The culture gap and its needed closures

The development of an enormous culture gap, in which no individuals of advanced societies possess even a billionth of the non‐genetic information possessed by their entire society, has threatened a global collapse of civilisation. Critical parts of that gap must be rapidly bridged so that problems such as climate disruption, toxification of the Earth, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and the decay of the epidemiological environment can be satisfactorily attacked. The essential need is to alter human behaviour to put society on a route to sustainability; one cheering development is a growing interest in the Millennium Assessment of Human Behaviour (MAHB), whose goal is to do just that.     

Soil and water quality assessment along the Red Sea coast,Egypt

The paper reports an assessment of the soil and water in the coastal strip between Marsa Alam and Shalateen at the southern part of the Red Sea coast of Egypt. There is limited potential for agricultural development. There is a need for water re-use and some potential for tourism.     

An environmental purpose artificial island off Belgium

Processing municipal and industrial wastes on land and particularly near inhabited centra has met with increased opposition. An apparent remedy to the problem is the establishment of such facilities offshore, hence various projects to build them on artificial islands. The paper examines a concrete proposal to locate such an island offshore from the Belgian Coast. Oceanographic and environmental aspects of the site are discussed, construction methods reviewed, erosion and corrosion effects looked at. The possibility of utilizing ocean power to provide the necessary operation energy is likewise considered.     

Using Landscape Characteristics for Targeting Habitat Conservation and Restoration: A case study of ancient semi-natural woodland in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,UK

Ancient semi-natural deciduous woodland is a rare and threatened habitat cited by the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). Current protection of this endangered habitat in the UK takes the form of site-specific reserve designations but, if the habitat is to be conserved and enhanced, a landscape-scale selective targeting system is required. In the absence of suitable species data, physical attributes of habitat patches are used as surrogate indicators of biodiversity. Using a land-use database held on a geographical information system, values of four abiotic criteria (patch area, patch shape, nearest-neighbour distance and surrounding land use) of 48 ancient semi-natural woodland patches in part of the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty were calculated. In order to validate the findings, three lists of floral and faunal species, indicative of ancient semi-natural woodland, were compiled, and the patches ranked according to their alpha diversity using each list. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated for patch alpha diversity and patch area (0.322 to 0.482), patch shape (0.275 to 0.465) and nearest-neighbour distance ( - 0.092 to - 0.223). Multiple regression indicated that between 15 and 22% of the variation in alpha patch diversity was explained by the abiotic factors. It is suggested that spatial targeting at the landscape scale is a valuable approach to habitat conservation.     

The Case of The Case Study in City Planning and Municipal Management

Abstract

PLAN FOR REZONING THE CITY OF NEW YORK. A Report by Harrison, Ballard &; Allen. City Planning Commission. New York. 1950. 290 pp. maps, illustrations. $2.00.

CONTROLLED ACCESS EXPRESSWAYS IN URBAN AREAS—A symposium. Highway Research Board Bulletin No. 25. Washington, D. C., 1950. 45 pages, illustrated. 60 cents.

SOCIAL PRESSURES IN INFORMAL GROUPS. By Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter and Kurt Back. Harper Bros., New York, 1950. x-930 pp. $3.00.

PRODUCTION OF NEW HOUSING. A Research Monograph on Efficiency in Production. By Leo Grebler. Social Science Research Council. New York 1950. ix+ 186 pp. $1.75.     

Non-linear analysis of membrane action effect in profiled steel sheeting dry board flooring system

This study highlights the effect of membrane action in improving load carrying capacity of Profiled Steel Sheeting Dry Board (PSSDB) floor system. PSSDB system is a lightweight composite structural system composed of profiled steel sheeting and dry board, attached together by self-drilling and self-tapping screws. Many literatures have reported that restricting conventional slabs, such as reinforced concrete slab, at the supports against translation and/or rotation while it is subjected to vertical loading develops the compressive membrane action in the slab. The development of this phenomenon is considered in the PSSDB system with concrete infill for continuous and practical spans, with and without topping concrete. Previous authors’ experimentally verified non-linear finite element model for the PSSDB floor without topping was extended to parametrically predict the effect of different boundary conditions on the performance of the system for practical applications. It was revealed that preventing the in-plane movement of the slab ends improves the flexural rigidities of the slab up to more than three times when considering central deflection of serviceability limit state. This was observed when the deflection limit load of the fixed both end supports model was compared to the pin-roller support model. Moreover, the topping concrete enhances the applicability of the system in longer span and the developed compressive membrane action dramatically boosts the load carrying capacity of the slab with restricted translation and/or rotation of the slab ends.     

Cyclic testing of steel column-tree moment connections with weakened beam splices

Traditionally, the beam splice assemblies of column-tree connections are designed according to the full-strength design principle. Actually, the beam splice is set up at a certain distance from the column face, thus the plastic moment capacity of the beam splice does not need to be greater than the plastic moment capacity of the beam. This paper experimentally presents the effects of the weakened beam splice on the seismic performance of column-tree steel moment connections. Cyclic tests of two column-tree connection specimens with weakened beam splices and one specimen following the full-strength design principle were conducted to verify their inelastic behavior and failure modes. The test results showed that the moment resisting capacity of the column-tree connection specimens with weakened beam splices did not obviously decrease. Also, their energy dissipation capacity was better than that of the specimen following the full-strength design principle.