The Relationship between Seismic Hazard Vulnerability and Stage of Economic Development: Illustration for Three Countries

This thesis investigates the underlying relationship between the implicit level of risk accepted for natural hazard vulnerability, and the level of economic, social and political development of the country. In particular, it reports on a study of seismic hazard and code development/enforcement for three countries at very different levels of development, illustrated through a case study. Haiti, Chile, and New Zealand all experienced major earthquakes in 2010. The loss of life and devastation in Haiti, however, was much worse than in Chile and New Zealand, despite the magnitude of the earthquake being smaller. The aim of this study is to compare the differences among the three events, as well as comment on some of the social aspects that led to the conditions at the time of the earthquakes. Variables considered are: magnitude of earthquake, depth of hypocenter, local geological conditions, demographics of the population, population at risk in the area of the earthquake, and performance of structures in the affected areas. Vulnerability information is also related to the seismic provisions of the building codes, and the atmosphere of code enforcement. Damage has been and is continuing to be investigated by several countries concerning the loss of lives, injury, property damage, and how well various structures have performed in these three countries. This study reports on the connection between the performance of structures and the quality and enforcement of existing building codes in the respective countries. This is accomplished through a review of current and prior building codes, a comparison of the codes to that of the United States, and the standard practice of inspection or enforcement of codes during construction. Recognizing the differing degree of economic development and societal needs, and considering the international contributions of aid, the question of mandatory code development and enforcement is considered

Confined Masonry: Theoretical Fundamentals, Experimental Test, Finite Element Models, and Future Uses

Inspired from the MS thesis that investigated the underlying relationship between the implicit level of risk accepted for natural hazards and the level of economic, social and political development of Haiti, a developing country, this dissertation focuses structurally on the use of low-rise confined masonry (CM) buildings in natural hazard consideration areas. The research emphasizes the responses of the CM shear wall structure as a whole, as well as the material conditions in detail. Key findings are presented from experimental tests, computational modeling procedures, analytical results, and reliability analysis for CM structures followed with the summary of the behavior of CM subjected to in-plane loading. This project covers behavior and reliability of CM structures subject to earthquake loading and enables informed decisions about risk in earthquake engineering design, including assessment of existing structures and retrofit design. Through experimental tests, development of a finite element analysis algorithm, and reliability analysis, this study found that structural integrity of a CM system is especially sensitive to the compression confining the wall from the surrounding concrete tie-frame and the materials used in the masonry panel. These parameters are addressed through the use of micro and macro modeling concepts, with the final model based on a macro-modeling strategy built by a force-deformation envelope curve prediction, and analysis that shows the structural safety aspect of CM in a recommended reliability index. Unreinforced masonry contributes significantly to the number of structural failures, value of economic losses, and business disruption associated with natural hazards in the U.S. This study is an initial step towards providing the Masonry Standards Joint Committee (MSJC) with information on the CM system and build guidelines as a variation of the masonry infill system. For regular masonry buildings, this study provides a mechanism to improve the consistency and efficiency of building codes through explicit evaluation of design provisions. This research outcome is applicable to a large number of unreinforced masonry structures throughout the world, and as extension ranging from the vulnerability of lifeline system to historical preservation of masonry structures

Intensified Antituberculosis Therapy in Adults with Tuberculous Meningitis

BACKGROUND Tuberculous meningitis is often lethal. Early antituberculosis treatment and adjunctive treatment with glucocorticoids improve survival, but nearly one third of patients with the condition still die. We hypothesized that intensified antituberculosis treatment would enhance the killing of intracerebral Mycobacterium tuberculosis organisms and decrease the rate of death among patients. METHODS We performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected adults and HIV-uninfected adults with a clinical diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis who were admitted to one of two Vietnamese hospitals. We compared a standard, 9-month antituberculosis regimen (which included 10 mg of rifampin per kilogram of body weight per day) with an intensified regimen that included higher-dose rifampin (15 mg per kilogram per day) and levofloxacin (20 mg per kilogram per day) for the first 8 weeks of treatment. The primary outcome was death by 9 months after randomization. RESULTS A total of 817 patients (349 of whom were HIV-infected) were enrolled; 409 were randomly assigned to receive the standard regimen, and 408 were assigned to receive intensified treatment. During the 9 months of follow-up, 113 patients in the intensified-treatment group and 114 patients in the standard-treatment group died (hazard ratio, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 0.73 to 1.22; P=0.66). There was no evidence of a significant differential effect of intensified treatment in the overall population or in any of the subgroups, with the possible exception of patients infected with isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis. There were also no significant differences in secondary outcomes between the treatment groups. The overall number of adverse events leading to treatment interruption did not differ significantly between the treatment groups (64 events in the standard-treatment group and 95 events in the intensified-treatment group, P=0.08). CONCLUSIONS Intensified antituberculosis treatment was not associated with a higher rate of survival among patients with tuberculous meningitis than standard treatment. (Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Li Ka Shing Foundation; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN61649292.)

Ohmic currents and pre-decoupling magnetism

Ohmic currents induced prior to decoupling are investigated in a standard transport model accounting both for the expansion of the background geometry as well as of its relativistic inhomogeneities. The relative balance of the Ohmic electric fields in comparison with the Hall and thermoelectric contributions is specifically addressed. The impact of the Ohmic currents on the evolution of curvature perturbations is discussed numerically and it is shown to depend explicitly upon the evolution of the conductivity.Comment: 8 pages, 4 included figure

Childhood hospitalisation and related deaths in Hanoi, Vietnam: a tertiary hospital database analysis from 2007 to 2014

To describe hospital admission and emergency visit rates and potential risk factors of prolonged hospitalisation and death among children in Hanoi.; A retrospective study reviewed 212 216 hospitalisation records of children (aged 0-17) who attended the Vietnam National Children's Hospital in Hanoi between 2007 and 2014. Four indicators were analysed and reported: (1) rate of emergency hospital visits, (2) rate of hospitalisation, (3) length of hospital stay and (4) number of deaths. The risk of prolonged hospitalisation was investigated using Cox proportion hazard, and the risk of death was investigated through logistic regressions.; During 2007-2014, the average annual rate of emergency visits was 2.2 per 1000 children and the rate of hospital admissions was 13.8 per 1000 children. The annual rates for infants increased significantly by 3.9 per 1000 children during 2012-2014 for emergency visits and 25.1 per 1000 children during 2009-2014 for hospital admissions. Digestive diseases (32.0%) and injuries (30.2%) were common causes of emergency visits, whereas respiratory diseases (37.7%) and bacterial and parasitic infections (19.8%) accounted for most hospital admissions. Patients with mental and behavioural disorders remained in the hospital the longest (median=12 days). Morbidities related to the perinatal period dominated mortality causes (32.5% of deaths among those admitted to the hospital. Among the respiratory diseases, pneumonia was the leading cause of both prolonged hospitalisation and death.; Preventable health problems, such as common bacterial infections and respiratory diseases, were the primary causes of hospital admissions in Vietnam

Learning terminology in the age of higher education internationalization: problems and solutions

The internationalization of higher education brings particular changes to the learning process at universities. The most prominent of them is the increased use of English as a language of professional discourse. As students should use both their native language and a foreign one there is an essential problem of terminology interference. To solve the problem and to facilitate the professional communication and integration of students in global dimension it is necessary to carry out the work on terminology standardization. The most suitable form for such work is an information thesaurus