Protection Elements Research Articles

Development of the European Union’s environmental policy and its measures for climate protection – a review

The negative impacts of human activities on the environment and nature can be felt worldwide. Thus there is a growing focus on measurements that keep sustainability in mind. As one of the main pioneers of environmental protection and sustainability efforts, these aspects are more and more prevalent in the current environmental policy of the European Union (EU). In this review article, the development of the environmental policy of the EU is presented. After listing the main milestones, the role of the EU in the area of environmental protection, the frameworks built around the goals and the roles of the institutions are discussed. Then – with an international detour – the details of the Paris Agreement about climate change and the state of the 20/20/20 commitments are summarised. In the remaining parts of the article, the focus is on the climate protection goals of the EU for the next three decades, the expected future directions, and the agenda of the von der Leyen Commission concerning climate protection. An important step and tool for achieving the goals set until 2050 is to incorporate climate and environmental protection elements to the 2021-2027 budget of the EU. In order to achieve the expected effects, it is crucial to develop the right tools of the environmental policy, to form a widespread cooperation, to raise awareness, and incentivise and support the innovative solutions in the sustainability area.

Don't Let It Get Under Your Skin! - Vaccination Protects the Skin Barrier of Common Carp From Disruption Caused by Cyprinid Herpesvirus 3.

Vaccination is the best form of protecting fish against viral diseases when the pathogen cannot be contained by biosecurity measures. Vaccines based on live attenuated viruses seem to be most effective for vaccination against challenging pathogens like Cyprinid herpesvirus 3. However, there are still knowledge gaps how these vaccines effectively protect fish from the deadly disease caused by the epitheliotropic CyHV-3, and which aspects of non-direct protection of skin or gill integrity and function are important in the aquatic environment. To elucidate some elements of protection, common carp were vaccinated against CyHV-3 using a double deletion vaccine virus KHV-T ΔDUT/TK in the absence or presence of a mix of common carp beta-defensins 1, 2 and 3 as adjuvants. Vaccination induced marginal clinical signs, low virus load and a minor upregulation of cd4, cd8 and igm gene expression in vaccinated fish, while neutralisation activity of blood serum rose from 14 days post vaccination (dpv). A challenge infection with CyHV-3 induced a severe disease with 80-100% mortality in non-vaccinated carp, while in vaccinated carp, no mortality was recorded and the virus load was >1,000-fold lower in the skin, gill and kidney. Histological analysis showed strongest pathological changes in the skin, with a complete destruction of the epidermis in non-vaccinated carp. In the skin of non-vaccinated fish, T and B cell responses were severely downregulated, inflammation and stress responses were increased upon challenge, whereas vaccinated fish had boosted neutrophil, T and B cell responses. A disruption of skin barrier elements (tight and adherence junction, desmosomes, mucins) led to an uncontrolled increase in skin bacteria load which most likely exacerbated the inflammation and the pathology. Using a live attenuated virus vaccine, we were able to show that increased neutrophil, T and B cell responses provide protection from CyHV-3 infection and lead to preservation of skin integrity, which supports successful protection against additional pathogens in the aquatic environment which foster disease development in non-vaccinated carp.

Experimental Validation of Model Heat Transfer in Rectangular Hole Beams Using Modern Dimensional Analysis

Based on the Szirtes’ modern dimensional analysis (MDA), the authors apply the theory to a real structure in order to validate by experimental measurements its applicability. After a presentation of the basic elements of the model law (ML), deduced for two relevant cases, the authors conceived the set of prototypes and models, based on the case of an actual construction pillar, physically performed at scales of 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4. The combination of these structural elements, made at different scales, resulted in three sets of prototypes and models. In this paper, taking into consideration the ML for two relevant cases, the following are presented: the original test stand of these structural elements; block diagram of the original electronic heating and control system; the basic considerations regarding the particularity of this heating system from the point of view of heat transfer; measurement data, obtained for both nonthermally protected elements and for those protected with layers of intumescent paints. In the last part of the paper, the values obtained by rigorous direct measurements with those offered by the ML on the elements considered as prototypes and models are compared. Almost identical values were obtained from the direct measurements with those provided by the ML, thus resulting in the validation of these laws. The same thermal regimes were applied to all these structural elements, with registration of every parameter related to these thermal regimes. Depending on the role of a structural element within a certain set (prototype-model), some of the measurement data were considered as data acquired directly through measurements, and others served as reference elements for those for which we had to obtain through the model law. In the last part of the paper, the sizes obtained by rigorous direct measurements are compared with those offered by the model law on the elements considered as prototypes and models. Identical practical values of the quantities were obtained from the direct measurements with those provided by the model law, thus resulting in the validation of these laws.

Protective elements for lattice composite fuselage structures against low-velocity impacts

Protective elements for lattice composite fuselage structures against low-velocity impacts

Discovery of B-cell epitopes for development of dengue vaccines and antibody therapeutics.

Dengue is one of the most frequently transmitted viral infections globally which creates a serious burden to the healthcare system in many countries in the tropical and subtropical regions. To date, no vaccine has demonstrated balanced protection against the four dengue serotypes. Dengvaxia as the only vaccine that has been licensed for use in endemic areas has shown an increased risk in dengue-naïve vaccines to develop severe dengue. A crucial element in protection from dengue infection is the neutralizing antibody responses. Therefore, the identification of protective linear B-cell epitopes can guide vaccine design and facilitate the development of monoclonal antibodies as dengue therapeutics. This review summarizes the identification of dengue B-cell epitopes within the envelope (E) protein of dengue that can be incorporated into peptide vaccine constructs. These epitopes have been identified through approaches such as bioinformatics, three-dimensional structure analysis of antibody-dengue complexes, mutagenesis/alanine scanning and escape mutant studies. Additionally, the therapeutic potential of monoclonal antibodies targeting the E protein of dengue is reviewed. This can provide a basis for the design of future dengue therapies.

Impact Behavior of High-Strength Engineered Cementitious Composite and Concrete Layered Slabs

High strength Engineered Cementitious Composite (HS-ECC) is a promising material to be used in protective structures. Due to its high manufacturing efforts and cost compared to conventional concrete, nonlinear finite element (FE) simulation is performed to study the influence of replacing HS-ECC layers with concrete under drop weight impact load. Both materials are simulated using the MAT_72R3 material model impeded in LS-DYNA and verified with experimental results. Several FE slab models were developed to compare the impact responses of different configurations. This study as a whole will provide a guideline for researchers to carry out a performance and cost optimization for protective structure elements.

Generate Beaufort Cipher Key Based on Blum-Blum Shub For Secure Digital Image

Data security is not only due to the complexity of the algorithms used, but one of the most important factors is the security of the keys used. One of the most popular data that needs to be backed up today is digital images. However, these days, the algorithms used to back up data are often attacked. This is because the structure of the key formations used is still weak. One of the data security algorithms that form a simple key is the Beaufort cipher. It relies on the duplication of key characters to form the key for each protected element. Key generators based on blum-blum shub technology can generate very random and difficult-to-guess keys, so the strength of the keys you use can enhance the resilience of protected data. Keys generated based on blum-blum shub technology will later be used in the process of encrypting and decrypting pixel values ​​in digital images.

On the Detection Capabilities of Signature-Based Intrusion Detection Systems in the Context of Web Attacks

Signature-based Intrusion Detection Systems (SIDS) play a crucial role within the arsenal of security components of most organizations. They can find traces of known attacks in the network traffic or host events for which patterns or signatures have been pre-established. SIDS include standard packages of detection rulesets, but only those rules suited to the operational environment should be activated for optimal performance. However, some organizations might skip this tuning process and instead activate default off-the-shelf rulesets without understanding its implications and trade-offs. In this work, we help gain insight into the consequences of using predefined rulesets in the performance of SIDS. We experimentally explore the performance of three SIDS in the context of web attacks. In particular, we gauge the detection rate obtained with predefined subsets of rules for Snort, ModSecurity and Nemesida using seven attack datasets. We also determine the precision and rate of alert generated by each detector in a real-life case using a large trace from a public webserver. Results show that the maximum detection rate achieved by the SIDS under test is insufficient to protect systems effectively and is lower than expected for known attacks. Our results also indicate that the choice of predefined settings activated on each detector strongly influences its detection capability and false alarm rate. Snort and ModSecurity scored either a very poor detection rate (activating the less-sensitive predefined ruleset) or a very poor precision (activating the full ruleset). We also found that using various SIDS for a cooperative decision can improve the precision or the detection rate, but not both. Consequently, it is necessary to reflect upon the role of these open-source SIDS with default configurations as core elements for protection in the context of web attacks. Finally, we provide an efficient method for systematically determining which rules deactivate from a ruleset to significantly reduce the false alarm rate for a target operational environment. We tested our approach using Snort’s ruleset in our real-life trace, increasing the precision from 0.015 to 1 in less than 16 h of work.

Investigation on the Physical Properties of Varistors According to Temperature

This study aims to determine the basic physical properties of varistor, which is a protective element in a surge protection device (SPD) used to prevent damage to electric and electronic equipment due to lightning. To do this, we conducted tests of insulation resistance, leakage current, heating characteristics, accelerated aging, impulse current, and operating duty according to temperature. To measure insulation resistance and leakage current, an S1-1568 insulation resistance tester was used. To measure the temperature rise according to a change in the external environment, a convection oven was employed. For the impulse current test, a surge current generator of a direct lightning strike, which was designed and manufactured according to the IEEE and UL standards, was used. We verified that the leakage current increased and the insulation resistance decreased as the voltage and outside temperature were applied to the varistor. This meant that heating and deterioration accelerated due to the leakage current, depending on the place where the SPD was applied. Heat accumulation due to constant heating could cause a change in the physical properties of a varistor and degradation of performance, leading to failure. The impulse current test results of the varistor through the operating duty test showed that changes in insulation resistance and leakage current did not occur significantly with an increase in the number of impulse applications when the less than the maximum surge currents. On the other hand, the maximum surge current was exceeded, the insulation resistance rapidly decreased, which also rapidly increased the leakage current.

Information security with cryptography symmetric key encryption algorithms: a survey

In cryptography, data encryption turns ordinary information into an obfuscated code, and the information cannot be viewed without being decrypted. Thus, cryptography remains the main element of data protection. There are two kinds of cryptography, such as symmetric and asymmetric. There are many existing symmetric algorithms that are used to encrypt data, such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES), Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA), Enigmatic Diagonal Encryption Standard (EDES), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), BLOWFISH, TWOFISH, Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4), Rivest Cipher 6 (RC6), which have been reviewed in this paper. It compares and tracks a summary of productive encryption calculations. The performance is compared with key size, space, time, security, and features of encryption methods.

Steam turbine flow path drainage system under different operating conditions

One of the important elements of anti-erosion protection of the steam turbine last blades is the use of hollow stator blades. There are grooves on the blade surface that lead the steam mixture inside the blades. This mixture is blown to the diffuser area. However, the drain principle fails for low outputs of the turbine, during the so-called ventilation regimes. In the part of blade section the steam flow is reversed and the flow part drain stops working. It was confirmed using experiments of steam turbine carried out in a wide range of power outputs.

Study on the Protection and Development Scale of Rural Landscape

As the carrier of China’s agricultural civilization, the village has high cultural value. However, the imbalance of rural protection and development leads to the destruction of its overall value. How to coordinate the relationship between rural protection and development needs to be studied. This study reviews the history of rural development and summarizes the problems existing in its development. It is believed that on the basis of extracting rural characteristic elements for landscape protection, the mechanism of action between rural characteristic elements and surrounding resources should be analyzed in order to provide the rural areas with new functions. It can unleash the driving force for rural development and promote its healthy and sustainable development.

Development of cyber-physical system security management process model

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) combine general-purpose information and telecommunication systems and industrial networks and devices (controllers), forming a heterogeneous hierarchical distributed information technology computing environment designed for control and monitoring of technological processes. FSCs are being actively implemented in the industrial, urban and household spheres, allowing for more efficient use of resources, as well as transferring management and feedback processes to a new level. CPS are formed as a result of the aggregation of several heterogeneous information and telecommunication systems, which makes them susceptible to the destructive factors of the digital environment – cyber attacks. The peculiarities of the construction and functioning of the CPS require a new approach to defining attack surfaces and modelling threats. This is due to the fact that the "traditional" goals of attackers - the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information processed in the system - are not the only ones. In addition, the value of the information itself can be extremely low. At the same time, control and feedback processes play a decisive role in a cyber-physical system. Their stability directly affects the ability of the FSC to perform target functions, as well as the physical safety of technological facilities, personnel and consumers. Depending on the degree of criticality of the technological processes of the real world, which are controlled by the cyber-physical system, the violation of these flows inside it can lead to serious consequences, such as large material damage or a threat to the life and health of people. The severity of the identified threats is confirmed by the constantly growing number of attacks on CPS and the consequences, including potential ones, to which these attacks lead. In addition, it should be noted that in the context of the rapid development and improvement of programmable control devices (Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)), making them more accessible in the mass market segment, as well as the proliferation of high-speed wireless data transmission networks, the concept of a smart home is gaining wider application. This approach implies the integration of PLCs that interact with each other and the control centre via multi-service broadband wireless networks into the domestic environment. Thus, the concept of a smart home is based on the implementation of FSCs in places of permanent residence of people with the transfer of automatic control functions of climatic equipment, lighting, household appliances, physical elements of protection against intrusions to them. At the same time, it is extremely important to ensure the information security of the CFS. To ensure the required level of their security, it is necessary to effectively solve the problems of managing the process of ensuring their information security. The article proposes an approach to the development of a model for the information security management process of a CFS operating in a smart home.

Right to health in the decisions of the European court of human rights

The article is devoted to the coverage of general theoretical and practical aspects of the protection of the right of a person to health care in the European Court of Human Rights. The substantive and essential correlation of the main elements of protection of the individual's right to health care in the European Court of Human Rights is analysed. Based on the analysis of the norms of international law, the main elements of protection of a person's right to health care have been identified in the European Court of Human Rights. In this study used the formal-logical method, method of analysis, methods of synthesis, generalization, induction, deduction. Analysed the mechanism of the right to health in the European system of human rights. The practical significance of the study of the case law of the ECtHR is that the question of its application is a certain legal guideline for all law enforcement agencies - judges, lawyers, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and other participants.

Characterization of thermal protection elements for composites materials through thermal analysis

Highest level automotive competition is one of the sectors that takes the materials to the limit of their specifications in their commissioning, creating in this way knowledge in new technological fields. An example would be the use of structures made in CFRPs in competition, being gradually movin on the general automotive industry. The objective of this work is to determine the effectiveness of thermal protection elements that have to be installed in those structures of vehicles manufactured in CFRP exposed to high temperatures, such as pontoons covering the power unit and its exhaust manifolds, treating to discriminate which of them offer better protection at the lowest possible weight. In this work, 3 different protection systems have been evaluated, subjecting them to 3 types of tests, such as adhesion, weight and effectiveness of thermal protection. The method described here has made possible to evaluate the different efficacy of the systems tested, yielding additional data on the weight, adhesion and cost of the protection system.

High intensity proton beam impact at 440 GeV/c on Mo and Cu coated CfC/graphite and SiC/SiC absorbers for beam intercepting devices

Beam Intercepting Devices (BIDs) are essential protection elements for the operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) complex. The LHC internal beam dump (LHC Target Dump Injection or LHC TDI) is the main protection BID of the LHC injection system; its main function is to protect LHC equipment in the event of a malfunction of the injection kicker magnets during beam transfer from the SPS to the LHC. Several issues with the TDI were encountered during LHC operation, most of them due to outgassing from its core components induced by electron cloud effects, which led to limitations of the injector intensity and hence had an impact on LHC availability. The absorbing cores of the TDIs, and of beam intercepting devices in general, need to deal with high thermo-mechanical loads induced by the high intensity particle beams. In addition, devices such as the TDI — where the absorbing materials are installed close to the beam, are important contributors to the accelerator impedance budget. To reduce impedance, the absorbing materials that make up the core must be typically coated with high electrical conductivity metals. Beam impact testing of the coated absorbers is a crucial element of development work to ensure their correct operation.In the work covered by this paper, the behaviour of several metal-coated absorber materials was investigated when exposed to high intensity and high energy proton beams in the HiRadMat facility at CERN. Different coating configurations based on copper and molybdenum, and absorbing materials such as isostatic graphite, Carbon Fibre Composite (CfC) and Silicon Carbide reinforced with Silicon Carbide fibres (SiC-SiC), were tested in the facility to assess the TDI's performance and to extract information for other BIDs using these materials. In addition to beam impact tests and an extensive Post Irradiation Examination (PIE) campaign to assess the performance of the coatings and the structural integrity of the substrates, extensive numerical simulations were carried out.

Prezydent przed Trybunałem? Analiza skutków prawnych wydania przez Międzynarodowy Trybunał Karny nakazu aresztowania Omara al-Bashira i Muammara al-Kaddafiego

One of the most frightening aspects of the crime of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity is not so much their scale as their relationship with the sovereign power of the state, which either condone, or even participate in their making. It happens when the theoretically unlimited sovereign state power, which is connected with a monopoly on the use of coercive measures, begins to be used against its own citizens. Because of such a misuse of the state functions in the second half of the 20th century international law began to be treated as an element of protection of innocent people against the unpredictable sovereign state. Providing such a protection is enshrined in the international conventions, and in the activities of various international bodies, including in particular the Security Council of the United Nations. But so far there has not been found in the international law an ideal way to solve the conflict between the need to protect fundamental individual rights and the respect of sovereignty of the state. Creation by an international treaty of the International Criminal Court can be described as a major step on the way to the final determination of the relationship between human rights and state sovereignty. Hence, the process of its creation and first years of operation was marked by a dispute between the defenders of those values. In particular this is reflected in a controversy that caused the issuing by the Court of the arrest warrant for the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, suspected of committing on the territory of Darfur war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. One of the key issues emerging in connection with the Arrest Warrant issued for the head of state is a way to determine the mutual relationship between the obligations of states towards the international court, appointed for the purpose to prevent the gravest international crimes remaining unpunished, and the norms of international law obligating respect for the state sovereignty, by ensuring the immunity of his head is being observed. This article is an attempt to analyze this relationship, regarding the provisions of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, the wording of Security Council Resolution 1593, refering to the Court situation in Darfur and the Security Council Resolution 1970 refering to the Court situation in Libya, and also appropriate rules of customary international law and decisions of international courts.

Spodumene-containing glass-crystalline materials for technical purposes

The trends and current state of the glass-ceramic market from 2019 to 2024 have been analyzed, and an increase in demand for glass-crystalline materials for construction and technical purposes has been established. It has been determined that the orientation of world glass-ceramic market towards fragmentation will allow domestic producers to reduce import dependence and increase the competitiveness of domestic glass-ceramic materials in the world market.
 The aim of this work is to assess the technical and economic indicators of the technology developed spodumene-containing glass-ceramic materials for technical purposes and to conduct pilot laboratory tests.
 The study of the structure and phase composition of glass-ceramic materials was carried out using complementary methods of physicochemical analysis. The physicochemical properties of the materials were determined in accordance with the requirements of the current regulatory documents in silicate materials. Ballistic properties are determined according to GOST 8782: 2018.
 Compositions and technologies for the production of spodumene-containing glass-ceramic materials based on lithium-aluminum silicate glasses were selected for the production of domestic elements of armor protection, heat engineering and radio engineering, taking into account the aspects of energy and resource saving. The study of the developed materials structure made it possible to establish differences in mechanical, thermal, and optical properties, which makes it possible to select the recommended areas of their application.
 A comparative assessment of the performance properties and technical and economic indicators of known ceramic and glass-ceramic materials for body armor made it possible to establish the competitiveness of the developed domestic spodumene-containing materials as elements of individual protection.

Development of energy storage for high voltage electromagnetic pulse generator

Recently, much attention has been paid to electromagnetic stability in the development of energy storage devices, which makes it possible to maintain operating parameters during exposure to electromagnetic pulses and the consequences of their interaction. The issue of ensuring the electromagnetic stability of electronic equipment, due to the fact that under the influence of electromagnetic pulses in electronic and electrical circuits are overvoltage pulses, depending on the origin of electromagnetic pulses, distance from electromagnetic pulses source to hardware components amplitude, rise time and pulse duration can change. That is why the task of creating high-energy electromagnetic pulse generators remains extremely important for modern research. The main use of such generators is to study the interaction of thin-film layers of semiconductor materials with high-energy electromagnetic pulses and the development of elements to protect electronic equipment from the effects of electromagnetic pulses. A set of electromagnetic pulses generators has been created, the use of which will allow studying the properties of the protection elements of electronic equipment in a wide range of electromagnetic pulses capacities. In combination with the previously developed design of the electromagnetic pulses generator, this will affect the studied samples of electronic equipment and protection elements through the integrated operation of the electromagnetic pulses, which will have both high time and high energy. To ensure comfortable and safe research work, the device has a visual indication of operating modes, including modes of high DC voltage generation. The developed control device and power supply for the high-energy electromagnetic pulse generator meets the requirements established during its development and can be used to study the interaction of semiconductor thin-film layers with high-energy electromagnetic pulses.

Strength Characterization of Soils' Properties at High Strain Rates Using the Hopkinson Technique-A Review of Experimental Testing.

The paper presents a review of crucial experiments and the latest publications, presenting the previous and current trends in experimental research in 2018–2021 in the area of soil dynamic interaction based on the Hopkinson bar technique. A review of investigated experimental test stands was made, in particular, cohesive and non-cohesive soil specimens prepared with different dimensions and densities. From this study, it can be concluded that the dynamic response of the soil depends on many factors, e.g., density, cohesion, moisture and grain structure of the soil specimen. There is still a noticeable interest in SHPB experiments performed in both 1D and 3D versions under modified conditions (frozen/heated soil specimen, different degree of water saturation content of the soil sample) in a wide range of strain rates 102–104 s−1, which is a large field for further research. The need to learn about the characteristics of various types of soil (both cohesive and non-cohesive) for the selection of structural design solutions for the protection elements of critical infrastructure was emphasized.