The total costs of seismic retrofits: State of the art

This article presents the current state-of-practice with respect to quantifying the total cost to retrofit an existing building. In particular, we combine quantitative, qualitative, and heuristic data to provide a taxonomy for understanding the direct and indirect costs associated with seismic risk mitigation. Much of the literature to date has focused on estimating structural retrofit costs, the costs of retrofitting the structural elements of a building. In contrast, there is very little research or data on the remaining cost components of the total cost. We propose using structural cost as the foundation for approximating the remaining cost components and the total cost itself. To validate our findings, we compare the proposed approximations with actual cost estimates developed by engineering professionals.

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Methodologies of Economic Measurement and Vulnerability Assessment for Application in Landslide Risk Analysis in a Highway Domain Strip: A Case Study in the Serra Pelada Region (Brazil)

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11216130 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (21) ◽

pp. 6130 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ellen Felizardo Batista ◽

Larissa De Brum Passini ◽

Alessander Christopher Morales Kormann

Keyword(s):

Vulnerability Assessment ◽

Risk Mitigation ◽

Indirect Costs ◽

Direct Costs ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Landslide Risk ◽

Total Cost ◽

Landslide Occurrence ◽

Serra Do Mar

Landslides are one of the main causes of death caused by disasters in the world. In this study, methodologies to measure landslide costs and to assess vulnerability are presented, with the objective of applying them to landslide risk analyses. The methodologies were applied in a region of Serra do Mar, which is crossed by a highway. The analyses and mappings were implemented in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Through the application of the methodology that considers both direct and indirect costs in the composition of total cost, it was established how much an m2 of a landslide would cost. The composition of direct costs encompassed the damages related to restoration or construction of the highways, infrastructures, unpaved roads, residential and commercial buildings, vegetal cover and agricultural areas. In indirect costs, the economic losses by victims, highway interdiction, and agricultural area profitability were calculated. In the methodology for vulnerability assessment, bodily injuries, structural damages, and functional disturbances resulted from landslides were analyzed. The risk assessment was performed through the junction of the maps of total cost, vulnerability and susceptibility. The results indicate that indirect costs were predominant in cost composition, corresponding to 87% of total costs, in comparison to 13% of the direct costs, stressing the importance of considering indirect costs in economic measurement studies. As a result, it is possible to conclude that studying landslide consequences as economic parameters supports the increasing need of performing risk quantitative analyses. It is also prudent to add that these studies help decision makers in projects of disaster risk mitigation strategies, by allowing the identification of regions with greater economic impacts in case of landslide occurrence.

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Computer-Aided Decision Making for Regional Seismic Risk Mitigation Accounting for Limited Economic Resources

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11125539 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 5539

Author(s):

Iolanda Nuzzo ◽

Nicola Caterino ◽

Antonio Novellino ◽

Antonio Occhiuzzi

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Risk Reduction ◽

Seismic Risk ◽

Risk Mitigation ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Economic Resource ◽

Existing Building ◽

Seismic Risk Mitigation ◽

Technological Platform

Seismic risk mitigation levels for an existing building are a balance between the reduction of risk and the cost of rehabilitation. Evidently, the more that is paid the more risk is reduced; however, due to limited public budgets a practical approach is needed to manage the risk reduction program when a portfolio of buildings is concerned. Basically, decision makers face a challenge when there are a large number of vulnerable buildings and there is no plan for how to allocate the appointed budget. This study develops a technological platform that implements a decision-making procedure to establish how to optimally distribute the budget in order to achieve the maximum possible portfolio risk reduction. Decisions are made based on various presumed intervention strategies dependent on building’s level of risk. The technological platform provides an interactive, user-friendly tool, available online, that supports stakeholders and decision makers in understanding what the best economic resource allocation will be after selecting the available budget for a specific portfolio of buildings. In addition, the ease of use enables the user to analyze the extent of risk reduction achievable for different budget levels. Therefore, the web platform represents a powerful tool to accomplish two challenging tasks, namely optimal budget selection and optimal budget allocation to gain territorial seismic risk mitigation.

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Foreword Special issue Empowering communities for non-structural seismic risk mitigation: the central role of communication

Annals of Geophysics ◽

10.4401/ag-8714 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 64 (3) ◽

pp. SE331

Author(s):

Mário Lopes ◽

Gemma Musacchio ◽

Mónica Amaral Ferrira ◽

Carlos Sousa Oliveira

Keyword(s):

Risk Mitigation ◽

Structural Elements ◽

Special Issue ◽

Seismic Capacity ◽

Engineering Structures ◽

Strong Earthquakes ◽

Design Procedures ◽

Seismic Risk Mitigation ◽

Seismic Vibrations

This special issue of “Annals of Geophysics” concerns the dissemination of knowledge on the prevention of damage mainly due to non-structural elements during earthquakes and its practical application at houses, schools and offices by common citizens, companies and institutions. The seismic capacity of buildings and other civil engineering structures and infrastructures are object of regulations for design and construction, and in some cases also the design, fabrication and mounting of electrical and mechanical equipments. Consequently, even in strong earthquakes many collapses of buildings and infrastructures are avoided. However, with few exceptions, design procedures do not aim at avoiding seismic vibrations from being transferred to the structures, but enable the structures to resist to the effects of those vibrations

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Integrated “Generate, Make, and Test” for Formulated Products using Knowledge Graphs

Data Intelligence ◽

10.1162/dint_a_00096 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-29

Author(s):

Sagar Sunkle ◽

Deepak Jain ◽

Krati Saxena ◽

Ashwini Patil ◽

Tushita Singh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Recommendation System ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Knowledge Graph ◽

Related Data ◽

Current State ◽

One Step ◽

State Of Practice ◽

Initial Exploration ◽

Product Industry

Abstract In the multi-billion dollar formulated product industry, state of the art continues to rely heavily on experts during the generate, make and test steps of formulation design. We propose automation aids to each of these steps with a knowledge graph of relevant information as the central artefact. The generate step usually focuses on coming up with new recipes for intended formulation. We propose to aid the experts who generally carry out this step manually, by providing a recommendation system and a templating system on top of the knowledge graph. Using the former, the expert can create a recipe from scratch using historical formulations and related data. With the latter, the expert starts with a recipe template created by our system and substitutes the requisite constituents to form a recipe. In the current state of practice, the three steps mentioned above operate in a fragmented manner wherein observations from one step do not aid other steps in a streamlined manner. Instead of manually operated labs for the make and test steps, we assume the use of automated or robotic labs and in-silico testing respectively. Using two formulations namely, face cream and an exterior coating, we show how the knowledge graph may help integrate and streamline the communication between the generate, the make, and the test steps. Our initial exploration shows considerable promise.

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Behavioral Genetics: Concepts for Research and Practice in Language Development and Disorders

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3805.1126 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 38 (5) ◽

pp. 1126-1142 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Jeffrey W. Gilger

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Behavioral Genetics ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Genetic Research ◽

Great Promise ◽

Behavioral Genetic ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Future Goals ◽

Current State ◽

Research Designs

This paper is an introduction to behavioral genetics for researchers and practioners in language development and disorders. The specific aims are to illustrate some essential concepts and to show how behavioral genetic research can be applied to the language sciences. Past genetic research on language-related traits has tended to focus on simple etiology (i.e., the heritability or familiality of language skills). The current state of the art, however, suggests that great promise lies in addressing more complex questions through behavioral genetic paradigms. In terms of future goals it is suggested that: (a) more behavioral genetic work of all types should be done—including replications and expansions of preliminary studies already in print; (b) work should focus on fine-grained, theory-based phenotypes with research designs that can address complex questions in language development; and (c) work in this area should utilize a variety of samples and methods (e.g., twin and family samples, heritability and segregation analyses, linkage and association tests, etc.).

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Schizophrenia Research: Current State of the Art

Contemporary Psychology ◽

10.1037/015267 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 21 (7) ◽

pp. 497-498

Author(s):

STANLEY GRAND

Keyword(s):

State Of The Art ◽

Current State

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Multicultural Career Counseling Competencies: The Current State of Practice

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e708212007-001 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Nadya A. Fouad ◽

Mary E. Fitzpatrick ◽

Kristin M. Vespia

Keyword(s):

Career Counseling ◽

Counseling Competencies ◽

Current State ◽

State Of Practice

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Umbral Calculus

The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics ◽

10.37236/24 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 1000 ◽

Author(s):

A. Di Bucchianico ◽

D. Loeb

Keyword(s):

19Th Century ◽

Finite Differences ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Umbral Calculus ◽

Current State ◽

Logical Foundation ◽

Complete Bibliography ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

Mathematical Literature

We survey the mathematical literature on umbral calculus (otherwise known as the calculus of finite differences) from its roots in the 19th century (and earlier) as a set of “magic rules” for lowering and raising indices, through its rebirth in the 1970’s as Rota’s school set it on a firm logical foundation using operator methods, to the current state of the art with numerous generalizations and applications. The survey itself is complemented by a fairly complete bibliography (over 500 references) which we expect to update regularly.

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