Performance of Port Facilities During the Northridge Earthquake

During the January 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake, two of the Port of Los Angeles\u27 facilities called Berths 121-126 and Pier 300 sustained moderate damage. Lateral displacement of dikes up to five inches and liquefaction of hydraulic fills were observed. Several geotechnical analyses from simplified SPT -based method to sophisticated fully-coupled analyses are presented. Observed lateral displacements are predicted reasonably well by the fully-coupled analysis procedure and an intermediate analysis procedure which incorporates some results from a fully-coupled analysis in to a simplified Newmark-type deformation analysis. The potential for higher pore pressure generation underneath the dike compared to a level ground is also discussed

Authors’ Response: Minimum Confinement Reinforcement for Prestressed Concrete Piles and a Rational Seismic Design Framework

The authors greatly appreciate the reviewer’s interest in “Minimum Confinement Reinforcement for Prestressed Concrete Piles and a Rational Seismic Design Framework,”1 and his useful discussio

Minimum confinement reinforcement for prestressed concrete piles and a rational seismic design framework

The design of prestressed concrete piles in seismic regions is required to include confinement reinforcement in potential plastic hinge regions. However, the existing requirements for quantifying this reinforcement vary significantly, often resulting in unconstructible details. This paper presents a rational approach for designing minimum confinement reinforcement for prestressed concrete piles in seismic regions. By varying key variables, such as the concrete strength, prestressing force, and axial load, the spiral reinforcement quantified according to the proposed approach provides a minimum curvature ductility capacity of about 18, while the resulting ultimate curvature is 28% greater than an estimated target curvature for seismic design. This paper also presents a new axial load limit for prestressed piles, an integrated framework for seismic design of piles and superstructure, the dependency of pile displacement capacity on surrounding soils, and how further reduction to confinement reinforcement could be achieved, especially in medium to soft soils and in moderate to low seismic regions

Establishing Campylobacter culture methods in a clinical diagnostic laboratory and the first report of Campylobacter species isolation in northern Sri Lanka

Introduction: The Enteric Reference Laboratory of the Medical Research Institute (ERL/MRI), Colombo is the only public sector laboratory in Sri Lanka that performs Campylobacter cultures. Due to logistic limitations involving specimen transport from distant sites, efforts were taken to establish Campylobacter culture facilities in our local clinical microbiology laboratory.Methods: A blood-free charcoal-based selective agar medium (Karmali medium) was chosen based on performance characteristics and quality control (QC)/verification performed at the ERL/MRI. A suitable incubating method was assessed and chosen, and QC was performed in our laboratory. A technical staff member of our local laboratory received capacity building training at the ERL/MRI.Results: The quality control/verification process of the Karmali medium was satisfactory. The variable atmospheric incubator was chosen as the incubating method as it was shown to be more economical in the long-term given the anticipated work load and the QC was satisfactory. Following a satisfactory verification process, Campylobacter culture method was introduced in our laboratory. Five C. jejuni and one hippurate-negative C. jejuni/C. coli was detected in faecal specimens of six paediatric patients between May-December 2018. The isolation rate was 2.25% (6/267). Ciprofloxacin resistance was detected in four out of five C. jejuni isolates.Conclusion: Establishing Campylobacter culture methods in a routine clinical diagnostic laboratory will be beneficial in regions with high prevalence of diarrhoeal disease and with logistic limitations for specimen transport to the central reference laboratory. This is the first report of isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility of Campylobacter species from patients in northern Sri Lanka.</p

Original Articles Prescribing patterns of antibiotics for children before admission to a paediatric ward in Jaffna Teaching Hospital

Antibiotics are commonly prescribed drugs in paediatrics. However, the threat of antibiotic resistance among children is a cause for concern. A study of the administration patterns of antibiotics prior to admission was carried out on children admitted to a paediatric ward of Teaching Hospital, Jaffna from June to August 2008, using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Descriptive and basic statistical tests were used to analyse the data. The total number of admissions to the ward was 420 out of which 227 (54%) had been given antibiotics prior to admission. Of this, 53 (23%) were infants. Of the entire cohort, oral antibiotics were given to 214 (94%) and 47 (22%) of them were given two or more antibiotics. Amoxicillin (48%), erythromycin (20%) and cephalexin (16%) were the antibiotics commonly prescribed. Sixty three percent were prescribed antibiotics by general practitioners and 16 % were given antibiotics without consulting a doctor. Only 53 (23%) of the parents knew the name and the sideeffects of the antibiotics used on the children. Hospital stay was significantly more for children given prior antibiotics than for those who did not have prior antibiotics (14 % against 8 % p&lt;0.05). Other medications had been administered to 298 (71%). In order to reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance of microbes, an antibiotic policy should be carefully instituted and implemented

Authors’ Response: Minimum Confinement Reinforcement for Prestressed Concrete Piles and a Rational Seismic Design Framework

The authors greatly appreciate the reviewer’s interest in “Minimum Confinement Reinforcement for Prestressed Concrete Piles and a Rational Seismic Design Framework,”1 and his useful discussionThis article is published as Sritharan, S., Fanous, A., Huang, J., Suleiman, M., and Arulmoli, K. 2016. Authors’ Response: Minimum Confinement Reinforcement for Prestressed Concrete Piles and a Rational Seismic Design Framework. PCI Journal 61(3): 107-109. Posted with permission.</p

Minimum confinement reinforcement for prestressed concrete piles and a rational seismic design framework

The design of prestressed concrete piles in seismic regions is required to include confinement reinforcement in potential plastic hinge regions. However, the existing requirements for quantifying this reinforcement vary significantly, often resulting in unconstructible details. This paper presents a rational approach for designing minimum confinement reinforcement for prestressed concrete piles in seismic regions. By varying key variables, such as the concrete strength, prestressing force, and axial load, the spiral reinforcement quantified according to the proposed approach provides a minimum curvature ductility capacity of about 18, while the resulting ultimate curvature is 28% greater than an estimated target curvature for seismic design. This paper also presents a new axial load limit for prestressed piles, an integrated framework for seismic design of piles and superstructure, the dependency of pile displacement capacity on surrounding soils, and how further reduction to confinement reinforcement could be achieved, especially in medium to soft soils and in moderate to low seismic regions.This article is published as Sritharan, S., Fanous, A., Huang, J., Suleiman, M., and Arulmoli, K. 2016. Minimum Confinement Reinforcement for Prestressed Concrete Piles and a Rational Seismic Design Framework. PCI Journal 61 (1) 51-69. Posted with permission.</p