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My colleagues and I recently published a paper in Engineering Structures, titled "Development of recommendations for proof load testing of reinforced concrete slab bridges". You can download the paper for free for the next 50 days through this link. This paper is the last journal paper in a series of papers based on the research I carried out with regard to proof load testing. I have a few more conference papers planned on smaller analyses that I did as part of the research, but my data are depleted by now. On to new research and/or more testing to deepen this topic (wherever the funding takes us)! The abstract of the paper is as follows: As the bridge stock in the Netherlands and Europe is ageing, various methods to analyze existing bridges are being studied. Proof load testing of bridges is an option to experimentally demonstrate that a given bridge can carry the prescribed live loads. Based on extensive research on proof load testing of reinforced concrete slab bridges car...

I recently ran a poll on Twitter to see at which age most students receive their PhD. I compiled the results in a Storify: [ View the story "Age for getting a PhD" on Storify ]

I recently received the following question from a reader that I wanted to reply in a Q&A post: I want to ask question regarding phd subject.my question is that i have done mtech in computer science can i pursue phd with any other subject which is not part of my mtech? If you want to switch fields for your PhD, you won't be able to change to a completely different field, for example history for you. However, you can work on interdisciplinary projects. If you are considering a switch, consider the following: 1. Talk to your possible future supervisor If you want to change fields, it is never too late. Talk to your supervisor who guided you for your MTech thesis to see your options. He/she may have a colleague that would be willing to work with you. I can imagine that your strong skills in programming can make you a good candidate for a number of other fields in science and engineering. If you've already identified which field you would like to work on for your PhD, talk to po...

I recently ran a poll about teaching loads of professors in academia. While it is hard to compare the teaching loads of different contracts, I do get the impression that most professors teach two courses per semester - although none of the options in the poll received a majority. Again, this reflects the multitude of possible contracts and career paths in academia. Here's the Storify of the poll: [ View the story "How many courses do professors teach per year?" on Storify ]

Today's post is written by Ben Kaube. Ben is a PhD student researching in computational materials science at Imperial College London. When not running physics simulations, Ben likes to build software tools that remove frustrations from people’s lives. In the past Ben has helped researchers evidence the wider impact of their work and provided commuters with a means to hold rail companies to account for delays. Does this sound familiar? You're reading a new journal paper and come across a result you've not seen before referenced from a paper you can't remember reading. You copy and paste the reference into Google, click on the first link and hit a paywall, or only get a reference but not the actual published PDF. Mildly annoyed you tap at the back button in your browser and scan other results on the page -- nothing. In desperation you click through to page two, then page three. You know that the chances of finding the paper on page four are near zero. Occasionally you ven...

We recently published a paper in Engineering Structures, titled "Required proof load magnitude for probabilistic field assessment of viaduct De Beek". You can download the article for free through this link until October 7th 2017. The abstract is as follows: Proof load testing is part of the engineering practice, and can be particularly useful for the rating of existing bridges. This paper addresses how reliability-based concepts can be used in combination with proof load testing, and discusses how this approach differs from the current practice for proof load testing. Whereas the calculation methods for determining the updated reliability index after a proof load test are available in the literature, this approach is now used to determine the proof load magnitude required to demonstrate a certain reliability level in a bridge, the viaduct De Beek. To determine the required proof load magnitude, the known integrals of the limit state function are solved. The method is applie...

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer , your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands. These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands. If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic! Depending on the habits of your supervisors, he/she may be popping his/her head through your door every day for a quick chat, you may be meeting on a weekly basis, or only by appointment. Typically, you will have more meetings in the beginning, while your supervisor helps you with getting started, less meetings in the middle of your PhD trajectory when you are crunching numbers and doing experiments, and more meetings towards to end, to discuss your thesis chapters. Even if your superviso...

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Dr. Viktoriia Chekina in the "Defenses around the world" series. Viktoriia Chekina is a leading researcher in the Institute of Industrial Economics of NAS of Ukraine (Department of financial and economic problems of industrial potential use). She graduated from the State Academy of Housing and Communal Services (Donetsk, 2004), and began working in the scientific field in 2004 as a graduate student (Institute of Industrial Economics of NAS of Ukraine, Donetsk). She defended a thesis titled "Formation of the real estate taxation system in Ukraine" and received a diploma of candidate of economic sciences (2009). She has worked part-time as a senior lecturer at the State Academy of Housing and Communal Services (2004-2006) and Donetsk National University (2010-2013). She is the author of more than 50 scientific works (articles in journals, conference abstracts, monographs). Her research interests include public finance, local fina...