Experimental study of the ageing of building stones exposed to sulfurous and nitric acid atmospheres

During the last few decades, due to remediation procedures, SO2 emissions in the atmosphere have decreased, unlike NOx. Air pollution has changed. Indeed, the aim of this research is to assess the effect of NOx and their interactions with SO2 on stones, particularly on limestones used in Champagne-Ardenne (France) during the restoration processes. Three French building limestones (Courville, Dom and Savonnières) and one reconstituted stone were exposed during 28 days to four strong acid atmospheres i.e. two H2SO3 solutions with different concentrations and two mixed atmospheres with different proportions of HNO3 and H2SO3. These tests produced an intensive acid attack on the stone, allowing the observation of short-term salt precipitation and the evolution of stone properties. Each day, one sample was removed from the acid atmosphere to measure the concentration of SO4(2-) and NO3(-) by ion-chromatography. The surface changes were assessed before and after the tests by 3D scanning and observations with electron microscopy. X-ray microtomography has been performed in the Centre for X-ray Tomography (UGCT) and the Department of Geology at Ghent University (Belgium) in order to observe the penetration of salts and the consequences in stones porosity. First observations showed that exposure to acid atmosphere, led to gypsum efflorescences. Obvious colour changes occurred in all tests. Salt crystallization entailed a change in the porous system, which was evidenced by 3D, mercury porosimetry and X-ray microtomography. Difference between weathered and fresh stone was highlighted by Ion chromatography analyses

Addressing the Symbol Grounding Problem with Constraints in Neuro-Symbolic Planning

In this paper, we address the Symbol Grounding Problem (SGP) in the context of neuro-symbolic planning, where the categorical vectors learned to represent high dimensional inputs suffer from instability, which poses a problem of efficiency during the planning phase. One way to alleviate the SGP is to enforce constraints — among the latent variables — by expressing them in the loss function during the learning process. Combining an existing tool for invariant search and ideas from Logic Tensor Networks (fuzzy logic), we propose to automatize the process of finding and enforcing relevant constraints. We apply our idea to LatPlan, a domain independent, image-based classical planner

Effect of the anisotropy of monocrystalline silicon mechanical properties on the dynamic characteristics of a micromechanical gyroscope

The aim of the research was to determine the effect of temperature on mechanical properties of a micromechanical gyroscope with the sensing element mounted on a silicon wafer, with the crystallographic orientation of (100) (110) (111). The research is of current relevancy since the metrological characteristics that depend on the eigenfrequencies over the full temperature range are to be controlled. The temperature-modal analysis of the micromechanical gyroscope model was performed with ANSYS program. The temperature dependence for eigenfrequencies was obtained. The dependence of the scale factor on temperature for the most temperature-independent variant of sensor positioning on the wafer was determined. The developed mathematical model was used to find the forms of the output oscillations of the gyroscope

Thermophysical characteristics of radioactive graphite - Water vapor system

The article considers thermophysical characteristics of radioactive graphite - water vapor system in temperature range 373-3273K. The research was made by thermodynamic modeling method using TERRA software. We determined 4 temperature intervals in which changes of thermophysical characteristics of radioactive graphite - water vapor system occur. © 2017 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences

How does news coverage of suicide affect suicidal behaviour at a high-frequency location? A 7-year time series analysis

Introduction News reporting of suicide can have a significant influence on suicidal behaviour in the general population, especially following the death of a well-known individual. By comparison, the impact of reporting on suicides at well-known, ‘high-frequency’ locations is less well understood. We investigated the relationship between news coverage of suicide and incidents at a high-frequency coastal location in the UK over a 7-year period. Methods We analysed bidirectional associations (with daily and weekly lags) and Granger causality between suicide-related news in the UK (n=38 595, of which 789 focused on cliff locations) and suspected suicides (n=278) and crisis interventions (n=3050) at the site between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2023. Separate subanalyses explored associations with repeat coverage and with headlines featuring explicit location/method details. Results While coverage of incidents at the study site and other coastal locations represents a small and decreasing proportion of all UK news of suicide, 51% of all cliff-related news focused on the study site, often explicitly identified in the story’s headline (81%). There were significant but small (r<0.3) correlations between the volume of news coverage (particularly when method-specific and location-specific) and suicidal behaviour at the site, with fatalities increasing in the immediate aftermath of reporting. This effect was strongest in 2018–2019 (which had the greatest volume of reporting and repeat coverage) but failed to reach significance in 2020–2023, when there were fewer reports, less repeat coverage and no headlines referring to multiple deaths at the site. Conclusions Findings underscore the importance of continued efforts to monitor and improve the quality of news and other media portrayals of suicide. Follow-up studies, including qualitative research with people with lived/living experiences of suicide, could further explore how different types of news stories and wider narratives might contribute to increases—and potentially decreases—in suicides at high-frequency locations

'Understanding domestic violence and abuse: victim, suspect and crime predictors of police outcomes'

Purpose: Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) cases remain under-reported and under-prosecuted in the criminal justice system (CJS), with researchers frequently having limited access to raw police data. Here, a range of factors relating to DVA offences occurring between 2018 and 2020 in one large English police force were described and measured. As part of the research, it was investigated if victim and suspect characteristics predicted outcome decisions, specifically charge rate, case attrition, and evidential difficulties despite victims’ support in pursuing the allegations. The number of offences meeting the DVA legal definition, and those falling outside that definition, were also explored. Methods: Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed to predict the relationship between demographic information and criminal history on three coded crime outcome categories (namely, ‘charge’, ‘victim does not proceed’, and ‘law does not pursue’). Results: The dataset included 198,617 crimes, and for 94.1% of them, the suspect was not charged. Relationship type, age, crime type, and the number of victim allegations predicted all three outcomes. For instance, being partners of the victim significantly decreased the chances of a charge compared to suspects who were not partners. Conclusions: The findings are in line with evidence from the literature which highlights all-time low charge rates for DVA and high levels of victim attrition. We argue that the influence of victim/suspect characteristics and DVA-related dynamics should be considered by police personnel and members of the CJS when assessing crime reports

Types of domestic violence and abuse-flagged offenses and their associations: a quantitative exploration using English police data

This research quantitatively explored different police-flagged domestic violence and abuse (DVA) offense reports in one English police force, and their suspect- and victim-level associations. Most reports were of males committing offenses against females. Violence with and without injury were the most common offenses (61.0%). Demographic variables (age, sex, relationship) were associated with different offense types. Suspects 36 years old and older had higher odds of being associated with sex offenses. While younger victims had higher odds of sexual victimization and stalking and harassment, both suspects and victims 45 years old and younger were mostly associated with reports of violence with injury. Most suspects and victims were partners/ex-partners (70.3%), with a third of the reports being for violence with injury. Stalking/harassment was mostly reported against acquaintances, whereas relatives were more likely to be suspects of violence without injury. Research and practice implications for police and Criminal Justice System are discussed

Safe nights out: Workers’ perspectives on tackling violence against women and girls

Existing research focused on workers within the night-timeeconomy (NTE) is limited. In this unique study, research was conducted with workers from a wide range of professions and occupations. The study garnered important insights into NTE workers’ understanding and experience of violence against women and girls (VAWG). Workers observed a strong relationship between alcohol consumption and VAWG and were knowledgeable about spiking, perceiving this practice to be growing. Strong protocols were in place to support women when spiking was alleged. The understanding of VAWG was, in contrast, broad but inconsistent. NTE workers provide myriad ways to support and protect women who are out at night. However, responses to potential incidents of VAWG are shaped by intuition, rather than being rooted in formal knowledge and institutional protocols. The decision to intervene is usually based on NTE workers’ levels of experience, confidence, and subjective perception of risk – described as ‘going with your gut’. There were, however, some good examples of where formal training had been provided and found to be useful. Specifically,there was evidence that many of the initiatives established as part of the Safer Streets project were making a difference. Respondents valued the training that they had received (such as zero-tolerance), and they recognised the important role that Street Pastors provide. Nevertheless, several training gaps were identified. Specifically, workers reported that they wanted to be better equipped to identify potential perpetrators of crime and would welcome advice on how to enhance personal and customer safety. NTE workers would also benefit from knowing more about the location and value of safe havens. The study showed that while many venues offer support to customers, there is some inconsistency in the way that safety measures are advertised and enacted

Experimentos em riticulado quadrado com alguns tratamentos comuns adicionados em cada bloco: análise intrablocos.

Apresentou-se um metodo geral de analise intrablocos para o caso de um ensaio em reticulado quadrado aumentado pela adicao de alguns tratamentos comuns a todos os blocos. Os tratamentos do delineamento inicial foram designados de tratamentos regulares, e os adicionados aos blocos, de tratamentos comuns. Os parametros do delineamento inicial foram definidos como: k (numero de parcelas por bloco), v = k2 (numero de tratamentos regulares), b (numero de blocos), i (numero de repeticoes ortogonais), n (numero de vezes que as repeticoes ortogonais sao repetidas) e r= ni (numero de repeticoes dos tratamentos). A inclusao de c tratamentos comuns em cada bloco do experimento resultou em um delineamento aumentado, com os seguintes parametros: v' = v +c (numero total de tratamentos), b (numero de blocos), k' = k + c (numero de parcelas por bloco), r' (numero de repeticoes de cada tratamento e uu'(numero de blocos onde os tratamentos u e u' ocorrem juntos). O modelo matematico adotado foi o seguinte y uh = m + tu + bh + euh e a observacao do u-esimo tratamento no h-esimo bloco; m e a media geral; tu e o efeito do u-esimo tratamento (u= 1,2,....v'); bh e o efeito do h-esimo bloco (h = 1, 2, ...., b) e euh e o erro experimental associado a yuh onde euh (0, o2). Foram determinadas as expressoes para as varias somas de quadrados na analise de variancia, as medias de tratamentos ajustadas para blocos e a variancia da estimativa de um contraste entre duas medias de tratamentos