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The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of viscoelastic links between two adjacent buildings for pounding mitigation under white-noise seismic input.

A formulation is first extracted for the effective modal damping ratios of the system. Then, two single DOF linear buildings connected by viscoelastic links are considered with both classical and non-classical damping schemes. The inelastic behavior is also taken into account by using equivalent natural frequencies and damping ratios of the buildings. The effect of ground dominant frequency and damping on the displacement response is also investigated by using Kanai‒Tajimi filtered white noise as the random input.

The difference between classical and non-classical damping is shown to be less than 20 percent, implying the permission in using the simpler classical damping scheme. Finally, the problem is extended to two-storey buildings, where using viscoelastic links only at the top story level of the buildings is shown to be sufficient for controlling individual, as well as relative, motions of the structures.

Results demonstrate that the use of link with a moderate stiffness may reduce the stiffer building displacement up to approximately 20 percent in comparison to the free displacement, while the seismic pounding of the adjacent buildings is effectively controlled. Further, an upper limit of link stiffness is obtained for preventing the increase in the stiffer building displacement, which may be exceeded by the minimum link stiffness necessary for pounding prevention if small gap size exists.

The purpose of this paper is to examine why building owners are often reluctant to adopt adequate mitigation measures despite the vulnerability of their buildings to earthquake disasters, by exploring the economic-related barriers to earthquake mitigation decisions.

A case study research method was adopted and interviews chosen as the method of data collection.

Critical economic-related impediments that inhibited seismic retrofitting of earthquake-prone buildings were revealed in this study. Economic-related barriers identified include perception about financial involvement in retrofitting, property market conditions, high insurance premiums and deductibles, and the high cost of retrofitting. The availability of financial incentives such as low interest loans, tax deductibles, the implementation of a risk-based insurance premium scale and promoting increased knowledge and awareness of seismic risks and mitigation measures in the property market place are likely to address the economic-related challenges faced by property owners when undertaking seismic retrofitting projects. The provision of financial incentives specifically for seismic retrofitting should be introduced in policy-implementation programme tailored to local governments’ level of risks exposure and available resources.

The recommendations provided in this study suggest strategies and answers to questions aimed at understanding the types of incentives that city councils and environmental hazard managers should focus on in their attempt to ensure that property owners actively participate in earthquake risk mitigation.

This paper adopts a holistic perspective for investigating earthquake risk mitigation by examining the opinions of the different stakeholders involved in seismic retrofit decisions.

To provide valuable information for scholars to grasp the current situations, hotspots and future development trends of reliability analysis area.

In this paper, recent researches on efficient reliability analysis and applications in complex engineering structures like aeroengine rotor systems are reviewd.

The recent reliability analysis advances of engineering application in aeroengine rotor system are highlighted, it is worth pointing out that the surrogate model methods hold great efficiency and accuracy advantages in the complex reliability analysis of aeroengine rotor system, since its strong computing power can effectively reduce the analysis time consumption and accelerate the development procedures of aeroengine. Moreover, considering the multi-objective, multi-disciplinary, high-dimensionality and time-varying problems are the common problems in various complex engineering fields, the surrogate model methods and its developed methods also have broad application prospects in the future.

For the strong demand for efficient reliability design technique, this review paper may help to highlights the benefits of reliability analysis methods not only in academia but also in practical engineering application like aeroengine rotor system.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the case studies of communities’ understandings of natural disasters in Aceh Province, Indonesia, where a number of cultures and traditions which belong to the ancestral heritage continue to be used in a more modern context.

This research used a qualitative descriptive research paradigm in which the researcher attempted to describe or construct in-depth interview results for the research objects. The interviews were conducted in six disaster-prone areas in Aceh, i.e. Simeulue, Central Aceh, Aceh Tamiang, Pidie Jaya, North Aceh and dan Pidie. The interviewees were the informants in this research, which included traditional leaders, religious leaders, community leaders, headmen, youth figures and disaster victims. The technique for determining informants was through purposive sampling in which the sample is specified based on the need of the research.

Majority of the people in Aceh, especially those who live in earthquake- and tsunami-prone areas still practice this form of knowledge, as they have already realized that it makes a significant contribution to emergency management. They typically used their traditional knowledge to understand both the nature of local hazards and the risk reduction mechanism related to response mechanisms. In some events, they also used it as an alternative to recovery phase according to past information and experiences. This paper will discuss the contribution of traditional knowledge to emergency management by presenting some specific cases of indigenous stories in Aceh. The stories not only served as an early warning system but also can be used to develop more effective disaster risk reduction programmes to improve community awareness to deal with future threats.

On Simeulue Island, most of the indigenous people already possess the knowledge and value systems inherited through the generations, as a form of local wisdom “called smong” when encountering earthquakes and tsunamis. Beside smong, there is still considerable amount of other similar indigenous knowledge that originated amid traditional people, especially in rural areas, in Aceh. Thus, this paper attempts to identify the knowledge and its representation in the implementation of disaster mitigation efforts in Aceh.

The management of dietary phosphorus in chronic kidney disease patients is an important issue. Phosphorus is often found with protein in foods. However, excessive protein restriction worsens the nutritional status of the patient; thus, phosphorus must be selectively restricted. This study aims to assess the effects of various pretreatments readily available in ordinary households on phosphorus loss in foodstuffs.

This study evaluated the retention of phosphorus in cooked chicken meat (boiled, baked, steamed and microwaved). In addition, this study incorporated various pretreatments (pounding, stabbing, cutting and enzymatic treatment) to the method exhibiting the lowest phosphorus retention (boiling) and assessed the effects on phosphorus retention.

Boiling (65%, vs baking, p < 0.001; vs steaming, p = 0.013; vs microwaving, p = 0.002) of the chicken meat resulted in the lowest phosphorus retention compared to the other cooking methods (baking [89%], steaming [73%] and microwaving [75%]). In addition, stabbing (58%, p = 0.009) or cutting (46%, p < 0.001) further reduced the retention of phosphorus in boiled chicken meat. The retention of phosphorus in enzyme-pretreated boiled chicken was reduced by approximately 10% compared to untreated chicken (p = 0.01). The cooking method that reduced phosphorus retention to the greatest extent was enzyme treatment prior to cutting and boiling.

This paper investigates the effects of common household cooking methods and combinations of methods on the phosphorus content of meat.

The purpose of this research is to analyze a county’s housing market over 23 years to determine what impact, if any, multiple hurricanes have had on the residential real estate market.

This research uses a hedonic price model to determine the impacts that multiple hurricanes had on housing values.

There was a significant and negative countywide impact on housing sales values in the 1996, which can directly be attributed to three hurricanes impacting Brunswick County. Economic factors, rather than hurricanes and related storms, are more likely to impact sales values in all other years.

This research is limited only to single-family home sales in Brunswick County, North Carolina, from 1984 to 2007. The model does not include multi-family residential uses.

Unlike many other areas that have been studied regarding natural disasters, Brunswick County has been hit multiple times by hurricanes and related storms, providing some insight into the long-term implications of the impact of storms on housing values over an extended period of time. The practical implication is that despite the likelihood of hurricanes and proximity to the ocean, people are willing to pay to live in coastal areas, even an area with a history of repeated direct and indirect strikes by hurricanes.

Unlike much of the peer-reviewed research that looks at a single occurrence of a natural disaster, this research looks at the impacts of multiple hurricanes on a single county over 23 years to determine what impact, if any, these storms have on the overall housing market.

The purpose of this paper is to present some basic conceptual aspects and empiric examples of urban mitigation and adaptation to climate change, of greening urban development, as there is strong need for further research and education on these issues.

Starting with a review of the 4th IPCC report and the Stern Review, a strategy is developed on how to make cities main actors in fighting climate change. First examples of successful urban greening are presented.

Cities are main drivers of climate change, and they are driven by climate change. Therefore, there is a strong need for “greening” urban development, i.e. for both mitigation and adaptation activities.

Mitigation requires the reduction (more or less drastically) of urban energy and material flows. Adaptation requires restructure (more or less radically) of the established urban stocks.

Until recently, cities and urban areas have not been in the focus of climate change research and climate policy. The paper shows the need for change of both theory and practice.

In this chapter, the title theme of “Disaster by Design” is explored and justified. Even from early times, the Aral Region was subject to alterations of natural conditions due to human intervention, often deliberate and designed. After the final conquest by Russia, the region became a fixed colony as part of the Soviet Union, ripe for exploitation characteristic of the Soviet approach to nature broadly and to stigmatized areas specifically. The Aral region was selected for irrigated cotton and other cultivation even though the consequences for desiccation of the sea, desertification, and salinization were understood. The decision was so calculated that even a cost–benefit analysis was offered to show that the Aral fishery was worth but a fraction of the cotton potential. The destruction of the region was made possible by a Soviet system of central planning and peripheral control. The brief glimmer of hope for the region evidenced during glasnost was the only moment where the Aral's fate was not sealed. The outcome is a model of ecological disaster by design, an environmental injustice, and an indication of the abusive nature of authoritarian power.

The purpose of this paper is to explore flood-prone area residents' preferences of flood-resilient housing technologies (HTs), to understand the factors influencing their choices. Flood-resilient HTs can reduce damage and disruption at a household level, particularly in areas where large-scale community schemes are not available or feasible. People’s perception of floods and their preferences of flood-resilient HTs are among many very important factors influencing the adoption of these technologies. Therefore, these perceptions and preferences must be well understood before implementation of these technologies can occur. However, studies on these two important factors are lacking in literature, particularly in the sub-Saharan African context.

Nigerian residents’ preferences of flood-resilient HTs were explored by focusing on five frequently flooded areas around the Niger and Benue river basins in Kogi State, Nigeria. Thirty-eight chat, video and voice call interviews were conducted with participants across five case study areas: Lokoja, Idah, Bassa, Ajaokuta and Koton Karifi. The interviews, informed through an illustrated brochure, covered residents’ experiences and perceptions of floods. This was done to gain an understanding of the factors influencing the choice of flood-resilient HTs adopted and those preferred.

This study confirms that residents in these five focus areas show similar characteristics to other floodplain residents as encapsulated in protection motivation theory. The flood-resilient HTs discussed in this study include flood-avoidance, flood-recoverability and flood-resistance strategies, as well as neighbourhood-scale approaches. Flood-resistance and flood-recoverability strategies rated highly in terms of suitability and envisaged efficiency in mitigating flooding in Kogi State. Although the measures were mostly agreed to be potentially effective and successful on a household scale, there were concerns as to flood mitigation on a neighbourhood scale.

Pre-existing flood-resilient HTs were not extensively discussed in the literature review but were included to have a sense of the participants’ mitigation behaviour, as well as their potential to adopt (or not) new measures after adopting previous ones.

The results provide supporting evidence of the factors influencing the choice of and/or intention to adopt flood-resilient HTs, highlighted in literature. Results also contribute to literature by providing further insight into flood-resilient measures already adopted by residents, as well as their preferred HTs from the options presented. The implications of these findings and methodological considerations in this research are fully discussed in this paper.

In the event of a disaster, educational institutions like schools serve as lifeline buildings. Hence, it is crucial to safeguard these buildings for the communities that may depend on the school as a disaster shelter and aid center. Thus, this paper aims to conduct a multihazard risk assessment survey at 50 schools (with 246 building blocks) in Dehradun.

The past few decades have witnessed the impact of multihazard frequency in Uttarakhand, India, due to the geographical features of the Himalayas and its neo-tectonic mountain-building process. Dehradun is the capital of Uttarakhand state and comes under seismic zone IV, which is highly prone to earthquakes.

The hazard assessment is divided into two types of surveys: first, building-level surveys that include rapid visual screening, nonstructural risk assessment and fire safety audit, and second, campus-level surveys that include vulnerability analysis for earthquake, flood, industrial hazard, landslide and wind.

This paper will list several gaps and unrecognized practices in the region that increase the schools’ multihazard risk. The study’s outcome will help prioritize the planning of disaster awareness, retrofitting execution, future construction practices and decision-making to minimize the risk and prepare the school for the upcoming disasters.

Physical data were collected by the author to determine the multihazard risk analysis in 50 schools in the Dehradun District of Uttarakhand, India. The building- and campus-level surveys have been used to generate a database for the retrofit and renovation process for each individual school to use their budget fruitfully and in a planned way. The survey conducted is more effort and a more detailed risk evaluation which necessitates effectively mitigating and ensuring the potential safety of the region’s schools.