This study has demonstrated the preparation of NaOH-FBC and investigated its potential application as an adsorbent to remove MB from aqueous solution. Adsorption Experiments of MB removal were carried out based on the parameters of initial pH, initial MB concentration, temperature and contact time. Results showed that the specific surface area of the NaOH-FBC reached up to 61.13m2/g. The experimental adsorption data were analyzed with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The kinetic adsorption models were also studied. By fitting the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model, the qmax of the NaOH-FBC was highly achieved as 605.82±9.09 mg/g, compared to 70.42±1.34 mg/g produced by the untreated FBC. The MB adsorption process using the untreated FBC was a non-spontaneous and endothermic process, which was well fitted with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model and Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. However, the MB adsorption process of the NaOH-FBC was a spontaneous and endothermic process, which was in accordance with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. Furthermore, with the increase of pH, temperature and contact time, the adsorption capacity of MB onto the FBC and NaOH-FBC were both increased. The adsorption results suggest the efficiency and potential of NaOH-FBC as a MB adsorbent.
Past air sampling detection (ASD) systems had no definitive positioning; most allocation of sampling points was based on experience. This research discovered that sampling points inside the electrical rooms were significantly affected by the ambient airflow, causing the detection system to have difficulties in fire detection. Fire dynamics simulator (FDS) was used to simulate very early smoke detection apparatus (VESDA) effectiveness within the protection area of an electrical room. Results showed that ASD sampling points in electrical rooms should be placed above high-voltage transformers and capacitors, while rearranging the high risk machines together to avoid long detection pipelines, which increases the transportation time of the gas, thus hindering early detection by the ASD system. Field tests using a smoke detector tester yielded transportation times of 33 s, which was in very good agreement with the simulated results of 35 s by ASPIRE, showing the accuracy of using software to simulate transportation times. Therefore, this research combined FDS with the transportation times of different pipeline designs to conduct performance assessment of VESDA. After appropriate rearrangement of machines, VESDA detection times dropped from 106.0–171.0 s during the original setup to 21.0–31.7 s, assuring the facility to have more time for emergency response. However, it was noticed that FDS software did not have the estimation tool for VESDA transportation times; therefore software such as ASPIRE should be used to calculate the gas transportation times inside the detection pipelines, and then compiled with FDS results to avoid underestimation of actuation times.
International collaborations in the context of Disaster Resilience (DR) is pivotal due to several reasons. It helps to propose ways to create more coherent international approaches on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and resilience strengthening; it helps to enhance risk management capabilities by bridging the gap between science and legal/policy issues; it helps to address the issue of efficient management of trans-boundary crises. The need to optimise international cooperation in relation to resourcing research, capacity building to undertake research and facilitating its uptake is mentioned throughout the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR). Given their different capacities, as well as the linkage between the level of support provided to them and the extent to which they will be able to implement the SFDRR, developing countries require an enhanced provision of means of implementation, including adequate, sustainable and timely resources, through international cooperation and global partnerships for development, and continued international support, so as to strengthen their efforts to reduce disaster risk. The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of engagement of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in developing countries in Asia in international collaborations to improve their Research and Innovation (R&I) capacities in DR. Based on a project entitled ASCENT (Advancing Skills Creation and Enhancement), the findings of the paper focuses on three Asian countries, i.e. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Other than an extant literature review, the paper findings are drawn from a questionnaire survey carried out in eight HEIs from the said countries. There are already several regional initiatives that promote collaboration among HEIs towards building resilience. These networks should be supported and encouraged to grow. These global networks should collaborate with existing bodies to ensure that the role of higher education is understood and can be made use of. Findings of this paper supports the need for an enhanced international partnership to improve the science-policy interface in DR and to achieve the objectives of the SFDRR.
The landslide is a universal term covering a wide variety of mass movements and processes involved in downward movement of masses of rock, earth or debris under the influence of gravity. Landslides are among the natural disasters that are often experienced in Sri Lanka. Approximately 20,000 km2 (30.7%) of the land area of the country is highly susceptible to landslides. With the increasing demand for development and expansion of human settlements, landslides have become a major concern in the mountainous regions of the country. Therefore, identification of landslide potential associated with the terrain is important for ensuring the sustainability of developments while minimizing the possible disasters due to landslides. The study was focused on landslide susceptibility mapping in Badulla District using logistic regression model. Slope, aspect, lithology, land cover, distance from the rivers and roads were selected as the causative factors for the analysis. According to the study, 20.5% area of the district is highly and extremely highly susceptible to the occurrence of landslides, 39.3% area is moderately susceptible to landslide occurrences and 40.2% area is low susceptible to the occurrence of landslides.
The last mile in disaster relief distribution chain is the delivery of goods from a central warehouse to the evacuation centers assigned for a given area. Its effectiveness relies on the proper allocation of each kind of relief good amongst the demand areas on a given frequency. Because these operations involve a limited supply of relief goods, vehicles, and time, it is important to optimize these operations to satisfy as much demand as possible. The study aims to create a linear programming model which provides a set of recommendations on how the current disaster relief supply chain may be carried out, specifically on how distribution operations allocate supplies among demand nodes as well as the routes taken in a day. The areas visited per day would depend on the capacity of the vehicle fleet as well as on the routes that can be used. This linear programming model will use Balcik’s last mile distribution model, while modifying it for the relief operations in the Philippines. The model minimizes routing costs as well as penalty costs for unsatisfied demands. Map data is used for determining routes and historical data from previous disasters are used to determine the supply and demand for relief goods while providing a benchmark for results. The model produces recommendations for (1) Demand node schedule, (2) Best route for schedule, (3) Relief good allocation, and (4) Operational costs. It also provides the computational backbone for relief distribution decisions in the Philippines, allowing for more optimal operations in the future.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis. Emergency response and incident command model have been implemented to help mitigate against these hazards in various part of the world. More recently, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze (GSB) model of incident command has been adopted in the UAE to integrate joint efforts, to control over emergency response and incident management at the local, regional and the national levels. The GSB model was originally established in the UK to organize efforts for quick control on incidents and has since been adopted by the UAE. In the UAE context, the GSB model provides commanders with clear responsibilities during emergencies and facilitates coordination between the commanders and partners towards achieving its desired benefits. The study deploys a case study research strategy, qualitative exploratory research design as a methodological choice to understand the current GSB obstacles and benefits in the context of the UAE’s Civil Defense General Command (CDGC). Thematic and content analysis is used to analyse the semi-structured interviews with senior commanders. Despite having applied the GSB model successfully, the qualitative findings demonstrate the CDGC has faced many obstacles related to it is efficiency in responding incidents. In contrast, the GSB model has defined the roles and responsibilities of commanders during incidents and thus organized the incident response procedures in a way that each commander achieves.
This study investigated a fatigue life prediction method based on extensive experiment results of cast aluminum alloy Al319-T7 subjected to repeated thermal and mechanical loading. Cyclic tests and fully reversed fatigue test results of the material were obtained from the specimens subjected to three different strain rates (5x10-5, 5x10-4 and 5x10-3) and various temperature conditions. At each strain rate the specimens were subjected to room temperature (25°C), 150°C, 200°C, 250°C and 300°C. Thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) tests were also conducted for in-phase and out-of-phase conditions of the temperature and mechanical loading. During the thermo-mechanical fatigue tests, the effect of loading phases and dwell time on fatigue life of the specimens was also observed. This study modified Taira’s fatigue damage model for thermo-mechanical loading condition to include the strain rate effect on the fatigue damage. Taira assumed that fatigue damage per reversal is proportional to the damage factor, λ(T), and plastic strain range powered by n, (Δεp)n. The relationship between the plastic strain range (Δεp) and the number of cycles to failure (Nf) is presented as λ(T)•(Δεp)n•Nf = C. Where C is a temperature independent material constant. The temperature effect is included in the damage factor, λ(T) that can be determined from the ratio of λ(T)/λ(To) for low cycle fatigue test results at various isothermal conditions. To is the reference temperature and can be determined by experiment. This study used stress range applied instead of plastic strain range in the original equation. Furthermore, the modified equation includes the effect of strain rate, phase, and dwell time. The new fatigue damage equation was well correlated with the experiment results.
A pervious study has reported effects of spacing on vertical burning of thin PMMA. However, one and two face burning of PMMA is not considered. The present study has revisited this topic by performing experiment using 300 mm height, 50 mm width, and 2 mm thickness PMMA sheets with one and two face burning cases. The steady state heat balance theory of one and two face burning is proposed. The flame height, pyrolysis height, and burnout length were measured by video image analysis. The results show that the values of flame height, pyrolysis height, and burnout length for two face burning are 1.4 times that of one face burning. The relationships between flame height and pyrolysis height, as well as flame spread rate and effective heating length are analyzed.
In this paper, hot smoke test was carried out in the atrium of 60m high in Shanghai Tower, the law of fire smoke movement and smoke control effect has been studied under different fire release rate and different ventilation conditions. In this paper, the Influence of different air supply volume on mechanical smoke exhaust in the atrium of Shanghai Tower has also been studied by numerical simulation. The results showed that: in the tall atrium, smoke rise rapidly with the speed of 2-3 m/s because of “chimney effect”; Because of the “thermal barrier effect”, when the fire power is small, the smoke tends to subside and cannot be effectively discharged; When air supply volume is 50% of smoke exhaust, it is beneficial to exhaust smoke.
In today’s interconnected world, disruptions arising from one party in a supply chain network could cause disruptions to other parties in the chain. Indeed, recent evidence suggests that supply chain disruptions had caused a wide-scale impact to the construction industry in various developing countries including the Malaysian construction industry, with increasing report on project performance deficiencies such as cost and time overruns of severe magnitudes. Although risk management is widely practiced in construction, the challenge now is to make systems and construction supply chains sufficiently resilient so that the project organisations can bounce back and thrive from catastrophes and disruptive events. Past studies of supply chain resilience however tend to overlook the underlying latent conditions that reside in the system that made an organisation vulnerable to such disruptions in the first place. The “pathogen” metaphor is used in this study to reflect these inherent hidden vulnerabilities that remain dormant in a system until a critical failure occurs. Although these pathogens are hidden and may not be causing any problem at the moment, they might trigger a later onset problem causing cascading impacts to the supply chain and its operations. While disruptions in construction are often difficult to foresee and is hard to eliminate entirely, these pathogens, however, can be identified and mitigated before a disruptive event occurs, which this paper aims to discuss. This paper therefore presents the identification of key pathogenic effects in the Malaysian construction industry through preliminary interviews with four experts in the field. Overall, the identification of the pathogens in the study will help the researcher to assess how vulnerable the project organisations are to making significant errors in a systematic way, thus providing the foundation to build appropriate strategies for their prevention and build the resilience of the construction supply chain to disruptions.
Pool fires are the most common burning phenomena that are often reported to cause huge casualties and properties in process industry accidents. Therefore, it is important to deeply understand the combustion characteristic and thermal radiation of pool fires. This paper presents experimental study and theoretical analysis on the fire plume temperature in developing area and thermal radiation distribution of small-scale propane pool fires. The results show that fire plume temperature should be formulated by (z/Q2/5) for z/Q2/5 ranging from 0 to 0.02, in comparison with the constant temperature assumption in literature. The fire plume temperature reaches the maximum value as z/Q2/5 equals 0.02. The Point Source Model and Shokri-Beyler Correlation can relatively accurately calculate the radiant heat flux, while Mudan-Croce Method gives a bad prediction on the thermal radiation in small pool fires.
With the development of public facilities and the improvement of the assistance system in China, fire control has made significant progress. However, the fire problem in city still stands out and presents a tendency from general fire to heavy fire. Focused on the problems in urban fire control, Fire Power Cloud Platform (FPCP) was established based on informatization means. Through the integration of fire station, key unit of fire control, infrastructures and other information, FPCP improves the pertinence, timeliness, and orderliness of emergency service. Application results show that after using the FPCP, the number of urban fire is greatly reduced, whereas the speed of response to fire is obviously elevated. Meanwhile, the hazard caused by the fire accident is significantly weakened. Then, the targets of optimizing fire power, accurate rescue and efficient disposal are achieved. This is of great significance for the control and prevention of urban fire.
There have been several key programmes for recovery and development in Sri Lanka which provided integrated support to returnees, host communities and other vulnerable groups with different needs, capacities and aspirations in the conflict affected areas. These projects and programmes have significant social transformational potential, but how to design and implement recovery and development interventions in order to bring about sustainable social transformation is a question that has not been fully answered yet. In this context, this research paper analyses series of projects which were designed to promote social transformation through its recovery and development interventions and suggests an analytical framework to mainstream the social transformation interventions into recovery and development. The methods involved the evaluation of ten selected recovery and development projects in northern and eastern region in Sri Lanka using qualitative data collection techniques including focus group discussions, key informant interviews and direct observation. Finally, the analysis presents a path to follow when mainstreaming social transformation into recovery and development projects through the exploration of strategies, approaches, practices, experiences and lessons learned.
In order to study the effect of plywood’s thickness on vertical fire spread, small-sized experiment is conducted to study flame front position, pyrolysis front position and burnout front position at the thickness of 2,3,6 mm respectively. Through the effect of sample thickness on flame spread rate, flame height and pyrolysis height are analyzed, the experimental results show that the thickness has obvious influences on the process of the plywood vertical fire spread. Flame front position, pyrolysis front position and burnout front position, those three increases with the decrease on the sample thickness, which is consistent with the trend of flame spread rate with thickness. In the process of vertical combustion, flame height and pyrolysis height aren’t stable figures, but the change with time shows that the figures increase firstly and then stabilize. Flame height and pyrolysis height increase with the decrease of specimen’s thickness.
The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami prompted a relocation process of an unprecedented scale in Sri Lanka, relocating thousands beyond the government imposed coastal buffer zone. Amidst the relocatees were thousands of children whom were exposed to multiple risks and stresses. These impacts caused by relocation remain largely unexplored. This paper investigates the impact of involuntary relocation, experienced by children relocated to Cinnamon Garden settlement and Tea Garden settlement of Galle district, Sri Lake. The paper focuses on (a) what are the impacts children experienced due to forced relocation?, (b) What is the nature of those impacts?, (c) What is the possibility of using a risk model to identify these impacts? Case studies were conducted with a purposively selected sample of individuals whom were relocated as children. The findings suggests that children suffered from social impacts such as disruption of social relationships failing to develop new social networks, decline in education levels and victimized to bullying and discrimination. The study successfully employed the Michael Cernea’s (2000) impoverishments risks and reconstruction to identify key negative and positive impacts of forced relocation, initiating the development of a risk model that can specifically identify the impact of relocation on children.
Flood hazard map is essential tool to assess susceptibility of flood prone area. The present study focuses on an assessment of flood hazard areas in Sukhothai province of Thailand where it has suffered from flood in every year with different extents. Spatial analysis in GIS environment has been applied for the estimation of flood risk zones in which six relevant physical factors have been selected namely, rainfall amount, slope, elevation, river density, land use and soil permeability. The relative importance of physical factors has been compared in pairwise matrix to gain the weight values during the process of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The flood hazard zones have been mapped according to their weights. It has been found that Muang, Kongkrailat, Khirimat and Sisamrong districts are identified as the high risk zones of flood.
An experimental investigation of the effect of mean stress on the fatigue life and corrosion fatigue life of cylindrical specimens is presented. Force controlled constant amplitude axial fatigue tests in the regime of 105 to 107 cycles were conducted for two different environments: in air (without corrosion) and in-situ in a corrosive environment, 0.824% NaCl aqueous solution flow. The test results are assessed with respect to various standard models of mean stress influence on fatigue. The reduction in material fatigue strength due to the corrosion environment is evaluated and the results obtained show that in a low salinity aqueous corrosive solution, the fatigue strength at 4x106 is reduced of a factor of 2 compared to no corrosion tests.
The purpose of this study was to design a simulation training system for fire safety inspection based on three key technologies which involved three-dimensional geographic information system technology, three-dimensional modeling technology and visualization of human-computer interaction technology. First, basic development ideas and guiding principles of the simulation training system were drawn from the analysis on current situations and actual demands of fire safety inspection practice training at present; Accordingly, the basic framework with three platform was designed, including back-stage administrator control platform, teachers’ guidance platform and student training platform in front stage; as well as it was put forward to establish three-dimensional model not only consist of basic scene models and detail scene model base to diversify specific training scenes. Finally, functions of the system was divided into four modules from double angles of teaching staff and trainees respectively, including auxiliary self-learning, human-computer interaction, arrangements for training task, training effect feedback and evaluation. Fire safety inspection three-dimensional simulation training system could be applied to colleges or universities for fire profession teaching, fire brigades and fire safety key units to cultivate fire safety inspectors, and realize "practice training everywhere as well as teach, practice, test, assessment with seamless docking".
A resilient city is a sustainable network of physical systems, constructed urban form, and human communities. Traditional or vernacular built form evolves to achieve higher human comfort by using locally available building materials and construction technology and is more responsive to the geographic conditions. In contrast to the highly bureaucratized building process in modern built form, vernacular architecture is more climate responsive. A typical traditional building of earth emits fewer greenhouse gases, consumes less energy, and maintains a high level of internal thermal comfort. Resilient urban systems must also have resilient communities. Traditional built form results in the creation of social spaces, promotes adherence to socio-cultural value systems and imbibes a feeling of social cohesion. Modern construction techniques, greater energy consumption and the loss of diversity of architectural forms would have significant implications on urban resilience. The paper aims to trace the changing built form in a small settlement of West Bengal and the resultant loss of climate responsive and socially interactive spaces. Based on primary data sources and field observations, the paper also looks into the implications of the loss of such spaces on urban resilience and assesses the perception of the locals who prefer modernization of built form.
