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SUMMARY Critical issues in emergency management after a seismic event are assessing the functionality of the main infrastructures (hospitals, road network, etc.) and deciding on their usability just after the mainshock. The use of a pure analytical tool to assess the aftershock risk of a structure can be contrasted with the limited time available to make a decision about the usability of a structure. For this reason, this paper presents a method for evaluating post-earthquake bridge practicability based on a rational combination of information derived from numerical analyses and in situ inspections. In particular, we propose an effective tool to speed up the decision-making process involved in evaluating the seismic risk of mainshock-damaged bridges in the context of aftershocks. The risk is calculated by combining the aftershock hazard using the Omori law and the fragility curves of the structure, which are calculated using the regression analysis of a sample of results obtained with data randomly generated by the Latin Hypercube Sampling technique and updated based on the results of in situ inspection. Different decision criteria regarding the practicability of bridges are discussed, and a new criterion is proposed. This tool was applied to an old highway RC viaduct. There are two main findings, including the high sensitivity to Bayesian updating (especially when the damage predicted by numerical analysis does not match the real damage) and the criteria used to decide when re-open bridges to traffic. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purified allergens are required to detect cross-contamination with other allergenic foods and to understand allergen interaction with other components of the food matrix. Pure allergens are also used for the diagnosis and treatment of food allergies. For example, serological methods are being developed to improve the quality of diagnosis, and to reduce the need for food challenge tests. In addition, recombinant allergens are being evaluated as candidate vaccines for safe and efficacious specific immunotherapy. Pure allergens are indispensable as reference materials for the calibration and standardization of methods between different laboratories and operators for risk assessment in the food industry. Therefore, there is a need for well-defined purified food allergens. In this context, a panel of 46 food allergens from plant and animal sources has been purified, from either the food sources or as recombinant forms, within the EU-funded EuroPrevall project. These allergens have been characterized by a battery of diagnostic tests demonstrating that they constitute an authentic, well-defined library of comparable quality. The review summarizes the applications, potentials and limitations of key techniques used for the characterization and authentication of these allergen preparations, with a special emphasis on protein purity and identity, folding, post-translational modifications and immunochemical properties. One key area identified is the development of powerful analytical techniques, such as mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance, to improve the authentication of allergens for routine applications in allergy management. Cite this as: A. I. Sancho, K. Hoffmann-Sommergruber, S. Alessandri, A. Conti, M. G. Giuffrida, P. Shewry, B. M. Jensen, P. Skov and S. Vieths, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2010 (40) 973–986. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple procedure is proposed for the assessment of reinforced rectangular concrete columns under combined biaxial bending and axial loads and for the design of a correct amount of FRP-strengthening for underdesigned concrete sections. Approximate closed-form equations are developed based on the load contour method originally proposed by Bresler for reinforced concrete sections. The 3D failure surface is approximated along its contours, at a constant axial load, by means of equations given as the sum of the acting/resisting moment ratio in the directions of principal axes of the sections, raised to a power depending on the axial load, the steel reinforcement ratio, and the section shape. The method is extended to FRP-strengthened sections. Moreover, to make it possible to apply the load contour method in a more practical way, simple closed-form equations are developed for rectangular reinforced concrete sections with a two-way steel reinforcement and FRP strengthenings on each side. A comparison between the approach proposed and the fiber method (which is considered exact) shows that the simplified equations correctly represent the section interaction diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study in which three-year-old children were presented with easy and difficult tasks and their responses of shame and pride were observed. Shame shown when subjects failed easy tasks; Pride shown when difficult tasks were successfully completed; Method; Results; Discussion; Conclusion; More.

In a 2-year follow-up investigation of parent-child agreement in beliefs concerning the child and of the child's awareness of parental beliefs in families with children in transition to early (ages 10-11 to 12-13) and mid-adolescence (ages 15-16 to 17-18), 42 families were reinterviewed with the Family Belief Interview Schedule. Major results indicated that over the follow-up interval: (1) accuracy of the child's prediction of parental beliefs increased sharply between 10-11 and 12-13 but not between 15-16 and 17-18 years; (2) congruence of both mothers' and fathers' beliefs with the child's self-beliefs increased; and (3) between families, overall levels of intrafamilial agreement in belief concerning the child remained remarkably stable. Findings support the notion that changes in adolescents' understanding of their own development and of their changing relationships to parents occur within a framework of overall consistency in level of intrafamilial agreement in belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]