FRAGILITY ASSESSMENT OF SLAB-COLUMN CONNECTIONS IN EXISTING NON-DUCTILE REINFORCED CONCRETE BUILDINGS

Fragility functions that estimate the probability of exceeding different levels of damage in slab-column connections of existing non-ductile reinforced concrete buildings subjected to earthquakes are presented. The proposed fragility functions are based on experimental data from 16 investigations conducted in the last 36 years that include a total of 82 specimens. Fragility functions corresponding to four damage states are presented as functions of the level of peak interstory drift imposed on the connection. For damage states involving punching shear failure and loss of vertical carrying capacity, the fragility functions are also a function of the vertical shear in the connection produced by gravity loads normalised by the nominal vertical shear strength in the absence of unbalanced moments. Two sources of uncertainty in the estimation of damage as a function of lateral deformation are studied and discussed. The first is the specimen-to-specimen variability of the drifts associated with a damage state, and the second the epistemic uncertainty arising from using small samples of experimental data and from interpreting the experimental results. For a given peak interstorey drift ratio, the proposed fragility curves permit the estimation of the probability of experiencing different levels of damage in slab-column connections.     

Book reviews

Mobile phones have invited a number of dystopian understandings, particularly as far as young people are concerned. They have been variously argued to contribute to poor spelling and grammar, disturb attention to school work, facilitate text bullying, lead to brain cancers and promote the destruction of face-to-face relationships. Despite these concerns, text messaging is by far the most common form of mobile communication between young people in New Zealand. Drawing on actor-network theory and qualitative research conducted with New Zealand teenagers, we explore how teenagers, cell phones, socio-spatial relations and discourses exist within a hybrid and interdependent network which we have termed digital sociality. This network seems to facilitate rather than destroy proximal contact. The machine and the human, in a cyborgian sense, meld to develop new and complex workings of space and the social which suggests mobile technologies are not as damaging to young people as many have suggested and calls for preventative approaches to this technology might need therefore to be rethought.     

Population Trends in the Russian Federation: Reflections on the Legacy of Soviet Censorship and Distortions of Demographic Statistics

A noted demographer assesses the reliability of data in the 1989 census of the Soviet Union for 14 regions of the Russian Federation affected by distortions designed by Soviet authorities to conceal the populations of "secret towns" of the military-industrial complex. More specifically, using declassified population data available but only selectively published following the disclosure of these hidden settlements (and their populations) in 1994, he re-estimates the urban populations of these regions in 1989, and compares differences in 1989-2002 population change indicated by use of the original and adjusted 1989 data sets. Distortions of up to 10 percent of the regional populations (and as high as 13 percent for their eponymous regional capitals) are examined in light of their implications for the calculation of a variety of demographic and population-based indicators in studies of Russia comparing the late Soviet and early post-Soviet periods. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: J11, O18, R23. 8 tables, 35 references.     

‘It was a bit like the passover’: recollections of family mealtimes during twentieth century Irish childhoods

The article presents an in-depth qualitative analysis of experiences of childhood mealtimes amongst three cohorts of Irish people in different historical periods during the twentieth century. By analysing family mealtimes during respondents' childhoods, the article sheds light on change and continuity to family practices throughout twentieth century Ireland. The analysis shows that patterns of family eating respond to changes in the economy and employment patterns, technological innovation, as well as to shifting family arrangements and structures. But the popular idea that the family meal is in terminal decline is disputed: tendencies towards fragmentation of family mealtimes often meet counter-tendencies. These accounts are important as they problematize normative assumptions about the pivotal role shared family meals play in supporting family life.     

基于面板数据的劳动力流动的区域差异研究——以国有企业大学生就业为例

在大学教育转型的背景下,大学生就业难成为当前社会的一大焦点,化解大学生就业困局对于我国经济社会可持续发展具有重要的意义。为此,本文利用1999-2008年我国国有及国有控股企业的面板数据,通过实证测算大学生就业和工资之间的关系,探索大学生就业影响因素及其区域差异。研究结果发现:大学生就业增量和工资之间呈反比关系,而且大学生就业增量表现出明显的区域差异,表现出东部最强,西部最弱的大学生就业的区域聚集。出现这种情况的原因实际上由当前大学生劳动力市场区域分割、行业分割以及连年扩招造成的。为了改变这种局面,需要大力促进地区平衡发展、营造公平的就业竞争环境以及健全的就业激励和保障机制,同时还要完善就业服务体系,加强就业导向的实习指导和服务,提升大学生就业能力和就业素质。     

丽江木氏土司档案文献评述

丽江木氏土司在统治滇、川、藏纳西族地区的数百年间,形成了内容丰富的碑碣、摩崖、谱牒、图表、传记、书、亲供册等,本择其要对其载体形式、内容构成、史料价值和某些学术观点作了评述,希望有助于这一珍贵档案献的发掘、整理和研究。     

高校图书馆重点学科数据库建构

重点学科数据库建构对高校发展起着重要作用。文章论述了高校图书馆建设重点学科数据库的必要性,并对重点学科数据库的建设进行了初步探索。     

西安市主城区客观生活质量空间格局研究

以街道办事处为研究单元(以下简称街道),选取西安市主城区53个街道作为研究区域,利用Erdas imagine空间分类和建模方法、Arcgis区域分析方法、SPSS因子分析和聚类分析法等对2013年西安市主城区客观生活质量进行评价,并探究其空间格局。结果表明:①在生态环境因素主导下,外围客观生活质量高于接近内城的区域,南北区域高于东西区域,并在总体布局中出现"飞地";②在社会经济因素主导下,客观生活质量以内城为中心向四周辐射,形成放射状格局,同时在曲江等街道出现"异值区";③总体客观生活质量以内城及其南部区域较高,高值区呈现集中连片分布,低值区呈现"马鞍形"分布格局。     

Significance of large-scale sand injectites as long-term fluid conduits: evidence from seismic data

Sand injectites and related features that are interpreted to have formed by large‐scale, often sudden, fluid escape in the shallow (typically <500 m) crust are readily imaged on modern seismic data. Many of the features have geometrical similarity to igneous dykes and sills and cross‐cut the depositional stratigraphy. Sand injectites may be multiphase and form connected, high‐permeability networks that transect kilometre‐scale intervals of otherwise fine‐grained, low‐permeability strata. North Sea examples often form significant hydrocarbon reservoirs and typically contain degraded, low‐gravity crude oil. Fluid inclusion and stable isotope data from cements in sand injectites record a mixing of aqueous fluids of deep and shallow origin.     

Lost in the Mail: the Inherent Errors of Mapping Australia Post Postcodes to ABS Derived Postal Areas

It is now common practice, by users of geographic information, to link data held at the postcode level to that obtained from the national census. This paper examines the relationship between Australia Post (AP) postcodes and Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) derived postal areas — which are an approximation of the former based on aggregated census collection districts (CDs). A group of adjacent ABS postal areas in northwest Melbourne was compared with the true AP postcode areas they purported to represent and the discrepancies were investigated. Firstly, shape mismatches were studied and their potential impacts upon resource allocation decisions were assessed. Next, comparisons of areas were undertaken. It was found that, in established inner city urban areas, the two sets of boundaries were highly correlated. However, outer suburban neighborhoods were identified as being particularly prone to major areal discrepancies. The implications of mismatches between these two key boundary data sources may be severe, given that management decisions and the allocation of public and private resources are often based on spatial statistical analyses which use these data sets. The authors acknowledge ABS efforts in providing information at the levels of aggregation that society demands. The introduction of ABS postal areas data has undoubtedly facilitated the use of demographic data in many sectors; it has, however, also caused some problems, for instance, when users assume that ABS postal areas are identical to AP postcodes. These issues could easily be avoided with the inclusion of more comprehensive metadata documentation accompanying ABS data. Research is continuing to develop a method by which agencies may derive common boundaries for their administrative units, yet still meet their own individual data and sampling requirements.