Examination of Historical Data of the 1125 Lanzhou M 7.0 Earthquake and Analysis of Seismogenic Structure

Detailed examination of historical data of earthquakes and field investigations of loess landslide caused by the earthquake and tracing of active faults in Lanzhou area indicate that the Yijitanpu town, one of six towns of Jincheng city, was devastated by the 1125 Lanzhou earthquake. The citly is now located in the Vinylon Factory south of Hekou (River Mouth) in the Xigu district of Lanzhou city. We delermined that the six old towns mentioned in historical records lie in an area stretching from the south of Xigu district to Hekou in Lanzhou. This is consistent with the distribution of loess landslides caused by the earthquake, the extension of Holocene active faults, and the distribution of traces of the seismic rupture zone. A comprehensive analysis shows that the seismogenic structure for the 1125 Lanzhou M 7.0 earthquake should be the Xianshuigou fault segment at the western termination of the north-border active fault zone of the Maxianshan Mountains which are located in south of Lanzhou city with the distance of only 4 km.

Fair Valuation Issues and the Subprime Mortgage Debacle： Could Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Underlying the Historical Cost Method Have Prevented the Crisis？

There are three primary methodologies employed to determine real estate value in the appraisal industry： the cost approach, the sales approach and the income approach. The definition of market value is defined as： ＂a type of value, stated as an opinion that includes a set of assumptions concerning the market＂. Unfortunately, untrained and unlicensed appraisers provided opinions using primarily the sales approach or market data approach and virtually ignored the other two methodologies. The ensuing game of ＂Can You Top This＂ resulted in creating an out-of-control real estate market driven by unregulated fiduciaries as appraisers.

Urbanization effect on precipitation over the Pearl River Delta based on CMORPH data

Based on the satellite data from the Climate Prediction Center morphing(CMORPH) at very high spatial and temporal resolution, the effects of urbanization on precipitation were assessed over the Pearl River Delta(PRD) metropolitan regions of China. CMORPH data well estimates the precipitation features over the PRD. Compared to the surrounding rural areas, the PRD urban areas experience fewer and shorter precipitation events with a lower precipitation frequency(ratio of rainy hours, about 3 days per year less); however, short-duration heavy rain events play a more significant role over the PRD urban areas. Afternoon precipitation is much more pronounced over the PRD urban areas than the surrounding rural areas, which is probably because of the increase in short-duration heavy rain over urban areas.

Historical Memory and Cultural Nostalgia of Longtang＇s Rebuilt in Shanghai

Most cities in China have experienced dramatic changes during the systematic progress of modernization and commercialization. Rebuilding residential space into heritage preservation is popular in Chinese urban planning. Yearning for modernity generates a policy of cultural protection which is transformed by the public spaces within which people carry out daily lives. However, heritage preservation in these cities is in a dilemma. On side, with the opening up, Chinese society toward modernization has been accompanied by large-scale urbanization, rapid commercialization and a booming consumerism. The Chinese capital has forced people to face the challenge of urban environment management and adaptation to a new city. The traditional streets in big cities are destroyed first and then rebuilt to turn the capital into an international metropolis. On the other side, heritage protection needs its historical roots as the authentic cultural features. To some extent, the process of urban landscaping stimulates people＇s nostalgia tie. Although it seems to be individual, it is also a link of one＇s historical memory of sentiment with the development of social construction. Hence, collective urban nostalgia that emerged through the rebuilding of heritage in urban China can promote nationalism from the governmental perspective. Further, it can also lead people face the life itself but neglect the social tensions around them. Meanwhile, rebuilding mode of Longtang also elaborates the power structure existing among state, capital, intellectuals.

The extent of voluntary disclosure in an emerging capital market： The case of Jordan

This study evaluates the extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of non-financial companies listed at the Amman Stock Exchange （ASE） for the year 2006. The study adopts the disclosure index suggested by Haddad, AI-Shattarat ＆ Nobanee （2009） and evaluates the voluntary disclosure for the Jordanian companies for the year 2006 at three levels： the first provides a description and analysis of the overall voluntary disclosure; the second covers the extent to which each individual item of information is disclosed; the third covers the type of information （e.g., financial information, historical information, management discussion）. The results of the study reveal that there was a considerable variation in the disclosure of the index items and also among the listed companies. On average, a company disclosed about 28.95% of the items applicable to it, and only six out of the 53 companies received disclosure scores greater than 50%. It was also found that 50 items out of 62 items included in the index had a disclosure below 50%, and 10 items had disclosure of less than 10%. With respect to the evaluation of different types of information, the analyses indicated that the category of the background information, the category of financial ratios and the category of management discussions were better disclosed in corporate annual reports than the other types of information.

Urban and Architectural Design of the Piazza del Governo in Enna

The paper deals with the urban space of Piazza del Governo in Enna, a town located in the center of Sicily. This square was realized in 1935 by the architect Salvatore Caronia Roberti and is representative of the 1930s＇ fascist regime. The aim of this research is the knowledge of this urban space： the historical references, the compositive choices, the planimetric layout and its geometric rigor, and the monumentality and representativeness of the buildings overlooking the square. The research used the tools of Survey and Representation to better understand the dimensional ratios both at the urban and architectural scale. We have carried out an integrated survey （direct, photogrammetric, 3D laser scanning） in order to acquire a whole set of information essential to describe, document, and appreciate all the features of this urban space. Our investigation started by analyzing the historical documents preserved at the Historic Archive of the city of Enna （project drawings, letters, and historical images） to better understand why some decisions have been taken. The final result represents the historical memory up-to-date of the whole urban space, and it allows any academics to investigate more about the project： the initial decisions, the conservation state, and the possible and more coherent interventions of maintenance and preservation.

A Study of Space in the Novel Ragtime

The novel Ragtime, written by the contemporary American writer Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, imaginatively reconstructs the urban space in the Progressive Era. In the period of social transformation and change, all kinds of contradictions in New York City are becoming increasingly acute. The division of space reflects the power discourse of different classes, races, and genders. The connection, extension and expansion of space promote the features of urban modernity and open up new patterns of social behavior and opportunities for survival, but cannot fundamentally alleviate the capitalist crisis. Spatial layout and distribution of the city are not only the reflection of social relations, but also the ＂time capsule＂, bearing the history of the city, and the writing of space offers a mirror for the author＇s emotion and value judgment.

Risk Analysis of Historic Urban Areas： A Case Study of the Salerno City, Italy

The preservation of historical and cultural heritage from seismic risk is a question of interest in Italy. However, too little has been done to deal with this problem. First of all, the seismic safety of cultural heritage should be a topic of prevention. The research described in the paper presents a multi-approach procedure to address risk assessment of large-scale urban systems with the aim to contribute at the development of risk mitigation policies for historical centers buildings. The observation of the earthquakes effects in Italy clearly highlights the role of the high vulnerability of the existing building on the consequences in terms of casualties and damage, rather than the severity of seismic events, especially in historical contexts. Unlike the new buildings which should be planned and designed to respect seismic safety requirements, existing buildings require a careful safety assessment on the basis of their susceptibility to damage which depends on building techniques, past damage events, maintenance, changes, etc.

Projects for Accessibility and ＂Sustainable＂ Planning Alexandria （Egypt）： A Case Study

From a project oriented view point the concept of sustainability concerns a variety of themes. The evolution of any single city brings to light the fact that architecture and town planning have often expressed more than a merely stereotyped conception of ＂style＂, wherever its most significant achievements have responded to structural needs. For ＂sustainable urban development＂ we may assume the necessity of a ＂priority vision＂, according to which economic, ecologic and social potentials should be valued. This paper questions the notion of urban sustainability considering the port of Alexandria and is region at various levels. Today extending for many miles along the sea coast, the city entered a period of crisis in the 1950s when a mass exodus of foreigners followed transfer of the main activities to Cairo, while the surrounding area was subject to reclamation work as part of a plan for national development. An important event occurred in 1989 with the rebuilding of Alexandria＇s world-famous library, bringing with it a hope for revival of the city＇s ecumenical tradition and of the place it formerly held in world culture. While most of its five million inhabitants survive in a variety of unauthorised settlements and the rural areas have suffered severely from the pollution of Lake Maryut Alexandria is expanding by creation of＂gated communities＂, paralleled by intensive building for tourism along the western coast. This growing trend towards the ＂American way of life＂ is destroying any identity of place. Criticizing the unsustainability of the Alexandria of today, this paper focuses on potentials for polycentric development of the city as a vital part of its region and the Nile Delta, also considering that debate is in progress on the accomplishment of important infrastructural projects that may offer fresh opportunities for involving the topography and centuries-old life of the metropolis in designing the future city.

Impacts of Rapid Urbanization to Traditional Living Environment and Community Linkage in Historic Old Quarters of Vietnam： A Case Study on Gia Hoi Area in Hue City, Central Vietnam

Though with slight ups and downs, Vietnamese economies have been flourishing for recent decades. Just like other remaining historical districts in Asia, those of Vietnam have been going through rapid urbanization and transformation. The rapid urbanization impacts on traditional living environment. This paper examines the impacts of rapid urbanization to traditional living environment and community linkage, illustrating a case study of the Gia Hoi area of the historic old district in the city of Hue in Central Vietnam. To identify the impacts, a comparative analysis is conducted between neighbors along a main street which were more impacted by urbanization and those along a small alley which were less impacted. Through the analysis of field and questionnaire surveys, it found out that socioeconomic conditions, in particular, community linkage of households along main street and small ally varied significantly. It argues that in historical district, social capital is not well-spread, but rather concentrated along small allies, and small allies play an important role for sustainable community.

Orhan Pamuk＇s Istanbul

The paper is based on the autobiographic-essayistic book Istanbul： Memories of a City written by Orhan Pamuk. lstanbul as a typical old capital shapes the lives of its citizens by its spirit, culture, and imperial past. On the other hand, it is a city that lives with specific sentiments--the sense of defeat and loss, melancholy and pain because of the lost power and glory. The author analyzes Pamuk＇s vision of his native city created on the basis of the real scenes and imaginary, the truly lived experiences and fiction. The paper is also concentrated on the deeds of the Turkish and European writers that had made a great contribution in Pamuk＇s synthesis of the East and the West, the past and the present and authentic permeation of cultures he has achieved writing about Istanbul.

AGGLOMERATION AND RADIATION EFFECT OF THE PULL OF URBANIZATION

In order to explore the train of thought for China’s urbanizing development and coordinated rural economic development, and to find good ways of solving rural problems through urbanization, this paper absorbs the push-and-pull forces theory and the systematic dynamic theory in the traditional population migration theories, views urbanization as a dynamic system, makes research on the push-and-pull mechanism of urbanization. The pulling power of urbanization is analyzed according to two aspects, the agglomeration effect and the radiation effect of cities. The agglomeration effect provides continuous propelling force for urbanization, and the radiation effect further accelerates the urbanization process by pushing forward the development of rural economy. Of course, the slow development of urbanization can result in the hindrance to rural economic development.

GIS island Knowledge： Documenting and Managing Catania＇s Historic Urban Heritage

The present study shows the results of a research aimed at the knowledge of the significant features of Catania＇s urban environment. The complexity of the different features of the city, the several scales of representation, the multi-dimensional objects and the historical, anthropic, formal relations have produced different kinds of information requiring a flexible instrument that is able to transcribe images, charts, texts and symbols in a single model of representation. In the perspective of creating a fundamental cognitive framework, the research team paid attention at drawing up a GIS （Geographic Information System） for documenting and managing historic urban heritage. The idea is to have a structure able to collect data like a logic archival system or an open database, which can immediately be consulted and constantly implemented. Indeed, the aim of this GIS is to organize, manage, query and visualise the peculiar aspects which characterize Catania＇s architectures. Thanks to multi-directional ＂access-windows＂ it is possible to navigate through its contents （texts, drawings, 3D rendering, pictures, historical documents）. The system will also allow the integration of several documents in a common geo-database up to visualise the most meaningful details. Its use could assure suitable proposals of urban transformations and coherent plans in using and/or managing heritage goods for a sustainable city development.

Sustainable Waterfront Development-A Case Study of Bahary in Alexandria, Egypt

Sustainable waterfront development is about creating a vision for an area and then deploying the skills and resources to realize it after involving a dialogue with the customer within an area. Also, it draws together many strands of place making such as environmental responsibility, social equity and economic viability, planning and transportation policy, architectural design into the creation of places of beauty and distinct identity. The development of waterfronts shapes communities around the water bodies and reflects the ability of cities to adapt to altered economic and social circumstances. The aim of this paper is to identify some approaches for applying sustainable waterfront development. By respecting the quality of life and defining sustainability in a broader context, a case will he made for enhancing the waterfront development, through the place making criteria, analyzing the Bahary waterfront in Alexandria, Egypt. The paper concludes some recommendations to develop Bahary waterfront based on the principles that are collected from the theoretical study in order to well design a waterfront responded to the wishes of the community.

Data Dependent Modeling of New Contamination Cases from Urban Historic Groundwater Records

Groundwater is the water located beneath the earth＇s surface in the soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. As one of the most important natural resources, groundwater is associated with the environment, public health, welfare, and long-term economic growth, which affects the daily activities of human beings. In modern urban areas, the primary contaminants of groundwater are artificial products, such as gasoline and diesel. To protect this important water resource, a series of efforts have been exerted, including enforcement and remedial actions. Each year, the TGPC （Texas Groundwater Protection Committee） in US publishes a ＂Joint Groundwater Monitoring and Contamination Report＂ to describe historic and new contamination cases in each county, which is an important data source for the design of prevention strategies. In this paper, a DDM （data dependent modeling） approach is proposed to predict county-level NCC （new contamination cases）. A case study with contamination information from Harris County in Texas was conducted to illustrate the modeling and prediction process with promising results. The one-step prediction error is 1.5%, while the two-step error is 12.1%. The established model can be used at the county-level, state-level, and even at the country-level. Besides, the prediction results could be a reference during decision-making processes.

Mass Human Migration and the Urban Heat Island during the Chinese New Year Holiday: A Case Study in Harbin City, Northeast China

Many Chinese people leave big cities for family reunions during the Chinese New Year （CNY）, which is the most important public holiday in China. However, how modem mass human migration during the CNY holiday affects the urban heat island （UHI） is still un- known. Here, the authors investigate the role of modem human migration for the UHI effects during the CNY holiday for the period of 1992-2006 in Harbin City, Northeast China. The results show that during the CNY week, the UHI effects expressed as daily mean, maxi- mum, and minimum temperature differences between urban and rural stations averaged over the period of 1992-2006 are 0.65℃ （43%）, 0.31℃ （48%）, and 1.14℃ （71%） lower than during the background period （four weeks before and four weeks after the CNY week）, re- spectively. Our findings identify previously unknown impacts of modem mass human migration on the UHI effects based on a case study in Harbin City.

Tuo Shan Yan Dam and City Ningbo： Exploring the Historical Logic of Urban Water Management through a Big City of China

Tuo Shan Yan Dam is a small darn which was built above Yinjiang River at the Yinjiang Town, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province of China in 833 AD, but it is greatly contributed to Ningbo City, a current big port city of China. The dam and the matched system had become a key hydro-infrastructure to the city＇s existence and development, and irrigation of the countryside nearby the city from ninth century up to 1987, a big dam was built at upper reach to control water of the river. Tuo Shan Yan Dam functioned an important role in the local water management and met a series of purposes perfectly, mainly as： （a） regulation of the river water; （b） save the flood; （c） stop the salinization; （d） urban water supply; （e） storage of flesh water; （f） irrigation; （g） ship transportation. And it is a miracle that it has been functioned for more than one thousand years. This dam also influenced the local social life and people＇s spiritual world simultaneously. The construction of the dam and its matched hydro-system is in line with the Chinese ancient logic of urban water management to manage river to meet a multi-proposes of urban development by a key project and a systemic engineering design. It is an important case for better understanding of ancient Chinese urban water management and to learn from the history for current water sustainability. Accordingly, the dam＇s design, construction and its influence on the local societies are studied in this article.

A New Method in Urban Planning Based on GIS Technology——Conservation and Rehabilitation Analysis of Xijin Ferry District in Zhenjiang

In this paper, we identify the geographic information systems (GIS), discuss the components of GIS, which integrates five essential components: hardware, software, data, people, and methods. Present the relations between computer and urban planning, urban planning and GIS. Moreover, the main discussion on a case study that explores the possibility of using ArcView GIS software to assemble, store, manipulate, and analyze historic site- Xinjin ferry district in Zhenjiang.

Astana＇s Evolution From the Outskirts to the Capital： Name, Emblem, and Territorial Settlement

This article is a research into the history of our town, several times changing its status on its nearly 80-year record. We trace its gradual evolvement from a backwater town into a 21th century capital to piece the picture of our town together from separate puzzles in names and events. The history of our town with its colonial, soviet and post-soviet periods is impetuously losing its two original contexts. The new city was not built anew, from scratch, but was further constructed, extended and novelized. However the first two periods are effaced and pushed to the background, becoming an apophasis. The questions to puzzle out are： Why the town was renamed so many times into Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and Astana; why it had a few emblems on its record; and from which year starts settlement of the territory this modern city currently takes up. Then comes another moot point： How many times was our town＇s status put to question？ Of special interest is street renaming and monuments＇ relocation and the town＇s demographic constituent is no less a serious subject of research. Our town formed through permanent movement of the rural population to it, which concurred with the governmental campaigns in the epoch in question. Urban environment certainly told on inter-relations, and brought about problems. One of them is the problem of tolerance, inevitably arising in any big city. The problem of misunderstanding between the residents of former Tselinograd and present Astana is generation gap. For permanent population＇s rotation practically no urban life traditions have taken on a definite shape among majority of the residents, paradoxical as it is. The population＇s intent to cast off all the colonial and soviet past ended in the loss of representative opportunities of the ＂old＂ town.

Site Rehabilitation Examples of the City Izmir as the Local Identity Searches

Architectural artefacts form the identity of the cities, especially when these artifacts dated to historical times, it becomes more valuable. The importance of preserving the architectural heritage is more meaningful when the building is preserved with its whole environment, with the other historical buildings around as a site protection. Preservation of historical monuments not only individually but also with their environments help the city regain its identity that it has lost. The Conservation Approach to Cultural Assets in Turkey has reached to its peek starting from 1985＇s through introducing the effects of the recent amendment on cultural heritage law and the impact of the EU integration process. The municipalities started to use this recent amendment on cultural heritage laws as a method of recovering their cities for the local identity searches. This paper will deal with the current challenges for conservation practice in Turkey, through introducing the effects of the recent amendment on cultural heritage law and the impact of the EU integration process, and examine some major promising conservation and renovation, rehabilitation projects continuing in Izmir the third biggest city of Turkey for which local solutions are being devised for problems of global context in the meaning of local identity searches for the city.