Integration of resilience and sustainability: from theory to application

Purpose – This study aims to explore the challenges associated with the integration of resilience and sustainability, and propose a workable solution that ensures resilient and sustainable buildings. Recent research outcomes suggest that the number of natural hazards, both environmental and geophysical, will increase due to the effect of global warming. Various approaches have been investigated to reduce environmental degradation and to improve the physical resilience to natural hazards. However, most of these approaches are fragmented and when combined with cultural barriers, they often result into less-efficient assessment tools. Design/methodology/approach – The primary source of information used to develop this paper has been research publications, policy papers, reports and tool guidelines. A set of questions were developed to guide the review which was complemented with information distilled from the HFA 2005-2015 to develop an integration process to evaluate 10 international sustainability appraisal tools. Findings – The major finding of this research is that, from a technical point of view, resilience and sustainability could be integrated. However, it requires a long and thorough process with a multidisciplinary stakeholder team including technical, strategic, social and political parties. A combination of incentives and policies would support this process and help people work towards the integration. The Japanese model demonstrates a successful case in engaging stakeholders in the process which led to the development of a comprehensive appraisal tool, CASBEE®, where resilience and sustainability are integrated. Practical implications – Although data have been sought through literature review (i.e. secondary data), the research is expected to have significant impact, as it provides a clear theoretical foundation and methods for those wishing to integrate resilience within current sustainability appraisal tools or develop new tools. Social implications – This paper provides original concepts that are required to reduce fragmentation in the way resilience and sustainability are addressed. It sets up a new research agenda which has the potential to have a strong impact due the fact that sustainability and resilience are getting higher on the political priority scale. Originality/value – This paper provides findings of an original idea to reduce fragmentation in the way resilience and sustainability are addressed. It sets up a new research agenda which has the potential to have a strong impact due the fact that sustainability and resilience are getting higher on the political priority scale

Learning lessons from the 2011 Van Earthquake to enhance healthcare surge capacity in Turkey

Historically, Turkey has adopted a reactive approach to natural hazards which resulted in significant losses. However, following the 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake, a more proactive approach has been adopted. This study aims to explore the way this new approach operates on the ground. A multi-national and multi-disciplinary team conducted a field investigation following the 2011 Van Earthquake to identify lessons to inform healthcare emergency planning in Turkey and elsewhere. The team interviewed selected stakeholders including, healthcare emergency responders, search and rescue services, ambulance services, and health authority representatives, in addition to conducting a focus group. Data were analysed according to an open coding process and SWOT analysis. The findings suggest that the approach succeeded in developing a single vision by consolidating official efforts in a more structured way, mobilising many governmental and non-governmental organisations, securing significant amounts of resources including physical and human, and increasing the resilience and flexibility of infrastructure to expand its capacity. However, more attention is required to the development of stronger management procedures and acquisition of further resources

Lattice sequence spaces and summing mappings

The objective of this study is to advance the theory concerning positive summing operators. Our focus lies in examining the space of positive strongly p-summable sequences and the space of positive unconditionally p-summable sequences. We utilize these in conjunction with the Banach lattice of positive weakly p-summable sequences to present and characterize the classes of positive strongly (p; q)-summing operators, positive (p; q)-summing, and positive Cohen (p; q)-nuclear operators. Additionally, we describe these classes in terms of the continuity of an associatedte nsor operator that is defined between tensor products of sequences spaces.Comment: 17 page

A cost effectiveness analysis of salt reduction policies to reduce coronary heart disease in four Eastern Mediterranean countries.

BACKGROUND: Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is rising in middle income countries. Population based strategies to reduce specific CHD risk factors have an important role to play in reducing overall CHD mortality. Reducing dietary salt consumption is a potentially cost-effective way to reduce CHD events. This paper presents an economic evaluation of population based salt reduction policies in Tunisia, Syria, Palestine and Turkey. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Three policies to reduce dietary salt intake were evaluated: a health promotion campaign, labelling of food packaging and mandatory reformulation of salt content in processed food. These were evaluated separately and in combination. Estimates of the effectiveness of salt reduction on blood pressure were based on a literature review. The reduction in mortality was estimated using the IMPACT CHD model specific to that country. Cumulative population health effects were quantified as life years gained (LYG) over a 10 year time frame. The costs of each policy were estimated using evidence from comparable policies and expert opinion including public sector costs and costs to the food industry. Health care costs associated with CHDs were estimated using standardized unit costs. The total cost of implementing each policy was compared against the current baseline (no policy). All costs were calculated using 2010 PPP exchange rates. In all four countries most policies were cost saving compared with the baseline. The combination of all three policies (reducing salt consumption by 30%) resulted in estimated cost savings of $235,000,000 and 6455 LYG in Tunisia;$39,000,000 and 31674 LYG in Syria; $6,000,000 and 2682 LYG in Palestine and$1,3000,000,000 and 378439 LYG in Turkey. CONCLUSION: Decreasing dietary salt intake will reduce coronary heart disease deaths in the four countries. A comprehensive strategy of health education and food industry actions to label and reduce salt content would save both money and lives

Canine respiratory coronavirus employs caveolin-1-mediated pathway for internalization to HRT-18G cells

Canine respiratory coronavirus (CRCoV), identified in 2003, is a member of the Coronaviridae family. The virus is a betacoronavirus and a close relative of human coronavirus OC43 and bovine coronavirus. Here, we examined entry of CRCoV into human rectal tumor cells (HRT-18G cell line) by analyzing co-localization of single virus particles with cellular markers in the presence or absence of chemical inhibitors of pathways potentially involved in virus entry. We also targeted these pathways using siRNA. The results show that the virus hijacks caveolin-dependent endocytosis to enter cells via endocytic internalization

Degenerate higher order scalar-tensor theories beyond Horndeski up to cubic order

We present all scalar-tensor Lagrangians that are cubic in second derivatives of a scalar field, and that are degenerate, hence avoiding Ostrogradsky instabilities. Thanks to the existence of constraints, they propagate no more than three degrees of freedom, despite having higher order equations of motion. We also determine the viable combinations of previously identified quadratic degenerate Lagrangians and the newly established cubic ones. Finally, we study whether the new theories are connected to known scalar-tensor theories such as Horndeski and beyond Horndeski, through conformal or disformal transformations

A Mathematical model for Astrocytes mediated LTP at Single Hippocampal Synapses

Many contemporary studies have shown that astrocytes play a significant role in modulating both short and long form of synaptic plasticity. There are very few experimental models which elucidate the role of astrocyte over Long-term Potentiation (LTP). Recently, Perea & Araque (2007) demonstrated a role of astrocytes in induction of LTP at single hippocampal synapses. They suggested a purely pre-synaptic basis for induction of this N-methyl-D- Aspartate (NMDA) Receptor-independent LTP. Also, the mechanisms underlying this pre-synaptic induction were not investigated. Here, in this article, we propose a mathematical model for astrocyte modulated LTP which successfully emulates the experimental findings of Perea & Araque (2007). Our study suggests the role of retrograde messengers, possibly Nitric Oxide (NO), for this pre-synaptically modulated LTP.Comment: 51 pages, 15 figures, Journal of Computational Neuroscience (to appear

Lipschitz operator ideals and the approximation property

[EN] We establish the basics of the theory of Lipschitz operator ideals with the aim of recovering several classes of Lipschitz maps related to absolute summability that have been introduced in the literature in the last years. As an application we extend the notion and main results on the approximation property for Banach spaces to the case of metric spaces. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.P. Rueda acknowledges with thanks the support of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) MTM2011-22417. E.A. Sanchez Perez acknowledges with thanks the support of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) MTM2012-36740-C02-02.Achour, D.; Rueda, P.; Sánchez Pérez, EA.; Yahi, R. (2016). Lipschitz operator ideals and the approximation property. Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications. 436(1):217-236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmaa.2015.11.050S217236436

Tensor Characterizations of Summing Polynomials

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