Sway Stiffness of Scaffold Structures

Changing social needs, upgrading of design standards, increased safety requirements, continual upgrading of service loads, the increase in the volume of traffic and chloride-induced deterioration means that thousands of bridges need repair or reconstruction. Based on recent bridge management statistics, 83 800 reinforced and prestressed concrete bridges in the EU require maintenance, repairs and strengthening with an annual budget of £215M, excluding traffic delay and management costs. This problem is not confined only to the EU. Based on US Government statistics, of the total number of bridges in the USA over 250 000 are in need of improvement. Governments across the wdrld are looking for new technologies and cost-effective solutions. J.S. Lane, M.B. Leeming and P.S. Fahole-Luke One of the methods

According to conventional earthquake resistance strategy, most structures are considered fixed to the ground at their footings. Therefore, when an earthquake occurs, its seismic waves can transmit in an unimpeded manner throughout the structure, causing forced vibrations in the superstructure. Under these circumstances the dynamic behaviour of the structure can magnify the response to ground movements caused by the quake. Professor T.-Q. Song and Professor W.-J. Wang

The aim of this paper is to explain the relevance of the concept of marketing in professional consulting activities. It also offers a few practical guidelines for the planning and execution of efforts to obtain new work. The paper opens with a brief discussion about the nature of marketing. It then looks at marketing strategy, which is the process of deciding what work a practice wants and how it should set out its stall to get it. It considers some aspects of the selling process applied to professional services. Price is a key item in the economic equation, so the paper considers fees. And finally, there are a few practical pointers. P.T. Pearce