The Panama Ship Registry: 1917–2017

The Panama Ship Registry has its origins in the year 1917. Nowadays, Panama has the largest vessel registry in the world. The second placed registry in the world ranking is Liberia, which does not have even half the number of Panamanian ships. In this Centennial, the aim of this paper is to analyse the evolution of the Panamanian Registry, the structure of the Panamanian-flagged fleet and the level of compliance with international standards in relation to maritime safety and working conditions. To undertake the analysis, two different qualitative and quantitative approaches are compared and integrated for the evaluation of the Panama Ship Registry: the degree of ratification and enforcement of the Conventions and Recommendations of the International Maritime Organization and International Labour Organization, and the results of Panamanian flagged vessels in inspections carried out within the major Port State Control Memoranda of Understanding. This paper fills a research gap by discussing an approach to the concept of flag of convenience and flag State, Panama is more an international registry, whose role is becoming less important from the points of view of safety or working conditions. The fleet performance evolution has been very positive as evidenced by the data presented in this article regarding Port State Control.     

Out‐of‐plane strength reduction of unreinforced masonry walls because of in‐plane damages

There are numerous studies on the behavior of Unreinforced Masonry (URM) walls in both in‐plane (IP) and out‐of‐plane (OP) directions; however, few aimed at understanding the simultaneous contribution of these intrinsic responses during earthquakes. Undoubtedly, even a strong URM wall shows weakened capacity in the OP direction because of minor cracks and other damages in the IP direction, and this capacity reduction has not yet been accounted for in seismic codes. In this study, performance of three URM walls is evaluated by several numerical analyses in terms of the OP capacity reduction because of IP displacements and failure modes. Several parameters influencing the OP capacity have been studied including aspect ratio, roof boundary condition, IP displacement and IP loading patterns. The results indicate that reduction in the OP capacity of URM walls varies from negligible to very high depending on boundary conditions, IP failure mode and IP damage severity. Moreover, IP loading pattern is more important in walls with higher aspect ratios because of their IP failure modes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PDA支持下的高精度曲线测设系统的设计与实现

介绍了高精度曲线测设系统的设计思想和结构体系,对系统功能和实汉市轨道交通一号线一期工程的应用,表明该系统实用可靠,使用简单方便,曲线测设精度很高,并可极大地提高曲线测设的工作效率.     

薄基岩浅埋煤层覆岩破坏移动演化规律研究

以榆阳煤矿为研究基地,进行了地下水动力学参数、覆岩力学组合结构特征与基岩风化带的阻隔水特性试验。结果表明,风积沙层底部为强含水层;主采煤层上覆覆岩泥岩强度高于砂岩;砂岩孔隙率高,含水率大,抗压、抗拉强度比值高;泥岩和砂岩的黏土矿物含量低、具有典型的脆性易裂、抗扰动能力差和再生隔水能力弱等新的破坏移动特性,并通过多因素拟合,确立了薄基岩浅埋煤层覆岩采动破坏“两带”高度的动态变化特征,提出了长壁工作面开采防止突水溃砂的调控技术,成功应用于榆阳煤矿并实现绿色保水开采,为陕北榆神大煤田薄基岩浅埋煤层进一步推广高效开采技术和保护生态环境实现绿色保水开采奠定了基础。     

天然气水合物形成条件与含量影响因素的半定量分析

天然气水合物形成条件及其含量的研究是天然气水合物调查研究中最为关心的两个问题.从天然气水合物形成过程的热动力学理论模型出发,半定量地探讨了不同因素（温度、压力、气体组成、孔隙水盐度、沉积物孔隙大小等）对天然气水合物形成作用及含量的影响程度.结果显示,气体组成特别是丙烷的加入对天然气水合物形成的温度和压力条件影响最大,孔隙水盐度也会对天然气水合物形成的温度和压力条件产生重要影响,沉积物孔隙在一定范围内（1×10^-6m～4×10^-8m）对天然气水合物形成的温度和压力条件影响有限.天然气水合物含量受孔隙大小和盐度影响较小,主要只与气体的供应大小有关.     

加强化工地质科技创新刍议

化工矿产地质队伍组建以来,科技工作曾获得一些成果,取得一定效益。随着地质勘查队伍企业化进程的加快,地质科技工作也出现一定的问题。现化工地质科技创新应着重做好:重点化工矿产资源成矿区带研究;重点矿种成矿理论及找矿方法的创新研究;老矿山、资源危机矿山外围及深部地质找矿工作、地质勘查技术方法研究;低品位、难利用资源的开发利用研究;加快地质工作信息化进程、开展对周边国家和地区化工矿产资源战略研究等工作。当前化工地质勘查队伍应深入贯彻落实《国务院关于加强地质工作的决定》,发挥优势,建设、壮大化工地质科技工作队伍,做好相关的工作,使化工地质科技创新发挥深远的作用。     

Assessment of the dynamic response of unreinforced masonry structures using a macroelement modeling approach

The seismic performance of unreinforced masonry structures is strongly associated with the interaction between in‐plane and out‐of‐plane mechanisms. The seismic response of these structures has been thoroughly investigated by means of experimental testing, analytical procedures, and computational approaches. Within the framework of the numerical simulations, models based on the finite element method provide a good prediction of the seismic performance of unreinforced masonry structures. However, they usually require a high computational cost and advanced user expertise to define appropriate mechanical properties and to interpret the numerical results. Because of these limitations, simplified models for practical applications have been developed during the last decades. Despite this, a great number of these models focus mostly on the evaluation of the in‐plane response, assuming box (or integral) behavior of the structure. In this paper, a simplified macroelement modeling approach is used to simulate the seismic response of 2 masonry prototypes taking into consideration the combined in‐plane and out‐of‐plane action. The numerical investigations were performed in the static and dynamic fields by using pushover analyses and nonlinear dynamic analyses respectively. The latter is a novel implementation of a model previously developed for static analysis. The results obtained from this study are in good agreement with those provided by a detailed nonlinear continuum FE approach, demonstrating the applicability of this macroelement model with a significant reduction of the computational cost.     

A numerical study on the cumulative out‐of‐plane damage to church masonry façades due to a sequence of strong ground motions

Seismic shocks occur sometimes as a sequence, close in space and time, of destructive events of comparable intensity. In these cases, a significant portion of the damage to historical buildings can be related with the cumulated damage on structures that become progressively more vulnerable. This research investigates the specific increase of damage determined by a sequence of strong ground motions, focusing the interest on the out‐of‐plane response of 2 church masonry façades. The dynamic analyses were performed by a specific rigid body and spring model RBSM, which only accounts for out‐of‐plane damage mechanisms. Two idealized models of façade, each made of 2 different masonry bonds, have been studied by applying various sequences of recorded accelerograms. The results highlighted a complex relationship between the spectral content of the seismic shocks and the characteristics of the structures that change in the course of the loading sequence due to the development of damage. The Housner spectral intensity proved to be a reliable scalar measure of the ground motion destructiveness for these façades. Moreover, when considering a design‐consistent accelerogram that causes a relevant damage pattern, ie, with a significant elongation of the effective first period of vibration, the numerical results indicated a possible spectral intensity threshold below which the occurrence of repeated seismic shocks, both before and after the reference design shock, can be considered as irrelevant. On the other hand, a catastrophic increase of damage should be expected when this threshold is overcome.     

浅层地震反射波法在石膏矿采空区调查中的应用

随着人们对地下矿产资源的过度开采,地下空间形成了较大区域的采空区。采空区出现后,其上覆岩层平衡条件被破坏,使得上覆岩层产生移动变形,直到破坏、塌落,导致地表建筑物变形、破坏,地表大面积下沉、凹陷,形成大面积的采空塌陷区。采空区的存在使矿山生产面临很大的安全问题。近年来,矿山采空区的危害越来越受到人们的重视,在采空区调查中,各种地球物理方法起到了重要的作用,国内外以往探测实践表明,较为常用的物探测量方法有:高密度电阻率法、瞬变电磁法、CSAMT法、浅层地震反射波法、放射性土壤氡气测量法等,但每种物探方法的应用均具有一定的条件,需要根据岩石物性特征、场地条件、探测深度、环境影响等因素选择合适的地球物理方法。地震反射波法具有抗干扰能力强、分辨率较高等优势,被较多应用于矿山采空区的调查中。该文以临沂市兰陵县某石膏矿采空区为例,采用浅层地震反射波法对该石膏矿采空区进行调查,通过对获得的地震剖面资料进行处理和解释,取得了较好的探测效果,其技术方法可为同类采空区的探测提供借鉴和指导。     

直读式流速仪升级的使用维修对策

通过对比、分析国产ＺＳＸ系列直读式流速仪Ⅰ和Ⅱ型显示器的不同之处,介绍它们的兼容方法,使之因仪器升级而被淘汰的流速仪资源被充分地利用。