Magna Carta, the Rule of Law and the Limits on Government

This paper surveys the legal tradition that links Magna Carta with the modern concepts of the rule of law and the limits on government. It documents that the original understanding of the rule of law included substantive commitments to individual freedom and limited government. Then, it attempts at explaining how and why such commitments were lost to a formalist interpretation of the rule of law from 1848 to 1939. The paper concludes by arguing how a revival of the substantive commitments of the rule of law is central in a project of reshaping modern states

A cyclic backbone curve for squat reinforced concrete shear walls

by Siamak Epackachi, Nikhil Sharma, Andrew Whitaker, Ronald O. Hamburger and Ayse Hortacs

A cyclic backbone curve for shear-critical reinforced concrete walls

Backbone curves are used in seismic design standards as the basis for developing component models for nonlinear static and dynamic analysis. Herein, data from 240 tests of rectangular, barbell, and flanged shear-critical walls are assembled and analyzed to develop an improved cyclic backbone curve for use in nonlinear response-history analysis. Values of drift ratio and normalized lateral force at the control points on the cyclic backbone curve are identified. The effects of design parameters, including wall aspect ratio, axial load, day-of-test concrete compressive strength, vertical and horizontal web reinforcement ratio, reinforcement ratio in the boundary elements, and yield strength of reinforcement, on the coordinates of the control points are addressed. The accuracy of equations for peak shear strength is assessed using the collected test data.by Siamak Epackachi, Nikhil Sharma, Andrew Whittaker, Ronald O. Hamburger and Ayse Hortacs