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Abstract: The behaviour of horizontal floor diaphragms plays a crucial role in ensuring the overall response of a building during earthquakes, as the stiffness of these diaphragms determines whether the structure will act as an integrated system. If the diaphragms do not exhibit sufficient stiffness, differences in the redistribution of forces on wall elements arise, increasing the risk of significant deformations and even local damage, which is commonly observed in earthquake-affected areas. Additionally, flexible diaphragms heighten the risk of torsional effects. Due to these factors, more attention should be given to the response of buildings with flexible diaphragms. Eurocode standard specifies general requirements under which diaphragms should be considered rigid within their plane, depending on the maximum diaphragm moment. However, specific guidelines regarding the geometric and material properties of elements that significantly impact seismic behaviour are not included in the existing European standards. This served as a basis for conducting a numerical study analysing the in-plane behaviour of floor elements made from different materials. This study, limited to a simple box-shaped structure with masonry walls, symmetrical in both orthogonal directions, evaluated and thoroughly analysed the deformations for different types of diaphragms, including prefabricated wooden frame-panel floors, CLT panels, and reinforced concrete slabs. Special emphasis was placed on wooden structural elements due to the increased demand for timber construction, as the behaviour of these elements needs to be properly studied, especially in seismic regions. The study results were obtained through FEM analysis using the SCIA Engineer software, version 22. The modelling of elements was carried out considering the orthotropy of brick wall and wooden ceiling elements, as well as simulating the appropriate shear stiffness of the connecting means.
Keywords: horizontal diaphragms, floor flexibility, lateral load resisting system, timber frame-panel floor, cross-laminated timber, concrete slab, seismic design
Published in DKUM: 10.01.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 6
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Abstract: Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the main variables and causal relationships in the system structure of the diversification of non-agricultural activities on agricultural holdings using system dynamics (SD) modelling. The SD model aims to simulate depictions of the behaviour of the real system while testing the effects of alternative decisions over time. Design/methodology/approach: An SD methodology was chosen to model diversification in farm tourism. Findings: A system approach increases the authors’ understanding of the transition of agricultural holdings to farm tourism. The results indicate that the transition to farm tourism depends on the level of tourism development in a certain area. The system is influenced by subsidies allocated by authorities to expand primary agricultural activities. The model describes a situation in which the tourism and agricultural industries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited by the small set of available data due to the limited number of farms in Slovenia. One major problem is the difference in statistical data on the same activity collected from different institutions in Slovenia. Practical implications: The paper includes implications for understanding the transition process to farm tourism, allowing policymakers to experiment with subsidies and promotion to explore the efficacy and efficiency of proposed policies. Originality/value: This study provides a structured, systemic view of the diversification of non-agricultural activities on agricultural holdings, where the simulation results are a reliable reflection of the behaviour of the actual system being modelled.
Keywords: system dynamics, modelling, simulation, diversification, farm tourism, farm policy, Slovenia, simulation scenarious
Published in DKUM: 11.12.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 2
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Abstract: Evolutionary games provide the theoretical backbone for many aspects of our social life: from cooperation to crime, from climate inaction to imperfect vaccination and epidemic spreading, from antibiotics overuse to biodiversity preservation. An important, and so far overlooked, aspect of reality is the diverse strategic identities of individuals. While applying the same strategy to all interaction partners may be an acceptable assumption for simpler forms of life, this fails to account for the behavior of more complex living beings. For instance, we humans act differently around different people. Here we show that allowing individuals to adopt different strategies with different partners yields a very rich evolutionary dynamics, including time-dependent coexistence of cooperation and defection, systemwide shifts in the dominant strategy, and maturation in individual choices. Our results are robust to variations in network type and size, and strategy updating rules. Accounting for diverse strategic identities thus has far-reaching implications in the mathematical modeling of social games.
Keywords: cooperation, evolutionary game theory, social physics, collective dynamics, complex system
Published in DKUM: 20.11.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 3
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Abstract: The spreading of cooperation in structured population is a challenging problem which can be observed at diferent scales of social and biological organization. Generally, the problem is studied by evaluating the chances that few initial invading cooperators, randomly appearing in a network, can lead to the spreading of cooperation. In this paper we demonstrate that in many scenarios some cooperators are more infuential than others and their initial positions can facilitate the spreading of cooperation. We investigate six diferent ways to add initial cooperators in a network of cheaters, based on diferent network-based measurements. Our research reveals that strategically positioning the initial cooperators in a population of cheaters allows to decrease the number of initial cooperators necessary to successfully seed cooperation. The strategic positioning of initial cooperators can also help to shorten the time necessary for the restoration of cooperation. The optimal ways in which the initial cooperators should be placed is, however, non-trivial in that it depends on the degree of competition, the underlying game, and the network structure. Overall, our results show that, in structured populations, few cooperators, well positioned in strategically chosen places, can spread cooperation faster and easier than a large number of cooperators that are placed badly.
Keywords: cooperation, evolutionary game theory, social physics, collective dynamics, complex system
Published in DKUM: 22.10.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 1
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Abstract: While the problem of vaccine hesitancy is not new, it has become more pronounced with the new COVID-19 vaccines and represents an obstacle to resolving the crisis. Even people who would usually trust vaccines and experts now prefer to wait for more information. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Slovenia in December 2020 to find out the attitudes of the population regarding COVID-19 vaccination and the factors that affect these attitudes. Based on 12,042 fully completed questionnaires, we find that higher intention to get vaccinated is associated with men, older respondents, physicians and medical students, respondents who got the influenza vaccination, those who knew someone who had gotten hospitalised or died from COVID-19 and those who have more trust in experts, institutions and vaccines. Nurses and technicians were less likely to get vaccinated. In answers to an open question, sceptics were split into those doubting the quality due to the rapid development of the vaccine and those that reported personal experiences with side effects of prior vaccinations. Although the Slovenian population is diverse in its attitudes towards vaccination, the results are comparable to those found in other countries. However, there are potential limitations to the generalizability of the findings that should be addressed in future studies.
Keywords: cross-sectional studies, intention, public opinion, trust, ordinal regression, COVID-19, vaccination, surveys and questionnaires, Europe, immune system, SARS-CoV-2
Published in DKUM: 10.10.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 7
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