University of Rijeka

About: University of Rijeka is a education organization based out in Rijeka, Croatia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Tourism. The organization has 3471 authors who have published 7993 publications receiving 110386 citations. The organization is also known as: Rijeka University & Sveučilište u Rijeci.

New Insights into the Semantics of Legal Concepts and the Legal Dictionary

Abstract: This book focuses on legal concepts from the dual perspective of law and terminology. While legal concepts frame legal knowledge and take center stage in law, the discipline of terminology has traditionally been about concept description. Exploring topics common to both disciplines such as meaning, conceptualization and specialized knowledge transfer, the book gives a state-of-the-art account of legal interpretation, legal translation and legal lexicography with special emphasis on EU law. The special give-and-take of law and terminology is illuminated by real-life legal cases which demystify the ways courts do things with concepts. This original approach to the semantics of legal concepts is then incorporated into the making of a legal dictionary, thus filling a gap in the theory and practice of legal lexicography. With its rich repertoire of examples of legal terms in different languages, the book provides a blend of theory and practice, making it a valuable resource not only for scholars of law, language and lexicography but also for legal translators and students.

Chemically functionalized water-soluble single-walled carbon nanotubes modulate morpho-functional characteristics of astrocytes

Abstract: We report the use of chemically functionalized water-soluble single-walled carbon nanotubes (ws-SWCNTs) for the modulation of morpho-functional characteristics of astrocytes. When added to the culturing medium, ws-SWCNTs were able to make astrocytes larger and stellate/mature, changes associated with the increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity. Thus, ws-SWCNTs could have more beneficial effects at the injury site than previously thought; by affecting astrocytes, they could provide for a more comprehensive re-establishment of the brain computational power.

Failure of plain concrete beam at impact load: 3D finite element analysis

Abstract: In the paper, the results of numerical failure analysis of plain concrete beams loaded by impact three-point bending load are presented and discussed. The theoretical framework for the numerical analysis is continuum mechanics and irreversible thermodynamics. The spatial discretization is performed by the finite element method using update Lagrange formulation. Green–Lagrange stain tensor is used as a strain measure. To account for cracking and damage of concrete, the beam is modeled by the rate sensitive microplane model with the use of the so-called co-rotational stress tensor. Damage and cracking phenomena are modeled within the concept of smeared cracks. To assure objectivity of the analysis with respect to the size of the finite elements, crack band method is used. The contact-impact analysis is based on the mechanical interaction between two bodies—concrete beam (master) and dropping hammer (slave) falling on the mid span of the beam. The contact constrains are satisfied by Lagrange multiplier method, which is adapted for the explicit time integration scheme. To investigate the influence of loading rate on the failure mode of the beam parametric study is carried out. The numerical results are evaluated, discussed and compared with test results known from the literature. It is shown that the beam resistance and failure mode strongly depend on loading rate. For lower loading rates beam fails in bending (mode-I fracture). However, with increasing loading rate there is a transition of the failure mechanism from bending to shear. The results are in good agreement with theoretical and experimental results known from the literature.

Ergodicity-Based Cooperative Multiagent Area Coverage via a Potential Field

Abstract: This paper considers a problem of area coverage where the objective is to achieve given coverage density by use of multiple mobile agents. We present an ergodicity-based coverage algorithm which enables a centralized feedback control for multiagent system based on radial basis function (RBF) representation of the ergodicity problem and a solution of an appropriately designed stationary heat equation for the potential field. The heat equation uses a source term that depends on the difference between the given goal density distribution and the current coverage density (time average of RBFs along trajectories). The agent movement is directed using the gradient of that potential field. The heat equation driven area coverage has a built-in cooperative behavior of agents which includes collision avoidance and coverage coordination. The algorithm is robust, scalable, and computationally inexpensive.