• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.495-508
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• 2012

The strength theory of concrete is significant to structure design and nonlinear finite element analysis of concrete structures because concrete utilized in engineering is usually subject to the action of multi-axial stress. Experimental results have revealed that lightweight aggregate (LWA) concrete exhibits plastic flow plateau under high compressive stress and most of the lightweight aggregates are crushed at this stage. For the purpose of safety, therefore, in the practical application the strength of LWA concrete at the plastic flow plateau stage should be regarded as the ultimate strength under multi-axial compressive stress state. With consideration of the strength criterion, the ultimate strength surface of LWA concrete under multi-axial stress intersects with the hydrostatic stress axis at two different points, which is completely different from that of the normal weight concrete as that the ultimate strength surface is open-ended. As a result, the strength criteria aimed at normal weight concrete do not fit LWA concrete. In the present paper, a multi-axial strength criterion for LWA concrete is proposed based on the Unified Twin-Shear Strength (UTSS) theory developed by Prof Yu (Yu et al. 1992), which takes into account the above strength characteristics of LWA under high compressive stress level. In this strength criterion model, the tensile and compressive meridians as well as the ultimate strength envelopes in deviatoric plane under different hydrostatic stress are established just in terms of a few characteristic stress states, i.e., the uniaxial tensile strength $f_t$, the uniaxial compressive strength $f_c$, and the equibiaxial compressive $f_{bc}$. The developed model was confirmed to agree well with experimental data under different stress ratios of LWA concrete.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.172-179
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• 2018

Background: Insufficient training in infection control and occupational health among healthcare workers (HCWs) in countries with high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) burdens requires attention. We examined the effectiveness of a 1-year Certificate Program in Occupational Health and Infection Control conducted in Free State Province, South Africa in an international partnership to empower HCWs to become change agents to promote workplace-based HIV and TB prevention. Methods: Questionnaires assessing reactions to the program and Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills, and Practices were collected pre-, mid-, and postprogram. Individual interviews, group project evaluations, and participant observation were also conducted. Quantitative data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Qualitative data were thematically coded and analyzed using the Kirkpatrick framework. Results: Participants recruited (n = 32) were mostly female (81%) and nurses (56%). Pre-to-post-program mean scores improved in knowledge (+12%, p = 0.002) and skills/practices (+14%, p = 0.002). Preprogram attitude scores were high but did not change. Participants felt empowered and demonstrated attitudinal improvements regarding HIV, TB, infection control, and occupational health. Successful projects were indeed implemented. However, participants encountered considerable difficulties in trying to sustain improvement, due largely to lack of pre-existing knowledge and experience, combined with inadequate staffing and insufficient management support. Conclusion: Training is essential to strengthen HCWs' occupational health and infection control knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices, and workplace-based training programs such as this can yield impressive results. However, the considerable mentorship resources required for such programs and the substantial infrastructural supports needed for implementation and sustainability of improvements in settings without pre-existing experience in such endeavors should not be underestimated.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.91-103
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• 2004

A series of shaking table model tests were performed to verify the validity of similitude law, which is suggested by lai (1989) to simulate the dynamic behavior of soil-fluid-structure system for is shaking table tests. In the tests, the similitude law suggested by lai was applied to determine the length and the time scaling factors. Also, the steady state concept was used in determining the density of model backfill soil, which is a key factor in simulating the development of excess pore pressure during shaking. The similitude law was verified by checking whether three different sizes of quay walls show the identical behavior or not. The similar responses of acceleration, excess pore pressure and horizontal displacement of walls were obtained far the small and large models. However, the medium model showed larger responses than those of the small and large models because of the resonance between the frequency of input acceleration and the natural frequency of the wall system. In addition, the vertical displacement and rotational angle of the walls became larger with the increase of model size.

• Maritime Security
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-44
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• 2021

China's new Maritime Policy Law (MPL) purports to regulate the duties of China's maritime police agencies, including the China Coast Guard, and safeguard China's sovereignty, security, and rights and interest. The MPL has potentially far-reaching application, as China claims extensive maritime areas off its mainland and in the South China Sea. This expansive application of maritime law enforcement jurisdiction is problematic given that most of China's maritime claims are inconsistent with international law. To the extent that the MPL purports to assert jurisdiction over foreign flagged vessels in disputed areas or on the high seas, it contravenes international law. Numerous provisions of the MPL regarding the use of force are also inconsistent with international rules and standards governing the use of maritime law enforcement jurisdiction, as well as the UN Charter's prohibition on the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. China could use the MPL as a subterfuge to advance its illegal territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China Seas and interfere with coastal State resource rights in their respective exclusive economic zone.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.49-62
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• 2023

Background: Over the past three decades, gradual eustatic sea-level rise has been considered a primary exogenous factor in the increased frequency of flooding and biological changes in several salt marshes. Under this paradigm, the potential importance of short-term events, such as ocean storminess, in coastal hydrology and ecology is underrepresented in the literature. In this study, a simulation was developed to evaluate the influence of wind waves driven by atmospheric oscillations on sedimentary and vegetation dynamics at the Skallingen salt marsh in southwestern Denmark. The model was built based on long-term data of mean sea level, sediment accretion, and plant species composition collected at the Skallingen salt marsh from 1933-2006. In the model, the submergence frequency (number yr^-1) was estimated as a combined function of wind-driven high water level (HWL) events (> 80 cm Danish Ordnance Datum) affected by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and changes in surface elevation (cm yr^-1). Vegetation dynamics were represented as transitions between successional stages controlled by flooding effects. Two types of simulations were performed: (1) baseline modeling, which assumed no effect of wind-driven sea-level change, and (2) experimental modeling, which considered both normal tidal activity and wind-driven sea-level change. Results: Experimental modeling successfully represented the patterns of vegetation change observed in the field. It realistically simulated a retarded or retrogressive successional state dominated by early- to mid-successional species, despite a continuous increase in surface elevation at Skallingen. This situation is believed to be caused by an increase in extreme HWL events that cannot occur without meteorological ocean storms. In contrast, baseline modeling showed progressive succession towards the predominance of late-successional species, which was not the then-current state in the marsh. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that variations in the NAO index toward its positive phase have increased storminess and wind tides on the North Sea surface (especially since the 1980s). This led to an increased frequency and duration of submergence and delayed ecological succession. Researchers should therefore employ a multitemporal perspective, recognizing the importance of short-term sea-level changes nested within long-term gradual trends.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.3-18
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• 2014

With natural resources-terrestrial or coastal-fastly diminishing, governments are now resorting to biodiversity conservation, fast-tracking the introduction of new legislations, as well as the amendment of existing ones, and laying out programs that interpret existing practices and research agendas. This paper examines how biodiversity conservation-in addition to eco-tourism-has become an important symbol of the modernizing state of Sabah, Malaysia. It further examines the effects of biodiversity conservation on state and community management of natural resources, with particular reference to the management of natural resources by the indigenous peoples of Sabah. Citing case studies and focusing on a forest community at Kiau Nuluh, in the district of Kota Belud, Sabah, this paper evaluates strategies used by indigenous groups to maintain access and control over the management of natural resources-and by implication to livelihoods-via ecotourism, making creative alliances with non-government organisations as well as forging cooperation with government agencies which act as custodians of these resources. For a majority of indigenous groups however, the practice of biodiversity conservation has meant reduced and controlled access to natural resources, considering the fundamental issue of the lack of security of tenure to the land claimed under customary rights. New initiatives at recognizing Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) by international conservation groups provide a means for tenure recognition, for a price, of course. The recognition of ICCAs also faces obstacles arising from developmentalist ideology which upholds that forests are valuable only when converted to other land use, and not left to stand for their intrinsic value.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.629-632
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• 1999

Constructed wetlands are being used for the removal of nutrients from livestock wastewater. However, natural vegetation typically used in constructed wetlands does not have marketable value. As an alternative, agronomic plants grown under flooded or saturated soil conditions that promote denitrification can be used. Studies on constructed wetlands for swine wastewater were conducted in wetland cells that contained either natural wetland plants or a combination of soybeans and rice for two years with the objective of maximum nitrogen reduction to minimize the amount of land required for terminal treatment. Three systems, of two 3.6 by 33.5 m wetland cells connected in series were used; two systems each contained a different combination of emergent wetland vegetation: rush/bulrush (system 1) and bur-reed/cattail (system 2). The third system contained soybean (Glycine max) in saturated-soil-culture (SSC) in the first cell, and flooded rice (Oryza sativa) in the second cell. Nitrogen (N) loading rates of 3 and $10kg\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$ were used in the first and second years, respectively. These loading rates were obtained by mixing swine lagoon liquid with fresh water before it was applied to the wetland. The nutrient removal efficiency was similar in the rush/bulrush, bur-reed/cattails and agronomic plant systems. Mean mass removal of N was 94 % at the loading rate of $3kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$ and decreased to 71% at the higher rate of $10kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$. The two years means for above-ground dry matter production for rush/bulrushes and bur-reed/cattails was l2 and $33Mg\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. Flooded rice yield was $4.5Mg\;ha^{-1}$ and soybean grown in saturation culture yielded $2.8Mg\;ha^{-1}$. Additionally, the performance of seven soybean cultivars using SSC in constructed wetlands with swine wastewater as the water source was evaluated for two years, The cultivar Young had the highest yield with 4.0 and $2.8Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in each year, This indicated that production of acceptable soybean yields in constructed wetlands seems feasible with SSC using swine lagoon liquid. Two microcosms studies were established to further investigate the management of constructed wetlands. In the first microcosm experiment, the effects of swine lagoon liquid on the growth of wetland plants at half (about 175 mg/l ammonia) and full strength (about 350 mg/l ammonia) was investigated. It was concluded that wetland plants can grow well in at least half strength lagoon liquid. In the second microcosm experiment, sequencing nitrification-wetland treatments was studied. When nitrified lagoon liquid was added in batch applications ($48kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$) to wetland microcosms the nitrogen removal rate was four to five times higher than when non-nitrified lagoon liquid was added. Wetland microcosms with plants were more effective than those with bare soil. These results suggest that vegetated wetlands with nitrification pretreatment are viable treatment systems for removal of large quantities of nitrogen from swine lagoon liquid.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.147-160
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• 2022

SRFC (Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission) requested to the ITLOS (International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea) an advisory opinion relating to the IUU (Illegl, Unreported, and Unregulated) fishing (Case No-21 of the ITLOS). Since, in the UNCLOS, there is no article authorizing the jurisdiction of the ITLOS full court's Advisory opinion, so various scholarly opinion wad divided. But ITLOS delivered its Advisory opinion confirming its jurisdictional competence over the Advisory proceedings with its legal opinion about the IUU issues. It opens new possibility of the alternative dispute settlement mechanism of the ITLOS through the advisory procedures. In reality, there has been a view that ICJ (International Court of Justice) could take the part of a kind of dispute settlement through its Advisory procedures. But the advisory procedures of the ITLOS, with no definite clause in UNCLOS about the advisory procedures, which provides more allowances for the function of advisory opinion as the alternative dispute settlement mechanism. ITLOS accepted the requests of the advisory opinion by the State parties through international organization or themselves directly. And the advisory opinion of the ITLOS aims the interpretation and application into the special issues-specially IUU fishing in Case No. 21 of the ITLOS-. Those factors could enable more enhanced role of the ITLOS as an alternative dispute settlement mechanism. But those possibility has contain risk of excessive and unlimited advisory role of the ITLOS. So it is important to focus on the restriction on the role of the State parties in the request of the advisory opinion to the ITLOS. In this regard it is meaningful that the ITLOS has suggested a kind of legal standing in the advisory procedures in that only coastal States could request the Advisory opinion about the IUU in their EEZ. Furthermore the discretionary power of the ITLOS in the Article 138 of the Rules of the Tribunal could curtail the abuse of the Advisory opinion initiated by the States parties of the UNCLOS. Under this framework, Advisory opinion could broaden more alternative option to the disputes between State parties of the UNCLOS in that after being delivered detailed interpretation of the UNCLOS about the specific issues, States parties could devote themselves to searching for flexible solution for the disputes between State parties. It could obtain legal explanation about the dispute under the Article 297 and Article 298 by detouring the jurisdiction limits through advisory procedures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.357-371
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• 2016

Column base connections are critical components in steel structures because they transfer axial forces, shear forces and moments to the foundation. Exposed column bases are quite commonly used in low- to medium-rise buildings. To investigate shear transfer in exposed column base plates, four large scale specimens were subjected to a combination of axial load (compression or tension) and lateral shear deformations. The main parameters examined experimentally include the number of anchor rod, arrangement of anchor rod, type of lateral loading, and axial force ratio. It is observed that the shear resisting mechanism of exposed column base changed as the axial force changed. When the axial force is in compression, the resisting mechanism is rotation type, and the shear force will be resisted by friction force between base plate and mortar layer. The specimens could sustain inelastic deformation with minimal strength deterioration up to column rotation angle of 3%. The moment resistance and energy dissipation will be increased as the number of anchor rods increased. Moreover, moment resistance could be further increased if the anchor rods were arranged in details. When the axial force is in tension, the resisting mechanism is slip type, and the shear force will be resisted by the anchor rods. And the shear resistance was reduced significantly when the axial force was changed from compression to tension. The test results indicated that the current design approach could estimate the moment resistance within reasonable acceptance, but overestimate the shear resistance of exposed column base.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.152-157
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• 2012

Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia that covers 37.5% of the total land area. Multitemporal satellite images of Landsat and SPOT were used to examine deforestation and forest fragmentation in Sarawak between 1990 and 2009. Supervised classification with maximum likelihood classifier was used to classify the land cover types in Sarawak. The overall accuracies of all classifications were more than 80%. Our results showed that forests were reduced at 0.62% annually during the two decades. The peat swamp forest suffered a tremendous loss of almost 50% between 1990 and 2009 especially at coastal divisions due to intensified oil palm plantation development. Fragmentation analysis revealed the loss of about 65% of the core area of intact forest during the change period. The core area of peat swamp forest had almost completely disappeared during the two decades.