The Importance of Field Tests and Monitoring Activity for the Remedial Measurements Coresponding to Some Old Buildings in Bucharest

The present paper shows the way in which by field tests such as light and standard dynamic penetrations, the effects of a deep excavation on the nearby constructions could be quantified. The consolidation works could be design taking into account the interpretation of the test result

Propaganda and Media Manipulation in AKP’s Turkey: The Case of the “Gezi Resistance” and the Castigation of Free Speech

Ever since the beginning of its first term in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been influencing the media in order to curtail and circumvent independent journalism in Turkey. This repression on media freedom in the last fifteen years indicates democratic regression in Turkey. A free press is vital to any democracy, allowing for constructive public debate while also holding government accountable. Nonetheless, rather than establishing a secure and independent space for the press, the government has formed an environment that is contentious and even threatening for journalists to report opposing views. In addition, the unruly government proceedings toward news media have primarily been led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now the President of Turkey, establishing an intimidating, powerful media autocracy. This article explores Turkey’s current state of declining freedoms of the press as the government has employed different strategies to suppress the media’s role in Turkey, including approaches of controlling media monopolies, alongside the incarceration, intimidation and dismissing of journalists. It also provides an illustration of the government’s media surveillance through different backgrounds and occasions, confirming not only its obstinacy of government criticism, but also its apprehension of the media’s power to induce anti-AKP sentiments

Banking marketing mix trends in a digital era

We live in a dynamic world, with everything changing more rapidly than perhaps ever before. Changes are simultaneously a cause and an effect in this world, triggered and affecting both companies (inclusing banks) and consumers. Pro-activity and reactivity are key words. Adaptation of strategies, focused consumer targeting, extended usage of new technologies, rapid growth of online environment, breakthrough of social networks and smartphones, all represent factors that converge to one direction: a digital era, when companies/banks should focus on their clients' fidelity and have an in-depth understanding of their market in order to create a real competitive advantage

Consumer centric marketing communication: go beyond the actual sale

Changes and challenges are good. Crisis are challenging and changing, so crises are not that bad. In fact, communication during crisis has proven to be an opportunity, rather than a threat to weakened budgets. This paper presents the main changes that occurred in the advertising trends in Romania since the economic crisis emerged. Moreover, this paper is about how advertisers have chosen different and innovative ways of being present on the market, using low budgets.   It’s the time of direct consumer communication, 360 strategies, focus on consumer engagement and interaction, creating consumer touch points and building brand stories through emotional rollercoaster and enriching brand experiences. Integrated communication borders switched and pushed new boundaries, with a different focus, this time, consumer centric

Ground Failure and Remedial Measures at a Block of Flats

Thee ground failure presented in the paper, occurred in 1986, in the foundation ground, of a ten storyed block of flats, consisting of Bahlui structured dilatant clay, normally consolidated. The foundation ground rupture, by plastic yielding, begin shortly after an accidental drowning of the basement. Before this accident, the building had not presented any signs of evolutive settlements processes. The paper presents the consolidation measures taken to stop the progressive yielding of the ground beneath the foundations. Results of tests pointed out the dilatant behavior and the sensitivity to moistening of the Bahlui clays, during the shear process

An SQL query generator for CLIPS

As expert systems become more widely used, their access to large amounts of external information becomes increasingly important. This information exists in several forms such as statistical, tabular data, knowledge gained by experts and large databases of information maintained by companies. Because many expert systems, including CLIPS, do not provide access to this external information, much of the usefulness of expert systems is left untapped. The scope of this paper is to describe a database extension for the CLIPS expert system shell. The current industry standard database language is SQL. Due to SQL standardization, large amounts of information stored on various computers, potentially at different locations, will be more easily accessible. Expert systems should be able to directly access these existing databases rather than requiring information to be re-entered into the expert system environment. The ORACLE relational database management system (RDBMS) was used to provide a database connection within the CLIPS environment. To facilitate relational database access a query generation system was developed as a CLIPS user function. The queries are entered in a CLlPS-like syntax and are passed to the query generator, which constructs and submits for execution, an SQL query to the ORACLE RDBMS. The query results are asserted as CLIPS facts. The query generator was developed primarily for use within the ICADS project (Intelligent Computer Aided Design System) currently being developed by the CAD Research Unit in the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). In ICADS, there are several parallel or distributed expert systems accessing a common knowledge base of facts. Expert system has a narrow domain of interest and therefore needs only certain portions of the information. The query generator provides a common method of accessing this information and allows the expert system to specify what data is needed without specifying how to retrieve it

Foundations Conditions Study for Aeolian Power Units on Soft Soils under Static and Seismic Loads. Case Study

The paper presents the analysis of foundations conditions under static and seismic loads for a wind farm located in the Eastern part of Romania. From lithological point of view, the location is characterized by a soft cohesive strata alternation over 40m deep. Some design considerations for obtaining the most economical foundation options are discussed. By taking into account the static and seismic conditions, the soil – structure interaction (S.S.I.) is also revealed together with conclusions on the aeolian towers’ foundations solutions

Designing Optimization for Some Eolian Power Unit Taking into Account the Seismic Loads Influence

In the eastern part of the Romanian territory there are wind intensity conditions for some big eolian power units. From lithological point of view, the mentioned area is characterized by a loessial stratum of 3 up to over 20m deep which covers green shale rocks. The paper presents the designing consideration discussed in order to obtain the most economical foundation option. The corresponding calculus conclusions about the soil-structure interactions in seismic conditions are also revealed