Dealing in Practice with Selecting and Modifying Earthquake Ground Motions for Nonlinear Analysis

Nonlinear earthquake analyzes of structures are increasingly required by building codes and other seismic design regulations. An essential component of these analyses is that the geotechnical engineer has to provide the structural engineer with a set of strong motion time histories, typically three or seven sets containing two orthogonal horizontal components, and one vertical component if needed. The procedure for selecting the seed time histories and modifying them to match the design response spectrum involves several steps including development of seismological criteria, earthquake deaggregation analysis, and spectral matching. This procedure for selecting and modifying earthquake ground motions is explained based on three example projects in the San Diego region; i.e., seismic retrofit of an existing hospital complex, seismic retrofit of an existing historic bridge, and seismic design of a harbor facility. Challenges and identified issues encountered in practice will be discussed and some suggestions will be proposed

THE INCLUSION OF WOMEN’S ISSUES IN PEACE NEGOTIATION AGREEMENTS: GUATEMALA, EL SALVADOR, AND COLOMBIA

Armed conflict and its consequences do not discriminate according to gender. It affects all people. During an armed conflict, women are the majority of civilian victims: they are forcibly displaced, their family members are killed, and they suffer sexual abuse and torture. However, most peace processes have been exclusively controlled and led by men, while women and women’s issues are usually not included in peace negotiations or resulting agreements. In the last 30 years, there have been 35 comprehensive peace accords signed across the world of which only eight included women’s issues in their agreements. It is crucial that women’s issues are included to engender institutions and policies focused on improving women’s status in society as well as to ensure a sustainable peace. This project tackles the important question, why are women’s issues included in some peace negotiations and peace agreements and not others. I study this process by analyzing the peace processes and agreements in three cases: Guatemala, El Salvador, and Colombia. I use secondary sources for Guatemala and El Salvador, and a mix of primary and secondary sources (30 interviews) for Colombia. I find that a mobilized women’s movement and frame alignment are necessary conditions for the inclusion of women’s issues in the peace agreement. These findings contribute to the scholarly literature on peace agreements and on women’s rights in conflict-affected areas and have implications for practitioners in the areas of conflict management and peacebuilding

Chrysophyllum gonocarpum (Mart. & Eichler ex Miq.) Engl.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/21535/thumbnail.jp

Influence of Post-Strong Seismic Shaking on the Residual Strength of Saturated Sand

Several actual earthquake records recently obtained are analyzed and the post-strong seismic shaking is characterized using parameters such as number of cycles and average shear stress. These parameters are integrated with laboratory test results from the Japanese standard Toyoura sand, and applied to an ideal sandy soil profile to estimate the reduction of residual strength. Different levels of strength reduction are obtained depending on the characteristics of the post-strong seismic motion and sand relative density. Steady-state concepts are shown to overestimate the residual strength of saturated sands and provide dangerous evaluation of post-seismic stability analysis

CONSUMO DE ENERGIA E CUSTOS DE AQUECIMENTO NA PRODUÇÃO DE FLORES E LEGUMES EM ESTUFA

Pretende-se determinar os consumos de energia e os custos em aquecimento, na produção de flores e de vegetais, ao longo do ano, em estufas de plástico aquecidas, localizadas em diversas zonas de produção de culturas forçadas. No primeiro ano considerou-se Portugal e a produção de rosa. Foram calculados os consumos energéticos e os custos de aquecimento com gasóleo ou gás natural, para duas combinações de temperaturas mínimas do ar noite/dia, em estufas modernas de plástico. O estudo está a ser alargado para a produção de tomate, englobando Portugal e Espanha

General Report - Session 4

This General Report presents a summary of the 22 papers accepted for the Session 4 focused on Case Histories on Failure and Remediation of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, including landslides and Lessons from Recent Earthquakes, and Case Histories on Engineering Vibrations, Vibration Control for Underground and Surface Constructions, with Specific Emphasis on the Urban Environment; Predictions, Monitoring and Solutions; Blasting for Tunnels in Soft Ground and Rock, Discontinuous Rocks and their Application to Water Resources Projects, and Remediation. The papers originate from twelve countries and cover significant topics and projects in the area of geotechnical earthquake engineering, and engineering vibration. These include liquefaction, liquefaction mitigation, lessons from recent earthquakes, landslides, DEM simulation, soil dynamic properties, seismic settlements, seismic hazard and ground motions, seismic waves, site amplification, foundation piles, MSE walls, vibrations and base isolation. Table 1 below presents a list of the accepted papers ordered by topic. The summaries below will provide readers with a general overview of the focus of the papers and is intended to direct the readers to areas of interest. The Session 4 organizers greatly appreciate the efforts of the authors and commend the quality of the accepted papers

Performance of Lightweight Structures During Liquefaction From Recent Earthquakes

Several case histories of lightweight structures performance during liquefaction from recent earthquake are reviewed. The review is focused on performance of lightweight structures in terms of liquefaction-induced vertical settlement, tilting, lateral displacement and their effects on occupancy and functionality of the structures. These case histories were reported during the 1997 Mw 7.4 Caucete- Argentina, 2007 Mw 8.0 Pisco-Peru, 2010 Mw 8.8 Chile, 2010 Mw 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah, 2010-2011 New Zealand, and 2011 Mw 9.0 Great East Japan earthquakes. The review is performed to identify similarities, discuss conditions, and their effects on foundation and structures. Financial and economic considerations are discussed and compared for housing, i.e., cost of housing versus cost of strengthened foundation and/or improved ground. Some recommendations for residential areas are proposed

Single Stellar Populations in the Near-Infrared - I. Preparation of the IRTF spectral stellar library

We present a detailed study of the stars of the IRTF spectral library to understand its full extent and reliability for use with Stellar Population (SP) modeling. The library consist of 210 stars, with a total of 292 spectra, covering the wavelength range of 0.94 to 2.41 micron at a resolution R = 2000. For every star we infer the effective temperature (Teff), gravity (logg) and metallicity ([Z/Zsun]) using a full-spectrum fitting approach in a section of the K band (2.19 to 2.34 micron) and temperature-NIR colour relations. We test the flux calibration of these stars by calculating their integrated colours and comparing them with the Pickles library colour-temperature relations. We also investigate the NIR colours as a function of the calculated effective temperature and compared them in colour-colour diagrams with the Pickles library. This latter test shows a good broad-band flux calibration, important for the SP models. Finally, we measure the resolution R as a function of wavelength. We find that the resolution increases as a function of lambda from about 6 angstrom in J to 10 angstrom in the red part of the K-band. With these tests we establish that the IRTF library, the largest currently available general library of stars at intermediate resolution in the NIR, is an excellent candidate to be used in stellar population models. We present these models in the next paper of this series.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic