Climate and Constructions : International Conference 24 and 25 October 2011, Karlsruhe, Germany / Competence Area "Earth and Environment" (KIT Scientific Reports ; 7618)

The two-day international conference "Climate and Constructions" covered the topics "Building Science", "Construction Chemistry", "Urban Climate" and "Materials Technology and Construction Techniques". Beside invited lectures and a workshop part about the interactions between climate and the construction sector, there was an open call to submit abstracts. The abstracts were assessed by an international advisory board

Durability of Cement-Based Materials in Drinking Water Storage

In order to provide a hygienic storage drinking water reservoirs have been coated with mineral mortar linings in all epochs of European history. However, modern cement-based materials often show in this special operational environment an inadequate durability. Even though drinking water is commonly not considered particularly harmful to cementitious systems, the chemical degradation of mortar linings in drinking water storage systems can occur very fast compared to other common deterioration reactions. This results in cost intensive repair measures and thus high life-cycle costs as well associated with an ecological burden. Furthermore, an insufficient understanding of degradation mechanisms and their underlying physical, chemical as well as biological processes currently impedes performance-oriented approaches to improve durability. In this regard a research project aims to unravel the potentially combined multiple deterioration mechanisms, integrating results of case studies and laboratory experiments. In this context a specific issue of this research activity is to evaluate the applicability of an accelerated degradation test that takes advantage of the impact of electrical fields on the stability of cement-based materials in permanent contact to aqueous environments. Laboratory experiments show, that such tests are suitable to compare the resilience against reactive transport processes of materials and to draw conclusions regarding their performance, illustrating material changes in terms of depth and time. Furthermore, the results indicate, that the transport properties of the rim zone of cement-based materials are regulating its sturdiness in aggressive aqueous environments. This approach appears therefore suitable for a performance assessment in material development and provides as well new impulses for quality control in practice paving the path for increased durability of materials applied in drinking water supply infrastructure

Performance Oriented Functionalisation of Concrete: an Integrated Approach for Prevention in Construction

The long-term preservation and the future-oriented development of the infrastructure are of utmost importance for every country in the world. An increasing failure of infrastructure underpins a tremendous need for action. The reasons for this unsatisfactory situation are various, but certainly among them is often an insufficient performance of the building materials. This holds particularly true for reinforced concrete and its additives, which are nowadays commonly developed by empirical research. Almost all shortcomings of concrete durability are related to the transport of detrimental substances into the pore system. In this regard, a promising approach to prevent chemical deterioration processes is a functionalisation of the pore system by means of organosilicon-based surface treatments in order to hamper the uptake of aggressive aqueous solutions. However, little is known about the reaction mechanisms and the nature of the reaction products associated with such measures. However, this is necessary to obtain reliable information about their performance and ideally to develop these technologies further in a more target-oriented manner. The insufficient understanding of these processes has its origins in the inability of investigations of the reaction course of silicon organic compounds in the pore structure of cement-based systems and their underlying physical and chemical principles. This applies in particular to film-forming reactions in alkaline environments of the pore structure, which lead to functionalization (e.g. hydrophobic effect). The approach of this study is therefore to investigate the reaction products in model systems using mass spectrometry and to explain the course of the reaction by means of computational chemistry. In this way, reaction products of different reaction steps of the condensation of specific components into larger oligomers were characterized and the reaction sequence was explained by molecular modelling. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the reactions and types of reaction products of organosilicon compounds used to improve the properties of cement-bound materials. This promotes further steps towards the performance-oriented development of such surface protection technologies

“Sven and the Media Portal” : A Nomadic Use Case for the Extended Home

The Networked and Electronic Media Technology Platform (NEM) [5] states that users will consume an “innovative mix of various media forms, delivered seamlessly over technologically transparent networks, to improve the quality, enjoyment and value of life. [6] visualizes a future use case and some of the challenges that need to be addressed before the NEM vision becomes reality

Spectroscopic and theoretical study of dipole moments of alkali dimers

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Applizierung eines Nachbehandlungsgels (Wassertensidmischung)auf geschalte Betonflächen im Tunnelbau

Wie andere technische Bereiche wird auch das Bauwesen im zunehmenden Maße durch Megatrends beeinflusst. Das gilt insbesondere für den Klimawandel. So soll durch Entwicklungen im Bereich der Bindemitteltechnologie die produktionsbedingte CO2-Freisetzung drastisch herabgesetzt werden (Vermeidung), auf der anderen Seite führen bereits heute die heißen Sommer in Deutschland zu Einschränkungen bei der Bauausführung (Anpassung). Beide Entwicklungen fordern Veränderungen bei den eingesetzten Baustoffen und Additiven, aber auch bei den Bauweisen. Es ist nachvollziehbar, dass dies insbesondere für die Nachbehandlung von Stahlbetonbauteilen gilt. Die neuen Generationen an Bindemitteln mit deutlich reduzierten Anteilen an Portlandzementklinker, eingesetzt bei erhöhten Temperaturen und geringen Werten für die Luftfeuchtigkeit, erfordern längere Nachbehandlungszeiten, während derer der Wasserverlust praktisch vollständig vermieden werden sollte. Andernfalls wird sich das Gefüge der Betonrandzone nicht so entwickeln können, wie es für eine hohe Dauerhaftigkeit des Bauteils erforderlich wäre. Um bereits heute eine qualitativ hochwertige Qualität der Betonrandzone durch ausreichende Nachbehandlung zu gewährleisten, wurde ein neuartiges Nachbehandlungsgel entwickelt, das,vereinfacht ausgedrückt, Wasser miteiner speziellen Tensidkombina-tion in ein Gel überführt. Der Wasseranteil beträgt dabei über 99%. Der Anteil der hochwirksamen Tensidkombination beträgt weniger als 1%, weshalb nach einer einfachen Reinigung mit Wasser keine störenden Rückstände auf derBetonoberfläche verbleiben. Die Wirkung der Nachbehandlungsqualität wurde für ein Pilotprojekt im Labormaßstab überprüft. Dabei konnte eine Qualität bei der Nachbehandlung nachgewiesen werden, wie sie an einem C35/45 mit langsamer Festigkeitsentwicklung bei einer dreitägigenUnterwasserlagerung nachweisbar ist. In Kürze sollen diese Ergebnisse nochmals im Realmaßstab an einem Tunnelbauprojekt verifiziert werden

Remote service usage through SIP with multimedia access as a use case

The IP Multimedia Subsystem is under deployment, as an IP-based service control and access infrastructure, but how it interconnects with residential appliances is currently unclear. With IMS access for the residential appliances they can be used as both service consumers and service providers. In this paper we present a protocol which allows residential services to be remotely invoked, through the IMS, and consumed in a different network, along with a prototype implementation and early results. With our protocol services of two distinct service protocol systems can cooperate

SFTSDH: Applying Spring Security Framework with TSD-Based OAuth2 to Protect Microservice Architecture APIs

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) combines medical devices and applications that use network technologies to connect healthcare information systems (HIS). IoMT is reforming the medical industry by adopting information and communication technologies (ICTs). Identity verification, secure collection, and exchange of medical data are essential in health applications. In this study, we implemented a hybrid security solution to secure the collection and management of personal health data using Spring Framework (SF), Services for Sensitive Data (TSD) as a service platform, and Hyper-Text-Transfer-Protocol (HTTP (H)) security methods. The adopted solution (SFTSDH = SF + TSD + H) instigated the following security features: identity brokering, OAuth2, multifactor authentication, and access control to protect the Microservices Architecture Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), following the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Moreover, we extended the adopted security solution to develop a digital infrastructure to facilitate the research and innovation work in the electronic health (eHealth) section, focusing on solution validation with theoretical evaluation and experimental testing. We used a web engineering security methodology to achieve and explain the adopted security solution. As a case study, we designed and implemented electronic coaching (eCoaching) prototype system and deployed the same in the developed infrastructure to securely record and share personal health data. Furthermore, we compared the test results with related studies qualitatively for the efficient evaluation of the implemented security solution. The SFTSDH implementation and configuration in the prototype system have effectively secured the eCoach APIs from an attack in all the considered scenarios. The eCoach prototype with the SFTSDH solution effectively sustained a load of (≈) 1000 concurrent users in the developed digital health infrastructure. In addition, we performed a qualitative comparison among the following security solutions: SF security, third-party security, and SFTSDH, where SFTSDH showed a promising outcome.publishedVersio

Digital interventions on healthy lifestyle management: Systematic review

Background: Digital interventions have tremendous potential to improve well-being and health care conveyance by improving adequacy, proficiency, availability, and personalization. They have gained acknowledgment in interventions for the management of a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, we are reviewing existing conceptual frameworks, digital intervention approaches, and associated methods to identify the impact of digital intervention on adopting a healthier lifestyle. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the impact of digital interventions on weight management in maintaining a healthy lifestyle (eg, regular physical activity, healthy habits, and proper dietary patterns). Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review to search the scientific databases (Nature, SpringerLink, Elsevier, IEEE Xplore, and PubMed) that included digital interventions on healthy lifestyle, focusing on preventing obesity and being overweight as a prime objective. Peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2020 were included. We used the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines and a framework for an evidence-based systematic review. Furthermore, we improved the review process by adopting the Rayyan tool and the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles. Results: Our initial searches identified 780 potential studies through electronic and manual searches; however, 107 articles in the final stage were cited following the specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. The identified methods for a successful digital intervention to promote a healthy lifestyle are self-monitoring, self-motivation, goal setting, personalized feedback, participant engagement, psychological empowerment, persuasion, digital literacy, efficacy, and credibility. In this study, we identified existing conceptual frameworks for digital interventions, different approaches to provide digital interventions, associated methods, and execution challenges and their impact on the promotion of healthy lifestyle management. Conclusions: This systematic literature review selected intervention principles (rules), theories, design features, ways to determine efficient interventions, and weaknesses in healthy lifestyle management from established digital intervention approaches. The results help us understand how digital interventions influence lifestyle management and overcome the existing shortcomings. It serves as a basis for further research with a focus on designing, developing, testing, and evaluating the generation of personalized lifestyle recommendations as a part of digital health interventions.publishedVersio

Revealing the surface structural cause of scratch formation on soda-lime-silica glass

Scratch formation on glass surfaces is a ubiquitous phenomenon induced by plastic deformation, often accompanied by radial, lateral or median cracks with consequent chipping and brittle fracture caused during and after the event of dynamic abrasion instigated by shear stress by a harder material. This paper addresses the fundamental aspect of scratch formation on soda-lime-silica (SLS) glass surfaces. A constructive combination of surface-sensitive characterization tools, including field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), laser scanning microscopy (LSM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and instrumented indentation technique (IIT), helped to investigate the structural cause of generation of visible scratches on SLS glass surfaces. The experimental results indicate that a silicate network possessing a mechanically weakening structural characteristic in terms of network connectivity confined to the region between 5 and 100 nm below the glass surface is likely to cause a destructive surface scratch eminently visible to the naked eye