Urban Disaster Mitigation: The Role of Engineering and Technology

Urban Disaster Mitigation: The Role of Engineering and Technology
Author: F.Y. Cheng
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1995-07-21
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0080543464

Great loss of human life, structural damage, and social and economic upheaval occur repeatedly due to such natural hazards as earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, landslides, floods and tsunamis. Both the US and Taiwan, along with many other countries, have a history of such occurrences and a common need to reduce their effects.This volume includes papers from the fourth symposium workshop, held jointly between the US and Taiwan to discuss research and its application to multiple hazard mitigation. The workshop, Urban Disaster Mitigation, The Role of Engineering and Technology, discussed lessons learned from recent natural disasters; assessed results of Taiwan's multiple hazards research program and potential application to the US; and proposed further studies on subjects of mutual concern.Topics include recent scientific findings obtained in various natural hazard areas and assessment of actual and potential damage from earthquakes, floods and landslides. Of particular importance are measures that can be taken to mitigate these hazards ranging from use of new algorithms for structural engineering to warning systems for a given region. At a time when natural disasters are widespread, engineers play a key role. Construction methods and building codes are changing; current knowledge shapes the direction of these changes. The research results presented in these proceedings will benefit both the academic and practicing communities around the world, strengthening the relationship between these two important parties.

A Safer Future

A Safer Future
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 85
Release: 1991-02-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309045460

Initial priorities for U.S. participation in the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, declared by the United Nations, are contained in this volume. It focuses on seven issues: hazard and risk assessment; awareness and education; mitigation; preparedness for emergency response; recovery and reconstruction; prediction and warning; learning from disasters; and U.S. participation internationally. The committee presents its philosophy of calls for broad public and private participation to reduce the toll of disasters.

Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia

Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia
Author: Rajib Shaw
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2016-01-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128023775

Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia presents the latest information on the intensity and frequency of disasters. Specifically, the fact that, in urban areas, more than 50% of the world's population is living on just 2% of the land surface, with most of these cities located in Asia and developing countries that have high vulnerability and intensification. The book offers an in-depth and multidisciplinary approach to reducing the impact of disasters by examining specific evidence from events in these areas that can be used to develop best practices and increase urban resilience worldwide. As urban resilience is largely a function of resilient and resourceful citizens, building cities which are more resilient internally and externally can lead to more productive economic returns. In an era of rapid urbanization and increasing disaster risks and vulnerabilities in Asian cities, Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia is an invaluable tool for policy makers, researchers, and practitioners working in both public and private sectors. - Explores a broad range of aspects of disaster and urban resiliency, including environmental, economic, architectural, and engineering factors - Bridges the gap between urban resilience and rural areas and community building - Provides evidence-based data that can lead to improved disaster resiliency in urban Asia - Focuses on Asian cities, some of the most densely populated areas on the planet, where disasters are particularly devastating

Telegeoinformatics

Telegeoinformatics
Author: Hassan A. Karimi
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2004-03-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0203501071

Telegeoinformatics is a new discipline resulting from the integration of mobile computing with wired and wireless communications, geoinformatics (including GIS and GPS), and remote sensing techniques and technologies. Users of telegeoinformatics from every field will need a comprehensive reference to solve multiple types of problems involving locat

Handbook of Disaster Research

Handbook of Disaster Research
Author: Havidan Rodriguez
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 639
Release: 2009-11-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0387323538

This timely Handbook is based on the principle that disasters are social constructions and focuses on social science disaster research. It provides an interdisciplinary approach to disasters with theoretical, methodological, and practical applications. Attention is given to conceptual issues dealing with the concept "disaster" and to methodological issues relating to research on disasters. These include Geographic Information Systems as a useful research tool and its implications for future research. This seminal work is the first interdisciplinary collection of disaster research as it stands now while outlining how the field will continue to grow.

Structural Optimization

Structural Optimization
Author: Franklin Y. Cheng
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 814
Release: 2017-12-21
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1351991280

Today’s biggest structural engineering challenge is to design better structures, and a key issue is the need to take an integrated approach which balances control of costs with the requirement for handling earthquakes and other dynamic forces. Structural optimization is based on rigorous mathematical formulation and requires computation algorithms for sizing structural elements and synthesizing systems. Now that the right software and enough computing power are readily available, professionals can now develop a suite of alternative designs and a select suitable one. A thoroughly-written and practical book on structural optimization is long overdue. This solid book comprehensively presents current optimization strategies, illustrated with sufficient examples of the design of elements and systems and presenting descriptions of the process and results. Emphasis is given to dynamic loading, in particular to seismic forces. Researchers and practising engineers will find this book an excellent reference, and advanced undergraduates or graduate students can use it as a resource for structural optimization design.

Recent Advances in Optimal Structural Design

Recent Advances in Optimal Structural Design
Author: Scott A. Burns
Publisher: ASCE Publications
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780784475249

Sponsored by the Technical Committee on Structural Design of the Technical Administrative Committee on Analysis and Computation of the Technical Activities Division of the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE. This report documents the dramatic new developments in the field of structural optimization over the last two decades. Changes in both computational techniques and applications can be seen by developments in computational methods and solution algorithms, the role of optimization during the various stages of structural design, and the stochastic nature of design in relation to structural optimization. Topics include: Ømethods for discrete variable structural optimization; Ødecomposition methods in structural optimization; Østate of the art on the use of genetic algorithms in design of steel structures; Øconceptual design optimization of engineering structures; Øtopology and geometry optimization of trusses and frames; Øevolutionary structural optimization; Ødesign and optimization of semi-rigid framed structures; Øoptimized performance-based design for buildings; Ømulti-objective optimum design of seismic-resistant structures; and Øreliability- and cost-oriented optimal bridge maintenance planning. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography of journal papers on structural optimization published between 1987 and 1999.

Landslide Science and Practice

Landslide Science and Practice
Author: Claudio Margottini
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 652
Release: 2013-08-04
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 3642314457

This book contains peer-reviewed papers from the Second World Landslide Forum, organised by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), that took place in September 2011. The entire material from the conference has been split into seven volumes, this one is the second: 1. Landslide Inventory and Susceptibility and Hazard Zoning, 2. Early Warning, Instrumentation and Monitoring, 3. Spatial Analysis and Modelling, 4. Global Environmental Change, 5. Complex Environment, 6. Risk Assessment, Management and Mitigation, 7. Social and Economic Impact and Policies.