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mathewjoseph1 · 1 year

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From Investigation to Resolution: The Journey of Forensic Structural Engineers

Introduction:

Forensic structural engineers play a crucial role in investigating and resolving building failures. Their expertise in analyzing and identifying the root causes of structural problems helps provide answers, ensure safety, and guide towards effective resolutions. In this article, we will explore the journey of forensic structural engineers, from the initial investigation to reaching a resolution.

The Investigation Process:

When a building failure occurs, forensic structural engineers are called upon to investigate the incident thoroughly. The process begins with a site visit, where the engineers examine the affected structure, document evidence, and collect data. They carefully study the patterns of damage, inspect materials, and assess the structural integrity. Advanced techniques like non-destructive testing and computer simulations are employed to gain deeper insights.

Data Analysis and Reconstruction:

After collecting data, forensic structural engineers proceed with a meticulous analysis. They scrutinize structural drawings, construction records, and maintenance logs to understand the design and history of the building. By reconstructing the sequence of events leading up to the failure, they aim to determine the contributing factors, such as design flaws, material defects, or improper construction practices.

Laboratory Testing and Analysis:

In some cases, laboratory testing becomes necessary to analyze materials or components involved in the failure. Forensic structural engineers conduct tests to evaluate the strength, durability, and compatibility of construction materials. These tests provide scientific evidence to support their findings and help in establishing liability or identifying potential design or manufacturing flaws.

Structural Analysis and Modeling:

Using specialized software and structural analysis techniques, forensic engineers create computer models to simulate the behavior of the failed structure. These models allow them to evaluate the structural response under different conditions, assess load distribution, and identify areas of weakness. The analysis helps determine the extent of the failure and contributes to the formulation of effective remedial measures.

Expert Testimony and Reports:

Forensic structural engineers frequently serve as expert witnesses in legal proceedings, offering their specialized knowledge and insights. They prepare detailed reports that outline their findings, analysis, and conclusions. These reports serve as valuable documentation and evidence in legal cases, insurance claims, or disputes. Clear and concise communication is crucial in ensuring that all stakeholders understand the technical aspects and implications of the investigation.

Recommendations and Resolution:

Based on their investigation and analysis, forensic structural engineers develop recommendations for resolving the identified issues. These recommendations can include repairs, retrofits, material replacements, or changes in design and construction practices. They work closely with architects, contractors, and building owners to implement the recommended solutions and ensure that the structure meets the required safety standards.

Continuous Learning and Professional Development:

Forensic structural engineering is a constantly evolving field. To stay at the forefront of their profession, forensic structural engineers engage in continuous learning and professional development activities. They participate in training programs, attend conferences, and collaborate with industry experts. This ongoing commitment to education and staying updated with the latest advancements ensures that they can effectively address emerging challenges and provide the best solutions.

Conclusion:

Forensic structural engineers undertake a comprehensive journey from investigating building failures to reaching resolutions. Their expertise and rigorous analysis contribute to uncovering the causes of structural problems and guiding the implementation of effective remedies. Their work plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and integrity of buildings for the benefit of society as a whole.

#forensic structural engineers #structural engineers #forensic engineering #foundation inspection services

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lizadcruzthings · 2 years

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#engineering services #forensic structural

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mamasbakeria · 1 year

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hey, what's your major again?

summary: my credible expert opinion on what the aot characters would study in university. what are my qualifications? the dozens of hours i’ve spent staring at my school’s program bulletin trying to figure out what i’m majoring in

genre | includes: headcanons, sfw, minor language, uninformed percy jackson reference (pls don't hate me if im wrong)

characters: eren jaeger, mikasa ackerman, armin arlert, sasha braus, jean kirschtein, connie springer, historia reiss, ymir, reiner braun, annie leonhardt

author’s note: had this in my drafts for months now. i just need to post it so it stops haunting me. might do the rest of the marleyans and vets in the future! lmk your thoughts, my only tumblr notifications are from p*rn bots, so i'd love to hear from real people lol. enjoy <3

eren: sociology and public policy, 4+1 program for a social work masters

there’s only so many times you can hear “you’re gonna be a doctor just like your dad” before you start to believe it. that’s why eren started out with biology on the premed track. the thing is, he really didn’t care for it. eren is really passionate about lessening equity gaps and is a firm believer in “if you want something done right, do it yourself”. this is why i see him making the switch to a double major in public policy and sociology. he wants to know about how society got to the point of perpetuating disparities so that he can fix them. but he also knows that the government fucking sucks and thinks its naive to expect policy change to be the only method of change. and like the maniac he is, eren is enrolled in a 4+1 program so he can get his master’s in social work when he’s done with his undergrad. he’s determined to graduate with both degrees in just 4 years though. rip his summers.

armin: international relations and military ethics, minor in communications or smth

everyone always says armin would study marine biology or oceanographic studies, but i honestly think that it’s a passion that he pursues on the side. he takes marine bio courses for his breadth requirements, but knows he’d end up hating the ocean if he spent the rest of his life studying it. he also strikes me as someone who would rather run buck naked into traffic than sit through multiple semesters of organic chemistry. armin was always a good public speaker, though, despite being a bit insecure. that’s why his speech and debate teacher during sophomore year of high school recommended model united nations to him. he was hooked after his first conference and now genuinely sees the path of international diplomacy as his calling. that’s why he’s majoring in international relations. his concentration in military ethics is something he tacks on in his junior year after taking some courses and publishing research with dr. erwin smith. he probably minors in communications because he can.

mikasa: forensic science

mikasa had no idea what she wanted to do when she started uni. she’s good at nearly everything. like never gotten a B in her life and is the student who the curve is based off of. but excelling in every environment you’re put in often means you don’t know what you’re best at. she knew deep down that she wanted to do something justice related like her childhood best friends did, but she’s no public speaker and has no interest in political reform. she was, however, emo in high school and heard a fair share of undertaker jokes at her expense. it wouldn’t hurt to look into right? as cool as the title sounds, morticians don’t make enough money for the job they have. fortunately enough, forensic pathologists do and mikasa looks good in a lab coat. she would never admit it to spare armin and eren’s feelings, but when they, as children, recreated the crime-solving shows mrs. jaeger always had on, mikasa always wanted to be the brains. so criminology and forensic science it is. (side note: she definitely joins the military and they pay for her education)

jean: structural engineering and industrial design with a minor in studio art

more than anything, jean wants to provide for his mom and knows he can’t guarantee a retirement of luxury for her as the freelance artist he wishes he could be. he’s decent at math when he tries and doesn’t hate physics, so he decided he’d give structural engineering a try for at least a semester or two. he wasn’t expecting to get much from it, to be honest. he had a plethora of backup plans waiting for his supposedly inevitable distaste for engineering, but he found that he didn’t hate it at all. someone once told jean that he had the makings of a great leader and he didn’t believe them until he started taking the lead on design projects and producing incredible results. his only qualm is that he just doesn’t get to be as creative as he wanted to be. that was easily rectified by an additional major in industrial design and a minor in studio art. he’s unbelievably busy, busier than he anticipated when he started his post-secondary journey, but he’s content and there’s nothing some extra coffee can’t solve.

sasha: environmental science and sustainability

sasha spent her childhood ankle-deep in mud and fighting her way through forest thickets without a compass. an upbringing like that doesn’t leave your spirit, no matter how far into the city you go for school. so sasha’s always been passively passionate about the environment. that passiveness became significantly more prominent when part of the woods she grew up in was cleared out to build an industrial complex. it was then that she started researching and writing petitions about preserving wildlife and making environmentally conscious decisions. her work actually got her the scholarship she’s on (because god knows it wasn’t her grades). and she genuinely loves what she does, so why wouldn’t she keep learning about it? the environmental science and sustainability program at the school is small, but tight-knit and known for churning out changemakers. sasha knows she’ll be one of them one day. just hide your plastic straws from her, okay?

connie: computer science and chinese

stick with me here okay? everyone expects connie to be a douchebag marketing major whose hardest assignments are graphing functions and making posters on photoshop, but he’s a lot more invested in his education than he looks. don’t get me wrong, connie has always struggled academically, but that’s because so much of early education is pre-determined. he performed way better when he could choose what courses he took. it’s kind of like percy jackson being dyslexic in english because he was wired to read in greek. connie can’t keep his eyes on a history textbook for shit, but will gladly sit in front of the c++ code on his pc for hours. he doesn’t even get mad when he realizes that he was missing a semicolon. connie loves how versatile of a future he could have with a compsci degree, because, let’s be real, he could never survive in a typical office environment. definitely takes a bunch of chinese classes and doesn’t realize that he has enough credits for it to be a minor until his second to last semester.

historia: political science with a minor in international relations and child development

historia is a lot like eren in the sense that she knows her time is best spent doing hands-on work in the fields she cares about. she realizes this sometime after reconnecting with her estranged father and volunteering at the orphanage she grew up in. but now that she’s publicly associated with a powerful political figure, historia doesn’t get to do what she wants, only what is expected of her. that’s how she ends up on the pre-law political science and public policy route. the nickname “ms. president” that connie and sasha give her only further reminds her that she’s heading down a path she never wanted for herself. after lots of encouragement from ymir, historia decided to take child development courses on the side. even if she doesn’t take on the full minor, she’s taking some classes she cares about. maybe she’ll find use for it someday. at the very least, it’s her first step in becoming the most selfish girl in the world.

ymir: data science and business management

ymir is smart. much smarter than she presents herself to be, almost as a form of protection. nobody expects much of someone who is aloof, so it makes it easy to slip through the cracks to remain safe and comfortable in the shadows. business management is notoriously low commitment and easy to skate by with. guaranteed internships, post-graduate employment, and so on. To anyone who doesn’t know ymir well, it’s perfect. but they have her mistaken, ymir will do as little as possible to go as far as possible. sure, she can live comfortably with a business degree, but it could be better with a little bit of data science in her arsenal. she’s intelligent enough to pick up on it, and determined enough to make it her bitch. yeah, academia is a money-sucking pipeline into the capitalist hellscape, she doesn’t believe in it yada yada, but at the end of the day, ymir’s gonna get the bag. so what if she’s gotta sleep through some stats classes to get it?

reiner: behavioral economics

reiner’s mother had convinced him his whole life that getting a high paying job would fix their lives and bring his father back. believing “perfect grades lead to a perfect life” made high school tough for reiner; gifted kid burnout is no joke. it really messed him up. he wasn’t sure if he could withstand the pressures of university, but here he is. reiner was never allowed a therapist, so he figured pursuing psychology would, at the very least, give him some answers and be a good pathway to a medical degree. he loved getting to understand how people work and why they act the way they do, but something was missing. he found out what it was when a guest lecturer spoke in his economics class. he knew making the switch would be risky, it’s a new field and his current career options are really only research, academia, or government, but the interdisciplinary study of behavioral economics is calling reiner’s name.

annie: biomedical engineering and kinesiology

annie’s entire life revolved around her father, including the injury he was never able to heal from. the one she gave him. he’s claimed to be over it, she’s forgiven, but annie will never feel like she’s earned that forgiveness until she gets rid of the problem entirely. how is she going to do that exactly? with biomedical engineering. she has years of hell in front of her, especially with her concentration on biomechanics, but she doesn’t care. annie will throw herself into her work to get the results she wants. she takes the highest amount of credits possible every semester so she can graduate early. you’ll most likely find her chained to a study cubicle at the library at all hours of the day and running on 2 hours of sleep, but it doesn’t faze her. she tacks on a minor in kinesiology because it makes sense and she had most of the credits for it anyway. and as if it couldn’t get worse, she probably TAs for a thermodynamics course or something crazy like that.

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deadrobinthoughts · 3 months

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Bat Kids & Their College Degrees.

Dick Grayson - Criminology and Law. - Dick has always been involved in crime fighting. A major in crime and law would easily fit in and deepen his understanding, which only aids in combatting criminal behavior.

+ definitely a performing arts major. he would love being able to explore and express himself through dance and theatre.

Jason Todd - Criminal Justice and Psychology. - during his time as the Red Hood would instill an understanding of crime from a pov that could easily be etched in a psychological perspective. This would be able to aid in his navigation of the darker corners of his vigilante methods. ( Ignore him when he says it's to get answers, with a smirk. )

+ literature and philosophy. it's never been a secret that jason loves to read and study things. he would also get to explore complex composition and moral questions.

Barbara Gordon - Library Sciences & Information Technology - Barbara's initial career in the librarian field would be a dead give away for library science. Her expertise lies within collecting, organizing and checking information, along with hacking, which would be helped by a strong IT background.

+ creative writing. i'm not sure why, i just feel like her level of knowledge and intellect would lead her to enjoy writing and creating new worlds.

Tim Drake - Computer Science & Detective Minor. - Tim is very much known for his computer and detective skills already, majors and minors in these areas would definitely pair with where his interests already align.

+ i feel like regardless of the universe, he's got something to do with computers. even if it's graphic design. i feel like he'd enjoy creating things, too. or, he could go the way of being an agent of some sort but i'm not sure, outside of everything, if he'd be okay knowing the things that agents do. because that's beyond even what the batfam sees.

Stephanie Brown - Forensic Science & Journalism. - considering the time she's spent uncovering the truth and mystery solving, it would be easy to stick her with forensic science. plus, her determination to bring justice to light could easily be an end with journalism.

+ sociology. she'd probably enjoy studying the structure of society and understanding issues better. ( i don't like steph, i'm sorry otl so this isn't great. )

Cassandra Cain - Martial Arts & Linguistics. - her background is already deeply rooted in martial arts, so a major focusing on that area would make sense and be a breeze for her. her communication barriers are what would lead her to want to learn to read, speak and write on an effective level.

+ going the same route as dick, i feel like she'd major somewhere in dance and performing. it would be something expressive.

Damian Wayne - International Relations & Strategics. - damian would be very interested in global affairs and strategic combat. his upbringing would aid in his international relations, while other studies would align with his intellect and training. ( let's not pass up the fact he would have a minor relation to animals, medicine or plants. )

+ fine arts ( still with a double major or minor with something involving animals or plants. ) but, damian does have talent with art and i think he would enjoy the silence and time to delve into that outlet.

Duke Thomas - Electrical Engineering & Urban Studies. - duke's abilities would make it easy to work with concepts of engineering. his focus on protecting and improving, during daylight, aligns well with urban studies.

+ environmental science and, hear me out, music theory. i think duke deserves the ability to explore his creative side, as well.

#dc comics #batfam #dc scenarios #batfam x reader #batboys

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zahri-melitor · 7 months

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ZAHRI BIG BRAIN COMIC SUPREME. I HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL

I am curious here--what would you chose Tim Drake's college major to be? And this assumes he finishes college, and doesn't do a 70s Dick and drop out.

There's two significant questions here: what would Tim be interested in studying, and what would he be bored by?

A general list of things I am aware Tim's interested in:-

Mechanical engineering (hello cars)

Forensics (Tim was the lead on the Wayne Corp forensics lab)

Biology (hello cloning lab)

Social work (Neon Knights, also would be handy adjacent to the Foundation)

Computer Science (He's the next most techy Bat after Barbara)

There's also the possibility that Tim would go for a general Business or Arts degree on the basis they tick the boxes to 'have a degree' and nobody would question why one of the Wayne kids got, in terms of working for the family business, and they'd be far more flexible than the mostly science and engineering list above, which has higher, more structured contact hours. If he's simply getting a degree to say he has a degree to tick that box, he could assemble the most random collection of subjects in say Arts for his own entertainment.

However, one particular science/engineering crossover that pops out at me as both relevant to Tim's superhero interests AND excusable cover in his civilian life: biomedical engineering.

It matches nicely with Drake Industries being in 'medical supplies' in terms of a cover story for why he's interested in it, should anyone ask (tribute to my parents etc etc). Wayne Enterprises/Waynecorp does materials research and biomedical work which is partly Thomas Wayne stuff and partly cover for Batman research stuff. Some of his cloning background could tap in here, equally his computing skills. It would also be a job where the amount of materials engineering involved would spill over into Tim's familiarity with alien and magical materials and metals. And if he gets an undergraduate in it, Tim's got plausible deniability for knowing a whole bunch of extra science stuff on this spectrum, but could equally work as a lab tech, or in administration for a medical business, in that he's got the background to understand the products but nobody really expects him to come back with a PhD.

It just hits a whole bunch of his interest areas pretty well, and it's got a solid civilian cover reason to go into it.

#tim drake #there's also fun like 'does Bart still have a knee replacement?'#because current knee prosthetics are probably not up to Speed Force use over time and would wear out faster #and even if Bart got everything reconstituted after going swimming in the Speed Force #Tim would still know it might be necessary again

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perpetualproductions · 7 months

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Jobs I think Jordan Li would be good at:

(not necessarily that they'd want to do it, or go out of their way to do it, but they'd definitely rock it.)

- Architect (especially if they were the one in charge of projects)

-Athlete (sure, they're active. Don't think they'd like it tho. Too much publicity focus.)

- Auto Mechanic (just... Picture it. Maybe focus on luxury cars idk)

- Civil Engineer (I swear their personal Minecraft world is insane. And now they can do it in real life)

- Computer Engineer (or really anything with computer science. Feel like they'd be good with the tech stuff. There's structure but you can still be creative)

- [Ergo,] Cybersecurity (similar to before but this time they can feel like they're helping/protecting people)

- Criminologists (not to blow their own horn, but they're real good with forensic.)

- Detective / Private Investigator (just picture it. I know you can.)

- FBI or CIA agent (some Jack Ryan shit. But better.)

- Paramedic (why does it just work? Like, I'd watch that show. And they would rock at it.)

- Production manager (idk what the fuck is being produced, Jordan would make it the best thing ever made, I swear. This one, They definitely wouldn't do it willingly)

-Music producer/engineer (I just need to see it. They have the Gift. )

[The following would be great only if they go to therapy. I love them but they really need to work on themselves <3.]

- Corrections Officer (they'd be better at it if they went to therapy. But I think they'd be great at it. I think MM had this job, actually.)

- Personal Trainer / Coach (I think they can get good satisfaction at helping people in this way. They get to stay active and help people better their lives. Only really works if they can get out of their own head. THERAPY.)

- Social Worker (especially one that works with lgbtq+ youth. I think they could really use their experiences and determination to really help people out in tough situations in general. Idk, I think it would work, especially when they're older and more mature and have experienced the world more.)

Also... ✨ THERAPY ✨

(everyone in this show needs it)

This was born from a personal brainstorming process. I'd love to hear some of your opinions or thoughts on this. Thanks for reading this far, lol. <3

#gen v #jordan li #jordan li headcanons #absolutely random ones #i was bored #and dissociating #and thinking of Jordan Li #its just how it be #pb writes

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appliedscienceint09 · 8 months

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The Science of Reconstruction: Understanding Structural Forensic Engineering

Structural failures can have catastrophic consequences, leading to property damage, injuries, and even loss of life. Understanding the causes behind these failures is crucial for preventing future incidents. This is where structural forensic engineering comes into play. Let's delve into this fascinating field and explore how experts use advanced techniques to reconstruct and analyze structural failures, offering crucial insights for design improvements. Visit- https://appliedscienceint.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-science-of-reconstruction.html

#structural forensic engineering

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extremeloading11 · 1 year

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The Role of Demolition, Forensic, and Structural Analysis Software

The role of demolition, forensic, and structure analysis software cannot be overstated in modern engineering and construction. These tools enhance safety, streamline processes, and provide invaluable insights that contribute to the success and longevity of projects. To get complete information read the full blog or you can visit the website - https://www.evernote.com/shard/s453/sh/21660a79-6cd8-a122-e9fd-edaf6e9e5fde/r2F8Kr6Sttydk16DhVb93oJ7_LRDQ4VXPqx2fnu0CgwP3LacL5JsYFkLdQ

#structural analysis software #structure analysis software #structural engineering software programs #demolition software #forensic engineering analysis software

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crystallinejellyfish · 1 year

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What I think Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys would teach. PT 1: CORE CLASSES

pt 2: here

First, DBB is a school of villainy. They want to bump out good villains (sorry Lloyd) that are actually SMART and KNOW what they're doing.

So! I think these would be the Core Classes they would teach. (Grade 9-12)

================================================

MATH:

9- Algebra 1 & 2 | Algebra is the base of many classes, and like I said, most villains have brains.

10- Statistics & Probability | Honestly, Statistics & Probability is really useful in your day-to-day life. For villains, they would need this for basically everything.

11- Pre-Calculus & Calculus | Pre-Cal & Cal is the base of a lot of advanced classes, and in this list, there are a lot of them.

12- Engineering | Villain would USUALLY build their own things. Even then, engineering is a good skill for a villain.

ENGLISH:

9- Lit/Comp | Decoding different types of literature. OR puzzles and such.

10- Humanities | Learning the rise and falls of Empires, ancient languages, and such.

11- Rhetoric | Learning how to think critically and write efficiently to persuade. For a Villain, this is a key factor.

12- Debate | Using what you learned last year to communicate your point of view to others. In a villainy context, knowing how to win arguments is important.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

9- Government | Learning that your government is fucked up. Learning the origins, development, and structure of a government. In the context of Ninjago, whatever its government is they will learn (as well as other types of governments).

10- Sociology | Studying social, political, economic, diversity, religion, crime, etc. Basically studying society in every good and bad way.

11- Economics | Learning about the economy and policies. For A villain, this would be pretty damn important.

12- Psychology | Learning about the human mind. Manipulation 101.

SCIENCE:

9- Biology | Studying life processes and how organisms live in their environment. The only reason I put this one down is because it's a base class of other things that would be useful for a villain.

10- Chemistry | Studying atom, molecules, and their interactions. For a regular villain, this isn't really needed. But it's background information for classes.

11- Physics | Studying everything in physical existence. This Class is needed for engineering and other thing.

12- Forensic Science | Crime scene investigation and reconstruction. Learning what went wrong and how to prevent it.

================================================

All these classes are really advanced, but you have to think about the teachers in Darkley's. (Literal Skeletons) and their dumb dumbs. This could be used as an AU of some sort but honestly, I just got hooked on the idea of Darkley's Boarding School being an efficient school with actual classes that kids can learn to be villains.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago lloyd #ninjago brad #ninjago gene #ninjago sally #ninjago darkleys

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fabiansteinhauer · 1 month

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Wer will

Der kann Vismannstudien zuschauen: eine kleine, internationale Gruppe präsentiert in Hongkong. Ich stelle Vismanns 'gründliche Linien' vor. Panu Minkkinnen, der im Januar die große Vismanntagung in Helsinki organisiert hatte, der wird auch dabei sein. Panu schreibt:

Law, Media, and Cultural Techniques

The body of work that legal historian and legal theorist Cornelia Vismann (1961-2010) left behind is not vast, but it is highly significant and has been hugely influential. While Vismann is relatively well known as a critical legal scholar, her ‘reception’ in the Anglophone world bypasses a specifically German context in which her thinking developed. In her native Germany, Vismann was, namely, a well-known and highly regarded media theorist, as well. To her Anglophone legal audience, Vismann is primarily known as someone who participated in the reworking of French high theory for critical purposes while her more media-theoretical insights have received less attention. To fully appreciate the uniqueness of Vismann’s work and its significance for themes such as posthuman law, law and new materialism, the Anthropocene, law and technology, and so on, this media-theoretical context needs to be better understood. The papers in this panel aim to do just that and, at the same time, to advance novel disciplinary cross-contaminations between legal imaginaries and media theory.

Convenors: Trish Luker (University of Technology Sydney), Panu Minkkinen (University of Helsinki).

Alexander Damianos (University of Kent), ‘Techno-Juridicalities of the Anthropocene: Geology, Forensics, Law’

In March 2024, the proposal for a formal Anthropocene unit of the Geologic Time Scale was rejected by the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. This paper critically reflects on the procedures according to which the Anthropocene Working Group appropriated geo-historical hypotheses as scientific fact. The Anthropocene presents a paradox: it suggests that human activity is so intense as to have fundamentally changed the material constitution of the planet; a geological event on par with the extinction of dinosaurs, or the end of the last ice age. Yet it also confirms human finitude. It implies that humanity is simply a passing event, and that one day the planet will go on without us, albeit substantially altered by our lapsed presence. In this paper, I provide an outline of how such a premise is formalised as scientific fact. I argue that the effort to formalise the Anthropocene as a geological unit unfolds as a techno-juridical exercise. Geologists generate new categories of artefacts, such as the technofossil, in order to illicit accounts of human finitude and planetary dynamics from mundane artefacts of every-day life (the plastic bottle, the bones of genetically engineered chickens, the concrete foundations of buildings and transportation networks). They draw on the formalisation of previous geological units as precedent, according to which they structure their account of the Anthropocene, so as to encourage consensus within the geoscientific community. They engage a formal decision making procedure, submitting their proposal for an Anthropocene unit to the judgement of their peers. My ethnographic account of the Anthropocene Working Group’s failed formalisation presents an opportunity for both appraisal and critique of popular accounts of media theory today.

Benjamin Goh (National University of Singapore), ‘From Archive to Memory in Cultural Techniques’

This paper brings into conversation Cornelia Vismann’s theory of cultural techniques and Aleida Assmann’s theory of cultural memory. Recited in tandem, both idioms direct us to the medial-mnemonic bases of legal orders. The proposed turn from archive to memory in this rethinking of Vismann enables us to read across medial sites of memory that reinstitute, and suspend, law qua legitimate authority. By reprising slices of a national museum exhibition and a graphic novel from Singapore in terms of cultural memory techniques, I suggest that the mediated encounters of embodied viewer-readers with these specimens of law and literature disclose a stratum of legality that merits further study.

Trish Luker (University of Technology Sydney): will surprise!

Panu Minkkinen (University of Helsinki), ‘“La salle des pas perdus”: Waiting for Justice’

In French, the vestibules or waiting areas leading to, among other things, courtrooms and main areas in other public buildings are often called ‘les salles des pas perdus’. Famous vestibules depicted with that equivocal name can be found in Brussels’s ‘eclectic’ Palais de Justice and in the United Nations offices at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. This paper discusses courthouse vestibules as a cultural technique in general, and the ‘salle des pas perdus’ of the new Paris courthouse (Renzo Piano Building Workshop, architects, completed 2017) in the 17th arrondissement in particular. The structural features and materiality of the Paris vestibule allegedly signify the modern ideals of openness and transparency, but factually the judiciary still operates in camera in the murky penumbrae of closed chambers. The paper further argues that the bright light shining through the large windowpanes, reinforced by the reflection of the interior surfaces, produces a harsh luminosity, an unforgiving light in which a defendant’s wait for justice becomes something radically different.

Fabian Steinhauer (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory), ‘Imaging as a Cultural Technique': Our dreams merge, our memory merges. In my dreams and my memory the work of Cornelia Vismann, especially her history and theory of founding lines, has merged with Aby Warburgs history and theory of roman law. The paper presents the effects of this merger.

#vismann studies

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mariacallous · 1 year

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The Biden administration has always tried—and mostly failed—to win Beijing’s support for what it believes should be natural areas of cooperation. From his first year in office, U.S. President Joe Biden sought to render climate change an engine for U.S-China cooperation. But two years of unilateral U.S. pleas bore few results. Despite multiple visits and statements by U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, Beijing explicitly responded that the issue cannot be separated from broader U.S.-China relations.

More recently, as fentanyl increasingly became a social problem for the United States, Washington made it clear that it hoped for Beijing’s assistance on combatting drugs. Both efforts were an expression of Biden’s policy of “compartmentalization”: the idea that cooperation on certain issues can be separated from the U.S.-China competition because it is in the interest of both parties to do so.

But compartmentalization with China has proved a failure—and a report last month in the Wall Street Journal seemed to signal its death knell. The newspaper reported that the Biden administration is considering lifting sanctions on a police forensics lab accused of human rights violations in Xinjiang province in return for Beijing cracking down on fentanyl. This marks an embarrassing policy reversal for the Biden administration—but an entirely unsurprising one.

On the surface, compartmentalization sounds tenable, especially when it comes to seemingly apolitical issues such as climate change or global health. After all, there seems to be little reason to disagree. COVID-19 clearly demonstrated that it’s not enough to just keep your own citizens safe from epidemics—global collaboration is essential in this interconnected world. The global commons need to be sustained in one way or another. Why don’t the great powers cooperate on these issues, even as they compete geopolitically?

But compartmentalization with China is fundamentally futile as long as Beijing continues to engage in what it has referred to as “unrestricted warfare,” which goes beyond the conventional realm of conflict and peace. The term was first coined in 1996 by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, two colonels in the People’s Liberation Army, and is a concept that envisions how China can defeat a technologically superior adversary through a variety of means that transcend the traditional military domain. Methods encompassing but not limited to cyber warfare, economic warfare, and media infiltration are exploited to overcome military disadvantage. An report this month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted China’s “aggressive and unprecedented political warfare campaign” encompassing espionage, offensive cyber operations, social media disinformation, economic coercion, and irregular military action. All these disparate measures are intertwined and geared towards a unified objective: undermining both the capacity and the will of the United States to contend with China.

But China’s inclination for unrestricted warfare is not just a product of its unique ambition to reinstate a Sino-centric global system. It is also the result of the international system’s structure.

China is a challenger, not an existing hegemon, in an unprecedentedly interconnected world. Granted, China’s gigantic state power nearly rivals the United States’. Its economy is expected to surpass the U.S. economy in the next few decades. Beijing is proactively expanding its partnerships, working with both authoritarian and democratic states. However, it lacks the global legitimacy, network of alliances, and the military capacity to displace the United States. China still faces the Malacca Dilemma, two decades after then-Chinese President Hu Jintao lamented it in 2003: The Chinese economy relies on a strategic waterway (the Strait of Malacca) that it does not control. Most importantly, China has no concrete sphere of influence that it can stand on to claim primacy or use as a springboard for global hegemony. China is no hegemon, for now.

This seemingly disadvantageous condition as a challenger presents a major benefit to China, one that renders compartmentalization unrealistic: it allows Beijing to free ride on the world’s existing hegemon to remedy shared problems.

China has shown a seemingly puzzling tendency to portray itself as either a global superpower or a developing country, depending on the context. When it comes to mediating peace in the Middle East or demanding a “new type of great power relations” with the United States, China positions itself as a great power. At international conferences discussing carbon emissions, however, China positions itself as a developing state that should not be stunting industrialization. The futility of compartmentalization is intertwined with the Kindleberger Trap—“the under-provision of global public goods” during a hegemonic transition, in the absence of a clear leader. China hoped to geopolitically exploit the Obama administration’s eagerness for the Paris Climate Accords, to no avail. When the Trump administration exited the agreement, China continued with its own lackluster brake on carbon emissions. Beijing can do this because the reputational responsibility still largely falls to the United States, the existing hegemon.

Even when China does seemingly work on a global scale, it is rarely out of a sense of a great power duty. Beijing’s global provision of masks and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic was carefully tailored to maximally expand its influence. In Europe, China’s mask diplomacy sought to divide the European Union; Beijing coined the phrase “Health Silk Road” to add a geopolitical touch to vaccine provision. And despite being the largest global donor of vaccines by far, the United States was hardly lauded—rather, its clumsy response was criticized universally—because the international community took for granted the U.S. role as the provider of shared global goods.

Similarly, China’s recent bids to mediate peace between conflicting parties are not intended to protect the rules-based order. To the contrary, in Chinese thinkers’ own words, they provide Beijing a “golden opportunity to shape new international norms” and promote Chinese initiatives such as the “community with a shared destiny for mankind,” Global Security Initiative, Global Development Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative. At the heart of these slogans is China’s ambition to establish hierarchical regional hegemony and exercise autocratic global leadership.

But it’s not just China’s structural role as a challenger that undermines the Biden administration’s compartmentalization strategy. It’s also the philosophy of hegemony that China has cultivated for itself.

Chinese discourse on the so-called “China Century” revolves around the idea that returning China to its “rightful place” is a matter of historical destiny. China, in other words, seeks to restore global supremacy primarily out of a sense of historical fulfillment, rather than for material gains. In Beijing’s view, a world dominated by China but disrupted by chaos and conflicts is still preferable to the existing, lopsided, West-dominated order. Xi has openly expressed his intent to drag his people through times of struggle and hardship, en route to the ultimate dialectical victory of “Chinese-style socialism.” There is little reason to believe he would be more sympathetic for the rest of the world in China’s journey to supremacy.

Even when it comes to the international economy, where win-win cooperation is traditionally considered the optimal result, China has a different idea. The Chinese effort to lead the advanced technology industry, represented by the now-flailing Made in China 2025 initiative, is at least partly driven by the desire to dominate the global economy—regardless of its implications for the world. The emergence of China’s electric vehicle industry is “just one example of a trend toward a China-centric integrated regional economy in Asia,” the Christopher Vassallo wrote recently in The Diplomat.

Even in the semiconductor industry, whereby complete decoupling is considered unrealistic for both the West and China, Beijing seeks to maximally absorb Western technology and minimize outflow of its own know-hows. Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s belief that “the U.S. role in the future global economy would be to provide China with raw materials, agricultural products, and energy to fuel its production of the world’s cutting-edge industrial and consumer products” is not an aberration. In practice, consigning the most modern economy in the world to such a role would be counterproductive for the world and China—but that cost is secondary to the realization of China’s global ambitions.

This starkly contrasts with the United States’ own experience. The United States stepped up as the leader of the free world because American statesmen saw it as necessary to stay on the global stage to prevent another world war, not because they believed global hegemony was their fate. U.S. involvement in international affairs did not begin as an end in itself. American leaders defied their centuries-long instinct and tradition for a clear strategic purpose that went beyond status aspirations. China is profoundly different. If the Truman Doctrine was the United States’ grudging response to impending Soviet domination, Xi’s Global Security Initiative is a vision brought about by China’s independent desires.

Hence, unlike the postwar United States, China would willingly embrace a less prosperous, less stable, and less predictable world—as long as it retains the top seat. It would be a mistake to assume that China fears what the United States fears, and that the two countries can cooperate on all issues that harm mutual interests. Displacing the United States, first from China’s neighborhood and then from the global stage, remains Beijing’s top priority. Instability in the process is a negligible cost, especially when the other side is much more desperate for cooperation.

Compare this quandary with the uneasy—and often overlooked—superpower partnership between the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War. Strict bipolarity, whereby Moscow held ownership over a significant portion of the international system, enabled the two rivals to cooperate on some critical issues.

Despite intense rivalry with occasional thaws, the two superpowers maintained a surprisingly close partnership when it came to managing global issues. For example, the White House easily won support from the Kremlin in constructing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime. It was U.S. allies such as France and Canada, not the Soviet Union, that often posed problems in ensuring nuclear weapons did not proliferate further. In 1977, the Soviets discovered a clandestine South African nuclear program, shared the intelligence with the United States and its allies, and “implored them to intervene.”

The United States and the USSR also implicitly understood the need to restrain their respective allies. Then-U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower pressured his Western allies into withdrawing from Suez Canal in 1956, in a remarkably forceful fashion that risked weakening crucial ties. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev used his leverage over Soviet troops in East Germany to preclude East German leader Walter Ulbricht’s unapproved attack on East Berlin. The United States and the Soviet Union restrained their respective Korean clients to ensure that a second Korean war did not break out. Even the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, a prime example of alliance entanglement, de-escalated through the Soviet Union’s refusal of Cuban and Chinese demands for intransigence. This awkward yet enduring symbiosis was summarized in then-Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev’s private conversation with then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1973, where the former noted: “Look, I want to talk to you privately—nobody else, no notes. You will be our partners; you and we are going to run the world.”

In essence, the USSR had some sense of ownership because it was one of the co-owners of the international system. For the Soviets, global bipolarity translated into a sense of responsibility; Soviet prestige now hinged on maintaining stability in the Eastern Bloc, for which the broader international system had to remain fairly predictable. This rationale incentivized two rounds of détente. Even the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, which killed off the first détente, was the result of the Kremlin’s miscalculation that the country was peripheral to the international system.

China does not share the same urge to maintain global stability, because it is a challenger—not an established hegemon. Intransigence on climate change and narcotics are just two examples of an apparent pattern. China’s relationships with its allies are even more telling. Denuclearization of North Korea has long remained on Washington’s list of potential areas of cooperation between the United States. and China. However, China uses North Korea as a pawn, doing little to denuclearize the reclusive regime. It provides diplomatic cover and economic assistance for the North Korean nuclear weapons program. It seeks to remove U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and weaken the U.S.-South Korea alliance by using North Korea as a bargaining chip.

China also maintains a strong partnership with Russia. It has not gone so far as to sponsor Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, even this measured approach is intended to ensure that Europe does not fully align with the United States in the so-called New Cold War. Beijing’s charm offensive is intended to drive a wedge between the transatlantic allies. Moreover, should Russia get cornered to the brink of a defeat, China is highly likely to intervene to ensure its most crucial Eurasian ally does not collapse. With China’s own aspirations regarding Taiwan, Beijing can hardly be against Moscow’s historical revanchism.

None of this is to argue that the United States should grant China a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific to turn Beijing into a more responsible stakeholder. This would entail abandoning Washington’s most steadfast allies and handing over the most geo-economically important region in the world. Millions of people would find their way of life undermined by habitual Chinese interferences, if not outright meddling. U.S. credibility would be totally devastated, incentivizing other revisionist powers to stir problems elsewhere. A China that controls the Indo-Pacific is also likely to eventually vie for global hegemony, just as the United States’ own expedition for international leadership began with dominating its neighborhood.

To the contrary, this finding empowers the notion that the U.S. response to China’s all-out competition should be equally sweeping, cross-departmental, and whole-of-nation. The United States should also exploit the asymmetric advantage of alliances. Expending assets and capital for areas of cooperation that are unlikely to bear fruit is wasteful. Washington should muster a grand strategy that can comprehensively deal with Beijing’s challenge, acknowledging that compartmentalization doesn’t work. The myriad of euphemisms such as “cooperative competition” and “healthy competition” may be useful in signaling harmless intent, but do not reflect reality. Within the broader context of extreme competition, compartmentalization is a hope, not a strategy.

This is also not to argue that Washington should give up on cooperating with Beijing where it can. Indeed, domains of collaboration exist where China already feels an independent, urgent, and significant need to address its own problems. For example, China has consistently, proactively cooperated with the West on counterterrorism because it faces its own issues in its western regions. China could also become more cooperative on climate change in the future, once it starts seriously affecting economic growth. However, the United States should not fall for any traps by granting concessions elsewhere to elicit cooperation.

The idea of compartmentalization is contingent on “strategic hubris”—the assumption that the other side assumes, thinks, and behaves like you. This assumption can’t be more wrong when facing an opponent, like China, with a cost-benefit calculus completely different from one’s own.

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dsp-consultants · 14 days

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