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Selected AbstractsOptimal seismic design of steel frame buildings based on life cycle cost considerationsEARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 9 2003Min Liu Abstract A multi-objective optimization procedure is presented for designing steel moment resisting frame buildings within a performance-based seismic design framework. Life cycle costs are considered by treating the initial material costs and lifetime seismic damage costs as two separate objectives. Practical design/construction complexity, important but difficult to be included in initial cost analysis, is taken into due account by a proposed diversity index as another objective. Structural members are selected from a database of commercially available wide flange steel sections. Current seismic design criteria (AISC-LRFD seismic provisions and 1997 NEHRP provisions) are used to check the validity of any design alternative. Seismic performance, in terms of the maximum inter-storey drift ratio, of a code-verified design is evaluated using an equivalent single-degree-of-freedom system obtained through a static pushover analysis of the original multi-degree-of-freedom frame building. A simple genetic algorithm code is used to find a Pareto optimal design set. A numerical example of designing a five-storey perimeter steel frame building is provided using the proposed procedure. It is found that a wide range of valid design alternatives exists, from which a decision maker selects the one that balances different objectives in the most preferred way. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] From Work as Sex to Sex as Work: Networks, ,Others' and Occupations in the Analysis of WorkGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2002Jackie West While once upon a time the social science of work and organization neglected or marginalized gender and sexuality, we have now lost sight of what people actually do, that is to say the activity of work. Gender and sexuality have been identified as crucial to organizational dynamics and, notwithstanding different theoretical emphases, this paradigm has become increasingly influential. We argue (contrary to most of its protagonists) that , within this model , the significance of sex and gender for organization rests principally on their role in the production of identities rather than in what they can tell us about production or work in any wider sense. The article highlights parallels with the ways in which prostitution is now generally understood, whether the emphasis is on subordination or agency. This literature also emphasizes gender relations and identities, even where the focus is on re,writing ,sex as work'. We argue that this focus neglects the wider networks in which all work, whether mainstream or otherwise, is embedded and that a full analysis must take due account of both these networks and the discursive production of identities. Examples , of work in the finance and sex industries , are used to substantiate this argument and a case is made for the importance of the Chicago School's analysis of occupations. [source] Microtextural analysis of a glacially ,deformed' bedrock: implications for inheritance of preferred clast orientations in diamictons,JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 3 2008Emrys Phillips Abstract Although analysis of clast macrofabrics has been used to differentiate between different types of glacial diamictons and to determine palaeo-ice flow directions, no account appears to have been made of preferred clast orientations inherited from the parental source material. Clast macrofabrics in tills are typically interpreted as having developed in response to an imposed subglacial deformation and as such provide a link between the sedimentary record and glacier dynamics. They rely on the assumption that any preferred clast orientation is a result of deformation/flow. The results of the micromorphological study of the Langholm Till exposed at North Corbelly near Dumfries (southwestern Scotland) clearly demonstrate that bedrock structure can influence clast orientation (macrofabric) within diamictons. In the lower part of the till, the orientation of elongate clasts preserves the geometry of the tectonic cleavage present within the underlying bedrock. The intensity of this steeply inclined, ,inherited' clast fabric decreases upward through the till, to be replaced by a more complex pattern of successive generations of clast microfabrics developed in response to deformation/flow. These results indicate potential limitations of applying clast macrofabric or microfabric analysis in isolation to establish till genesis or palaeo ice-flow directions. Consequently, due account should be made of other glacial palaeo-environmental and ice flow indicators, as well as rockhead depth and morphology in relation to the selection of fabric measurements sites. © British Geological Survey/Natural Environment Research Council copyright 2007. Reproduced with the permission of BGS/NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Effect of Flaw State on the Strength of Brittle Coatings on Soft SubstratesJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 10 2001Hae-Won Kim A study is made of the role of flaw state on the strength properties of brittle ceramic coating layers bonded to soft polycarbonate substrates. We introduce Vickers radial cracks at prescribed loads into the coating undersurfaces prior to bonding to control the sizes and locations of the starting flaws. A spherical indenter is then loaded on the top bilayer surfaces, directly above the Vickers indentation sites, subjecting the radial cracks to flexural tensile stress. Radial crack responses are monitored in situ, using a camera located below the transparent substrate. Critical loads to cause radial crack instability, and ensuing growth of the arrested cracks, are recorded. Conventional biaxial flexure tests on corresponding monolith coating materials provide a baseline for data comparison. Relative to the monolith flexure specimens, the bilayers show higher strengths, the more so the larger the flaw, indicating enhanced flaw tolerance. A simple fracture mechanics analysis of the radial crack evolution in the concentrated-load field, with due account for distribution of flexural tensile stresses at the coating undersurface, is unable to account completely for the enhanced bilayer strengths for the larger Vickers flaws. It is hypothesized that the epoxy used to bond the bilayer components enters the cracks, causing crack-wall adherence and providing an increased resistance to radial crack instability. The fracture mechanics are nevertheless able to account for the arrest and subsequent stable extension of the radial cracks beyond the critical loads once this extraneous adherence has been overcome. [source] Taking due account of religion in sentencingLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2009Chara Bakalis This paper explores the relationship between religion and sentencing. It considers what problems may arise when a judge fails to take proper account of a defendant's religious beliefs at the sentencing stage, or takes improper account. It highlights the need for more guidance to be given to judges in order to ensure greater consistency and fairness in sentencing outcomes. [source] Policy on global warming: fiddling while the globe burns?AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 4 2009Del Weston Abstract Objective: To assess the extent that the health consequences of global warming and the responses to it take due account of its impact on poverty and inequality. Method: Reviewing the relevant literature on global warming, proposed solutions and the impact. Results: To date, too little attention has been paid to the health consequences arising from the increased poverty and inequality that global warming will bring. When these are combined with issues arising from the economic melt-down, food shortages, peak oil, etc. we are heading for a global public health crisis of immeasurable magnitude. Conclusion: Solutions lie in rethinking the global economic system that we have relied upon over the past several decades and the global institutions that have led and fed off that global system , the IMF, the World Bank and so on. Implications: Public health practitioners need to look and act globally more often. They need to better recognise the links between global warming and the global financial crisis. How the latter is dealt with will determine whether the former can be resolved. It is in this global political economy arena that future action in public health lies. [source] Sustainability and stakeholder management: the need for new corporate performance evaluation and reporting systemsBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 5 2006Francesco Perrini Abstract Corporate sustainability, that is the capacity of a firm to continue operating over a long period of time, depends on the sustainability of its stakeholder relationships. This new stakeholder view of the firm goes beyond previous work on the triple bottom line and balanced scorecard. Companies need appropriate systems to measure and control their own behaviour in order to assess whether they are responding to stakeholder concerns in an effective way and to communicate the results achieved. These sustainability accounting systems should have the purpose of broadening and integrating the traditional financial approaches to corporate performance measurement, taking stakeholder needs into due account. This article presents the sustainability evaluation and reporting system (SERS), an integrated methodology aimed at monitoring and tracking from a qualitative and quantitative viewpoint the overall corporate performance according to a stakeholder framework, in line with small and medium-sized enterprises' managerial requirements. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] | ||||||||||