Historical Trends of Organochlorine Pesticides in an Alpine Glacier

The significance of persistent organic pollutants, such as organochlorine compounds, as global contaminants in cold regions has been recognised for a long time. In particular, there is a growing interest on the role of high mountains as `cold condensers' for these chemicals. In this paper, for the first time, organochlorine pesticides (DDTs, HCHs, HCB) are analysed in an ice core sampled on a `cold' glacier in the Alps. Several methods were applied to achieve accurate dating of the core layers. Historical trends of organochlorine pesticides from the 1950s up to the year 2000 are reconstructed, showing, for each individual chemical, the influence of long range transport, as well as of local transport patterns. The role of mountain glaciers as natural archives for studying the local and global transport of persistent organic pollutants is highlighted, though results can be biased by volatilisation losses.     

新疆巴楚-伽师6.8级地震房屋建筑震害原因浅析

介绍了巴楚—伽师6．8级地震灾区的主要房屋建筑结构类型以及地震中房屋的震害现象和破坏特点，分析了引起房屋破坏的原因，总结了房屋建筑抗震工作中的经验与教训。     

Seismic Vulnerability of Historical Constructions: A Contribution

Earthquakes are known to be natural hazards that have affected tremendously historical constructions. Unfortunately, as far as earthquake impacts are concerned, there are no world statistics to compare the suffering of populations or of the building stock and their evolution in time, with the damage inflicted to the stock of historical constructions. Lately, a great effort has been placed on engineering developments: (i) to better understand the seismic behaviour of historical construction and (ii) to assess the benefits of different techniques for reinforcing these structures. However, a great deal of discussion is still going on the type of reinforcement that should be applied, how effective it is and how much it costs. Research is needed for helping in these decisions, by providing a more precise framework in this field. The aim of this review is to make an overall insight on some of the available methods for assessing seismic vulnerability of historical constructions and on how to use them in the case of occurrence of an earthquake. Given this occurrence, the objective is to minimize the effects of aftershocks, avoid hurried demolition made under extreme pressure and help shore-up parts in risk of falling. The final aim is also to help in the definition of strategies for the repair of the damaged patrimony, or as a measure to prevent damage in future earthquakes for the most vulnerable cases. The paper is illustrated with the presentation of several examples published in the literature where the author participated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

建筑物抗震构造措施与震害

对云南省历次地震建筑物的震害做了系统的研究，本文为系列研究之三，文中分析了各类建筑物地震破坏现象与相关的抗震构造措施，讨论了地震区城镇建设中防震减灾应重视的有关问题，提出了抗震结构措施与施工中出现的若干问题及历次地震中获取的经验与教训。对今后城市规划、建筑物抗震构造措施的设计与施工具有一定的参考价值。     

Nonlinear soil response as a natural passive isolation mechanism. Paper II. The 1933, Long Beach, California earthquake

The areas that experienced large strains and differential motions in the soil (indicated by breaks in the water and gas pipe distribution systems) and the areas with severely damaged buildings showed remarkable separation during the March 10, 1933, Long Beach, California earthquake. With analogous results for the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake [Soil Dynam. Earthquake Engng. 17 (1998) 41], the observations summarized in this paper show the fallacy of simplistic and popular interpretations, such as those that hold that in the near field the damage to buildings is caused by ‘soft’ or ‘bad ground’ conditions. In fact, significant reduction in the potential damage to buildings may be expected in the areas where the soil experiences ‘moderate to large’ strains.     

Geomorphological and historical data in assessing landslide hazard

Traditionally, earth scientists assess landslide occurrence on the basis of geomorphological investigations carried out through aerial photograph interpretation and ?eldwork. Conversely, local administrators primarily evaluate the impact of natural catastrophes, such as landsliding, on the basis of historical records and data. Owing to the substantial difference in the structure and spatial density of these two types of information, it is dif?cult to compare them directly and few investigators have attempted this. We compared landslide information derived from geomorphological mapping and historical data in a pilot area (the Staffora river basin, northern Italy). To do this we generated two multivariate statistical models where the dependent variable was either the mapped landslide deposits (geomorphological model), or the historical sites affected by landslide‐induced damage (historical model). By quantitatively comparing these two model maps, we demonstrate that the geomorphological model performs better in terms of percentage of terrain units correctly predicted as stable or unstable. The historical model underestimates landslide hazard mainly where human structures are lacking. However, it highlights slopes where landslide movements take place with a high frequency at the temporal scale of human life. Hence, the joint use of these two models may facilitate the knowledge of the overall instability conditions of a given region and the identi?cation of the landslides that are most frequently reactivated. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

历史时期长江中游河道演变与洪灾发展的规律

历史时期,长江中游的河道在科氏力、掀斜构造活动的影响下,长期南移。在主泓南移、气候由湿变干、分汊淤浅的背景下,大量人口由北方迁入,促使沿长江主泓的围堤迅速发展。原先多汊分流的河道,演变为被围堤约束的狭窄河道。水沙集中于狭窄的堤围河道,洪峰难以调节,泥沙淤高河床,形成水涨堤高、堤高水涨的恶性循环。宋末至明代,是长江中游围堤基本成型与完善,也是洪水位不断抬升,洪灾不断加剧的时期,说明洪灾加剧与围堤密不可分。现有的防洪方针,延续了历史上"抗拒洪水"的思路,没有体现"与洪水共处"的原则,需要进行反思。建议采取"疏导为本"的防洪方针,恢复与增加长江中游分流汊道,扩大江河行洪能力,分散泥沙淤积,以达到可持续治洪的目的。     

Isoseismals for the Kutch earthquake of 26th January 2001

Damage observed during the Kutch earthquake of 26th January 2001 is classified according to the type of structure. This damage pattern has been used to draw the isoseismal map on the basis of the intensity scale given in IS 1893-2002 which covers only traditional one to two storey houses. Having thus estimated intensities, and observed damage to other types of structures, a new criterion was adopted which is included in this paper. Areas that showed maximum damage to structures have been assigned maximum intensity X.     

Tuned mass dampers for response control of torsional buildings

This paper presents an approach for optimum design of tuned mass dampers for response control of torsional building systems subjected to bi‐directional seismic inputs. Four dampers with fourteen distinct design parameters, installed in pairs along two orthogonal directions, are optimally designed. A genetic algorithm is used to search for the optimum parameter values for the four dampers. This approach is quite versatile as it can be used with different design criteria and definitions of seismic inputs. It usually provides a globally optimum solution. Several optimal design criteria, expressed in terms of performance functions that depend on the structural response, are used. Several sets of numerical results for a torsional system excited by random and response spectrum models of seismic inputs are presented to show the effectiveness of the optimum designs in reducing the system response. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

两汉时期人口数据库建设与GIS应用探讨

在社会信息化趋势日益突出的情况下 ,提出了历史地理信息化的必要性和可行性。以人口记录相对完整的西汉和东汉时期为例 ,就如何合理利用信息资源、选择技术路线、建设人口地理数据库等问题做了探索。对比以往的文字描述和地图分析结论 ,更体现了 GIS应用的合理性和技术优势 ,即全面、准确地管理历史人口数据及其地理属性 ,直观、丰富地展现历史人口分布特征。例如西汉时期人口向西北地区的迁徙 ,东汉时期在西部和北部的退缩 ,及向南方的拓展。在实践的基础上对学科信息化提出若干探讨意见 ,认为 GIS与数字化技术应尽快转化为推动历史地理学科进步的有力工具