Seismic screening and structural investigation of heritage buildings for adaptive reuse: a survey study at Iloilo City, Philippines

Building adaptive reuse has been a popular strategy for cultural heritage conservation of structures for it serves two basic objectives of preserving heritage structures and promoting cultural heritage and tourism. Adaptive reuse is the adaptation of an old structure to allow the introduction of a modern function into the old structure. Old buildings are not demolished but recycled into modern uses. This strategy, however, needs a careful and thorough assessment of these existing heritage buildings to assure their resilience and sustainability to future hazards. Heritage buildings for adaptive reuse due to age and structural deterioration are highly vulnerable to hazards like earthquakes. Moreover, these buildings when used for commercial purposes may be subjected to additional loads due to changes in function. Considering the age of the structure, conformity to new design codes, additional loads imposed by unit modification, and the new function brought about by adaptive reuse of these structures, there is a need to assess these buildings to assure their safety and continuous use. Promoting adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and tourism is most appropriate in heritage zones like Calle Real in Iloilo City, the site for the case study. This paper presents a rapid seismic screening of buildings to prioritize a population of heritage buildings in a heritage zone for further detailed inspection. A site survey of the buildings was conducted at the heritage zone of Calle Real, Iloilo City in terms of their current use, and current condition to determine potential structural, maintenance, and functional issues related to resilience and to recommend future improvements in the implementation of adaptive reuse of heritage structures in cities and towns to assure their sustainability

Male osteoporosis: diagnosis and fracture risk evaluation

Male osteoporosis is challenging to diagnose and to treat. Underestimation of the risk of male osteoporosis, the combined presence of several interwoven causative factors in many patients, and uncertainty regarding the absorptiometry cutoffs associated with fractures are major obstacles to the diagnosis of male osteoporosis and to the identification of men at risk for fractures. The lifetime risk of osteoporotic fracture is estimated at 15% among men older than 50 years. One-third of proximal femoral fractures occur in men, and the associated mortality rate is 2- to 3-fold that in women. In men, nearly half the cases of osteoporosis are related to disease, medications, or risk factors. Although the criteria for diagnosing male osteoporosis are not agreed on, the definitions developed by the World Health Organization can be used provided the reference population is composed of young males. An absorptiometry T-score < or = -2.5 is useful for diagnosing osteoporosis but fails to adequately predict the fracture risk. The identification of men at high risk for fractures requires a combined evaluation of bone mineral density data, clinical risk factors, and risk factors for falls

Evaluación de la homogeneidad de la muestra y estudio intralaboratorio de la precisión intermedia en la determinación de aatoxinas en maní de exportación

En el presente trabajo se ha aplicado el diseño experimental factorial piramidal para evaluar la homogeneidad en el contenido de aatoxinas en muestras de maní de exportación, utilizando como técnica de medición analítica la cromatografía líquida de alto desempeño con detector de uorescencia (HPLC-FLD).   Este diseño permitió evaluar la precisión del método de ensayo y se comparó con valores de referencia del Codex Alimentario.   En primer lugar, la muestra del lote se dividió en 3 submuestras, las cuales fueron tratadas independientemente, tomando en cuenta el instrumento de medición, el analista, y diferentes porciones de ensayo.  Al aplicar el análisis de varianza de 4 factores, se demostró que el contenido de aatoxinas en el lote de maní en estudio está distribuido en forma heterogénea. A cada submuestra, se aplicó un diseño ANOVA 3F y se evaluó la precisión del método mediante el cálculo de las desviaciones estándares relativas de repetibilidad (RSDr) y de reproducibilidad intralaboratorio (RSDLab), encontrándose que, a pesar de algunas diferencias en el análisis de varianza, los valores de RSD son menores que los establecidos en el Codex. Esto signica que el método de ensayo utilizado cumple con la conformidad de los parámetros de precisión establecidos en normas internacionales