HUNGARIAN EXPERIENCE IN STRUCTURAL DESIGN CODING (HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF EUROCODE-2)

This paper gives review of the historical antecedents of Eurocode-2 in Hungary and East Europe. The method of permissible stresses, using uniform safety factor was first changed in 1950 in Hungary by the semi-probabilistic method using partial safety factors. This new method was accepted with some resistance on the part of the leading structural engineers. Nevertheless most of the East-European countries accepted the new method with some political overtones', to be follow the Soviet example. The authors assert in the papaer that due to the economic necessities. Hungary and the other East European countries gained experience with the regulations affording less safety than the EC2, and this offers an interesting set of experience to the West European countries which have intoduced or are introducing the semi-probabilistic procedure. The most significant point all the experience is the recognition that only one part of the parameters in the structural analysis determining safety can be handled statistically. During design the statistically not significant data such as the error of the structural model must also be taken into consideration. Based on the experience, the authors propose an alternative design method

Climate change and structural engineering

Based on last years experiences it is obvious for the majority of professionals and for the general public too, that climate change is a realistic present and future. In the beginning this paper deals with the signs and perspectives of climate change. In the second part the consequences of climate change on building and civil engineering structures are treated. The emphasis is laid on the effect of temperature, wind end water circulation of the globe. The research is directed mainly towards getting reliable future data and its evaluation for practical use. Finally some aspects of standardization procedure and the problem of old/existing and new structures are treated

The relationship between functional breed selection and attachment pattern in family dogs (canis familiaris)

Adult dogs show similar behaviour pattern towards their owners as human infants towards their caregivers among experimental conditions, where the attachment behaviour is activated because of the moderately stressful situation. Meanwhile the capacity to form attachment towards the owner is considered as part of the domestication history of dogs, in more recent times dogs were selected for often very different work-related behavioural phenotypes. For instance, ‘cooperative’ dog breeds, like shepherd dogs, typically work in visual contact with the handler, while the ‘independent’ breeds, such as the hounds or sled dogs, work independently. We investigated whether cooperative and non-cooperative working dogs would also show different patterns in their attachment behaviour. We tested independent (N = 29) and cooperative (N = 28) dogs from various working breeds in the Strange Situation Test. To describe the subjects’ behaviour, we used a scoring system with three main factors (Attachment, Acceptance, Anxiety). We did not find any significant between-group difference in the attachment pattern of the two main working dog types (Attachment: P = 0.499; Anxiety P = 0.200; Acceptance P = 0.339). Within-breed differences may be stronger than between-breed differences in this situation, while it is also possible that owners of different breeds handle their dogs differently. Our results support the theory that attachment to the owner is a fundamentally similar feature in socialized dogs, and subsequent functional breed selection may rather influence the more specific behavioural phenotypes of dogs

Számítási modellek és diagnosztikai eljárások fejlesztése műemlék jellegű, falazott hídszerkezetek teherbírásának megállapítására és használhatósági követelményeinek ellenőrzésére. = Development of mechanical models and diagnosis procedures for the assessment of the load carrying capacity and serviceability of historical masonry bridges.

A tégla és kőanyagú boltozott hidak igen jelentős részét képezik a hídállománynak hazánkban és világszerte. A boltozatos hidak a hídállomány legrégebbi szerkezetei, terhelési körülményeik az építésük óta eltelt időszakban drasztikus változásokon mentek keresztül. A megnövekedett igénybevételek és azok várható további növekedése számos aggályt vet fel a boltozatos hidak jövőjével kapcsolatban: Mekkora a boltozott hidak biztonsága a mostani igénybevételekkel szemben? Ellenállnak-e majd a jövőbeni igénybevételeknek? Mekkora a várható élettartamuk? Az előbbi kérdések megválaszolása és a problémakör megoldása a hídgazdálkodás egyik legnagyobb gazdasági jelentőséggel bíró feladata. Reményeink szerint kutatásunk eredményei ehhez hasznos és a gyakorlatban alkalmazható segítséget nyújt majd. A kutatás keretében egy olyan eljárás került kifejlesztésre tipikus kialakítású boltozott hidak megbízhatóságának megállapítására, amely magában foglalja a teherbírás és a használhatóság értékelését, valamint segítséget nyújt a várható élettartam meghatározására. Az eljárás elemeinek kidolgozásához statisztikai elemzést hajtottunk végre a hazai és az európai boltozott vasúti hídállományon, numerikus vizsgálatokat hajtottunk végre a hidak szerkezeti viselkedésének elemzésére, új eljárásokat vezettünk le a hidak megbízhatóságának és használhatóságának értékelésére, valamint diagnosztikai eljárásokat fejlesztettünk ki a számításokhoz szükséges bemenő paraméterek meghatározására. | Masonry arch bridges form an integral part of the railway infrastructure in Europe and throughout the world. They are the oldest structure type in the bridge population. Accordingly there is a potential doubt as to the adequacy of masonry bridges to withstand increased axle loads, train speeds and a greater volume of traffic in the future. What are their reliability against current loading effects? Can they resist foreseeable future loads? What are their remaining service life? Answering the above questions and solving the whole range of the problem is considered one of the most important tasks of bridge management. It is hoped that the results of our research will help solving this problem by providing effective practical tools. In the frame of the research a multi-level assessment procedure has been developed for typical masonry arch bridges. The procedure consists the assessment of load carrying capacity and serviceability and helps determine the expected service life. The elements of the procedure are based on the results obtained by the completion of the following tasks: - Statistical analysis on the Hungarian and European masonry arch bridge stock. - Numerical analyses on the structural behaviour. - Development of new approximation methods for the assessment of reliability and serviceability. - Development of non-destrcutive testing procedures for the determination of input parameters for the calculations

Separation-related behavior of dogs shows association with their reactions to everyday situations that may elicit frustration or fear

Separation related disorder in dogs is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Dogs can react to the absence of their owner due to different inner states such as fear, panic or frustration. We hypothesized that dogs that are prone to frustration or fearfulness in other contexts would show a different behavioral response to separation from the owner. We investigated the association between inner states in different contexts and separation behaviors by combining a questionnaire with a separation test. Fear-related questionnaire components were rather associated with whining and the absence of barking. Dogs that received higher scores in the demanding component of the questionnaire, which might be in association of the frustration threshold of the dog, barked more and were more likely to scratch the door. Finally, dogs that were more prone to phobic reactions whined somewhat more and tried to escape. We provide empirical support for the assumption that separation-related behavioral responses of dogs might be triggered by different emotions

That dog won’t fit: body size awareness in dogs

With very few exceptions, no coherent model of representing the self exists for nonhuman species. According to our hypothesis, understanding of the Self as an object’ can also be found in a wide range of animals including the dog, a fast-moving terrestrial predator/scavenger, with highly developed senses and complex cognitive capacity. We tested companion dogs in three experiments in which they faced three different variations of the same physical challenge: passing through an opening in a wall. We predicted that if dogs are capable of representing their own body size, they will react differently when faced with adequate or too small openings. We found that dogs started to move towards and approached the too small openings with significantly longer latencies than the suitable ones; and upon reaching it, they did not try to get through the too small openings. In another experiment, the medium-size (still large enough) opening was approached with latencies that fell between the latencies measured in the cases of the very large or the too small openings. Having discussed the potential underlying mechanisms, we concluded that our results convincingly assume that dogs can represent their own body size in novel contexts