To address concerns regarding the seismic vulnerability of New Zealand unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, a research program was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) systems as a seismic retrofit intervention for in-plane loaded URM walls that are prone to fail in a shear mode during earthquakes. Seventeen URM wallettes were retrofitted with either externally-bonded (EB) glass FRP fabrics, EB pultruded carbon FRP (CFRP) plates or near-surface mounted pultruded CFRP rectangular bars. The wallettes were tested by the application of a diagonal compressive force, and data was recorded for applied force and corresponding wall drift. Results were compared with five nominally identical unretrofitted wallettes.It was determined that the FRP systems substantially increased the shear strength of the wallettes.Significant increases in the pseudo-ductility and the toughness were also obtained, which are all considered to be important goals of any seismic retrofit intervention.

The study investigates the impact of trade openness on pollution in China by applying wavelet-coherence analysis, phase-difference technique and Breitung and Candelon (2006) causality test. The estimated results provide some dynamic association between trade openness and pollutant variables. The results indicate that trade openness has increased pollution in China especially after 2001 when China became member of WTO. It suggests that “pollution haven hypothesis” exists in China. These results imply that trade openness has increased exports which has increased domestic production by increasing the scale of industries, which in turn has increased pollution in the country. The findings of spectral domain causality test show that trade openness causes carbon emission both in short, medium and long runs. It indicates that trade openness forecast carbon emissions in China. The results suggest that China should take suitable measures while following trade openness policy to avoid pollution.

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By applying the wavelet tool, this study examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on pollution in China, for the period 1982 to 2016. Carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions are used as pollution variables. The results reveal that FDI positively affected pollution at high frequency (short term) during the 1980s and after 2000, and at low frequency (long term) but not at medium frequency (medium term) for the entire time period. It demonstrates that FDI increases pollution both in the short and long term, but not in the medium term. It indicates that FDI has created pollution havens in China. For robustness analysis, spectral causality test was applied. The results of this causality test indicate that FDI causes CO2 emissions both in the short-run and long-run. This suggests that in China FDI predicts CO2 emissions. Thus, stringent environmental rules are required to restrict the inflows of foreign dirty industries in China.

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