1. A floating floor resilient layer development approach and its application to the design of a high impact sound insulation wood-based solutionRok Prislan, Andreja Kutnar, Urban Kavka, Maximilian Neusser, Daniel Svenšek, 2026, original scientific article Abstract: Environmental considerations have become increasingly important in the construction industry, driving the search for more sustainable alternatives to conventional building materials and solutions. One resource-intensive material used for structural decoupling is the impact-resilient layer, which, when installed in floating floors, is crucial for achieving the required insulation ratings. This study presents a methodology for developing an impact-resilient layer. The approach defines the key performance parameters of a floating floor and follows an experimental development approach based on prototyping. Prototypes are iteratively improved, with the first generation providing proof of concept and evolving into a final large-scale prototype that validates the impact insulation performance. To validate the approach, it is applied to the development of a wood-based resilient layer as a case study. The introduced resilient layer is highly sustainable and follows design for disassembly principles, while technically relying on a novel elastic response mechanism based on the flexural deformation of wooden strips. Over three generations of prototypes, the design evolved systematically, considering different geometric configurations, wood species, and wood-cork composites to manufacture the strips. The experimental evaluation focused on load-bearing capacity, dynamic stiffness, and damping ratio, also accounting for the inherent variabil ity of wood and wood moisture content as experimental parameters. A viable design was achieved and showed competitive impact sound insulation compared to established reference solutions. These results demonstrate that the proposed development approach can be successfully applied in practice and that a wood-based resilient layer can be a viable alternative to conventional market solutions.
Keywords: impact sound, sustainable insulation, floating floor, wood moisture content
Published in RUP: 23.06.2026; Views: 240; Downloads: 10
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2. Interlaboratory study of automated sorption measurements in wood : method for correcting systematic errors with the commonly used 0.002% min[sup] -1 stop criterionSamuel L. Zelinka, Samuel V. Glass, Natalia Farkas, Emil Engelund Thybring, Michael Altgen, Lauri Rautkari, Simon F. Curling, Jinzhen Cao, Yujiao Wang, Tina Künniger, Matthew Schwarzkopf, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Many studies that use an automated sorption balance to determine a water vapor sorption isotherm for wood collect data until the moisture content change is less than or equal to 0.002% min−1 (20 µg g−1 min−1). This stop criterion has been claimed to give errors in equilibrium moisture content (EMC) predictions of less than 0.001 g g−1 but over the past 10 years, studies have shown that the actual errors can be greater than 0.01 g g−1 because the measurements are stopped well before equilibrium is reached. Despite the large errors associated with this stop criterion, it remains popular due to the speed at which isotherms can be measured. This paper utilizes data from a worldwide interlaboratory study on automated sorption balances to develop a correction method for estimating EMC of western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) from the moisture content corresponding to the 20 µg g−1 min−1 criterion. The study uses data from 72 relative humidity absorption steps with hold times of 7–10 days from 21 different laboratories and eight different instrument models. EMC is defined based on the inherent mass stability of automated sorption balances determined in the first part of this interlaboratory study. On average the sorption process is less than 80% complete when the 20 µg g−1 min−1 criterion is reached, resulting in a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.006 g g−1. The correction equation for estimating EMC reduces the MAE to 0.001 g g−1. The analysis presented in this paper, along with the correction equation, can be considered for certain use cases to reduce systematic errors and shorten measurement times.
Keywords: water vapor sorption, dynamic vapor sorption, sorption isotherms, equilibrium moisture content, interlaboratory study
Published in RUP: 14.11.2025; Views: 766; Downloads: 9
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3. Understanding and predicting the geographic distributions of phlebotomine sand flies in and around EuropeDanyang Wang, Anouschka R. Hof, Kevin D. Matson, Frank van Langevelde, Edwin Kniha, Vít Dvořák, Ognyan Mikov, Ivelina Katerinova, Simona Tchakarova, Maria Antoniou, Jorian Prodhomme, Denis Sereno, Vladimir Ivović, Katja Adam, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Climate and land-use changes influence the transmission of vector-borne diseases by affecting the distribution and survival of disease vectors. Numerous diseases are transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae), including leishmaniasis. Several major sand fly-borne diseases are responsible for high global disease burdens and high socio-economic costs. In Europe, over 20 known sand fly vector species are largely confined to the Mediterranean Basin, yet records of sand fly presence further north increase. Global warming is predicted to drive the spread of sand flies to large areas of Europe in the 21th century, an effect likely to be exacerbated by anthropogenic factors. However, the constraints to the geographic distributions of sand flies are not well understood. This study aims to increase the understanding of the drivers of the geographic distributions of sand flies, using species distribution modelling to systematically test links between sand fly occurrences and climatic, land-use, lithological, biodiversity and human population variables in Europe and adjacent Mediterranean regions. We found that moisture is the most important environmental variable both in explaining and in predicting sand fly occurrences. The projected suitable habitats are larger than the current known sand fly distributions, and these habitats are expected to expand due to changes in climate and land-use.
Keywords: climate change, land-use, moisture, phlebotomine sand fly, species distribution modelling, suitable habitat
Published in RUP: 06.11.2025; Views: 802; Downloads: 9
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7. In situ assessment of structural timber using non-destructive techniquesMariapaola Riggio, Ronald W. Anthony, Francesco Augelli, Bohumil Kasal, Thomas Lechner, Wayne Muller, T. Tannert, 2014, original scientific article Keywords: visual inspection, moisture content determination, species identification, digital radioscopy, ground penetrating radar
Published in RUP: 19.11.2018; Views: 4680; Downloads: 243
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