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The time-averaged shear-wave velocity in the upper 30 m (VS30) is widely used as a proxy for site characterization in building codes. Regional estimations of VS30 often use either slope-based, terrain-based, or geological approaches as a proxy. This technique has proven useful at a number of locations globally, and slope-based estimates formed the basis of the original global VS30 model implemented by the U.S. Geological Survey. Geostatistical models involve the study of potentially spatially correlated parameters. Modeling challenges arise when parameters are scarce or uncertain, and traditional geostatistical workflows cannot be implemented in all settings. In this study, the benefits of the spatial extents of VS30 proxies are used to supplement local data to implement a methodology for improving estimates using a multi-Gaussian Bayesian updating framework. This methodology is presented in the context of a data-scarce region, specifically, the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. Using geostatistical approaches typically used by the petroleum industry, this article develops a novel practice-oriented framework for VS30 estimation that can be adapted for use on a region-by-region basis. This framework provides an informed estimate and assessment of the uncertainties in which quantification of VS30 is required in geotechnical earthquake engineering applications.

This study focuses on the investigation of the factors that have limited, so far, the development of a consistent design and assessment approach for integral bridges (IBs). This paper presents a review of previous research and current design practices for IBs, followed by an overview of monitoring studies in the laboratory and in the field. As part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities–Priming Laboratory EXperiments on Infrastructure and Urban Systems experimental campaign, a small-scale 1 g physical experiment is described. The test aimed to simulate the soil–structure interaction arising from seasonal expansion and contraction of the bridge deck and assess the performance of different monitoring techniques. Pressure cells were used to measure the lateral stresses behind the abutment wall, particle image velocimetry was employed to monitor the soil behaviour behind the abutment and linear variable differential transformers were used to monitor the backfill surface movements. By combining the data from these instruments, a preliminary assessment of the soil–structure interaction behaviour of the idealised integral abutment under seasonal thermal loading has been obtained. These monitoring methods and the associated understanding of IB behaviour gained from the tests provide definitive evidence for the development of monitoring systems for larger-scale physical tests and field monitoring systems for IBs.

An assessment of liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley considering seasonal variability of the groundwater table has been conducted. To gain deeper understanding seven historical liquefaction records located adjacent to borehole datapoints (published in SAFER/GEO-591) were used to compare two methods for the estimation of liquefaction potential. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) blowcount data from 75 boreholes inform the new liquefaction potential maps. Various scenarios were modelled, i.e., seasonal variation of the groundwater table and peak ground acceleration. Ordinary kriging, implemented in ArcGIS, was used to prepare maps at urban scale. Liquefaction potential calculations using the methodology from (Sonmez, Environ Geol 44:862–871, 2003) provided a good match to the historical liquefaction records in the region. Seasonal variation of the groundwater table is shown to have a significant effect on the spatial distribution of calculated liquefaction potential across the valley. The less than anticipated liquefaction manifestations due to the Gorkha earthquake are possibly due to the seasonal water table level.

Seismic safety assessments at the large-scale are of paramount importance for densely urbanised areas with non-negligible seismic hazard. The topic is gaining increasing interest, particularly in nations with a longstanding-built environment. Methods based on non-linear history analyses of simplified building models are increasingly relevant and popular. This paper proposes a simplified model for moment resisting frame reinforced concrete buildings, and shows its efficiency in performing non-linear history analyses on a case study building. The proposed model has three degrees of freedom per storey, two translational and one rotational around the vertical axis. The building stiffness matrix and forces are derived from the column elements. Each column is modelled with two force-inter storey drift springs, one in each horizontal direction. These springs reflect the behaviour of the columns and account also for the flexibility and strength of the connected beams through calibration of their backbone curves. A genetic algorithm is used for the calibration of the parameters for each spring. Despite the approach simplicity, the proposed modelling scheme accounts for the effects associated with irregularities both in plan and in elevation. For this reason, it represents a major improvement with respect to similar approaches for large-scale vulnerability assessments, particularly for torsionally-flexible buildings. The proposed modelling approach is applied to a three-storey plan-irregular moment resisting frame building. A refined model is used as benchmark to show how the proposed approach can reproduce the main non-linear characteristics of the case study building subjected to a suite of ground motions.

During a mainshock-aftershock (MSAS) sequence, there is no time to retrofit structures that are damaged by a mainshock, therefore, aftershocks could cause additional damage. This study proposes a new approach to develop state-dependent fragility curves using real MSAS records. Specifically, structural responses before and after each event of MSAS sequences are used to obtain statistical relationships among the engineering demand parameter prior to the seismic event (pre-EDP), the intensity measure of the seismic event (IM), and the engineering demand parameter after the seismic event (post-EDP). The developed fragility curves account for damage accumulation, providing the exceeding probability of damage state (DS) given the IM of the event and the DS of the structure prior to the seismic excitation. The UBC-SAWS model, which was developed for wood-frame houses in British Columbia, Canada, is considered as a case study application. Results indicate that, for the examined structural typology, state-dependent fragility curves based on residual inter-storey drift ratio (pre-EDP), peak ground velocity (IM), and maximum inter-storey drift ratio (post-EDP) are the best choice to characterise the cumulative damage effect. An illustration of the developed fragility curves is provided by considering a hypothetical MSAS scenario of a Mw 9.0 Cascadia mainshock triggering a Mw 6.0 crustal event in the Leech River fault, affecting wooden houses in Victoria, Canada. The MSAS scenario increases Yellow tags (restricted access) by 12.3% and Red tags (no access) by 4.8%.

The Kathmandu Valley is within a seismically active region with only few recorded strong-motion data. Geophysical information in the Valley is also sparse. In addition, the absence of an open database which compiles in situ geophysical tests, borehole records, and geotechnical laboratory data is affecting the advancement of knowledge in the region. This article presents SAFER/GEO-591 database, named after the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)-funded project Seismic Safety and Resilience of Schools in Nepal (SAFER). SAFER/GEO-591 contains data from groundwater wells and boreholes originally commissioned for research and commercial purposes. This work describes (1) the quality assessment and harmonization process conducted on the dataset, (2) the variation of shear-wave velocity ( VS) measurements and geotechnical parameters with depth and elevation in the Valley, (3) the current understanding of the Valley sediment/bedrock topography, and finally (4) new geological cross sections. A companion article presents an updated VS30map across the Valley based on the contributions of this article. The database can be downloaded from the University of Bristol repository via DOI: https://doi.org/10.5523/bris.3gjcvx51lnpuv269xsa1yrb0rw

A novel framework for Eurocode 8-compliant design using Linear Time-History Analysis (LTHA) is discussed. LTHA overcomes the approximations typical of other linear seismic analyses but it still lacks a suitable approach for seismic input selection compatible with Eurocode 8-prescriptions. The critical aspect is to find a balanced compromise to control seismic input variability, suiting design purposes, but still being able to capture specific response features such as pulse-like effects. A LTHA design procedure has been included in ASCE/SEI 7-16 (2017) and described in FEMA P-1050 (2015), suggesting spectral-matching of three ground motions as input, so that LTHA can be used as alternative to Response Spectrum Analysis (RSA). Herein, a 12-storey regular Reinforced Concrete Moment Resisting Frame building is employed as case-study. Different ground motion selection strategies are compared. Firstly, three suites of spectrum compatible ground motions are used referring to requirements of Eurocode 8 for nonlinear time-history analysis and compared with LTHA-ground motion selection procedure included in FEMA P-1050. A new index for LTHA ground motion selection (Ieq) is proposed to control response variability in relation to the dynamic properties of the structure aimed at obtaining a suitable input for LTHA design. A target value for Ieq is proposed on the basis of structural response for far-field and near-field suites and an ad hoc suite of pulse-like ground motions selected considering pulse periods lower than the fundamental period of the structure. The difference in terms of design results between LTHA and RSA is employed as benchmark to evaluate the suitability of Ieq for LTHA design.

While age‐related volumetric changes in human hippocampal subfields have been reported, little is known about patterns of subfield functional connectivity (FC) in the context of healthy ageing. Here we investigated age‐related changes in patterns of FC down the anterior–posterior axis of each subfield. Using high resolution structural MRI we delineated the dentate gyrus (DG), CA fields (including separating DG from CA3), the subiculum, pre/parasubiculum, and the uncus in healthy young and older adults. We then used high resolution resting state functional MRI to measure FC in each group and to directly compare them. We first examined the FC of each subfield in its entirety, in terms of FC with other subfields and with neighboring cortical regions, namely, entorhinal, perirhinal, posterior parahippocampal, and retrosplenial cortices. Next, we analyzed subfield to subfield FC within different portions along the hippocampal anterior–posterior axis, and FC of each subfield portion with the neighboring cortical regions of interest. In general, the FC of the older adults was similar to that observed in the younger adults. We found that, as in the young group, the older group displayed intrinsic FC between the subfields that aligned with the tri‐synaptic circuit but also extended beyond it, and that FC between the subfields and neighboring cortical areas differed markedly along the anterior–posterior axis of each subfield. We observed only one significant difference between the young and older groups. Compared to the young group, the older participants had significantly reduced FC between the anterior CA1‐subiculum transition region and the transentorhinal cortex, two brain regions known to be disproportionately affected during the early stages of age‐related tau accumulation. Overall, these results contribute to ongoing efforts to characterize human hippocampal subfield connectivity, with implications for understanding hippocampal function and its modulation in the ageing brain.

The 2015 Gorkha earthquake caused considerable infrastructure damage and disruption. In the years that followed, the need emerged for planners to access hazard maps and better plan future developments and upgrades to existing infrastructure assets. In light of this, the ability to run stochastic simulations is important for scenario planning. When modelling geotechnical phenomena soil variability needs to be assessed. For stochastic modelling efforts, soil variability should be assessed statistically. There are two key geological units in the Kathmandu valley: the Gokarna and Kalimati formations. These valley sediments are highly variable but high-quality geotechnical data is scarce. To mitigate this data scarcity, a recently developed geotechnical database called SAFER/GEO-591 is used to determine the best fit probability density functions for key soil parameters in each formation relevant for geotechnical design and modelling efforts. The best-fit probability density functions can be used in modelling liquefaction potential, site, and foundation response for new and existing constructions in the valley.

Geostatistical methods are valuable to better understand the spatial distribution of geotechnical parameters at regional scale and to optimize the locations of future ground investigations. This article investigates the use of the kriging interpolation method to extend the knowledge of a specific geotechnical property from a few sites to a broader geographical area with a focus on the Kathmandu valley (Nepal). A Bayesian form of kriging is proposed in this article. The estimation of the shear wave velocity in the uppermost 30 m of soil ( VS30) in the Kathmandu valley is examined. Slope-based VS30 estimates from the United States Geological Survey are used as prior information, and 15 VS30 measurements are used as more precise data. Considering the limited number of high-quality VS30 measurements available in the valley, it is shown that the Bayesian scheme can lead to a more robust estimation of VS30 than that obtained with the ordinary kriging approach. A methodology for conditioning prior low-precision data to the measurements is also presented.

Developing an effective tsunami evacuation plan is essential for disaster risk reduction in coastal regions. To develop effective tsunami evacuation plans, real transportation network, interaction among evacuees, and uncertainties associated with future tsunami events need to be considered in a holistic manner. This study aims to develop such an integrated tsunami evacuation approach using agent-based evacuation simulation and advanced stochastic tsunami hazard assessment. As a case study, a urban area in Padang, Indonesia, threatened by tsunamis from the Mentawai–Sunda subduction zone, is adopted. The uncertainty of the tsunami hazard is taken into account by generating 900 stochastic tsunami inundation maps for three earthquake magnitudes, i.e. 8.5, 8.75, and 9.0. A simplified evacuation approach considering the evacuees moving directly to evacuation areas (defined a priori) is compared with two more rigorous agent-based modeling approaches: (a) a two-destination-point tsunami evacuation plan developed by the local government and (b) a multiple-destination-point plan developed in this study. The improved agent-based stochastic tsunami evacuation framework with multiple destinations takes advantage of the extensive tsunami hazard analyses to define safe areas in a dynamic manner and is capable of capturing the uncertainty of future tsunami risk in coastal areas. In contrast, the results clearly show that the simplified approach significantly underestimates the evacuation time, and the existing tsunami evacuation routes identified by local authorities may be insufficient to save lives.

In recent years there has been renewed interest on integral abutment bridges (IABs), mainly due to their low construction and maintenance cost. Owing to the monolithic connection between deck and abutments, there is strong soil structure interaction between the bridge and the backfill under both thermal action and earthquake shaking. Although some of the regions where IABs are adopted qualify as highly seismic, there is limited knowledge as to their dynamic behaviour and vulnerability under strong ground shaking. To develop a better understanding on the seismic behaviour of IABs, an extensive experimental campaign involving over 75 shaking table tests and 4800 time histories of recorded data, was carried out at EQUALS Laboratory,University of Bristol, under the auspices of EU-sponsored SERA project (Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe). The tests were conducted on a 5m long shear stack mounted on a 3 m × 3 m 6-DOF earthquake simulator, focusing on interaction effects between a scaled bridge model, abutments, foundation piles and backfill soil. The study aims at (a) developing new scaling procedures for physical modelling of IABs, (b) investigating experimentally the potential benefits of adding compressible inclusions (CIs) between the abutment and the backfill and (c) exploring the influence of different types of connection between the abutment and the pile foundation. Results indicate that the CI reduces the accelerations on the bridge deck and the settlements in the backfill, while disconnecting piles from the cap decreases bending near the pile head.

Research on infilled reinforced concrete frames is fundamental for the vulnerability assessment of existing buildings. The analysis of the interaction between infill and frame is an open issue in performance-based earthquake engineering due to its importance in predicting the dynamic behavior and failure modes of buildings. This study provides an open access database of laboratory tests on masonry infilled reinforced concrete frames, collected from the literature and harmonized in a consistent framework. The database is named Masonry Infill Database 1.1 (MID 1.1). The data were grouped in categories to calibrate a piecewise linear curve representing the lateral response of the infill depending on the masonry wall and the frame details. The gathered data were used to assess analytical models and numerical studies from the literature with the aim of revising the formulations currently used in the equivalent strut approach. An empirical model for the equivalent strut was developed through a power-law multiple regression of the database. The open access database in its spreadsheet form is intended to provide a useful tool for the analysis of infilled reinforced concrete frames.

Rainfall-triggered landslides are an ‘everyday risk’ to Small Island States, such as Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, and have the potential to destroy or damage buildings and disrupt lifelines such as roads and pipelines. To better evaluate these landslide hazards, efforts have been made to develop decision-support tools linking rainfall scenarios to stability for different types of road cut slope. Many thousands of stochastic simulations can be performed using a combined hydrology and slope stability model (CHASM) which requires inputs of slope cross-sectional geometry, soil and hydrological parameters which allows representative rainfall-triggered landslide scenarios to be produced. To use CHASM for this purpose the statistical variation of the relevant geotechnical properties such as friction angle needs to be assessed. This paper presents the analysis of an updated database for Saint Lucian soils that has been compiled using data supplied by the Government of Saint Lucia Ministry of Infrastructure, Port Services and Transport. The Coefficient of Variation values of the key soil mechanics parameters are reported and previously developed transformation models for estimating effective friction angle are updated. The Weibull statistical distribution is shown to be the best fit to the friction angle data.

Schools represent a reference point for communities in any part of the world. Therefore, their safety and resilience against natural catastrophes is of paramount importance. The recent 2015 Gorkha earthquake has unfortunately shown that Nepalese school buildings are highly vulnerable to seismic actions. Most of them are indeed constituted by low-quality unreinforced masonry (URM). The quantification of URM vulnerability is fundamental to estimate the risk associated to school building portfolios at territorial scale. This work discusses statistics available for Nepalese schools and then presents analytical fragility curves for three recurrent URM typologies covering more than 50% of the school building stock. The methodology adopted to derive fragilities is spectral-based and accounts for out-of-plane and in-plane damage potential in a single easy-to-use analytical framework. Inter-building, intra-building and record-to-record variabilities are directly considered in the analysis. The obtained fragilities integrate the studies available for the region and can be used for pre-/post-earthquake risk assessment and prioritization of interventions at country level.

Empirical vulnerability models are fundamental tools to assess the impact of future earthquakes on urban settlements and communities. Generally, they consist of sets of fragility curves that are derived from georeferenced post-earthquake damage data. Following the 2015 Nepal earthquake sequence, the World Bank, through the Global Program for Safer Schools, conducted a Structural Integrity and Damage Assessment (SIDA) of about 18,000 school buildings in the earthquake-affected area. In this work, the database is utilized to identify the main structural characteristics of the Nepalese school building stock. For the first time, extended SIDA school damage data is processed to derive fragility curves for the main structural typologies. Data sets for each structural typology are used for a Bayesian updating of existing fragilities to obtain regional models for Nepalese schools. These fragility estimates can be adopted to assess potential seismic losses of the school infrastructure in Nepal. Additionally, they can be used for calibrating loss assessment studies in the wider Himalayan region where the structural typologies are similar.

Seismic risk assessment of a template school across Nepal is carried out to evaluate the suitability of a single design structure across an area with variable seismic hazard. Many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) use template designs for buildings as a method of reducing design costs; this results in a single seismic design used over a large area. Such an approach is particularly popular in Nepal as the government requires that all school designs obtain approval from the Department of Education. Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) studies have shown a varying seismic hazard across Nepal with the PGA a 475-year return event ranging from 0.05 g to 0.73 g. Pahar trust, a charity that builds schools in Nepal, provided the design of a reinforced concrete (RC) structure with masonry infills. Finite element (FE) models and fragility curves are developed with and without the masonry infill as to explore the effect of masonry infills on the seismic risk. The hazard and the fragility are then integrated to find the seismic risk of the template school across Nepal. The damage distribution is then evaluated for the template school under a 475-year and 2475-year earthquake. The probability of the school exceeding damage limitation (DL) and life safety (LS) has significant geographic variation, with a 475-year earthquake causing the school to exceed DL in most locations and a 2475-year return earthquake causing the school to exceed LS in the majority of locations. The structural contribution of infills brings the risk level below the threshold typically employed as reference in Europe.

The Nankai-Tonankai megathrust earthquake and tsunami pose significant risks to coastal communities in western and central Japan. Historically, this seismic region hosted many major earthquakes, and the current national tsunami hazard assessments in Japan consider megathrust events having moment magnitudes between 9.0 and 9.1. In responding to the lack of rigorous uncertainty analysis, this study presents an extensive tsunami hazard assessment for the Nankai-Tonankai Trough events, focusing upon the southwestern Pacific region of Japan. A set of 1,000 kinematic earthquake rupture models is generated via stochastic source modelling approaches, and Monte Carlo tsunami simulations are carried out by considering high-resolution grid data of 10-m and coastal defense structures. Significant advantages of the stochastic tsunami simulation methods include the enhanced capabilities to quantify the uncertainty associated with tsunami hazard assessments and to effectively visualize the results in an integrated manner. The results from the stochastic tsunami simulations can inform regional and local tsunami risk reduction actions in light of inevitable uncertainty associated with such probabilistic tsunami hazard assessments, and complement conventional deterministic tsunami scenarios and their hazard predictions, such as those developed by the Central Disaster Management Council of the Japanese Cabinet Office.

We investigated episodic future thinking (EFT) and future-based cognition and decision-making in patient SG, who developed a dense retrograde amnesia following hypoxia due to a cardiac arrest. Despite intact general cognitive and executive functioning, SG was unable to remember events from his entire lifetime. He had, however, relatively spared anterograde memory and general semantic knowledge. Voxel-based morphometry detected a reduction of gray matter in the thalamus, cerebellum and fusiform gyrus bilaterally, and, at a reduced threshold, in several regions of the autobiographical memory network, including the hippocampi. We show that SG is unable to imagine personal future events, but can imagine fictitious events not self-relevant and not located in subjective time. Despite severely impaired EFT, SG shows normal attitudes towards the future time, and normal delay discounting rates. These findings suggest that retrieval of autobiographical information from long-term memory is necessary for EFT. However, relatively spared anterograde memory and general semantic knowledge may be sufficient to allow construction of fictitious experiences. As well, EFT is not necessary to drive future-oriented cognition and choice. These findings highlight the relation between autobiographical memory and EFT, and the fractionation of human temporal consciousness. Moreover, they contribute to our understanding of retrograde amnesia as an impairment of memory as well as future thinking.

Traditional unreinforced masonry (URM) constructions still represent an important part of the school building stock in several low-income countries including Nepal. Unfortunately, their intrinsic vulnerability impacts negatively on the resilience of cities and local communities. Observations after major seismic events have shown that the predominant mode of failure is the out-of-plane (OOP) of the weak and loosely connected perimeter masonry walls which typically leads to partial or global collapse. Starting from this evidence, a closed-form analytical approach is presented aimed at deriving the OOP force-displacement response of URM walls for different boundary conditions and vertical loads. The novel analytical solution is successfully validated with the results of seventeen OOP experimental tests on URM walls available in the literature. Then, referring to a case-study Nepalese school building, capacity curves of the constituting walls are derived and adopted for the vulnerability assessment of the structure through the Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM) where equivalent hysteretic damping is calibrated with available OOP shaking table test results. Lastly, PGA capacities for different damage states are successfully compared with median values from observational fragility curves.

Near-fault ground motions can impose particularly high seismic demands on the structures due to the pulses that are typically observed in the velocity time-histories. The velocity-pulses can be further categorized into either a distinct acceleration-pulse (acc-pulse) or a succession of high-frequency, one-sided acceleration spikes (non-acc-pulse).The different characteristics of velocity-pulses imply different frequency-content of the ground motions, potentially causing different seismic effects on the structures.This study aims to investigate the characteristics of the two types of velocity-pulses and their impacts on the inelastic displacement ratio (CR) of single-degree-of-freedom systems. First, a new method that enables an automated classification of velocity-pulses is used to compile a ground motion dataset which consists of 74 acc-pulses and 45 non-acc-pulses. Several intensity measures characterizing different seismological features are then compared using the two groups of records. Finally, the influences of acc-pulses and non-acc-pulses on the CR spectra are studied; the effects of pulse period and hysteretic behavior are also considered. Results indicate that the characteristics of the two types of velocity-pulses differ significantly, resulting in clearly distinct CR spectral properties between acc-pulses and non-acc-pulses. Interestingly, mixing acc-pulses and non-acc-pulses can lead to local ‘bumps’ that were found in the CR spectral shape by previous studies.The findings of this study highlight the importance of distinguishing velocity-pulses of different types when selecting near-fault ground motions for assessing then on linear dynamic response of structures.

Despite its critical location, right on top of the Main Himalayan Thrust, the building stock of Nepal is mainly constituted by highly vulnerable non-engineered unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. Most of them were realized with traditional construction techniques and locally available materials like field stones and mud mortar. The empirical evidence from historical earthquakes has shown that these buildings have very limited seismic capacity. On the contrary, if adequate retrofitting interventions are implemented, their seismic performance can improve substantially. Unfortunately, the upfront investment required by retrofitting remains an issue since it is considered too high and not associated with an immediate and tangible benefit. This prevents building owners and investors from retrofitting properties as preparedness measure. Starting from these considerations, this work presents an incremental approach for the implementation of retrofitting so that the total investment is spread over time in a gradual and cost-effective way. In details, two government-approved retrofitting techniques for Nepali stone in mud mortar masonry (SMM) buildings are broken down into phases and analysed from an engineering and financial perspective. A probabilistic cost-benefit analysis of each phase is carried out to quantify the return on investment and the payback time of seismic enhancement. Results indicate that retrofitting is a financially advantageous investment since the reduction in future earthquake-induced loss exceeds the upfront cost of the intervention. Additionally, the incremental approach allows more flexibility in implementing effective risk management actions at regional and national scale.

OBJECTIVE: Functional neuroimaging and lesion studies show that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is implicated in episodic future thinking (EFT), yet its role remains unclear. In this study, we sought to (a) confirm recent findings of impaired EFT in patients with lesions to the vmPFC (vmPFC patients) using a new task, and (b) investigate the influence of nonepisodic mechanisms, namely, narrative construction and working memory maintenance, on vmPFC patients' EFT performance. METHOD: vmPFC patients and healthy participants imagined future events using pictures as cues, described pictures, or described pictures while maintaining them in working memory after an observation phase. RESULTS: Compared with the controls, vmPFC patients produced less specific reports across all conditions, as indicated by fewer internal (episodic) but a similar number of external (semantic) details. However, controlling for description and working memory performance did not eliminate group differences in EFT. Moreover, vmPFC damage reduced the proportion of internal-to-total details for EFT only. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that EFT problems in vmPFC patients are not merely the reflection of problems in maintaining in working memory and narrating events, but, more likely, of an impairment upstream, in creating novel events. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Nankai-Tonankai Trough is the primary source of major subduction earthquakes in western and central Japan, and the preparedness against future Nankai-Tonankai megathrust subduction events is of critical importance. This study develops a novel multi-hazard catastrophe model for the future Nankai-Tonankai megathrust subduction earthquake and tsunami based on a stochastic earthquake source modeling approach, and applies it to Kuroshio Town, Kochi Prefecture, Japan, that faces significant seismic-tsunami hazards due to the Nankai-Tonankai subduction earthquakes. The earthquake-tsunami catastrophe model incorporates the stochastic rupture sources, spatially correlated ground motion fields, tsunami inundation simulations, detailed building portfolio data, seismic and tsunami fragility models, and building damage cost estimation. It produces the multi-hazard and single-hazard loss distributions, accompanied by detailed earthquake rupture scenarios, shaking-tsunami hazard intensity distributions, and building damage distributions. The earthquake-tsunami loss estimation results for Kuroshio Town indicate that the tsunami loss tends to increase with the magnitude more significantly than the shaking loss and contributes more towards the increase in the multi-hazard total loss with the earthquake magnitude. Importanly, the new multi-hazard tool facilitates the identification of critical multi-hazard loss scenarios and leads to integrated hazard-risk maps that are particularly useful for disaster risk reduction and management purposes.

The aim of this work is to open up new opportunities for designers towards a performance-based approach to derive fragilities at design stage. Nonlinear Time-History Analysis (NTHA) represents the current practice for the estimation of damage within the Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) framework. Among the NTHA approaches for fragility assessment, Cloud Analysis (CA) represents a convenient tool which allows evaluating the parameters of the conditional demand distribution based on simple regression of cloud-dispersed data points obtained from recorded ground motions. Notwithstanding the growth in computer processing power and software development, NTHA is generally time-consuming and it requires advanced expertise in nonlinear modelling, preventing its use in the professional field at design stage. Herein, a novel procedure for deriving fragility curves built up through Linear Time-History Analysis (LTHA) and CA is presented. It can be employed within a simplified PBEE approach at design stage for performance comparison of design solutions. Differences between LTHA results and those obtained through NTHA are compared for the assessment of a 12-storey Reinforced-Concrete Moment-Resisting-Frame building designed according to Eurocode 8. Assessment is performed for two limit states: Life Safety- and Damage Limitation- Limit State. Critical aspects for LTHA-based fragility assessment such as (i) influence of ground motion suite size and (ii) identification of “unacceptable cases” are investigated. The final level of approximation of these “design-fragilities” is very satisfactory making the full approach pursuable and useful for professional applications.

Buried gas pipelines in seismic-prone regions may suffer leaks or breaks as a consequence of an earthquake, especially if the pipeline is subjected to large differential displacements due to geotechnical failures (e.g., landslide or liquefaction). This paper presents a methodology to assess the risk of a gas pipeline infrastructure at a regional level in the aftermath of a seismic event. Once earthquake characteristics, such as magnitude and epicenter, are known, seismic intensity measures (IMs), such as peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV), are estimated at the location of each pipe through a simulation-based procedure. The potential updating from real-time data coming from accelerometric stations is considered. These IMs are then used to study the cascading landslide and liquefaction hazards, providing a hybrid empirical-mechanical-based estimation of permanent ground displacements (PGD). With the aid of damage and fragility functions from the literature, loss figures and damage maps are derived as decision-support tools for network managers and stakeholders. Losses provide a preliminary estimation of repair costs, whereas damage maps support the prioritization of inspections in the aftermath of the event. The risk methodology is a novel combination of cutting-edge and consolidated approaches. Firstly, different crosscorrelation models between PGA and PGV are included. Secondly, a new three-phase back-to-back geotechnical approach is provided for both landslide and liquefaction, representing (1) the susceptibility, (2) the triggering, and (3) the PGD estimation phases. The 1976 Friuli earthquake and the high-pressure gas network of northeast Italy are used as a test-bed scenario for the risk methodology aimed at emphasizing pros and cons of the different alternative options investigated.

Damage data on low-to-mid-rise Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings, collected during the UK Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team post-earthquake reconnaissance mission on the August 24 Central Italy earthquake, are employed to derive empirical fragility relationships. Given the small dataset, the new data distributions are used for the Bayesian update of fragility functions derived for the L’Aquila earthquake (same seismic region and similar construction typologies). Other properties such as number of storeys, age of construction and shape in plan of the buildings are also analyzed. This information is employed to assess the ability of the FAST method to predict damage states in non-regular infilled RC buildings for the municipalities of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and Norcia, all severely affected by the 2016 Central Italy sequence. FAST is a spectral-based method to derive capacity curves and peak ground acceleration damage state thresholds for buildings. It is a dedicated methodology for regular RC frame buildings with masonry infills, first calibrated on damage data from the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake and applied to the 2011 Lorca (Spain), the 2012 Emilia (Italy) events for damage back-analyses. The new data from the August 2016 Central Italy earthquake provide a test-bed for FAST further employments in case of less homogenous building samples. The application of FAST presented here accounts for different shake-maps produced by both the United States Geological Survey and the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology which are significantly different and representative of different refinements of the demand scenario. For the area of Amatrice, where the two shake-maps provide similar estimates and the buildings considered match reasonably well the typology for which FAST is calibrated, the comparison between damage level observed and as provided by FAST is very satisfactory. For other structural typologies like RC industrial structures and dwellings with non-hollow-clay-bricks as infills, FAST needs further calibration.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and hippocampus have been implicated in the mental construction of scenes and events. However, little is known about their specific contributions to these cognitive functions. Boundary extension (BE) is a robust indicator of fast, automatic, and implicit scene construction. BE occurs when individuals who are viewing scenes automatically imagine what might be beyond the view, and consequently later misremember having seen a greater expanse of the scene. Patients with hippocampal damage show attenuated BE because of their scene construction impairment. In the current study, we administered BE tasks to patients with vmPFC damage, brain-damaged control patients, and healthy control participants. We also contrasted the performance of these patients to the previously-published data from patients with hippocampal lesions (Mullally, Intraub, & Maguire, 2012). We found that vmPFC-damaged patients showed reduced BE compared to brain-damaged and healthy controls. Indeed, BE attenuation was similar following vmPFC or hippocampal damage. Notably, however, whereas hippocampal damage seems to particularly impair the spatial coherence of scenes, vmPFC damage leads to a difficulty constructing scenes in a broader sense, with the prediction of what should be in a scene, and the monitoring or integration of the scene elements being particularly compromised. We conclude that vmPFC and hippocampus play important and complementary roles in scene construction.

Retrofitting of existing buildings with seismic protection devices is an important approach which is commonly adopted by the civil engineering community. This paper investigates the potential of inerter-integrated seismic vibration absorber for building structures. A real case study of a high-rise building in Colombia is considered herein to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed device. An inerter generates a force proportional to the relative acceleration between its two terminals and it fundamentally enlarges the range of realisable passive mechanical impedances. In this work, an interter-integrated device is modelled into the open-source structural engineering software OpenSees and implemented into a simplified two-dimensional (2D) version of the Colombian test-bed structure. The performances of the structure retrofitted with the proposed absorber are compared to those of the same structure retrofitted with a traditional damper device, a more classical retrofitting. This preliminary work demonstrates the effectiveness of the inerter-integrated retrofitting strategies considering the non-structural damage caused by a moderate earthquake. It has been found that with an optimal inerter-integrated device, the maximum inter-storey drift of the building will be reduced by 45.64% comparing with the structure without any retrofitting, which is 20.8% further reduction comparing with the structure retrofitted with an optimal damper.

Italian and Spanish seismic codes prescribe lower behaviour factor (q) for wide-beam reinforced concrete moment resisting frames (WBF) with respect to conventional q factors adopted for deep-beam frames (DBF). Conversely, other relevant seismic codes worldwide, such as Eurocode 8, consider WBF capable of high ductility performances, provided that design rules related to (i) stress transfer in connections, (ii) lateral stiffness and (iii) energy dissipation are complied. On the other hand, local ductility of wide beams (WB) appears to be systematically lower than that for deep beams (DB). A parametric comparative numerical analysis of deformations of DB and WB, following the current approach, shows that WB have larger ultimate chord rotation but lower ductility in terms of chord rotation than DB despite the similar ductility in curvature, which is mainly due to a lower plastic hinge lengths in WB. Aimed at verifying whether such disadvantage is overcome by modern codes or not, several archetype European RC residential buildings are designed alternatively with DB or WB. Seismic performances are assessed with different degree of detail. Results suggest that WBF provide at least similar global seismic capacities than DBF, especially in frames whose design is ruled by damage limitation limit state. Hence, any reduction of q in Mediterranean codes for WBF appears to be at least obsolete.