Unequal Competition Among Chains of Supercenters: Kmart,Target, and Wal‐Mart

The three largest discount chains, Kmart, Target, and Wal‐Mart, have adopted the supercenter format for expansion. This article examines the locations of and the competition among these supercenters. Wal‐Mart has the greatest number of supercenters and is driving the expansion of the supercenter format. Both Kmart and Target have clustered their supercenters in a small number of metropolitan markets. In contrast to Wal‐Mart and Kmart, Target has focused on a middle‐class rather than a blue‐collar clientele. Now Kmart is struggling following a declaration of bankruptcy. Wal‐Mart has largely defeated its supercenter competitors and now is confronting the major grocery chains for grocery sales.     

Centennial to millennial geomagnetic secular variation

A time-varying spherical harmonic model of the palaeomagnetic field for 0–7 ka is used to investigate large-scale global geomagnetic secular variation on centennial to millennial scales. We study dipole moment evolution over the past 7 kyr, and estimate its rate of change using the Gauss coefficients of degree 1 (dipole coefficients) from the CALS7K.2 field model and by two alternative methods that confirm the robustness of the predicted variations. All methods show substantial dipole moment variation on timescales ranging from centennial to millennial. The dipole moment from CALS7K.2 has the best resolution and is able to resolve the general decrease in dipole moment seen in historical observations since about 1830. The currently observed rate of dipole decay is underestimated by CALS7K.2, but is still not extraordinarily strong in comparison to the rates of change shown by the model over the whole 7 kyr interval. Truly continuous phases of dipole decrease or increase are decadal to centennial in length rather than longer-term features. The general large-scale secular variation shows substantial changes in power in higher spherical harmonic degrees on similar timescales to the dipole. Comparisons are made between statistical variations calculated directly from CALS7K.2 and longer-term palaeosecular variation models: CALS7K.2 has lower overall variance in the dipole and quadrupole terms, but exhibits an imbalance between dispersion in   g ¹₂  and   h ¹₂  , suggestive of long-term non-zonal structure in the secular variations.     

黑龙江气候变暖的时空变化特征

进入80年代以来，黑龙江气温明显变暖，近120年来年平均气温上升1.4℃，春季次之，气温突变在1990年前后，从年、各季平均气温变化趋势与全国北半球及全球气温变化进行比较，年及冬季我国增暖中心在黑龙江，春季增暖中心在内蒙古北部及黑龙江省；夏秋增暖不明显，但仍有上升趋势，近50年来，50～70年代黑龙江省及全国各大区域普遍增暖不明显，80年代开始黑龙江省增暖明显，三北地区次之，90年代黑龙江增暖更加明显，而全国及其他区域上升已达到80年代北方增温幅度，这里从黑龙江变暖的事实，突变时间，与全球、北半球、全国区域的气温及雪盖海温变化关系来揭示黑龙江气候变化的时空特点。     

青藏高原近地面层微气象学特征

利用1998年5月-7月在改则、当雄和昌都三测站获得的近地面层气象要素变化的观测资料，分析了青藏高原近地面层风速、温度和湿度日变化特征及廓线规律，发现高原近地面层微气象学特征具有自己的特点；同时还讨论了高原近地面层白天出现的逆湿现象。     

根据Dobson和TOMS资料分析北京和昆明大气臭氧总量变化特征

用约２０年 Ｄｏｂｓｏｎ和ＴＯＭＳ资料来分析北京（３９.９３°Ｎ，１１６.４０°Ｅ）和昆明 （２５.０２°Ｎ，１０２．６８°）两地大气臭氧总量的变化特征，结果表明：（１）在１９７９－２０００年间北京大气臭氧长期变化趋势是－０．６４２ ＤＵ／年，而昆明在１９８０－２０００年间的趋势是－０.００９ ＤＵ／年；（２）北京和昆明两地大气臭氧都有很强的季节内变化（尤其冬季更强），与季节性变化强度相当；（３）在北京和昆明，由记录较短的大气臭氧资料分析得到的长期变化趋势，与较长记录得到的结果有显著差异；（４）在北京（中纬度）和昆明（低纬度）大气臭氧都有显著的准两年振荡信号；（５）两个站点大气臭氧的年际变化主要由长期趋势项和准两年振荡信号组成；（６）Ｄｏｂｓｏｎ仪测量得到的臭氧总量与ＴＯＭＳ资料非常一致。     

INTENSITY INDEX OF SOUTH CHINA SEA MONSOON AND ITS VARIATION CHARACTERISTICS

According to the basic characteristics of the activities of summer monsoon in the South China Sea,Standardized index,Is,has been designed that integrates a dynamic factor(southwesterly component) and a thermodynamic factor(OLR) for the indication of summer monsoon in the South China Sea,With the index determined for individual months of June,July and August and the entire summertime from 1975 to 1999,specific months and years are indicated that are either strong or weak in monsoon intensity,The variation is studied for the patterns and Is‘s relationship is revealed with the onset of summer monsoon and the precipitation in Guang-dong province and China.The results show that there are quasi-10 and quasi-3-4 year cycles in the interannual variation of the monsooon over the past 25 years.When it has an early(late)onset,the summer monsoon is usually strong (weak),In the strong(weak)monsoon,years,precipitation tends to be more(less)in the first raining season of the year but normal or less(normal)in the second,in the province,but it would be more(less) in northeastern China and most parts of the northern china and south of the lower reaches of the Changjiang River and less(more)in the middle and lower reaches of the river,western part of northern China and western China.     

Tests on low‐ductility RC frames under high‐ and low‐frequency excitations

The response of low‐ductility reinforced concrete (RC) frames, designed typically for a non‐seismic region, subjected to two frequencies of base excitations is studied. Five half‐scaled, two‐bay, two‐storey, RC frames, each approximately 5 m wide by 3.3 m high, were subjected to both horizontal and/or vertical base excitations with a frequency of 40 Hz as well as a lower frequency of about 4 Hz (close to the fundamental frequency) using a shake table. The imposed acceleration amplitude ranged from 0.2 to 1.2g. The test results showed that the response characteristics of the structures differed under high‐ and low‐frequency excitations. The frames were able to sustain high‐frequency excitations without damage but were inadequate for low‐frequency excitations, even though the frames exhibited some ductility. Linear‐elastic time‐history analysis can predict reasonably well the structural response under high‐frequency excitations. As the frames were not designed for seismic loads, the reinforcement detailing may not have been adequate, based on the crack pattern observed. The effect of vertical excitation can cause significant additional forces in the columns and moment reversals in the beams. The ‘strong‐column, weak‐beam’ approach for lateral load RC frame design is supported by experimental observations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic response of self‐centring hysteretic SDOF systems

The seismic response of single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) systems incorporating flag‐shaped hysteretic structural behaviour, with self‐centring capability, is investigated numerically. For a SDOF system with a given initial period and strength level, the flag‐shaped hysteretic behaviour is fully defined by a post‐yielding stiffness parameter and an energy‐dissipation parameter. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted to determine the influence of these parameters on SDOF structural response, in terms of displacement ductility, absolute acceleration and absorbed energy. This parametric study was conducted using an ensemble of 20 historical earthquake records corresponding to ordinary ground motions having a probability of exceedence of 10% in 50 years, in California. The responses of the flag‐shaped hysteretic SDOF systems are compared against the responses of similar bilinear elasto‐plastic hysteretic SDOF systems. In this study the elasto‐plastic hysteretic SDOF systems are assigned parameters representative of steel moment resisting frames (MRFs) with post‐Northridge welded beam‐to‐column connections. In turn, the flag‐shaped hysteretic SDOF systems are representative of steel MRFs with newly proposed post‐tensioned energy‐dissipating connections. Building structures with initial periods ranging from 0.1 to 2.0s and having various strength levels are considered. It is shown that a flag‐shaped hysteretic SDOF system of equal or lesser strength can always be found to match or better the response of an elasto‐plastic hysteretic SDOF system in terms of displacement ductility and without incurring any residual drift from the seismic event. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical evaluation of the damping‐solvent extraction method in the frequency domain

The damping‐solvent extraction method for the analysis of unbounded visco‐elastic media is evaluated numerically in the frequency domain in order to investigate the influence of the computational parameters—domain size, amount of artificial damping, and mesh density—on the accuracy of results. An analytical estimate of this influence is presented, and specific questions regarding the influence of the parameters on the results are answered using the analytical estimate and numerical results for two classical problems: the rigid strip and rigid disc footings on a visco‐elastic half‐space with constant hysteretic material damping. As the domain size is increased, the results become more accurate only at lower frequencies, but are essentially unaffected at higher frequencies. Choosing the domain size to ensure that the static stiffness is computed accurately leads to an unnecessarily large domain for analysis at higher frequencies. The results improve by increasing artificial damping but at a slower rate as the total (material plus artificial) damping ratio ζ_t gets closer to 0.866. However, the results do not deteriorate significantly for the larger amounts of artificial damping, suggesting that ζ_t≈0.6 is appropriate; a larger value is not likely to influence the accuracy of results. Presented results do not support the earlier suggestion that similar accuracy can be achieved by a large bounded domain with small damping or by a small domain with larger damping. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.