Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) properties of natural aluminum corrosion

In this paper, the infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) property of naturally corroded aluminum and its possible applications in retrospective dosimetry have been briefly studied. Results are interesting, in particular with regard to the efforts of finding new and widely available materials for accident dosimetry. For aluminum corrosion, the dose response was found to be approximately linear between 2–80 Gy and to reach saturation before 300 Gy. The signal also showed good repro-ducibility without significant fading over storage durations of up to four mounts at room temperature. In addition to the luminescence, the corrosion samples were also analysed by X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD), but conclusive identification of the luminescent phase could not be made. It is concluded that the IRSL signals of this material can be favourable for dosimetry research.     

Introduction

From the 15th to the early 18th century the Baltic Sea was not only a highway for the physical transport of basic goods, it also functioned as the channel for the import and local and regional transfer of foreign cultural artifacts, artisans, artists and a wide range of media for cultural diffusion. Established commercial transportation, especially to the Low Countries and the British Isles, of grain, timber and iron ore from Denmark, Sweden and the eastern Baltic states brought wealth to the social and political elites within the Baltic region. The economic prosperity of the higher social layers among the Baltic States allowed them as customers and patrons to import a wide range of objects of art and artifacts belonging to prestige culture. The contributors to this volume of the Scandinavian Journal of History address the cultural traffic outlined above. The volume's ten articles are revised versions of papers read at the conference Cultural Traffic and Cultural Transformation around the Baltic Sea, 1450–1720, a conference held in the Carlsberg Academy in Copenhagen in early spring 2003. The conference Cultural Traffic and Cultural Transformation around the Baltic Sea, 1450–1720 (Carlsberg Academy, Copenhagen, 21–22 March 2003,) was made possible by substantial grants from the Carlsberg Foundation (Denmark) and the Danish Research Council for the Humanities. Organizers Dr Badeloch Noldus (Instituut Pallas, Leiden University, The Netherlands) and Dr Stephen Turk Christensen (Department for History and Social Theory, Roskilde University Centre (RUC), Denmark) thank the following for their support: Dr David Gaimster (Ministry for Culture, UK), Curator Hugo Johannsen (Danish National Museum), Curator Steffen Heiberg (National Historical Museum Frederiksborg Castle), Dr Juliette Roding (Leiden University), Accounts Department (RUC), Department for History and Social Theory (RUC), the staff at Carlsberg Academy, Conference Assistant Thea Pedersen (RUC) and Dr Ole Meyer (University of Florence). The conference participants reflected upon and discussed questions relating to the nature, scope, origin, direction and impact of the cultural interaction taking place in the late medieval and Early Modern Baltic region with examples drawn especially, but not exclusively, from elite culture. For recent studies dealing with Early Modern cultural relations between mostly the Low Countries and areas within the western Baltic, see articles in J. J. van Baak, L. Honti & A. H. Huussen, eds. The Baltic. Languages and Cultures in Interaction (Proceedings NOMES-Conference, 19–20 May 1994); Tijdschrift voor Scandinavistiek, vol. 16 (1995); J. Roding & L. Heerma van Voss, eds., The North Sea and Culture (1550–1800). Proceedings of the International Conference held in Leiden, 21–22 April 1995 (Hilversum, 1996). An interesting, but uneven, treatment of the eastern Baltic within a wider context of cultural exchange can be found in M. Klinge, Östersjövälden. Et illustrerat historisk utkast (Borgå, 1985). Rather dispersed, and occasionally too categorically formulated, relevant information and contextualization concerning Baltic cultural interaction can be found in the general history of the territories of the western Baltic power states by D. Kirby, Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period. The Baltic World 1492–1772 (London & New York, 1990), especially in the section “Migrants, Aliens and the Problem of Religious Diversity”.      

Geography,GIS and employability in Turkey

Although higher education in Turkey does not have especially well-advanced systems and resources for addressing graduate employability, two developments are making it particularly important for Turkish geography departments to give increased priority to this agenda. One is the country’s new Higher Education Qualifications Framework and the other is a major increase in geography student numbers, which means that geographers seeking school teaching posts (traditionally seen as the natural career pathway) now hugely outnumber the posts available. Against this background, this paper proceeds to explore the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) to contribute to geographers’ employability in Turkey through a study involving the views and experiences of academic staff, students and employers. The paper reveals a mixed picture of both opportunities and challenges. It ends with a series of employability recommendations for geography and GIS in Turkey, a number of which could also be of wider relevance elsewhere.     

SEISMIC ENERGY DEMAND IN STEEL MOMENT FRAMES

The present paper investigates the seismic energy demand in steel moment-resisting frames. The frames, with 3, 6 and 10 storeys, and 4 and 8 spans, are designed according to current seismic code provisions. The energy response (energy quantities and their distributions) in the frames subjected to an ensemble of six earthquake ground motions recorded on different soil conditions, is investigated by nonlinear time history analysis. The study concludes that (1) the results of energy response can be developed into a rational method of seismic evaluation and design for steel moment-resisting frames; (2) the energy concept based on the single-degree-of-freedom has limitations when extended to the realistic structural system for design purposes; and (3) it is necessary to develop the energy-based approach for seismic evaluation and design based on the seismic response of a realistic multi-degree-of-freedom structural system.     

The Effect of Accelerated Alteration on the Discrimination between Baltic and Romanian Amber

Ten geological samples (five from each source—Romanian amber and Baltic amber) in duplicate for five different media (air, water, saline, acid and basic) were subjected to thermal alteration at 80 ± 2°C for 12 weeks, in the dark. The samples were analysed before and after the accelerated alteration experiment by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, both in transmittance and reflectance mode, and the acquired spectra were statistically processed by multivariate data analysis, mainly using principal component analysis. The results of the experiment are useful in giving a better picture of how to discriminate between archaeological amber artefacts.     

Environmental Quality and User Satisfaction in Mass Housing Areas: The Case of Istanbul

In a residence environment, housing and housing groups constitute a fundamental life space to meet the needs of the residents, to satisfy them, and to maintain the overall health of individuals and public. Various needs that appear due to the problems caused by housing and residence environment situated in a physical, psychological and socio-cultural environment together with their surroundings affect resident satisfaction and attitude, while directing the overall individual/family and public health, happiness and welfare. Most researchers argue about and try to determine the residents' needs related to their expectations of and satisfaction in housing and residence environment, within the framework of basic needs of human beings. In this study, in order to assess the factors that improve housing and environmental quality satisfaction, the concepts of housing and its environment, and the subject of housing and environmental quality satisfaction have been investigated; the conceptual model of housing and environmental quality satisfaction has been developed, which takes up the subject of user satisfaction in housing and environment quality as a whole; and the factors to increase the level of satisfaction in housing and environmental quality have been specified. A sum of 400 questionnaire inquiries has been made in planned mass housing areas in the Istanbul Metropolitan Area. Applying factor analysis to the data that have been gathered as a result of questionnaire inquiries, the following factors have been determined according to their order of importance to increase the level of user satisfaction in housing and environmental quality. The findings of this study show that, the elements influencing these factor groups include accessibility to various function areas in the inhabited housing area, environmental features of the housing, satisfaction in the various facilities in the inhabited environment, environmental security, neighbour relationships, and the appearance of the housing environment. A logistic regression model has been made to assess whether there are any differences among the factors influencing housing and environmental quality satisfaction for mass housing users on location choice (central districts and peripheral districts) at the metropolitan level.     

Nonlinear Structural Performance of a Historical Brick Masonry Inverted Dome

ABSTRACT

Traditional domes are obtained by double curvature shells, which can be rotationally formed by any curved geometrical plane figure rotating about a central vertical axis. They are self-supported and stabilized by the force of gravity acting on their weight to hold them in compression. However, the behavior of inverted domes is different since the dome is downward and masonry inverted domes and their structural behaviors in the literature received limited attention. This article presents a nonlinear finite element analysis of historical brick masonry inverted domes under static and seismic loads. The brick masonry inverted dome in the tomb of scholar Ahmed-El Cezeri, town of Cizre, Turkey, constructed in 1508 is selected as an application. First, a detailed literature review on the masonry domes is given and the selected inverted dome is described briefly. 3D solid and continuum finite element models of the inverted masonry dome are obtained from the surveys. An isotropic Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) material model adjusted to masonry structures with the same tensile strength assumed along the parallel and meridian directions of the inverted dome is considered. The nonlinear static analyses and a parametric study by changing the mechanical properties of the brick unit of the inverted masonry dome are performed under gravity loads. The acceleration records of vertical and horizontal components of May 1, 2003 Bingöl earthquake (Mw = 6.4), Turkey, occurred near the region, are chosen for the nonlinear seismic analyses. Nonlinear step by step seismic analyses of the inverted dome are implemented under the vertical and horizontal components of the earthquake, separately. Static modal and seismic responses of the inverted masonry dome are evaluated using mode shapes, minimum and maximum principal strains and stresses, and damage propagations.     

Confucius institutes (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

Many hundreds Confucius Institutes have mushroomed in higher education centres all over the world. In this comment, Marshall Sahlins continues his analysis of troublesome aspects of these institutions and considers what anthropologists have come up with in terms of research on these so far. He also touches on the Canadian campaign for university teachers to boycott these. James Turk commends Marshall Sahlins for looking into the issue of academic freedom in relation to Confucius Institutes. This is part of a campaign by the Canadian Association of University Teachers to secure academic freedom where universities enter into collaboration with third parties.     

Court-day crowds in colonial Virginia

ABSTRACT

For a generation, legal historians investigating colonial Virginia have emphasized the dramaturgy of court day. According to the dramaturgical school of interpretation, administrative and judicial activities of county court officials amounted to theatrical performances that simultaneously enforced economic order and stabilized traditional social relationships. Such interpretations assume a large audience routinely attended county courts to observe legal dramas. Often, however, only a small number of persons can be documented as present during court day. The independence theorem from probability theory suggests that the number of documentable attendees is a useful and easily calculated estimate for actual total crowd size. If so, some Virginia court sessions were attended by hundreds of people, while others drew only a few participants. A variety of factors apparently inhibited court attendance in older Virginia counties. By contrast, in newer frontier counties, mid-eighteenth-century revisions of court calendars produced heavy attendance at court day. Regardless of the number of people in attendance, any Virginia county court could still effectively enforce credit contracts.