Common Weaknesses Research Articles

Meeting decision support requirements through natural capital accounts: a case study in England’s National Nature Reserves

ABSTRACT Natural Capital Accounts extend traditional balance sheets to include valuation of non-market environmental benefits and asset values. They aim to bring the often-overlooked value of nature into decision-making, thus providing an effective decision-support tool. We compare Natural Capital Accounts to UK decision-support guidance, which leads us to three innovations that we apply to a case study of the National Nature Reserves in England. First, we use a reporting format, which explicitly reports gaps in quantification and valuation. Second, we provide ‘traffic-light’, confidence level information for our value results. Third, we report on the ecological state of assets and incorporate this evidence into the headline results. These innovations address common weaknesses whereby partial monetary values may mislead decision-makers and confidence levels are highly variable, yet often ignored. Information on the ecological state of assets is often only partial, non-systematic and not presented with the summary results. Producing this account required ecological and economic evidence to be treated as equally important. These three innovations produce an account that is transparent and provides a useful snapshot of the condition of natural capital assets.

Interval type-2 outlier-robust picture fuzzy clustering and its application in medical image segmentation

Based on picture fuzzy set theory, picture fuzzy clustering has achieved good results on some data as more information is involved in the clustering process. However, current picture fuzzy clustering methods still suffer from two common weaknesses, i.e., the sensitivity to outliers and the neglect of the uncertainty caused by different fuzzy degrees, which influence their performance in practical applications like medical image segmentation. To solve these issues, we present two new picture fuzzy clustering methods in this paper. First, to improve immunity to outliers, we propose an outlier-robust picture fuzzy clustering method named ORPFC by using a robust distance measurement, which treats the data objects far away from cluster prototypes as outliers and limits their effects on the prototype update. Second, to handle the uncertainty caused by fuzzy degrees, we further present an interval type-2 enhanced method called IT2ORPFC by incorporating the interval type-2 fuzzy set theory into ORPFC. In each iteration, IT2ORPFC estimates positive memberships, neutral memberships, and refusal memberships according to different fuzzification coefficients and then conducts type reduction for reliable type-1 clustering results. In the experiments, the proposed methods obtain robust and reliable results on eleven datasets. Specifically, ORPFC and IT2ORPFC achieve rewarding performance on segmenting medical images with noise.

Review and Analysis of National Monitoring Systems for Antimicrobial Resistance in Animal Bacterial Pathogens in Europe: A Basis for the Development of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network in Veterinary Medicine (EARS-Vet).

The monitoring of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens of animals is not currently coordinated at European level. To fill this gap, experts of the European Union Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections (EU-JAMRAI) recommended building the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance network in Veterinary medicine (EARS-Vet). In this study, we (i) identified national monitoring systems for AMR in bacterial pathogens of animals (both companion and food-producing) among 27 countries affiliated to EU-JAMRAI, (ii) described their structures and operations, and (iii) analyzed their respective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Twelve countries reported having at least one national monitoring system in place, representing an opportunity to launch EARS-Vet, but highlighting important gaps in AMR data generation in Europe. In total, 15 national monitoring systems from 11 countries were described and analyzed. They displayed diverse structures and operations, but most of them shared common weaknesses (e.g., data management and representativeness) and common threats (e.g., economic vulnerability and data access), which could be addressed collectively under EARS-Vet. This work generated useful information to countries planning to build or improve their system, by learning from others’ experience. It also enabled to advance on a pragmatic harmonization strategy: EARS-Vet shall follow the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) standards, collect quantitative data and interpret AMR data using epidemiological cut-off values.

An overview of the effects of whole-body vibration on individuals with cerebral palsy

The purpose of this review is to examine how whole-body vibration can be used as a tool in therapy to help improve common physical weaknesses in balance, bone density, gait, spasticity, and strength experienced by individuals with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is the most common movement disorder in children, and whole-body vibration is quickly becoming a potential therapeutic tool with some advantages compared to traditional therapies for individuals with movement disorders. The advantages of whole-body vibration include less strain and risk of injury, more passive training activity, and reduced time to complete an effective therapeutic session, all of which are appealing for populations with physiological impairments that cause physical weakness, including individuals with cerebral palsy. This review involves a brief overview of cerebral palsy, whole-body vibration's influence on physical performance measures, its influence on physical performance in individuals with cerebral palsy, and then discusses the future directions of whole-body vibration therapy in the cerebral palsy population.

A critical review of methodologies used in pharmaceutical pricing policy analyses

Robust evidence from health policy research has the potential to inform policy-making, but studies have suggested that methodological shortcomings are abundant. We aimed to identify common methodological weaknesses in pharmaceutical pricing policy analyses. A systematic review (SR) of studies examining pharmaceutical pricing policies served as basis for the present analysis. We selected all studies that were included in the SR (n = 56), and those that were excluded from the SR due to ineligible study designs only (n = 101). Risk of bias was assessed and specific study design issues were recorded to identify recurrent methodological issues. Sixty-one percent of studies with a study design eligible for the SR presented with a high risk of bias in at least one domain. Potential interference of co-interventions was a source of possible bias in 53% of interrupted time series studies. Failing to consider potential confounders was the primary cause for potential bias in difference-in-differences, regression, and panel data analyses. In 101 studies with a study design not eligible for the SR, 32% were uncontrolled before-after studies and 23% were studies without pre-intervention data. Some of the methodological issues encountered may be resolved during the design of a study. Awareness among researchers on methodological issues will help improve the rigor of health policy research in general.

Communizer: A collaborative cloud-based self-protecting software communities framework - Focus on the alert coordination system

Popular software has always been appealing to adversaries, as related vulnerabilities are synonymous with millions of exposed businesses. Collaborative intrusion detection, as well as software self-protection, try to alleviate this situation. However, they lack either autonomy and adaptation, or Internet-scale oversight and mitigation. In this work, we present Communizer: a collaborative cloud-based framework that creates communities of self-protecting software across organizations. It allows community members to turn their common weaknesses into collaborative and proactive self-protection, empowering them to detect intrusions, exchange alerts, and anticipate attacks. We start by integrating multiple autonomic MAPE-K loops through cloud-based coordination, and a novel hierarchical, regional coordination pattern (HRCP), optimizing scalability, resiliency, accuracy and privacy. Then, we design a trust-based multi-level alert coordination system (TMACS), as well as a lightweight alert coordination message exchange format (ACMEF). At its core, TMACS aggregates, validates, and shares security alerts among community members while fostering agreement and managing trust. It also addresses insider attacks by detecting and blacklisting rogue members. Moreover, TMACS identifies and neutralizes selfish members through a specifically designed probabilistic model. The analysis, optimization, and evaluation of TMACS show a good trade-off between the precision and recall of untrustworthy and selfish members detection. More importantly, we demonstrate a drastic reduction of monitoring loads on community members while ensuring a high collaborative attack detection and anticipation rate, even for small-scope attacks.

Programas de Protección Nutricional de la Agenda Venezuela

Venezuela has become an asymmetric country, with great inequalities and family food insecurity is perhaps the most important nutritional problem. In 1996, the “Venezuela Agenda” began to be implemented, which has a social protection component, which includes 14 programs, to compensate the most disadvantaged population groups for economic measures. Objective. Describe and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Agenda programs, more linked to the nutritional situation. Materials and methods. It was based on the analysis of reports submitted by the executing agencies, an opinion poll conducted in Caracas, as well as interviews with program coordinators. The programs were examined: strategic food, family subsidy, school feeding, snack and school canteens, daily care homes and multi-homes. Results. The most common weaknesses are poor evaluation and educational support, poor coverage, overlapping beneficiaries, logistical and budgetary problems. Despite the strong investment of resources, the nutritional deficit in children under six years of age shows an upward trend, which reiterates that nutritional problems have multiple causes and require integrated social policies, stable over time and focused on the most vulnerable groups. Conclusions. This situation forces us to reconsider the programs based on their relevance, feasibility, cost-efficiency and impact and has reiterated the need for a decentralization process to grant more responsibility and decision-making power to state and municipal governments and to the organized community and achieve a greater impact on the target population and its context.

Performance assessment of food safety management systems in Australian apple packhouses in view of microbial control

Australian apples significantly contribute to the Australian economy and dietary requirements. Their safety is ensured by food safety management systems (FSMS) audited by commercial entities. Production environments, systems and apparent microbial risk vary, resulting in company-specific food safety practices. Holistic, objective measurement of how a company's FSMS is performing could determine if these practices are appropriate for the level of risk of contamination with foodborne pathogens. In this study, the performance of FSMS was measured in seven apple packhouses using a modified FSMS diagnostic tool (FSMS-DT). Results were compared with a previous observational study that found variable application of food safety controls and low assurance activities, to investigate the potential for improving FSMS assessment and enhancing more consistent application of controls. Overall, packhouses demonstrated high FSMS performance. Higher performance was measured in packhouses with better-designed controls and where there was higher food safety knowledge among employees. Comprehensive measurement of food safety management better identified strengths such as supportive management, systematic use of feedback to modify the FSMS, and a low level of nonconforming product. Common system weaknesses included low requirement for food safety knowledge among workers, limited validation of preventive controls, and limited use of expert knowledge for risk assessment. Results confirmed the findings in the observational study but assessment using the FSMS-DT better examined the details of the FSMS and the connections between its components, thus enabling continuous improvement. The diagnostic tool could assist the industry assess their FSMS and identify opportunities for improvement of control and assurance activities. • A modified diagnostic tool measured food safety management performance. • Australian apple packhouses showed good overall food safety management performance. • High and low scores indicated strengths and weaknesses in control respectively. • Usage of the tool could enhance internal and external audits. • Wide use of the tool could encourage consistent application of food safety controls.

159 The Role of Proformas in Improving the Documentation of Surgical Ward Rounds

Abstract Introduction Several NHS trusts rely on handwritten notes, including ward round (WR) reviews. These are essential in-patient care and must be completed/documented thoroughly. The General Medical Council and Royal College of Surgeons have both published guidance on WR documentation. Method This was a prospective study aiming to review WR documentation within general surgery at Frimley Park Hospital. 17 WR entries were reviewed using an 18-point checklist. A proforma was created based on published guidance and gaps in reviewed documentation. This was introduced for two months before a repeat review was conducted. A third review was conducted after an additional month to monitor for sustained improvement. Results Strengths in the baseline included documentation of WR leads (100%) and plans (100%), legible handwriting (95%), and NEWS score (88%). Common weaknesses were documentation of full observations, anticoagulation (both 6%), and relevant bloods and imaging (both 12%). The two months post-proforma review found improvement in all 18 areas of documentation, with five elements scoring 100%. Documentation of anticoagulation improved from 6% to 94%, relevant bloods from 12% to 82%, and full observations from 6% to 76%. Higher scoring WRs were linked to pre-prepared proformas, with lower scores linked to post-take WRs. The review was repeated after an additional month, showing consistently improved results in all areas. Conclusions This project has shown significant and sustainable improvement in WR documentation with the proforma. This project would therefore recommend the continued use of the proforma, and an additional review after the junior doctor change over to show continued sustainability.

Strengthening radiation protection education and training of health professionals: conclusions from an IAEA meeting

In March 2021 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) organised an online Technical Meeting on Developing Effective Methods for Radiation Protection Education and Training of Health Professionals with attendance of 230 participants representing 66 Member States and 24 international organizations, professional bodies and safety alliances. By means of a pre-meeting survey, presentations by experts, topical panel discussions and post-meeting feedback to the meeting summary, the meeting identified strengths, common weaknesses and possible solutions and actions for improving radiation protection education and training of health professionals. Available guidelines and resources for radiation protection training were also reviewed. The meeting discussion resulted in a strong consensus for the need of: (a) international guidance on education and training in radiation protection and safety for health professionals, (b) an international description of minimum standards of initial and ongoing competence and qualification in radiation protection for relevant professional groups, considering the available recommendations at international and regional levels. The proposed actions include provisions for train-the-trainer credentialing and facility training accreditation, balance betwee the online and face-to-face training, improved on-the job training, as well as improved inclusion in training programmes of aspects related to application of new technologies, ethical aspects, development of communication skills, and use of software tools for improving justification and optimisation. The need for making the ongoing training practical, applicable, and useful to the trainee was highlighted. The international consultation initiated by the IAEA was appreciated as a good approach to understand and promote coordination and collaboration at all levels, for best results in education and training in radiation protection of health professionals. Implementing such a holistic approach to education and training in radiation protection would contribute towards qualification and competence of health professionals needed to ensure application of high standards for quality and safety in medical uses of ionizing radiation.

Weaknesses of research methodologies on musculoskeletal disorders associated with mobile touch-screen devices.

The objective of the currently study is to point out the weaknesses of some recent researches, which were done about the effects or symptoms of using Touch Screen Mobile Devices on the human musculoskeletal system. In this article, we reviewed the research processes performed in recent 26 randomly selected papers about musculoskeletal disorder to clarify the common weaknesses of these published articles. The electronic database search and reference search were conducted in four different databases: Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. We noticed that none of the reviewed papers had performed the experimental design phase of a scientific research. Additionally they had not validated the assumptions of the statistical methods used in their researches. Therefore, their findings are doubtful. In this article, we proposed practical outlines for a reliable experimental research.

Hospitals as disaster victims: Lessons not learned?

ObjectiveHospitals are a key component to disaster response but are susceptible to the effects of disasters as well, including infrastructure damage that disrupts patient care. These events offer an opportunity for evaluation and improvement of preparedness and response efforts when hospitals are affected directly by a disaster. The objective of this structured review was to evaluate the existing literature on hospitals as disaster victims.MethodsA structured and scoping review of peer‐reviewed literature, gray literature, and news reports related to hospitals as disaster victims was completed to identify and analyze themes and lessons observed from disasters in which hospitals are victims, to aid in future emergency operations planning and disaster response.ResultsThe literature search and secondary search of referenes identified 366 records in English. A variety of common barriers to successful disaster response include loss of power, water, heating and ventilation, communications, health information technology, staffing, supplies, safety and security, and structural and non‐structural damage.ConclusionsThere are common weaknesses in disaster preparedness that we can learn from and account for in future planning with the aim of improving resilience in the face of future disasters.

Analysis of Textile Manufacturing SMEs in Kazakhstan for Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is a concept which majorly changes the industries, enterprises, the whole way of doing traditional business by transforming existing business models. However, not all developing countries are keeping up with the time, therefore many industries may leave behind. This research aims to study one of the promising but not investigated sectors of Kazakhstan as textile. Textile took the main share (60%) in Kazakhstan’s light industry and is considered one of the well-growing sectors, which can become one of the major contributors to the Kazakhstan economy. The main focus of the study will be oriented to SMEs in that sector, as SMEs present almost 97% of all businesses in the country. The goal of the study is to analyze the current status of industry companies via the developed maturity assessment model. As well, to investigate their digitization state; identify common strengths and weaknesses; draw out the possibilities that digital technologies may bring to the sector, and conclude by recommendations to improve the sector. The findings during this study can be useful for researchers, governmental organizations and policymakers, and all other interested parties.

Your reserves may be best estimate, but are they valid?

Abstract This paper outlines frameworks to use for reserving validation and gives the reader an overview of current techniques being employed. In the experience of the authors, many companies lack an embedded reserve validation framework and reserve validation can appear piecemeal and unstructured. The paper outlines a case study demonstrating how successful machine learning techniques will become and then goes on to discuss the implications of machine learning to the future of reserving departments, processes, data and validation techniques. Reserving validation can take many forms, from simple checks to full independent reviews to add value to the reserving process, enhance governance and increase confidence in and reliability in results. This paper discusses covers common weaknesses and their solutions and suggestions of a framework in which to apply validation tools. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on reserving validation is also covered as are early warning indicators and the topic of IFRS 17 from the standpoint of reserving validation. The paper looks at the future for reserving validation and discusses the data challenges that need overcoming on the path to embedded reserving process validation.

Automated Risk Management Based Software Security Vulnerabilities Management

An automated risk assessment approach is explored in this work. The focus is to optimize the conventional threat modeling approach to explore software system vulnerabilities. Data produced in the software development processes are better leveraged using Machine Learning approaches. A large amount of industry knowledge around security vulnerabilities can be leveraged to enhance current threat modeling approaches. Work done here is in the ecosystem of software development processes that use Agile methodology. Insurance business domain data are explored as a target for this study. The focus is to enhance the traditional threat modeling approach with a better quantitative approach and reduce the biases introduced by the people who are part of software development processes. This effort will help bridge multiple data sources prevalent across the software development ecosystem. Bringing these various data sources together will assist in understanding patterns associated with security aspects of the software systems. This perspective further helps to understand and devise better controls. Approaches explored so far have considered individual areas of software development and their influence on improving security. There is a need to build an integrated approach for a total security solution for the software systems. A wide variety of machine learning approaches and ensemble approaches will be explored. The insurance business domain is considered for the research here. CWE (Common Weaknesses Enumeration) mapping from industry knowledge are leveraged to validate the security needs from the industry perspective. This combination of industry and company data will help get a holistic picture of the software system’s security. Combining the industry and company data helps lay down the path for an integrated security management system in software development. The risk management framework with the quantitative threat modeling process is the work’s uniqueness. This work contributes towards making the software systems secure and robust with time.

Relevance attack on detectors

This paper focuses on high-transferable adversarial attacks on detectors, which are hard to attack in a black-box manner, because of their multiple-output characteristics and the diversity across architectures. To pursue a high attack transferability, one plausible way is to find a common property across detectors, which facilitates the discovery of common weaknesses. We are the first to suggest that the relevance map from interpreters for detectors is such a property. Based on it, we design a Relevance Attack on Detectors (RAD), which achieves a state-of-the-art transferability, exceeding existing results by above 20%. On MS COCO, the detection mAPs for all 8 black-box architectures are more than halved and the segmentation mAPs are also significantly influenced. Given the great transferability of RAD, we generate the first adversarial dataset for object detection and instance segmentation, i.e., Adversarial Objects in COntext (AOCO), which helps to quickly evaluate and improve the robustness of detectors.

Hybrid Cross-Discipline, Interactive Curriculum to Nurture the Training Experience for Hematology-Oncology Trainees

Introduction:Hematologic malignancy is a complex science that requires the integration of numerous advanced pathology techniques, including flow cytometry, genomic analysis, and molecular diagnostics, for diagnosis and risk stratification to guide management plans and optimize patient care.Understanding the methodology and proper utilization of new laboratory test methodologies relevant to patient care are required competencies for graduating hematology/oncology trainees, put forth by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Therefore, these competencies are heavily tested on specialty board certification exams.We aimed at familiarizing our trainees with distinct laboratory test methodologies, and classifications of hematologic neoplasms from a hematopathologist's perspective. Simplifying such a complex science is a potential way to help trainees conceptualize the proper uses of several diagnostic tests. A shared understanding of clinical and pathologic approaches to hematologic malignancies will lead to improved advanced knowledge in the field, test-taking capabilities and reflect on patient care.We hypothesized that delivering cross-discipline training will improve the level of knowledge for our trainees, and reflect on the hematology in-training-exam scores and subsequently improve the American board of hematology participation and pass rates.Method:Curriculum Description:We developed a cross-discipline curriculum, three-month experience that included rigorous training in advanced hematopathology focused on hematologic malignancies. The curriculum included two hours per week, hybrid style interactive sessions –online/in-person classes–. A self-directed component included pre-class readings and pre- and post-weekly quizzes. The in-person sessions included interactive, case-based seminars guided by cross-discipline faculty members. Instructors for the curriculum included a malignant hematologist and a hematopathologist.The enrollment to the described curriculum made available for all hematology-oncology fellows, internal medicine residents, and advanced practice providers (APPs). This project was accomplished as part of the ASH Medical Educator Institute.Evaluation plan:Trainees were given pre- and post-intervention case-based exams as well as pre- and post-quizzes every week, to assess their knowledge and level of progression. For hematology fellows, trainee's performance on in-training exams (ITEs) was also compared to a historical control group of trainees from the same program.Results:The training included twenty-six participants, eight hematology-oncology fellows, five medical residents, six APPs, and seven faculty. Faculty participants were excluded from the performance evaluation to avoid bias introduction. Pre-class surveys and quizzes were collected to measure baseline knowledge of different hematology subjects and to guide the focus of the training based on common weaknesses amongst a majority of participants.Eighty-six percent of participants elected to attend the training to improve their clinical practice experience and exam scores, the rest intended to network academically. Before each session, participants finished the pre-session quizzes that was compared to the post-session quizzes. We report the persistent positive impact of the sessions on the trainees' weekly performances. We measured the overall impact of the training, comparing the pre-intervention exam with midterm and final exam scores, which also significantly increased compared to pre-intervention scores. (Figures 1 & 2)For hematology Oncology trainees, we also measured the impact of this training on their in-training-exam scores, compared to historical controls from the same fellowship program. For the hematology in-training exam scores, we noticed a significant improvement after the intervention for the year 2021 compared to the year 2020. An increase in the program means score, which reflected on the program overall performance with an increase in our percentile rank by approximately 14 points.Conclusion:Developing a cross-discipline interactive training curriculum is an innovative method to enhance the hematology-oncology trainees' experience. It promoted their level of knowledge and improved exam skills, which is reflected in the annual in-training exam scores. [Display omitted] DisclosuresEllis: Rafael Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy.

The application of AMSTAR2 in 32 overviews of systematic reviews of interventions for mental and behavioural disorders: A cross-sectional study.

'A measurement tool to assess systematic reviews, version 2' (AMSTAR2) is a 16-item tool to critically appraise systematic reviews (SRs) of healthcare interventions. This study aimed to assess the methods and outcomes of AMSTAR2 appraisals in overviews of SRs of interventions for mental and behavioural disorders. The cross-sectional study was conducted using 32 overviews of SRs selected from three electronic databases in January 2021. Data items included overview and SR characteristics and AMSTAR2 appraisal methods and outcomes. Data were extracted by two authors independently and narratively synthesised using descriptive statistics (means ± SD and relative frequencies). SR characteristics were compared based on AMSTAR2 appraisal outcomes using chi-square tests. The 32 overviews appraised SRs of predominantly non-pharmacological interventions for mental disorders. AMSTAR2 appraisals were reported as confidence ratings in 25/32 overviews or individual item scores in 24/32 overviews. Most SRs/overview were non-Cochrane (mean=94%), included RCTs only (mean=77%) and were published before AMSTAR2 release (mean=79%). The confidence ratings derived in 25 overviews for 349 SRs were predominantly critically low (68%). Confidence ratings were similar for SRs with RCTs only versus RCTs+non-RCTs or SRs published before versus after AMSTAR2 release, while Cochrane SRs received more high+moderate than low+critically low confidence ratings (p < 0.01). Confidence ratings derived based on AMSTAR2 do not differentiate among SRs of healthcare interventions except for Cochrane SRs that fulfil the criteria for high confidence ratings. AMSTAR2 items should be consulted to avoid common weaknesses in future SRs.

А New Theatre Experience: Page Experience Signals

In the digital age struggling with the pandemic, theatres strive to gain new and retain old audiences by providing user experiences online. Information about events, electronic ticket purchasing, and live streaming require improved website functionality, where Page Experience Signals, the latest practice recommended by Google, have been gaining importance. As part of this research, five experiential signals were analyzed on a sample consisting of 18 Belgrade theatres’ homepages: Core Web Vitals, Mobile-friendliness, Safe browsing, Secure connection, and the absence of intrusive interstitials. All analyzed websites were found to provide safe internet search and generally did not contain disruptive content on their homepages. Given that an increasing number of visitors are using mobile devices to search for and purchase tickets, several theatres should pay attention to the need to optimize their website for mobile visits, and to secure the data transfer protocol. In addition, common weaknesses in the theatres’ Page Experience Signals were highlighted – the slow homepage loading performance and achieving their visual stability; the webmasters were also given proposals on overcoming them during the transition period after the algorithm change. The recommendation for future research is to assess at the end of 2021 whether the Page Experience Signals of the Belgrade theatres have contributed positively or negatively to their organic search performance on Google.&#x0D; Article received: June 3, 2021; Article accepted: June 23, 2021; Published online: October 15; Original scholarly article&#x0D; How to cite this article: Krstić, Nataša. "А New Theatre Experience: Page Experience Signals." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 26 (October 2021): 129-141. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i26.476

Numerical finite element study of strengthening of damaged reinforced concrete members with carbon and glass FRP wraps

Concrete spalling is considered as one of the most common weaknesses phenomena in concrete members. In this article, reinforced concrete (RC) column and beam members are subject to a variety of loads under damaged and strengthened conditions using carbon and glass fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) wraps. The main parameters in this study include the number of the FRP layers, the materials of the strengthening FRP layers, and the loading types. The imposed loads include pure bending moment, shear, and pure torsional moment, to enable studying the structural elements's behaviors under such states. The numerical finite element (FE) model was verified using experimental results, and 10 different case numerical FE models were analyzed. The analysis results demonstrated that using an FRP layer increases the shearing and torsional capacities. Adding another FRP layer does not significantly affect the models' behavioral specifications. In both RC beam and column, this strengthening method did not affect the torsional capacity, while managed to prevent sudden capacity loss and enhance ductility.