Refugee Shelter in a Logistical World: Designing Goods for Supply‐Chain Humanitarianism

Focusing on the design and production of the IKEA Foundation “Better Shelter” and on its use in a camp on the island of Lesvos, Greece, this article explores the role of logistical calculative rationales in the provision of emergency shelters to refugees. It argues that an engagement with the critical geographies of logistics contributes to the study of such “humanitarian goods” in two main ways. First, it foregrounds the technologies that allow emergency shelter products to circulate across production sites and disaster and border zones, and their connections to broader infrastructures and commercial networks in what recent literature has called “supply‐chain humanitarianism”. Second, a logistical lens highlights the disruptions that characterise the production and usage of emergency shelter products. The analysis adds to a body of work that exposes humanitarian technology and design as sites of friction, deeply embedded in global processes of bordering and accumulation.     

Modification of Dynamic Foundation Response Due to Soil-Structure Interaction

This paper presents the results from extensive parametric dynamic analyses of soil-structure systems that focus on the clear modification (increase or decrease) of the acceleration amplitude at the foundation with respect to the free-field, especially for squatty structures. Properties of the systems are selected such as to cover a wide range of meaningful geometries and materials for engineering practice. The results are presented in terms of weighted modification factors of the maximum foundation acceleration amplitude with reference to the corresponding maximum acceleration amplitude at free-field, for squatty and more slender structures. For the large majority of the studied systems, foundation acceleration decreases from the free-field by 10–15% on average. Nevertheless, acceleration demand at the foundation increases compared to the free-field, for 30% of squatty and for 15% of the more slender structures. Modification of the foundation acceleration amplitude is also correlated with the ratio of the predominant period of the input motion to the flexible-base system period. Finally, the findings of this study are compared with sparse available recorded data from the Seismic Hazard Harmonization in Europe database.     

An Investigation of the Ground Motion Scaling Procedures for the Nonlinear Seismic Analyses of Concrete Gravity Dams

Seismic assessment of gravity dams is generally carried out using time history analyses. Scaling of the motions is commonly used; however, in contrast to buildings, the performance of scaling procedures at predicting the mean and reducing the dispersion in engineering demand parameters (EDPs) is not known. The main goal of this study is to assess the performance of different scaling procedures in predicting seismic demands on dams. The performance regarding the prediction of the damage and the required number of motions for effective analysis was investigated. The results show that techniques commonly used for moment frames should not readily be applied to these structures.     

Tourism–conservation enterprises as a land-use strategy in Kenya

Since the early 1990s, nature conservation organizations in Eastern and Southern Africa have increasingly attempted to integrate their objectives with those of international development organizations, the land-use objectives of local communities and the commercial objectives of tourism businesses, in order to find new solutions for the protection of nature and wildlife outside state-protected areas. The increased inclusion of the market in conservation initiatives has led to diverse institutional arrangements involving various societal actors, such as private game reserves, conservancies and conservation enterprises. The Koija Starbeds ecolodge in Kenya – a partnership between communities, private investors and a non-governmental organization – serves as a case study for emerging institutional arrangements aimed at enabling value creation for communities from nature conservation. Based on a content analysis of data from individual semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews, as well as a document and literature review, this article reveals a range of benefits for community livelihood and conservation. It also identifies a range of longer term governance challenges, such as the need to address local political struggles, the relations between partners and transparency and accountability in the arrangement.     

博物馆文物的防震保护研究（三）——陈列文物的地震安全性分析

通过分析博物馆馆藏文物的悬吊、固定、浮放等基本放置形式,探讨了文物的陈列特征及其可能造成的震害因素。综合考察和分析研究了国内外浮放式物体及陈列文物的运动状态,指出陈列文物在地震发生时的主要危害性运动是滑移和倾覆。根据相关浮放物在地震作用下的计算方法、上海博物馆文物的陈列特征及防震设计参数,提出简便实用的浮放式陈列文物稳定性计算模型,编制了适合上海博物馆文物安全性分析的计算程序。并以上海博物馆文物陈列的3类接触材料、4楼中国古代玉器馆的典型陈列文物为试点,计算了陈列文物在地震中遭受破坏的临界值。表明在设防水准的大震和中震情况下,目前陈列现状的绝大多数文物均存在倾覆和滑移安全隐患,但当文物所受到的地震动减小到110gal时可满足陈列安全。     

河南洛阳市汉魏故城发现北魏宫城五号建筑遗址

2010年10~12月和2011年3~5月,中国社会科学院考古研究所与日本独立行政法人国立文化财政机构奈良文化财政研究所联合考古队,对汉魏洛阳故城北魏宫城西南角进行大面积     

西安市汉长安城长乐宫六号建筑遗址

2005～2006年,中国社会科学院考古研究所汉长安城工作队对长乐宫六号宫殿遗址的主体建筑及其附属建筑进行了发掘。附属建筑分两部分,均由殿堂、廊道、散水和院落组成。从出土遗物看,该建筑始建于西汉初期并一直沿用到王莽时期。根据发掘资料并结合文献记载,六号宫殿遗址应是长乐宫的前殿旧址。     

Source Modeling of the Kozani and Arnea 1995 Events with Strong Motion Estimates for the City of Thessaloniki

In Turkey, with the occurrence of almost every strong and even moderate earthquake, damage to masonry minarets is observed. In the present work, efficiency of vertical post-tensioning application to reinforce masonry minarets against earthquakes has been investigated. Considering a representative minaret and its post-tensioned counterpart, and performing spectral and time-history analyses, the effects of post-tensioning on the axial stresses, top lateral displacements and overturning safety have been determined. Obtained results have shown that vertical post-tensioning application is a very efficient method to reduce axial tensile stresses and lateral displacements, and to assure the overturning safety of masonry minarets against earthquakes.     

Empirical Green's Functions Modified by Attenuation for Sources Located at Intermediate and Far Distances from the Original Source

We present a scheme to modify empirical Green's functions by attenuation considering: (1) geometrical spreading; (2) decay in high frequency; (3) regional attenuation; and (4) phase of the signal. The accelerograms computed with the proposed simulation method are compared, in time and frequency domains, with strong ground motions from subduction and intermediate-depth earthquakes recorded in Mexico. It is shown that this simple empirical Green's functions technique can synthesize both the shape and amplitude of the response spectra in the site, considering a postulated seismic source located at different distances from the original one.     

Seismic Hazards and Water Supply Performance

This article describes seismic hazards, including fault rupture, liquefaction, landslides, and site amplification, using Los Angeles as a case study. Water supply simulation results are presented for a 7.8 M_W earthquake on the San Andreas Fault. Severe water losses are shown after 24 h, with nearly 2,700 locations of pipeline damage and a 66% decrease in normal water service. The water supply system was modeled with and without reservoirs that have been removed from service to meet water quality standards. The results show that opening the disconnected reservoirs immediately after a serious earthquake is an effective strategy for emergency response.