Most of the existing buildings in seismic prone regions have been built before publication modern design provisions against earthquakes, resulting need for structural retrofitting. Furthermore, some those are also subjected to additional hazards that may be either triggered by earthquakes (e.g., landslides, soil liquefaction, tsunamis) or associated with other natural anthropogenic events, such...

a new type of infilled frame has been recently proposed. it has a frictional sliding fuse, horizontally installed at the mid-height of the infill. it has already shown that such infilled frames have higher ductility, strength and damping ratio as well as more enhanced hysteresis cycles, compared with regular infilled frames. this experimental paper is focused on the influence of gravitational l...

An XP customer needs to write and check acceptance tests. However, the format for defining the tests needs to be clear. Many acceptance test approaches use arcane formats which do not promote clarity for the customer, due to a conflict of interest between the complexities of automation and the needs of the customer. We discuss the evolution of acceptance tests to improve their clarity for the c...

Data provenance is a valuable tool for detecting and preventing cyber attack, providing insight into the nature of suspicious events. For example, an administrator can use provenance to identify the perpetrator of a data leak, track an attacker’s actions following an intrusion, or even control the flow of outbound data within an organization. Unfortunately, providing relevant data provenance fo...

This paper describes an experimental program that deals with retrofitting of infill un-reinforced masonry walls (URM) with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP). The primary objective of this research is to develop a retrofit strategy that while economical will minimize the influence of the retrofit on the overall performance of structural frames in predominant seismic regions. Allowing some damage to...

The authors develop slim and light-weight vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) by producing vacuum layers with spacers and plastic plates. The developed VIPs have the advantages of a low cost and easy installation, thus facilitating retrofitting insulation of existing buildings. In addition, one of the developed VIPs is slim and translucent so it can be easily used for windows in an internal install...

Iron-based shape memory alloys (Fe-SMA) have recently emerged as a promising alternative for structural design and retrofitting due to their unique self-prestressing ability. The feasibility of using Fe-SMA rebars, strips, stirrups improving the flexural shear behavior reinforced concrete beams slabs has been successfully demonstrated in many experimental investigations. However, existing studi...