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To further improve the precision and efficiency of structural health monitoring technology and the theory of large-scale structures, full-field non-contact structural geometry morphology monitoring is expected to be a breakthrough technology in structural safety state monitoring and digital twins, owing to its economic, credible, high frequency, and holographic advantages. This study validates a proposed holographic visual sensor and algorithms in a computer-vision-based full-field non-contact displacement and vibration measurement. Using an automatic camera patrol experimental device, original segmental dynamic and static video monitoring data of a model bridge under various damage/activities were collected. According to the temporal and spatial characteristics of the series data, the holographic geometric morphology tracking algorithm was introduced. Additionally, the feature points set of the structural holography geometry and the holography feature contours were established. Experimental results show that the holographic visual sensor and the proposed algorithms can extract an accurate holographic full-field displacement signal, and factually and sensitively accomplish vibration measurement, while accurately reflecting the real change in structural properties under various damage/action conditions. The proposed method can serve as a foundation for further research on digital twins for large-scale structures, structural condition assessment, and intelligent damage identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The joint form plays a vital role in the rapid assembly of precast bridge decks for steel–concrete composite bridges. Existing research primarily focuses on studying the shear performance of joints through direct shear tests, which is insufficient to fully reflect the mechanical behavior of joints under the constraint of prefabricated bridge deck panels during actual vehicular traffic. Considering situations such as vehicle loads and external forces acting on precast bridge decks, this study investigates the shear performance of epoxy joints under constraint through an improved shear test. The influence of constraint force, shear key details and interface defects on the shear performance of epoxy joints is investigated. The results reveal that the shear test method employed in this study can realistically reflect the shear performance of epoxy joints in precast bridge decks. Both active and passive constrained epoxy joint specimens exhibited no interface cracks, and their failure modes were identified as shear failure between mid-span supports. Compared with passive constraint, the shear-bearing capacity of epoxy joint specimens under active constraint was increased by 86.1~130.6%. Among the epoxy joint specimens with depth–height ratios of 15/110, 25/110, 35/110 and 45/110, the joint with a depth of 35 mm demonstrated the highest shear strength. Furthermore, the shear performance of epoxy joints significantly deteriorated when the interface defects exceeded 30%, resulting in the failure mode transforming from shear failure to interface failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban heat islands are representative problems in urban environments. The impact of spectral indexes on land-surface temperature (LST) under different urban forms, climates, and functions is not fully understood. Local climate zones (LCZs) are used to characterize heterogeneous cities. In this study, we quantified the contribution of three cities to high-temperature zones and surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII) across LCZs and seasons, used Welch and Games–Howell tests to analyze the difference in LST, then described the spatial pattern characteristics of LST, and used a geographically weighted regression model to analyze the relationship between spectral indexes and LST. The results showed that compact midrise, compact low-rise (LCZ 3), large low-rise (LCZ 8), heavy industry (LCZ 10), and bare rock or paved (LCZ E) contributed greatly to high-temperature zones and had strong SUHII. There were 92–98% significant differences between different LCZs. The spatial aggregation of LST gradually weakened with a decrease in temperature. The modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI) in most LCZs of all seasons for Wuhan could reduce LST well, while MNDWI only had cooling effects in winter for Nanjing and Shanghai. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in most LCZs performed a cooling role during summer and transition seasons (spring and autumn), while it showed a warming effect in winter. The cooling effect of NDVI in open building types was stronger than that of compact building types, while the cooling effect of MNDWI was better in compact building types than in open building types. With the increase of normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), all LCZs showed warming effects, and the magnitude of LST increase varied in different cities and seasons. These results contribute further insight into thermal environment in heterogeneous urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Africa, energy plays an important role in the processes of economic and sustainable development. However, inefficiency such as mismanagement of resources constrains productivity. Prior energy efficiency studies in Africa have failed to provide the paths through which energy efficiency improvement can be achieved. The current study aims to assess energy efficiency improvement among 25 selected countries in Africa. First, the dynamic slack-based measure (DSBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is applied to gauge the efficiency measurement. Further, the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) is employed to investigate the energy efficiency improvement during 2006–2014. Empirically, the results from the dynamic slack-based measure (DSBM) model show that energy efficiency in Africa is generally low. Also, the findings from the MPI suggest there is no significant improvement in energy efficiency in Africa. Based on the estimated results, some energy efficiency improvement strategies are further proposed for sample countries in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]