⎯ Hazard mitigation and structural dynamics have been important additions to the undergraduate civil engineering curriculum. UCIST (University Consortium on Instructional Shake Tables) has worked toward improving educational opportunities in this area for nearly 10 years. For the past 8 years, the US National Science Foundation has sponsored a cyberenvironment project referred to as the Network...

In order to use science to manage human–nature interactions, we need much more nuanced, and when possible, quantitative, analyses of the interplay among ecosystem services (ES), human well-being (HWB), and drivers of both ecosystem structure and function, as well as HWB. Despite a growing interest and extensive efforts in ES research in the past decade, systematic and quantitative work on the l...

A prominent long-period wave with a duration of 2000 sec or longer was recorded with a very-broadband system in Pasadena on June 18, 1988. This wave was not observed elsewhere, and i s considered of local origin. The acceleration amplitude is 2.5x10 -5 cm/sec 2 in the northwest direction, with the vertical component less than 10% of the horizontal. The horizontal acceleration can be interpreted...

In this study, stochastic seismic response of a rock-fill dam is investigated by finite element method. The Keban dam constructed in Elazığ, Turkey is chosen as a numerical example. The interaction of the rock-fill dam with the reservoir is neglected, but not the foundation rock. The properties of the dam materials were taken from the dam project and assumed to be linearly elastic, homogenous a...

Weibo, as the largest social media service in China, has billions of messages generated every day. The huge number of messages contain rich sentimental information. In order to analyze the emotional changes in accordance with time and space, this paper presents an Emotion Analysis Platform (EAP), which explores the emotional distribution of each province, so that can monitor the global pulse of...

Due to its rapid speed of information spread, wide user bases, and extreme mobility, Twitter is drawing attention as a potential emergency reporting tool under extreme events. However, at the same time, Twitter is sometimes despised as a citizen based non-professional social medium for propagating misinformation, rumors, and, in extreme case, propaganda. This study explores the working dynamics...

In order to increase the accuracy of evaluating seismic response of structures, it is critical to conduct dynamic analyses based upon precise nonlinear models being as consistent as possible with the real conditions of corresponding structures. The concentrated plasticity model including one elastic element and two nonlinear spring elements at both ends has been considered within the research c...

This paper summarises the impact of major earthquakes, 2010–2011, on Christchurch’s water supply network and what recovery measures have been applied, what worked well, what did not and why. A number of issues related to the open nature of the Christchurch water supply network were identified during earthquakes. It was difficult to manage large water supply pressure zones during the post-earthq...

This article outlines a new approach to rapidly estimate the damage to tall buildings immediately following a large earthquake. The preevent groundwork involves the creation of a database of structural responses to a suite of idealized ground-motion waveforms. The postevent action involves (1) rapid generation of an earthquake source model, (2) near real-time simulation of the earthquake using ...