Code Provisions Research Articles

Predicting the shear strength of rectangular RC beams strengthened with externally-bonded FRP composites using constrained monotonic neural networks

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites bonded externally to reinforced concrete beams have shown promise for increasing shear load-carrying capacity. However, accurately predicting the shear strength contribution of FRP remains challenging due to the complexity of the shear failure mechanisms and interactions between the contributing components. Existing design provisions have limitations in modeling this behavior. Recently, machine learning has shown promise for addressing such complex problems but lacks transparency. Therefore, this study developed a data-driven Constrained Monotonic Neural Network (CMNN) approach implemented using Python libraries Keras and Tensorflow, which integrates domain knowledge to provide reliable FRP shear-strength predictions. This framework directly encodes expected monotonic input-output relationships through constraints, harnessing both predictive power and monotonicity guarantees. A comprehensive database of 273 beam tests was used to train and evaluate the model. Bayesian optimization through the Optuna framework and 4-fold cross-validation were used to tune the hyperparameters of the CMNN model. Extensive evaluation demonstrated the CMNN model's superior accuracy, yielding an R² value over 0.9, a CI above 0.93 and a low MAE under 16 kN on both training and unseen test data. The model also outperformed existing design code provisions, achieving significantly optimal performance metrics across various strengthening configurations. The analysis of the predictions revealed logical sensitivity trends aligned with the principles of shear mechanics. Such physics-informed machine learning presents a next-generation technique for performance-based structural design, contributing an effective and interpretable tool to advance knowledge on quantifying the shear capacity contribution of externally bonded FRP reinforcement in concrete beams.

Vertical load distribution in precast hollow core floors: State of the art and future perspectives

AbstractPrecast prestressed hollow core (HC) floors are widely used in various applications within the construction sector. Such floors are usually designed as single, simply supported elements, although it is known that individual elements forming the floor interact with each other. This article presents the state of the art regarding load redistribution in HC floors in the light of experimental data, current analytical models and code provisions. While this phenomenon is widely known and recognized, only sparse, and often poorly documented experimental data are available, which represent the basis for the assessment and calibration of analytical models. Moreover, even though the available models and code provisions share similar assumptions, their outcomes are in some cases conflicting. Having recognized the existing knowledge gap, the authors outline future perspectives for the development of consistent analytical and numerical approaches supplemented by new experimental data.

Przestępstwo czynu nierządnego z nieletnim w kodeksach karnych państw zaborczych i kodeksie karnym z 1932 roku. Przyczynek do badań

The crime of pedophilia, as a separate type of prohibited act, appeared in Poland together with the criminal codes of the partitioning countries. These provisions were in many cases very casuistic, providing a different standard of protection for minors. The Criminal Code of 1932 introduced a uniform standard of protection through the provision of Article 203 penalizing the act of fornication with a minor. The author discusses not only the provisions of the partitioning codes and the Polish Criminal Code of 1932 relating to the crime of pedophilia, but also points to the conflict of these provisions with the provisions of the marriage law in force in Poland, which in some cases allowed children under 15 years of age to marry.

Effect of marginal beams on the punching shear capacity of concrete slabs at exterior columns

It is common in concrete flat plate construction to connect the exterior columns with marginal, or edge, beams. In addition to the benefit gained from marginal beams in stiffening the slab edges and supporting the concentrated loads on the slab edge, they aid in resisting punching shear at the exterior columns. However, in most cases the marginal beam dimensions are limited by architectural constraints rendering it very small relative to the adjoining columns. In such cases, especially ones when the column protrudes beyond the beam width, the effect of the beam in resisting punching shear is doubtful. Most design codes do not provide a direct method for checking punching shear taking into account the effect of the beam, which might encourage designers to neglect punching shear design due to beam effect. This paper investigates the effect of marginal beams on the punching shear capacity of slabs at edge and corner columns. To the authors’ knowledge, only the Australian Standards (AS3600) accounts for that case, however; the AS3600 provisions are based on studies conducted on beams with width equal to the adjoining column width, a case which is out of the scope of this paper. The results of eight experimentally tested slabs were used to verify the modeling approach used to generate the parametric study models. The test specimens chosen for verification of the numerical model represented two possible modes of failure, punching shear at the column slab interface and torsion shear failure of the marginal beam. Numerical models of 80 slabs were developed using ABAQUS software package. The study results were compared to three international code provisions, the ACI318, EC2 and ECP-203. The study concluded that the presence of a beam with width less than 80% of the column width does not eliminate the punching shear mode of failure, however; the beam increases the overall capacity of the connection by transferring part of the load directly to the column and reducing demand on two-way shear. Design guidelines are presented to check shear capacity of such connections.

Seismic design optimization of space steel frame buildings equipped with triple friction pendulum base isolators

To increase the seismic resilience of structures, it is necessary to utilize seismic isolation to increase structural periods and reduce story drifts. When seismic isolation is implemented, structures are capable of deforming by remaining within safe limits. Thus, more seismically resilient designs are achieved compared to conventional fixed-based structures since lighter structural design weights are attained. The principal aim of this study is to achieve the comparative design optimization of space steel frame buildings equipped with seismic base isolation and to examine the effect of seismic base isolation on optimum structural design weight by comparing the same structures with conventional rigid-based ones. For seismic base isolation, triple friction pendulums are implemented into steel frame buildings. For this aim, four different space steel frame buildings with 4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-story are treated as design examples. A novel design optimization algorithm is encoded, which includes nature-inspired metaheuristic artificial bee colony, crow search, and Archimedes optimization algorithms to achieve design optimizations of triple friction pendulums equipped with seismic-isolated space steel frame buildings. The practice code provisions of load and resistance factor design specification for structural steel buildings have been applied to control the structural design constraints of inter-story drift, top-story drift, strength, displacement, and connections geometry of beams and columns. Eventually, it has been remarked that seismic base isolation significantly reduces the structural optimal design weight of space steel frame buildings.

Implementation of European approaches in reforming the institution of separation in Ukraine

The article examines the possibility of introducing European approaches in the process of updating the institution of separate residence of spouses. The experience of European states regarding the regulation of the institution of separation (France, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, etc.) is clarified in a comparative aspect. Three main approaches to the regulation of the legal regime of separate residence of spouses in foreign countries are singled out: an approach in which the independence of the institution of separation and termination of marriage is preserved; an approach in which the grounds for separation and divorce are the same, so the spouses can choose one of the specified two models; an approach in which dissolution of marriage depends on separation, which must precede termination of marriage. Two approaches in the world regarding the contractual method of establishing a regime of separate residence have been clarified, in particular. The common and distinctive features between separation and the actual termination of marital relations, as well as divorce, have been clarified. The judicial practice in cases of establishing the actual termination of marital relations, separation, as well as the termination of the regime of separate residence of spouses has been analyzed. The position of the Supreme Court regarding consideration of counterclaims for establishment of separation is noted. The need to settle the issue of the place of residence of spouses and children when the regime of separate residence of spouses is established, and the issue of child support, has been clarified. It is substantiated that in the process of Europeanization of the provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine, it is necessary to provide norms that would provide that during the establishment of the regime of separate residence of the spouses, the rights of children are properly protected and the best interests of the child are taken into account. Other issues related to the rights and responsibilities of husband and wife as spouses can be settled by agreement if they wish. Corresponding changes to the Civil Code of Ukraine have been proposed to provide for a contractual procedure for establishing separation and proper protection of the best interests of the child.

Seismic Fragility Analysis of Existing Old Newari Brick Masonry Building in Pokhara Valley

Most of the building stock in Nepal is based on masonry construction, which includes monumental, administrative, and residential structures. These structures are vulnerable during earthquakes, as evidenced by the massive structural damage, loss of human life, and property damage due to a lack of proper assessment and appropriate strengthening measures. An analysis of the seismic vulnerability of existing old Newari brick masonry buildings in the Pokhara Valley is presented. These buildings were built using indigenous knowledge and technology. The investigation is based on analytical studies, with some material properties obtained from field tests. Proper modeling of a masonry structure is crucial for reliable seismic resistance and structural design. However, modeling a real masonry structure is a challenging and computationally demanding task due to its complicated framework, requiring in-depth knowledge, realistic material properties, and relevant information. The aim of this research is to assess the seismic performance of old Newari masonry buildings using stress level and fragility curves. The research issues are addressed analytically through linear time history analysis using the finite element program-based software Sap 2000 v20. In dynamic analysis, numerical building models were subjected to three synthetic earthquakes. The performance status of the building based on various stress levels is evaluated, and weak regions are identified. The fragility curve of the structure is assessed, considering the ground motion parameters in the locality. The fragility function is plotted with the probability of failure at an interval of 0.10 g. The results of the analysis highlight that the studied structure is vulnerable compared to the codal provisions and standard recommendations.

Dynamics of legal regulation of exemptions in the payment and calculation of land fees in the conditions of martial law on the basis of judicial practice

The relevance of the research topic is stipulated by the new challenges faced by our country in connection with the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the need to adapt the legal regulation of land payment in terms of its calculation and payment during the period of martial law. The purpose of the article is to trace the dynamics of legal regulation of land payment during martial law, and to review the current case law of both national courts regarding the resolution of disputes on the cancellation of a tax assessment notice and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in terms of determining the conceptual foundations for the construction of legal provisions. The study of the issue of payment and accrual of land payment is of both applied and theoretical nature, since violation of the means and rules of rule-making technique leads to tax disputes. The analysis of legal constructions of the Tax Code of Ukraine and other regulatory legal acts made it possible to identify problems in the regulation of land payment, which consist in violation of the rule of law principle provided for by the Constitution of Ukraine. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has defined the principles of legal certainty and legal predictability as components of the rule of law. The inconsistency of the provisions of the Tax Code of Ukraine and bylaws has led to a dual interpretation of their rights and obligations by taxpayers and controlling authorities. The author analyzes the positions of the controlling authorities in terms of amendments to the regulation of the calculation and payment of tax liabilities for taxation of land plots located in the temporarily occupied territories or in the territories where military operations are (were) conducted.

Buying and selling activity of online game accounts containing virtual goods that are sold on an online marketplace

With so many online game players today, various problems arise. There are so many online game players today who carry out buying and selling activities on online game accounts containing virtual objects that are widely available in various marketplaces in Indonesia. However, in these activities, the buyer often suffers losses such as the account being hacked or re-accessed by the seller. For this reason, it is necessary to have the validity of buying and selling online game accounts containing virtual objects, and how to protect the law against the buyer who purchases an account containing virtual objects. This writing uses a normative juridical approach, namely by reviewing the provisions in the Civil Code regarding the validity of buying and selling and most importantly the Law No. 19 of 2016 regarding buying and selling in electronic systems, to then be analyzed descriptively qualitatively, namely by first providing a detailed description and analysis , systematic, and comprehensive regarding the laws and regulations, norms in various countries and legal theories which are then applied to the problems studied. The results of the study show that firstly, the activity of buying and selling online game accounts which contain virtual objects based on the Law No. 19 of 2016 is legal if the organizer does not prohibit the existence of buying and selling activities by third parties. Second, legal protection for buyers who purchase online game accounts containing virtual objects based on Article 30 of the Law No. 19 of 2016 is that the seller is prohibited from re-accessing accounts that have been sold, while based on Article 49 paragraph (3) Regulation No. 71 Of 2019 the buyer has the right to get a return of goods and money if there is a difference between the goods purchased and the goods received.

Examining ACI Development Length and Strength Provisions for RC Slabs Strengthened with NSM GFRP

This study aims to investigate the strengthening effect of GFRP bars on the capacity of RC slabs when subject to flexure loading. The objective is to show the effect of debonding failure on the capacity of the GFRP strengthened slabs relative to the different variables used. The variables used are the different bonding lengths, diameters, and numbers of GFRP bars in strengthening RC slabs. The work presents the details of the adopted experimental investigation and the results of the flexural tests performed on twelve slabs with the different variables. These results are adopted to validate the currently available design provisions of the ACI code of practice for using NSM GFRP to strengthen RC slabs.

Deficiencies and shortcomings in the mechanism for the application of contraventional sanctions

One of the coercive measures of the state for committing contraventions are also considered the contraventional sanctions which are applied according to their character and degree of prejudice, the characteristics of the person and the mitigating and aggravating circumstances. The gradualness and conditions of their application are established by the provisions of the Contraventional Code and have the role of repairing that attempt to the state of legality, as well as re-educating the perpetrator in order to exclude the commission of other violations in the future. In practice, there are certain shortcomings related to the contraventional sanctions that make it difficult for both the investigative agents and the courts, as there are multiple interpretations and ambiguities related to the individualization conditions and the applicable mechanism. In the same way, the people who are held responsible are not always given a proportional and effective sanction with the illegality committed. Today, the contraventional sanctions system requires certain changes and revisions, or, it does not fully achieve its intended purpose and established by the legal provisions to combat and prevent the commission of contraventions effectively

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON STUDYING THE FLEXURAL BEHAVIOUR OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE BEAM UNDER FIXED BOUNDARY CONDITION

Geo polymer concrete is one of the emerging construction material as a substitute for conventional cement concrete, eliminating the usage of OPC. This work is aimed to cast and testing of geo-polymer beam elements with restrained edge condition. The size of beam is 1m x 1m x 0.05 m. By using yield line theory, the moment of resistance and maximum deflection under flexural loading are calculated for the of GPC beam. Reinforcement details of these beam are calculated using ultimate load method as per IS code provisions. Geopolymer concrete is the greener concrete, which has the potential technology to reduce the carbon emission and lead to sustainable developments and growth of the concrete industry. During the manufacturing of ordinary Portland cement, large amount of carbon dioxide is released in the atmosphere causing not only air pollution but also highly responsible factor of global warming.

Design procedure of a shear fuse system for steel moment-resisting frames

In steel moment-resisting frames (MRFs), seismic energy is generally dissipated through the formation of flexural plastic hinges at beam ends. In ensuring such a mechanism, current code provisions limit the utilization of beams with small span-to-length ratios in MRFs. This study presents the design procedure of a novel shear fuse system that integrates replaceable shear links with non-prismatic beams to enhance the performance and repairability of MRFs with small beam span-to-length ratios. The proposed design strategically weakens the beam at its midspan by incorporating a replaceable link, prioritizing shear yielding in the link over flexural yielding in the beam outside the link, thus ensuring adequate frame ductility and protecting the critical beam-to-column connections. It can function as an efficient replaceable shear fuse system, as the damaged fuse can be substituted with a new one following a severe earthquake. In fulfilling the study’s purpose, first, several formulas are developed to provide a comprehensive design procedure. Next, example design calculations are presented for an MRF with a small beam span-to-depth ratio. Ultimately, a numerical investigation is provided to examine the proposed system’s performance compared to conventional MRFs. The results indicate that the proposed shear fuse system provides a more consistent cyclic behavior than the conventional prismatic beam design, exhibiting stable strain-hardening behavior up to the 5 % story drift ratio without noticeable strength degradation. It appropriately shifts the plastic hinges away from the beam-to-column connections while increasing the frame’s overall ductility with 1.14 times greater energy dissipation in the final loading cycles.

Illusions of labor law: delusion or reality?

In modern legislation there are many legal illusions, arising both systematically, for the development of society and the state, and spontaneously as reactionary measures to certain social circumstances (pandemic, sanctions). There are also legal illusions in labor law. Identification and classification of legal illusions will improve labor legislation. The article defines the role of legal illusion as an element that constitutes a new social reality. The key doctrinal approaches to the understanding of legal illusion are analyzed. It is proposed to distinguish target illusions, which in turn are divided into illusions and simulacra. Legal simulacra in the process of implementation entail distortion of legal reality, conflicts and violations of the rights of participants of social relations. The implementation of certain provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is considered as examples of legal illusions and simulacra.

On the Scope of Liability for Negligence in Maritime Search and Rescue under the Background of the Amendment to the Maritime Code

In the era of contract-based maritime rescue under the background of amendments to the Maritime Code, disputes arise regarding whether a rescuer who, due to negligence, causes harm to the assisted party should bear tort liability. When a rescuer negligently causes harm to the assisted party during maritime rescue operations, it constitutes concurrent liability for tort and breach of contract. The rescuer should bear the responsibility for compensating the damages. Specifically, in establishing liability, it is essential to adhere to the standards identical to those in the Tort Liability section of the Civil Code. However, in determining the scope of liability, the principle of full compensation should not be strictly applied and can be appropriately relaxed. First, after posing the question, this paper employs a legal normative analysis method to explore the applicable domestic and foreign laws as well as international treaties related to the issue. The current legal systems stance on the matter is derived from legal norms. Analyzing the rights and obligations relationship between the rescuer and the assisted party from the perspective of balancing interests aims to achieve a new balance of interests between the two parties. Secondly, by comparing the Maritime Code with the Civil Code, the specific differences between the Maritime Code and the Civil Code provisions are identified. Additionally, considering the inherent characteristics of the Maritime Code, an analysis is conducted to differentiate the establishment and scope of liability for negligence-induced maritime rescue. Thirdly, through comparative analysis, it is determined that the rescuer should bear liability for damages resulting from negligent infringement, but the scope of liability can be appropriately limited. Moreover, a comparison between the maritime rescue system and relevant systems is made to clarify the relationship between the maritime rescue system and other relevant systems, providing theoretical support for the amendment of the Maritime Code. Finally, solutions and recommendations are proposed for the issues raised in the context of amendments to the Maritime Code.

Moment redistribution in continuous reinforced concrete beams: Experimental study and analytical investigation

This paper presents the results of experimental and analytical studies carried out on continuous reinforced concrete (RC) beams to determine moment redistribution in statically indeterminate RC structures. For this purpose, continuous RC beams were produced with varying tensile reinforcement ratio at the intermediate support, which are shown as the parameters that affect moment redistribution the most in the literature. One of the main goals of this study is to check if the formulations in the design code provisions and in the literature give a safe estimate, and in order to perform this check, a dataset consisting of the experimental results of 141 beams in the literature has been used for validation and the moment redistribution ratios of this dataset have been estimated with all these formulations. The obtained results have been compared using various statistical indices such as the mean value (MV), standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (COV), the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). In particular, the formulations in the literature that take into account many parameters affecting the moment redistribution have been found to give better results than the formulations in the design code provisions. The results of this study confirm that elastic moment redistribution, which occurs in the process from the moment when the concrete cracks until the tensile reinforcement yields and constitutes a significant part of the total moment redistribution, is also important. Moreover, the properties of continuous RC beams related to their general behaviors, such as load-displacement relationships, ductility and moment-curvature relationships have been also investigated in detail.

NOTARY'S RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY AS AN AUTHENTIC DEED OFFICIAL

Purpose: This research endeavors to investigate the obligations of notaries in their capacity as officials endowed with the power to authenticate deeds. These obligations consist of ethical, administrative, civil, and criminal, duties. Theoretical Framework: Notaries have obligations as public officials. Indeed, a notary bears accountability not only to his fellow professionals but also to clients and members of the public who require his services by legal regulations and societal interests. Method: This research is descriptive and the type of research is normative juridical. This research uses secondary data derived from primary sources, such as journals and secondary sources, namely the Internet and books Results: The findings indicated that notaries must fundamentally adhere to the Notary Position Law and the Notary Code of Ethics when performing their duties and positions. This ensures that the notary always follows the procedures outlined in the Notary Position Law and Code of Ethics, thereby providing legal certainty to the parties involved in the deed. For each task that their clients entrust to them, notaries take full responsibility. There are always matters that accompany each occupation and become its responsibility. Conclusions: The Notary Position Law specifies that if a notary commits an offence while performing his or her duties and responsibilities, the notary may be held accountable and punished through administrative, civil, and ethical sanctions. The Notary Position Regulation, the Notary Position Law, and the Notary Code of Ethics previously governed criminal sanctions against notaries, but these sanctions are no longer subject to legal regulation. Punishments for criminal offenses against notaries may be enforced by the provisions of the Criminal Code.

The influence of soils of selected sites of Addis Ababa on predicted earthquake ground motions

One-dimensional nonlinear ground response analyses were conducted on selected sites of Addis Ababa. The sites were characterized based on the results of seismic and geotechnical surveys. Input motions were selected from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) ground motion database. The results of the analyses show that the selected sites have a potential amplification significantly higher than the current seismic code specifications. In particular, the average PSA obtained at the ground surface is more than double the code values in the lower period range of up to 1.3 s. Considering that most buildings lie within this range, this calls for a revisiting of the code provisions for such sites of seismic prone areas in the region in general.

Bake off redux: a review and experimental evaluation of recent time series classification algorithms

AbstractIn 2017, a research paper (Bagnall et al. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery 31(3):606-660. 2017) compared 18 Time Series Classification (TSC) algorithms on 85 datasets from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) archive. This study, commonly referred to as a ‘bake off’, identified that only nine algorithms performed significantly better than the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) and Rotation Forest benchmarks that were used. The study categorised each algorithm by the type of feature they extract from time series data, forming a taxonomy of five main algorithm types. This categorisation of algorithms alongside the provision of code and accessible results for reproducibility has helped fuel an increase in popularity of the TSC field. Over six years have passed since this bake off, the UCR archive has expanded to 112 datasets and there have been a large number of new algorithms proposed. We revisit the bake off, seeing how each of the proposed categories have advanced since the original publication, and evaluate the performance of newer algorithms against the previous best-of-category using an expanded UCR archive. We extend the taxonomy to include three new categories to reflect recent developments. Alongside the originally proposed distance, interval, shapelet, dictionary and hybrid based algorithms, we compare newer convolution and feature based algorithms as well as deep learning approaches. We introduce 30 classification datasets either recently donated to the archive or reformatted to the TSC format, and use these to further evaluate the best performing algorithm from each category. Overall, we find that two recently proposed algorithms, MultiROCKET+Hydra (Dempster et al. 2022) and HIVE-COTEv2 (Middlehurst et al. Mach Learn 110:3211-3243. 2021), perform significantly better than other approaches on both the current and new TSC problems.

О форме сделки и некоторых институтах наследственного права

The article is devoted to the study of dressing in a certain form of expression of the will of subjects of private law. The doctrinal views on the form of the transaction and its types are given. There is a counterargument regarding the position about the non-existence of an oral form of the transaction. The possibility of the presence of all forms of transactions in inheritance law is stated. The conclusion is made about the inconsistency with the modern realities of the legal provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on the form of a will in extraordinary circumstances.