Shaking Table Tests of a Structure Equipped with Superelastic Dampers

The energy dissipation capacity of the NiTi alloy was evaluated as part of a series of shake table tests. A superelastic damper was developed to take advantage of the hysteretic energy dissipation associated with this type of shape memory alloy. Each device was tested at different intensity levels. A vertical steel cantilever with 600 kg mass on top was subjected to a series of ground motions with different spectral characteristics. The dampers were placed as part of a tie system, restraining the horizontal movement of the top mass. The devices showed stable hysteretic behavior allowing for energy dissipation.     

The absent-present researcher: data analysis of pre-recorded parent-driven campaign videos

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of sophisticated, user-friendly and accessible instruments of video data collection (e.g. mobile/cell phones and tablets) which facilitate video-based research and analysis. This paper reports on the opportunities and challenges of undertaking video analysis by reporting on the qualitative video analysis of a subset of 30 purposively selected videos from #notanurse_but, a parent-driven video campaign initiated by WellChild, a UK charity. This paper provides insight into one way of conducting video analysis, appreciating that a variety of approaches exist and that methodological reflections on analytical work with video recordings are limited. The authors critically consider researcher subjectivity; the everydayness of video data; making assumptions; and the incomplete picture provided by video data. Despite notable limitations to the approach of video analysis as a standalone method, the authors conclude that video analysis is capable of eliciting data that may not otherwise be obtained.     

Peripheral creativity: temporary cultural uses as alternatives to inefficient policies?

ABSTRACT

The article focuses on temporary and improvised cultural spaces in marginalized neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are presented here as alternatives to current urban and cultural policies, often based on international ‘best practices’ models with exclusionary and segregating consequences. It begins with a brief overview into North American and Western European cultural planning policies. It then analyses the instability of cultural policies in Brazil, highlighting that, after a period of State recognition of bottom-up actions, administrators have turned to a contradictory planning scheme that mixes outdated and recent international trends, leading lower-income inhabitants to self-build their own cultural spaces. Unlike many products of today’s global strand of ‘tactic urbanism’, Rio’s temporary spaces are politically charged territories of resistance. An example is ‘Cine Taquara’ – an improvised cinema and debate forum that illustrates how, in an unequal city, such initiatives can do more towards social inclusion than ready-made models.     

A Comparison of Spatial and Nonspatial Methods in Statistical Modeling of NO2: Prediction Accuracy,Uncertainty Quantification,and Model Interpretation

${\text{NO}}_2$ is a traffic-related air pollutant. Ground ${\text{NO}}_2$ monitoring stations measure ${\text{NO}}_2$ concentrations at certain locations and statistical predictive methods have been developed to predict ${\text{NO}}_2$ as a continuous surface. Among them, ensemble tree-based methods have shown to be powerful in capturing nonlinear relationships between ${\text{NO}}_2$ measurements and geospatial predictors but it is unclear if the spatial structure of ${\text{NO}}_2$ is also captured in the response-covariates relationships. We dive into the comparison between spatial and nonspatial data models accounting for prediction accuracy, model interpretation and uncertainty quantification. Moreover, we implement two new spatial and a nonspatial methods that have not been applied to air pollution mapping. We implemented our study using national ground station measurements of ${\text{NO}}_2$ in Germany and the Netherlands of 2017. Our results indicate heterogeneous levels of importance of modeling the spatial process in different areas. The prediction intervals predicted with ensemble tree-based methods are more satisfactory than the geostatistical methods. The two new methods implemented each obtained better prediction accuracy compared to the original ensemble tree-based and stacking methods. The probabilistic distribution of the spatial random field estimated by the geostatistical methods could provide useful information for analyzing emission sources and the spatial process of observations.     

Geographies of gender and feminism in Mexico: a field in construction

Abstract

This paper sets out to present geographies of gender and feminism in Mexico in order to identify some of the conceptual contributions, thematic axes and key problems within the field’s corpus of knowledge that, while widely-recognized internationally, is only beginning to develop in Mexico. I examine the academic production of feminist geography with an emphasis on the institutional contexts that may facilitate or perhaps impede putting such studies into practice in different institutions throughout the country. Additionally, I provide an account of the main objects of study that have contributed to configuring original, committed field research under the conditions of exclusion and marginality that women face on a daily basis.