Heavy Destruction Research Articles

Der Wiederaufbau von Florenz 1945

AbstractFlorence suffered heavy destruction due to blasting by the german Wehrmacht in the area around the Ponte Vecchio in 1944. On the question of how the historic, in the core medieval buildings should be rebuilt, a vigorous debate was ignited, which also was intensively conducted in public. The debates core was about the question of wether the old center should be reconstructed exactly as it was or should a modern and contemporary solution be given priority. The art historian Bernhard Berenson and the archeologist Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli exemplified the position in the debate for the Florentine context. Linked to this discussion was also the question, how Italy would present itself after war and fascism as a new and democratic society. The built result can be seen as a compromise of these positions, as the new architecture is added in the center emphasized inconspicuousDespite the consistently negative reception, it was possible to dissociate oneself in two respects from this locally located variety of post-war modernity: On the one hand, the international architectural scene and, on the other hand, its own architectural heritage which is contaminated by fascism. The reference to its own architectural heritage and the very independent appropriation of international influences should remain the basic characteristic of the »Scuola Fiorentina« until the mid-1970s

Reconnaissance based damage survey of buildings in Kathmandu valley: An aftermath of 7.8 Mw, 25 April 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake

The recent high-intensity 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake, has caused not only a substantial death toll and huge economic losses, but also heavy damage to many public residential buildings. Both URM and RC buildings suffered low to heavy destruction. Each earthquake places buildings, in the affected area, to an earthquake withstand test and provides an opportunity to learn lessons for future preparedness to encounter the challenge of disaster. The Gorkha earthquake sequences delivered unprecedented opportunity to augment the understanding on seismic performance of public residential buildings. Along with presenting the seismicity and losses suffered during the earthquake, the current paper highlights earthquake induced damages to residential buildings in Kathmandu valley, both URM and RC buildings. This paper is also motivated to point out the faintness in past to current constructional practice of residential buildings and convey awareness to stake holders for future safer building construction practice.

Histomonosis - an existing problem in chicken flocks in Poland.

Histomonosis (histomoniasis, blackhead), beside coccidiosis, belongs to the most important parasitic protozoan diseases in poultry. So far Histomonas meleagridis infections with varied mortality rates have been mainly diagnosed in young turkeys. Recently an increasing number of cases have been reported in chicken flocks in Europe resulting in economic losses. It is thought that this situation is predominantly caused by a complete withdrawal of the effective antihistomonals in the EU. Authors listed the selected outbreaks of histomonosis in 10 chicken flocks originated from different farms of 4 regions in Poland: 8 broiler breeder flocks (at mean age of 33 weeks) and 2 commercial layers flocks (at mean age of 38 weeks). This study reported here naturally occurring case of H.meleagridis infection in commercial broiler breeder (BB) flock line ROSS 308 at the age of 16 weeks. We showed acute form of infection with characteristic necrotic foci in the liver, and ulcerative typhilitis. Beside the liver and caeca, the multiple histomonads, lymphoid tissue depletion and heavy destruction in the bursa of Fabricius were observed. Additionally, the absence of systemic diffuse histomonads and lack of Heterakis gallinarum, caecal worm eggs in faecal samples were noted. PCR technique enabled to detect the presence of H.meleagridis genetic material in the investigated tissue samples. Authors indicate that histomonosis can be considered as re-emerging infectious diseases in chicken flocks of intensive production system.

COĞRAFİ BİLGİ SİSTEMLERİ KULLANILARAK ORMAN YANGINLARININ EROZYONA ETKİSİNİN BELİRLENMESİ, AMANOS DAĞLARI ÖRNEĞİ

OZET Genel anlamda yuzeyi orten topragin akarsu ve ruzgârlarla asindirilarak tasinmasi olayi olan erozyon, toprak ortusunun incelmesi ve zeminin coraklasmasiyla sonuclanan kuresel bir olgudur. Erozyonu en iyi onleyen unsur ise ormanlardir. Topragin korunmasinda hayati onem tasiyan ormanlara en cok zarari orman yanginlari vermektedir. Cunku orman yanginlarindan sonra yagmur damlalarinin zemine olan etkisi degisir. Toprak su dengesi bozulur ve erozyona acik hale gelir. Calismada 05.09.2013 tarihinde Amanos Daglari’nin Hatay ili sinirlarindaki orman yangini sonucu erozyona acik hale gelen alanda yangin oncesinde meydana gelen ve yangindan sonra meydana gelebilecek erozyon sonucu sediment kaybi hesaplanmis, boylece orman yanginlarinin erozyona etkisi ortaya konmustur. Bu amacla Hatay Orman Mudurlugu’nden alinan yanan orman alanina ait sayisal harita, Iklim Verileri, Harita Genel Komutanligi’na Ait Sayisal Izohips verileri, Sayisal Yukseklik Modeli (DEM), Toprak Haritasi ve Uydu Goruntusu kullanilmistir. Calisma uc asamadan olusmaktadir. Ilk asamada inceleme alaninda yangin oncesine ait erozyonla tasinan sediment miktari hesaplanmistir. Ikinci asamada ise yangin sonucu orman ortusunden yoksun alanda olusacak erozyonla tasinan sediment miktari hesaplanmistir. Her iki asama icin de RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) yontemi kullanilmistir. Yapilan analizler sonucunda yangin sonucu zarar goren orman ortusunden yoksun alanda erozyona yuksek ve cok yuksek duyarli alanlar artarken, cok dusuk, dusuk ve orta duyarliliktaki alanlarda azalma oldugu belirlenmistir. Ayrica yangindan onceki surec icin erozyonla tasinan toprak miktarinin 0-32.57 ton/ha/yil iken, yangindan sonraki surecte ise bu miktarin 0-144.70 ton/ha/yil oldugu hesaplanmistir. Yangin sonrasindaki surecte erozyonla tasinan toprak miktarinin oncesine gore 4.44 kat arttigi belirlenmistir. Ucuncu asamada arazi calismasi yapilmistir. Bu calisma sirasinda arazinin yangin oncesi surecte mevcut topografya ve iklim kosullarinin bir sonucu olarak yogun erozyon tahribati altinda oldugu gozlemlenmistir. Yangin sonrasinda tamamen tahrip olan orman ortusunun koruyucu etkisinin olmamasinin erozyonu daha da arttiracagina dikkat cekilerek bir an once agaclandirma calismalarinin baslamasinin gerekliligi belirtilmistir. Calismanin orman yanginlarinin toprak erozyonuna olan etkisini ortaya koymaya yonelik ampirik calismalardan olmasi nedeniyle literature katki yapmasi beklenmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Orman Yanginlari, Erozyon, Amanos Daglari, RUSLE, Cografi Bilgi Sistemleri ABSTRACT Erosion which is typically the transportation of soil covering the surface via rivers and winds, is a global phenomenon resulting from thinning of land cover and aridity of soil. The best element preventing the erosion is forests. However, the most detrimental element to the forests which have vital importance in protecting the soil is forest fires. Because; the impact of the raindrops into the land is changed after forest fires, as the soil water balance deteriorates and it becomes vulnerable to the erosion. In this study, the amount of loss of sediments in the area which has become vulnerable to the erosion due to forest fire occurred at 05.08.2013 in the part of Amanos Mountains lying within the frontiers of Hatay was calculated for both the erosions which have occurred before the forest fire and could possibly occur right after the fire. Thus, the impact of forest fires into the erosion was proved. To this end; digital map belongs to the burnt forest land taken from Hatay Forestry Department, weather data, digital contour line data belonging to General Command of Mapping, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), soil map and satellite image were used. The study comprises 3 phases. Initially, the amount of sediments carried by the erosion occurred in the study area before the forest fire was calculated. At second stage, the amount of sediments which could be carried by possible erosion would occur in that area which has become deprived of forest coverage due to the forest fire. RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) method was used for both phases. After analysis made, it was determined that there has been a decrease on the places with very low, low and moderate susceptibility while the places with high and very high susceptibility to the erosion in that area which has become deprived of forest coverage due to the forest fire have increased. Furthermore, it was calculated that the amount of soil carried by the erosion after the forest fire was 0-144.70 ton/ha/year while it was 0-32.57 ton/ha/year before the forest fire. It was identified that the amount carried by the erosion after the forest fire was 4.44 times higher than before. At third stage, field work was made. During this study, it was observed that the land was under heavy destruction of erosion before the forest fire due to existing topographic and climate conditions. As it was pointed out that the loss of protective effect of forest coverage which has completely been destroyed after forest fire would further increase the erosion, it was decided that it is necessary to start afforestation as soon as possible. As it is one of the empirical studies aimed at proving the impact of forest fires into the erosion, it is expected that this study would contributed to the literature. Keywords: Forest fires, Erosion, Amanos Mountains, RUSLE, Geographical Information Systems

Crisis communication saved lives in Israel.

Crisis communication saved lives in Israel.

Probabilistic Assessment of Tsunami Recurrence in the Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is one of the most tsunamigenic regions of the world and recently experienced a mega-tsunami in the Sumatra region on 26 December 2004 (M W 9.2 earthquake) with tsunami intensity I (Soloviev-Imamura intensity scale) equal to 4.5, causing heavy destruction of lives and property in the Indian Ocean rim countries. In this study, probabilities of occurrences of large tsunamis with tsunami intensities I ≥ 2.0 and I ≥ 3.0 (average wave heights H ≥ 2.83 m and H ≥ 5.66 m, respectively) during a specified time interval were calculated using three stochastic models, namely, Weibull, gamma and lognormal. Tsunami recurrence was calculated for the whole Indian Ocean and the special case of the Andaman-Sumatra-Java (ASJ) region, excluding the 1945 Makran event from the main data set. For this purpose, a reliable, homogeneous and complete tsunami catalogue with I ≥ 2.0 during the period 1797–2006 was used. The tsunami hazard parameters were estimated using the method of maximum likelihood. The logarithm of likelihood function (ln L) was estimated and used to test the suitability of models in the examined region. The Weibull model was observed to be the most suitable model to estimate tsunami recurrence in the region. The sample mean intervals of occurrences of tsunamis with intensity I ≥ 2.0 and I ≥ 3.0 were calculated for the observed data as well as for the Weibull, gamma and lognormal models. The estimated cumulative and conditional probabilities in the whole Indian Ocean region show recurrence periods of about 27–30 years (2033–2036) and 35–36 years (2039–2040) for tsunami intensities I ≥ 2.0 and I ≥ 3.0, respectively, while it is about 31–35 years (2037–2041) and 41–42 years (2045–2046) for a tsunami of intensity I ≥ 2.0 and I ≥ 3.0, respectively, in the ASJ region. A high probability (>0.9) of occurrence of large tsunamis with I ≥ 2.0 in the next 30–40 years in the Indian Ocean region was revealed.

Red Data Book 2004 of Vietnam

Contributing to the national biodiversity action plan of Vietnam, the new Red species List and Red Data Book 2004 of Vietnam have been compiled by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, with the participation of 70 scientists from different ministries and agencies of the country. This new Red Data Book 2004 was a revised and updated work, based on the first Red Data Book of Vietnam, published in 1992 (animal part) and 1996 (plant part), using the IUCN Red List Criteria and Categories 1994, updated by new materials of the fauna and the flora of Vietnam, collected in last 10 years. The new Red Data Book 2004 has showed a new situation of the biodiversity of the country after 10 years. The number of threatened species has remarkably increased, from 709 species recorded in the Red Data Book 1992-1996 to 857 species in the Red Data Book 2004. Six animal species were considered as extinct (EX) and extinct in the wild (EW). At the same time, 149 animal species were classified in the endangered category (EN); among them, 46 species were critically endangered (CR). The correspond numbers in plants were 192 endangered species and 45 critically endangered species. The present status of the wild life in Vietnam was caused firstly by the non rational over exploitation in land, as well as in seawaters. Besides, the heavy destruction of the natural environment conditions, including the habitat of wild animals and plants, especially the forest devastation in mountainous regions, the uncontrolled destruction of coral reefs in coastal zone, were also important agents for the degeneration of the biodiversity. In this book, for each animal and plant, suitable protection, conservation and regeneration measures for threatened species were proposed.

Low cycle fatigue behavior of a high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel under uniaxial and non-proportional loadings based on the partition of hysteresis loops

Abstract Total strain controlled low cycle fatigue tests under uniaxial loading and non-proportional loading have been conducted on a high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel (AISI 316LN). Based on the partition of hysteresis loops under both loading modes, the evolution of internal stress, effective stress and elastic modulus is presented. Firstly, the cyclic stress response and cyclic stress–strain curve of 316LN under both loading modes were determined mostly by the internal stress component. Therefore, the non-proportional hardening cannot be simply modeled by using the change of yield stress as in several commonly used plasticity models. Moreover, 316LN exhibited greater cyclic softening in the effective stress and internal stress compared with 316L. The behavior is related to the increasingly heavy destruction of the short range order in 316LN under cyclic loading. Finally, the greatly enhanced multiple-slip and cross slip due to the continuous rotation of principal stress orientation increase the effective stress and internal stress of 316LN under non-proportional loading.

The Fukushima Event: The Outline and the Technological Background

The paper deals with the evaluation of the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident in Units 1 to 4: an attempt is made to discuss the scenario within a technological framework, considering precursory documented regulations and predictable system performance. An outline is given at first of the NPP layout and of the sequence of major events. Then, plausible time evolutions of relevant quantities in the different Units, is inferred based on results from the application of numerical codes. Scenarios happening in the primary circuit and containment (three Units involved) are distinguished from scenarios in spent fuel pool (four Units involved). Radiological releases to the environment and doses are approximately estimated. The event is originated by a natural catastrophe with almost simultaneous occurrence of earthquake and tsunami. These caused heavy destruction in a region in Japan much wider than the land around the NPP which was affected by the nuclear contamination. Key outcome from the work is the demonstration of strength for nuclear technology; looking at the past, misleading Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) data and inadequacy in licensing processes have been found. Looking into the future keywords are Emergency Rescue Team (ERT), Enhanced Human Performance (EHP), and Robotics in Nuclear Safety and Security (RNSS).

Textual and Historical Notes on the Eliashib Archive from Arad

The first part of the article discusses in detail some letters addressed to eliashib, possibly the commander of the fortress of Arad. New readings and interpretations are suggested for Ostraca Nos. 3, 5, 10, 12 and 18 and their structure and contents are clarified. The second part of the article offers new solutions for some problems in the history of the Negev in the late years of the Kingdom of Judah. it suggests that the elite troops of Kittiyim were hired by one of the last kings of Judah and sent to the Negev in an effort to curtail the edomite danger. However, the efforts to defend the Negev failed and its centres were destroyed some time before the Babylonian 588–587 BCe campaign against the Kingdom of Judah. The heavy destruction brought about by the edomites was deeply engraved in the collective memory and provides the background for the distinctive negative attitude to edom in biblical prophecy of the exilic and post-exilic periods.

Opinion: Extending the Usefulness of Seismic Hazard Studies

On 12 January 2010, an M ≈ 7.0 earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, killing more than 200,000 people and resulting in one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. Since Haiti is among the poorest countries in the world, this catastrophe was easily traced to the inadequate building quality and the absence of modern geophysical institutions capable of assisting an equally modern civil protection organization. This view appears naive and, at least in part, wrong. On 6 April 2009, an M ≈ 6 earthquake brought heavy destruction to the city of l'Aquila, central Italy, and its surroundings, with a death toll of 308. Quite fortunately, the disaster was in this case much smaller, but not because Italy is among the elite G8 group of nations, nor because it has a long tradition in seismology, including a number of renowned universities and the richly funded Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica and Vulcanologia, which runs a technologically advanced nationwide seismic network. Nor was it because Italy has a uniquely efficient Dipartimento di Protezione Civile, capable of flawlessly accommodating the invasion—peaceful but monstrous in size—of 4 million people in Rome at the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. No, the reason that the l'Aquila earthquake resulted in a lesser catastrophe than Port-au-Prince's is essentially because a smaller earthquake hit an area with fewer inhabitants. In fact, as is true of any other destructive earthquake, both events shook the scientific community no less than the ground, dramatically reviving the words of Ari Ben-Menahem (1995): “1992 14 April. Unpredicted earthquake of magnitude 6 in the heart of Europe, amidst hundreds of seismographs, computers, and professors of seismology. Just another reminder that …

Biochemical Investigation of Some Proteins from Human Primary Teeth to Evaluate Heavy Metal Pollution

This investigation is based on the premise that heavy metals are sequestered by the mineral phase of teeth [1,2], hydroxyapatite, during their formation and there is a relation between heavy metal pollution and progressive destruction of human primary tooth. Our study was carried out on temporary molars – sound and carious - extracted from children up to 6 year old, residing in an area of Romania known to be highly polluted with heavy metals (Pb and Cd). In carious dentin extracts we found increased levels of collagen type 1 and alkaline phosphatase activity that can be correlated with the remineralization processus during teeth decay. Gelatin zymography shown increased MMP-1 (type-I collagenase) and MMP-2 (gelatinase-A) activities only in dentin extract from carious teeth isolated from children residing in a highly polluted area, suggesting their role in pathological extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and degradation processes in the progression of carious decay.

Belgrade, Serbia

Few cities in Europe have a history as dramatic and tumultuous as that of the Serbian capital of Belgrade. The gracious “White City,” which rises spectacularly along the banks of the Danube and the Sava River, has been the site of wars, conquests and rapidly changing fortunes for much of its thousands-years long history. Belgrade suffered heavy destruction under both World Wars, and it has the unfortunate distinction of being the only European capital to be bombed at the end of the 20th century. Its modern history is marked by abrupt shifts in political status: from a capital of a relatively small nation-state, to a center of a larger and prosperous multi-national federation, to a capital of a nation-state once again. These shifts parallel the changing geopolitical position of Serbia/Yugoslavia in Europe. In this City Profile, I present the evolution of the built environment of Belgrade in five historic stages: ancient/medieval/Ottoman, early modern, communist, transitional, and contemporary. I show how each period left a distinct spatial imprint on Belgrade’s fabric. Finally, I discuss some contemporary challenges and opportunities in planning Belgrade’s future.

Vibration condition monitoring of planetary gearbox under varying external load

The paper shows that for condition monitoring of planetary gearboxes it is important to identify the external varying load condition. In the paper, systematic consideration has been taken of the influence of many factors on the vibration signals generated by a system in which a planetary gearbox is included. These considerations give the basis for vibration signal interpretation, development of the means of condition monitoring, and for the scenario of the degradation of the planetary gearbox. Real measured vibration signals obtained in the industrial environment are processed. The signals are recorded during normal operation of the diagnosed objects, namely planetary gearboxes, which are a part of the driving system used in a bucket wheel excavator, used in lignite mines. It is found that a planetary gearbox in bad condition is more susceptible to load than a gearbox in good condition. The estimated load time traces obtained by a demodulation process of the vibration acceleration signal for a planetary gearbox in good and bad conditions are given. It has been found that the most important factor of the proper planetary gearbox condition is connected with perturbation of arm rotation, where an arm rotation gives rise to a specific vibration signal whose properties are depicted by a short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and Wigner-Ville distribution presented as a time–frequency map. The paper gives evidence that there are two dominant low-frequency causes that influence vibration signal modulation, i.e. the varying load, which comes from the nature of the bucket wheel digging process, and the arm/carrier rotation. These two causes determine the condition of the planetary gearboxes considered. Typical local faults such as cracking or breakage of a gear tooth, or local faults in rolling element bearings, have not been found in the cases considered. In real practice, local faults of planetary gearboxes have not occurred, but heavy destruction of planetary gearboxes have been noticed, which are caused by a prolonged run of a planetary gearbox at the condition of the arm run perturbation. It may be stated that the paper gives a new approach to the condition monitoring of planetary gearboxes. It has been shown that only a root cause analysis based on factors having an influence on the vibration solves the problem of planetary gearbox condition monitoring.

Democracy at Work – Revisited

This article deals with a of worker participation which was introduced in a German car dealership and repair shop in the 1960s and which goes far beyond the legal framework of German codetermination (Mitbestimmung). The comprises full codetermination in economic affairs, substantial gain-sharing, participation through teams on the shop floor, and the neutralization of (i.e., transfer of owner's property rights to a foundation). The significance of these four elements is described in theoretical terms. The development was evaluated by interviewing a representative sample of the company's employees. The economic and social success of the company leads to the question of how industrial can be further advanced in the future. Key words: industrial democracy, of work, governance of small and medium-size enterprise (SME), codetermination 1. The context In Germany, the late sixties and early seventies was a remarkable time of new departures. It was the era of the first coalition of the Socialdemocrats and the Liberals in the Federal Government, and Willy Brandt coined the slogan of dare more democracy (Mehr Demokratie wagen!). Under the label of humanization of work a large government program was introduced. It resulted in a considerable number of applied research projects in the areas of job design, organization, and the upgrading of skills in the wake of technological change. In 1972, the Work Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgeset2, BetrVG), which had been in effect since 1952, was overhauled. This brought about a considerable strengthening of council's rights, while still retaining the original philosophy of the law, which ultimately left capital owners' rights untouched. It was argued that democracy, successfully installed on the political level in West Germany after 1945, must be extended to the sphere of and business enterprises in order to be fully achieved. One of the disputes over the revision of the BetrVG concerned the introduction of an attested right of at the shop level or, as it was named at that time, co-determination at the workplace (Mitbestimmung am Arbeitsplatz). The unions were fiercely against such an initiative for fear of weakening representative codetermination and creating a body which would possibly compete with the works councils and be too accommodating towards employers' pressures. An outspoken, although minority fraction within the Metal Workers Union (IGM) demanded codetermination at the workplace, but was not able to convince the heads of the union and was subsequendy expelled from the union (in particular Matthofer and Vilmar; cf. Vilmar 1971). This is the social and political climate in which the project we will present here came into existence, although the first steps in creating the Hoppmann model predate these political developments. The firm Hoppmann, a car dealer and repair shop in Siegen, an industrial town in the south of North-Rhine-Westphalia, was founded in 1937. After suffering heavy destruction during the war, the company was rebuilt after the war and became a leading dealership of Opel cars. The sudden death of the founder in 1957, left his son, Klaus Hoppmann, at age 30, in a precarious situation. He was heavily dependant on longterm employees for advice on running the business. He also felt a moral obligation towards the employees for their part in rebuilding the shop. He was convinced that decisions in a business should not be based on the more or less accidental fate of inheritance, but should be legitimized differently. The first step towards a new form of governance was the introduction of profit sharing in 1961. After a revision in 1969, this plan stipulated that the yearly profit should be shared 50 - 50 between employees and employer, after a deduction of a 7 % interest on equity, paid to the company. Half of each employee's share was to be credited as a loan to the company (paid out only when an employee left the company, usually at retirement), and the other half was to be paid out pardy on a monthly basis, pardy at the end of the year. …

Earthquake Disasters and Earthquake Engineering in Japan

Major earthquakes occur somewhere every year with accompanying devastations. For example, the center of the city of Managua was destroyed completely in December 1972 with the loss of more than 15,000 lives. Government buildings also did not escape destruction which brought about a paralysis in Governmental functioning for a short time. In April of the same year, in Iran an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 attacked the town of Ghir causing the loss of 5,000 lives. Large earthquakes accompanied by large losses of life occur frequently in Iran. Another type of earthquake destruction was caused in Peru in 1970 resulting in the loss of more than 50,000 lives under a huge mud slide that accompanied the big earthquake. In 1971, the San Fernando Earthquake, in the U.S.A. caused very heavy damage to the modern reinforced concrete buildings and highway overpasses calling serious attention to the devastation which might be brought about in modern large cities if a destructive earthquake should occur. The figure for lives lost by the San Fernando earthquake was small, assisted by the extremely lucky time of the occurrence of the earthquake at 6 A.M., when daily activity had not yet started. In 1968 an earthquake occurred in the city of Manila, the Philippines, crashing down completely an apartment house burying 260 people under the debris together with the destruction of many large reinforced concrete buildings. In the same year another big earthquake occurred in the northern part of Japan causing very heavy damage to the reinforced concrete buildings, all of which had been designed to resist earthquake force according to the Japanese regulations for antiseismic design. Repeated destruction of reinforced concrete buildings by earthquakes in recent years has caused a questioning of construction engineering. Such heavy destruction as experienced by reinforced concrete buildings in this earthquake (buildings which were designed and constructed under the antiseismic regulations) raised serious discussions among Japanese earthquake engineers which call for urgent studies. In Table 1 is shown a list of earthquakes that have resulted in heavy destruction since 1960. It may be surprising to find that about 20 earthquakes are included in the table showing that an average of three earthquakes of a destructive nature occurs somewhere on earth every two years. According to UNESCO statistics, between 1926 and 1950 over 350,000 people were killed by earthquakes, and the damage to buildings and public works totaled nearly $ 10,000 million. In proportion to the spread of urban civilization throughout the world, the toll taken by these destructive earthquakes has been steadily increasing and will increase more rapidly in the future. The only way to ensure against these substantial economic losses is to design and build, and to strengthen existing buildings, in such a way that the structure will resist the seismic forces to be expected in each area.

Rapid transmission of the protozoan parasite Histomonas meleagridis in turkeys and specific pathogen free chickens following cloacal infection with a mono-eukaryotic culture

In the present investigation, the pathogenicity and transmission of a mono-eukaryotic culture of Histomonas meleagridis for commercial turkeys and specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens is described for the first time. Two separate trials with the same kind of experimental design were performed, one with commercial turkeys and one with SPF chickens. In each experiment, two different groups were included, which were housed in separate rooms. The first group contained four control birds, whereas the second group consisted of 10 infected and four in-contact birds. The birds were infected via the cloaca at 14 days of age with 380,000 cells of a mono-eukaryotic culture of H. meleagridis consisting of a cloned isolate (Turkey/Austria/2922-66/04). Reisolation of the parasite from turkeys and chickens under experimental conditions was performed for the first time. The infected birds started to excrete the parasite as soon as 2 days post infection. Rapid spread of the parasite to in-contact turkeys and chickens was noticed, based on reisolation of live parasites. Reisolation of the pathogen was impossible from two of the four in-contact SPF chickens at any time, whereas all of the infected turkeys were found positive. Intermittent shedding of the parasite was noticed in infected turkeys and SPF chickens, but the phenomenon was much more severe in the SPF chickens as these birds survived the infection. All of the infected and in-contact turkeys died between days 11 and 14 post infection, whereas no death was recorded in the SPF chickens, which were killed 6 weeks after the infection. Typical lesions were recorded in the caeca and livers of the infected turkeys. In addition, a heavy destruction of the bursa of Fabricius was seen in all of the infected and one of the in-contact turkeys. Altogether, the present investigations are of importance for an understanding of the pathogenicity and transmission of H. meleagridis in poultry.

The large tsunami of 26 December 2004: Field observations and eyewitnesses accounts from Sri Lanka, Maldives Is. and Thailand

Abstract Post-event field surveys were conducted and measurements were taken in Sri Lanka and Maldives about two weeks after the catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004. The measurements taken were cross-checked after interviewing with local people. In the southwest, south and east coastal zones of Sri Lanka maximum water levels ranging from h = 3 m to h = 11 m a.m.s.l. were estimated. The highest values observed were in the south of the island: Galle h ∼ 10 m, Hambantota h ∼ 11m. Maximum inundation of d ∼ 2 km was observed in Hambantota. The heavy destruction and thousands of victims caused in coastal communities, buildings and infrastructure, like railways and bridges, is attributed not only to physical parameters, like the strength of the tsunami hydrodynamic flow, coastal geomorphology and the wave erosional action in soil, but also to anthropogenic factors including the increased vulnerability of the non-RC buildings and the high population density. Local people usually described the tsunami as a series of three main waves. The leading wave phase was only a silent sea level rise of h ≤ 1.5 m and d ≤ 150 m, while the second wave was the strongest one. The first two waves occurred between 09:00 and 09:30 local time, depending on the locality. It is well documented that near Galle, southern part, the strong wave arrived at 09:25:30. In the west coast the third wave was a late arrival which possibly represents reflection phases. In Maldives, three waves were also reported to arrive between 09:00 and 09:30 local time. Maximum water level was only h ∼ 3 m in Laamu Atoll, which is interpreted by the wave amplitude damping by the coral reef to the east of the island complex as well as to that the tsunami did not arrived at high tide time. Damage was observed in several islands of Maldives but this was minimal as compared to the heavy destruction observed in Sri Lanka. About 25 Greek eyewitnesses, who happened to experience the tsunami attack in Padong and Blue Lagoon Port of Phuket island as well as in Maya Bay, Phi-Phi islands, Thailand, were interviewed on the basis of a standard questionnaire. The first sea motion was a retreat of at least 100 m. Then, two main waves arrived, the first being the strong one occurring at about 09:55–10:05 local time, with h ∼ 6m in Padong causing significant destruction and human victims. The collected information clearly indicates that the tsunami propagated as the leading crest wave to the west side, e.g. in Sri Lanka and Maldives, and as the leading trough wave to the east, e.g. in Thailand.

Socio-economic and ecological consequences of the ban on adventure tourism in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, western Himalaya

Prior to 1982, the uncontrolled mountaineering activities to the Nanda Devi peak led to the heavy destruction of the biological resources of the region in the form of poaching of wild animals, tree felling by expedition parties, collection of medicinal herbs and accumulation of garbage. To curb the biotic interference, the area was declared as Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP) and adventure tourism was stopped in 1982. Further in 1988, an area of 2236.74 km 2 was designated as Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) with an inner core zone (NDNP) surrounded by a buffer zone. A ban on tourism activities, followed by the designation of NDBR directly helped in a significant improvement in forest cover and density. The better status of wild animals, including rare and endangered species such as musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) and blue sheep (Psuedois nayaur), is an indicator of such improvements. However, from a socio-economic point of view the loss of income from adventure tourism forced local people to migrate from the area, a phenomenon that was reflected in the human population trends, registering 15% decline between 1981 and 1991 and another 13% between 1991 and 1996. In the absence of alternative income sources, marginal agriculture and animal husbandry became the major sources of income for the locals. Nonetheless, the low density of human population kept the level of biotic pressure under control in NDBR. Promotion of eco-tourism and natural resource based employ- ment generation schemes are suggested to compensate for the economic loss to the local people and to maintain the biodiversity of NDBR.

SARAJEVO

Anthropological urban studies tend to
 explore how the specific social structures
 of cities affect the life of their inhabitants.
 In contrast, this article analyses local
 actors’ own cultural constructions of the
 city and urbanity. It is based on ethnographic
 fieldwork in Sarajevo, the capital
 of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a city that
 suffered heavy destruction during the war
 in the 1990s. According to native Sarajevans,
 however, the greatest threat to the
 unique urban culture of Sarajevo emanated
 from the radical transformation of the
 demographic structure that took place
 during the war, as many people fled Sarajevo
 while large groups of displaced people
 from other parts of the country sought
 refuge in the city. It was a popular perception
 among the local population that what
 used to be a modern and cosmopolitan
 European city in the course of war had
 deteriorated into “one big village”,
 plagued by cultural primitivism, ethnic
 nationalism and intolerance imported by
 newcomers from the rural backwaters of
 the country. The article shows how the
 roots of the powerful cultural dichotomies
 between city and countryside as well as
 between cultured and uncultured are to be
 located in the region’s historical position
 at the margins of Europe. The article
 argues that Sarajevans employed displaced
 persons as politically convenient scapegoats
 for experiences of social transformation
 and decay that stemmed more from
 war and crisis than from the inferior cultural
 habits of the newcomers.