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Structures with energy supply capacity are an important part of lifeline engineering. Post-disaster assessment is therefore vital to assess the economic losses caused by the collapse of such struct...

There is a growing need for new alternatives of long-span roof structures with high level of transformability and structural robustness. This led to the development of deployable cable-strut structures, which are composed of a continuous net of struts and another continuous net of cables. Subsequently, a special type of these systems was pioneered and given the term deployable tension-strut structures (DTSSs). The motivation beyond this new concept was the lack of structural efficiency and form flexibility of conventional space trusses that are usually employed for covering large spaces. Typically, DTSSs are roof structures consisting of multiple modules put together to form the roof system. This paper is mainly concerned with developing new robust modules for DTSSs. The technique that was adopted for this purpose is a form-creation methodology previously introduced in the literature. A few modules were already developed based on this shape grammar. However, its potential to develop multiple efficient modules has not been sufficiently investigated. In this current work, the afore-mentioned algorithm was utilized to form 16 new modules. A comparative study based on a nonlinear finite element technique was conducted to investigate the efficiency of the novel modules as compared to that of the previously proposed in the literature. The results show that some of the new proposed modules are far more efficient than those presented in previous researches. Based on this comparative study, the most two efficient modules among the novel ones were picked for further study. Parametric studies were conducted on these two systems under gravity loads and wind loads considering the following parameters: no. of modules, span/depth ratio, and cables’ pre-stress level. For each parameter, the optimal range of values were determined to be used as a guide for the design of such systems.

The current rapid development of online car-hailing services creates a serious challenge to the existing paradigm of market governance and antitrust policy. However, the debate on the market structure of the car-hailing platform requires more empirical evidence to uncover its functions. This research adopts an interdisciplinary methodology based on computer science and economics, and including software reverse engineering tools applied to the interoperability of the terminal application and resource allocation model, to demonstrate the topological market structure of personal data resources allocation in China’s car-hailing industry. Within the discussion of the hybrid nature of technology and economy, the analysis results clearly show that China’s car-hailing platform services present a multi-sided market structure when seen from the perspective of personal data resource allocation. Personal data resource (PDR), that is considered an essential market resource, is applied as an asset transferred unhindered between platforms via the application programming interface, and thus, creating a new market allocation mechanism. The connection between the car-hailing platforms and social media platforms is an essential aspect of the market competition in the domain. As applications of online platforms increase in the global context, this research offers a new perspective in personal data resource allocation with implications for the governance of the platform economy.

In this work, a two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) integrated topology optimization (TO) parallel-computing framework, named TopADD (TOPology optimization for Arbitrary Design Domains), is developed to deal with topology optimization problems with arbitrary design domains. The parallel-computing framework is an extended work of the initial parallel-computing framework developed by Aage et al. (Struct Multidiscip Optim 51(3): 565–572, 2015). The extension is threefold: (a) a 2D implementation has been incorporated into the framework to achieve seamless switching between 2D and 3D dimensions; (b) an efficient voxelizer that can initialize complex geometries into the design domains for topology optimization is developed; and (c) besides the compliance minimization problem, two other physics have been considered: the compliant mechanism and the heat conduction problems. Additionally, the computational efficiency of the proposed framework has been examined. Compared to the other frameworks in the literature, the proposed work has superior efficiency in both computational time and memory usage. Lastly, the proposed topology optimization framework’s compatibility with additive manufacturing (AM) has been demonstrated by exporting and printing the final optimized parts without postprocessing.

The advanced Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technologies allow the fiber trajectories to be curvilinearly steered over the panel platform, which brings out a novel type of cylindrical panel struct...

This paper presents game theory‐based strategies incorporated with metaheuristics to improve the computation efficiency and effectiveness in design optimization of civil engineering struct...

My response aims to demonstrate how a capacity for triangular space allows us to tolerate and encompass differences of all sorts, ranging from theoretical orientations to family and coupling struct...

Recently, reconfigurable drones have gained particular attention in the field of automation and flying robots. Unlike the conventional drones, they are characterized by a variable mechanical structure in flight, geometric adaptability, aerial reconfiguration, high number of actuators and control inputs, and variable mathematical model. In addition, they are exploited to flight in more cluttered environments, avoid collisions with obstacles, transport and grab objects, cross narrow and small spaces, decrease different aerial damages, optimize the consumed energy, and improve agility and maneuverability in flight. Moreover, these new drones are considered as a viable solution to provide them with specific and additional functionalities. They are a promising solution in the near future, since they allow increasing considerably the capabilities and performance of classical drones in terms of multi-functionalities, geometric adaptation, design characteristics, consumed energy, control, maneuverability, agility, efficiency, obstacles avoidance, and fault tolerant control. This paper explores very interesting and recent research works, which include the classification, the main characteristics, the various applications, and the existing designs of this particular class of drones. Besides, an in-depth review of the applied control strategies will be presented. The links of the videos displaying the results of these researches will be also shown. A comparative study between the different types of flying vehicles will be established. Finally, several new challenges and future directions for reconfigurable drones will be discussed.

This Introduction frames a collection of papers that explore the roles played by women—as volunteers, organisers, bureaucrats, politicians and citizens—in shaping the emerging ideologies and struct...

Working life is expected to become increasingly dynamic at the expense of routine work. This paper examines how the values of work units relate to changes that make work more dynamic or more struct...

The purpose of this discussion and closure is to address the comments presented by Rosenberg, Dekel, and Kositski on our paper (Yankelevsky and Feldgun). Our paper aimed at revisiting the constant deceleration approach for the penetration analysis of rigid projectiles into concrete. Their comments claim for inaccuracies and misleading statements that are responded in our present discussion. We clarify that the constant deceleration approach cannot represent the penetration in concrete. We discuss their comments and highlight their inaccuracies and incorrect statements and point out at the weaknesses and limitations of the constant deceleration approach. We hope that our clarifications and discussion will help to improve the suggested constant deceleration approach, enhance the awareness to its limitations, and direct to approaches that do consider the variable deceleration time history of the projectile motion in concrete.

The purpose of this Comment is to highlight several inaccuracies in the recently published paper of Yankelevsky and Feldgun, which criticizes our work on concrete penetration. The main subject of their criticism concerns our treatment of the entrance phase in concrete penetration, and we show here that their claims are inaccurate and misleading. We do not engage in the existing debates concerning different approaches to the penetration mechanics of rigid projectiles.

Teachers whose basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness are satisfied tend to use a motivating teaching style characterised by the provision of autonomy support and struct...

This corrigendum corrects some errors of the paper entitled “Surface effect on the contact problem of a piezoelectric half-plane”, International Journal of Solids and Structures 185-186 (2020) 380–393 (Song et al., 2020). Because there is an error in the Fortran code when we calculate the numerical solution of the contact stress and electric displacement, their values become smaller compared to the original results. Moreover, the influencing trends of the surface effect are slightly different from the original results. However, the formulations of the original paper are intact.

This study involves the analysis of the stress increase beyond effective prestress in beams prestressed with unbonded internal or external tendons at their ultimate limit state, Δfps, and is divided into two distinct parts. In the first part, twenty-five equations published between 1962 and 2019 to predict Δfps in unbonded tendons and proposed by various researchers and Codes of Practice are presented. Predicted versus experimental results for Δfps are compared about the 45° perfect correlation line using an updated database comprising 227 laboratory-tested beams obtained from past studies. An extensive statistical analysis is carried out for each equation using the sum of Least Square Deviation Error and Coefficient of Correlation. The percentage of data points representing conservative predictions is also numerically calculated. Statistical analysis confirmed superior performance of the mechanically derived equation developed in the past research (Naaman in ACI Struct J 88:683–692, 1991b, ACI Struct J 99:518–529, 2002; AASHTO in AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications, AASHTO, Washington, 1994). That equation was rationally derived from a sectional strain compatibility analysis augmented to a member deflection compatibility through the use of a strain reduction coefficient, Ωu. In the second part of the study, and using the updated experimental database, the authors derive a new and improved expression for the strain reduction coefficient, Ωu, that led to the lowest Least Square Deviation Error and highest Coefficient of Correlation. The newly proposed expression for Ωu offers two alternatives, one for precise prediction and the other for code implementation. Based on their findings, the authors strongly recommend the equation of fps (Naaman in ACI Struct J 88:683–692, 1991b, ACI Struct J 99:518–529, 2002; AASHTO in AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications, AASHTO, Washington, 1994) and the new expression for Ωu for code implementation.

In the Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) is the contemporary manifestation of social service provision in the United States. The question of how activists persist in their work despite the struct...

Many physics-based and surrogate models used in structural health monitoring are affected by different sources of uncertainty such as model approximations and simplified assumptions. Optimal structural health monitoring and prognostics are only possible with uncertainty quantification that leads to an informed course of action. In this article, a Bayesian neural network using variational inference is applied to learn a damage feature from a high-fidelity finite element model. Bayesian neural networks can learn from small and noisy data sets and are more robust to overfitting than artificial neural networks, which make it very suitable for applications such as structural health monitoring. Also, uncertainty estimates obtained from a trained Bayesian neural network model are used to build a cost-informed decision-making process. To demonstrate the applicability of Bayesian neural networks, an example of this approach applied to miter gates is presented. In this example, a degradation model based on real inspection data is used to simulate the damage evolution.

In this article, a decentralized strategy is applied for active control of sound inside the automobile cabin by considering the uncertainty caused by the movement of the occupants. A coupled structural-acoustic analysis is done on the simplified geometry of the automobile cabin with passengers by the finite element method. The uncertainty caused by changes in the occupants’ head positions and angles is also considered. Then, a decentralized robust feedback control strategy is proposed to reduce the sound pressure level in the ears of all the occupants using the H∞ method for each individual control unit by considering the unstructured uncertainty of the plant. The efficiency of the proposed control strategy in minimizing the sound pressure level caused by the structural disturbance on the firewall panel is investigated.

Jane McAuliffe’s book, The Qur’ān: What Everyone Needs to Know, provides an exploratory overview on the world of the Qur’ān to interested readers who seek to be introduced to the origins and struct...

Convergent orogens are typically linear with laterally continuous, orogen-parallel folds and thrusts. Over the years, geoscience research has revealed evidence for important orthogonal/cross struct...

Language workbenches (LWBs) are tools to define software languages together with tailored Integrated Development Environments for them. A comprehensive review of language workbenches by Erdweg et al. (Comput. Lang. Syst. Struct. 44, 2015) presented a feature model of functionality of LWBs from the point of view of "languages that can be defined with a LWB, and not the definition mechanism of the LWB itself". This vision paper discusses possible functionality of LWBs with regard to language definition mechanisms. We have identified five groups of such functionality, related to: metadefinitions, metamodifications, metaprocess, LWB itself, and programs written in languages defined in a LWB. We design one of the features ("ability to define dependencies between language concerns") based on our vision.

The structural analysis of existing bridges is not widely covered by the various codes and standards, resulting in the insecure and, in some cases, critical condition of this type of struct...

This paper presents the compact and efficient Matlab codes for the concurrent topology optimization of multiscale composite structures not only in 2D scenario but also considering 3D cases. A modified SIMP approach (Sigmund 2007) is employed to implement the concurrent topological design, with an energy-based homogenization method (EBHM) to evaluate the macroscopic effective properties of the microstructure. The 2D and 3D Matlab codes in the paper are developed, using the 88-line 2D SIMP code (Struct Multidisc Optim 43(1): 1–16, 2011) and the 169-line 3D topology optimization code (Struct Multidisc Optim 50(6): 1175–1196, 2014), respectively. This paper mainly contributes to the following four aspects: (1) the code architecture for the topology optimization of cellular composite structures (ConTop2D.m and ConTop3D.m), (2) the code to compute the 3D iso-parametric element stiffness matrix (elementMatVec3D.m), (3) the EBHM to predict the macroscopic effective properties of 2D and 3D material microstructures (EBHM2D.m and EBHM3D.m), and (4) the code to calculate the sensitivities of the objective function with respect to the design variables at two scales. Several numerical examples are tested to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Matlab codes, which are attached in the Appendix, also offering an entry point for new comers in designing cellular composites using topology optimization.

The Maule 2010 earthquake (Mw 8.8) produced damage to several buildings throughout Central Chile. This was particularly the case in downtown Viña del Mar, where an anomalous concentration of structural damage was found in several medium-rise buildings distributed along a narrow area approximately 1 km in length. These observations suggest the possibility of a localized area of seismic amplification effects. We conducted a geophysical characterization using surface wave–based techniques and gravimetry to characterize the main dynamic properties of the soil and the depth of the basin. These data, complemented with several standard penetration test measurements, were used to develop a three-dimensional (3-D) geotechnical characterization of the area. Additionally, the cyclic behavior of predominant materials was experimentally characterized based on remolded samples. To assess complex site-amplification effects, we developed a computational 3-D model constrained by surface-wave geophysics and laboratory results, assuming a homogenous basin infill with increasing stiffness with depth. The results partially agree with damage observations and suggest an explanation related to basement shape in some areas of the modeled region.

We study step skew-products over a finite-state shift (base) space whose fiber maps are $C^1$ injective maps on the unit interval. We show that certain invariant sets have a multi-graph structure and can be written graphs of one, two or more functions defined on the base. In particular, this applies to any hyperbolic set and to the support of any ergodic hyperbolic measure. Moreover, within the class of step skew-products whose interval maps are 'absorbing', open and densely the phase space decomposes into attracting and repelling double-strips such that their attractors and repellers are graphs of one single-valued or bi-valued continuous function almost everywhere, respectively., Comment: 25 pages, 0 figures

This study presents an effective solution for the optimization of piezoelectric (PZT) wafer placement in a network of convex and non-convex structures, toward the application in the field of structural health monitoring. The proposed objective function is to maximize the coverage of the monitored area, discretized by a set of control points, while minimizing the number of PZT wafers. In the optimum solution, each control point should be covered by a user-defined number of sensing paths, defined as the coverage level. The PZT locations were treated as continuous variables. Thus, during the optimization process, any location on the plate is considered as a potential position for a PZT wafer. The algorithm provides the flexibility of changing a wide range of parameters including the number of PZT wafers, the distance covered around the sensing path, the required coverage level, and the number of control points, in addition to identifying the most sensitive PZT wafer within the network. The tractability of the model proposed was improved by feeding the solver an initial solution. The model calculates the importance of each PZT wafer within the network, which allows for further reduction in the number of active PZT elements. The suggested model was solved using a genetic algorithm. Multiple sensor network configurations on composite and metallic structures were selected, including a large cargo door of an A330 airplane, and validated experimentally. The experimental validation was to evaluate the accuracy in damage localization within the optimized sensor networks. The results demonstrated the proficiency of the model developed in distributing the PZT wafers on non-convex structures and large metallic structures.

If you haven’t listened to the 99 Percent Invisible podcast episode called Structural Integrity, well, put this essay down and go listen to it (listen: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/struct...

Trendler’s (2019) critique of conjoint measurement fails because he neglects to distinguish standard sequences (human constructions) from series of equal magnitudes (features of quantitative structures). The latter, not the former, is presumed in conjoint measurement. Furthermore, in so far as some mental tests use humans as measuring instruments, the only questionable assumption involved is that the relevant psychological attributes are quantitative, and that assumption is potentially testable using conjoint measurement. Finally, contrary to Trendler, psychological phenomena can be captured and the structure of psychological attributes investigated using conjoint measurement.

Women's participation in public life in the Arabian Peninsula is affected by tradition and limits their opportunities for socio-economic development. This study focuses on the social structures that impose gender inequality. Through in-depth focus group discussions with groups of men and women in different age groups and including both working and non-working individuals, gender roles are examined and the view of the different groups of men and women in Qatar of the roles that women are supposed to play inside and outside the home. Although some changes are occurring due to modernization, including education and other government policies, they are proving relatively minor: obstacles include deep-rooted kinship structure and cultural elements that limit women's participation in the public sphere. 2019, 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Scopus

This article proposes to explicate theoretical equivalence by supplementing formal equivalence criteria with preservation conditions concerning interpretation. I argue that both the internal structure of models and choices of morphisms are aspects of formalisms that are relevant when it comes to their interpretation. Hence, a formal criterion suitable for being supplemented with preservation conditions concerning interpretation should take these two aspects into account. The two currently most important criteria—generalized definitional equivalence (Morita equivalence) and categorical equivalence—are not optimal in this respect. I put forward a criterion that takes both aspects into account: the criterion of definable categorical equivalence.

A novel class of models, referred to as polynomial chaos (PC) translation models, is developed for non-Gaussian vectors. The models match target marginal distributions exactly and dependence struct...

We give a fully polynomial-time randomized approximation scheme (FPRAS) for the all-terminal network reliability problem, which is to determine the probability that, in a undirected graph, assuming each edge fails independently, the remaining graph is still connected. Our main contribution is to confirm a conjecture by Gorodezky and Pak (Random Struct. Algorithms, 2014), that the expected running time of the "cluster-popping" algorithm in bi-directed graphs is bounded by a polynomial in the size of the input., Comment: accepted to SICOMP

In [H. Rashidi, A. Golchin and H. Mohammadzadeh saany, On [Formula: see text]-flat acts, Categ. Gen. Algebr. Struct. Appl. 12(1) (2020) 175–197], the study of [Formula: see text]-flatness property of right acts [Formula: see text] over a monoid [Formula: see text] that can be described by means of when the functor [Formula: see text]-preserves some pullbacks is initiated. In this paper, we extend these results to [Formula: see text]-posets and present equivalent description of [Formula: see text]-po-flatness of [Formula: see text]-posets. We show that [Formula: see text]-flatness does not imply torsion freeness in [Formula: see text]-posets and give some general properties and a characterization of pomonoids for which some other properties of their posets imply this condition.

Normative ethics has been shown to help automated planners take ethically aware decisions. However, state- of-the-art planning technologies don’t provide a sim- ple and direct way to support ethical features. Here, we propose a new theoretical framework based on a con- struct, called ethical rule, that allows to model prefer- ences amongst ethically charged features and capture various ethical theories. We show how the framework can model and combine the strengths of these theories. Then, we demonstrate that classical planning domains extended with ethical rules can be compiled into soft goals in PDDL.

Internal dynamics is the link between structure and biological function in proteins [1]. It has been shown that low-frequency dynamics is not only essential for a protein to function [2], but also that a correlation exists between a protein’s activity and its specific dynamical properties [3]. Propagation of information between two or more distant sites on the protein network allows concerted, large-scale conformational changes to take place, triggering as a consequence biological responses.In this work, we aim at identifying patterns of information routing within the therapeutic antibody pembrolizumab [4], as communication channels that emerge from the underlying topology and drive the observed correlated motions. Specifically, we focus on the mutual information (MI) of the displacements of atomic positions, as computed from atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, both in presence and in absence of the bound antigen. MI is used to build network models of the antibody for each of the conformational clusters emerging from the simulations; these networks are then interpreted in the light of a graph-theoretical approach, to couple chemical detail and large-scale dynamics.Unveiling inter-residue communication pathways in may find application not only in biotechnological manipulation for improved therapeutic agents, but also in design of simplified, multi-resolution antibody models that, describing channels of information transfer at an appropriate high-resolution level, facilitate the dynamical investigation at a lower computational cost [5] . [1] Berendsen, H. J., Hayward, S. (2000). Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol., 10(2), 165-169[2] Yang, L. Q., et al. (2014). J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn., 32(3), 372-393.[3] Hensen, U., et al. (2012). PloS one, 7(5), e33931.[4] Scapin, G., et al. (2015). Nat. Struct. Biol., 22(12), 953-958.[5] Diggins IV, P., et al. (2018). J. Chem. Theory Comput., 15(1), 648-664.

This paper aims to expand knowledge on the application of formal concept analysis, a mathematical theory, to the elaboration of a repertory grid, which is a method designed for exploring the struct...

In this chapter, we discuss Blender’s two largest “core” utility libraries. blenlib and blenkernel are the primary modules for generic processing and data. As such, they share a history in the Blender codebase. When appropriate, we will use Blender’s unit tests—written with Google Test—to survey blenlib’s interface (BLI_* functions). Recall struct bContext is defined in blenkernel. We looked at the CTX_* API, a subset of the blenkernel API in Chapter 2. blenkernel’s API is generally accessed by BKE_* functions, which comprise a larger portion of its interface. blenkernel offloads data handling for makesdna, by operating on “DNA” data types. Other utility modules, namely, blenloader, blenfont, and blentranslation, are more specialized and beyond the scope of the current chapter.

Struct member-related memory leak can become a serious problem. Linux kernel is not an exception. According to our study of Linux Kernel patches, 54.6% of all memory leak-related patches within the last two years were related to the leak of struct members. This occurs when a struct is freed before freeing its dynamically allocated struct members. Detecting these bugs in large-scale software requires to reduce analysis cost for scalability and effectively collect the state of a struct and its members.In this paper, we present a simple static-analysis approach to detect struct member-related memory leak in the Linux Kernel. Our analysis first collects alloc/free information by conducting a path-insensitive analysis. To efficiently conduct inter-procedural analysis, we introduce error-code analysis, which is an optimization to efficiently pass back the alloc/free information by focusing on the return value of callee and its use in the caller. When detecting a struct free, we scan through the collected information to detect any member that remains unfreed, and generate warnings to them. We evaluated our method by analyzing the Linux Kernel 5.3-rc4, and found two new bugs. Both of the bugs were reviewed and confirmed by Linux Kernel developers.

The authors regret that a co-author (Nuno Mendes, ISISE, Institute of Science and Innovation for Bio-Sustainability (IB-S), University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal) was missing in the paper submitted and accepted for publication. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

The literature on structured prediction for NLP describes a rich collection of distributions and algorithms over sequences, segmentations, alignments, and trees; however, these algorithms are difficult to utilize in deep learning frameworks. We introduce Torch-Struct, a library for structured prediction designed to take advantage of and integrate with vectorized, auto-differentiation based frameworks. Torch-Struct includes a broad collection of probabilistic structures accessed through a simple and flexible distribution-based API that connects to any deep learning model. The library utilizes batched, vectorized operations and exploits auto-differentiation to produce readable, fast, and testable code. Internally, we also include a number of general-purpose optimizations to provide cross-algorithm efficiency. Experiments show significant performance gains over fast baselines and case-studies demonstrate the benefits of the library. Torch-Struct is available at https://github.com/harvardnlp/pytorch-struct.

This study assessed whether the impact of religiosity on agentic political engagement in Nigeria is changing. Survey method was used for the study. Primary data were generated using a 7-item structured questionnaire created and administered via SurveyMonkey platform, and responded to by a sample size of 348 persons from across Nigeria. Results revealed that the greater percentage of the respondents have become aware of their position as social agents who should, in spite of their religious affiliations, decide their political leaders, determine social changes, participate in political protests, and oppose political leaders whenever the need arises. The study concluded that religion is losing its grip on Nigerians in terms of their sense of personal agency and political engagement. The study therefore recommends that civil society organizations (CSO) need to seize the opportunity of this growing awareness of the sense of agency to engage in demands for social change.

First published online: 19 May 2020 This article examines how transgender individuals operating in the underground sex economy in urban Turkey form supportive relationships and mobilize against various forms of violence, given structural conditions that encourage distrust and competition and undermine collective efforts among the sex workers. I found that, despite their conditions, workers heavily relied on each other for matters ranging from small-scale interpersonal exchanges of resources to community mobilization. However, the violent and unpredictable circumstances of their lives still generated repeated conflict, making their ties precarious. The article considers the importance of fictive kinship ties in this community, and discusses the coexistence of solidarity and conflict in sex workers' relationships.

Fuzzy logic has obtained many attentions in control of structure because of its simple nature, robustness, and nonlinear mapping capability (Choi et al., Int J Solids Struct 42(16–17):4779–4794, [1]). Reigles and Symans (Structural control and health monitoring, pp 724–747, [2]) present a numerical study to show the effectiveness of a supervisory fuzzy logic controller for seismic response control of an eight-storey base-isolated structure affected by translation–torsional motion.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Makoond, N, Pelà, L, Molins, C, Roca, P, Alarcón, D. Automated data analysis for static structural health monitoring of masonry heritage structures. Struct Control Health Monit. 2020; 27:e2581. https://doi.org/10.1002/stc.2581], which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/stc.2581. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. Masonry heritage structures are often affected by slow irreversible deterioration mechanisms that can jeopardise structural stability in the foreseeable future. Static structural health monitoring (SHM), aimed at the continuous measurement of key slow-varying parameters, has the potential to identify such mechanisms at a very early stage. This can greatly facilitate the implementation of adequate preventive and remedial measures, which can be critical to ensure that such structures are preserved for generations to come. However, because monitored parameters usually experience reversible seasonal variations of the same order of magnitude as changes caused by active mechanisms, identification of the latter is often a difficult task. This paper presents a fully integrated automated data analysis procedure for complete static SHM systems utilising dynamic linear regression models to filter out the effects caused by environmental variations. The method does not only produce estimated evolution rates but also classifies monitored responses in predefined evolution states. The procedure has successfully been used to identify vulnerable areas in two important medieval heritage structures in Spain, namely, the cathedral of Mallorca and the church of the monastery of Sant Cugat. Ajuntament de Sant Cugat through a project aimed at monitoring the Monastery of Sant Cugat, ref. num. C-10764. Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of the Spanish Government through a project aimed at studying the structural condition of Mallorca Cathedral, ref. num. 2/131400106ca - 5/030300592 EF. AGAUR agency of the Generalitat de Catalunya and European Social Fund, through a predoctoral grant awarded to the corresponding author. Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Spanish Government and European Regional Development Fund through the SEVERUS project, ref. num. RTI2018-099589-B-100.

This research applies a technique that identifies areas of improvement that can be addressed by managerial decisions or policy activities. It extends the application of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using an importance-performance map analysis (IPMA). The IPMA determines priority factors that should receive management’s attention. The PLS path model was tested by comparing 140 failed U.S. banks with the same number of nonfailed banks from 2006 to 2008. This model assembles 15 indicators with four predecessor constructs (i.e., profitability of 2006, profitability of 2007, risk of 2006, and risk of 2007) and one final target construct (i.e., profitability of 2008). Profitability and risk of 2007 mediate the path of profitability and risk of 2006 and profitability of 2008. The IPMA indicated that failed banks were predisposed to decreasing financial performance in 2008 because of their poor performance in 2006 and 2007. Conversely, nonfailed banks were more likely to experience increasing financial performance in 2008 because of their positive performance in 2006 and 2007. This study indicates that managers who use IPMA to prioritize their financial decisions will obtain useful conceptual insights and are unlikely to be misled. Although IPMA can be conducted on the indicator level as well, this article limits its analysis by focusing on the construct level only. The use of IPMA is ubiquitous in end-user surveys, but its application to banking is still in its embryonic state. For originality, this work prioritizes the application of IPMA using secondary data collected from financial statements to assess the performance of American banks during the crisis.

The variability of the statistical physics descriptors of failure in an impregnated fibre bundle model is investigated. Using the same bundle and fibre parameters as in (Lomov et al., 2021), 50 random realisations were built for VF50 and for VF60 models. The same descriptors of the bundle damage, clusters, and avalanches were calculated, and their statistical scatter characteristics were analysed. The conclusions of (Lomov et al., 2021) are confirmed to be statistically representative for an ensemble of random fibre placement realisations.