Activity more than location affects perception of quakes

How accurate and reliable are reported perceptions of quakes?

2014-03-07

(Press-News.org) Scientists rely on the public's reporting of ground shaking to characterize the intensity of ground motion produced by an earthquake. How accurate and reliable are those perceptions?

A new study by Italian researchers suggests that a person's activity at the time of the quake influences their perception of shaking more than their location. Whether a person is at rest or walking plays a greater role in their perception of ground motion than whether they were asleep on the first or sixth floor of a building. People in motion had the worst perception.

"People are like instruments, more or less sensitive," said Paola Sbarra, co-author and researcher at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Rome, Italy. "A great amount of data and proper statistical analysis allowed us to make a fine-tuning of different conditions for a better interpretation of earthquake effects," said Sbarra.

The paper, co-authored by colleagues Patrizia Tosi and Valerio de Rubeis, is published today in the March issue of the Seismological Research Letters (SRL).

Sbarra and colleagues sought to analyze two variables – how an observer's "situation" and "location" influenced their perception in order to improve the characterization of low macroseismic intensities felt near small earthquakes or far from larger ones. Contrary to their findings, the current European macroseismic scale, which is the basis for evaluating how strongly an earthquake is felt, considers location the stronger indicator for defining intensity.

The authors analyzed data submitted to "Hai-sentito-il-terremoto?," which is similar to the U.S. Geological Survey's "Did You Feel It?" website that analyzes information about earthquakes from people who have felt them. After an earthquake, individuals answer questions about what they felt during the quake, along with other questions regarding their location and activity.

Intensity measures the strength of shaking produced by the earthquake at a certain location. Intensity is determined from effects on people, human structures, and the natural environment.

The number of people who feel an earthquake is critical to determining intensity levels, and low intensity earthquakes generate fewer reports, making objective evaluation of shaking difficult.

INFORMATION: The journal SRL is published by the Seismological Society of America, which is the leading research society devoted to the study of earthquakes.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Traffic-related air pollution associated with changes in right ventricular structure and function

2014-03-07

Exposure to high levels of traffic-related air pollution is associated with changes in the right ventricle of the heart that may contribute to the known connection between air pollution exposure and heart disease, according to a new study. "Although the link between traffic-related air pollution and left ventricular hypertrophy, heart failure, and cardiovascular death is established, the effects of traffic-related air pollution on the right ventricle have not been well studied," said lead author Peter Leary, MD, MS, of the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. ...

Urbanization exposes French cities to greater seismic risk

2014-03-07

French researchers have looked into data mining to develop a method for extracting information on the vulnerability of cities in regions of moderate risk, creating a proxy for assessing the probable resilience of buildings and infrastructure despite incomplete seismic inventories of buildings. The research exposes significant vulnerability in regions that have experienced an "explosion of urbanization." "Considering that the seismic hazard is stable in time, we observe that the seismic risk comes from the rapid development of urbanization, which places at the same site ...

Molecular subtyping of breast cancer can better identify women at high risk of recurrence

2014-03-07

Tampa, FL (March 6, 2014) – A method called molecular subtyping can help doctors better determine which of their breast cancer patients are at high risk of getting breast cancer again, a new study led by the University of South Florida reports. This sophisticated genetic profiling of an individual's specific tumor offers an additional resource to help identify patients who would most benefit from chemotherapy and those who would not. The findings by researchers from USF and other institutions were presented in a scientific poster at the Miami Breast Cancer Conference, ...

How seeing the same GP helps your health

2014-03-07

Patients are more likely to raise a health problem with a doctor they've seen over time and have built-up a relationship with, new research has revealed. The insight comes as an increasing number of patients struggle to see the same GP. Researchers from the University of Bristol will share their findings with health practitioners and researchers at the South West Society for Academic Primary Care (SW SAPC) meeting today [07 March]. Seeing the same GP is thought to be important in ensuring quality of patient care, as the doctor will have better knowledge of the patient's ...

Primary care needs to 'wake-up' to links between domestic abuse and safeguarding children

2014-03-07

Researchers looking at how healthcare professionals deal with domestic violence cases have identified that GPs, practice nurses and practice managers are uncertain about how to respond to the exposure of children to domestic violence. With at least 1.2 million women and 784,000 men experiencing domestic violence and abuse in England and Wales each year, the negative effect on families and children can be far-reaching. Childhood exposure to domestic violence and abuse can result in long-term behavioural, mental health and education problems. However, new research has ...

Researchers map European climate change

2014-03-07

The majority of Europe will experience higher warming than the global average if surface temperatures rise to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, according to a new study published today. Under such a scenario, temperatures greater than the 2 °C global average will be experienced in Northern and Eastern Europe in winter and Southern Europe in summer; however, North-Western Europe—specifically the UK—will experience a lower relative warming. The study, which has been published today, 7 March, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, also shows that in ...

Drug protects mice against malaria brain damage, raises levels of BDNF in humans

2014-03-07

Cerebral malaria is a serious complication of infection with the malaria parasite, affecting approximately one in a thousand children in areas where malaria is common. Many of the patients die, and among those who survive, about a third have lasting cognitive and neurological disabilities, including epilepsy and learning disorders. A study published on March 6th in PLOS Pathogens shows that a known drug can prevent brain damage in a cerebral malaria mouse model and eliminate subsequent neurological deficits. Infection with the malaria parasite elicits a strong immune ...

Simple urine test detects common causes of kidney dysfunction after transplantation

2014-03-07

Washington, DC (March 6, 2014) — A new noninvasive urine test can distinguish among different causes of acute kidney dysfunction after transplantation. The test, which is described in a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), may allow patients to avoid invasive kidney biopsies when their transplanted organ is not functioning properly. When creatinine levels are elevated in the blood of a kidney transplant recipient, it is an indication that the transplanted kidney is not functioning well. There are several reasons ...

Birds display lateralization bias when selecting flight paths

2014-03-07

Flocks of birds manage to navigate through difficult environments by individuals having predispositions to favour the left- or right-hand side, according to research published in PLOS Computational Biology this week. Scientists at The University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Vision Science found that budgerigars display individual bias to fly to the left or right. This allows flocks to quickly navigate past obstacles by being able to split and not slow down due to crowding. Dr Partha Bhagavatula, ...

Fighting for survival in the gut: Unravelling the hidden variation of bacteria

2014-03-07

This news release is available in Portuguese. Our intestines harbour an astronomical number of bacteria, around 100 times the number of cells in our body, known as the gut microbiota. These bacteria belong to thousands of species that co-exist, interact with each other and are key to our health. While it is clear that species imbalances may result in disease, it is unclear at what pace does each species in the gut evolves, a process that contributes to the chance of a particular innocuous species becoming harmful to the host. In the latest issue of the scientific ...

Activity more than location affects perception of quakes

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: