What Do Reviewers Want? Reflections on Editing the Journal for the Past Year

The peer review process can be challenging. In this essay, the journal’s editor and editorial assistant present a summary of reviewers’ comments to authors from the past year. In presenting themes across 79 reviews, this essay arms authors with knowledge about reviewers’ expectations for manuscripts submitted to the journal. A secondary aim of this essay is to encourage reviewers to continue providing supportive and helpful feedback. As the journal heads into its third year of publishing, we are well on our way to creating the first home for high-quality risk and crisis communication research from around the globe

A Community-Based Marketing Campaign at Farmers Markets to Encourage Fruit and Vegetable Purchases in Rural Counties with High Rates of Obesity, Kentucky, 2015-2016

Availability of farmers markets may increase fruit and vegetable consumption among rural residents of the United States. We conducted a community-based marketing campaign, Plate it Up Kentucky Proud (PIUKP), in 6 rural communities over 2 years to determine the association between exposure to the campaign and fruit and vegetable purchases, adjusted for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipient status. Logistic regression was used to examine the odds of the PIUKP campaign influencing purchases. Awareness of the PIUKP marketing campaign was significantly associated with a willingness to prepare fruits and vegetables at home. Using marketing strategies at farmers markets may be an effective way to improve fruit and vegetable purchases in rural communities

Load-Path and Stiffness Degradation of Floor Diaphragms in Reinforced Concrete Buildings Subjected to Lateral Loading - Part I, Experimental Observations.

An experimental investigation into the degradation of load-paths in damaged diaphragms was conducted to provide answers to the New Zealand structural engineering community following concerns that strut-and-tie load-paths could not cross wide cracks that develop around the floor perimeter during earthquake loading demands. A full-scale super-assembly concrete moment frame specimen with a hollow-core flooring system installed was subjected to realistic drift deformations to induce damage in the floor, followed by in-plane shear deformation demands to assess the ability of the diaphragm to transfer load between frames at different floor damage levels. It was found that compression struts could form across much wider cracks in floors than previously anticipated. This was due to contact compressive stresses forming via loose aggregate that lodged within rugged sinusoidal wide floor cracks. Additionally, it was found that diaphragm compression struts can only transfer to the primary lateral load resisting frame through beam plastic hinges acting in minor axis shear following gaps opening between the floor and columns at moderate drift demands. Smooth floor to column interfaces did not provide the same residual rubble aggregate binding compressive load path observed in cracks within the floor. The primary driver of diaphragm shear stiffness degradation was found to be torsional softening of the perimeter beams of the floor. This was caused by simultaneous bi-directional demands applied to longitudinal beam bars and a phenomenon known as the bowstring effect applying large torsional demands through the beam-floor continuity reinforcement. The diaphragm strength and rate of shear stiffness degradation was found to be highly reliant on earthquake directionality. A set of generalised equations was developed to describe the rate of diaphragm shear stiffness degradation with respect to magnitude and directionality of drift demands. Part I of II in this journal series details the full-scale super-assembly experiment conducted on a floor diaphragm at different damage states and the observed behaviour during testing

A probabilistic method for the operation of three-phase unbalanced active distribution networks

YesThis paper proposes a probabilistic multi-objective optimization method for the operation of three-phase distribution networks incorporating active network management (ANM) schemes including coordinated voltage control and adaptive power factor control. The proposed probabilistic method incorporates detailed modelling of three-phase distribution network components and considers different operational objectives. The method simultaneously minimizes the total energy losses of the lines from the point of view of distribution network operators (DNOs) and maximizes the energy generated by photovoltaic (PV) cells considering ANM schemes and network constraints. Uncertainties related to intermittent generation of PVs and load demands are modelled by probability density functions (PDFs). Monte Carlo simulation method is employed to use the generated PDFs. The problem is solved using ɛ-constraint approach and fuzzy satisfying method is used to select the best solution from the Pareto optimal set. The effectiveness of the proposed probabilistic method is demonstrated with IEEE 13- and 34- bus test feeders