Structural damage detection methods using vibration measurements have been developed for decades. Measurement selections may affect damage detection results, because inevitable uncertainties are involved in vibration testing. A new sensor placement index is defined as the ratio of two parameters, namely, the contribution of measurement points to a Fisher information matrix, and the damage sensi...

This paper provides an insight to the drivers, design elements and issues associated with spatially enabling the management of coastal zones, in particular coastal property rights, restrictions and responsibilities. Coastal zones are encumbered by hundreds of property rights, restrictions, and responsibilities. These are created to manage coastal population increases, climate change, and to del...

The system dynamics technique has been demonstrated to be a proper method by which to model and simulate the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDI). An SDI is a collaborative effort to manage and share spatial data at different political and administrative levels. It is comprised of various dynamically interacting quantitative and qualitative (linguistic) variables. To incorporate li...

In the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, leprosy has been mainly an urban disease, with an uneven geographical distribution related at least partially to the way urban space has been occupied and transformed. Spatial analysis may thus become an important tool to establish an epidemiological surveillance system for leprosy. Homogeneous micro-areas were defined in the city of Olinda through the integr...

as an automated fashion for updating spatial metadata which is based on an ongoing research by authors on “Spatial Metadata Automation”. The paper firstly compares different methods of spatial metadata generation and focuses on an automation framework. This framework embraces three streamlines including create, update and enrich. Finally, a new synchronisation approach is introduced to address ...

This article, which is based on a case study of the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape, explores the challenges that confront the implementation of SDI projects. It is argued that, in order to encourage active participation of potential beneŽ ciaries in such projects, ‘the ground has to be cleared’, which necessitates the delineation of the core social dynamics that go hand in hand with the technic...

In recent decades many researchers have studied on the damage assessment of structures after a seismic event. To assess the damage of structures under an earthquake, it is so important to study the correlations between earthquake parameters and damages of the structures. A lot of seismic parameters have been defined by researchers to characterize an earthquake. Spectral parameters of an earthqu...

Safety valves, discretionary advisory boards, and other cost containment mechanisms enhance the political feasibility of stringent climate policy by limiting firms’ and households’ exposures to higher than anticipated costs associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, cost containment comes at a price; it increases the risk of climate-related damages and it also discourages inves...

BACKGROUND The aetiology of disabling chronic conditions in childhood in high income countries is not fully understood, particularly the association with socio-economic status (SES). Very few studies have used longitudinal datasets to examine whether exposure to social disadvantage in early childhood increases the risk of developing chronic conditions in later childhood. Here we examine this as...

Work on this module began under support of National Science Foundation Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement grant DUE9752792 [16]. The video of Reagan’s SDI speech was obtained with the help of the Reagan presidential library. Video clips from the CPSR-sponsored M.I.T. debate are used with permission of the national office of the Computing Professionals for Social Responsibility. Portions of this ...