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.     

Impact of Vertical Ground Excitation on a Bridge with Footing Uplift

Ground motions recorded in the epicentral region of an earthquake often have a strong vertical component with dominant high frequencies. Damage to bridges in near-source regions due to strong vertical ground motion has been reported. The beneficial effects of footing uplift on structural performance in form of reduction of seismic response of structural members have been confirmed in previous research. The uplift of bridge piers has been utilised in a very limited number of bridge structures, e.g., the South Rangitikei railway bridge in New Zealand. However, the near-fault seismic behaviour of bridges with footing uplift has been even less addressed. In this study shake table investigations were carried out on the response of a single-span bridge model with footing uplift subjected to simultaneous vertical and horizontal excitations. Near-fault ground motions recorded in the Canterbury earthquake sequences of 2010 and 2011 were used. The experimental results show that inclusion of vertical ground motions produce stronger axial force in the pier and larger bending moment in the deck. Concurrent horizontal and vertical excitations may also cause more frequent footing uplift than the solely horizontal excitations.     

The Basis of China's Pro‐Palestine Stance and the Current Status of its Implementation

This article is built upon the author's previous attempt to review Sino–Israel relations from the Chinese perspective, where it is argued that the relationship is at a crossroads because China is increasingly more proactively involved in the international arena, which will inevitably lead to a more assertive role in trying to facilitate a solution to the Israel–Palestinian conflicts. The author also affirmed that China is more supportive of the Palestinians. In this article, the author will further analyze China's pro‐Palestine stance, give empirical evidence of this preference by Chinese intelligentsia, and provide insight into the decision‐making mechanisms of the Chinese government in terms of its diplomatic policies. The author also wants to demonstrate that, despite the evident pro‐Palestine tendency of Chinese scholars and consequently the government, little has been done to implement this preference. The Israelis still have a sizable time window to achieve a fair and just peace agreement with the Palestinians. In the long run, China's pro‐Palestine inclination will work more and more against Israel, in contrast to the strong pro‐Israel inclination of the United States.     

Early Darriwilian graptolites from central and western China

Taxonomic restudy of Early Darriwilian graptolites from the Yangtze region, Chiadam and Alxa, has enabled a precise correlation of the Undulograptus austrodentatus Zone (including two subzones) across the three regions, and with the Darriwilian GSSP at Huangnitang in the Jiangshan-Changshan-Yushan (JYC) area. Based on specimens from 17 localities in the Yangtze region, the Exigraptus clavus and Undulograptus austrodentatus zones are recognised as replacements respectively of the Undulograptus sinodentatus (Lower) and U. austrodentatus (Upper) zones of Mu et al. (1979). The U. sinicus Subzone, the upper subzone of the U. austrodentatus Zone, is also recognised from the Sichuan-Guizhou area of the Yangtze region. Two subzones of the U. austrodentatus Zone have also been identified from the Chiadam region with more diverse graptolite fauna. The U. austrodentatus Zone fauna also occurs in the Alxa region. A general pattern of changing graptolite diversity from platform through basinal slope to deep basin is proposed, based on early Darriwilian bio- and lithofacies changes from the Yangtze Platform through the Jiangnan belt to the Zhujiang basin. The graptolite diversity increased with water depth and more off-shore setting. Key graptolite species are illustrated.     

Late Devonian (Famennian) brachiopod Yunnanella from the Junggar Basin,northern Xinjiang,China

The Late Devonian (Famennian) brachiopod Yunnanella is reported from the western Junggar Basin, northern Xinjiang, on the basis of Yunnanella hanburii (Davidson) and Yunnanella sp.     

A late Changhsingian (latest Permian) deep-water brachiopod fauna from Guizhou,South China

O’Gorman, J.P. &; Gasparini, Z., 2013. Revision of Sulcusuchus erraini (Sauropterygia, Polycotylidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Alcheringa 37, 161–174. ISSN 0311-5518.

Sulcusuchus erraini, from the upper Campanian–lower Maastrichtian of Patagonia, Argentina, is the only polycotylid from the Southern Hemisphere for which the skull and mandible are known. The diagnosis of the species and genus is emended based on new observations. Sulcusuchus is characterized by the following autapomorphies: (1) deep and broad rostral and mandibular grooves and (2) a wide notch on the posterior margin of the pterygoids that are combined with a part of the body of the basioccipital, forming a wide plate. Several hypotheses about the identity of the structures that could have been housed in the rostral and mandibular grooves are evaluated. Only two of several hypotheses were not discarded. The first is that the grooves may have accommodated oral glands (supralabial and sublabial), but the biological role of such glands could not be inferred. The second hypothesis is the presence of special structures of an electrosensitive and/or mechanosensitive nature, which might allow the detection of infaunal or semi-infaunal food in soft substrates, as is represented in modern analogues, such as dolphins.

José P. O’Gorman [joseogorman@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar] and Zulma Gasparini [zgaspari@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n., B1900FWA La Plata, Argentina. Also affiliated with Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Av. Rivadavia 1917 (C1033AAJ), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina and CONICET: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina Received 5.6.2012; revised 31.7.2012; accepted 4.9.2012.     

Pragian and lower Emsian (Lower Devonian) conodonts from Liujing,Guangxi, South China

LU, J.-F., QIE, W.-Q. & CHEN, X.-Q., July 2016. Pragian and lower Emsian (Lower Devonian) conodonts from Liujing, Guangxi, South China. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Lower Devonian (Pragian and Emsian) conodonts are described from the Liujing section in Guangxi, South China, highlighting the phylogeny of early polygnathids and establishing the basis for faunal correlations with deposits throughout the world. Records of Eognathodus kuangi sp. nov. and E. nagaolingensis Xiong increase the biodiversity of the Pragian eognathodids in South China and represent intermediate stages and probably the latest eognathodids in the evolutionary succession from Eognathodus to Polygnathus. During this evolutionary succession, the degeneration of the sulcus (or the flattening of the upper platform surface) is the most important morphological change, especially in the eognathodid lineage. Polygnathus trilinearis, P. pireneae and P. sokolovi are recognized together for the first time in South China. The contemporaneous occurrences of the kitabiformis and sokoloviformis morphs of P. pireneae with P. sokolovi and their respective similarities to P. kitabicus and P. sokolovi suggest that the latter two species are phylogenetically linked with P. pireneae. Evidence from the Liujing section also favours Polygnathus probably having evolved from Eognathodus in a tropical or subtropical area.

Jian-feng Lu* [lujfivan@sina.cn] and Xiu-qin Chen [xqchen@nigpas.ac.cn], Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Wen-Kun Qie [wkqie@nigpas.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China. *Also affiliated with University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.     

CONSERVATION LAND AMENITIES AND REGIONAL ECONOMIES: A POSTMATCHING DIFFERENCE‐IN‐DIFFERENCES ANALYSIS OF THE NORTHWEST FOREST PLAN

The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) resulted in the protection of over 11 million acres of public forestland in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. This paper quantifies the amenity effect arising from protected NWFP lands on long‐run community economic growth. Using community fixed effects and postmatching panel regression to control for many sources of bias, we find highly localized and positive amenity impacts on the growth in median income, population, and property values for small communities close to protected NWFP land, as compared to communities far from the NWFP. We find no effect on medium‐sized communities.     

唐代禅宗传法世系嵩山碑刻稽考

禅宗在唐代始发展成为中国佛教的一个重要流派。五祖弘忍传法神秀、慧能等诸多弟子,传播南北,由隐至显,形成多元的传法世系及南北宗之争。本文对嵩山地区现存及文献著录的唐代佛教碑刻资料做了较全面考察,钩沉出禅宗高僧法如、道安、普寂、净藏等在少林寺、会善寺、嵩岳寺等处传法的一批重要史料,弥补了《五灯会元》等史籍关于禅宗早期历史的疏漏及不足。     

Gay-riatrics: spatial politics and activism of gay seniors in Tel-Aviv’s gay community centre

This paper discusses aspects of spatial politics and activism at the municipal Gay Community Centre in Tel Aviv. It focuses on one marginal group within the LGBT community that is active in the centre – gay seniors. Drawing on theories of queer geography, queer gerontology and geographies of activism and social movements, the qualitative research reported here uses in-depth interviews and participant observations to demonstrate how these men construct the space for their activity both inside and outside the centre. On the one hand, this spatial politics shifts along a delicate axis between proximity to the municipality and community hegemony, looking ‘inside’ the community on the one hand. On the other, it subverts and challenges the existing communal order, looking ‘outside’ to the surrounding society. However, these two directions are not necessarily binary; rather, as the paper shows, they stand in a dialectic that holds them in tension. This tension is evident in the ways in which the group operates from within the core of the hegemony, creating a complex non-dichotomous reality that enables politics that acts within – and despite – the mainstream.