclass correlation (ICC) 0,948 and 0,983 respectively), not surprisingly due to the heterogeneous population. The absolute reliability was excellent as well (percentage of typical Error (TE%) 5,84 and 4,02, percentage of coefficient of variation (CV%) 6,81 and 7,63 respectively). Conclusion The CMJ and IMTP are intra-session reliable in measuring jump hight and isometric strength in a state of fatigue., Abstrakt Introduktion I syfte att utvärdera såväl aerob kapacitet, spänst och styrka utför tränare ofta dessa fysiska tester vid ett och samma testtillfälle. Idag saknas det testinstrument som reliabilitetstestats i en sådan kontext.Syfte Avsikten med denna studie var att undersöka intra-session reliabiliteten i Countermovement Jump (CMJ) och Isometriskt Mid Thigh Pull (IMTP) utförda efter ett utmattande cykelergometertest för VO2-max. Metod En kvantitativ, deskriptiv, tvärsnittsstudie valdes där 25 svenska elitidrottare, 11 kvinnor (ålder 26.9 ± 8.3 år, vikt 63.3 ± 7.4 kg, längd 169.8 ± 7.4 cm and BMI 21.9 ± 1.4) och 14 män (ålder 23.4 ± 2.9 år, vikt 77.9 ± 12.4 kg, längd 179.0 ± 8.3 cm and BMI 24.2 ± 2.0), inom olika idrotter rekryterades genom ett stratifierat bekvämlighetsurval från projektet Relativ energibrist i svensk idrott (REI-projektet) initiala enkätstudie. Forskningspersonerna utförde fysiska tester vid ett tillfälle, testprotokollet bestod av ett stegrat VO2-max cykelergometertest till utmattning följt av 3 maximala försök CMJ och 3 maximala försök IMTP. Resultat Relativ reliabilitet visades utmärkt för både CMJ och IMTP (intraclass correlation (ICC) 0,948 respektive 0,983), vilket inte var förvånande med tanke på den heterogena populationen. Absolut reliabilitet visades även den vara utmärkt (typfel uttryckt i procent (TE%) 5,84 respektive 4,02 och variationskoefficient uttryckt i procent (CV%) 6,81 respektive 7,63). Slutsats CMJ och IMTP är reliabla testinstrument, intra-session, för mätning av hopphöjd och isometrisk styrka i ett utmattat tillstånd., Projekt: Relativ energibrist i svensk idrott (REI-projektet)

Heteroscedastic metamodeling has gained popularity as an effective tool for analyzing and optimizing complex stochastic systems. A heteroscedastic metamodel provides an accurate approximation of the input-output relationship implied by a stochastic simulation experiment whose output is subject to input-dependent noise variance. Several challenges remain unsolved in this field. First, in-depth investigations into the consistency of heteroscedastic metamodeling techniques, particularly from the sequential prediction perspective, are lacking. Second, sequential heteroscedastic metamodel-based level-set estimation (LSE) methods are scarce. Third, the increasingly high computational cost required by heteroscedastic Gaussian process-based LSE methods in the sequential sampling setting is a concern. Additionally, when constructing a valid uniform bound for a heteroscedastic metamodel, the impact of noise variance estimation is not adequately addressed. This dissertation aims to tackle these challenges and provide promising solutions. First, we investigate the information consistency of a widely used heteroscedastic metamodeling technique, stochastic kriging (SK). Second, we propose SK-based LSE methods leveraging novel uniform bounds for input-point classification. Moreover, we incorporate the Nystrom approximation and a principled budget allocation scheme to improve the computational efficiency of SK-based LSE methods. Lastly, we investigate empirical uniform bounds that take into account the impact of noise variance estimation, ensuring an adequate coverage capability.

Bin packing and its variants, such as online square packing, are classic optimization problems with wide-ranging applications in areas like virtual machine consolidation and supply chain management. This thesis investigates the online square packing problem, where the goal is to pack squares of various sizes into the minimum number of unit square bins. We assume the prediction model, which integrates potentially erroneous machine-learned predictions into online algorithms, offering insights about upcoming items in an input sequence. The primary focus of this thesis is to design algorithms that balance consistency (competitive ratio with accurate predictions) and robustness (competitive ratio under adversarial prediction errors), acknowledging the impact of prediction error on algorithm efficiency. This novel approach, diverging from traditional models with perfect foresight or static input distributions, incorporates the practical aspect of erroneous predictions into the study of online problems. The key contribution of this thesis is the development of \fullRap (\RAP), an online square packing algorithm with predictions, which achieves a consistency of $1.78$ and a robustness of $5.89$. \RAP utilizes predictions that are machine-learnable from a polynomial number of input sequence samples. Additionally, an extension of \RAP, \textsc{Adaptive-RAP}, is introduced. This sampling-based algorithm has an expected competitive ratio of at most $2.0885$, the best-known competitive ratio without predictions, and its competitive ratio approaches $1.78$, the consistency of \RAP, as more items are sampled. Furthermore, this work shows a lower bound on the robustness of any online classical bin packing algorithm for any consistency better than $1.3$; similarly, we establish a lower bound for the robustness of online square packing algorithms that have consistency better than $1.25$. These findings contribute to the understanding of the trade-offs between consistency and robustne

In the present work, the problem of estimating parameters of statistical models for categorical data is analyzed. The minimum K-phi-divergence estimator is obtained minimizing the K-phi-divergence measure between the theoretical and the empirical probability vectors. Its asymptotic properties are obtained. Rom a simulation study, the conclusion is that our estimator emerges as an attractive alternative to the classical maximum likelihood estimator., Depto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

In this paper we present an algorithm suitable to analyse linear models under the following robust conditions: the data is not received in batch but sequentially; the dependent variables may be either non-grouped or grouped, that is, imprecisely observed; the distribution of the errors may be general, thus, not necessarily normal; and the variance of the errors is unknown. As a consequence of the sequential data reception, the algorithm focuses on updating the current estimation and inference of the model parameters (slopes and error variance) as soon as a new data is received. The update of the current estimate is simple and needs scanty computational requirements. The same occurs with the inference processes which are based on asymptotics. The algorithm, unlike its natural competitors, has some memory; therefore, the storage of the complete up-to-date data set is not needed. This fact is essential in terms of computer complexity, so reducing both the computing time and storage requirements of our algorithm compared with other alternatives., MEC, Depto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

This paper introduces a median estimator of the logistic regression parameters. It is defined as the classical L-1-estimator applied to continuous data Z(1),..., Z(n) obtained by a statistical smoothing of the original binary logistic regression observations Y-1,..., Y-n. Consistency and asymptotic normality of this estimator are proved. A method called enhancement is introduced which in some cases increases the efficiency of this estimator. Sensitivity to contaminations and leverage points is studied by simulations and compared in this manner with the sensitivity of some robust estimators previously introduced to the logistic regression. The new estimator appears to be more robust for larger sample sizes and higher levels of contamination., Depto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

In this paper we extend the notion of stability of each aggregation function as presented in a previous paper of the authors, where an aggregation function was denominated Family of Aggregation Operators (FAO) in order to stress that aggregation operators within an aggregation function should be consistent. We will show that the previous definition presents certain problems when dealing with a FAO that is not idempotent or continuous. Meanwhile the previous definition was based on the study of fixed points, without taking into account the environment of each point, as many applications demand, the new approach we propose now is more flexible, and at the end allows a more appropriate definition of the consistency of a FAO. It will be shown that under certain conditions our new proposal is equivalent to the previous definition of strict stability, but the new definition covers families of aggregation operators that are not strictly stable, but intuitively stable, and vice versa. In short, we will see that our new proposal fits much better the intuition of stability of a FAO. This reformulation of stability is based upon the concept of penalty function as a measure of proximity between a value and an array of values., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Comunidad de Madrid, Depto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

We introduce in this paper an iterative estimation procedure based on conditional medians valid to fit linear models when, on the one hand, the distribution of errors, assumed to be known, may be general and, on the other, the dependent data stem from different sources and, consequently, may be either non-grouped or grouped with different classification criteria. The procedure requires us at each step to interpolate the grouped data and is similar to the EM algorithm with normal errors. The expectation step has been replaced by a median-based step which avoids doing awkward integration with general errors and, also, we have substituted for the maximisation step, a natural one which only coincides with it when the errors are normally distributed. With these modifications, we have proved that the iterative estimating algorithm converges to a point which is unique and non-dependent on the starting values. Finally, our final estimate, being a Huber type M-estimator, may enjoy good stochastic asymptotic proper-ties which have also been investigated in detail, Depto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

In this paper we consider some iterative estimation algorithms, which are valid to analyse the variance of data, which may be either non-grouped or grouped with different classification intervals. This situation appears, for instance, when data is collected from different sources and the grouping intervals differ from one source to another. The analysis of variance is carried out by means of general linear models, whose error terms may be general. An initial procedure in the line of the EM, although it does not necessarily agree with it, opens the paper and gives rise to a simplified version where we avoid the double iteration, which implicitly appears in the EM and, also, in the initial procedure mentioned above. The asymptotic stochastic properties of the resulting estimates have been investigated in depth and used to test ANOVA hypothesis, Depto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

We present an easy to implement algorithm, which is valid to analyse the variance of data under several robust conditions. Firstly, the observations may be precise or imprecise. Secondly, the error distributions may vary within the wide class of the strongly unimodal distributions, symmetrical or not. Thirdly, the variance of the errors is unknown. The algorithm starts by estimating the parameters of the ANOVA linear model. Then, the asymptotic covariance matrix of the effects is estimated. Finally, the algorithm uses this matrix estimate to test ANOVA hypotheses posed in terms of linear combinations of the effects., MEC, EUROSTAT, Depto. de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

While neural networks are used for classification tasks across domains, a long-standing open problem in machine learning is determining whether neural networks trained using standard procedures are consistent for classification, i.e., whether such models minimize the probability of misclassification for arbitrary data distributions. In this work, we identify and construct an explicit set of neural network classifiers that are consistent. Since effective neural networks in practice are typically both wide and deep, we analyze infinitely wide networks that are also infinitely deep. In particular, using the recent connection between infinitely wide neural networks and neural tangent kernels, we provide explicit activation functions that can be used to construct networks that achieve consistency. Interestingly, these activation functions are simple and easy to implement, yet differ from commonly used activations such as ReLU or sigmoid. More generally, we create a taxonomy of infinitely wide and deep networks and show that these models implement one of three well-known classifiers depending on the activation function used: 1) 1-nearest neighbor (model predictions are given by the label of the nearest training example); 2) majority vote (model predictions are given by the label of the class with the greatest representation in the training set); or 3) singular kernel classifiers (a set of classifiers containing those that achieve consistency). Our results highlight the benefit of using deep networks for classification tasks, in contrast to regression tasks, where excessive depth is harmful.

Vertical jump height is a key measure of lower limb power and performance in many sports and athletic activities. Accurate measurement of vertical jump height is essential to monitor progress, set goals, and design training programs. Besides, new more economical and manageable instruments are emerging. However, it is necessary to know if these devices can measure with the required precision and accuracy. This study examines the concordance (criterion validity) between a new portable photocell ADR jumping and the jump mat Chronojump. Additionally, the within-session test-retest reliability (internal consistency) of CMJ was studied. Twelve highly trained female volleyball players (age: 21.7 ± 2.9 years; height: 1.73 ± 0.06 m; body mass 64.3 ± 7.6 kg; body mass index (BMI): 16.6 ± 2.5 kg/cm2: training experience 8.5 ± 1.8 y). Following a standardized warm-up and a resting period of 5 minutes, 10 CMJs were executed, resting for 2 minutes for each attempt. All records were collected simultaneously by the ADR jumping photocell and the Chronojump Jump mat to compare data from both devices. The within-session test-retest reliability was evaluated using the first three jumps of all participants. The agreement between devices was near-perfect (r = 0.95; CCC = 0.94; SEM = 1.47 cm; Regression Slope=0.99), However, significant differences were detected between instruments (0.81 cm p < 0.05, ES = 0.2). Within-session reliability was slightly higher in ADR jumping (ICC = 0.93; CCC = 0.90; SEM = 1.3 cm; CV = 4.89%) than Chronojump (ICC = 0.91; CCC = 0.87; SEM = 1.6 cm; CV = 6.0%). Furthermore, sensitivity was higher for ADR jumping (SWC = 0.37 cm) than for the Chronojump (SWC = 0.45 cm). The noise of the measurement (SEM) was greater than the worthwhile change (SWC), indicating a lack of capacity to detect meaningful changes. In conclusion, the ADR jumping photocell is a valid instrument when compared to the Chronojump jump mat in the measurement of CMJ. In addition, ADR jumping sh

Kant's theory of judgment involves his answer to the question "How is knowledge of the pattern underlying intentional strategies of objective - true and justified - representation of empirical events possible?" When we problematize this question, the problem of the scope of our notion of consistency in empirical reasoning emerges. We will argue in this article that Kant's theory includes a thesis about the circular nature of our patterns of consistency, based on the ability to protect the conceptual presuppositions that harmonize knowledge of truth as opposed to falsity in any paradigm of theoretical reflection. This thesis allows Kant to develop a foundationalism about the knowledge of the content of judgments (the ability to recognize conceptual correctness or rule consistency) without committing to a static and transcendent view of the ideal object of our assertion strategies. In our view, this view is still one of the most competitive in describing the necessary - though not static - status of the propositions of empirical science.

The paper focuses on the consistency of fresh steel fibre reinforced concrete in relation to the amount of steel fibre used. Consistency was determined by the slump test and the flow table test. Furthermore, the paper deals with monitoring the compressive strength and volume changes during the maturing process of steel fibre reinforced concrete. Volume changes were monitored using a shrinkage drain. The results of the steel fibre reinforced concrete properties are compared with the values of the reference concrete without fibres and with each other. The result is an evaluation of how the amount of fibre affects the properties of fresh and hardened concrete. The dependence between consistency, compressive strength and shrinkage of steel fibre reinforced concrete is also established.

In this article, the physico-mechanical properties and hydration processes of cement pastes containing three additives are introduced. Cement was replaced with pumice, trass, waste chalcedonite powder at 30% by mass and a combination of pumice or trass and waste chalcedonite powder in the amounts of 15% each. The main aim of this research was to assess the properties of two- or three-component binders to save cement in these binders. Rheological properties such as consistency, yield stress, viscosity and thixotropy were determined, in addition to porosity, 7-day and 28-day flexural and compressive strength and bulk density. Additionally, the heat evolution and degree of hydration of the tested pastes were compared. The use of all additives resulted in a reduction in the consistency of the tested pastes. The highest compressive strength measured after 28 days was observed for the cement paste with a 30% content of waste chalcedonite powder, which is related to it having the best pozzolanic activity of the materials used. The results of this research have confirmed that pumice, trass and waste chalcedonite powder can be used as components of blended Portland cements.

Global warming and the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere is becoming a bigger problem in the world every year. The desire for a global increase in production and the ever-increasing development of industry are the cause of the increased amount of waste in landfills and environmental pollution. Concrete is the most used construction material in the world, and the production of its main ingredient, cement, is responsible for about 7% of CO2 emissions in the world. Application of waste materials and by-products that end up as waste during some industrial process in production can find further application in concrete. Such materials can be used as mineral additives or as aggregate fillers, for partial or complete replacement of natural stone aggregate and/or cement. In this work, volume replacement of the fine fraction with 2.5 and 7.5 % crushed rubber was performed. Based on the test results of fresh concrete, in concrete with rubber addition, the slump consistency and bulk density decrease, and the air content increases. A drop in compressive strength of concrete was observed with an increase in the rubber content of 7.5%.

The current condition of US infrastructure requires a data-driven, risk-based approach to asset management. In the case of bridges, inspectors in every state visit these structures and collect data, and based on the information they report, state departments evaluate bridge conditions, predict deterioration, and make repair and retrofit decisions. However, the capacity of inspectors for defect detection might vary due to several factors, such as the inspectors’ experience or eyesight, which results in differences when reporting their results. Through the development of a virtual reality (VR)-based testbed, the variability among inspectors in examination and documentation practices in steel and concrete bridges in Indiana will be measured and analyzed. As a result, training programs could be enhanced according to the outcome analyses of the VR system.