A lesson from Bass Strait on connectivity conservation

Isolation effects on the distributions of plant species in fragmented forests appear to be weak over tens to hundreds of years and strong over geological eras. The 250 km wide, 6.5 millennia old Bass Strait, and other millennium-scale disjunctions in the range of Eucalyptus regnans forests, were used to determine the effects of intermediate periods of isolation on plant species occurrence and composition. Three of six floristic communities were found on both sides of Bass Strait. The residuals from multiple regression models using climatic variables on the latitude vector were not explained by latitude, indicating negligible isolation effects from Bass Strait. However, there was a lesser compositional effect of disjunctions within land masses than between land masses, suggesting some effect of the larger barrier. No species that commonly occurred with E. regnans and were largely confined to wet forest exhibited absences from any region where the climate and soils were within their range. If areas isolated from each other for millennia can maintain their vascular plant biota, the expenditure of conservation funds on creating corridors to connect large areas separated by anthropogenic landscape modification might require more justification than it is currently afforded.     

Modelling and Seismic Response Analysis of Italian Code-Conforming Base-Isolated Buildings

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on results of nonlinear analyses performed within the RINTC project on an RC building isolated with different systems (High Damping Rubber Bearings, High Damping Rubber Bearings and Flat Sliding Bearings, Friction Pendulum System) and designed according to the Italian design code. The seismic response has been evaluated under different seismic input levels of two sites with different hazard and by considering two Limit States: Global Collapse and Usability-Preventing Damage. The influence of seismic stoppers and modelling uncertainties is also evaluated. Results permit to compute the implicit collapse risk and to identify critical aspects of current design procedures.     

博物馆古建筑保护与功能提升——以南京博物院老大殿改造为例

南京博物院主体建筑老大殿,是中国近代建筑中唯一采用现代结构形式的仿辽代建筑。近年,南京博物院采用整体顶升、隔震加固等先进技术对其进行修缮保护,不仅有效增强了其抗震水平,还扩大了建筑的空间面积、提升了空间使用功能、丰富了展示内容和方式,为优秀古建筑的保护利用提供了新的技术思路,也为优秀古建筑的保护利用与博物馆馆舍建设及博物馆各项事业发展的相互促进积累了成功经验。     

Uncommon Ground: Holism and the Future of Anthropology

Anthropology has long been a contested field with roots in both scientific and humanistic discourse. The “four-field” approach in American anthropology has been used by some as a means of suppressing conflict and enforcing a false sense of unity. While critiques of the four-field approach are warranted, in fact holism represents anthropology's greatest strength. Anthropology gains a competitive advantage over other disciplines in its ability to combine biological and cultural approaches. Moreover, the four-field model, while historically contingent, is well suited to the institutional and political realities of the American academy, especially the public research university.     

VULNERABILITY OF ELASTOMERIC BEARING ISOLATED BUILDINGS AND THEIR EQUIPMENT

In this paper, we compare the vulnerability of isolated and conventional structures as well as equipment when uncertainty on the excitation and on some of the structural properties is considered. This comparison is performed, mainly, with a series of Monte Carlo simulations. The results clearly show the higher sensitivity of isolated structures and their equipment when submitted to statistically reasonable excitations that are different from those used for their design. This fact is recognised by some, but not all, earthquake regulations, mainly, by considering lower behaviour factors for isolated structures than for conventional ones. Although isolated structures designed according to these recommendations (e.g. FEMA 368) exhibit tow damage less frequently than conventional structures, the probability of failure is similar for both types of structure.     

Policy development and engagement: perspectives and insights from key stakeholders involved in the creative industries in north Queensland,Australia

Like many western nations, the Australian government invests significant resources in creative industries at federal, state and local levels. While the majority of investment exists in the southern part of Australia, the current federal government has drawn attention to the need to develop the vast northern area of the country. North Queensland is the most populated area of northern Australia, hence key to this broader vision for the country. This case study therefore presents findings from interviews with key stakeholders involved in the development and/or promotion of cultural policy in north Queensland, including participants working at national, state and local levels. The findings are significant and point to four issues of ongoing relevance: the impact of policy and associated engagement issues, reductions in government funding, the fragmented nature of the creative industries, and the particular challenges facing north Queensland in terms of the northern Australia vision.     

EFFECT OF SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION ON SEISMICALLY ISOLATED BRIDGES

The objective of this study is two-fold: first, to assess the effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the response of seismically isolated bridge piers and, second, to develop a method that considers SSI and can be easily applied to the preliminary design of bridges. Emphasis is given on pier behaviour, because piers together with the abutments are the most critical components of a bridge with a high potential for concentration of ductility demands during earthquakes. The relative importance that several parameters of the bridge-isolators-soil system play on design is examined. Conclusions and suggestions that can lead to safer and more economical isolated pier design are also presented. Cases in which SSI needs to be incorporated in seismically isolated bridge design are identified and ways to take advantage of SSI in order to enhance safety level and reduce design costs are recommended.     

Suicide: the spatial and social components of despair in Britain 1980–2000

In this paper we show that, by accounting for the varying influence of just three area indicators of social isolation, it is possible to predict the number of deaths due to suicide and undetermined injuries (most of which are suicides) across a great many areas remarkably closely. The exceptions to this model suggest that in a few unique areas of the country other local, often historical and cultural or intrinsically geographical factors matter also. These findings of the general predictability of suicide matter because suicide is such a common cause of death, particularly for the young. Between 1 January 1981 and 31 December 2000, the underlying cause of the deaths of 130 000 people in Britain were recorded as being directly due to suicide, or in all probability being due to suicide. Collectively, these thousands of personal stories are brought together here to show how a pattern of despair in Britain over this period was spread across the country, affecting different places and different groups in society to differing extents over changing times. The changing geography of despair can be shown to be largely the product of changing economic, social and demographic geographies. This paper is concerned with determining the extent to which the stories of suicide in Britain were more than the sum of thousands of individual acts of misery and the extent to which they reflected the changing social structure of the country. Quantitative analysis is used to identify possible key trends with a more qualitative set of interpretations placed on the possible meanings of these findings. The paper concludes by speculating on how current social trends may influence the future map of the extremes of despair in Britain.     

A SIMPLE METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF SLIDING STRUCTURES CONSIDERING VARIATIONS OF FRICTION COEFFICIENT

In this paper, the responses of multidegree of freedom (MDOF) structures on sliding foundations, subjected to harmonic or random base motions, are investigated taking into consideration the variations of friction forces. The variation of friction force is a consequence of variation of friction coefficient, which depends on such parameters as relative velocity and the existing pressure. Modelling of the friction force under the foundation raft is accomplished by using a fictitious rigid link with a rigid-perfectly plastic material. This results in identical equations of motion for the sliding structure, both in the sliding and nonsliding (stick) phases and considerably decreases the required number of time steps for the nonlinear analysis. Since the force in the link is of constant value, to consider the varying friction force, a compensatory force, which is the difference between the exact friction force and the constant force in the rigid link, is applied to the foundation raft. A model of variable friction coefficient for Teflon-steel interfaces is used for the assessment of the method and the results are compared with existing literature, through which, the capability of the method is illustrated. It is shown that by using exact model of friction lower values for the superstructure responses are predicted compared with those obtained by using Coulomb friction model. Furthermore the effect of the stiffness of the structure on the differences between the results of the two models is also studied.     

Job’s Enemies in 30,17-18

Verses 30,17-18 in Job’s final speech are notoriously difficult for interpretation. Typically offered understandings of these verses by modern exegetes cannot be anchored in the text, and appear to be too simplistic for the Jobian context. The purpose of this paper is to understand vv. 17-18 from the perspective of the contradictory objectives that the ailing Job and his fearful community have. It is being argued that a cogent understanding of these verses can be obtained if it is assumed that they deal with Job’s closest circle of intimates (apart of his three friends) and his tragic disappointment in them, perhaps because of their effort to isolate him and prevent contagion. Such reading can be obtained by assuming only the revocalizations of just two words (????, ??????) in the MT.