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In the absence of random variables, random variables are generated by the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation method. There are some methods for generating fragility curves with fewer nonlinear analyses. However, the accuracy of these methods is not suitable for all performance levels and peak ground acceleration (PGA) range. This paper aims to present a method through the seismic improvement of the high-dimensional model representation method for generating fragility curves while taking advantage of fewer analyses by choosing the right border points.

In this method, the values of uncertain variables are selected based on the results of the initial analyses, the damage limit of each performance level or according to acceptable limits in the design code. In particular, PGAs are selected based on the general shape of the fragility curve for each performance limit. Also, polynomial response functions are estimated for each accelerogram. To evaluate the accuracy, fragility curves are estimated by different methods for a single degree of freedom system and a reinforced concrete frame.

The results indicated that the proposed method can not only reduce the computational cost but also has a higher accuracy than the other methods, compared with the MC baseline method.

The proposed response functions are more consistent with the actual values and are also congruent with each performance level to increase the accuracy of the fragility curves.

The paper outlines international standards at present available for serials cataloguing, and goes on to describe the North American CONSER project in which these standards are being applied. It then discusses the prospects for a British data base of serial records, with the British Library's BLAISE system especially in mind. It concludes that with so many authoritative records coming available from the CONSER project it would be fruitless to duplicate this work in Britain, but that, hopefully, new serial records being input to BLAISE will conform to the same standards being applied in CONSER.

The production of natural gas from the reservoir is always associated with entrained solid particle of different sizes mainly sand particles and crystalline salts. Entrained solid transport along the gas phase has been a great concern for gas production engineer, as the detrimental consequences are often associated to a desirable high operational parameters such rate and pressure transverse in producing well.

A variety of models for predicting pressure transverse in flowing gas wells have been reported in the literatures. Most of the models were based on steady state fluid flow equation that did not consider time factor which results in inaccurate at early production time. Some of the early investigators overlooked the effect of the entrained solid on the pressure transverse phenomena in a gas well. Hence, there is a need for developing a more realistic model for estimating pressure transverse at all times in flowing solid-gas vertical well.

This study presents equation for pressure drop in flowing vertical well without neglecting any term in the momentum equation by the inclusion of accumulation and kinetic term. The solution of the resulting differential equation gives functional relationship between solid-gas flow rates and pressure at any point in flowing well at any given production time.

The results show improvement over previous studies, as the assumptions previously neglected were all considered.

While international and even national brand owners may be more concerned with tailoring their brands for local markets, local and regional brand owners are still keen to expand to national level. Examines the elements of the decision‐making process for brand owners expanding beyond their home region, and compares this process with the internationalisation of national brands. Case study research in five companies from the UK food and drink sector provides examples, and a checklist for decision making is proposed.

In the last twenty years, the methods for structural system reliability evaluation have evolved considerably. Since these methods are based on different assumptions, it is necessary to evaluate their capabilities. For this reason, a research study was initiated at the University of Colorado at Boulder in order to investigate the accuracy and reliability of various methods for structural system reliability evaluation. This paper emphasizes certain important parametric studies on system reliability methods under uncertainty. The sensitivity of the accuracy of the methods to changes in both strength and load correlations is demonstrated by means of numerical examples.

Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library was featured in a 1994 Library Hi Tech issue as a prototype of the electronic library. Mann Library, the winner of the American Library Association's first Library of the Future award, presented its systematic approach to creating a new digital research library, an approach that employs modern methods rooted in classic principles to form a vibrant, organic whole by integrating the print and the digital library. Mann's approach is based on having a clear understanding of what our mission is and constantly rethinking what we are doing to achieve it. Consequently, a lot has happened at Mann since 1994. This article describes the library's new program of instructional technology support, while a series of short reports focus on some of the other Mann Library projects.

This article describes the rationale behind the construction of an interactive numeric flies retrieval system, and the creation of the system (project team, project phases, data preparation, software, and hardware used). The major findings section includes comments on data problem resolution, database design and construction, interface considerations, enhanced cataloging, file transfer, standards adherence, and staff resources. The incorporation of the system into the range of services of Cornell's Mann Library is described.

Aesthetic jurisprudence must take seriously the myth of community,¹ the antagonistic of intimacy; love and death.² Myth, however, must also be seized in its peculiarity. Rather than affirming coherence or the pattern of the past, it is a discourse that undoes itself. Indeed, myth does not provide a comforting story of belonging and foundations, it reminds us of the antagonisms of the human condition and the problematic nature of thought itself.