Milan: The city of constant renewal

Traditional models of urban development are no longer adequate to describe current metropolitan transformations. These are now at the centre of a debate concerning management and administration. In Italy, delays in resolving problems of urban and metropolitan government, despite the legal framework provided by Law 142/90, have weighed heavily on the larger urban areas of the country: Rome, Naples, Milan, which have not been able to tackle the issue of metropolitan government. Recent legislation, while not providing a pre-defined institutional solution, allows separate administrative districts to collectively establish metropolitan institutions of `variable geometry'. The Milan urban area is not one city, but a system of mutually-dependent cities, linked to each other and the rest of the world by a transport network still requiring much investment. The vitality of its economic structure (especially its small firms) is held back by seriously inadequate infrastructure and low external economic efficiency. The provincial capital may boast `historic centrality' but the most interesting potential for development is to be found on the periphery and in the administrative districts immediately surrounding it, in the recovery of derelict industrial areas and dormitory towns established in the 1950s and 1960s, especially to the north. Recovery of derelict areas, green areas, and better transport links within the urban area and with the outside world are the key elements in the reorganization of `Greater Milan'. In this situation of rapid transformation the most appropriate political strategies involve negotiated planning. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Intercomparison of IRS-P4-MSMR derived geophysical products with DMSP-SSM/I and TRMM-TMI finished products

In this paper, MSMR geophysical products like Integrated Water Vapour (IWV), Ocean Surface Wind Speed (OWS) and Cloud Liquid Water (CLW) in different grids of 50, 75 and 150 kms are compared with similar products available from other satellites like DMSP-SSM/I and TRMMTMI. MSMR derived IWV, OWS and CLW compare well with SSM/I and TMI finished products. Comparison of MSMR derived CLW with that derived from TMI and SSM/I is relatively in less agreement. This is possibly due to the use of 37 GHz in SSM/I and TMI that is highly sensitive to CLW, while 37 GHz channels are not available on MSMR. Monthly comparison of MSMR geophysical products with those from TMI is all carried out for climatological purpose. The monthly comparisons were much better compared to instantaneous comparisons. In this paper, details of the data analysis and comparison results are presented. The usefulness of the MSMR vis-à-vis other sensors is also discussed.     

Impact of oasis establishment on underground environment in salinized sandy lands

The salinized sandy lands are the important reclaimable reserve wastelands in thesouth area of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. But it is necessary that the eco-logical environment of the area is not destroyed by action of oasis development. The main factor tohinder oasis development is land salinization. Rational oasis establishment rebuilds wastelandswith lower productivity and utilization efficiency for the growth of agriculture, forestry, and stock raising. The results of surveying sub-soil environment of Aimugaike. Awati oasis in Hotian County ofthe Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region show that the underground water and soil environment arenot deteriorated under the rational management and administration, which could be coordinatedfor obtaining economic and environmental benefit. During the oasis establishment period from1997 to 1999, the plowland area has reached 166.7 hm2, and the seed cotton yield per unit areahas reached 2250 kg @ hm-2, the area of timber forest and active sand break forest has reached 20hm2, the area of fruit trees is 71.5 hm2; and the soil moisture has decreased from 22.07% to18.12%. In the first year of oasis establishment, the soil type has changed salt soil into light saltsoil, in the second year the soil has been out of salt harm; and the content of soil organic matter intopsoil has increased obviously.     

δO of carbonate, quartz and phosphate from belemnite guards: implications for the isotopic record of old fossils and the isotopic composition of ancient seawater

Belemnite guards of Cretaceous and Jurassic age were found to contain varying amounts of quartz deposited both on the external surface and inside the rostrum. The oxygen isotopic composition of coexisting carbonate, quartz and phosphate from the same rostrum was measured according to well-established techniques. None of these compounds showed isotopic values in equilibrium with one another. Assuming δ¹⁸O values of the diagenetic water within the range of meteoric waters, the δ¹⁸O(SiO₂) yield temperatures in agreement with the apparent secondary origin of this phase. The δ¹⁸O(CO₃²⁻) range, with a certain continuity, between −10.8 and +0.97 PDB-1 with most of the intermediate values being within the range of the carbonate isotopic values of Mesozoic fossils. The most positive isotopic results obtained from phosphate are close to +23/+24‰ (V-SMOW). They can hardly be related to a secondary origin of the phosphate, or to the presence of diagenetic effects, since these results are among the most positive ever measured on phosphate. As far as we know there is no widespread diagenetic process determining an ¹⁸O enrichment of phosphate. The very low concentration of phosphate did not allow the determination of its mineralogical composition. All the available δ¹⁸O(PO₄³⁻) values from belemnite and non-belemnite fossils of marine origin of Tertiary and Mesozoic age are reported along with the newly measured belemnites. The following conclusions may be drawn from the data reported: (1) the pristine oxygen isotope composition of fossil marine organisms (either carbonate or phosphate) may easily undergo fairly large changes because of oxygen isotope exchange processes with diagenetic water; this process is apparent even in the case of geologically recent fossils; (2) the δ¹⁸O(PO₄³⁻) of belemnite rostra seems to be, at least in the case of the most positive results, in isotopic equilibrium with environmental water because of the similarity between the results from Cretaceous belemnites and the results from Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary pelecypods and fish teeth; 3) if so, the only feasible interpretation that can be suggested for the ¹⁸O enriched data is the possibility of a relatively large variation of the oxygen isotopic composition of ocean paleowater from Jurassic to recent time.     

Seismic evaluation of existing nuclear facility using ambient vibration test to characterize dynamic behavior of the structure and microtremor measurements to characterize the soil: a case study

The methods used for a building seismic hazard evaluation are presented with the associated results. The goals of the study are (1) to check the soil nature and the existence or not of a possible site effect around the installation and (2) to characterize the dynamic behavior of the building using ambient vibration records.

The results of the soil study with the Nakamura method are very difficult to interpret because they are not stable in space and time. The spectral ratios method has been used with regional earthquake records. The results of the application of this method allowed us to conclude that the installation was free of site effect.

The ambient vibration measurements on the building brought the conclusion to determine the first and second modes of the structure. These results have been used to calibrate numerical model. The modal shapes in plan (high roof) and in elevation (main column) have been evaluated. The damping of the building has been computed using ambient vibration records.     

Water availability for the greening of Kuwait

Water resources for agricultural development and landscape enhancement in Kuwait are very scarce; the quality is saline (brackish), and the soil texture is sandy, incapable of holding nutrients and moisture. Most of the rainfall in Kuwait either evaporates due to the high temperatures or percolates through the soil. The rainfall is not sufficient to recharge the underground water supply. A variety of alternative water sources have been studied, including seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. Wastewater treatment proved to be convenient due to the relatively low salinity detected in the treated water. Furthermore, the amount of wastewater is expected to increase as more residential areas are connected to the sewage system as the population increases.

The development of a greenery plan for Kuwait requires intensive water management. This goal can be achieved through manpower training in landscape development, selection of plants tolerant to arid environments, usage of appropriate irrigation and drainage systems, promotion of greenery programs within public and the governmental agencies for their direct participation in urban area beautification, and extension of wastewater treatment techniques.     

探测大城市活断层的地球物理方法

简要地介绍了开展大城市地震活断层探测的意义及世界各国开展活断层探测的基本情况。城市及邻近地区地震活断层引起的直下型地震 ,将会给大城市造成巨大的地震灾害。准确地探测出大城市的活断层分布 ,采取有效措施 ,可大大降低地震时的损失。文中重点介绍了开展地震活断层探测的地球物理方法的类型和主要特点 ,在区域探查与初步鉴定阶段、详细探测与精确定位阶段、孕震构造探测阶段可能涉及到的各种地球物理探测方法、适用范围及所能解决的主要问题     

ISO-834标准火灾作用后钢管混凝土的轴压刚度和抗弯刚度

火灾后钢管混凝土的轴压刚度和抗弯刚度是钢管混凝土结构变形性能和抗震分析的重要指标，也是火灾后钢管混凝土修复和加固的重要依据之一，本文利用数值方法计算了标准火灾作用后钢管混凝土轴压构件和纯弯构件荷载-变形关系曲线，分析了受火时间、材料强度、含钢率、截面尺寸等因素的影响规律，最后推导了标准火灾作用后钢管混凝土轴压刚度和抗弯刚度的简化计算公式，所得结果可供有关钢管混凝土结构工程设计时参考。     

战略环境评价若干问题研究

分析了传统环境影响评价制度的不足，回顾了战略环境评价的研究与实践进展，阐述了战略环境评价与环境可持续发展的关系，并对以实现环境可持续发展为目标的战略环境评价体系所存在的问题进行了分析。     

城市用地与人口的异速增长和相关经验研究

由于城市土地利用变化涉及的因素多，使获取动态研究研究所需的资料十分困难，所以，用少数几个主要因素定量地表达其变化就显得十分重要。从前人的成果，即以人口表示的城市位序-规模法则和建成区面积表示的位序-规模法则出发，绽绎出城市的用地规模和人口数量呈异速增长。这意味着，如果把整个城市看成是一个生命有机体，那么作为反映城市特征的城市用地规模和城市人口这两个重要变量，就是城市这个有机体的两个器官，他们的增长率是成比例的。还通过这个关系建立了城市建成区面积与市场人口和经济发展水平的数学模式。对我国部分城市的经验研究在一定程度上分别证明了这两经验关系。