Infrastructure systems are critical to a country’s prosperity. It is extremely important to manage the infrastructure systems efficiently in order to avoid wastage and to maximize benefits. Deterioration of infrastructure systems is one of the primary issues in civil engineering today. This problem has been widely acknowledged by engineering community in numerous studies. We need to evolve efficient strategies to tackle the problem of infrastructure deterioration and to efficiently operate infrastructure. In this research, we propose stochastic models to predict the process of deterioration in engineering systems and to perform life-cycle analysis (LCA) of deteriorating engineering systems. LCA has been recognized, over the years, as a highly informative tool for helping the decision making process in infrastructure management. In this research, we propose a stochastic model, SSA, to accurately predict the effect of deterioration processes in engineering systems. The SSA model addresses some of the important and ignored areas in the existing models such as the effect of deterioration on both capacity and demands of systems and accounting for different types of failures in assessing the life-span of a deteriorating system. Furthermore, this research proposes RTLCA, a renewal theory based LCA model, to predict the life-cycle performance of deteriorating systems taking into account not only the life-time reliability but also the costs associated with operating a system. In addition, this research investigates the effect of seismic degradation on the reliability of reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. For this purpose, we model the seismic degradation process in the RC bridge columns which are the primary lateral load resisting system in a bridge. Thereafter, the RTLCA model along with SSA model is used to study the life-cycle of an example RC bridge located in seismic regions accounting for seismic degradation. It is expected that the models proposed in this research will be helpful in better managing our infrastructure systems.

The aim was to determine whether the dietary glycemic index (GI) related to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk and whether oxidized LDL could explain this relation. Nine prospective cohorts of GI or glycemic load (GL) associations were pooled in a meta-analysis and showed an increased risk of CHD for high GI (near significant at RR=1.13, 95%CI; 1.00-1.26) and GL diets (significant at RR=1.40, 95%CI; 1.17-1.68), both with significant evidence of heterogeneity (P<0.07). Sera from 151 type 2 diabetics who completed a 6-month trial of a low GI diet demonstrated no treatment difference in measures of oxidative damage. However, when data from both treatments were pooled, oxidized LDL as a marker of CHD risk inversely related to low GI carbohydrate intake. We conclude that GI and GL relate to CHD and oxidative damage to LDL may explain part of this association.

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The aim was to determine whether the dietary glycemic index (GI) related to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk and whether oxidized LDL could explain this relation. Nine prospective cohorts of GI or glycemic load (GL) associations were pooled in a meta-analysis and showed an increased risk of CHD for high GI (near significant at RR=1.13, 95%CI; 1.00-1.26) and GL diets (significant at RR=1.40, 95%CI; 1.17-1.68), both with significant evidence of heterogeneity (P<0.07). Sera from 151 type 2 diabetics who completed a 6-month trial of a low GI diet demonstrated no treatment difference in measures of oxidative damage. However, when data from both treatments were pooled, oxidized LDL as a marker of CHD risk inversely related to low GI carbohydrate intake. We conclude that GI and GL relate to CHD and oxidative damage to LDL may explain part of this association.

Šiame darbe nagrinėsime teorines ir praktines problemas, kurios atsiranda, kai neturtinė žala padaroma draudiminio įvykio metu ir turėtų būti pilnai ar iš dalies atlyginama draudimo įmonės. Ši tema aktuali tuo, kad plečiantis draudimo įmonių veiklai, atsirandant vis daugiau privalomojo draudimo rūšių, dėl to, iš kitos pusės visuomenei intensyviai vykdant ekonominę veiklą, atsitinka vis daugiau draudiminių įvykių, kuriuose nuostuolius padengti turi draudimo įmonės, savaime suprantama, kad tai kelia nemažai problemų, nes visos draudimo sritys yra pakankamai naujos ir yra nedaug praktikos susijusios su tokių išmokų priteisimu, be to, pats neturtinės žalos įvertinimas ir jos priteisimas Lietuvos teismų sistemoje nėra nusistovėjęs ir sistemiškai aiškiai suformuluotas. Atsiranda daug neturtinės žalos įvertinimo sunkumų, nes tokia žala sunkiai pamatuojama, nes neturtinė žala, tai tokie praradimai, kurie negali būti įvertinti pinigais, galime kalbėti tik apie galimą kompensaciją. Be to, dauguma draudimo įmonių linkę vertinti savo draudimo paslaugas kaip turto draudimą ir neturtinę žalą atlygina labai nenoriai, neatlygina visai arba atlygina nepakankamai, skiriasi civilinio draudimo sąlygos įvairiose veiklos srityse. Taigi, iš vienos pusės plečiant Lietuvoje neturtinės žalos atlyginimo atvejų sąrašą ir didinant priteistinos neturtinės žalos dydžius, savaime suprantama, kad visuomenėje iškyla poreikis apsidrausti nuo galimų nuostuolių, taip pat ir nuo nuostolių atlyginimo padarius žalą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Long ago people recognized non-pecuniary damage, as wel as pecuniary losses, which are stemming from physical injuries, death or emotional trauma. All these kinds of damages are hard to estimate and determine though. Despite the fact that some lawyers argue for abolition of compansation for non-pecuniary damage, this sort of damage still seem to be significant dealing with defence of a plaintiff under this rubric in defferent European countries. By the means of legal practice of non-pecuniary nature the person could claim damages for physical and emotional suffering, nervousness, grief, anxiety and ambarrasment. However, non-pecuniary damage should not be identified with pecuniary losses. At this point, the apprehension of non-pecuniary damage is supposed to be linked to the compensation instead of fine. In order to clarify this statement, the most important is that the compensation of non-pecuniary damage, first of all, serves as damage rewarding or as a kind of civil remedy and protection. Although, some voises said that pain and suffering awardas are hard to estimate due to the fact that the damage valuation of these kinds of losses sometimes we just can not figure out properly. Nowadays, under legal regulation, courts determine and estimate the value on non-pecuniary damage bearing in mind all significant circumstanses. Consequently, courts could change the value on non-pecuniary damage in two ways: lower or higher the compensation for these losses. Moreover, courts... [to full text]

Disertacijoje nagrinėjama atsakomybė už viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytą žalą, t. y. teisės požiūriu analizuojama, kam ir kaip taikoma tokia atsakomybė, kur turėtų būti brėžiamos jos ribos, kokios yra ir kaip taikomos šios atsakomybės sąlygos. Pirmojoje disertacijos dalyje pateikiama atsakomybės už viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytą žalą samprata, nustatoma šio instituto vieta Lietuvos teisės sistemoje, ji atribojama nuo kitų civilinės atsakomybės rūšių: nustatoma, kokiais atvejais už viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytą žalą yra ir turėtų būti taikomos specialios tokios atsakomybės nuostatos. Antrojoje dalyje analizuojamos atsakomybės sąlygos – neteisėti veiksmai, žala ir priežastinis ryšys. Išsamiai nagrinėjama teismų praktika sprendžiant dėl viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytos žalos atlyginimo, specialus dėmesys skirtas „pilkosioms zonoms“, t. y. tokioms, kuriose Lietuvos teismai nėra suformulavę vieningų ir aiškių kriterijų, kaip reikėtų taikyti viešąją atsakomybę. Šiuo aspektu tiriamas administracinio akto neteisėtumo ir neteisėtumo kaip civilinės atsakomybės sąlygos santykis, analizuojamos norminių aktų neteisėtumo pasekmės, diskrecinės ir priežiūros veiklos vertinimas, tiriama priežastinio ryšio įtaka tinkamam atsakomybės taikymui, nagrinėjama žalos, asmenų patiriamos dėl neteisėtų viešojo administravimo subjektų veiksmų, įvairovė, išryškinant problemas, kliudančias teisingai atlyginti tokią žalą. / This dissertation analyses liability for damage done to individuals by the public administration. This research in the light of legal approach analyses to whom and how such liability is applied, where the margins of this liability should be drawn, what are the conditions of such liability and how they should be applied. In the first part the conception of liability for damage done to individuals by the public administration is presented, the position of this institute in the Lithuanian legal system is determined and the boundaries between such liability and the other types of liability are drawn. In the second part the conditions of liability that is unlawful actions, damage and causality are analyzed. Comprehensive analysis of the case law is presented and special attention is paid to the “grey areas” where the national courts have not formed the clear and unanimous criteria of public liability. In this approach the relation between illegality of administrative acts and unlawfulness as a condition of civil liability, the results of unlawful regulatory act, the assessment of discretionary and supervisory activities are analyzed, the impact of causal link to the proper application of liability is examined, the variety of damage caused by unlawful acts of the public administration is explored indicating problems that prevent proper awarding of damages.

Disertacijoje nagrinėjama atsakomybė už viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytą žalą, t. y. teisės požiūriu analizuojama, kam ir kaip taikoma tokia atsakomybė, kur turėtų būti brėžiamos jos ribos, kokios yra ir kaip taikomos šios atsakomybės sąlygos. Pirmojoje disertacijos dalyje pateikiama atsakomybės už viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytą žalą samprata, nustatoma šio instituto vieta Lietuvos teisės sistemoje, ji atribojama nuo kitų civilinės atsakomybės rūšių: nustatoma, kokiais atvejais už viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytą žalą yra ir turėtų būti taikomos specialios tokios atsakomybės nuostatos. Antrojoje dalyje analizuojamos atsakomybės sąlygos – neteisėti veiksmai, žala ir priežastinis ryšys. Išsamiai nagrinėjama teismų praktika sprendžiant dėl viešojo administravimo subjektų asmenims padarytos žalos atlyginimo, specialus dėmesys skirtas „pilkosioms zonoms“, t. y. tokioms, kuriose Lietuvos teismai nėra suformulavę vieningų ir aiškių kriterijų, kaip reikėtų taikyti viešąją atsakomybę. Šiuo aspektu tiriamas administracinio akto neteisėtumo ir neteisėtumo kaip civilinės atsakomybės sąlygos santykis, analizuojamos norminių aktų neteisėtumo pasekmės, diskrecinės ir priežiūros veiklos vertinimas, tiriama priežastinio ryšio įtaka tinkamam atsakomybės taikymui, nagrinėjama žalos, asmenų patiriamos dėl neteisėtų viešojo administravimo subjektų veiksmų, įvairovė, išryškinant problemas, kliudančias teisingai atlyginti tokią žalą. / This dissertation analyses liability for damage done to individuals by the public administration. This research in the light of legal approach analyses to whom and how such liability is applied, where the margins of this liability should be drawn, what are the conditions of such liability and how they should be applied. In the first part the conception of liability for damage done to individuals by the public administration is presented, the position of this institute in the Lithuanian legal system is determined and the boundaries between such liability and the other types of liability are drawn. In the second part the conditions of liability that is unlawful actions, damage and causality are analyzed. Comprehensive analysis of the case law is presented and special attention is paid to the “grey areas” where the national courts have not formed the clear and unanimous criteria of public liability. In this approach the relation between illegality of administrative acts and unlawfulness as a condition of civil liability, the results of unlawful regulatory act, the assessment of discretionary and supervisory activities are analyzed, the impact of causal link to the proper application of liability is examined, the variety of damage caused by unlawful acts of the public administration is explored indicating problems that prevent proper awarding of damages.

DNA damage tolerance (DDT) is a process utilized by cells to bypass replication blocking lesions in the DNA, preventing replication fork collapse and maintaining genomic stability and cell viability. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae DDT consists of two branched pathways. One branch allows direct replication past lesions in the DNA utilizing specific error-prone polymerases, a process known as translesion DNA synthesis (TLS). The other branch utilizes homologous recombination and template switch to replicate past damaged DNA in an error-free manner. RAD5 has traditionally been characterized as belonging to the error-free pathway of DNA damage tolerance. The protein is multi-functional, with several specific activities identified and classified to the error-free branch of DDT. However, there is also evidence for additional uncharacterized activities of the protein. The goal of this research was to determine which branches of DNA damage tolerance the uncharacterized activities of Rad5 are involved in. A two-pronged approach was utilized, elucidation of the physical interactions of the protein, and examination of the genetic interactions between RAD5 and other DDT genes. The evidence indicates that Rad5 plays a partial role in TLS and the protein is known to physically interact with Rev1, a member of the TLS pathway. We assumed this physical interaction mediates the TLS activity of Rad5. The yeast two-hybrid assay was utilized to examine the interaction between Rev1 and truncated Rad5 fragments, and the N-terminal 30 amino acids of Rad5 proved sufficient to maintain the interaction. This research sets the stage to identify key residues in Rad5 for the interaction with Rev1, and the creation of a TLS deficient rad5 mutant by targeting those key residues. Genetic interactions between RAD5 and genes required for the initiation of DDT in the cell were examined based on sensitivity to killing by various DNA damaging agents. We determined that the functions of Rad5 rely on PCNA modification, and thus do not function in a cellular process unrelated to Rad5. Potential uncharacterized functions are discussed on the basis of these results and the results of the interaction studies. Future structural and functional studies are proposed to better understand the role of Rad5 in the cell.

Ageing mechanical, civil, aerospace, marine and offshore structures require continuous and accurate assessment on their integrity to avoid potentially hazardous failures. To further facilitate this crucial demand, a new technical terminology, generally referred to as structural health monitoring (SHM) has been coined in three past decades. SHM involves deployment of a sensory network on such structures in order to gather useful data, such that processing and interpreting the data through specific algorithms would enable one to detect defects and anomalies within the structures. This dissertation presents the results of a series of efforts expended towards the refinement and enhancement of a vibration-based SHM technique, which was originated within our research group. In the adopted damage detection scheme, vibration data are gathered from structures via piezoelectric sensors. Data are processed by a robust signal processing approach, known as the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) in order to establish energy-based damage indices (EMD_EDIs). Interpretation of the damage indices enables detection of onset, location and advancement of defects within structures. A series of adjustments and modifications were devised and implemented to the application of the originally developed methodology, such that, besides increasing the methodology’s robustness and accuracy, they also facilitate a remote vibration-based SHM targeting onshore and offshore pipelines. The integrity of the method in detection of bolt-loosening in a bolted flange joint of a full-scale pipeline was verified through numerical simulations and experimental investigations. The source of a significant inconsistency reported in the previous trials was identified and resolved. Also, for the first time, the remote application of the technique was facilitated by incorporating an advanced wireless data acquisition system. Moreover, the application of the methodology was extended to detection of cracks in girth-welds of offshore pipelines. In this regard, a comprehensive discussion is first provided, which identifies the role of parameters that influence the accuracy of numerical modeling of the dynamic response of submerged structures. The experimental and numerical investigation following the aforementioned modeling efforts presents encouraging results in detection of an advancing notch in the girth-weld of a submerged pipe. The use of a piezoelectric-based excitation technique, incorporated for the first time in the application of the methodology would evidence the enhanced practicality and robustness of the approach. The study concludes with a successful detection of a real-life sharp propagating crack in a beam due to cyclic loadings.

Impact induced dynamic cracks are produced with a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus in two rocks (Kuru granite and Flamboro limestone) with impact velocities ranging from 8 to 12 m/s. Impact bit (tungsten carbide) diameters range from 8mm to 15mm. Dye impregnation combined with UV imaging, CAT scans and Optical scans were employed to study the resulting crack patterns. The resulting damage is quantified in terms of radial crack density on impact surface, crater, crushed zone and crack density with depth. In both rocks &lsquo;total&rsquo; damage obtained is directly proportional (exponential) with bit diameter and impact velocity. The &lsquo;total&rsquo; damage in Kuru granite is found to be greater than Flamboro limestone at all impact velocities; however, the crushed zone in the latter is found to consistently greater than the former. 2D simulations of dynamic fractures with AUTODYN have also been carried out showing good qualitative agreement with experimental results.