Computational environment for modeling and enhancing community resilience: Introducing the center for risk-based community resilience planning

The resilience of a community is defined as its ability to prepare for, withstand, recover from and adapt to the effects of natural or human-caused disasters, and depends on the performance of the built environment and on supporting social, economic and public institutions that are essential for immediate response and long-term recovery and adaptation. The performance of the built environment generally is governed by codes, standards, and regulations, which are applicable to individual facilities and residences, are based on different performance criteria, and do not account for the interdependence of buildings, transportation, utilities and other infrastructure sectors. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently awarded a new Center of Excellence (NIST-CoE) for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning, which is headquartered at Colorado State University and involves nine additional universities. Research in this Center is focusing on three major research thrusts: (1) developing the NIST-Community Resilience Modeling Environment known as NIST-CORE, thereby enabling alternative strategies to enhance community resilience to be measured quantitatively; (2) developing a standardized data ontology, robust data architecture and data management tools in support of NIST-CORE; and (3) performing a comprehensive set of hindcasts on disasters to validate the data architecture and NIST-CORE

Thermal magnetic resonance: physics considerations and electromagnetic field simulations up to 23.5 Tesla (1GHz)

Background: Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most aggressive malign brain tumor. The 5-year survival rate after tumor resection and adjuvant chemoradiation is only 10 %, with almost all recurrences occurring in the initially treated site. Attempts to improve local control using a higher radiation dose were not successful so that alternative additive treatments are urgently needed. Given the strong rationale for hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with glioblastoma, non-invasive radio frequency (RF) hyperthermia might significantly improve treatment results. Methods: A non-invasive applicator was constructed utilizing the magnetic resonance (MR) spin excitation frequency for controlled RF hyperthermia and MR imaging in an integrated system, which we refer to as thermal MR. Applicator designs at RF frequencies 300 MHz, 500 MHz and 1GHz were investigated and examined for absolute applicable thermal dose and temperature hotspot size. Electromagnetic field (EMF) and temperature simulations were performed in human voxel models. RF heating experiments were conducted at 300 MHz and 500 MHz to characterize the applicator performance and validate the simulations. Results: The feasibility of thermal MR was demonstrated at 7.0 T. The temperature could be increased by ~11 °C in 3 min in the center of a head sized phantom. Modification of the RF phases allowed steering of a temperature hotspot to a deliberately selected location. RF heating was monitored using the integrated system for MR thermometry and high spatial resolution MRI. EMF and thermal simulations demonstrated that local RF hyperthermia using the integrated system is feasible to reach a maximum temperature in the center of the human brain of 46.8 °C after 3 min of RF heating while surface temperatures stayed below 41 °C. Using higher RF frequencies reduces the size of the temperature hotspot significantly. Conclusion: The opportunities and capabilities of thermal magnetic resonance for RF hyperthermia interventions of intracranial lesions are intriguing. Employing such systems as an alternative additive treatment for glioblastoma multiforme might be able to improve local control by "fighting fire with fire". Interventions are not limited to the human brain and might include temperature driven targeted drug and MR contrast agent delivery and help to understand temperature dependent bio- and physiological processes in-vivo

Wave Impact Study on a Residential Building

Recent natural disasters around the world including both tsunamis and hurricanes, have highlighted the inability of wood buildings to withstand wave and surge loading during these extreme events. Little is known about the interaction between coastal residential light-frame wood buildings and wave and surge loading because often little is left of the buildings. This leaves minimal opportunity for forensic investigations. This paper summarizes the results of a study whose objective was to begin to better understand the interaction between North American style residential structures and wave loading. To do this, one-sixth scale residential building models typical of North American coastal construction, were subjected to tsunami wave bores generated from waves of heights varying from 10 cm to 60 cm. The lateral force produced by the wave bores were, as expected, found to vary nonlinearly with parent wave height.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Fuji Technology Press. The published article can be found at: http://www.fujipress.jp/JDR/.Keywords: hurricane, residential building, light-frame wood, tsunami, bore, wav

Multi-hazard Earthquake-Tsunami Structural Fragility Assessment Framework

A probabilistic multi-hazard earthquake-tsunami fragility assessment framework is presented, which accounts for the effect of accumulated damage on the structure due to earthquake loading on its subsequent tsunami response. The fragility assessment framework involves simulating structural response using advanced three dimensional (3D) nonlinear finite-element structural model subjected to sequential earthquake-tsunami loading at multiple seismic and tsunami intensity levels, using back to back nonlinear response history analyses (NRHA) and nonlinear static pushover (NSP) analyses. A modern earthquake-tsunami code designed four story reinforced concrete (RC) special moment resisting frame (SMRF) building is used as an application example to illustrate the proposed framework. Results indicate that the effect of accumulated damage due to earthquake loading is more pronounced in reducing the stiffness of the structure compared to the reduction in structural capacity. Moreover, the tsunami structural capacity required to achieve a given probability of damage exceedance decreases with increasing seismic intensity, especially at lower damage states.Funding for this study was provided as part of the cooperative agreement 70NANB15H044 between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Colorado State University through a subaward to Oregon State University. The content expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of NIST or the US Department of Commerce

Implementation of Plan Irregularity Rapid Visual Screening Tool for Wood-Frame, Single-Family Dwellings

A plan irregularity rapid visual screening method for seismic performance assessment of wood-frame, single-family dwellings is presented. Results from 124 samples were compared with (i) building-specific, non-linear time-history analysis, and (ii) FEMA 154 and ASCE 31 Tier 1. Verification using two houses damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake is presented. The method includes effects of shape, torsional forces from eccentricity, and is based on conservative values of shear wall capacities and a non-linear time-history analysis. The method is relatively more conservative than ASCE 31 Tier 1 and FEMA 154, and provides conservative but reasonable predictions of actual earthquake damage.Keywords: wood structures, rapid visual screening, seismic analysi

Cinema-going trajectories in the digital age

The activity of cinema-going constantly evolves and gradually integrates the use of digital data and platforms to become more engaging for the audiences. Combining methods from the fields of Human Computer Interaction and Film Studies, we conducted two workshops seeking to understand cinema audiences’ digital practices and explore how the contemporary cinema-going experience is shaped in the digital age. Our findings suggest that going to the movies constitutes a trajectory during which cinemagoers interact with multiple digital platforms. At the same time, depending on their choices, they construct unique digital identities that represent a set of online behaviours and rituals that cinemagoers adopt before, while and after cinema-going. To inform the design of new, engaging cinemagoing experiences, this research establishes a preliminary map of contemporary cinema-going including digital data and platforms. We then discuss how audiences perceive the potential improvement of the experience and how that would lead to the construction of digital identities

Seismic assessment of a heavy-timber frame structure with ring-doweled moment-resisting connections

The performance of heavy-timber structures in earthquakes depends strongly on the inelastic behavior of the mechanical connections. Nevertheless, the nonlinear behavior of timber structures is only considered in the design phase indirectly through the use of an R-factor or a q-factor, which reduces the seismic elastic response spectrum. To improve the estimation of this, the seismic performance of a three-story building designed with ring-doweled moment resisting connections is analyzed here. Connections and members were designed to fulfill the seismic detailing requirements present in Eurocode 5 and Eurocode 8 for high ductility class structures. The performance of the structure is evaluated through a probabilistic approach, which accounts for uncertainties in mechanical properties of members and connections. Nonlinear static analyses and multi-record incremental dynamic analyses were performed to characterize the q-factor and develop fragility curves for different damage levels. The results indicate that the detailing requirements of Eurocode 5 and Eurocode 8 are sufficient to achieve the required performance, even though they also indicate that these requirements may be optimized to achieve more cost-effective connections and members. From the obtained fragility curves, it was verified that neglecting modeling uncertainties may lead to overestimation of the collapse capacity