Simplification and Assessment of Modal-Based Story Damage Index for Reinforced Concrete Frames Subjected to Seismic Excitations

Different relations have been represented for the local damage index of structures to date, while the same application is defined for them as can be an indicator of relative sustained damage by the components or stories. Since different force-resisting systems subjected to the ground motions can behave differently, some well-known story damage indices are evaluated for the reinforced concrete frames with regards to their operation during nonlinear time history analysis. Two general concepts of story damage determination are selected for this purpose. SDI is a modal-based story damage index, which is calculated by the modal frequency and mode shapes. The behavior of this local index is evaluated during the seismic excitations. The results were compared with Park-Ang and modal flexibility story damage indices. Based on analytical study on seismic responses of some RC frames subjected to a suit of earthquake records a new story damage index has been developed. It has been derived from a simple global damage equation (softening index) using a normalized ratio of inelastic story shear to its drift. A procedure is recommended to use the proposed equation without any requirement to perform nonlinear dynamic analysis, which can significantly reduce the computational efforts. Distribution of the new represented SDI along the structural height shows a good agreement with damaged state of the RC frames after seismic excitations.     

Simplified Macro-Model for Infill Masonry Panels

In structural analyses, masonry infill walls are commonly considered to be non structural elements. However, the response of reinforced concrete buildings to earthquake loads can be substantially affected by the influence of infill walls. In this article, an improved numerical model for the simulation of the behavior of masonry infill walls subjected to earthquake loads is proposed and analyzed. First, the proposed model is presented. This is an upgrading of the equivalent bi-diagonal compression strut model, commonly used for the nonlinear behavior of infill masonry panels subjected to cyclic loads. Second, the main results of the calibration analyses obtained with two series of experimental tests are presented and discussed: one on a single frame with one story and one bay tested at the LNEC Laboratory; and the second, on a full-scale four story and three-bay frame tested at the ELSA laboratory.     

The Influence of Masonry Infill Walls in the Framework of the Performance-Based Design

In this article, a performance-based seismic design (PBD) methodology is proposed for the design of reinforced concrete buildings, taking into account the influence of infill walls. Two variants of the PBD framework are examined: The first is based on the non-linear static analysis procedure (NSP) while the second relies on the non-linear dynamic analysis procedure (NDP). Both design approaches are compared in the context of structural optimization with reference to the best possible design achieved for each case examined. Life-cycle cost analysis is considered a reliable tool for assessing the performance of structural systems and it is employed in this study for assessing the optimum designs obtained. The optimization part of the problem is performed with an Evolutionary Algorithm while three performance objectives are implemented in all formulations of the design procedures. The two most important findings can be summarized as follows: (i) if structural realization follows the design assumptions, then total expected life-cycle cost of the three type of structures, bare, fully infilled and open ground story, is almost the same and (ii) if an open ground story building is designed as bare or as fully infilled frame, real performance will be much worse than anticipated at the design stage.     

Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Asymmetric Multi-Story Wood-Frame Building

The presented research focuses on large-scale seismic testing under multi-directional ground motion of a three-story high, wood-frame residential building representing late 1960's California construction. Earthquake lateral resistance is provided by plywood shear walls around the perimeter of the building with an open front in the first story for tuck-under parking. Accordingly, the as-built structural configuration is asymmetric in plan and discontinuous in elevation with tendency to twist about a vertical axis and to form a weak story mechanism. The test results confirm this tendency. They also reveal the sensitivity of the response to multi-direction ground motion. Asymmetric damage patterns are induced by the multi-component motions in the walls oriented perpendicular to the open front for the as-built test structure, with or without finish materials. However, the observed damage remained noncritical as far as structural integrity is concerned even for ground accelerations exceeding 120% of that recorded during Northridge earthquake. This is viewed as a consequence of the better construction of the test building compared to actual construction. Investigated retrofit includes adding a welded moment resisting steel frame around of the garage opening and strengthening the diaphragm to header beam connections. The study indicates that the retrofit significantly reduced the maximum story drift in the open front. Moreover, the finish material and the retrofit greatly reduce the maximum rotation of the building about the vertical axis.     

博物馆文物的防震保护研究（二）——设防地震动输入及结构地震动反应

通过对上海及邻近地区地震危害性分析,结合地震研究工作结果,根据上海博物馆文物防震保护的具体要求,研究确定了该博物馆文物防震保护的设防水准及地震动参数。场地地震动输入峰值加速度水准确定为50年超越概率3％,地震动反应谱采用上海市标准《建筑抗震设计规范》(DGJ08-9-92)中给出的地震影响系数曲线(阻尼比0.05),并将输入峰值加速度调整为180gal。研究采用了目前通用的拟合反应谱的方法,通过拟合选定的地震动反应标准谱,合成了6条人造地震波时程曲线,拟合精度控制在相对误差不大于5％;同时结合上海市《建筑抗震设计规范》(DGJ08-9-92)中所附的一条强震记录,共同作为上海博物馆结构地震反应分析的输入地震动。又根据上海博物馆建筑的结构特征分析,结合建筑结沟动力特征的实测结果,通过采用层模型结构时程分析计算方法,计算并获得了在遭遇设防地震时,上海博物馆建筑物每一层的地震动反应,表明上海博物馆建筑各楼层的地震动反应具有明显的楼层放大作用。对各楼层地震动反应的统计分析,给出了上海博物馆建筑物每一层的地震动参数,以此可作为今后文物地震危害性分析,及研究设计隔震装置等防震措施的依据。     

Modification of Ductility Reduction Factor for Strength Eccentric Structures Subjected to Pulse-Like Ground Motions

This article investigates the ductility reduction factors for RC eccentric frame structures subjected to pulse-like ground motions. The structural models are with the strength eccentricities which are much disadvantageous than the stiffness eccentricities during the inelastic response range. A method to determine the ductility reduction factors of the strength eccentric structures is suggested by modifying those of reference symmetric structures through an eccentricity modification factor. The four factors of strength eccentricity ratio, ductility ratio, story number and velocity pulse of ground motions, are investigated to gain insight into this modification factor. It shows that the ductility reduction factors of the eccentric structures are clearly smaller than those of the symmetric structures. The eccentricity modification factor is mainly affected by the strength eccentricity and the ductility ratio, decreasing with the increment of the eccentricity or the decrement of the ductility ratio in a medium eccentricity range. The earthquake pulse-like effect and the eccentricity have coupling influence on the modification factor, while the effect of story number is not apparent. Based on the results of a comprehensive statistical study a simplified expression is suggested, which can estimate the eccentricity modification factors for both pulse-like and nonpulse-like ground motion cases.     

Floor Spectra of MDOF Nonlinear Structures

In this article, the influence of nonlinear behavior of multiple degree of freedom (MDOF) primary structures on floor response spectra is investigated by means of simple structural models. The cases of shear beam type as well as of capacity-designed plane frames were studied. It is shown that, in general, but not always, nonlinearity of the primary structure has a beneficial effect on floor spectra. However, higher mode response may be amplified due to nonlinear behavior. The issue of a one story structure exhibiting torsionnal response has also been addressed and some important properties are highlighted.     

‘That still goes on,doesn't it,in their religion?’ British values,Islam and vernacular discourse

This article explores ‘everyday’ or ‘vernacular’ conceptions of Muslims, Islam and their relationship to ‘British values’. Drawing on original data from focus groups in the East of England, it argues that the relationship is typically constructed around a series of binary pairings. Where Islam is held to be traditional, conservative, pious and outmoded, British values are seen as progressive, liberal, secular and modern. This opposition matters for three reasons. First, it is a contingent construction rather than reflection of realities; one that draws upon Orientalist tropes and militates against alternative ways of imagining this relationship. Second, it does important work at the vernacular level in explaining political dynamics, especially successful integration (because of British liberalism) and the failure thereof (because of Islam's traditionalism). Third, its predication on an essentialised claim of difference inflects even competing efforts to story the British values/Islam relationship which tend, we suggest, to reinforce the positioning of Muslims and their values as somehow beyond or external to Britishness.     

秦至西汉前期海盐县城址新探

关于秦至西汉前期的海盐县城址,目前学界有大金山北麓说、戚家墩说与甸山说三种观点,各有千秋,也各自存在若干值得商榷之处。查山古文化遗址1973年、2008年、2017年(N地块)和2018年(L地块)的4次考古发掘,为解决此问题提供了全新的线索与思路,即秦至西汉前期的海盐县城存在位于查山东侧的可能性。以流传于金山卫地区的拱北门石碑故事作为切入点,充分利用该地区地表采集的遗物遗存、现有考古工作报告,以及历史文献学、气象地质学等多学科数据资料与研究成果,对查山东侧新说加以论证,希冀能够裨益未来城址的实地勘探和精准定位。     

Nonlinear Static Methods vs. Experimental Shaking Table Test Results

Three different Nonlinear Static Methods (NSM's), based on pushover analysis, are applied to a 3-story, 2-bay, RC frame. They are (i) the Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM), described in ATC-40, (ii) the Displacement Coefficient Method (DCM), presented in FEMA-273 and further developed in FEMA 356, and (iii) the N2 Method, implemented in the Eurocode 8. Pushover analyses are conducted with DRAIN-3DX by using four different lateral force distributions, according to the acceleration profile assumed along the height of the structure: uniform, triangular, modal-proportional, and multimodal fully adaptive. In the numerical model, RC members are modeled as fiber elements.

The numerical predictions of each method are compared to the experimental results of the shaking table tests carried out on two similar 1:3.3-scale structural models, with and without infilled masonry panels, respectively. The comparison is made in terms of maximum story displacements, interstory drifts, and shear forces. All the NSM's are found to predict with adequate accuracy the maximum seismic response of the structure, provided that the associated parameters are properly estimated. The lateral load pattern, instead, is found to little affect the accuracy of the results for the three-story model considered, even if collapse occurs with a soft story mechanism.     

Russia's Europe, 1991–2016: inferiority to superiority

Russia defines itself as a Great Power in relation to Europe and the West. The first part of the article traces how, since 1991, a story about greatness centred on being part of contemporary European civilization has given way to a story of how Russia is great by being superior to a Europe that is now seen as rotten and decadent. The former story spelled cooperation with Europe and the West, where the latter spells confrontation. The second part argues that Russia's superiority complex is unsustainable. It is hard to see how, in the face of the formative structural pressure of the state system, Russia will be able to sustain its superiority complex. A state that does not order itself in such a way that it may either gain recognition as a Great Power by forcing its way and/or by being emulated by others, is unlikely to maintain that status. The costs of maintaining Great‐Power status without radical political and economic change seem to be increasing rapidly. If Russia wants to maintain its status, an about‐turn is needed. Such a turn may in itself be no solution, though, for if Russia does not do anything about the root causes of its perceived inferiority to Europe, then the Russian cyclical shifting from a Westernizing to a xenophobic stance will not be broken.     

The stranger that is welcomed: female foreign students from Asia,the English language industry,and the ambivalence of ‘Asia rising’ in British Columbia,Canada

In 2002, attacks on six Asian women and girls temporarily living in the Greater Vancouver Area, Canada to study the English language garnered significant attention. Beginning with the attempted murder of Korean national Ji-Won Park, and ending with the murder of Chinese national Wei Amanda Zhao, the attacks on Asian females sparked a national debate about the vulnerability of foreign language students of Asian origin, and Canada's responsibility to protect them. Drawing on mainstream media accounts, this article examines how the intersection of race, gender and class produced the event as a story of national interest and as one of the province of British Columbia's most significant events of 2002. Highlighting the shifting positioning of Asian difference in contemporary western space, this research contributes to recent theorizing on how Asianness in the west no longer primarily signifies backward, underdeveloped nations and peoples best kept in their place, in another space. I argue that western discourse on Asian difference is defined by ambivalence. While the economics of the English language industry and the geopolitics of ‘Asia rising’ led to a heightened interest in these acts of violence, gender and processes of feminization simultaneously reduced concern over what is arguably an anxiety producing event in the west: Asia's economic ascendancy and the west's positioning in the ‘Asia Pacific century’.     

Communicating Climate Change: Are Stories Better than “Just the Facts”?

Postpositive policy scholarship has long asserted the importance of narratives—or stories—in shaping public policy through public opinion. In part, the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) was developed to empirically test this assertion. To assess the relationship between policy narratives and public opinion, NPF posits several causal mechanisms including narrative transportation. Narrative transportation is a measure used to assess the extent to which individuals exposed to a story are “transported” into that story. NPF hypothesizes that as narrative transportation increases the reader of the story will (i) have more positive affect for characters within the story; and (ii) will find the story more persuasive. Using an online experiment involving a nationally representative sample of over 1,700 respondents, this research tests narrative transportation hypotheses by exposing subjects to one of three Cultural Theory narratives about climate change, as well as a control list of scientifically agreed upon facts. While findings do not support that narratives are any more transportive than fact lists in terms of directly persuading respondents to accept specific climate change policies, the data do show that narrative transportation positively influences affect for hero characters, which extant research demonstrates indirectly influences the persuasiveness of a story.     

Economic development and industrial policy in Baden — Württemberg: Small firms in a benevolent environment

Baden‐Württemberg is one of the strongest regional economies in Germany. Quite commonly, its success is explained by the technological competence of its industry, by the flexibility and ingenuity of its many small and medium‐sized firms, and by the impact of an active industrial policy. Today, however, the region has to cope with severe economic problems, and there is some evidence that these problems — at least partially — are due to its praised specific industry structure. On the other hand, there is reason to believe that the region will manage the required structural adjustment — not at least because of its well developed institutional profile. Thus, although the story of success of Baden‐Württemberg has to be revised somewhat, there are lessons to be learned with regard to industrial policy and the promotion of (regional) economic development.     

Simple Models for Inelastic Seismic Analysis of Asymmetric Multistory RC Buildings

A simple stick model is presented for the inelastic seismic analysis in 3D of two-way eccentric multistory RC buildings. It has 3 DoFs per floor, point hinges at the ends of the vertical elements connecting floors, elastic story stiffness derived from the corresponding story force-interstory deformation relations of the elastic 3D structure under inverted-triangular floor loading (by torques for torsional stiffness, by horizontal forces for the lateral ones), story yield forces derived from the total resistant shear of the story vertical elements, but no coupling between lateral and torsional inelasticity. It is evaluated on the basis of comparisons of response histories of floor displacements to those from full nonlinear models in 3D of four actual buildings. Alternative locations of the story vertical element with respect to the floor mass center are examined: (a) the floor “center of twist” of the elastic 3D building under inverted-triangular floor torques; (b) the story “effective center of rigidity,” through which application of inverted triangular lateral forces does not induce twisting of floors; (c) the centroid of the secant stiffness of the story vertical members at yielding and (d) the centroid of the lateral force resistance of story vertical elements. Among alternatives (a)–(d), the floor “center of twist” provides the best agreement with floor displacement response-histories from full 3D nonlinear models. This means that the static eccentricity that matters for torsional response may be taken as that of the floor “center of twist.” The center of resistance comes up as the second-best choice.     

The Game of “Thread the Needle” and Custom of Church Clipping

This paper discusses several aspects of a /Xam Bushman story in which a man brings home a lion cub and insists that it is a dog. The paper seeks to demonstrate that the text is capable of eliciting a range of important critical questions. It argues that the call to exegesis is inherent in most forms of literature, including those that are often treated as folklore or mythology. The paper suggests that there are several aspects of the story that accord with current critical concerns. It concentrates on just two of these: the tension between character and identity in the text and the different modes of knowledge that are present in it. The paper does not attempt to provide an exhaustive or authoritative analysis of the story. Instead it contends that the interpretative possibilities in /Xam literature are more extensive than some of the ways in which it is read would suggest.     

《雪国》的复调倾向说

川端康成《雪国》表层故事的禅佛意识和虚无主义情调具有明显的消极颓废色彩,只有当表层故事之后潜故事投射到表层,大大改变了表层故事的形态,所谓虚无和死亡之美的审美形态才臻于完整。在驹子潜在视角与形式叙述者、岛村的视角对抗中,潜故事逐渐浮现;此时由于驹子潜在视角是价值独立的,故《雪国》叙事结构又有复调的特征。     

The hanging of William Cragh: anatomy of a miracle

This paper is a case study of a miracle story, the hanging and resuscitation of William Cragh. It studies the metamorphosis from a historical event to a miracle story. The miracle itself, on the first impression, seems to be relatively insignificant. Most of the persons involved are unknown from other sources, and the story was rejected in the final phase of canonisation. It is the very weakness of the story that makes it important. The testimonies of the witnesses are often contradictory and there are obvious deviations from the truth.Why were the witnesses economical with the truth? Some stood to gain, some simply did not remember correctly, some wanted to emphasise their own role, and some wanted to meet the expectations of the papal commission. There is, however, no evidence that the witnesses would have been manipulated by the proctors of the Hereford chapter which stood to gain from the canonisation. It is also evident that the papal commission was not satisfied with merely having the witnesses' statements written down. The commissioners did everything possible to produce an objective and informative file of each miracle for the use of the pope and cardinals.     

应县木塔结构监测与试验分析研究综述

应县木塔历史悠久,结构复杂,其主要结构构件及构造做法基本上保留了原建时期的面貌,是研究我国早期古代建筑技术及大木制度的重要实物遗存,具有独特的艺术价值和极高的科学价值和成就。然而,由于年久失修。再加上民国时期的错误修缮和战争年代的炮弹袭击以及后来多次地震的损伤累积,当前,应县木塔二层明层结构倾斜变形严重,底部三层结构病害缠身,结构亟须修缮加固。近80年来,国内数十家单位参与应县木塔保护和研究工作,取得一些成果,为制定应县木塔保护方案提供了理论依据和基础数据。本文围绕应县木塔结构试验、结构计算及结构监测等几个方面的工作,梳理和归纳了应县木塔结构监测与试验分析的研究现状,并提出现存问题和建议,供相关研究和技术人员参考。     

Introduction: The Incident at Lathrop Station

Last year the Journal of Supreme Court History published the first part of Justice Stephen J. Field's memoir, Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California , with a promise to reprint the second half at a later time. ¹ This is the second installment. It is not technically part of the memoir at all. Rather, it is the story of one particular incident: the events that led to the shooting and death of Field's former colleague on the Supreme Court of California, David S. Terry. As you will soon see, the story involves powerful personalities, incredible wealth, sex, violence, and greed. These themes are not unusual in legal history. What is unusual in the story that follows, however, is that judges are the principal players.