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The purpose of this paper is to present a simplified hybrid modeling (HYMOD) approach which overcomes limitations regarding computational cost and permits the simulation and prediction of the nonlinear inelastic behavior of full-scale RC structures.

The proposed HYMOD formulation was integrated in a research software ReConAn FEA and was numerically studied through the use of different numerical implementations. Then the method was used to model a full-scale two-storey RC building, in an attempt to demonstrate its numerical robustness and efficiency.

The numerical results performed demonstrate the advantages of the proposed hybrid numerical simulation for the prediction of the nonlinear ultimate limit state response of RC structures.

A new numerical modeling method based on finite element method is proposed for simulating accurately and with computational efficiency, the mechanical behavior of RC structures. Currently 3D detailed methods are used to model single structural members or small parts of RC structures. The proposed method overcomes the above constraints.

This chapter demonstrates that despite an unfavorable disciplinary climate for new academic subjects in France, tourism found its place in the French geographical scene almost 40 years ago. The first part traces the history of tourism in French geography until the epistemological turn due to the research laboratory MIT in the mid-1990s. It also focuses on the absence of knowledge of the Anglo-American literature and of multidisciplinarity in French research on tourism. The second part focuses on the valorization of tourism geography research in France, emphasizing the development of multidisciplinarity since the early 2000s, including the creation of a multi-disciplinary tourism laboratory and two journals. The chapter concludes reflecting on the possibility of a science of tourism.

The aim of this chapter is to provide a holistic overview of issues and topics regarding tourism geography in Greece: from its origins to its current situation. By following a historical tracking of tourism activities in this country and the growth of tourism geography as an academic domain at the university level, the main goal is to analyze the shift of academic research on tourism from geographical perspective, as presented in both the Greek and English language literature. The chapter concludes that there is a need for practical orientation and redefinition of typologies of tourism geographies in order to apply a more sustainable and cross-disciplinary approach in the academic discourse on Greek tourism.

This study aims to discuss the causes of short-lived structuring of contemporary buildings. The life expectancy of structures may be theoretically predefined during the state of the design. This time period, known as the service life of structures, is determined by the load or the deformation level at which irreversible failures of the bearing structure may occur. On the other hand, planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence, observed in the western world since the first half of 20th century, are currently setting an economic reality and are part of an expanded framework that, apart from architectural structures, extends to all design fields. The effects of short-lived structuring on environmental and energy terms are presented and theoretical and experimental recommendations from the literature are cited, as well as recommendations that have already been successfully applied in some countries.

This study aims to discuss the issues associated with short-lived structuring, durability and obsolescence of contemporary structures. For this purpose, theoretical and experimental recommendations from the literature are cited, via an extensive state of the art research.

Short-lived structuring has been a field of research during recent years. Terms such as durability are being introduced into Design Codes, while trends like perceived obsolescence and environmental impact raise issues for research. Moreover, the results of short-lived structuring are becoming more and more apparent, indicating an unsustainable reality. Issues like maintenance of structures, sustainability in design, corrosion effects, repair techniques and building waste management are an important field of research among the engineering community. In this study, the parameters affecting the lifespan of contemporary structures have been discussed.

The effects of short-lived structuring on environmental and energy terms are presented and theoretical and experimental recommendations from the literature are cited. The parameters studied herein concern material properties and design approach but also environmental and energy-related ones.

Travel and tourism have had a long history in the Nordic countries, but research on tourism has a relatively short tradition in the region. Recently, academic interest in the Nordic tourism space has grown and diversified especially as a result of increasing numbers of academics and institutions involved with tourism geographies and studies and education in the region. The Nordic context has provided thematic focus areas for empirical studies that characterize tourism geographies in the region, with topics including nature-based tourism, utilization of wilderness areas, second-home and rural developments, impacts in peripheries, and tourism as a tool for regional development. In addition, there are emerging research themes outside of the traditional core topics, such as urban, events, and heritage tourism.

This chapter aims to familiarize the reader with some of the important aspects of tourism geography in the German-speaking countries. It starts with a primarily historical-genetic perspective on tourism development and the theoretical traditions associated with them. The second section describes the structure of the discipline, with a focus on the institutionalization of the field in the universities including their research specialization. The chapter maintains that tourism geography plays a marginal role compared with other subdisciplines of geography, though this is reflected primarily in its institutionalization and less so in the research undertaken. The last section deals with the current challenges and future prospects in German-speaking geographies of tourism from a problem-centered perspective.

This chapter discusses the main research interests and outputs in the various branches of geography that have influenced the study of tourism from a geographical perspective. It argues that the idiographic tradition has been transversal throughout, leading to the growing interest for tourism within the geography academic community in the last 10 years. There is a focus on the birth of specific research groups, mainly related to a constellation of new university curricula on tourism and—with few exceptions of territorial tradition—to an intermittent availability of public research funds. The chapter concludes with a more general picture of the place of tourism within the geography discipline in Italy and of evolving trends in terms of research results, dissemination, and evaluation.

This chapter reflects upon the trajectory of research in the geography of tourism in Spain. It begins with a review, including the evolution of the main topics present in the subdiscipline, with a special focus on developments since the 1990s. This is followed by an analysis of the current role and potential impact of academic tourism geography and a discussion on the recent growth in the publication of research results in international journals. Of importance are the institutional factors that explain the increasing recognition of research on the geography of tourism in Spain. Finally, the chapter discusses the hegemony of positivist approaches pivoting on land use, local and regional development, impact analysis, and landscape transformation, as well as the emerging links between Spanish tourism geography and the international mainstream schools of thought.

Depending on the research approach one uses, the development of particular bodies of knowledge over time is the result of a combination of agency, chance, opportunity, patronage, power, or structure. This particular account of the development of geographies of tourism stresses its place as understood within the context of different approaches, different research behaviors and foci, and its location within the wider research community and society. The chapter charts the development of different epistemological, methodological, and theoretical traditions over time, their rise and fall, and, in some cases, rediscovery. The chapter concludes that the marketization of academic production will have an increasingly important influence on the nature and direction of tourism geographies.