Evaluation of Invasive Retrofitting Interventions on an Unreinforced Masonry Heritage Building

The present study case highlights the importance of considering local failures for irregular unreinforced masonry buildings, by means of nonlinear seismic analyses. Simplified seismic assessments based on equivalent frame method were used in order to capture the structural behavior of the National Geological Museum from Bucharest in its initial form and also the current structural layout. The retrofitting works realized in the 1982 were focused on strengthening the transversal masonry walls and on creating horizontal diaphragms to improve the “box behavior” of the building subjected to lateral forces. Retrofitting of unreinforced masonry walls by reinforced concrete jacketing and the replacement of flexible floors by reinforced concrete slabs were previously considered to be effective only though post-earthquake visual inspections of the strengthened elements. The efficiency of past interventions is studied in the present paper through comparisons between the two models in terms of damage patterns, global behavior and also performance levels established function of maximum relative displacements

Augmenting Experience Reports with Lightweight Postmortem Reviews

Abstract. Many small and medium-sized companies that develop software experience the same problems repeatedly, and have few systems in place to learn from their own mistakes as well as their own successes. Here, we propose a lightweight method to collect experience from completed software projects, and compare the results of this method to more widely applied experience reports. We find that the new method captures more information about core processes related to software development in contrast to experience reports that focus more on management processes.

Buddhist–Muslim Dynamics in Siam/Thailand

In this chapter, we describe the interrelationships between the approximate four million Muslims and the 62 million Theravada Buddhists residing in Thailand. We discuss some of the historical, economic, political, and religious factors that have influenced the interaction between these ethnoreligious groups. The majority of the Muslims reside in provinces in south Thailand near the Malaysian border. Many of these Muslims retain their Malay Muslim identity, resulting in tensions with the Thai Buddhist authorities, including a tragic insurgency movement beginning in 2004. We also discuss the ethnic diversity and origins of the Muslim migrants and descendants and their relationship to Thai Buddhists in central and north Thailand. Although harmonious relations have existed between Muslims and Buddhists in Thailand, current political circumstances have exacerbated Islamophobic tendencies