Abstract

Mountain glaciers in China are an important water source for both China and adjoining countries, and therefore their adaptation to glacier change is crucial in relation to maintaining populations. This study aims to improve our understanding of glacial vulnerability to climate change to establish adaptation strategies. A glacial numerical model is developed using spatial principle component analysis (SPCA) supported by remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) technologies. The model contains nine factors—slope, aspect, hillshade, elevation a.s.l., air temperature, precipitation, glacial area change percentage, glacial type and glacial area, describing topography, climate, and glacier characteristics. The vulnerability of glaciers to climate change is evaluated during the period of 1961–2007 on a regional scale, and in the 2030s and 2050s based on projections of air temperature and precipitation changes under the IPCC RCP6.0 scenario and of glacier change in the 21st century. Glacial vulnerability is graded into five levels: potential, light, medial, heavy, and very heavy, using natural breaks classification (NBC). The spatial distribution of glacial vulnerability and its temporal changes in the 21st century for the RCP6.0 scenario are analyzed, and the factors influencing vulnerability are discussed. Results show that mountain glaciers in China are very vulnerable to climate change, and 41.2% of glacial areas fall into the levels of heavy and very heavy vulnerability in the period 1961–2007. This is mainly explained by topographical exposure and the high sensitivity of glaciers to climate change. Trends of glacial vulnerability are projected to decline in the 2030s and 2050s, but a declining trend is still high in some regions. In addition to topographical factors, variation in precipitation in the 2030s and 2050s is found to be crucial.

Abstract

Abstract

In this paper, a new methodology is described to evaluate the effect of open air explosions on equivalent structures to the facades of buildings. The structural damage is defined by vulnerability surfaces that are a function of the explosion magnitude, the distance to the structure and the detonation damage index developed in this article. The proposed index considers the structural load capacity degradation, the fracturing and the loss material due to the explosion. The structure is modeled by means of discrete elements (DEM) which allows describing the multifracturing state. The load capacity of the structure is quantified by a virtual compression test on the damaged structure. The forces on the structure caused by the explosion are modeled by a semi-empirical methodology, which avoids the fluid-dynamic analysis and reduces the computation time.

Abstract

Abstract

In this work, the vulnerability of an unreinforced masonry building, evaluated on the one hand by using the incremental dynamic analysis, and on the other hand by using nine representative non-linear static incremental procedures, is compared. For comparison
reasons among the different non-linear static procedures, the obtained incremental dynamic analyses results are used as reference values. The aim of this analysis is to evaluate the applicability and reliability of the diverse non-linear static procedures for unreinforced
masonry buildings, and to propose modifications oriented to improve their use in this typology of structures. For this purpose, a fully representative unreinforced masonry building of the dominating building type in the Eixample district of Barcelona, is analyzed. Furthermore, the conditional spectrum approach procedure has been applied with the aim to conveniently define the seismic demand. Regarding the definition of the fragility curves, two different methodologies were used for each non-linear static procedure and incremental dynamic analyzes. Subsequently, the corresponding damage indices as well as the damage curves were calculated and compared for the different considered peak ground acceleration values. The results of this comparison seem to confirm that the damage curves obtained by performing the NSP and by applying the Risk-UE methodology overestimate the damage corresponding to low values of the PGA and underestimate the damage for higher values of the PGA.

Abstract

This article start with a research completed in 2018, whose goal was to identify situations and causes of physical, emotional, social and economic vulnerability of the students of the Social Communication´s program. In pursuit of this aim, four discussion groups, 125 surveys shaped with 49 closed questions each, provided the information for the analysis. The results of the research, enabled the identification of some socioeconomic characteristics of the students, such as that the program average student lives in low-middle class neighborhoods, does not get to have three proper meals a day and depends on his family to pay their student fees and their sustenance. The research also showed that belonging to the LGBTIQ+ population, parenting, and financial difficulties, represent some bigger student vulnerability conditions which impact in the quality of the training environment and the forming process itself.