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Research and development of seismic response control devices has gained prime importance recently, due to an increased number of devastating earthquakes. Passive control systems are now accepted all over the world and hence research in this area is continuing to develop reliable, efficient and cost effective devices along with constitutive modeling. This paper begins with qualitative description and comparison of passive, active and semiactive control systems. Further, it mentions advantages of passive control systems over the others. A detailed literature review of passive devices is then provided which includes the historical development of the devices, their dynamic behavior, testing of these devices incorporated in the structural models and their analytical formulations. The pros and cons of these devices in retrofitting of structures and their first and recent applications in a wide variety of structures are also discussed. The passive response control systems that are discussed include viscoelastic dampers, yielding dampers, viscous dampers, friction dampers, tuned mass dampers, tuned liquid dampers, tuned liquid column dampers, superelastic dampers, like shape memory alloy dampers and base isolators.

Electrochemical honing (ECH) is a nontraditional machining process hybridizing the conjoint benefits of electrochemical machining (ECM) and mechanical honing actions. In this process, maximum amount of material is removed through anodic dissolution, followed by mechanical abrasion. In present day manufacturing industries, it has found wide ranging applications, mainly in finishing of varieties of gears, due to its various advantages, like increased material removal rate, long tool life, burr-free operation, achievement of higher surface finish and dimensional accuracy, generation of no residual stress, reduced noise, less material damage, etc. In order to achieve maximum machining capability from this process, it is always recommended to set its various input parameters at their optimal operating levels. In this paper, four powerful metaheuristic algorithms, i.e. firefly algorithm, differential evolution (DE) algorithm, cuckoo search (CS) algorithm and teaching–learning-based optimization (TLBO) algorithm are applied for single as well as multi-objective optimization of pulsed-ECH (PECH) and ECH processes. It is observed that TLBO algorithm supersedes other techniques in optimizing the two ECH processes with respect to the value of the derived optimal solution, consistency of the solutions and computational speed.

The COVID-19 pandemic urges hospitality and tourism businesses to design innovative responses to rapid competition and challenges. This study begins by finding out how innovation-based collaboration, perceived status certainty, and adaptation to digital technology jointly encourage higher levels of innovative business response to the COVID-19 outbreak under complexity aspects. The findings indicate that adaptation to digital technology, perceived status certainty, and innovation-based collaboration have a strong influence on configuring innovative business responses. This paper provides new insights into how the complexity of human-related, environment-related, and technology-related factors predict the innovative response of business providers in the tourism and hospitality industries.

Mechanical response and simulation for constitutive equation with distributed order derivatives were considered. We investigated the creep compliance, creep recovery, relaxation modulus, stress–strain behavior under harmonic deformation for each case of two constitutive equations. We express these responses and results as easily computable forms and simulate them by using MATHEMATICA 8. The results involve the exponential integral function, convergent improper integrals on the infinite interval $(0,+\infty )$ and the numerical integral method for the convolution integral. For both equations, stress responses to harmonic deformation display hysteresis phenomena and energy dissipation. The two constitutive equations characterize viscoelastic models of fluid-like and solid-like, respectively.

Background: Steroid injection is a proven treatment for trigger digits. The time taken for resolution of triggering following an injection is a question often asked by patients and one that has not been adequately addressed in existing literature. The aim of this study was to determine the time taken for triggering to resolve after a single steroid injection in patients presenting for the first time with a trigger digit.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted in patients with first presentation of a grade II or grade III trigger digit(s) that received a steroid injection. Data with regards to age, gender, digit(s) involved, duration of symptoms, trigger grade, and presence of diabetes were collected. They were given a stamped addressed postcard with instructions to fill in the date that the triggering resolved and mail the postcard back to us. If the postcard was not received at three weeks, we contacted the patient by telephone to ask for the date of resolution of trigger.

Results: 56 patients with 66 trigger digits were included in the study. 52 out of 66 digits (79%) had resolution of the trigger at one month. The mean duration for resolution of trigger was 8.8 days (range 1–30 days).

Conclusions: Patients can be counselled that a steroid injection is effective in resolving the trigger in 79% of trigger digits presenting for the first time and that the mean time taken for resolution of triggering is 8.8 days. It is recommended to wait for at least one month before considering another injection or alternative treatments.

In the humanitarian assistance sector, the primary objective of inter-organizational networks is to ensure that there are efficient and effective humanitarian response efforts that meet the needs of the affected population to the maximum extent possible (Drabek, 1987; Zhao et al., 2009). However, theoretical perspectives on humanitarian organizational networks and effective disaster response have remained relatively modest and confined to developing basic typologies of coordination arrangements and identifying the challenges encountered in the disaster management process. (Bennett, 1999) There also seems to be limited academic endeavor to use network, complexity, chaos and systems theories for disaster research not only for large-scale emergencies worldwide but also in developing countries. Most research works concentrate on an approach limited to a much smaller scale of nodes (organizational actors). In the preceding section, a review of relevant theories is presented in the context of humanitarian organizational network and disaster response.

The hospitality industry has subsequently been struck by a range of disasters. Either; globally or regionally, natural or man-made disasters. Reflecting the hospitality and tourism industry’s vulnerability to hazardous events in the internal and external environment, they have caused dramatic fluctuations in Tourist arrivals and revenue. The chapter investigates the impact of these disasters and crises on hospitality and tourism industry. Aims to review some attempts to investigate the impact of disasters, how emergency planning could mitigate these impacts, and how to recover from it. Furthermore, it reviews the theories and models which could be used as an effective strategies to cope with uncertainty, how to plan, manage, and recover from such events. Emergency plans used by industry players to overcome the effect of such events and quick return to normality. Emergency planning could mitigate the effect of such events and recover from such disasters. The finding also emphasizes the power of media in clearing the ambiguity, which helps marketing efforts towards tourists to change their attitudes and visit safe rather than visiting hazardous destinations. Effective planning and the urgent need for better cooperation, coordination and awareness efforts among the industry stakeholders, government agencies, and local communities could mitigate the negative impact of hazardous events, allowing organizations to learn from the past to prevent the same effects in the future.

This paper utilizes a case study of Yushu, Qinghai Province, a region affected by the Ms 7.1Yushu earthquake in 2010, to analyze the response level of elementary school students after the earthquake disaster through a questionnaire survey. The results demonstrate that the response level of elementary school students to earthquake disasters is low in the studied region, with an average response scoring rate of only 0.43. The relatively undeveloped economy and low education levels are the major limiting factors in the improvement of response capabilities in the region. Several suggestions to improve disaster awareness and response capabilities are discussed.

In engineering practice, the external excitation and internal parameters of a dynamic system are often fuzzy or fuzzy random owing to their ambiguous definition and unpredictability. In this chapter, the mathematical simulation of fuzzy and fuzzy random excitations and the analysis methods of fuzzy and fuzzy random response and reliability are discussed respectively for the dynamic systems described by differential equations. Firstly, fuzzy and fuzzy random processes are defined and employed to simulate the fuzzy and fuzzy random excitations. Secondly, the solution techniques of differential equations with a fuzzy or fuzzy random nonhomogeneous part are presented and used to analyse the response of a dynamic system subjected to fuzzy or fuzzy random excitation. Finally, several methods are put forward for the reliability analysis of fuzzy and fuzzy random systems.