The Public's Role in Seismic Design Provisions

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 1345-1361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Davis ◽  
Keith Porter
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Seismic Design ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Large Earthquake ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Seismic Safety ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Buildings ◽  
Civil Engineers

Seismic design provisions in the United States reflect structural engineers’ experience, technical capabilities, and judgment of what is in the public's interest. Yet the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Code of Ethics implicitly requires civil engineers to make a reasonable effort to elicit and reflect the preferences of the public, whose lives and livelihoods are at stake, when setting performance objectives. The public seems capable of expressing its preferences clearly, as suggested by the San Francisco Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety and the residential code enhancement adopted by Moore, Oklahoma. And at least one public opinion survey suggests that people in earthquake country prefer better performance than the code intends for new buildings, namely, that buildings should largely remain functional or habitable after a large earthquake. The public also seems willing to pay more for new buildings that meet its expectations.

Implementing the performance-based seismic design for new reinforced concrete structures: Comparison among ASCE/SEI 41, TBI, and LATBSDC

2021 ◽  
pp. 875529302098196
Author(s):  
Siamak Sattar ◽  
Anne Hulsey ◽  
Garrett Hagen ◽  
Farzad Naeim ◽  
Steven McCabe
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Seismic Design ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Seismic Analysis ◽  
Tall Buildings ◽  
The United States ◽  
Analysis And Design ◽  
Performance Based Seismic Design ◽  
New Buildings

Performance-based seismic design (PBSD) has been recognized as a framework for designing new buildings in the United States in recent years. Various guidelines and standards have been developed to codify and document the implementation of PBSD, including “ Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings” (ASCE 41-17), the Tall Buildings Initiative’s Guidelines for Performance-Based Seismic Design of Tall Buildings (TBI Guidelines), and the Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council’s An Alternative Procedure for Seismic Analysis and Design of Tall Buildings Located in the Los Angeles Region (LATBSDC Procedure). The main goal of these documents is to regularize the implementation of PBSD for practicing engineers. These documents were developed independently with experts from varying backgrounds and organizations and consequently have differences in several degrees from basic intent to the details of the implementation. As the main objective of PBSD is to ensure a specified building performance, these documents would be expected to provide similar recommendations for achieving a given performance objective for new buildings. This article provides a detailed comparison among each document’s implementation of PBSD for reinforced concrete buildings, with the goal of highlighting the differences among these documents and identifying provisions in which the designed building may achieve varied performance depending on the chosen standard/guideline. This comparison can help committees developing these documents to be aware of their differences, investigate the sources of their divergence, and bring these documents closer to common ground in future cycles.

scholarly journals Plague among Ground Squirrels in America

1910 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
George W. McCoy
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Sanitary Authority ◽  
The Government

The United States has been fortunate in never having had any extensive epidemics of plague. With the exception of a few cases, not over a dozen, that are directly chargeable to the infection of the indigenous rodents (ground squirrels), the disease has been confined to the two largest and most important cities on the Pacific Coast, San Francisco and Seattle. In each city the disease has yielded promptly to vigorous sanitary measures carried out by the public health arm of the Federal Government. Under the political organization of the Government, direct control of measures for the suppression of a disease is taken by the central sanitary authority only when a request is made by the local authorities, but it has been the experience that local authorities are prompt to make requests for assistance whenever any serious epidemic appears.

scholarly journals Transferring Racial/Ethnic Marketing Strategies From Tobacco to Food Corporations: Philip Morris and Kraft General Foods

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim H. Nguyen ◽  
Stanton A. Glantz ◽  
Casey N. Palmer ◽  
Laura A. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Action ◽  
Target Marketing ◽  
Marketing Program ◽  
Philip Morris ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Objectives. To investigate the transfer of marketing knowledge and infrastructure for targeting racial/ethnic minorities from the tobacco to the food and beverage industry in the United States. Methods. We analyzed internal industry documents between April 2018 and April 2019 from the University of California San Francisco Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library, triangulated with other sources. Results. In the 1980s, Philip Morris Companies purchased General Foods and Kraft Foods and created Kraft General Foods. Through centralized marketing initiatives, Philip Morris Companies directly transferred expertise, personnel, and resources from its tobacco to its food subsidiaries, creating a racial/ethnic minority–targeted food and beverage marketing program modeled on its successful cigarette program. When Philip Morris Companies sold Kraft General Foods in 2007, Kraft General Foods had a “fully integrated” minority marketing program that combined target marketing with racial/ethnic events promotion, racial/ethnic media outreach, and corporate donations to racial/ethnic leadership groups, making it a food industry leader. Conclusions. The tobacco industry directly transferred racial/ethnic minority marketing knowledge and infrastructure to food and beverage companies. Given the substantial growth of food and beverage corporations, their targeting of vulnerable populations, and obesity-related disparities, public policy and community action is needed to address corporate target marketing.

The Public Face of Chinatown: Actresses, Actors, Playwrights, and Audiences of Chinatown Theaters in San Francisco during the 1920s

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
NANCY YUNHWA RAO
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cantonese Opera ◽  
Interior Layers ◽  
Artistic Self

AbstractIn the twentieth century, elaborate and prosperous Chinatown theaters in New York and San Francisco (from the 1920s to the early 1930s) constituted a golden age of Cantonese opera in the United States, a vivid musical life that has been almost completely expunged from U.S. cultural memory. Seeking a historical narrative for this musical past—preserving those vivid sonorities and glamorous images that “threaten to disappear irretrievably”—entails an examination of the actresses, actors, musicians, and playwrights who enlivened the stages of these opera theaters, as well as the audiences who flocked to see them. In particular, this study sheds light on the significance of the performers named on the daily playbills and pictured in newspapers or on immigration bond papers. The images and sonorities extend beyond the bounds of the theaters to epitomize the Chinese community. The study not only offers a significant window into the interior layers of the music lives of Chinese America, but also reflects on the Chinatown community's sense of its musical and artistic self.

NEHRP Guidelines and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Shapiro ◽  
Christopher Rojahn ◽  
Lawrence D. Reaveley ◽  
James R. Smith ◽  
Ugo Morelli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Seismic Design ◽  
Building Material ◽  
The United States ◽  
Seismic Resistance ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Seismic Rehabilitation ◽  
Professional Practitioners ◽  
New Buildings

Based on the conclusion that the primary barrier to widespread seismic rehabilitation of buildings in the United States was the lack of a consensus-backed, nationally applicable, professionally accepted rehabilitation standard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency supported the development of the NEHRP Guidelines and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings (FEMA 273 and 274). A six-year effort by a team of experienced professional practitioners and university researchers who were motivated to produce a standard that specifically addressed the differences in designing for seismic resistance in new buildings, as opposed to existing buildings, resulted in the NEHRP Guidelines and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings. These NEHRP Guidelines will provide the tools for design professionals of varying expertise in seismic design to design economical and appropriate seismic rehabilitation for buildings of essentially any size, commonly used building material and configuration.

Investigation and Analysis of Seismic Safety of Farmhouses in the Tanlu Fault Zone

2014 ◽  
Vol 496-500 ◽  
pp. 2495-2500
Author(s):  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Yan Hua Wang ◽  
Ru Qiang Xie
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Seismic Design ◽  
Weak Links ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Seismic Capacity ◽  
Seismic Safety ◽  
Strong Earthquakes ◽  
Tanlu Fault Zone ◽  
Tanlu Fault ◽  
New Buildings

In view of the tectonic background for occurrence of moderately strong earthquakes of the Tanlu fault zone in Anhui Province, methods to combine field survey with literature investigation, and combined with the the damage of rural residence in the previous earthquake, the influences of structure and construction characteristics of the agricultural area in the seismic capacity are elaborated. The weak links of the seismic performance of structure are investigated, and the strategies according to the seismic design of new buildings and seismic appraisal and strengthening measures of existing buildings are put forward. A new seismic technology for foundation isolation is introduced. This method can provide reference for seismic design of the area.

New Carquinez Bridge, Northeast of San Francisco, California: Technological Design Advancements

2000 ◽  
Vol 1740 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-48
Author(s):  
Thomas Spoth ◽  
Dyab Khazem ◽  
Gregory I. Orsolini
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Suspension Bridge ◽  
The United States ◽  
Suspension Bridges ◽  
Stress Concentrations ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Box Girder ◽  
Seismic Safety

The new Carquinez Strait Bridge, northeast of San Francisco, California, will be the first major suspension bridge to be constructed in the United States since the second Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland in 1973. It will replace an existing steel cantilever truss bridge, built in 1927, that was found to be seismically inadequate. The new bridge consists of an orthotropic closed steel box girder superstructure, two main cables 512 mm (20 1/8 in.) in diameter, reinforced concrete towers, and gravity anchorages. The design has set a new standard in modern suspension bridge design in the United States, particularly with respect to seismic safety. Some of the key elements of the design that are discussed are the global design loading criteria for long-span suspension bridges, the design of allowable stresses in main cable wire, the state-of-the-art design detailing of critical welded connections, the finite-element analysis approach for the box girder to determine the actual plate stresses and stress concentrations, and the design of the reinforced concrete tower leg sections for enhanced ductile seismic performance.

scholarly journals The Forensic Engineering in an Earthquake Scenario What We Can Expect When The Big One Hits

1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Garrett
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Large Earthquake ◽  
The United States ◽  
Earthquake Damage ◽  
Earthquake Scenario ◽  
Richter Scale ◽  
Forensic Engineering

Many of you may not feel concerned regarding earthquake damage, and what may occur when the expected large earthquake of the magnitude which hit San Francisco in 1906 reoccurs. The experts tell us it is not a question of if, but when. And the when could be in the next decade or two. That is not just a California problem. Be aware that there are 39 states in the United States which may be subject to substantial earthquake damage. The largest earthquake ever in the United States was along the New Madrid fault in southeast Missouri. That occurred about 1812, and was estimated to be 8.3 to 8.7 on the Richter scale. Of course, there were no scales then, or many people there at the time. It did, however, rearrange the Mississippi River. If such an earthquake hit at this point today, Memphis and St. Louis would be leveled. There is also another known fault near Charleston, South Carolina. Boston has been hit by earthquakes. The upper tier of states near the St. Lawrence River is

Criticism of Current Seismic Design and Construction Practice in Venezuela: A Bleak Perspective

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1265-1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary R. Searer ◽  
Eduardo A. Fierro
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Seismic Design ◽  
Large Earthquake ◽  
Lateral Force ◽  
Structural System ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Design Philosophy ◽  
New Buildings ◽  
Typical Design ◽  
Construction Practice

During a recent visit to Caracas, Venezuela, the authors discovered that while Venezuela has adopted a building code with modern seismic provisions (Norma Covenin 1756-98) and does in fact enforce a majority of these provisions, significant conceptual errors in the design of the lateral force-resisting systems of new buildings are recurring on a near-universal level, often as a result of ignoring the potential adverse effects of nonstructural elements on the structural system. In the event of a large earthquake, this design philosophy will have substantial economic and life-safety repercussions unless the typical design philosophy of Venezuelan engineers and architects changes. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a call to action for engineers of all countries to recognize the potential adverse effects of nonstructural elements on the behavior of the lateral force-resisting system.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of Earthquakes

Radiocarbon ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 746-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Berger ◽  
Thomas S Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Large Earthquake ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Santa Ana ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Richter Scale ◽  
Santa Ana River

Within the United States, the State of California ranks first in recorded earthquake frequencies. Annually, thousands of shocks are registered on seismometers and many hundreds are actually noticed directly by Californians. In modern times, about one quake per year, destructive to property, has occurred, yet the very large and disastrous events approaching magnitude 8 and higher on the Richter scale are spaced a few decades apart: 1857 in Southern California centered on Tejon Pass, 1872 in the Owens Valley, and 1906 in San Francisco. Unfortunately, the historical record for earthquakes is short in California when compared with accounts for Europe or China, both of which list quakes over a time period of some 2000 to 3000 years. In California, the first historically noted event dates to barely 200 years ago, when in 1769, members of an expedition of the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola were knocked to the ground along the Santa Ana River during a large earthquake.

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