Statistical alignment in transfer learning to address the repair problem: An experimental case study

Repair is a critical step in maintenance of civil structures to ensure safe operation. However, repair can pose a problem for data-driven approaches of long-term structural health monitoring, because repairs can change the underlying distributions of the data, which can invalidate models trained on pre-repair data. As a result, models previously trained on pre-repair information fail to generalise to post-repair data, reducing their performances and misrepresenting the actual behaviour of structures. This paper suggests a population-based structural health monitoring approach to address the problem of repair in long-term monitoring of a mast structure, by exploring domain adaptation techniques developed for transfer learning. A combined approach of normal condition alignment and Dirichlet process mixture models is adopted here for damage detection, that can operate unimpeded by post-repair shifts in distributions. The method is able correctly identify 99\% of the damage data with a false positive rate of around 1.6%. Moreover, it is able to detect environmental variations such as stiffening due to freezing conditions that can adversely affect the dynamic behaviour of structures

Sustainable Housing for Middle-Income Society in Sri Lanka

Housing is a fundamental human necessity and affects how society interacts with the environment. In the modern era, housing expansions all over the world have significantly increased the number of economic, social, and environmental issues. Making housing constructions in places that are quickly urbanizing more sustainable is a top objective for government agencies, business experts, and research organizations. Managing economic, environmental, and social sustainability factors is referred to as sustainable housing. Major natural resources used in the construction of housing include land, energy, water, and building materials. Minor natural resources used in the process include waste production and air and water pollution. In the community's fight for affordable housing, educated middle-income inhabitants are predicted to be the most susceptible group given expected living standards and monthly income-generating levels. The goals are to explain how the framework for evaluating laws was developed and proven to be valid in order to achieve sustainability in middle-income housing. In order to offer the essential background for developing an interim assessment framework for affordable and sustainable middle-income housing, the research begins by analyzing the current local assessment frameworks and regulations. To evaluate the interim assessment framework, a semi-structured questionnaire survey of business professionals and other stakeholders will serve as the foundation for the secondary study. This intermediate evaluation framework will receive the necessary fine-tuning and industry feedback through discussion and opinions. The interim framework must be transformed into a robust and progressive regulatory structure that enables future success in SH for the majority of middle-class citizens in the nation. The results will next be evaluated in light of Sri Lanka's existing regulatory framework for sustainable middle-income housing. © 2022 The Authors. Published by Department of Estate Management and Valuation, University of Sri Jayewardenepura   Keywords: Sustainable Housing, Middle-income Society, Housing Crisi

Multiple linear regression analysis of factors affecting the consumption

Econometrics provides the researchers with methods, theoretical basements, and procedures that allow the formulation and estimation of economic models that explain the study variable during a reference time period, as well as making predictions about the behavior of the studied reality based on the explanatory variables. The entire process, analyzed from econometrics after having formulated and estimated the model, leads to a very important phase: the statistical validation, which helps the researcher to ensure that the model satisfactorily passes a series of tests. These tests will allow the use of the model not just to explain the behavior of the independent variable under study, but to make predictions based on scenarios of occurrence based on those explanatory variables included in the model, offering a theoretical-practical support to formulate policies related to the studied phenomenon. This research aims to generate the first elements to know the private consumption behavior in India in the period from 2012 to 201

Performances of holiday climate index (HCI) for urban and beach destinations in Sri Lanka under changing climate

Climate change has had a significant impact on the tourism industry in many countries, leading to changes in policies and adaptations to attract more visitors. However, there are few studies on the effects of climate change on Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and income, despite its importance as a destination for tourists. A study was conducted to analyze the holiday climate index (HCI) for Sri Lanka’s urban and beach destinations to address this gap. The analysis covered historical years (2010–2018) and forecasted climatic scenarios (2021–2050 and 2071–2100), and the results were presented as colored maps to highlight the importance of HCI scores. Visual analysis showed some correlation between HCI scores and tourist arrivals, but the result of the overall correlation analysis was not significant. However, a country-specific correlation analysis revealed interesting findings, indicating that the changing climate can be considered among other factors that impact tourist arrivals. The research proposes that authorities assess the outcomes of the study and conduct further research to develop adaptive plans for Sri Lanka’s future tourism industry. The study also investigated potential scenarios for beach and urban destinations under two climate scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) for the near and far future, presenting the findings to tourism industry stakeholders for any necessary policy changes. As Sri Lanka expects more Chinese visitors in the future due to ongoing development projects, this study could be valuable for policymakers and industry stakeholders when adapting to changing climate and future tourist behavior. While more research is needed to fully understand the effects of climate change on Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, this study serves as a starting point for future investigations

Serologically defined variations in malaria endemicity in Pará state, Brazil

BACKGROUND: Measurement of malaria endemicity is typically based on vector or parasite measures. A complementary approach is the detection of parasite specific IgG antibodies. We determined the antibody levels and seroconversion rates to both P. vivax and P. falciparum merozoite antigens in individuals living in areas of varying P. vivax endemicity in Pará state, Brazilian Amazon region. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The prevalence of antibodies to recombinant antigens from P. vivax and P. falciparum was determined in 1,330 individuals. Cross sectional surveys were conducted in the north of Brazil in Anajás, Belém, Goianésia do Pará, Jacareacanga, Itaituba, Trairão, all in the Pará state, and Sucuriju, a free-malaria site in the neighboring state Amapá. Seroprevalence to any P. vivax antigens (MSP1 or AMA-1) was 52.5%, whereas 24.7% of the individuals were seropositive to any P. falciparum antigens (MSP1 or AMA-1). For P. vivax antigens, the seroconversion rates (SCR) ranged from 0.005 (Sucuriju) to 0.201 (Goianésia do Pará), and are strongly correlated to the corresponding Annual Parasite Index (API). We detected two sites with distinct characteristics: Goianésia do Pará where seroprevalence curve does not change with age, and Sucuriju where seroprevalence curve is better described by a model with two SCRs compatible with a decrease in force of infection occurred 14 years ago (from 0.069 to 0.005). For P. falciparum antigens, current SCR estimates varied from 0.002 (Belém) to 0.018 (Goianésia do Pará). We also detected a putative decrease in disease transmission occurred ∼29 years ago in Anajás, Goianésia do Pará, Itaituba, Jacareacanga, and Trairão. CONCLUSIONS: We observed heterogeneity of serological indices across study sites with different endemicity levels and temporal changes in the force of infection in some of the sites. Our study provides further evidence that serology can be used to measure and monitor transmission of both major species of malaria parasite

Disruption of a mitochondrial protease machinery in Plasmodium falciparum is an intrinsic signal for parasite cell death

The ATP-dependent ClpQY protease system in Plasmodium falciparum is a prokaryotic machinery in the parasite. In the present study, we have identified the complete ClpQY system in P. falciparum and elucidated its functional importance in survival and growth of asexual stage parasites. We characterized the interaction of P. falciparum ClpQ protease (PfClpQ) and PfClpY ATPase components, and showed that a short stretch of residues at the C terminus of PfClpY has an important role in this interaction; a synthetic peptide corresponding to this region antagonizes this interaction and interferes with the functioning of this machinery in the parasite. Disruption of ClpQY function by this peptide caused hindrance in the parasite growth and maturation of asexual stages of parasites. Detailed analyses of cellular effects in these parasites showed features of apoptosis-like cell death. The peptide-treated parasites showed mitochondrial dysfunction and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. Dysfunctioning of mitochondria initiated a cascade of reactions in parasites, including activation of VAD–FMK-binding proteases and nucleases, which resulted in apoptosis-like cell death. These results show functional importance of mitochondrial proteases in the parasite and involvement of mitochondria in programmed cell death in the malaria parasites

Simulation of distributed manufacturing enterprises: A new approach

The globalization of markets and world-wide competition forces manufacturing enterprises to enter into alliances leading to the creation of distributed manufacturing enterprises. Before forming a partnership it is essential to evaluate viability of proposed enterprise as well as how a company's operations are affected by the proposed virtual enterprise. Distributed simulation provides an attractive tool to make decisions on such situations. However, due to its complexity and high cost distributed simulation failed to gain a wide acceptance from industrial users. This paper presents a new approach for distributed manufacturing simulation (DMS) including a formal methodology for DMS and, implementation approach using current commercial simulation software, employing widely available and cost effective technologies. The main objective of this work is to promote the use of distributed simulation particularly in distributed manufacturing by making it fast to develop and less complicated for implementation

A structured approach for the implementation of distributed manufacturing simulation

Manufacturing has been changing from a mainly in-house effort to a distributed style in order to meet new challenges owing to globalization of markets and worldwide competition. Distributed simulation provides an attractive solution to construct cross enterprise simulations to evaluate the viability of the proposed distributed manufacturing enterprises. However, due to its complexity and high cost distributed simulation failed to gain a wide acceptance from industrial users. The main objective of this paper is to address these issues and present a new structured approach to implement distributed simulation with cost effective and easy to implementable tools. A simplified approach for model partitioning for distributed simulation is also included in the proposed approach. The implementation of distributed manufacturing simulation is illustrated with Arena, Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

Intelligent water management system with remote access and monitoring

This paper examines and proposes an intelligent solution for 11controlling of water level in a dynamic water distribution system. Principle objective of the controller is to provide required water quantity with a required minimum head while keeping the motor in its most efficient region. In order to achieve these objectives, a prototype of water level control system has been built and an intelligent fuzzy logic control algorithm is developed. Water level of the tank is fixed by an intelligent algorithm. This algorithm will predict the optimal water level which needs to be maintained. Fuzzy algorithm is developed and tuned using Simulink embed into micro-controller and their performances are compared

Study on gas transport and water retention In landfill cover solI : a Sri Lankan case study

In Sri Lanka, engineered landfills are not usually available and the common procedure is to cover the waste with a good cover soil without providing gas venting facilities. Hazardous gaseous and liquid landfill emissions are major problems of landfills. Hence cover soil of the landfill plays a major role in emission of landfill gases, because once the solid waste is covered with soil these gases are released to atmosphere with high pressure, through this cover soil. Therefore, studying the cover soil parameters are paramount importance in evaluating its future gas diffusion. The Soil gas diffusion coefficient (Dp) and permeability (ka) govern the transport and emission gases in the unsaturated zone. In this study, "V>ll'I'.0'" diffusivity (DplDo, Do is gas diffusion coefficient in free air) and k, was measured for the soil ofMaharagama landifill final cover soil at different soil water matric potential