Reinforced Concrete Exterior Waffle Flat Plate-Column Connections Subjected to Lateral Earthquake Loading

An experimental investigation of an exterior waffle flat plate-column connection subjected to combined gravity and cyclic lateral loading is presented. The test model was designed according to construction practices used over ten years ago in the Mediterranean area. Test results are discussed in conjunction with previous studies on flat-slab connections and ACI 318–05 code idealizations. The specimen exhibited a “strong column-weak plate” mechanism, whose behavior was controlled by the torsion cracks. First yielding and failure occurred at 1% and 5.5% drift-ratios, respectively. The results show that ACI 318–05 code significantly underestimates strength; as an alternative, a simple model is proposed.     

Simplified Mechanical Model to Estimate the Seismic Vulnerability of Heritage Unreinforced Masonry Buildings

Traditional or historic masonry structures occur in large populations throughout the world, particularly in preserved historical city clusters. Being non-engineered and aging these structures are in urgent need of assessment and seismic repair/rehabilitation. However, traditional masonry presents important challenges to computational modeling, owing to complexity of structural system, material inhomogeneity, and contact interactions that collectively can only be addressed through detailed 3D nonlinear representation. In this article, a simple performance assessment model is developed in order to address the need for preliminary assessment tools for this class of structures. The objective is to be able to rapidly identify buildings that are at higher risk in the event of a significant earthquake, potentially justifying a second round of more detailed evaluation. The proposed model defines the characteristics of a Single Degree of Freedom representation of the building, formulating consistent 3D shape functions to approximate its fundamental mode of vibration considering both in-plane and out-plane wall bending as a result of insufficient diaphragm action. Parametric expressions for the dynamic properties are derived in terms of the important geometric, material, and system characteristics, and are used to express local demand from global estimates. Acceptance criteria are established both in terms of deformation and strength indices to guide retrofit. An application example of the proposed assessment methodology is included to demonstrate the ability of the model to reproduce the essential features of traditional masonry buildings under seismic action.     

The Variance of Collapse Capacity of Symmetric and Asymmetric Low-Rise RC-SMF Buildings

This study primarily investigates if the building asymmetry changes the variance of collapse capacity. The example models are five-story reinforced concrete buildings. The variance of collapse capacity is evaluated by first-order-second-moment method. There is a difference between the results of symmetric and asymmetric building models, independent of torsional behavior. The influence of record-to-record variability is more important than the effects of modeling uncertainty on the variance of collapse capacity. Plastic rotation capacity is the most important contributor to the variance of collapse capacity of high ductile buildings independent of the asymmetry.     

Theoretical and Numerical Seismic Analysis of Masonry Building Aggregates: Case Studies in San Pio Delle Camere (L’Aquila,Italy)

Masonry building aggregates are large parts of the Italian building heritage often designed without respecting seismic criteria. The current seismic Italian code does not foresee a clear calculation method to predict their static nonlinear behavior. For this reason, in this article a simple methodology to forecast the masonry aggregate seismic response has been set up. The implemented procedure has been calibrated on the results of two FEM structural analysis programs used to investigate three masonry building compounds. As a result, a design chart used to correctly predict the base shear of aggregate masonry units starting from code provisions has been set up.     

From Para to Manaos: A trip up the lower Amazon

This paper examines the General Elections of 1983, 1987 and 1992 and argues that not only has the SNP increased its share of the popular vote, but that share has become increasingly evenly distributed across Scotland. Thus, the SNP is becoming a truly ‘national’ party, where once it's support was geographically concentrated in areas of reduced class‐conciousness and strong local leaders. This new distribution is accounted for, in part, through the use of the SNP as a ‘protest’ vote.     

试论我国政治合法性的系统建构

政治合法性作为一个系统,其建设只有遵从一定的运行规则和运行规律,从系统论的角度进行统筹规划、合理安排,才能使系统有效运行并达到功能最大化。本文就如何在系统指导下建构我国的政治合法体系从六个方面进行了论述。     

从民主新路到民主执政——中国共产党民主执政理念的历史发展与转变

执政理念是执政党全部执政活动的价值取向。50多年来,从民主新路的提出到“大民主”错误思想的实践,再到依法治国与民主执政主张的提出,中国共产党一直都在不断探索、创新与发展自己的执政理念。总结与吸取我们党以往在民主执政理念方面的历史经验教训,对于现阶段中国共产党的建设有着重要的现实意义。     

Do nationalist parties shape or follow sub‐national identities? A panel analysis on the rise of the nationalist party in the Flemish Region of Belgium, 2006–11

In this article, we examine the steep and unprecedented rise of the New Flemish Alliance (N‐VA), a Flemish nationalist party in Belgium that succeeded in gaining almost thirty per cent of the vote in a couple of years. During this period, a panel survey among 3,025 late adolescents and young adults was conducted. Our analyses suggest that support for a sub‐nationalist ideology is far more successful in explaining a subsequent vote for the nationalist party than vice versa. In terms of supply and demand mechanisms, we find that N‐VA has managed to address a preexisting reservoir of Flemish nationalist voters (demand), rather than attributing to a development of a stronger Flemish identity among its followers (supply). We should therefore not overestimate the constructionist power of (sub‐)nationalist political elites for the development of (sub‐)nationalist identities.     

From Etelāʿāti to Eslāhtalabi: Saʿid Hajjarian,Political Theology and the Politics of Reform in Post-Revolutionary Iran

This article examines the importance of the political thought and praxis of politico, ‘reformist’ strategist and intellectual, Sa?id Hajjarian, and his rethinking of the post-revolutionary Iranian state’s sources and bases of legitimacy in the 1990s and 2000s. It also provides an exposition and assessment of a number of his recommendations for the realisation of ‘political development’ (towse?eh-ye siyāsi) in the post-revolutionary order and their contribution to the discourse of eslāhāt during the presidency of Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005). Moreover, it attempts to situate Hajjarian within a broader spectrum of reformist political opinion and its proponents within the Islamic Republic of Iran’s political class.