Abstract: In order to understand the seismic behavior of steel frame structure with infill FRP composite panel, simple models for simulation on the steel frame with the panel systems were developed in this study. To achieve the simple design method of the steel framed structure with the damping panel system, 2-D finite element analysis with the springs and dashpots models was conducted in ABAQUS. Under various applied spring stiffness and dashpot coefficient, the expected hysteretic energy responses of the steel frame with damping panel systems we investigated. Using the proposed simple design method which decides the stiffness and the damping, it is possible to decide the FRP and damping materials on a steel frame system.
Abstract: The industries of construction are in continuous growth not only in Middle East rejoin but almost all over the world. For the last fifteen years, big expansion and increase of different types of projects has been observed. Many infrastructural projects have been developed, high rise buildings, big shopping malls, power sub-stations, roads, bridges, schools, universities and developing many of new cities with full and complete facilities. The growth and enlargement of the mentioned developed projects has been accomplished through many international and local contracting organizations. Senior management of these organizations depend on their qualified and experienced team whom are aware of the implications of project management, construction management, engineering management and resource management during tendering till final completion of the project. This research aims to find out why reasons of principles of construction engineering and management are necessary for contracting firms and their managers. Principles of construction management help contracting organizations to accomplish and deliver projects without delay. This can be maintained by establishing guidelines’ details for updating the adopted system of construction management that they have through qualified and experienced project managers. The research focuses on benefits of other essential skills of projects planning, monitoring and control. Defining roles and responsibilities of contractor project managers during tendering and execution is a part of the investigated factors that will be analyzed. Other skills like optimizing and utilizing the obtainable project resources to deliver the project within time, cost and quality will be also investigated to find out how these factors are affecting the performance of contracting firms, projects managers and projects. The conclusion of the research will help senior management team and the contractors project managers about the benefits of implications and benefits construction management system and its effect upon the performance and knowledge of contract values that they have, and the optimal profit margin of the firm it.
Abstract: Deconstruction is an approach that is entirely incompatible with the traditional prevalent architecture. Considering the fact that this approach attempts to put architecture in sharp contrast with its opposite events and transpires with attending to the neglected and missing aspects of architecture and deconstructing its stable structures. It also recklessly proceeds beyond the existing frameworks and intends to create a different and more efficient prospect for space. The aim of deconstruction architecture is to satisfy both the prospective and retrospective visions as well as takes into account all tastes of the present in order to transcend time. Likewise, it ventures to fragment the facts and symbols of the past and extract new concepts from within their heart, which coincide with today’s circumstances. Since this approach is an attempt to surpass the limits of the prevalent architecture, it can be employed to design places in which creative events occur and imagination and ambition flourish. Thought-provoking artistic events can grow and mature in such places and be represented in the best way possible to all people. The concept of event proposed in the plan grows out of the interaction between space and creation. In addition to triggering surprise and high impressions, it is also considered as a bold journey into the suspended realms of the traditional conflicts in architecture such as architecture-landscape, interior-exterior, center-margin, product-process, and stability-instability. In this project, at first, through interpretive-historical research method and examining the inputs and data collection, recognition and organizing takes place. After evaluating the obtained data using deductive reasoning, the data is eventually interpreted. Given the fact that the research topic is in its infancy and there is not a similar case in Iran with limited number of corresponding instances across the world, the selected topic helps to shed lights on the unrevealed and neglected parts in architecture. Similarly, criticizing, investigating and comparing specific and highly prized cases in other countries with the project under study can serve as an introduction into this architecture style.
Abstract: The paper reveals the birth and evolution of the British precedent Rylands v. Fletcher that, once adopted on the other side of the Ocean (in United States), gave rise to a general clause of liability for abnormally dangerous activities recognized by the §20 of the American Restatements of the Law Third, Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm. The main goal of the paper was to analyze the development of the legal doctrine and of the case law posterior to the precedent together with the intent of the British judicature to leapfrog from the traditional rule contained in Rylands v. Fletcher to a general clause similar to that introduced in the United States and recently also on the European level. As it is well known, within the scope of tort law two different initiatives compete with the aim of harmonizing the European laws: European Group on Tort Law with its Principles of European Tort Law (hereinafter PETL) in which article 5:101 sets forth a general clause for strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities and Study Group on European Civil Code with its Common Frame of Reference (CFR) which promotes rather ad hoc model of listing out determined cases of strict liability. Very narrow application scope of the art. 5:101 PETL, restricted only to abnormally dangerous activities, stays in opposition to very broad spectrum of strict liability cases governed by the CFR. The former is a perfect example of a general clause that offers a minimum and basic standard, possibly acceptable also in those countries in which, like in the United Kingdom, this regime of liability is completely marginalized.
Abstract: This case study aims to identify teachers’ perception as regards integrity in School-Ba sed Assessment (PBS) practice. This descriptive study involved 9 teachers from 4 secondary schools in 3 districts in the state of Perak. The respondents had undergone an integrity in PBS Practice interview using a focused group discussion method. The overall findings showed that the teachers believed that integrity in PBS practice could be achieved by adjusting the teaching methods align with learning objectives and the students’ characteristics. Many teachers, parents and student did not understand the best practice of PBS. This would affect the integrity in PBS practice. Teachers did not emphasis the principles and ethics. Their integrity as an innovative public servant may also be affected with the frequently changing assessment system, lack of training and no prior action research. The analysis of findings showed that the teachers viewed that organizational integrity involving the integrity of PBS was difficult to be implemented based on the expectations determined by Malaysia Ministry of Education (KPM). A few elements which assisted in the achievement of PBS integrity were the training, students’ understanding, the parents’ understanding of PBS, environment (involving human resources such as support and appreciation and non-human resources such as technology infrastructure readiness and media). The implications of this study show that teachers, as the PBS implementers, have a strong influence on the integrity of PBS. However, the transformation of behavior involving PBS integrity among teachers requires the stabilisation of support and infrastructure in order to enable the teachers to implement PBS in an ethical manner.
Abstract: Nanocrystalline TiO2 particles were successfully synthesized via sol-gel and sonochemical combination using titanium tetraisopropoxide as a precursor at lower temperature for a short time. The effect of the reaction parameters (hydrolysis media, acid media, and reaction temperatures) on the synthesis of TiO2 particles were investigated in the present study. Characterizations of synthesized samples were prepared by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. It was shown that the reaction parameters played a significant role in the synthesis of TiO2 particles.
Abstract: To improve the manufacturing efficiency of biologics, such as antibody drugs, a quality engineering framework was designed. Within this framework, critical steps and parameters in the manufacturing process were studied. Identification of these critical steps and critical parameters allows a deeper understanding of manufacturing capabilities, and suggests to process development department process control standards based on actual manufacturing capabilities as part of a PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle. This cycle can be applied to each manufacturing process so that it can be standardized, reducing the time needed to establish each new process.
Abstract: The objectives of this research were to study the level
of influencing factors, leadership, supply chain management,
innovation, competitive advantages, business success, and affecting
factors to the business success of the mobile phone system service
providers in Bangkok Metropolitan. This research was done by the
quantitative approach and the qualitative approach. The quantitative
approach was used for questionnaires to collect data from the 331
mobile service shop managers franchised by AIS, Dtac and
TrueMove. The mobile phone system service providers/shop
managers were randomly stratified and proportionally allocated into
subgroups exclusive to the number of the providers in each network.
In terms of qualitative method, there were in-depth interviews of 6
mobile service providers/managers of Telewiz and Dtac and
TrueMove shop to find the agreement or disagreement with the
content analysis method. Descriptive Statistics, including Frequency,
Percentage, Means and Standard Deviation were employed; also, the
Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used as a tool for data
analysis. The content analysis method was applied to identify key
patterns emerging from the interview responses. The two data sets
were brought together for comparing and contrasting to make the
findings, providing triangulation to enrich result interpretation. It
revealed that the level of the influencing factors – leadership,
innovation management, supply chain management, and business
competitiveness had an impact at a great level, but that the level of
factors, innovation and the business, financial success and nonbusiness
financial success of the mobile phone system service
providers in Bangkok Metropolitan, is at the highest level. Moreover,
the business influencing factors, competitive advantages in the
business of mobile system service providers which were leadership,
supply chain management, innovation management, business
advantages, and business success, had statistical significance at .01
which corresponded to the data from the interviews.
Abstract: Large scale computing infrastructures have been widely
developed with the core objective of providing a suitable platform
for high-performance and high-throughput computing. These systems
are designed to support resource-intensive and complex applications,
which can be found in many scientific and industrial areas. Currently,
large scale data-intensive applications are hindered by the high
latencies that result from the access to vastly distributed data.
Recent works have suggested that improving data locality is key to
move towards exascale infrastructures efficiently, as solutions to this
problem aim to reduce the bandwidth consumed in data transfers, and
the overheads that arise from them. There are several techniques that
attempt to move computations closer to the data. In this survey we
analyse the different mechanisms that have been proposed to provide
data locality for large scale high-performance and high-throughput
systems. This survey intends to assist scientific computing community
in understanding the various technical aspects and strategies that
have been reported in recent literature regarding data locality. As a
result, we present an overview of locality-oriented techniques, which
are grouped in four main categories: application development, task
scheduling, in-memory computing and storage platforms. Finally, the
authors include a discussion on future research lines and synergies
among the former techniques.
Abstract: In this paper, we present the results of a study of TiN thin films which are deposited by a Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) and Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD). In the present investigation the subsequent ion implantation was provided with N5+ ions. The ion implantation was applied to enhance the mechanical properties of surface. The thin film deposition process exerts a number of effects such as crystallographic orientation, morphology, topography, densification of the films. A variety of analytic techniques were used for characterization, such as scratch test, calo test, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX).
Abstract: Nanocomposites based on polypropylene/polyamide 66 (PP/PA66) nanoblends containing organophilic montmorillonite (OMMT) and maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MAH) were prepared by melt compounding method followed by injection molding. Two different types of nanoclays were used in this work. DELLITE LVF is the untreated nanoclay and DELLITE 67G is the treated one. The morphology of the nanocomposites was studied using the XR diffraction (XRD). The results indicate that the incorporation of treated nanoclay has a significant effect on the impact strength of PP/PA66 nanocomposites. Furthermore, it was found that XRD results revealed the intercalation, exfoliation of nanaclays of nanocomposites.
Abstract: Experimental data of refractive index, excess molar volume and viscosity of binary mixture of morpholine with cumene over the whole composition range at 298.15 K, 303.15 K, 308.15 K and normal atmospheric pressure have been measured. The experimental data were used to compute the density, deviation in molar refraction, deviation in viscosity and excess Gibbs free energy of activation as a function of composition. The experimental viscosity data have been correlated with empirical equations like Grunberg- Nissan, Herric correlation and three body McAllister’s equation. The excess thermodynamic properties were fitted to Redlich-Kister polynomial equation. The variation of these properties with composition and temperature of the binary mixtures are discussed in terms of intermolecular interactions.
Abstract: Cab’s frame strength is considered as an important factor in excavator’s operator safety, especially during roll-over. In this study, we use a model of cab frame with different thicknesses and perform elastoplastic numerical analysis by using Finite Element Method (FEM). Deformation mode and energy absorption's of cab’s frame part are investigated on two conditions, with wrinkle and without wrinkle. The occurrence of wrinkle when deforming cab frame can reduce energy absorption, and among 4 parts with wrinkle, the energy absorption significantly decreases in part C. Residual stress that generated upon the bending process of part C is analyzed to confirm it possibility in increasing the energy absorption.
Abstract: The adoption and application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in government administration through e-government is expected to permeate all sectors of state/ public institutions as well as democratic institutions. One of such public institutions is the Electoral Commission of Ghana mandated by the 1992 Constitution to hold all public elections including presidential and parliamentary elections. As Ghana holds its 7th General Elections since 1992, on 7th November 2016, there are demands from key stakeholders for the Election Management Body, which is the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to adopt and implement an electronic voting system. This case study, therefore, attempts to contribute significantly to the debate by examining influencing factors that would impact on citizen’s readiness to adopt and use an electronic voting system in Ghana. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as a theoretical framework for this study, out of which a research model and hypotheses were developed. Importantly, the outcome of this research finding would form a basis for appropriate policy recommendation for consideration of Government and EC of Ghana.
Abstract: As greenhouse effect has been recognized as serious environmental problem of the world, interests in carbon dioxide (CO2) emission which comprises major part of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been increased recently. Since construction industry takes a relatively large portion of total CO2 emissions of the world, extensive studies about reducing CO2 emissions in construction and operation of building have been carried out after the 2000s. Also, performance based design (PBD) methodology based on nonlinear analysis has been robustly developed after Northridge Earthquake in 1994 to assure and assess seismic performance of building more exactly because structural engineers recognized that prescriptive code based design approach cannot address inelastic earthquake responses directly and assure performance of building exactly. Although CO2 emissions and PBD approach are recent rising issues on construction industry and structural engineering, there were few or no researches considering these two issues simultaneously. Thus, the objective of this study is to minimize the CO2 emissions and cost of building designed by PBD approach in structural design stage considering structural materials. 4 story and 4 span reinforced concrete building optimally designed to minimize CO2 emissions and cost of building and to satisfy specific seismic performance (collapse prevention in maximum considered earthquake) of building satisfying prescriptive code regulations using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II). Optimized design result showed that minimized CO2 emissions and cost of building were acquired satisfying specific seismic performance. Therefore, the methodology proposed in this paper can be used to reduce both CO2 emissions and cost of building designed by PBD approach.
Abstract: Cytotoxic platinum compounds play a major role in the chemotherapy of a large number of human cancers. However, due to the severe side effects for the patient and other problems associated with their use, there is a need for the development of more efficient drugs and new methods for their selective delivery to the tumours. One way to achieve the latter could be in the use of nanoparticular substrates that can adsorb or chemically bind the drug. In the cell, the drug is supposed to be slowly released, either by physical desorption or by dissolution of the particle framework. Ideally, the cytotoxic properties of the platinum drug unfold only then, in the cancer cell and over a longer period of time due to the gradual release. In this paper, we report on our first steps in this direction. The binding properties of a series of cytotoxic Pt(II) oxadiazoline compounds to mesoporous silica particles has been studied by NMR and UV/vis spectroscopy. High loadings were achieved when the Pt(II) compound was relatively polar, and has been dissolved in a relatively nonpolar solvent before the silica was added. Typically, 6-10 hours were required for complete equilibration, suggesting the adsorption did not only occur to the outer surface but also to the interior of the pores. The untreated and Pt(II) loaded particles were characterised by C, H, N combustion analysis, BET/BJH nitrogen sorption, electron microscopy (REM and TEM) and EDX. With the latter methods we were able to demonstrate the homogenous distribution of the Pt(II) compound on and in the silica particles, and no Pt(II) bulk precipitate had formed. The in vitro cytotoxicity in a human cancer cell line (HeLa) has been determined for one of the new platinum compounds adsorbed to mesoporous silica particles of different size, and compared with the corresponding compound in solution. The IC50 data are similar in all cases, suggesting that the release of the Pt(II) compound was relatively fast and possibly occurred before the particles reached the cells. Overall, the platinum drug is chemically stable on silica and retained its activity upon prolonged storage.
Abstract: Jabal Omar is located in the western side of Makkah city in Saudi Arabia. The proposed Jabal Omar Development project includes several multi-storey buildings, roads, bridges and below ground structures founded at various depths. In this study, geological mapping and site inspection which covered pre-selected areas were carried out within the easily accessed parts. Geological features; including rock types, structures, degree of weathering, and geotechnical hazards were observed and analyzed with specified software and also were documented in form of photographs. The presence of joints and fractures in the area made the rock blocks small and weak. The site is full of jointing; it was observed that, the northern side consists of 3 to 4 jointing systems with 2 random fractures associated with dykes. The southern part is affected by 2 to 3 jointing systems with minor fault and shear zones. From the field measurements and observations, it was concluded that, the Jabal Omar intruded by andesitic and basaltic dykes of different thickness and orientation. These dykes made the outcrop weak, highly deformed and made the rock masses sensitive to weathering.
Abstract: This study has an objective to analyze foreign policy
of member states in globalization current, aiming to answer that the
foreign policy of member states have been changed or remained the
same and there are any factors affecting changing of foreign policy of
the member states.
From the study results, it is found that the foreign policy of
Thailand is a friendly foreign policy with all states. The policy of
Indonesia is more opened because of a change in leader, allowing
more democratic development in the country; the government has
proceeded with friendly foreign policy with the states in order to
bring funds into the state. The foreign policy of Malaysia is not much
changed as there is no changing in the leader; the policy of Malaysia
has reconciled relations with main city of Indian and Chinese residing
in the country in order to bring investments into the country and to
relieve tensions in the country. The foreign policy of the Philippines
has proceeded with policy under the ASEAN framework and
emphasized on international Islam communities. The foreign policy
of Singapore has the least changed as the Singapore's policy focuses
on internal trade since the state was found. As for the foreign policy
of Brunei Darussalam, Brunei has a little role in the international
stage; the state having closest relationship as from the view of history
is Singapore as the Singaporean has invested in retailing business in
Brunei. The foreign policy of Vietnam has emphasized on an
omnidirectional foreign policy in order to compete with several states
in global stage. The foreign policy of Myanmar has proceeded with a
friendly foreign policy with all ASEAN member states, the East-west
Corridor transportation line from Myanmar through Thailand and Lao
to Vietnam has been developed. As for the foreign policy of Lao, In
2001, the Thai government and Lao government held a discussion
which Thailand reaffirmed the position not to support the anti-Lao
group. The foreign policy of Cambodia has proceeded with more
openness, having good relation with China, Russia and USA as these
states has invested in the state, especially the US company.
Abstract: Nanocomposites of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and
date wood fiber were prepared after modification of the host matrix
by reactive extrusion grafting of maleic anhydride. Chemical and
mechanical treatment of date wood flour (WF) was conducted to
obtain nanocrystalline cellulose. Layered silicates (clay) were
partially intercalated with date wood fiber, and the modified layered
silicate was used as filler in the PP matrix via a melt-blending
process. The tensile strength of composites prepared from wood fiber
modified clay was greater than that of the iPP-clay and iPP-WF
composites at a 6% filler concentration, whereas deterioration of
mechanical properties was observed when clay and WF were used
alone for reinforcement. The dispersion of the filler in the matrix
significantly decreased after clay modification with cellulose at
higher concentrations, as shown by X-ray diffraction (XRD) data.
Abstract: With the rapid development of computer technology,
the design of computers and keyboards moves towards a trend of
slimness. The change of mobile input devices directly influences
users’ behavior. Although multi-touch applications allow entering
texts through a virtual keyboard, the performance, feedback, and
comfortableness of the technology is inferior to traditional keyboard,
and while manufacturers launch mobile touch keyboards and
projection keyboards, the performance has not been satisfying.
Therefore, this study discussed the design factors of slim
pressure-sensitive keyboards. The factors were evaluated with an
objective (accuracy and speed) and a subjective evaluation
(operability, recognition, feedback, and difficulty) depending on the
shape (circle, rectangle, and L-shaped), thickness (flat, 3mm, and
6mm), and force (35±10g, 60±10g, and 85±10g) of the keyboard.
Moreover, MANOVA and Taguchi methods (regarding
signal-to-noise ratios) were conducted to find the optimal level of each
design factor. The research participants, by their typing speed (30
words/ minute), were divided in two groups. Considering the
multitude of variables and levels, the experiments were implemented
using the fractional factorial design. A representative model of the
research samples were established for input task testing. The findings
of this study showed that participants with low typing speed primarily
relied on vision to recognize the keys, and those with high typing
speed relied on tactile feedback that was affected by the thickness and
force of the keys. In the objective and subjective evaluation, a
combination of keyboard design factors that might result in higher
performance and satisfaction was identified (L-shaped, 3mm, and
60±10g) as the optimal combination. The learning curve was analyzed
to make a comparison with a traditional standard keyboard to
investigate the influence of user experience on keyboard operation.
The research results indicated the optimal combination provided input
performance to inferior to a standard keyboard. The results could serve
as a reference for the development of related products in industry and
for applying comprehensively to touch devices and input interfaces
which are interacted with people.