The aim of this study is to find the cost design of RC tension with varying conditions using the Artificial Neural Network. Design constraints were used to cover all reliable design parameters, such as limiting cross sectional dimensions and; their reinforcement ratio and even the beahviour of optimally designed sections. The design of the RC tension members were made using Indian and European standard specifications which were discussed. The designed tension members according to both codes satisfy the strength and serviceability criteria. While no literature is available on the optimal design of RC tension members, the cross-sectional dimensions of the tension membersfor different grades of concrete and steel, and area of formwork are considered as the variables in the present optimum design model. A design example is explained and the results are presented. It is concluded that the proposed optimum design model yields rational, reliable, and practical designs.
The main aim of this paper is to propose a terminological approach to the standardization of onomastic terminology. Attention is paid to the primary importance of conceptual systems and to the onomasiological approach typical of terminological work. Terminology is presented as a discipline devoted primarily to the study of concepts. Then the main concepts of terminology are discussed and the relations between a conceptual system and a terminological system are explained. An outline of the issue of conceptual systems of onomastics and of their internal structure is made. Then two important metatheoretical concepts are introduced and defined: 1) the concept of theoretical legitimacy of concepts and 2) the concept of economy of conceptual systems. In the final part of the article, several suggestions concerning the standardization of onomastic terminology are made: 1) terms referring to concepts belonging to separate conceptual series are not to be used interchangeably; 2) terms based on different roots (in the English onomastic terminology: -onym, -onymy, -onomastics, in the Polish terminology: -onim, -onimia, -onomastyka) are to be reserved respectively for the concept of a single (type of) proper name, for the concept of a set of proper names and for the concept of a specific onomastic discipline; 3) concepts used or newly introduced in a text are to be defined clearly in onomastic works, 4) onomasticians aiming for standardization of onomastic terminology should start their work by (re)constructing conceptual system(s) of onomastics and only then assign terms to concepts; 5) one completely unitary conceptual (and terminological) system of onomastics cannot be achieved due to the theoretical pluralism of the discipline; 6) the first goal of any conceptual and terminological standardization of onomastics is to define its range: should the standardization cover the concepts of philological or general onomastics? should it cover only empirical (descriptive) concepts or highly abstract theoretical concepts as well?
The present study has been taken up to emphasize the role of the hybridization process for optimizing a given reinforced concrete (RC) frame. Although various primary techniques have been hybrid in the past with varying degree of success, the effect of hybridization of enhanced versions of standard optimization techniques has found little attention. The focus of the current study is to see if it is possible to maintain and carry the positive effects of enhanced versions of two different techniques while using their hybrid algorithms. For this purpose, enhanced versions of standard particle swarm optimization (PSO) and a standard gravitational search algorithm (GSA), were considered for optimizing an RC frame. The enhanced version of PSO involves its democratization by considering all good and bad experiences of the particles, whereas the enhanced version of the GSA is made self-adaptive by considering a specific range for certain parameters, like the gravitational constant and a set of agents with the best fitness values. The optimization process, being iterative in nature, has been coded in C++. The analysis and design procedure is based on the specifications of Indian codes. Two distinct advantages of enhanced versions of standard PSO and GSA, namely, better capability to escape from local optima and a faster convergence rate, have been tested for the hybrid algorithm. The entire formulation for optimal cost design of a frame includes the cost of beams and columns. The variables of each element of structural frame have been considered as continuous and rounded off appropriately to consider practical limitations. An example has also been considered to emphasize the validity of this optimum design procedure.
The paper investigates the air quality in the urban area of Warsaw, Poland. Calculations are carried out using the emissions and meteorological data from the year 2012. The modeling tool is the regional CALMET/CALPUFF system, which is used to link the emission sources with the distributions of the annual mean concentrations. Several types of polluting species that characterize the urban atmospheric environment, like PM10, PM2.5, NOx, SO2, Pb, B(a)P, are included in the analysis. The goal of the analysis is to identify the most polluted districts and polluting compounds there, to check where the concentration limits of particular pollutants are exceeded. Then, emission sources (or emission categories) which are mainly responsible for violation of air quality standards and increase the adverse health effects, are identified. The modeling results show how the major emission sources – the energy sector, industry, traffic and the municipal sector – relate to the concentrations calculated in receptor points, including the contribution of the transboundary inflow. The results allow to identify districts where the concentration limits are exceeded and action plans are needed. A quantitative source apportionment shows the emission sources which are mainly responsible for the violation of air quality standards. It is shown that the road transport and the municipal sector are the emission classes which substantially affect air quality in Warsaw. Also transboundary inflow contributes highly to concentrations of some pollutants. The results presented can be of use in analyzing emission reduction policies for the city, as a part of an integrated modeling system.
Wind constitutes one of the major environmental factors affecting the design and performance of built environment. Each country has its unique climatic wind conditions, and the way in which these are considered and implemented in the structural design, is important. An implementation or adoption of any new engineering design stipulations introduces a formidable challenge to the developers of the standards and the design profession. This has been experienced in some of the countries (e.g. the UK, Australia and the USA), where processes of modernising the outdated codifi cation took place in the past. Although both Poland and South Africa are currently at the early implementation stage of the new wind loading design stipulations, there is a major difference between the circumstances of the two countries. Poland, as an EU member state, has a compulsory obligation to adopt the new uniform standarisation requirements, within a stipulated time-frame. The South African code developers, after a thorough investigation process which will be highlighted in the paper, decided voluntarily to adopt the Eurocode as the primary model document.
The article contains preliminary considerations on the principles of the standardization of geographical names in Poland, in particular the names of physiographic objects. The notion of a country’s language policy has been referred to as one of its tools is the standardization of geographical names. The general objectives of the Polish language policy were listed as such: the assertion of legal status of the Polish language as the first language in Poland; the assertion of conditions for the development of national and ethnic minority languages in the country; the construction of a Polish- language national and state community. Legal acts concerning Polish language and geographical nomenclature were indicated. It was stated that the assumed effect of political and linguistic actions should be to develop a nomenclature in correct Polish, one which is pragmatically effective, rooted in tradition and, as a result of this study, one should expect to achieve an optimal course of the language communication process in each communicative community. Then, the criteria of the linguistic correctness of geographical names applied to date were discussed and similarities indicated in the standardization procedure with regards to geonyms and specialist terms. The rules of the detailed standardization procedure will be presented in the second part of the article
The Lithuanian national standard of electric resistance is maintained as the basis for calibration and measurement capabilities published in the key comparison database of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). The stability and uncertainty of the resistance value measurements, performed since 2004 using the calibrated values of the standard resistors to predict their future behaviour as well as influence of environmental conditions, are discussed. Also discussed is the recovery of a standard resistor which had undergone a mechanical disturbance. It is concluded that the standard resistors operated by the Lithuanian National Electrical Standards Laboratory feature stable drift of resistance, which is well predicted by means of linear regression.
This research deals with problems of low standardization of words in the Gamo textbooks, an Afroasiatic Omotic language of Ethiopia. Problems of designating one concept in two or more words, using different linguistic forms for the same grammatical function and degeminating and shortening long consonant and vowel segments were observed. These problems reduce the quality of the textbooks and mother tongue education and put pedagogical and cognitive burden on students.
In the second part of the article, the history of standardization programmes concerning the names of physiographic objects is discussed. The basis of the standardization programme currently followed by the Commission on Names of Localities and Physiographic Objects is described. The paper also presents the criteria of linguistic correctness adopted by the previous standardization commissions as well as by the present one. Issues of linguistic correctness of geographical names with dialectal properties and of names borrowed from minority languages are discussed. Attention is paid to some structural discrepancies in the approaches to the issue of correctness taken by the Commission on Names of Localities and Physiographic Objects and by local authorities.
The text comprises the evaluation of relationship between the qualitative planning tools and the Irish housing policy in the pre-crisis period, during the crisis (2009-2013) and the recovery. The tools that affect housing are understood as spatial planning, including governmental regulations on densification of the development and the housing quality as well as the special tools such as the urban design. Those regulatory tools were deployed with aims to safeguard the sustainable and socially viable housing structures. The Irish case illustrates the considerable innovation in introducing new housing standards and challenges with their efficiency. This can be attributed to the lack of integration with other elements that shaped the market – financing and actions of the private market, low efficiency of planning or the lack of the scale effect for the model developments. Despite their drawbacks these tools are continuously being used, as their foundational principles are still valid.
Electric energy meters are designed to account energy under sinusoidal and nonsinusoidal conditions, because both, old and new standards for energy meters require testing their accuracy under different conditions. The latest EN 50470 standard increases the range of meter testing under nonsinusoidal conditions, introducing new shapes of test signals such as the phase fired waveform or the burst fired waveform. This paper discusses calibration problems of electronic revenue energy meters for direct connection and for connection through current transformers, and it proposes a new calibration procedure which reproduces normal operating conditions better: three-phase configurations of measurement systems, load range during meter testing or shapes of test signals. Recently, modern Electrical Power Standards, also known as Power Calibrators, enable automatic testing of various types of electrical devices, including electricity meters in their normal operating conditions. This article presents examples of single and multi position fully automatic test systems, which employ Power/Energy Calibrator from Poland as the precision source with programmed waveforms of three phase voltages up to 560 V and currents up to 120 A conforming to EN 50470, or with random waveforms generated by PC software random wave generator. Measurement uncertainty of the energy meters under different nonsinusoidal conditions using a test system with reference to accuracy of the power calibrator or to the reference meter, are discussed.
Comparative analysis of test results for different shapes of voltage and current signals is presented in the conclusions of this paper.
Drought is known as a normal part of climate and including in a slow-onset natural hazard which may have several im-pacts on hydrology, agriculture, and socioeconomic. Drought monitoring, including its severity, spatial and duration is re-quired and becomes an essential input for establishing drought risk management and mitigation plan. Many drought indices have been introduced and applied in regions with different climate characteristics in the last decades. This paper aims to compare standardized precipitation index (SPI) and rainfall anomaly index (RAI) along with standardized streamflow index (SSI) in Pekalen River Basin, East Java, Indonesia. The statistical association analyses, included the Pearson correlation (r), Kendal tau (τ), and Spearman rho (rs) were performed to examine the degree of consistency between monthly and annual drought index of SPI and RAI. Additionally, the comparative analysis was performed by overlapping both monthly and an-nual drought index from the SPI and RAI with the SSI at hydrological years. The study revealed that the characteristic of the annual drought index between the SPI and RAI exhibits pattern similarity which indicated by the high correlation coeffi-cient between them. Further, the comparative analysis on each hydrological year showed that the SPI and RAI were very well correlated and exhibited a similar pattern with the SSI. Overall, the SPI shows better performance than the RAI for es-timating drought characteristic either monthly or annual basis. Hence, the SPI is considered as a reliable and effective tool for analyzing drought characteristic in the study area.
The paper presents the results of experimental validation of a set of innovative software services supporting processes of achieving, assessing and maintaining conformance with standards and regulations. The study involved several hospitals implementing the Accreditation Standard promoted by the Polish Ministry of Health. First we introduce NOR-STA services that implement the TRUST-IT methodology of argument management. Then we describe and justify a set of metrics aiming at assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the services. Next we present values of the metrics that were built from the data collected. The paper concludes with giving the interpretation and discussing the results of the measurements with respect to the objectives of the validation experiment.
For a very long period of time, Polish waste management was based mainly on landfilling at landfills, which had a negative impact on the surrounding environment. The EU requirements for the Member States have led to a revolution in Polish legislation on waste management and local governments have become responsible for creating local waste management systems that will affect the achievement of EU targets. One of the solutions undertaken by several municipalities is the construction and operation of a municipal waste thermal treatment installation, which not only reduced the amount of waste deposited, but also supported the local power industry by generating electricity and heat. The emission standards for installations producing energy from waste, as in the case of conventional power plants and combined heat and power plants, are very strict, therefore, the continuous monitoring of emitted pollutants is carried out, and waste gas treatment systems are developed based on the best available techniques (BAT). The article presents emission standards applicable to waste incineration plants, including duties in the field of the environment, as well as issues related to the installation as a source of energy. In addition, the currently functioning waste incineration plants in Poland have been briefly characterized, and development plans in this area in the country have been described.
In the text, a polemic is undertaken against the model of the child expected in Polish institutions of early childhood education, and which appropriates the rationalities producing social practices. The source of this model is in the logic of standardization whose cognitive and effects on identity are criticized by the author. Identifying the sources of validation of the practices normalizing some children and stigmatizing others, who do not meet the requirements of the cognitively rigid and morally trivialized standards, the text points to developmental psychology as a discipline which potentially triggers this form of oppression. In conclusion, the author describes briefly a number of examples of educational solutions in which an attempt has been made to move beyond the discourse of standardized quality in child education.