Weaker Members Research Articles

Theoretical Review of The Nature and the Possibilities of Inclusive Catholic Education in Lithuania

Aim. The aim of this theoretical review is to identify the possibilities of inclusive education in a Catholic school. The review seeks to describe the ways in which such schools have already chosen to engage or not engage in compulsory inclusive education in Lithuania. It also seeks to highlight the Catholic Church's teaching on inclusion of vulnerable groups. Methods. Analysis and synthesis of scientific literature. Analysis and synthesis of Catholic Church documents. Results. The analysis and synthesis of the scientific literature revealed that Catholic educational institutions in Lithuania implement one of the following three ways of contact with inclusion: a) full inclusion, b) gradual involvement in the state strategy of inclusion, c) segregation of pupils at the time of admission to the school. The analysis and synthesis of Catholic Church documents has shown that the Church's teaching on the inclusion of vulnerable groups unequivocally invites, encourages and even insists that schools become open to all children and their needs. Conclusions. The very nature of the Church community is inherently inclusive and has no room for discrimination; on the contrary, its weakest members should be the most lovingly protected. The development of Catholic education is bound up not only with the creators of specific educational paradigms, but also with the changes in general education in a particular context. Although concrete practices are gradually changing and showing good trends towards inclusiveness, some schools retain a strong elitist character and tend to offer aid as a form of charitable action outside the formal schooling.

Experimental and Numerical Study on Flexural Behavior of Concrete Beams Using Notches and Repair Materials

In a concrete beam, cracking is generated on the tension side under the effect of flexure, shear, and torsional loadings. Accordingly, these weak concrete members require repair and/or strengthening to increase or restore their internal load capacity. In the current experimental and numerical investigations on concrete beams, the impact of using notches with different width to depth ratios on the ultimate flexural load under a three-point test was considered. Further, the flexural behavior performance of a notched concrete beam repaired using the three repair materials—cement mortar, bacterial mortar, and adhesive—was also examined. Consequently, a comparative study was implemented between the experimental and numerical results. A concrete damage plasticity (CDP) model was used for the finite element numerical analysis of the beams. The differences in numerical and experimental measured results ranged from 0.65 to 22.20% for the ultimate load carrying capacity. As the notch size increased, the ultimate load carrying capacity of the beam reduced. Additionally, a linear regression model was used to predict the ultimate load values at a notch width interval of 5 mm up to a maximum notch width of 100 mm. It was observed that the ultimate load capacity for a repaired beam increased as compared to the notched beam for all three repair materials under consideration. And the maximum ultimate load increased in the case of notched beams repaired using adhesive. Furthermore, in comparison to the cement mortar, the performance of the bacterial mortar in terms of the ultimate load was more. The bacterial mortar was found to be more sustainable and more durable as a repair material for concrete structures.

Choices and Allocation of Costs for Religious Preferences and Practices: Insights from an Israeli Test Case

Abstract Internalization of costs of religious preferences fits the religious self-perception and ideology of many religious communities and is in their long-term interest. It also strengthens the external value of religious communities, norms, and institutions for the wider society. Many forces press religious communities to reduce the costs of religious preferences. Within a community, costs are reduced by limiting the available choices or shifted to its weaker members; outside the community, costs are shifted to other groups or the state. Incentives influence the allocation of costs, which in turn shape internal communal choices and the religious vitality and sustainability of the community. The allocation of costs also affects the external relations of communities. This article suggests that the allocation of costs is yet another aspect of religious and ideological communities in liberal states that deserves investigation at the constitutional, legal, and regulatory levels.

Will the “Responsibly Sourced Gas” Initiative Secure the Future of Natural Gas?

Years ago, during the 2009–2014 time period, as hydraulic fracturing—the unfortunately named “fracking”—was the red‐hot target of critics of the natural gas industry, it became very clear that it was critical to satisfy public concerns surrounding the safety and environmental impact of the fracking process. Variations in the behavior of the nation's huge population of natural gas producers rendered the industry vulnerable to its weakest members. In the best‐run companies, usually major and large independent companies, there was an intense focus on clean and safe development, dealing with contaminated waste water as well as the sourcing of fracturing water, and in particular ensuring the absolute integrity of underground facilities to prevent the process from ever interacting with drinking water aquifers. Best practices also involved the overall management of the impact of site preparation, the operations themselves, including noise pollution and long‐term site management. I argued frequently for the equivalent of a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for the most responsible producers to have a leg up in permitting, and a market (and price) advantage over others who could not show the same level of responsibility.

Seismic design and experimental testing of precast tolerance concrete shear wall subject to cyclic load

A precast tolerance concrete shear wall (PTCW) characterized by proper-length steel connectors is proposed to adjust the tolerance and improve the joint failure model of the precast wall. The design method for this wall is also presented in this study and verified by test results. Four full-scale walls, including two cast-in-situ walls (RCWs) and two precast walls (PCWs) with axial compression ratios of 0.2 and 0.3, respectively, were tested under lateral loading. The seismic behavior of the panels, including the failure modes, hysteretic behavior, strength envelope curves, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation, and steel strains, was analyzed and discussed herein. The test results showed that all four walls were in a flexural-shear failure mode, and the PCWs showed better performance in terms of hysteretic behavior, strength envelope, stiffness, and energy dissipation, particularly under an axial compression ratio of 0.3. Furthermore, the peak load of PCW1 (axial compression ratio is 0.2) and PCW2 (axial compression ratio is 0.3) increased by 5.93% and 15.51%, and the yield load increased by 12.1% and 11.39% compared with those of RCW1 (axial compression ratio of 0.2) and RCW2 (axial compression ratio of 0.3), respectively. The equivalent viscous damping coefficients of all four panels were higher than 0.05. The lateral bearing capacity of the walls increased with an increase in the axial compression ratio. Moreover, no visible damage or slippage was observed when the PCWs were demolished after testing. The main nonlinear strain was concentrated on the vertical bar and not on the connectors, indicating that the plastic hinge position was transferred from the joint interface to the wall panel. The results indicated that the use of steel connectors to strengthen the joints can achieve the seismic design concept of strong joints and weak members.

Vulnerability assessment of an existing hospital structure towards earthquake in New Delhi, India: A case study

In the present scenarios, the increase rate of earthquakes all over the world is becoming a challenging problem. Also, from the studies conducted by international organizations, it had been noticed that with increase in the occurrence of geophysical disasters, their magnitude had also been increasing with an alarming rate. One of the most important structures which are to be designed and analyzed with the most optimum earthquake – resistant design is of hospitals as they are not only considered to be as a caring aid, but also a curing unit to the society in case of calamities. This study involves considering an existing hospital structure located in the capital city of India, New Delhi (Zone IV). The existing hospital structure is analyzed for determination of the weak structural members during seismic action in ETABS 2019. Pushover Analysis is considered for the determination of effects of seismic forces on the structural elements of the hospital structure. IS 1893: 2016 Codal Provisions had been used for considering seismic loading on the hospital structure. Also, the most efficient section in resisting the earthquake forces is determined.

ABAQUS-based hysteresis performance analysis of thorough-diaphragm bolted connection between concrete-filled steel tubular column and steel beam

Concrete-filled steel tube can effectively improve the compressive strength of members, so it is widely used in high-rise buildings, bridges and tunnels. However, there are only limited studies on the hysteresis performance of through-diaphragm plates in steel pipe concrete. In light of the current situation, this paper establishes a model of thorough-diaphragm-diaphragm bolted connection TDBC structure using numerical simulation software ABAQUS, conducting monotonic loading and cyclic displacement loading on it to study the hysteretic performance of this structure. The results reveal that the semi-rigid connection of TDBC contributes to the outwards displacement of the plastic hinge in the beam-column joint, indicating a hysteretic good performance. Furthermore, this study also finds that the flange and web area of steel beams present obvious ductile damage characteristics, which is in line with the design philosophy of strong joints and weak members, reproducing the actual damaging process to a certain extent.

Seismic behaviour of a wall-type concrete-filled steel tubular column with an end plate steel beam reinforced joint

To solve the problem of square concrete-filled steel tubular columns (CFSTCs) protruding from the walls and occupying indoor spaces, this study proposed a wall-type concrete-filled steel tubular column (WCFSTC) with end-plate steel beam in-plane and out-of-plane joints. The construction details, assembly process, and performance parameters of the WCFSTC with end-plate steel-beam-reinforced joints are presented. The seismic performance of four full-scale specimens under a low-cycle horizontal load, influence of side-plate height on the seismic performance of the specimenswere studied based on the test. According to the test results, the ductility, hysteresis curve, skeleton curve, and energy-dissipation capacity of the specimens were studied. A finite element model was developed and verified experimentally. The effect of the end-plate and column thickness on the seismic performance of the joints was investigated using the finite element model with variable reference analysis of the end-plate and column thickness. The results showed that the specimens exhibited good seismic performance whilst meeting the requirements of ‘strong joints and weak members’, and the thickness of the end plate had an important influence on the seismic performance of the specimens.

STRATEGI PENGAJARAN KESERASIAN OTAK MENGGALAKKAN PEMBELAJARAN AKTIF MURID TAHUN EMPAT DALAM SUBJEK SAINS

Active learning is an important aspect of creating a fun and achieving learning outcomes, but it is quite difficult to create in science subjects if the approach used by teachers is less appropriate. This study is an action research conducted to improve active learning among primary school students using Whole Brain Teaching Strategies (WBTS) in Science subjects. The only three types of WBT strategies used are Class-Yes, Mirror-Words and Teach-Okay. This action research was conducted among 42 students of Year 4 at a primary school in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. Data were collected through 2 methods, which are video recording and interviews with students and Science teacher. The results of the study found that Whole Brain Teaching Strategies (WBTS) has been able to increase students' active learning during the learning process as this strategy can develop cognitive remembering. Moreover, students understand what is taught by teachers in learning process through WBTS where it affects information retention in student's long term memory. Therefore, students show positive emotional development. In addition, it can create a meaningful cooperative learning with positive social interactions between peers when students are positively interdependent in the team. Each group member strives to complete group assignments and help weaker members so that the group success is experienced together thus strengthening intrinsic motivation among students. The use of WBTS has been able to be applied effectively in enhancing a meaningful learning process in the classroom that can give ideas to other teachers to apply in other subjects as well.

Presumably correct decision sets

The paper presents the presumably correct decision sets as a tool to analyze uncertainty in the form of inconsistency in decision systems. As a first step, problem instances are gathered into three regions containing weak members, borderline members, and strong members. This is accomplished by using the membership degrees of instances to their neighborhoods while neglecting their actual labels. As a second step, we derive the presumably correct and incorrect sets by contrasting the decision classes determined by a neighborhood function with the actual decision classes. We extract these sets from either the regions containing strong members or the whole universe, which defines the strict and relaxed versions of our theoretical formalism. These sets allow isolating the instances difficult to handle by machine learning algorithms as they are responsible for inconsistent patterns. The simulations using synthetic and real-world datasets illustrate the advantages of our model compared to rough sets, which is deemed a solid state-of-the-art approach to cope with inconsistency. In particular, it is shown that we can increase the accuracy of selected classifiers up to 36% by weighting the presumably correct and incorrect instances during the training process.

Disentangling the semi-periphery: evolutionary trajectories and perspectives of the Austrian and Hungarian automotive industries

ABSTRACT This article explores the transition of integrated periphery countries to a semi-periphery status. It sets out to refine the broad category of ‘semi-periphery’, distinguishing between upper and lower-order semi-periphery. It shows that compared to established members of the automotive semi-periphery, newcomers are often poorly equipped to thrive in the new competitive environment. Since it takes decades of organic accumulation to develop competitive assets that provide resilience, newcomers that used to thrive in the competitive environment of the integrated periphery often turn out to be the weakest members in the semi-periphery. Based on expert interviews, the article illustrates the theoretical arguments comparing the evolutionary trajectories of the Austrian and Hungarian automotive industries. We show that Austria, exemplifying the case of within-category upgrading (within the upper semi-periphery), can leverage its strong innovation potential, dense network of capable domestic-owned suppliers, tradition of cluster-based and industry – university collaboration, and developed market for technology. In contrast, the between-category transition of Hungary was propelled by the rising wage-level, while other indicators would not qualify it for the club of semi-periphery countries. Evolutionary trajectories in the lower-order semi-periphery can easily be derailed if industrial policy gets stuck in its – previously highly effective – integrated-periphery role.

The Power of the Weak in the WTO How David Overcome Goliath

It is undoubtedly accurate that there is a lack of parity in the WTO dispute system. Although the system has been lauded as being a rule-based adjudication system, developing country members and least-developed countries (LDCs) have to go to great lengths to protect their interests against a formidable trade partner. Remarkably, a few of them have successfully turned the tables with clever approaches in trade disputes against more resourceful and powerful members of the WTO. This paper adopts an exploratory qualitative research method using an in-depth analysis of six case studies of trade disputes between economies classified as “weak” against economies classified as “strong” members of the WTO. A total of 391 cases that were filed between 1995 and 2021 were first examined. Subsequently, out of 100 cases where developing countries participated in the WTO litigation as complainants, a total of 10 cases in which “the weak” member prevailed. Six cases were chosen because they explicitly illustrate how the “weak” WTO members harness their resources and unique winning tactics to overcome the “strong” WTO members’ ample supply of resources and aggressive tactics. The paper shows that governance effectiveness, influential alliances, public-private partnerships, government-NGO collaboration, engagement of academics and experts, effective use of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) coupled with effective leadership and clear plans were crucial for weak members' successful legal challenge at the WTO. These findings present promising tactics that WTO members could use to prevail in their trade disputes against a “stronger” WTO member. They should, at best, inspire “weak” members to overcome their hesitance to use the WTO judicial process to protect their interests either as parties or marginally as third parties. Indeed, the developing country members and LDCs have a variety of tools they can put to work when filing a dispute to help maximize the benefits and lower litigation costs. Chief among them is the AWCL. Our case analysis shows that ACWL's low cost has relatively attenuated “weak” members' legal and financial stakes associated with a trade dispute.

Dynamic performance and cross-level damage criteria of strengthened reinforced concrete frames with VE energy dissipation braces

Based on the low cost and superior damping performance of viscoelastic dampers, the new structural system strengthened with viscoelastic energy dissipation braces (VEDB) is proposed to upgrade the reinforced concrete frame structures with insufficient seismic capability. For the dynamic performance researches and damage evolution predictions of this structure system during earthquakes, the dynamic performance of six RCFs (reinforced concrete frames) and six VEFs (another six special reinforced concrete frames with VEDB) are studied under sinusoidal wide frequency range loading excitation horizontally. On this basis, the qualitative and quantitative relations on the damage growing at the material-level and the member-level performance deteriorating about the frame structures are conducted. Furthermore, the empirical calculation model on the cross-level damage evolution of VEFs are established and verified. Finally, a set of useful and robust cross-level judgment criteria for damage performance rates is proposed. The research found that, the installation of VEDB can significantly improve the load bearing capacity, the lateral stiffness and the energy dissipation capacity of the structures. The damage pattern of the structures is improved by VEDB, and it ensures the design criteria of “strong joints and weak members.” The empirical calculation model on the cross-level damage evolution and judgment criteria for damage performance rates proposed in this paper are useful and stable in practical engineering.

Experimental study of bending resistance of pre-fabricated truss beams under eccentric loads

In order to study the flexural performance of pre-fabricated integrated floor truss beams under eccentric loads so as to improve the beam design for its application in actual projects. This paper proposes a new type of fabricating truss girder connected by high-strength bolts. And taking Yuyan Tower as an example, this paper conducted an elastic loading test for code compliance verification and a destructive test of ultimate bearing capacity for the pre-fabricated truss beams, with a focus on the mechanical performance of the truss beams, joint interface shear resistance, destructive mechanism, and deformation law of the truss beams. The results showed that under eccentric loads, buckling failure occurred at the diagonal webs and end vertical webs of the truss beams under compression, and no sliding and friction energy dissipation occurred at the connection joints, which was in accordance with the design principle of “strong joints and weak members” as stipulated in the design code. Compared with the designed load, the ultimate bearing capacity of the truss beams was increased by 80.5%, inhibiting sufficient safety reserve. Also, the truss beams showed good overall stability and safety. After the truss beams were unloaded, the tension displacement and vertical displacement from the middle part to the lower part of the span could recover up to 78% and 83% of the maximum displacement respectively, indicating that the truss beams had strong deformation resistance. Through theoretical derivation, the theoretical value of shear resistance at the splice joints was found to be higher than the experimental value, which implied that the performance of the shear bolts at the joints was not fully developed and the structure design was relatively safe. The results of the study can provide important experimental data and theoretical basis for the actual projects, which can offer scientific guidance on project design and construction and is of great significance to the sound development of pre-fabricated buildings.

Religious Intolerance, America, and the World: A History of Forgetting and Remembering

Religious Intolerance, America, and the World: A History of Forgetting and Remembering

LEGAL CULTURE AND LEGISLATION ON EUTHANASIA: A NEW LEVEL OF LEGAL REGULATION OR THE COLLAPSE OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM?

Euthanasia is a voluntary withdrawal from the life of a person suffering from an incurable disease or having a disease that causes him physical and mental suffering. This practice has been used since the period of antiquity, when in Ancient Rome and Sparta, the elderly and the disabled were thrown from the mountains. The need for such a policy was explained by the inability of the state to support weak members in the conditions of regular military campaigns.
 A similar position was supported by the Nazis of nazi Germany, who created gas chambers as an analogue of "easy death" for disabled citizens, which included people with mental disorders; people suffering from epilepsy; disabled people with any health abnormalities; patients who had been treated for more than 5 years. In addition to persons with various pathologies, representatives of Gypsy, Jewish, and Polish nationalities were included in the same group. It becomes obvious that in such a context, euthanasia is perceived as a clear abuse of the state to dispose of the lives of its citizens.
 In modern foreign countries and the Russian Federation, this procedure seems to be a way to satisfy the desire of a person suffering from an incurable or severe disease of both a somatic and mental nature, in a dignified and rapid termination of his existence.
 To what extent such a desire to classify oneself as deceased is voluntary and conscious and whether it fits into modern legal norms is considered in the presented publication, which at the same time offers more constructive ways to help individuals in need.

Seismic Assessment of a Hospital Building: A Case Study

Presently, the occurrence of frequent earthquakes worldwide is becoming a noteworthy problem. Hospital buildings are one of the important structures in the living society as they aid to be the caring as well as curing unit in the human society whenever any hazardous situation arises. There are three components of a hospital building including Structural Component, Non – Structural Component and Functional Component, which directly or indirectly affects the operation and the management of the hospital building. Each time, if any portion of the world experiences any causality: Natural or Non – Natural, a good amount of damage and destruction is experienced. Hospital buildings plays a dynamic role in such situations: 1. Treating the victims and injured people, and 2. Act as a temporary accommodation for those people who lost their homes in the hazards. Therefore, the hospital buildings should be designed and constructed to have adequate stiffness and strength to not only withstand the disaster, but also can be used as a shelter or accommodation units during post – disaster conditions. This study includes the analysis of a hospital building located in the North – Eastern Region of high seismicity. The existing hospital structure is analyzed for determination of the weak structural members. The Northern Region of India falls in the Zone IV of Earthquake According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. The analysis tool considered for determining the behaviour of hospital building when subjected to seismic forces is ETABS 2019. The analysis considered for determining the effect of the lateral forces on the hospital building is Pushover Analysis. Indian Standard Codal Provisions of IS 1893: 2016 has been considered while applying the different loading conditions on the hospital building. Later, different materials for bracing have been compared to determine the best possible material or section for the hospital building to resist the seismic forces. After the conduction of the study, it as been observed that angle section of different dimensions of the legs are found to be the most efficient section.

Seismic behavior of steel reinforced concrete L-shaped columns under compression-bending-shear-torsion combined action

The L-shaped column is usually used as a corner column in buildings, which can be one of the weak members in the structural system. Because of the asymmetry of an L-shaped column, it is more complex in structural layout and mechanical performance. To study the seismic performance of steel reinforced concrete (SRC) L-shaped columns under compression-bending-shear-torsion combined action, twelve SRC L-shaped columns were tested in this paper. The main variables included the shaped-steel layout, the torsion-bending ratio and the ratio of limb height to limb thickness. Based on the test results, the failure modes, hysteretic curves, ductility, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation were compared and analyzed. The results show that the failure modes of SRC L-shaped columns mainly depended on the torsion-bending ratio, which could be divided into bending failure, bending-shear failure and bending-torsion failure. The shaped-steel layout had an effect on the final damage degree of the specimens. Increasing the torsion-bending ratio could improve the torsion resistance of the specimen, but the bending capacity became weaker and the stiffness degradation was faster. The ductility and energy dissipation of SRC L-shaped columns could be enhanced by reducing the ratio of limb height to limb thickness. Comprehensive analysis showed that the empty-web T-section SRC L-shaped column had superior seismic performance under compression-bending-shear-torsion combined action.

Seismic behavior of reinforced concrete T-shaped columns under compression-bending-shear and torsion

T-shaped column is usually used as side column in buildings, which is one of the weak members in structural system. This paper presented a quasi-static cyclic loading experiment of six specimens of reinforced concrete (RC) T-shaped columns under compression-flexure-shear-torsion combined loadings to investigate the effect in the ratio of torsion to moment (T/M) and axial compression ratio (n) and height-thickness ratio of flange plate (Φ) on their seismic performance. Based on the test results, the failure characteristics, hysteretic curves, ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness degradation and strength degradation were analyzed. The results show that the failure characteristics of RC T-shaped columns mainly depend on the ratio of torsion to moment, which can be divided into bending failure, bending-torsion failure and shear-torsion failure. With the increase of T/M ratio, the torsion ductility coefficient increased, and in a suitable range, the torsion and horizontal displacement ductility coefficient of RC T-shaped columns could be effectively improved with the increase of axial compression ratio and the decrease of height-thickness ratio of flange plate. Besides, the energy dissipation capacity of the specimens mainly depended on the bending and shear energy dissipation capacity. On the other hand, the increase of axial compression ratio and the ratio of torsion to moment could accelerate the torsional and bending stiffness degradation of RC T-shaped columns. Moreover, the degradation coefficient of torsion strength was between 0.80 and 0.98, and that of bending strength was between 0.75 and 1.00.

Experimental Study on Seismic Behavior of RC Frame Beam Column Joints

Strong columns and weak beams and "strong joints and weak members" are important concepts in the design of reinforced concrete ductile frame structures. However, many earthquake damages show that a large number of reinforced concrete frame structures still do not guarantee the realization of the above seismic concepts. In order to solve this problem, this paper designs and manufactures a beam column joint with plate, which includes the bottom column base and the moment increasing coefficient of the column end is 1.2. Through the quasi-static reciprocating loading test, the influence of the bearing capacity, ultimate deformation, stiffness degradation and hysteretic energy consumption of the specimen is investigated. The test results show that when the moment increasing factor at the end of the column is 1.2, the failure order of the specimen is bottom column base beam slab bottom column base, the plastic hinge occurs at the bottom of the column, and the position of the column in the beam column joint is not damaged; According to the seismic code, the overall failure mode of the beam column joints with slab and infilled wall at the bottom column base can be "strong column and weak beam" and "strong joint and weak member" under the action of reciprocating quasi-static loading.