【正文】
tanding these financial and political developments, civil engineering and bridge engineering in particular have found great difficulty in forming any kind of mon thread. Indeed the educational systems for University training are quite different between Britain and the European continental countries. The formation of the EU funding schemes — . Socrates, Brite Euram and other programs have helped significantly. The Socrates scheme is based upon the exchange of students between Universities in different member states. The Brite Euram scheme has involved technical research grants given to consortia of academics and industrial partners within a number of the states— a Brite Euram bid would normally be led by an industrialist. In terms of dissemination of knowledge, two quite different strands appear to have emerged. The UK and the USA have concentrated primarily upon disseminating basic research in refereed journal publications: ASCE, ICE and other journals. Whereas the continental Europeans have frequently disseminated basic research at conferences where the circulation of the proceedings is restricted. Additionally, language barriers have proved to be very difficult to break down. In countries where English is a strong second language there has been enthusiastic participation in international conferences based within continental Europe — . Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland. However, countries where English is not a strong second language have been hesitant participants }— . France. Posttensioned concrete rail bridge analysis Ove Arup and Partners carried out an inspection and assessment of the superstructure of a 160 m long posttensioned, segmental railway bridge in Manchester to determine its loadcarrying capacity prior to a transfer of ownership, for use in the Metrolink light rail system.. Particular attention was paid to the integrity of its posttensioned steel elements. Physical inspection,