Liberal nationalist versus postnational social integration: on the nation's ethno‐cultural particularity and ‘concreteness’*

Abstract. Liberal nationalists advance two claims: (1) an empirical claim that nationalism is functionally indispensable to the viability of liberal democracy (because it is necessary to social integration) and (2) a normative claim that some forms of nationalism are compatible with liberal democratic norms. The empirical claim is often supported, against postnationalists' view that social integration can bypass ethnicity and nationality, by pointing to the inevitable ethnic and cultural particularities of all political institutions. I argue that (1) the argument that ethno‐cultural particularity demonstrates the need for nationalist integration depends on an implausible reification of national identity at the level of social theory, and that (2) this reification ironically serves to undermine liberal nationalists' normative claim.     

Fuzzy-Sliding-Mode Supervisory Control of a Seismic Shake Table with Variable Payload for Robust and Precise Acceleration Tracking

Precise tracking of the earthquake acceleration profile in the presence of uncertainties is a challenge for the shake table control design. Design and implementation of a fuzzy-sliding-mode super- visory controller for an electric seismic shake table with variable payload is addressed in this paper. The proposed controller contains two layers including a proportional–integral loop and a fuzzy-sliding-mode supervisory controller. The controller is then implemented in the shake table and its performance is evaluated. The test results reveal successful performance of the proposed controller at robust tracking of some harmonic and seismic excitations in the presence of parametric uncertainties.     

Seismic Fragility Study of Displacement Demand on Fire Sprinkler Piping Systems

Seismic damage to fire sprinkler piping systems is not only caused by inertial forces or interstory drifts, but also by impact with surrounding objects. The collision of constituents of piping systems with nearby objects increases the chance of damage to the piping itself and to adjacent objects. In this study, the probability of seismic damage to fire sprinkler systems due to impact is quantified by obtaining seismic fragility parameters for large diameter pipes passing through walls and floors, as well as small diameter pipes that typically interact with suspended ceilings. The results of two shaking table experiments conducted at the University of Nevada, Reno and E-Defense test facility, and a high-fidelity numerical model of a hospital piping system are used to evaluate the displacement demands. Piping interaction fragility curves are generated based on clearances between adjacent objects and pipes. The probability of piping interactions and damage to piping systems subjected to different levels of peak floor acceleration is compared for different clearances. It is found that the probability of damage due to impact is comparable with the probability of exceeding other limit states, like the leakage in fittings, when a 1 in or 2 in gap is provided around large and small diameter pipes, respectively.     

Terminal Cambrian and Early Ordovician (Tremadocian) conodonts from Eastern Alborz,north-central Iran

Hadi Jahangir, Mansoureh Ghobadi Pour, Alireza Ashuri & Arash Amini, December 2015. Terminal Cambrian and Early Ordovician (Tremadocian) conodonts from Eastern Alborz, north-central Iran. Alcheringa ##, ###-###. ISSN 0311-5518.

Uppermost Cambrian (Furongian) and Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) deposits of eastern Alborz in northern Iran contain several successive low- to moderate-diversity conodont associations including 13 genera and 19 species of euconodonts, paraconodonts and protoconodonts, which define six biozones: 1, the Proconodontus muelleri; 2, Eoconodontus notchpeakensis; 3, Cordylodus andresi; 4, Cordylodus proavus; 5, Paltodus deltifer; and 6, Paroistodus proteus zones. With the exception of Cordylodus andresi, which is otherwise known from Baltoscandia and from the Oaxaquia terrane (Mexico), all index-taxa are geographically widespread, allowing long-range correlation within the Cold Domain or the North Atlantic Province, and in particular with Baltica. Invasion of euconodonts in the Alborz region, defined by the first occurrence of Proconodontus muelleri, coincides closely with a steady rise in sea level and termination of carbonate sedimentation, whereas the transition from the Proconodontus muelleri to Eoconodontus notchpeakensis zones occurs during a highstand interval unlike in Laurentian sequences. The interval corresponding to the Cordylodus andresi and Cordylodus proavus zones, and the transition from the Paltodus deltifer to Paroistodus proteus zones coincided with unstable sea levels and the formation of shoal complexes. The lower boundary of the Floian Stage can be provisionally placed slightly below the first documented occurrence of Acodus sp. cf. A. kechikaensis, somewhat below the second unit of andesitic lava flows in the Simeh-Kuh section.

Hadi Jahangir [jahangir.hadi@gmail.com] and Alireza Ashuri [ashouri2001@yahoo.com] Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University, Azadi Square, Mashhad 91775-1436, Iran; Mansoureh Ghobadi Pour* [mghobadipour@yahoo.co.uk; m.ghobadipour@gu.ac.ir] and Arash Amini [a.amini@gu.ac.ir], Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Golestan University, Gorgan 49138-15739, Iran. *Also affiliated with Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK.     

The Iranian Green Movement: Fragmented Collective Action and Fragile Collective Identity

The Iranian Green Movement emerged after the presidential election in June 2009. The paper tracks down its foundational origins through the concept of ‘fragmented collective action’, that points to the dispersion of a social movement's political energies and the fragmentation of its constitutive groups. It also addresses the significance of informal mobilizing networks and the widespread use of modern virtual space to bring together an intersubjectively constructed collective identity which was shaped by the movement’s interactions with political forces and with its interlocutors. Finally, the paper argues that the collective identity shaped the movement's strategies over the course of its evolution.