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Two theoretical models very simple in calculation of active earth pressure of prism of three-dimensional rupture mobilised behind pile or screen in translation, were proposed. Improvements were done in order to pass from one to another, by the introduction of frustum of cone, which permits to obtain forms of prism of rupture more near to the reality. Basing on Kinematics Theorem of Drucker and Prager of limit analysis theory, there models give, in this way, two boundary-stones or superiors limits of this active earth pressure according to real value of this last. This is effectively well verified on experimental trials realized.

The sustainability of the structures is not only a technical goal, but also a matter of social and environmental values. This requires the researchers to use very rigid, highly durable and corrosion-resistant composite structures in order to achieve the technical, environmental and social goals. The purpose of this paper is to present an original work on reducing the interfacial stresses of bonded structures with fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) plates based on new taper design.

In this proposed concept, the effect of combined taper is investigated on reducing interfacial stresses, attempting to enhance the structure performance and address the debonding problem that comes with reinforcing techniques. This research is carried out by using finite element analysis, incorporating many new parameters.

As a result, a new solution is discovered that combined taper in both adhesive layer and composite laminate, which significantly reduces the interfacial stresses at the end of the FRP plate. Additionally, a parametric study is carried out in order to determine the optimal configurations of taper dimensions as well as other parameters that influence the stress concentration distribution at the edge of the adherends.

This new design regarding the reduction of interfacial stresses will help in increasing the lifespan of damaged structures reinforced by FRP composites, preserving thus its technical, historical and social values.

The paper uses straight, concave and convex fillets with inverse taper as a new design solution with new parameters including thermo-mechanical loads and pre-stressed FRP plate with multi-layer, fibre orientation and shear-lag effects.

The theoretical study, presented here, deals with the problem of interaction pile soil, thus making a contribution in determining the resistance and friction edge side for a single stake sought by a charge axial static. The theoretical tool used is the theorem cinematic theory analysis limit, in the case of a material Coulomb, developing a model in three dimensions. The aim of this research is to determine the limit load massive breakdown by the model proposed using the computer code mathcad. The calculation program takes into account physical phenomena, ie the expansion and contraction of soil under a load static. The results, calculated by the proposed model are compared with experimental results made in the laboratory 3SR Grenoble (France) and the results of conventional methods used in the calculations of this type of constructions.

It has been widely recognised that the participation of residents is a significant issue in contemporary urban heritage conservation. However, studies confirm that the reasons behind residents' engagement are still difficult to assess, particularly in emerging countries. This paper aims to evaluate the factors that incite or prevent residents from participating in built heritage rehabilitation in the old city of Constantine, by applying the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) model.

A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect information from the residents. The collected data were then analysed using the structural equation model (SEM).

The findings show that the most significant factors affecting residents' participation were related to their motivations and abilities. Interestingly, factors related to the opportunities did not influence participation. Thus, autonomous rehabilitation according to the residents' motivation and abilities is more likely to be adopted.

These findings are limited to the selected sample, and some variables have been eliminated through the SEM analysis.

However, as a first attempt to study residents' participation in built heritage rehabilitation in Constantine, the paper proposes a different perspective for assessing participation by considering its means and ends simultaneously. The paper also provides guidance to local decision-makers to improve the legal framework by implementing factors that encourage residents' involvement in sustainable heritage management.

The persistent increase in household indebtedness is an alarming issue that is becoming a major concern for economists and governments in developing nations. Although household consumption is an essential source of economic growth, households’ failure to meet their financial obligations will be one of the causes of economic problems if the increase in consumption is largely financed by household borrowing. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the nexus between households’ indebtedness and consumption and the roles of household characteristics.

This study uses a microdata set of the Household Expenditure and Income Survey in 2019, which contained a simple random sampling of 4,730 households.

Using a simultaneous equations model, our results show a negative nexus between households’ consumption and their indebtedness. We find that household savings and size have an indirect impact on the debt service ratio, while the assets and total debt repayment instalments indirectly influence household consumption. We also identify differences in the relationship between the gender of the household head, rural and urban locations and income groups in consumption and indebtedness.

The implication of this study is that governments should adopt several programmes to increase the awareness of household financial and debt management, especially for those in the low-income group.

This study contributes to the empirical literature by establishing a microeconomic perspective of consumption and an indebtedness model focusing on the differences in household characteristics in explaining consumption and indebtedness.

The paper aims to introduces an experimental work to investigate the torsional behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened by near-surface mounted (NSM) carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) ropes.

In this research, nine rectangular RC beams of 250 mm × 300 mm cross-section and 1,600 mm in length were constructed and tested considering the studied parameters. These parameters include the length of the CFRP rope, the orientation of the CFRP rope, the arrangement of longitudinal and the scheme of NSM-CFRP ropes.

In comparison to control specimens, the results demonstrate a considerable improvement in the torsional response of RC beams strengthened with the CFRP rope. Additionally, specimens strengthened with 90° vertical ropes increase torsional moment capacity more efficiently than specimens strengthened with 45° inclined ropes since the stress concentration leads to premature debonding of the CFRP rope. Whereas RC beams' ability to withstand torsional moments is reduced as the distance between reinforcing CFRP ropes is increased. According to test results, adding CFRP ropes to RC beams' bottoms had a slightly positive impact on torsional response.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how the using of the CFRP rope is effective in strengthening RC beam subjected to torsion moment.

This paper aims to evaluate the credit risk of Islamic and conventional banks and its relationship with the capital in 14 countries of the Middle East and North Africa region. To do this, a sample of 58 Islamic banks and 89 conventional banks during the 2005-2015 period was used.

In fact to measure the difference between Islamic banks and their conventional counterparts in terms of credit risk, the generalized method of moments is used.

The results showed that the conventional model has a higher credit risk than the Islamic one. These results also showed that the larger an Islamic bank is, the higher its credit risk will be to get closer to that of conventional banks.

This investigation is based on actual data for each bank available in the Bank-Scope database provided by the Van Dijik office (2013). It should be noted that almost all the recent empirical studies interested in the world banking sector essentially use this database.

The purpose of this study is to propose generalised integral transform technique (GITT) to obtain the exact solutions for bending of clamped parallelogram plate resting on elastic foundation.

The GITT is used to solve the bending problem of the full clamped parallelogram plate under an elastic foundation. The auxiliary problem was developed and the corresponding eigenfunction and eigenvalue were calculated simultaneously. The original partial differential governed equation has been represented by the transformed ordinary differential equation system and solved by the subroutine DBVPFD from International Mathematics and Statistics Library.

The GITT has been proven to be an efficient approach to solve the bending problem of the plate with different loads, boundary conditions and elastic foundations. The parametric study indicates that the elastic foundation modulus has significant contribution in reducing the vertical deflections and moments for both rectangular and parallelogram plates. With the increasing of aspect ratio (a/b) and the elastic foundation modulus, the trends of the deflection and moment reduction decreased significantly.

The present hybrid analytical-numerical methodology was first used to solve the mechanics problem of the clamped parallelogram plate resting on elastic foundation. Excellent convergence and high accuracy was observed by comparing with the published results. It exhibits potential application to investigate the mechanics problem of the composite plate with different boundary conditions in the shipbuilding and civil engineering.

The topic of environmental protection has always been of great concern in Germany, the establishment of environmental data sources started in the 1970s. The development of environmental information system technology in Germany is outlined and two examples are given: the Environmental Planning and Information System (UMPLIS) and the Integrated Public Environmental Information System (UIS) Baden‐Wuerttemberg. Relevant German environmental data sources are discussed, such as Environmental Literature Database (ULIDAT), Environmental Research Projects Database (UFORDAT), and Environmental Law Databases (URDB), as well as the chemical databases which comprise environmental information – the BEILSTEIN database and the Landolt‐Boernstein database. The Information System for Environmental Chemicals with its four metadatabases – Metadatabase of Literature on Environmental Chemicals (DALI), Metadatabase of Online Databases for Environmental Chemicals (DADB), Metadatabase of CD‐ROMs for Environmental Chemicals (DACD), and the Metadatabase of Internet Resources (DAIN).