Botany. 1  a tuft of silky hairs at the end of a seed. 2  the leafy crown of a tree; cluster of leaves at the end of a stem. 3  a terminal cluster of bracts, as in the pineapple.
The flexible pads are called base-isolators, whereas the structures protected by means of these devices are called base-isolated buildings. The main feature of the base isolation technology is that it introduces flexibility in the structure.
The San Bernardino Justice Center is another example of an award-winning base-isolated structure. In this case, 5-sec triple pendulum isolators are employed to isolate this 11-story building that is located 8 km from the San Andreas fault.