Plastic Hinge Length for Lightly Reinforced Rectangular Concrete Walls

This research investigates the plastic hinge length in lightly reinforced rectangular walls typically found in regions of low-to-moderate seismicity. Poor performance has been exhibited by lightly reinforced concrete walls in past earthquake events. A series of finite element analyses have been carried out which demonstrate that if the longitudinal reinforcement ratio in the wall is below a certain threshold value, there will not be sufficient reinforcement to cause secondary cracking, and instead fracture of the longitudinal reinforcement at a single crack could occur. A plastic hinge length equation has been derived based on the results from the numerical simulations.     

From the interpersonal to the internet: social service digitisation and the implications for vulnerable individuals and communities

In Australia, e-government is continuously re-defining service boundaries. While this may be good in the case of transactional interactions, for example the online submission of tax returns, it is less clear that interpersonal services, such as working closely with the long-term unemployed, are best delivered digitally. We consider the impact of social services digitisation on vulnerable communities drawing on an analysis of remote Aboriginal communities. Digital uptake affords great opportunities, but it also carries risks. Some communities have no digital infrastructure and in certain cases traditional face-to-face services have been curtailed, leaving those not online with reduced assistance. We find that concerns about the ‘digital divide’ are well founded. Problems generated by e-government flow across boundaries and appear left to the third sector to resolve with the state playing an even more diminished role in the lives of disadvantaged citizens.     

SCALING UP,SCALING DOWN: EXPERIMENTS WITH HIGH RESOLUTION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY SCANNING OF MICROARTEFACTS

Microartefact analysis remains an uncommon practice in archaeology due to the time‐consuming nature of sample processing and analysis and the difficulty of ensuring reliability, replicability, and consistency in material identification and quantification. Work by Huisman et al. (2014) demonstrated the viability of using micro CT (Computed Tomography) to distinguish different kinds of artifactual materials in midden samples, an approach that can help remove “human error” and to speed up the analytical process. However, micro CT samples are limited in size relative to those that can be analysed via High‐Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT). In addition, the utility of CT techniques for microartefact analysis in different soil types currently is little explored. We present the results of on‐going experimental work using scanning of “cores” containing different sediment matrices and microartefactual materials. Our results are complementary to those of Huisman et al. (2014), showing that microartefacts, including lithic debris, are readily distinguished from enclosing matrices via density class and morphological analysis.     

The Economic Degeneration of Masculinity in Rafael Chirbes's En la orilla

Rafael Chirbes's En la orilla has been proclaimed as “la novela de la crisis,” and it has garnered an impressive amount of distinction in the short length of time since its publication in May 2013. It was voted the 2013 novel of the year by readers of El País, and in January 2014 it won the Premio Francisco Umbral, as well as reaching its fifth edition. Unsparingly critical, En la orilla forms an integral part of the cultural requestioning of social values in the wake of the Spanish crisis, “la literatura de la crisis,” which stresses the human and material consequences of the suspension of human values stemming from the social endorsement of market imperialism. En la orilla thematizes the corrosion of moral character during Spain's economic boom, in its multiple forms, such as selfishness, disregard for the elderly, and arrant mercenariness, while also fictionalizing neoliberal Spain's exclusion of immigrants and the poor. Integral to Chiribes's historically contextualized critique of the recession, and the object of my study, is a perceptive vision of the historical degeneration of masculinity from the Second Republic, 1931–1936, to the present day. This article will first provide a brief overview of “la literatura de la crisis,” while the second part illumines the economic and ideological distortion of the father–son relationship in this novel.     

Unofficial Road Building in the Amazon: Socioeconomic and Biophysical Explanations

Roads have manifold social and environmental impacts, including regional development, social conflicts and habitat fragmentation. ‘Road ecology’ has emerged as an approach to evaluate the various ecological and hydrological impacts of roads. This article aims to complement road ecology by examining the socio‐spatial processes of road building itself. Focusing on the Brazilian Amazon, a heavily‐studied context due to forest fragmentation by roads, the authors consider non‐state social actors who build ‘unofficial roads’ for the purpose of gaining access to natural resources to support livelihoods and community development. They examine four case studies of roads with distinct histories in order to explain the socio‐spatial processes behind road building in terms of profit maximization, land tenure claims, co‐operative and conflictive political ecologies, and constraints as well as opportunities afforded by the biophysical environment. The study cases illustrate the need for a multi‐pronged theoretical approach to understanding road building, and call for more attention to the role of non‐state actors in road construction.