Recent developments in seismically isolated buildings in Japan

The Building Standard Law of Japan and related Enforcement Order and Notifications have been substantially revised since the year 2000 to introduce a performance-based regulatory and deregulation system for building control systems. Up to then, time-history analyses were mandatory for isolated buildings and had to be specially approved by the Minster of the Ministry of Construction (MOC). Simplified design procedures based on the equivalent linear method for seismically isolated buildings have been issued as “Notification 2009 — Structural calculation procedure for buildings with seismic isolation” from MOC, and are now integrated into the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation (MLIT). Along with Notification 2009, “Notification 1446 of year 2000 — Standard for specifications and test methods for seismic isolation devices” was also issued. Buildings with heights equal to or less than 60m and that are designed according to these Notifications, including base isolated buildings, only need approval from local building officials, and no longer require the special approval of the Minister of MLIT. This paper summarizes: 1) some statistics related to buildings with seismic isolation completed up to the end of 2001; 2) simplified design procedures required by Notification 2009 of year 2000; and 3) performance of seismic isolation devices required by Notification 1446 of year 2000.     

阿拉尔灌区棉田蒸散量计算模型

根据2000年阿克苏水平衡站有底测坑试验资料，分析了土壤水分有效性函数与土壤相对有效含水率，作物生物学特性函数，与群体叶面积指数的关系，结果表明：（1）土壤水分有效性函数与土壤相对有效含水率呈直线函数关系；（2）作物生物学特性函数与群体叶面积指数呈指数函数关系。选用20cm蒸发器水面蒸发量、作物生物学特性函数和土壤水分有效性函数，应用数理统计方法建立了阿拉尔灌区棉田蒸散量计算模型。该模式仅需常规气象与土壤湿度资料，计算简便，精度较高，便于在缺乏实测资料的地区使用。     

位移监测在滑坡时空运动研究中的应用

滑坡时空运动特征是滑坡地质体在内因和外因共同作用下，自一种状态向另一种状态转化的地质过程。滑坡位移监测是研究滑坡变形影响因素、动态规律及预测预报的主要途径，特别是滑坡深部位移监测，又为研究滑坡体的时空运动过程提供了重要信息。本文结合几个滑坡的深部位移监测实践，综合分析位移监测信息，研究滑坡体的时空运动特征及发展趋势，为滑坡时空运动系统研究及稳定性预测提供依据。     

The 3D simulation and optimized management model of groundwater systems based on eco-environmental water demand

Through the study of mutual process between groundwater systems and eco-environmental water demand, the eco-environmental water demand is brought into groundwater systems model as the important water consumption item and unification of groundwater’s economic, environmental and ecological functions were taken into account. Based on eco-environmental water demand at Da’an in Jilin province, a three-dimensional simulation and optimized management model of groundwater systems was established. All water balance components of groundwater systems in 1998 and 1999 were simulated with this model and the best optimal exploitation scheme of groundwater systems in 2000 was determined, so that groundwater resource was efficiently utilized and good economic, ecologic and social benefits were obtained.     

Geographies of Displacement: The Karenni and The Shan Across The Myanmar-Thailand Border

First, central to our analysis is the argument that human movement within and across borders fundamentally challenges the view of geopolitics based upon fixed territorial states, inter-state relations, national identities and citizenship; indeed the whole idea of "national geographic". Using the examples of the Karen and Shan peoples, we explore the processes and patterns of forced relocation, displacement and migration in the border regions of Myanmar and Thailand. Our main concern is with forced displacement as a result of political and ethnic conflict; specifically, how the Burmese military regime's desire for "national unity" within Myanmar's "national space" has influenced the militarily inspired displacements of hundreds of thousands of villagers and civilians within the border zones inhabited mostly by so-called "national minorities". We examine the particular problems of the so-called "internally displaced persons" within "national" boundaries compared with the "refugees" and "undocumented migrants" who make it across "international" space into Thailand. We illustrate the ways displaced people are represented by state agencies and the media as "threats" and "transgressors". We consider some of the "long term" aspects of the displacement problem along the Myanmar-Thai border and the vital contribution geographers can make to the study of displacement.     

Practising geographical knowledge: fields, bodies and dissemination

In this article we make a case for a renewed emphasis upon some of the generic, albeit often tacit, spaces of practice that we share across our sub–disciplinary boundaries. In this we seek to emphasize the ways in which everyday actions make up the grander facades of institutional agendas, empirical projects and disciplinary schools of thought. To achieve this we trace the performance of disciplinary contours and identities across three important sites: the field, the body and the act of dissemination. There are, we will argue, significant commonalities that bind us as disciplinary practitioners in terms of how we perform within and across these sites, and indeed, how we join them up through our practices.