SEISMIC FRAGILITY OF LRC FRAMES WITH AND WITHOUT MASONRY INFILL WALLS

This paper summarises the first phase of the fragility analyses of generic (representative) buildings in the area of Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The study was conducted at Cornell University as a part of the project Loss Assessment of Memphis Buildings (LAMB) for the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER). In this study, the fragility analyses focus on low-rise Lightly Reinforced Concrete (LRC) frame buildings with and without infill walls. The obtained fragility curves are compared with those of ATC-13 for different facility classes. Based on the obtained fragility curves, it is concluded that adding masonry infill wails to low-rise LRC frame buildings significantly reduces the likelihood of seismic damage.     

The political support system for American primacy

The United States persists in aggressively exploiting primacy because the policy has been popular across the domestic political spectrum and is tolerated abroad despite unhappiness with it. Objections prove to be much more about style than substance. Although Democrats in the US criticize Bush for unilateralism, they seldom make the alternative of multilateralism a precondition for American action. When Washington genuflects to principles of multilateral consultation, allied governments allow themselves to be pulled along on US initiatives. Differences between the Bush and Kerry views of the American role in the world have been less than meets the eye. Only a significant disaster-such as the total unravelling of the project in Iraq-is likely to turn either party away from the urge to control the development of world order.     

Conceptual and practical issues in the detection of local disease clusters: a study of mortality in Hamilton, Ontario

Recent advances in local spatial statistics and operational computing capacity have led to growing interest in the detection of disease clusters for public health surveillance and for improving understanding of disease pathogenesis. Although conceptual reviews and applied examples have appeared in the literature, few studies have addressed the connection between conceptual and practical issues that confront researchers interested in using local statistics to detect disease clusters. Here we review recent literature on the use of local statistics for cluster assessment and focus on the practical issue of assigning correct geographic coordinates. The process of assigning geographic coordinates to an address or postal code, known as ‘geocoding’, is a necessary step in conducting smallarea health analyses. With a study of mortality data from Hamilton, Ontario, we illustrate inaccuracies that may be encountered when using Statistics Canada postal code conversion files. Using the Moran's I and Getis‐Ord Gi and Gi* local spatial statistics to identify significant mortality clusters or ‘hot spots’, we demonstrate that small geocoding errors, even those that affect less than one percent of a total dataset, can have a discernible impact on analytic results. To assist other researchers, we supply guidelines to minimize error introduced by geocoding. These results emphasize the importance of accurate geocoding in local health analyses. Les avancées récentes en statistiques spatiales localisées et en capacité informatique opérationnelle ont conduit à un intérêt croissant dans la détection de foyers de maladies pour fins de surveillance de santé publique, et dans l'approfondissement de la compréhension de leur pathogénèse. Bien que des revues conceptuelles et des exemples concrets aient été publiés dans la littérature, peu d'études ont adressé le lien entre les problèmes conceptuels et pratiques auxquels sont confrontés les chercheurs intéressés à utiliser les statistiques locales pour détecter les foyers de maladies. Nous revoyons ici la littérature récente sur l'utilisation de statistiques locales dans l'évaluation de foyers et focalisons sur le problème pratique d'assigner des coordonnées géographiques correctes. Le procédé d'assigner des coordonnées géographiques à une adresse ou à un code postal, nommé‘géocodage’, est une étape nécessaire dans la conduite d'analyses de santéà petite échelle. À l'aide d'une étude sur des données de mortalitéà Hamilton, en Ontario, nous illustrons que des inexactitudes peuvent être rencontrées lorsque les fichiers de codes postaux et de conversion de Statistique Canada sont utilisés. En utilisant les statistiques spatiales localisées I de Moran, Gi and Gi* de Getis et Ord pour identifier des foyers de mortalité significatifs ou des ‘points chauds’, nous démontrons que de petites erreurs de géocodage, même celles n'affectant moins qu'un pour cent de la base de données, peuvent avoir un impact discernable sur les résultats analytiques. Afin d'aider d'autres chercheurs, nous fournissons des recommandations pour minimiser les erreurs introduites par le géocodage. Ces résultats soulignent l'importance d'un géocodage exact dans les analyses de santé locale.     

Historical geography and early Canada: a life and an interpretation

The first section of this two‐part paper describes my historical geographical career, particularly the topics and issues I have pursued and the changing intellectual environment in which they have been situated. The second section offers a summary interpretation of the emerging human geography of early‐modern Canada followed by some reflections on its contemporary implications. This interpretation stresses the extent to which boundaries and discontinuities marked early Canada, and contrasts a pinched Canadian experience with the land with a far more expansive American one. It shows how deeply difference was constructed and ingrained in the Canadian past, and suggests some challenges and opportunities that follow from this inheritance.     

Sexual Politics of Authorship: Rereading the travels and translations of Richard and Isabel Burton

Women who accompanied male adventurers and geographers often made crucial (yet generally unacknowledged) contributions to the research and writing of their partners. These women were not always named as authors, but nevertheless participated in the production and promotion of texts, influencing their form and their impact. In this light the author reconsiders the works of Isabel Burton, wife of the famous British Victorian traveller, geographer, translator and author, Richard Burton. Reinterpreting and recentring the marginalised and often caricatured Isabel Burton, it is shown that Isabel performed many roles in the 'Burton industry', influencing the production, content and circulation of texts attributed mainly to her husband. While Isabel frequently worked with her husband, she sometimes worked against him, subverting and recasting 'his' texts, partly in order to oppose her husband's sexual libertinism and to advance her own political agenda, which can be located within late-Victorian social purity movements. Isabel's involvement with the gendered politics of purity illustrates the second dimension in what the author calls the twofold sexual politics of authorship.