The majority of timber bridges in Canada requires flexural and/or shear strengthening to increase their load-carrying capacity in response to the demand to increase the allowable gross vehicle weight. This paper presents an innovative approach for the use of fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) to strengthen timber bridges. The advantages of this strengthening system are inevitable: fibre reinforced...

Perspectives Research is important for improving health outcomes and is a critical element of a functioning health system. Without locally generated data and analysis, well-inten-tioned programmes do not often respond to the realities where they are implemented. 1 Hence strengthening research capacity in low-and middle-income countries is one of the most powerful, cost–effective and sustainable...

The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank and WHO has been supporting research capacity strengthening in low- and middle-income countries for over 40 years. In order to assess and continuously optimize its capacity strengthening approaches, an evaluation of the influence of TDR training grants on research career developme...

In European seismic areas timber structures are found as building frames, in combination with masonry infills, in bridges, but most frequently in roof structures and floor slabs of traditional buildings. Seismic strengthening of existing structures should provide a well-defined and simple path to seismic forces, maintain timber members elastic, and develop as much as possible the post-elastic b...

A new technique for the strengthening of existing R/C shear walls based on the application of very thin high performance jackets is presented in this paper. The strengthening jacket is made of high performance concrete and high strength steel mesh. The experimental study on a 1:3 scale R/C wall, proportioned to resist the vertical loads only, and reinforced by means of a 15 mm thick high perfor...