Retrofitting damaged walls with glass chords and epoxy resins

For the purpose of my thesis I have used a glass chords for retrofitting stone masonry wall already damaged through previous testing campaigns. The wall had typical shear damages, which were first restored by linear grouting with cement mixture. In the first part of the diploma thesis I have studied appropriate test set-up for testing bond strength between glass chords and substrate. Later on I have tested two types of stone in combination with three types of mortar and determined different failure modes. All tests were conducted in a laboratory of the Faculty of civil and geodetic engineering in Ljubljana. Following couple of unsuccessful attempts a decision was made to determine bond strengths between mortar and stone by performing so called pull-out test. For this purpose stone samples needed adequate preparation and a glass chord with a diameter of 6 mm was built into them. During testing I have monitored pull-out force, movements and a type of fracture. Epoxy mortar, which showed the best bond strength among the tested ones, was then used in the second part of the diploma thesis, namely at shear retrofitting of a stone wall. Before retrofitting the wall, it needed adequate preparation. Perpendicular to a wall direction I have drilled holes and emptied horizontal joints between individual rows of stones to a certain depth. For placing in glass chords we have chosen epoxy system, which included basic epoxy primer, epoxy resin for impregnation, epoxy resin of middle viscosity for filling boreholes and epoxy mortar. Following cyclic shear loading of a wall and data processing, a comparison of obtained results with the test results of two non-retrofitted walls carried out through previous testing campaigns was made. For retrofitted wall maximal obtained horizontal movements were significantly bigger than for non-retrofitted ones. For non-retrofitted walls following the achieved a maximal force resistance started to decline, while for a retrofitted wall it was constantly increasing. Both non-retrofitted walls that were tested under the same boundary conditions as a retrofitted one had typical shear damages (cracks). On the other hand, a retrofitted wall at the same levels of displacement practically stayed intact

Protected area characteristics that help waterbirds respond to climate warming

Protected area networks help species respond to climate warming. However, the contribution of a site's environmental and conservation-relevant characteristics to these responses is not well understood. We investigated how composition of nonbreeding waterbird communities (97 species) in the European Union Natura 2000 (N2K) network (3018 sites) changed in response to increases in temperature over 25 years in 26 European countries. We measured community reshuffling based on abundance time series collected under the International Waterbird Census relative to N2K sites' conservation targets, funding, designation period, and management plan status. Waterbird community composition in sites explicitly designated to protect them and with management plans changed more quickly in response to climate warming than in other N2K sites. Temporal community changes were not affected by the designation period despite greater exposure to temperature increase inside late-designated N2K sites. Sites funded under the LIFE program had lower climate-driven community changes than sites that did not received LIFE funding. Our findings imply that efficient conservation policy that helps waterbird communities respond to climate warming is associated with sites specifically managed for waterbirds

Terminologija klinične prehrane: Motnje prehranjenosti in s prehranjenostjo povezana stanja

Izhodišča: Prehransko stanje posameznika uvrščamo med ključne dejavnike njegovega zdravja. Za učinkovito individualno in multidisciplinarno obravnavo stanj, povezanih s prehranskim stanjem posameznika, moramo dobro poznati terminologijo klinične prehrane. Ker je klinična prehrana kot medicinska stroka razvita tudi pri nas, v tujini pa so tovrstni terminološki dokumenti že na voljo, želimo tudi v Sloveniji na podlagi konsenza oblikovati enotno terminologijo. Metode: Prispevek je osnovan na podlagi eksplicitnega terminološkega dogovora. K sodelovanju smo povabili obsežno skupino relevantnih slovenskih strokovnjakov s kliničnih, predkliničnih in drugih področij, ki so povezana z dejavnostjo klinične prehrane v medicini, pri oblikovanju pa je sodeloval tudi terminolog s področja medicine. Kot izhodišče smo izbrali terminološke smernice Evropskega združenja za klinično prehrano in presnovo ter ob njih upoštevali najnovejša strokovna priporočila za posamezne pojme. Avtorji so bili v stiku prek osebnih srečanj in elektronske pošte. Pri končnem oblikovanju konsenza je sodelovalo 42 avtorjev iz 19 slovenskih ustanov. Rezultati: Predstavljamo temeljne pojme, terminološke definicije in pripadajoče slovenske termine s področja klinične prehrane. Opredelili smo osnovne motnje prehranjenosti – podhranjenost, prekomerno hranjenost, neravnovesje mikrohranil in sindrom ponovnega hranjenja. Poleg tega smo opredelili tudi s prehranjenostjo povezana stanja – sarkopenijo in krhkost. Osnovne pojme smo podprli s kliničnim kontekstom, v katerem nastopajo. Zaključki: Poenoteno razumevanje osnovnih patoloških stanj, ki jih obravnava klinična prehrana, je izhodišče za nadaljnji razvoj stroke, poleg tega pa je podlaga tudi za prehransko obravnavo in učinkovito prehransko oskrbo

Terminologija klinične prehrane: Prehranska obravnava – presejanje prehranske ogroženosti in prehranski pregled

Izhodišča: Pomembno vlogo pri prehranski obravnavi imata tako presejanje prehranske ogroženosti kot prehranski pregled, na podlagi katerega lahko postavimo diagnozo motnje prehranjenosti ali s prehranjenostjo povezane motnje. Ocena posameznikovega prehranskega stanja, ki jo pridobimo s prehransko obravnavo, je namreč ključna za načrtovanje učinkovite prehranske oskrbe. Za razvoj področja je pomembno, da so vsi termini, ki se uporabljajo pri kliničnem delu, usklajeni. Taki terminološki dokumenti v mednarodnem prostoru že obstajajo, smiselni pa so tudi za slovenščino in naše okolje. Metode: Prispevek temelji na eksplicitnem terminološkem dogovoru skupine 42 relevantnih slovenskih strokovnjakov iz 19 slovenskih ustanov. Osnova oblikovanja terminoloških smernic je terminološki dokument Evropskega združenja za klinično prehrano in presnovo, pri čemer so bili upoštevani tudi novejši izsledki klinične prehrane. Rezultati: Predstavljeni so slovenski termini in terminološke definicije s področja klinične prehrane. Opredeljeni so osnovni pojmi s področja prehranske obravnave, ki je praviloma del medicinske obravnave. Predstavljena sta pojma prehranska ogroženost in presejanje prehranske ogroženosti, ob čemer so navedeni tudi različni presejalni testi za presejanje prehranskih motenj in s prehranjenostjo povezanih stanj. Podrobno so opredeljeni tudi prehranski pregled in njegovi sestavni deli. Zaključki: Tako presejanje prehranske ogroženosti kot prehranski pregled sta bistvena za diagnostično obravnavo v okviru klinične prehrane, poenoteno razumevanje terminologije pa omogoča primerno prepoznavo patoloških stanj pri bolnikih in pripravo ustreznega načrta prehranskih ukrepov