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The assessment of a deteriorating masonry structure should lead to an objective evaluation of condition. This process is, however, inevitably subjective owing to human interpretation. The condition of the substrate and the required repairs cannot be guaranteed and may vary from building inspector to inspector. For conservation works the determination of repairs is a function of condition but also directly relates to the underpinning framework of building conservation philosophy. These are also fundamentally subjective. The combination of both condition survey subjectivity and building conservation philosophy's nebulous nature creates the potential for project aesthetic and technical divergence. This paper aims to examine this issue.

The paper presents a literature review and hypothetical case studies.

It has been shown by various researchers that a visual survey is subjective and is therefore prone to differences in reporting. In addition, the application of building conservation philosophy is seen through the perspective of the professional specifying the repairs. The combination of these two factors leads to the potential for significant project outcomes.

Subjectivity of evaluation of condition for traditional masonry structures has been little studied by academics and practitioners alike, and it is generally assumed that these yield objective, rational data. This is not necessarily the case. The application of building conservation philosophy to determine repair strategies is also a subjective process. The combination of both may lead to significant project divergence. These combined factors have never previously been discussed.

The combined effects of several complex phenomena cause the deterioration of elements in steel hydraulic structures (SHSs) within the US lock system: corrosion, cracking and fatigue, impact and overloads. Predicting the future condition state of these structures by the use of current condition state inspection data can be achieved through the probabilistic chain deterioration model. The purpose of this study is to derive the transition probability matrix using final elements modeling of a miter gate.

If predicted accurately, this information would yield benefits in determining the need for rehabilitation or replacement of SHS. However, because of the complexity and difficulties on obtaining sufficient inspection data, there is a lack of available condition states needed to formulate proper transition probability matrices for each deterioration case.

This study focuses on using a three-dimensional explicit finite element analysis (FEM) of a miter gate that has been fully validated with experimental data to derive the transition probability matrix when the loss of flexural capacity in a corroded member is simulated.

New methodology using computational mechanics to derive the transition probability matrices of navigation steel structures has been presented.

The difficulty of deriving the transition probability matrix to perform a Markovian analysis increases when limited amount of inspection data is available. The used state of practice FEM to derive the transition probability matrix is not just necessary but also essential when the need for proper maintenance is required but limited amount of the condition of the structural system is unknown.

The purpose of the paper is to study the effect of elevated temperature on load carrying capacity of reinforced self compacting concrete beams and the performance of deteriorated beams after retrofitting by GFRP sheets. The reinforced beams which were exposed to sustained elevated temperature and tested for flexural load-carrying capacity. Further deteriorated beams (exposed from 500°C to 800°C) were re-strengthened by adopting retrofitting with GFRP sheets.

The investigation includes the concrete specimens, i.e. cubes of 150 mm, cylinders of size 150 mm dia with 300 mm height and beams of 150 × 150 × 1,100 mm, reinforced with minimum tension reinforcement according to IS 456–2000. The specimens were subjected to elevated temperature from 300°C to 800°C with an interval of 100°C for 2 h. The residual compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, load at first crack of beams and load-carrying capacity of beams for 5-mm deflection were measured before and after retrofitting.

The result shows that there is a gain in residual compressive strength at 300°C and beyond which it decreases. The modulus of elasticity, load at first crack and load-carrying capacity of beams reduces continuously with an increase in temperature. The decrease in load-carrying capacity of beams is observed from 27.55% and up to 38.77% between the temperature range of 500°C–800°C and after the retrofitting of distressed beams, the load carrying capacity increases up to 24.48%.

Better performance was observed with retrofitting by GFRP sheets when the specimens were distressed due to elevated temperatures.

Describes the structure and rheological characteristics of soap based greases and how the thickener retains the oil phase. Illustrates the thixotropic behaviour and effect of time of shearing on friction, film thickness, noise energy loss in grease lubricated contacts. Shows how friction can be less with grease than with oil.

The paper aims to review recent developments for analysis of deteriorating stiffened panels subjected to static and explosive forces.

The first part reviews numerical procedures developed for stiffened panels subjected to explosive forces. The structural idealization, the theoretical basis, and the merits of these methods are discussed. The second part reviews the probabilistic procedures developed for analysis of deteriorating stiffened panels. The third part reviews recent work developed in several finite element modelling philosophies for analysis of stiffened panels. The influence of various parameters affecting the structural performance, such as geometric and material imperfections, corrosion, residual stresses, etc. is discussed. The fourth part reviews hybrid procedures developed to provide approximate solutions for the designers. Numerical procedure is presented using combination of energy formulations and mathematical programming techniques to model the interaction between the box girder components.

Localized damage largely affects the performance of stiffened panels and must be accounted for in the design phase. Little emphasis was given in the published literature to developing simplified analytical models that can be used in practice to compute the residual strength of the stiffened panels under these types of loadings. Furthermore, analytical expressions are required to compute the reduction in the stiffness induced due to the structural or material defects. These expressions must be dependent on the type of damage. It must be noted that some of this damages is localized in nature and must be accounted for by using specialized functions to assess the structural defect accurately. Research work is required in this direction.

The paper provides useful resource material for the engineers in practice regarding recent techniques developed to assess damaged stiffened panels subject to static and explosive loadings. The paper reviews work developed over the past 20 years that can be used as a baseline for future developments.

Very limited literature dealt with the ultimate strength of damaged stiffened structure under static and explosive forces. No guidelines are available in current design codes to assess the damage in predicting the strength of deteriorating stiffened panels.

Heritage is the latent part of a sustainable built environment. Conservation and preservation of heritage is one of the United Nations' (UN) sustainable development goals. Many social and natural factors seriously threaten heritage structures by deteriorating and damaging the original. Therefore, regular visual inspection of heritage structures is necessary for their conservation and preservation. Conventional inspection practice relies on manual inspection, which takes more time and human resources. The inspection system seeks an innovative approach that should be cheaper, faster, safer and less prone to human error than manual inspection. Therefore, this study aims to develop an automatic system of visual inspection for the built heritage.

The artificial intelligence-based automatic defect detection system is developed using the faster R-CNN (faster region-based convolutional neural network) model of object detection to build an automatic visual inspection system. From the English and Dutch cemeteries of Surat (India), images of heritage structures were captured by digital camera to prepare the image data set. This image data set was used for training, validation and testing to develop the automatic defect detection model. While validating this model, its optimum detection accuracy is recorded as 91.58% to detect three types of defects: “spalling,” “exposed bricks” and “cracks.”

This study develops the model of automatic web-based visual inspection systems for the heritage structures using the faster R-CNN. Then it demonstrates detection of defects of spalling, exposed bricks and cracks existing in the heritage structures. Comparison of conventional (manual) and developed automatic inspection systems reveals that the developed automatic system requires less time and staff. Therefore, the routine inspection can be faster, cheaper, safer and more accurate than the conventional inspection method.

The study presented here can improve inspecting the built heritages by reducing inspection time and cost, eliminating chances of human errors and accidents and having accurate and consistent information. This study attempts to ensure the sustainability of the built heritage.

For ensuring the sustainability of built heritage, this study presents the artificial intelligence-based methodology for the development of an automatic visual inspection system. The automatic web-based visual inspection system for the built heritage has not been reported in previous studies so far.

Retrofitting and rehabilitation are part of the conservation approach in Heritage Building Conservation Guideline 2016 in Malaysia. Heritage buildings can be retrofitted to preserve their culture and history while being given a new lease. Rehabilitation is a preservation requirement that is more flexible since it assumes that the structure has already deteriorated to the point where repairs are required to prevent further deterioration. Although the strategies of these two approaches are different, their combination resulted in sustainable heritage building maintenance. This long-term maintenance strategy is necessary, especially for Malaysia's numerous heritage schools, which have serious maintenance problems as a result of infrequent maintenance, repairs, and funding shortages.

This study involved secondary data from an intensive literature review along with a comparative study from articles review and context analysis. A comparative study was conducted to determine the typical issue with heritage school buildings and the best maintenance practice for these structures. Finally, it involved a SWOT analysis study of retrofitting and rehabilitating heritage school buildings will be discussed in this study as well.

The findings of this study will focus on developing a strategic planning framework and maintenance for heritage school buildings in Malaysia to achieve sustainable maintenance. It will also highlight sustainable maintenance best practices for heritage school buildings in Malaysia. Finally, SWOT analysis will go over the pros and cons of retrofitting and rehabilitation for these buildings.

This paper put forward the requirements of strategic planning in heritage school buildings and outlines the significance of sustainable maintenance for educational buildings. It is an alternative for cost savings that has not been extensively investigated in previous studies.

This paper presents a model for predicting crises in small businesses using early‐warning signals. It summarises the results of two separate studies carried out in Finland (with 72 per cent response) and the UK (26 per cent) on the decision process of corporate analysts (Finland) and bank managers (UK) in predicting the failure of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Both studies consist of seven main headings and over 40 sub‐headings of possible factors leading to failure. Weighted averages were used for both studies to show the importance of these factors. There are significant similarities in the results of the two studies. Management incompetence was regarded as the most important factor, followed by deficiencies in the accounting system and attitude towards customers. However, low accounting staff morale was considered a very important factor in Finland but not in the UK. Unlike Finland, the UK results emphasised the importance of accounting systems and internal control. These two studies differ from previous studies as managerial auditing elements like the importance of internal control departments (UK evidence) and budgetary control systems were included. Similarities in the results of these surveys conducted under two separate EU environments imply that it would be interesting and beneficial to extend these studies to other member states.

The purpose of this paper is to test the role of corporate governance instruments in affecting the value of a firm (CGVF) in isolation and in combination of each other in a developing financial market characterized by the existence of additional imperfections in this market.

Multiple regression analysis is performed on the data which are collected by using stratified random sampling technique for the companies listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange for the years 2000‐2003.

The results for the study suggest that majority shareholders expropriate minority shareholders in this market. On the contrary, a bigger board, market liquidity, efficient utilization of assets and informational efficiency in the financial system have a value adding impact on the firms' performance. The results on the role of corporate governance instruments (board size and CEO duality) in affecting the value of a firm in combination with each other suggest that the additional imperfections prevalent in the selected market limit the strength of individual instruments in improving the marginal benefits of each other, explaining the nature of business operations in this market.

The results provide new insights into the CGVF relationship and highlight the importance of corporate governance provisions relevant to the firms of the developing market. These results can be used by the regulatory authorities to make effective corporate governance policies.

This paper contributes to the literature by performing a comprehensive study by using a correct proxy to value a firm and by performing additional tests for robustness to provide valid results on the CGVF relationship. Furthermore, the role of additional imperfections and implications of various business theories in explaining the relationship between corporate governance instruments (in isolation and in combination) and the value of a firm is also analysed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the joint influence of two factors (companies’ performance and growth) on the company’s capital structure and to determine the conditions for financially sustainable competitive strategies in the coordinates profitability and growth.

The study sample includes 1,996 companies from 6 high-tech industries in Russia (panel data: 7,984 observations). The authors use regression models with random effects and carry out a three-dimensional visualization of the resulting dependencies.

The study found that profitability improves the capital structure (reduces the share of borrowed capital) and, on the contrary, the growth of companies (assets growth or sales growth) increases the leverage ratio. In the case of assets growth, the combined influence of two factors reduces the negative effect of assets growth. The results have shown that the outstripping growth of most high-tech companies requires an increase in debt capital and deterioration in the capital structure and financial stability.

In general, based on the results of this study, the authors have identified groups of fast-growing companies that need financial support, and have defined the main areas of impact (reducing the loan burden and increasing profitability) that will allow these companies to maintain high growth rates and demonstrate advanced development.

The relationships (which the authors identified between the control variables, the studied variables and leverage) were obtained for the first time for a sample of companies in high-tech industries and services in bigger transition country (Russia).