Search results for: earthquake risk mitigation

Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, Fang-Jyun Su

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This paper explores whether stock characteristics influence the herding formation among investors in the US equity market. To extend the research scope of the existing literature, this paper further examines the role that stock risk characteristics play in the US equity market, and the way they influence investors’ decision-making. First, empirical results show that whether general stocks or high-risk stocks, there are no herding behaviors among the investors in the US equity market during the whole research period or during four great events. Moreover, stock characteristics have great influence on investors’ trading decisions. Finally, there is a bidirectional lead-lag relationship of the herding formation between high-risk stocks and low-risk stocks, but the influence of high-risk stocks on the low-risk stocks is stronger than that of low-risk stocks on the high-risk stocks.

Keywords: stock characteristics, herding formation, investment decision, US equity market, lead-lag relationship

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Authors: Soner Güler, Mustafa Gülen, Eylem Güzel

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Masonry buildings constitute major part of building stock in Turkey. Masonry buildings were built up especially in rural areas and underdeveloped regions due to economic reasons. Almost all of these masonry buildings are not designed and detailed according to any design guidelines by designers. As a result of this, masonry buildings were totally collapsed or heavily damaged when subjected to destructive earthquake effects. Thus, these masonry buildings that were built up in our country must be retrofitted to improve their seismic performance. In this study, new seismic retrofitting techniques that is easy to apply and low-cost are summarized and the importance of seismic retrofitting is also emphasized for existing masonry buildings in Turkey.

Keywords: masonry buildings, earthquake effects, seismic retrofitting techniques, seismic performance

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Authors: Rama Debbarma

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The present study deals with the performance of Linear base isolation system to mitigate seismic response of structures characterized by random system parameters. This involves optimization of the tuning ratio and damping properties of the base isolation system considering uncertain system parameters. However, the efficiency of base isolator may reduce if it is not tuned to the vibrating mode it is designed to suppress due to unavoidable presence of system parameters uncertainty. With the aid of matrix perturbation theory and first order Taylor series expansion, the total probability concept is used to evaluate the unconditional response of the primary structures considering random system parameters. For this, the conditional second order information of the response quantities are obtained in random vibration framework using state space formulation. Subsequently, the maximum unconditional root mean square displacement of the primary structures is used as the objective function to obtain optimum damping parameters Numerical study is performed to elucidate the effect of parameters uncertainties on the optimization of parameters of linear base isolator and system performance.

Keywords: linear base isolator, earthquake, optimization, uncertain parameters

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Authors: Sima Ajami, Batool Akbari

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Background: Radio frequency identification (RFID) system has been successfully applied to the areas of manufacturing, supply chain, agriculture, transportation, healthcare, and services. The RFID is already used to track and trace the victims in a disaster situation. Data can be collected in real time and be immediately available to emergency personnel and saves time by the RFID. Objectives: The aim of this study was, first, to identify stakeholders and customers for rescuing earthquake victims, second, to list key internal and external factors to use RFID to track earthquake victims, finally, to assess SWOT for rescuers' viewpoint. Materials and Methods: This study was an applied and analytical study. The study population included scholars, experts, planners, policy makers and rescuers in the "red crescent society of Isfahan province", "disaster management Isfahan province", "maintenance and operation department of Isfahan", "fire and safety services organization of Isfahan municipality", and "medical emergencies and disaster management center of Isfahan". After that, researchers held a workshop to teach participants about RFID and its usages in tracking earthquake victims. In the meanwhile of the workshop, participants identified, listed, and weighed key internal factors (strengths and weaknesses; SW) and external factors (opportunities and threats; OT) to use RFID in tracking earthquake victims. Therefore, participants put weigh strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and their weighted scales were calculated. Then, participants' opinions about this issue were assessed. Finally, according to the SWOT matrix, strategies to solve the weaknesses, problems, challenges, and threats through opportunities and strengths were proposed by participants. Results: The SWOT analysis showed that the total weighted score for internal and external factors were 3.91 (Internal Factor Evaluation) and 3.31 (External Factor Evaluation) respectively. Therefore, it was in a quadrant SO strategies cell in the SWOT analysis matrix and aggressive strategies were resulted. Organizations, scholars, experts, planners, policy makers and rescue workers should plan to use RFID technology in order to save more victims and manage their life. Conclusions: Researchers suppose to apply SO strategies and use a firm’s internal strength to take advantage of external opportunities. It is suggested, policy maker should plan to use the most developed technologies to save earthquake victims and deliver the easiest service to them. To do this, education, informing, and encouraging rescuers to use these technologies is essential. Originality/ Value: This study was a research paper that showed how RFID can be useful to track victims in earthquake.

Keywords: frequency identification system, strength, weakness, earthquake, victim

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Authors: Nina V. Zaitseva, Pavel Z. Shur, Nina G. Atiskova

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Nowadays harmonization of sanitary and hygienic standards of environmental quality with international standards is crucial part of integration of Russia into the international community. Harmonization of Russian and international ambient air quality standards may be realized by risk-based standards development. In this paper approaches to risk-based standards development and examples of these approaches implementation are presented.

Keywords: harmonization, health risk assessment, evolutionary modelling, benchmark level, nickel, manganese

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Authors: Mounir Ait Belkacem, Mehdi Boukri, Omar Amellal, Nacim Yousfi, Abderrahmane Kibboua, Med Naboussi Farsi, Mounir Naili

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The North of Algeria is located in a seismic zone, then earthquakes are probably the most likely natural disaster that would lead to major lifeline disruption. The adequate operation of lifelines is vital for the economic development of regions under moderate to high seismic activity. After an earthquake, the proper operation of all vital systems is necessary, for instance hospitals for medical attention of the wounded and highways for communication and assistance for victims.In this work we apply the knowledge of pipeline vulnerability to the water supply system, sanitary sewer pipelines (waste water), and telephone in Constantine (Algeria).

Keywords: lifeline, earthquake, vulnerability, pipelines

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Authors: Hyeon-Kyo Lim, Sang-Hun Byun

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Risk assessment is carried out in most industrial plants for accident prevention, but there exists insufficient data for statistical decision making. It is commonly said that risk can be expressed as a product of consequence and likelihood of a corresponding hazard factor. Eventually, therefore, risk assessment involves human decision making which cannot be objective per se. This study was carried out to comprehend perceptive characteristics of human beings in industrial plants. Subjects were shown a set of illustrations describing scenes of industrial plants, and were asked to assess the risk of each scene with not only linguistic variables but also numeric scores in the aspect of consequence and likelihood. After that, their responses were formulated as fuzzy membership functions, and compared with those of university students who had no experience of industrial works. The results showed that risk level of industrial workers were lower than those of any other groups, which implied that the workers might generally have a tendency to neglect more hazard factors in their work fields.

Keywords: fuzzy, hazard, linguistic variable, risk assessment

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Authors: Ibtissam Mharzi Alaoui, Camélia Sehaqui

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The success of a bank depends upon its effective risk management. With the growing complexity and diversity of financial products and services, as well as the accelerating pace of globalization over the past decade, risk management is becoming increasingly difficult. thus, all measurement and monitoring functions must be much more vigorous, relevant and adequate. The Shariah non-compliance risk is specific aspect of Islamic finance which ipso facto, deserves particular attention. It affects the validity of all Islamic financial contracts and it turns out to be likely to result in considerable losses on the overall Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). The purpose of this paper is to review the theoretical literature on Shariah non-compliance risk in order to give a clearer understanding of its sources, causes and consequences. Our intention through this work is to bring added value to the Islamic finance industry all over the world. The findings provide a useful reference work for the Islamic banks in structuring (or restructuring) of their own system of shariah risk management and internal control.

Keywords: Shariah non-compliance, risk management, financial products, Islamic finance.

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Authors: Hamed Reza Heshmat Mohajer, Lan Ding, Mattheos Santamouris

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One of the worst environmental dangers for people who live in cities is the Urban Heat Island (UHI) impact which is anticipated to become stronger in the coming years as a result of climate change. Accordingly, the key aim of this paper is to study the interaction between the urban configuration and mitigation strategies including increasing albedo of the urban environment (reflective material), implementation of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) and/or a combination thereof. To analyse the microclimate models of different urban categories in the metropolis of Sydney, this study will assess meteorological parameters using a 3D model simulation tool of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) named ENVI-met. In this study, four main parameters are taken into consideration while assessing the effectiveness of UHI mitigation strategies: ambient air temperature, wind speed/direction, and outdoor thermal comfort. Layouts with present condition simulation studies from the basic model (scenario one) are taken as the benchmark. A base model is used to calculate the relative percentage variations between each scenario. The findings showed that maximum cooling potential across different urban layouts can be decreased by 2.15 °C degrees by combining high-albedo material with flora; besides layouts with open arrangements(OT1) present a highly remarkable improvement in ambient air temperature and outdoor thermal comfort when mitigation technologies applied compare to compact counterparts. Besides all layouts present a higher intensity on the maximum ambient air temperature reduction rather than the minimum ambient air temperature. On the other hand, Scenarios associated with an increase in greeneries are anticipated to have a slight cooling effect, especially on high-rise layouts.

Keywords: sustainable urban development, urban green infrastructure, high-albedo materials, heat island effect

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Authors: Artem A. Krylov

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Instrumental seismological researches in water areas are complicated and expensive, that leads to the lack of strong motion records in most offshore regions. In the same time the number of offshore industrial infrastructure objects, such as oil rigs, subsea pipelines, is constantly increasing. The empirical Green’s function technique proved to be very effective for accelerograms synthesis under the conditions of poorly described seismic wave propagation medium. But the selection of suitable small earthquake record in offshore regions as an empirical Green’s function is a problem because of short seafloor instrumental seismological investigation results usually with weak micro-earthquakes recordings. An approach based on moving average smoothing in the frequency domain is presented for preliminary processing of weak micro-earthquake records before using it as empirical Green’s function. The method results in significant waveform correction for modeled event. The case study for 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was used to demonstrate the suitability of the method. This work was supported by the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (project № 18-35-00474 mol_a).

Keywords: accelerogram synthesis, empirical Green's function, marine seismology, microearthquakes

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Authors: Sirus Sharifi, Arunima Haldar, S. V. D. Nageswara Rao

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The study attempts to analyze the impact of credit risk management practices of Indian scheduled commercial banks on their non-performing assets (NPAs). The data on credit risk practices was collected by administering a questionnaire to risk managers/executives at different banks. The data on NPAs (from 2012 to 2016) is sourced from Prowess, a database compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The model was estimated using cross-sectional regression method. As expected, the findings suggest that there is a negative relationship between credit risk management and NPA growth in Indian banks. The study has implications for Indian banks given the high level of losses, and the implementation of Basel III norms by the central bank, i.e. Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Evidence on credit risk management in Indian banks, and their relationship with non-performing assets held by them.

Keywords: credit risk, identification, Indian Banks, NPAs, ownership

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Authors: Mati Ullah, Shams Ur Rahman

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The purpose of this research study is to investigate the effect of macroeconomic and bank-specific factors on credit risk in Islamic banking in Pakistan. The future of financial institutions largely depends on how well they manage risks. Credit risk is an important type of risk affecting the banking sector. The current study has taken quarterly data for the period of 6 years, from 1st July 2014 to 30 Jun 2020. The data set consisted of secondary data. Data was extracted from the websites of the State Bank and World Bank and from the financial statements of the concerned banks. In this study, the Ordinary least square model was used for the analysis of the data. The results supported the hypothesis that macroeconomic factors and bank-specific factors have a significant effect on credit risk. Macroeconomic variables, Inflation and exchange rates have positive significant effects on credit risk. However, gross domestic product has a negative significant relationship with credit risk. Moreover, the corporate rate has no significant relation with credit risk. Internal variables, size, management efficiency, net profit share income and capital adequacy have been proven to influence positively and significantly the credit risk. However, loan to deposit-has a negative insignificance relationship with credit risk. The contribution of this article is that similar conclusions have been made regarding the influence of banking factors on credit risk.

Keywords: credit risk, Islamic banks, macroeconomic variables, banks specific variable

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Authors: Mária Hudáková, Mária Lusková

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This report is focused on widening the theoretical knowledge as well as controlling practical application from the risk management point of view, regarding to dynamic business changes that have occurred in Slovakia which recently has been considered to be an environment full of risk and uncertainty. The idea of the report is the proposal of the controlling operation model in the course of risk management process in an enterprise operating in Slovakia, by which the controller is able to identify early risk factors in suggested major areas of the business management upon appropriate business information integration, consecutive control and prognoses and to prepare in time full-value documents in order to suggest measures for reduction thereof. Dealing with risk factors, that can quickly limit the growth potential of the enterprise, is an essential part of managerial activities on each level. This is the reason why mutual unofficial, ergo collegial cooperation of individual departments is necessary for controlling application from the business risk management point of view. An important part of the report is elaborated survey of the most important risk factors existing in major management areas of enterprises operating in Slovakia. The outcome of the performed survey is a catalogue of the most important enterprise risk factors. The catalogue serves for better understanding risk factors affecting the Slovak enterprises, their importance and evaluation.

Keywords: controlling, information, risks, risk factor, crisis

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Authors: Mohammad Ali Hasanzadeh, Thierry Vanelslander, Eddy Van De Voorde

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Nowadays maritime transport is a key element in international trade and global supply chain. Economies of scale in transporting goods are one of the most attractive elements of using ships. Without maritime transport, almost no globalization of economics can be imagined. Within maritime transport, ports are the interface between lands and see. Even though using ships help cargo owners to have a competitive margin but an accident in port during loading or unloading or even moving cargoes within the terminal can diminish such margin. Statistics shows that due to the high-speed notion of activities within ports, collision accidents are the most common type of accidents. To mitigate such accidents, the appropriate risk exposures have to be defined and calculate, later on risk probabilities can be determined for each type of accident, i.e. fatal, severe, moderate and minor ones. Having such risk probabilities help managers to define the effectiveness of each collision risk control option. This research defined travelled distance as main collision risk exposure in container terminals, taking all the related items into consideration, it was calculated for Shahid Rajae container terminals. Following this finding, collision risk probabilities were computed.

Keywords: collision accident, container terminal, maritime transport, risk exposure

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Authors: Jerome Blackman, Pamela Franklin, Volha Roshchanka

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The US coal mining sector accounts for 6% of total US Methane emissions (2021). 60% of US coal mining methane emissions come from active underground mine ventilation systems. Abandoned mines contribute about 13% of methane emissions from coal mining. While there are thousands of abandoned underground coal mines in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that fewer than 100 have sufficient methane resources for viable methane recovery and use projects. Many abandoned mines are in remote areas far from potential energy customers and may be flooded, further complicating methane recovery. Because these mines are no longer active, recovery projects can be simpler to implement.

Keywords: abandoned mines, coal mine methane, coal mining, methane emissions, methane mitigation, recovery and use

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Authors: James Hilton Williams

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Recent tsunami events, including the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami, Japan, and the 2015 Illapel Tsunami, Chile, have highlighted the potential for tsunami impacts on the built environment. International research in the tsunami impacts domain has been largely focused toward impacts on buildings and casualty estimations, while only limited attention has been placed on the impacts on infrastructure which is critical for the recovery of impacted communities. New Zealand, with 75% of the population within 10 km of the coast, has a large amount of coastal infrastructure exposed to local, regional and distant tsunami sources. To effectively manage tsunami risk for New Zealand critical infrastructure, including energy, transportation, and communications, the vulnerability of infrastructure networks and components must first be determined. This research develops infrastructure asset vulnerability, functionality and repair- cost functions based on international post-event tsunami impact assessment data from technologically similar countries, including Japan and Chile, and adapts these to New Zealand. These functions are then utilized within a New Zealand based impact framework, allowing for cost benefit analyses, effective tsunami risk management strategies and mitigation options for exposed critical infrastructure to be determined, which can also be applied internationally.

Keywords: impact assessment, infrastructure, tsunami impacts, vulnerability functions

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Authors: Firoz Alam Faroque, Ankur Neog

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Earthquake causes significant loss of lives and severe damage to infrastructure. Base isolator is one of the most suitable solutions to make a building earthquake resistant. Base isolation consists of installing an isolator along with the steel plates covered with pads of strong material like steel, rubber, etc. In our study, we have used lead rubber bearing (LRB). The basic idea of seismic isolation is based on the reduction of the earthquake-induced inertia forces by shifting the fundamental period of the structure out of dangerous resonance range, and concentration of the deformation and energy dissipation demands at the isolation and energy dissipation systems, which are designed for this purpose. In this paper, RC frame buildings have been modeled and analyzed by response spectrum method using ETABS software. The LRB used in the model is designed as per uniform building code (UBC) 97. It is found that time period for the base isolated structures are higher than that of the fixed base structure and the value of base shear significantly reduces in the case of base-isolated buildings. It has also been found that buildings with vertical irregularities give better performance as compared to building with plan irregularities using base isolators.

Keywords: base isolation, base shear, irregularities in buildings, lead rubber bearing (LRB)

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Authors: Noor A. Hakim

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Several studies in the developed countries investigated the prevalence of diabetes and obesity among individuals from different socioeconomic levels and suggested lower rates among the higher socioeconomic groups. However, studies evaluating diabetes risk and prevalence of obesity among the population of middle- to high-income status in developing countries are limited. The aim of this study is to evaluate the risk of developing type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the weight status of female students in private universities in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia. This is a cross-sectional study of 121 female students aged ≤ 25 years old was conducted; participants were recruited from two private universities. Diabetes risk was evaluated using the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score. Anthropometric measurements were assessed, and body-mass-index (BMI) was calculated. Diabetes risk scores indicated that 35.5% of the female students had a slightly elevated risk, and 10.8% had a moderate to high risk to develop T2DM. One-third of the females (29.7%) were overweight or obese. The majority of the normal weight and underweight groups were classified to have a low risk of diabetes, 22.2% of the overweight participants were classified to have moderate to high risk, and over half of the obese participants (55.5%) were classified to be at the moderate to high-risk category. Conclusions: Given that diabetes risk is alarming among the population in Saudi Arabia, healthcare providers should utilize a simple screening tool to identify high-risk individuals and initiate diabetes preventive strategies to prevent, or delay, the onset of T2DM and improve the quality of life.

Keywords: risk of type 2 diabetes, weight status, college students, socioeconomic status

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Authors: Tio Novita Efriani

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Public sector organizations work in a complex and risky environment. Since the beginning of 2000s, the public sector has paid attention to the need for an effective risk management. The Indonesian public sector has also concerned about this issue and in 2008 it enacted the Government Regulation that gives mandate for the implementation of risk management in government organizations. This paper investigates risk management implementation in the Indonesian public sector organizations and the role of transformational leadership and internal audit activities. Data was collected via survey. A total of 202 effective responses (30% response rate) from employees in 34 government ministries were statistically analyzed by using Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and the software was SmartPLS 3.0. All the constructs were lower order, except for the risk management implementation construct, which was treated as a second-order construct. A two-stage approach was employed in the analysis of the higher order component. The findings revealed that transformational leadership positively influence risk management implementation. The findings also found that the core and legitimate roles of internal audit in risk management positively affect the implementation of risk management. The final finding showed that internal auditing mediates a relationship between transformational leadership and risk management implementation. These results suggest that the implementation of risk management in the Indonesian public sector was significantly supported by internal auditors and leadership. The findings confirm the importance of transformational leadership and internal audit in the public sector risk management strategies.

Keywords: Indonesian public sector, internal audit, risk management, transformational leadership

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Authors: Anamika Sahu

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The Himalayas, like many mountainous regions, is susceptible to multiple hazards. In recent times, the frequency of such disasters is continuously increasing due to extreme weather phenomena. These natural hazards are responsible for irreparable human and economic loss. The Indian Himalayas has repeatedly been ruptured by great earthquakes in the past and has the potential for a future large seismic event as it falls under the seismic gap. Damages caused by earthquakes are different in different localities. It is well known that, during earthquakes, damage to the structure is associated with the subsurface conditions and the quality of construction materials. So, for sustainable mountain development, prior estimation of site characterization will be valuable for designing and constructing the space area and for efficient mitigation of the seismic risk. Both geotechnical and geophysical investigation of the subsurface is required to describe the subsurface complexity. In mountainous regions, geophysical methods are gaining popularity as areas can be studied without disturbing the ground surface, and also these methods are time and cost-effective. The MASW method is used to calculate the Vs30. Vs30 is the average shear wave velocity for the top 30m of soil. Shear wave velocity is considered the best stiffness indicator, and the average of shear wave velocity up to 30 m is used in National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) provisions (BSSC,1994) and Uniform Building Code (UBC), 1997 classification. Parameters obtained through geotechnical investigation have been integrated with findings obtained through the subsurface geophysical survey. Joint interpretation has been used to establish inter-relationships among mineral constituents, various textural parameters, and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) with shear wave velocity. It is found that results obtained through the MASW method fitted well with the laboratory test. In both conditions, mineral constituents and textural parameters (grain size, grain shape, grain orientation, and degree of interlocking) control the petrophysical and mechanical properties of rocks and the behavior of shear wave velocity.

Keywords: MASW, mechanical, petrophysical, site characterization

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Authors: Tanira Kingi, Oscar Montes Oca, Reina Tamepo

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The introduction of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act (2019) and the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (2020) both contain underpinning statements that refer to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and cultural concepts of stewardship and environmental protection. Maori interests in New Zealand’s agricultural, forestry, fishing and horticultural sectors are significant. The organizations that manage these investments do so on behalf of extended family groups that hold inherited interests based on genealogical connections (whakapapa) to particular tribal units (iwi and hapu) and areas of land (whenua) and freshwater bodies (wai). This paper draws on the findings of current research programmes funded by the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) and the Our Land & Water National Science Challenge (OLW NSC) to understand the impact of cultural knowledge and imperatives on agricultural GHG and freshwater mitigation and land-use change decisions. In particular, the research outlines mitigation and land-use change scenario decision support frameworks that model changes in emissions profiles (reductions in biogenic methane, nitrous oxide and nutrient emissions to freshwater) of agricultural and forestry production systems along with impacts on key economic indicators and socio-cultural factors. The paper also assesses the effectiveness of newly introduced partnership arrangements between Maori groups/organizations and key government agencies on policy co-design and implementation, and in particular, decisions to adopt mitigation practices and to diversify land use.

Keywords: co-design and implementation of environmental policy, indigenous environmental knowledge, Māori land tenure and agribusiness, mitigation and land use change decision support frameworks

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Authors: Naoki Okamura

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From a perspective of moral education, this study has examined the experiences of a group of college students who volunteered in disaster areas after the magnitude 9.0 Earthquake, which struck the Northeastern region of Japan in March, 2011. The research, utilizing the method of grounded theory, has uncovered that most of the students have gone through positive changes in their development of moral and social characters, such as attaining deeper sense of empathy and caring personalities. The study expresses, in identifying the nature of those transformations, that the importance of volunteer work should strongly be recognized by the colleges and universities in Japan, in fulfilling their public responsibility of creating and building learning communities that are responsible and caring.

Keywords: moral development, moral education, service learning, volunteer learning

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Authors: Nilamadhab Mohanty

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It is essential to use message formats that make communication understandable and correct. It is because; the information format can influence consumer decision on the purchase of a product. This study combines information from qualitative inquiry, media trend analysis, eye tracking experiment, and questionnaire data to examine the impact of specific message format and consumer perceived risk on attention to the information and risk retention. We investigated the influence of message framing (goal framing, attribute framing, and mix framing) on consumer memory, study time, and decisional uncertainty while deciding on the purchase of drugs. Furthermore, we explored the impact of consumer perceived risk (associated with the use of the drug, i.e., RISK-AB and perceived risk associated with the non-use of the drug, i.e., RISK-EB) on message format preference. The study used eye-tracking methods to understand the differences in message processing. Findings of the study suggest that the message format influences information processing, and participants' risk perception impacts message format preference. Eye tracking can be used to understand the format differences and design effective advertisements.

Keywords: message framing, consumer perceived risk, advertising, eye tracking

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Authors: Eray Ozbek, Ilker Kalkan, S. Oguzhan Akbas, Sabahattin Aykac

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The contribution of the infill walls to the overall earthquake response of a structure is limited and this contribution is generally ignored in the analyses. Strengthening of the infill walls through different techniques has been and is being studied extensively in the literature to increase this limited contribution and the ductilities and energy absorption capacities of the infill walls to create non-structural components where the earthquake-induced energy can be absorbed without damaging the bearing components of the structural frame. The present paper summarizes an extensive research project dedicated to investigate the effects of strengthening the brick infill walls of a reinforced concrete (RC) frame on its lateral earthquake response. Perforated steel plates were used in strengthening due to several reasons, including the ductility and high deformation capacity of these plates, the fire resistant, recyclable and non-cancerogenic nature of mild steel, and the ease of installation and removal of the plates to the wall with the help of anchor bolts only. Furthermore, epoxy, which increases the cost and amount of labor of the strengthening process, is not needed in this technique. The individual behavior of the strengthened walls under monotonic diagonal and lateral reversed cyclic loading was investigated within the scope of the study. Upon achieving brilliant results, RC frames with strengthened infill walls were tested and are being tested to examine the influence of this strengthening technique on the overall behavior of the RC frames. Tests on the wall and frame specimens indicated that the perforated steel plates contribute to the lateral strength, rigidity, ductility and energy absorption capacity of the wall and the infilled frame to a major extent.

Keywords: infill wall, strengthening, external plate, earthquake behavior

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Authors: Johnstone Walubengo Wangusi

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Climate change is undeniably altering the frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution of extreme weather events worldwide. In this paper, we explore the complex interconnections between climate change and extreme weather phenomena, drawing upon research from atmospheric science, geology, and climatology. We examine the underlying mechanisms driving these changes, the impacts on natural ecosystems and human societies, and strategies for adaptation and mitigation. By synthesizing insights from interdisciplinary research, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted relationship between climate change and extreme weather, informing efforts to address the challenges posed by a changing climate.

Keywords: climate change, extreme weather, atmospheric science, geology, climatology, impacts, adaptation, mitigation

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Authors: Yanqun Li, Hong Geng

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The occurrence of Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 has led to severe damage to the rural areas of Chengdu city, such as the rupture of the social network, the stagnation of economic production and the rupture of living space. The post-disaster reconstruction has become a sustainable issue. As an important link to maintain the order of rural social development, social network should be an important content of post-disaster reconstruction. Therefore, this paper takes rural reconstruction communities in earthquake-stricken areas of Chengdu as the research object and adopts sociological research methods such as field survey, observation and interview to try to understand the transformation of rural social relations network under the influence of earthquake and its impact on rural space. It has found that rural societies under the earthquake generally experienced three phases: the break of stable social relations, the transition of temporary non-normal state, and the reorganization of social networks. The connotation of phased rural social relations also changed accordingly: turn to a new division of labor on the social orientation, turn to a capital flow and redistribution in new production mode on the capital orientation, and turn to relative decentralization after concentration on the spatial dimension. Along with such changes, rural areas have emerged some social issues such as the alienation of competition in the new industry division, the low social connection, the significant redistribution of capital, and the lack of public space. Based on a comprehensive review of these issues, this paper proposes the corresponding response mechanism. First of all, a reasonable division of labor should be established within the villages to realize diversified commodity supply. Secondly, the villages should adjust the industrial type to promote the equitable participation of capital allocation groups. Finally, external public spaces should be added to strengthen the field of social interaction within the communities.

Keywords: social relations, social support networks, industrial division, capital allocation, public space

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Authors: L. Lindsay, S. A. Coleman, D. Kerr, B. J. Taylor, A. Moorhead

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Cognitive decline and frailty is apparent in older adults leading to an increased likelihood of the risk of falling. Currently health care professionals have to make professional decisions regarding such risks, and hence make difficult decisions regarding the future welfare of the ageing population. This study uses health data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), focusing on adults over the age of 50 years, in order to analyse health risk factors and predict the likelihood of falls. This prediction is based on the use of machine learning algorithms whereby health risk factors are used as inputs to predict the likelihood of falling. Initial results show that health risk factors such as long-term health issues contribute to the number of falls. The identification of such health risk factors has the potential to inform health and social care professionals, older people and their family members in order to mitigate daily living risks.

Keywords: classification, falls, health risk factors, machine learning, older adults

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Authors: Sultan Haji Shube

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Woodland ecosystems of semiarid rift valley of Ethiopia play a significant role in climate change mitigation by sequestering and storing more carbon. This study was conducted in Gidabo river sub-basins southeastern rift-valley escarpment of Ethiopian. It aims to estimate biomass and carbon stocks of woodlands and its implications for climate change mitigation. A total of 44 sampling plots (900m²each) were systematically laid in the woodland for vegetation and environmental data collection. A composite soil sample was taken from five locations main plot. Both disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken at two depths using soil auger and core-ring sampler, respectively. Allometric equation was used to estimate aboveground biomass while root-to-shoot ratio method and Walkley-Black method were used for belowground biomass and SOC, respectively. Result revealed that the totals of the study site was 17.05t/ha, of which 14.21t/ha was belonging for AGB and 2.84t/ha was for BGB. Moreover, 2224.7t/ha total carbon stocks was accumulated with an equivalent carbon dioxide of 8164.65t/ha. This study also revealed that more carbon was accumulated in the soil than the biomass. Both aboveground and belowground carbon stocks were decreased with increase in altitude while SOC stocks were increased. The AGC and BGC stocks were higher in the lower slope classes. SOC stocks were higher in the higher slope classes than in the lower slopes. Higher carbon stock was obtained from woody plants that had a DBH measure of >16cm and situated at plots facing northwest. Overall, study results will add up information about carbon stock potential of the woodland that will serve as a base line scenario for further research, policy makers and land managers.

Keywords: allometric equation, climate change mitigation, soil organic carbon, woodland

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Authors: Jürgen Keil, Frank Walther

Abstract:

This article presents two innovative solutions for vertical vibration mitigation barriers including experimental and numerical investigations on the completed barriers. There is a continuing growth of exposure to noise and vibration in people´s daily lives due to the quest for more mobility and flexibility. In previous times neglected, immissions caused by vibrations can lead, for example, to secondary noise or damage in the adjacent buildings. Also people can feel very affected by vibrations. But unlike in new construction, in existing infrastructure and buildings action can be taken almost only on the transmission path of those vibrations. In the following two solutions were shown how vibrations on the transmission path can be mitigated. These are the jet grouting method and a new installation method (patent pending) by means of a prefabricated hollow box which is filled with vibration reducing mats and driven down to depth, are presented. The essential results of the numerical and experimental investigations on the completed wave barriers are included as well. This article is based on the results of a field test with the participation of Keller Holding, which was executed in the context of the European research project RIVAS (Railway Induced Vibration Abatement Solutions), and on a thesis done at the Technical University of Dresden with the involvement of BAUGRUND DRESDEN Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH and the Keller Holding GmbH.

Keywords: jet grouting, rail way lines, vertical vibration mitigation, vibration reducing mats

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Authors: Joshua Midha

Abstract:

This paper provides an evaluation of an intervention designed to promote a risk-realistic environment for women in the workplace and regulate their risk-related decision-making. In past research, women -specifically women of color- are highly risk-averse, and this may prove to be an innate obstacle in gender progress in corporations. By helping women see the risks and the benefits and increasing potential benefits, we can increase the chances of success in the workplace. Our intervention was a success and significantly increased comfort, trust, and frequency in the use of decision-making skills in the workplace. In this paper, we explore the intervention, the methods, the results, and the implications.

Keywords: behavioral economics, decision support, risk, gender equality

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