Introduction to Dynamics of Structures and Earthquake Engineering


Book Description

This work is an elementary but comprehensive textbook which provides the latest updates in the fields of Earthquake Engineering, Dynamics of Structures, Seismology and Seismic Design, introducing relevant new topics to the fields such as the Neodeterministic method. Its main purpose is to illustrate the application of energy methods and the analysis in the frequency domain with the corresponding visualization in the Gauss-Argant plan. However, emphasis is also given to the applications of numerical methods for the solution of the equation of motion and to the ground motion selection to be used in time history analysis of structures. As supplementary materials, this book provides "OPENSIGNAL", a rare and unique software for ground motion selection and processing that can be used by professionals to select the correct earthquake records that would run in the nonlinear analysis. The book contains clear illustrations and figures to describe the subject in an intuitive way. It uses simple language and terminology and the math is limited only to cases where it is essential to understand the physical meaning of the system. Therefore, it is suitable also for those readers who approach these subjects for the first time and who only have a basic understanding of mathematics (linear algebra) and static analysis of structures.







Cries Unheard


Book Description

England's controversial #1 best-seller. What brings a child to kill another child? In 1968, at age eleven, Mary Bell was tried and convicted of murdering two small boys in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Gitta Sereny, who covered the sensational trial, never believed the characterization of Bell as the incarnation of evil, the bad seed personified. If we are ever to understand the pressures that lead children to commit serious crimes, Sereny felt, only those children, as adults, can enlighten us. Twenty-seven years after her conviction, Mary Bell agreed to talk to Sereny about her harrowing childhood, her terrible acts, her public trial, and her years of imprisonment-to talk about what was done to her and what she did, who she was and who she became. Nothing Bell says is intended as an excuse for her crimes. But her devastating story forces us to ponder society's responsibility for children at the breaking point, whether in Newcastle, Arkansas, or Oregon. A masterpiece of wisdom and sympathy, Gitta Sereny's wrenching portrait of a girl's damaged childhood and a woman's fight for moral regeneration urgently calls on us to hear the cries of all children at risk.




China’s Incomplete Military Transformation


Book Description

Through extensive primary source analysis and independent analysis, this report seeks to answer a number of important questions regarding the state of China’s armed forces. The authors found that the PLA is keenly aware of its many weaknesses and is vigorously striving to correct them. Although it is only natural to focus on the PLA’s growing capabilities, understanding the PLA’s weaknesses—and its self-assessments—is no less important.







Nuclear Energy Policy


Book Description

Nuclear energy issues facing Congress include federal incentives for new commercial reactors, radioactive waste management policy, R&D priorities, power plant safety and regulation, nuclear weapons proliferation, and security against terrorist attacks. Contents of this report: (1) Most Recent Developments; (2) Nuclear Power Status and Outlook: Possible New Reactors; Federal Support; Nuclear Production Tax Credit; Standby Support; Loan Guarantees; Global Climate Change; (3) Nuclear Power R&D; (4) Nuclear Power Plant Safety and Regulation; (5) Nuclear Waste Management; (6) Nuclear Weapons Proliferation; (7) Federal Funding for Nuclear Energy Programs; (8) Legislation in the 111th Congress. Charts and tables.




The Next Arms Race


Book Description

With most of the world's advanced economies now stuck in recession; Western support for defense cuts and nuclear disarmament increasing; and a major emerging Asian power at odds with its neighbors and the United States; it is tempting to think our times are about to rhyme with a decade of similar woes—the disorderly 1930s.Might we again be drifting toward some new form of mortal national combat? Or, will our future more likely ape the near-half-century that defined the Cold War—a period in which tensions between competing states ebbed and flowed but peace mostly prevailed by dint of nuclear mutual fear and loathing?The short answer is, nobody knows. This much, however, is clear: The strategic military competitions of the next 2 decades will be unlike any the world has yet seen. Assuming U.S., Chinese, Russian, Israeli, Indian, French, British, and Pakistani strategic forces continue to be modernized and America and Russia continue to reduce their strategic nuclear deployments, the next arms race will be run by a much larger number of contestants—with highly destructive strategic capabilities far more closely matched and capable of being quickly enlarged than in any other previous period in history.




Helmet-mounted Displays


Book Description




Stress-corrosion Cracking of Aluminum Alloys


Book Description

This report deals with the stress-corrosion cracking of aluminum alloys, and it represents an effort by DMIC to expand on the information contained in DMIC Memorandum 202, 'Stress-Corrosion Cracking of Aluminum Alloys', dated February 15, 1965. DMIC Report 228 begins by presenting a comprehensive definition of stress-corrosion cracking. This is followed by sections dealing with (1) the historical development and growth in awareness of the problem, (2) the mechanisms involved, and (3) the theory of stress-corrosion cracking. A section on experimental techniques is presented. These techniques include test methods used to determine the susceptibility of alloys to stress-corrosion cracking, as well as more refined methods of studying the fundamental mechanisms of the problem. Different evaluation methods, applicable to obtaining the different objectives of stress-corrosion testing, are also presented. All of the foregoing serve as background to the sections on stress-corrosion-cracking behavior of aluminum alloys and preventive measures. (Author).




Air University Review


Book Description