A Feasibility Study of BBP for predicting shear capacity of FRP reinforced concrete beams without stirrups.

yesShear failure of concrete elements reinforced with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars is generally brittle, requiring accurate predictions to avoid it. In the last decade, a variety of artificial intelligence based approaches have been successfully applied to predict the shear capacity of FRP Reinforced Concrete (FRP-RC). In this paper, a new approach, namely, biogeography-based programming (BBP) is introduced for predicting the shear capacity of FRP-RC beams based on test results available in the literature. The performance of the BBP model is compared with several shear design equations, two previously developed artificial intelligence models and experimental results. It was found that the proposed model provides the most accurate results in calculating the shear capacity of FRP-RC beams among the considered shear capacity models. The proposed BBP model can also correctly predict the trend of different influencing variables on the shear capacity of FRP-RC beams

Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050

Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached$8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total,$40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this,$13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and$1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4$2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7$1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Flexural Behaviour of Continuous FRP Reinforced Concrete Slabs

N

Degloving injuries: Patterns, treatment and early complications among patients at a Teaching Hospital in Western Kenya

Background: Degloving injuries result from avulsion of extensive portion of skin and subcutaneous tissue from the underlying fascia, muscles and tendons. They commonly occur in orthopaedic surgery with accompanied blood loss, concomitant injuries and contamination.Objective: To determine the pattern, treatment, and early complications of degloving injuries.Methods: A prospective study among 48 patients admitted with degloving injuries at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital-Kenya between 1st December 2016 and 30th November 2017. The diagnosis was made through physical examination and ultrasonography followed by photo documentation while demographic and injury history were recorded in a questionnaire. Fisher’s exact test of association between pattern of injury and complications was conducted.Results: Median age was 26 (IQR: 18.5, 42.5) years with male to female ratio of 1.5:1. Most (75%) of the injuries were from road traffic accidents commonly (n=23) affecting the lower limbs. Open degloving injuries (n=44) either had single (n=29) or serial debridement (n=15) with the commonest definitive treatment being primary closure (n=22). Closed degloving injuries were either conservatively managed (n=2) or drained (n=2). Only 31.2% of the patients developed complications which statistically was significantly associated (p=0.002) with the patterns of degloving injury.Conclusion: Open degloving injuries affecting the lower limbs were commonest and were mainly treated through primary closure. Early complications were associated with injury patterns and treatment modality. There is need to develop institutional protocols for the treatment of degloving injuries to reduce early complications

Occurrence of a black mildew in <i>Santalum album</i> plantation at Anakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

The Anakulam sub-unit of the Trivandrum Division of the Kerala Forest Development Corporation has planted 7.84 ha of sandal wood trees in Block V, including the plantation of 5200 plants in the year 2010 and 3000 plants during the year 2011 at a spacing of 3x3m. This area is located at an altitude of 300m. The entire sandal wood plantation is being affected with a black mildew fungus, identified as Asterina congesta