Search results for: adaptation of existing buildings

Authors: Hiroki Shinkawa, Tadaaki Tomiie

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Many interventions for social skills acquisition aim to decrease the gap between social skills deficits in the individual and normative social skills; nevertheless little is known of typical social skills according to age difference in students. In this study, we developed new quintet of Hokkaido Social Skills Inventory (HSSI) in order to identify age-appropriate social skills for school adaptation. First, we selected 13 categories of social skills for school adaptation from previous studies, and created questionnaire items through discussion by 25 teachers in all three levels from elementary schools to senior high schools. Second, the factor structures of five versions of the social skills scale were investigated on 2nd grade (n = 1,864), 4th grade (n = 1,936), 6th grade (n = 2,085), 7th grade (n = 2,007), and 10th grade (n = 912) students, respectively. The exploratory factor analysis showed that a number of constructing factors of social skills increased as one’s grade in school advanced. The results in the present study can be useful to characterize the age-appropriate social skills for school adaptation.

Keywords: social skills, age difference, children, adolescents

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Authors: Karishma Kashyap, Subha D. Parida

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Rapid population growth and urbanization is creating pressure throughout the world. This has a dramatic effect on a lot of elements which include water, food, transportation, energy, infrastructure etc. as few of the key services. Built environment sector is growing concurrently to meet the needs of urbanization. Due to such large scale development of buildings, there is a need for them to be monitored and managed efficiently. Along with appropriate management, climate adaptation is highly crucial as well because buildings are one of the major sources of greenhouse gas emission in their operation phase. Buildings to be adaptive need to provide a triple bottom approach to sustainability i.e., being socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. Hence, in order to deliver these sustainability outcomes, there is a growing understanding and thrive towards switching to green buildings or renovating new ones as per green standards wherever possible. Academic institutions in particular have been following this trend globally. This is highly significant as universities usually have high occupancy rates because they manage a large building portfolio. Also, as universities accommodate the future generation of architects, policy makers etc., they have the potential of setting themselves as a best industry practice model for research and innovation for the rest to follow. Hence their climate adaptation, sustainable growth and performance management becomes highly crucial in order to provide the best services to users. With the objective of evaluating appropriate management mechanisms within academic institutions, a feasibility study was carried out in a recent 5-Star Green Star rated university building (housing the School of Construction) in Victoria (south-eastern state of Australia). The key aim was to understand the behavioral and social aspect of the building users, management and the impact of their relationship on overall building sustainability. A survey was used to understand the building occupant’s response and reactions in terms of their work environment and management. A report was generated based on the survey results complemented with utility and performance data which were then used to evaluate the management structure of the university. Followed by the report, interviews were scheduled with the facility and asset managers in order to understand the approach they use to manage the different buildings in their university campuses (old, new, refurbished), respective building and parameters incorporated in maintaining the Green Star performance. The results aimed at closing the communication and feedback loop within the respective institutions and assist the facility managers to deliver appropriate stakeholder engagement. For the wider design community, analysis of the data highlights the applicability and significance of prioritizing key stakeholders, integrating desired engagement policies within an institution’s management structures and frameworks and their effect on building performance

Keywords: building optimization, green building, post occupancy evaluation, stakeholder engagement

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Authors: Ushir Daya, Zenadene Lazarus, Dimelle Moodley, Ehsan Saghatforoush

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It was found through literature that there is a lack of implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) incorporated into Building Information Modelling (BIM) in South Africa. The research aims to find if the implementation of IoT into BIM will make BIM more useful during the maintenance stage of buildings and assist facility managers when doing their job. The research will look at the existing problematic areas with building information modelling, specifically BIM 7D. This paper will look at the capabilities of IoT and what issues IoT will be able to resolve in BIM software, as well as how IoT into BIM will assist facility managers and if such an implementation will make a facility manager's job more efficient.

Keywords: internet of things, building information modeling, facilities management, structural health monitoring

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Authors: Syed Irfan Raza Naqvi, Zheng Jiangbin, Ahmad Moshin, Pervez Akhter

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Currently, the IoT system depends on a centralized client-servant architecture that causes various scalability and privacy vulnerabilities. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) introduces a set of opportunities for the IoT, which leads to practical ideas for existing components at all levels of existing architectures. Blockchain Technology (BCT) appears to be one approach to solving several IoT problems, like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum, which offer multiple possibilities. Besides, IoTs are resource-constrained devices with insufficient capacity and computational overhead to process blockchain consensus mechanisms; the traditional BCT existing challenge for IoTs is poor scalability, energy efficiency, and transaction fees. IOTA is a distributed ledger based on Direct Acyclic Graph (DAG) that ensures M2M micro-transactions are free of charge. IOTA has the potential to address existing IoT-related difficulties such as infrastructure scalability, privacy and access control mechanisms. We proposed an architecture, SLDBI: A Scalable, lightweight DAG-based Blockchain Design for Intelligent IoT Systems, which adapts the DAG base Tangle and implements a lightweight message data model to address the IoT limitations. It enables the smooth integration of new IoT devices into a variety of apps. SLDBI enables comprehensive access control, energy efficiency, and scalability in IoT ecosystems by utilizing the Masked Authentication Message (MAM) protocol and the IOTA Smart Contract Protocol (ISCP). Furthermore, we suggest proof-of-work (PoW) computation on the full node in an energy-efficient way. Experiments have been carried out to show the capability of a tangle to achieve better scalability while maintaining energy efficiency. The findings show user access control management at granularity levels and ensure scale up to massive networks with thousands of IoT nodes, such as Smart Connected Buildings (SCBDs).

Keywords: blockchain, IOT, direct acyclic graphy, scalability, access control, architecture, smart contract, smart connected buildings

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Authors: Armin Samarghandi, Amirreza Jafari, Mohamad Ghiasi

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Numerous assertions and some empirical evidence imply that 'green' buildings ought to be more productive and healthier (mentally and physiologically) than conventional structures. Since then, empirical data has been equivocal, indicating either that the studies are inaccurate or that the research has just scratched the surface of green buildings in offices, accommodation, and hospital settings and not taken the aforementioned holistically. This study compared four green-certified buildings -one residential green building, one green hospital, and one green school- with conventional structures in Tehran, Iran, by means of a questionnaire spread among those utilizing these buildings, and assessing their productivity and health rate as opposed to the time they resided, worked in conventional buildings. The results demonstrated higher scores pertaining to productivity and physical and mental wellness as a consequence of better indoor environmental quality (IEQ), natural lighting, design, and sustainability of these buildings against non-green buildings. In addition, ancillary matters -environmental, financial, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of participants- were indirectly evaluated, and the same results were produced.

Keywords: green building, LEED, productivity, physical and mental health, indoor environmental quality

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Authors: Ikenna Emmanuel Idoko

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Evolution and evolutionary processes are phenomena that have come to stay in the fabrics of the universal living, hence expressions such as universal evolution. These evolutions in the universe cut across all facets of human accomplishments, which architecture is a part of. There is a notion in political sciences that politics and the act of politicking are local, meaning that politics and political processes are unique and peculiar to a people, all dependent on their sociocultural makeup. The notion is also applicable in architecture because the architecture of a people is mostly dependent on several factors such as climatic conditions, material availability, socio-cultural beliefs and religious inclinations. Stemming from the cultural dimension, it is of course common knowledge that every society is driven by its own unique culture. The fusion of architecture and culture creates the actual uniqueness which underlines the “archi-cultural” representation of a people’s material culture. This paper is aimed at appraising architectural evolution as it affects the representation of the material culture of a people. For effective systemization of the aim, various spectacular kinds of literature were reviewed, coupled with the visitation and study of existing buildings in Nigeria to properly understand the live peculiarity in the architecture of the selected area. Since architecture needs a lot of pictorial pieces of evidence, pictures and graphical representations were extensively utilized, and channelled to aid a better understanding of the study. Amongst all, an important part of this paper is that it adds to the body of existing knowledge in the Arts and Humanities by speaking extensively to the tenets of cultural representation on buildings. Similarly, the field of architecture, specifically, traditional architecture, would be gaining some extra knowledge owing to the study of some important almost-neglected or forgotten architectural elements of various traditional buildings.

Keywords: evolution, architecture, material, culture

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Authors: J. Koiso-Kanttila, A. Soikkeli, A. Aapaoja

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Construction in Finland is focusing increasingly on renovation instead of conventional new construction, and this trend will continue to grow in the coming years and decades. Renovation of the large number of suburban residential apartment buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s poses a particular challenge. However, renovation projects are demanding for the residents of these buildings, since they usually are uninitiated in construction issues. On the other hand, renovation projects generally apply the operating models of new construction. Nevertheless, the residents of an existing residential apartment building are some of the best experts on the site. Thus, in this research project we applied a relational model in developing and testing at case sites a planning process that employs interactive planning methods. Current residents, housing company managers, the city zoning manager, the contractor’s and prefab element supplier’s representatives, professional designers and researchers all took part in the planning. The entire interactive planning process progressed phase by phase as the participants’ and designers’ concerted discussion and ideation process, so that the end result was a renovation plan desired by the residents.

Keywords: apartment building renovation, interactive planning, project alliance, user-orientedness

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Authors: Sayuri Inoue, Naohiro Nakamura, Tsubasa Hamada

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The seismic design method of buildings is classified into two types: static design and dynamic design. The static design is a design method that exerts static force as seismic force and is a relatively simple design method created based on the experience of seismic motion in the past 100 years. At present, static design is used for most of the Japanese buildings. Dynamic design mainly refers to the time history response analysis. It is a comparatively difficult design method that input the earthquake motion assumed in the building model and examine the response. Currently, it is only used for skyscrapers and specific buildings. In the present design standard in Japan, it is good to use either the design method of the static design and the dynamic design in the medium and high-rise buildings. However, when actually designing middle and high-rise buildings by two kinds of design methods, the relatively simple static design method satisfies the criteria, but in the case of a little difficult dynamic design method, the criterion isn't often satisfied. This is because the dynamic design method was built with the intention of designing super high-rise buildings. In short, higher safety is required as compared with general buildings, and criteria become stricter. The authors consider applying the dynamic design method to general buildings designed by the static design method so far. The reason is that application of the dynamic design method is reasonable for buildings that are out of the conventional standard structural form such as emphasizing design. For the purpose, it is important to compare the design results when the criteria of both design methods are arranged side by side. In this study, we performed time history response analysis to medium-rise buildings that were actually designed with allowable stress method. Quantitative comparison between static design and dynamic design was conducted, and characteristics of both design methods were examined.

Keywords: buildings, seismic design, allowable stress design, time history response analysis, Japanese seismic code

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Authors: Golshid Gilani, Albert De La Fuente, Ana Blanco

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Sustainability assessment of new and existing buildings has generated a growing interest due to the evident environmental, social and economic impacts during their construction and service life. Façades, as one of the most important exterior elements of a building, may contribute to the building sustainability by reducing the amount of energy consumption and providing thermal comfort for the inhabitants, thus minimizing the environmental impact on both the building and on the environment. Various methods have been used for the sustainability assessment of buildings due to the importance of this issue. However, most of the existing methods mainly concentrate on environmental and economic aspects, disregarding the third pillar of sustainability, which is the social aspect. Besides, there is a little focus on comprehensive sustainability assessment of facades, as an important element of a building. This confirms the need of developing methods for assessing the sustainable performance of building façades as an important step in achieving building sustainability. In this respect, this paper aims at presenting a model for assessing the global sustainability of façade systems. for that purpose, the Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment (MIVES), a Multi-Criteria Decision Making model that integrates the main sustainability requirements (economic, environmental and social) and includes the concept of value functions, used as an assessment tool.

Keywords: façade, MCDM, MIVES, sustainability

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Authors: Shashank Mukkoti, Mainak Majumder, Srinivasan Venkatraman

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Owing to the land scarcity in the modern-day, most of the construction activities are carried out closed to the existing buildings. Most of the high-rise buildings are constructed on pile foundations to transfer the design loads to a strong stratum below the ground surface. Due to the proximity of the new and existing structures, noise disturbances are prominent during the pile installation. Installation of vibratory piles is most suitable in urban areas. The ground vibrations developed due to the vibratory pile driving may cause many detrimental effects on the surrounding structures based on the proximity of the sources and nature of the structures. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the severity of ground vibrations induced by vibratory pile driving. For this purpose, a three-dimensional finite element model has been developed in the ABAQUS/ Explicit finite element program. The couple finite/infinite element method has been employed for the capturing of propagating waves due to the pile installation. The geometry of the pile foundations, frequency of the pile driving, length of the pile has been considered for the parametric study. The results show that vibrations generated due to the vibratory pile installation are either very close or more than the thresholds tolerance limits set by different guidelines.

Keywords: FE model, pile driving, free field vibrations, wave propagation

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Authors: Hongmei Gu, Shaobo Liang, Richard Bergman

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With current worldwide trend in designs to have net-zero emission buildings to mitigate climate change, widespread use of mass timber products, such as Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), or Nail Laminated Timber (NLT) or Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT) in buildings have been proposed as one approach in reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Consequentially, mass timber building designs are being adopted more and more by architectures in North America, especially for mid- to high-rise buildings where concrete and steel buildings are currently prevalent, but traditional light-frame wood buildings are not. Wood buildings and their associated wood products have tended to have lower environmental impacts than competing energy-intensive materials. It is common practice to conduct life cycle assessments (LCAs) and life cycle cost analyses on buildings with traditional structural materials like concrete and steel in the building design process. Mass timber buildings with lower environmental impacts, especially GHG emissions, can contribute to the Net Zero-emission goal for the world-building sector. However, the economic impacts from CLT mass timber buildings still vary from the life-cycle cost perspective and environmental trade-offs associated with GHG emissions. This paper quantified the Total Life Cycle Cost and cradle-to-grave GHG emissions of a pre-designed CLT mass timber building and compared it to a functionally-equivalent concrete building. The Total life cycle Eco-cost-efficiency is defined in this study and calculated to discuss the trade-offs for the net-zero emission buildings in a holistic view for both environmental and economic impacts. Mass timber used in buildings for the United States is targeted to the materials from the nation’s sustainable managed forest in order to benefit both national and global environments and economies.

Keywords: GHG, economic impact, eco-cost-efficiency, total life-cycle costs

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Authors: Yuang Guo, Dewancker Bart

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The primary energy consumption of buildings throughout China was approximately 814 million tons of coal equivalents in 2014, which accounts for 19.12% of China's total primary energy consumption. Also, the energy consumption of public buildings takes a bigger share than urban residential buildings and rural residential buildings among the total energy consumption. To improve the level of energy demand, various design parameters were chosen. Meanwhile, a series of simulations by Energy Plus (EP-Launch) is performed using a base case model established in Open Studio. Through the results, 16%-23% of total energy demand reductions can be found in the severe cold zone of China, and it can also provide a reference for the architectural design of other similar climate zones.

Keywords: energy consumption, design parameters, indoor thermal comfort, simulation study, severe cold climate zone

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Authors: Shadi Motamedighazvini, Roohollah Taherkhani, Mahdi Mahdikhani, Najme Hashempour

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Nowadays, green building rating systems are an inevitable necessity for managing environmental considerations to achieve green buildings. The aim of this paper is to deliver a detailed recognition of what has been the focus of green building policymakers around the world; It is important to conduct this study in a way that can provide a context for researchers who intend to establish or upgrade existing rating systems. In this paper, fifteen rating systems including four worldwide well-known plus eleven local rating systems which have been selected based on the answers to the questionnaires were examined. Their similarities and differences in mandatory and prerequisite clauses, highest and lowest scores for each criterion, the most frequent criteria, and most frequent sub-criteria are determined. The research findings indicated that although the criteria of energy, water, indoor quality (except Homestar), site and materials (except GRIHA) were common core criteria for all rating systems, their sub-criteria were different. This research, as a roadmap, eliminates the lack of a comprehensive reference that encompasses the key criteria of different rating systems. It shows the local systems need to be revised to be more comprehensive and adaptable to their own country’s conditions such as climate.

Keywords: environmental assessment, green buildings, green building criteria, green building rating systems, sustainability, rating tools

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Authors: Salma I. Dwidar, Amal A. Abdel-Sattar

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The window openings are the key to the relationship between the inside and the outside of any building. It is the eye that sees from, the lunges of the construction, and the ear to hear. The success of the building, as well as the comfort of the uses, depends mainly on this relationship. Usually, windows are affected by human factors like religious, social, political and economic factors as well as environmental factors like climatic, aesthetic and functional factors. In Islamic architecture, the windows were one of the most important elements of physiological and psychological comfort to the users of the buildings. Windows considered one of the main parameters in designing internal and external facade, where the window openings occupied a big part of the formation of the external facade of the buildings. This paper discusses the importance of the window openings and its relationship to residential buildings in the Islamic architecture. It addresses the rules that have been followed in the design of windows in Islamic architecture to achieve privacy and thermal comfort while there are no technological elements within the dwellings. Also, it demonstrates the effects of windows on the building form and identity and how it gives a distinctive fingerprint of the architecture buildings.

Keywords: window openings, thermal comfort, residential buildings, the Islamic architecture, human considerations

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Authors: Parastou Kharazmi

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In this paper, rehabilitation methods for pipeline by advanced polymeric coating such as relining are reviewed. A number of diverse methods which are globally used are described and a brief summary of advances in technology, methods and materials is provided. The paper explains why it is claimed that sewerage rehabilitation with relining in residential buildings is environmentally friendly and economical, the importance of the quality control procedure is discussed and several quality tests are proposed.

Keywords: buildings, composite, material, renovation

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Authors: S. El-Azzeh, A. Al-Aqqad, M. Salem, H. Al-Khaldi, S. Thaher

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Thermal comfort studies are very important during the early stages of the building’s design. If this study was ignored, problems will start to occur for the occupants in the future. In hot climates, where solar radiations are entering buildings all year long, occupant’s thermal comfort in office buildings needs to be examined. This study aims to investigate the thermal comfort at an existing office building at the Australian College of Kuwait and test its validity and improve occupant’s thermal satisfaction by covering windows with a heat rejection tint material that enables sunlight to pass through the office while reflecting solar heat outside. Environmental variables were measured using thermal comfort data logger INNOVA 1221 to find the predicted mean vote (PMV) in the selected location. Also, subjective variables were measured to find the actual mean vote (AMV) through surveys distributed among occupants in the selected case study office. All the variables collected were analyzed and classified according to international standards ISO 7730 and ASHRAE55. The results of this study showed improvement in both PMV and AMV. The mean value of PMV based on the original design was 0.691 which dropped to 0.32 after installation and it still at comfort zone. Also, the mean value of the AMV has improved for the first occupant, where before it was -0.46 and it became -1 which is cooler. For the other occupant, it was slightly warm with a mean value of 0.9 and it was improved and became cooler with a -0.25 mean value based on American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) seven-point scale.

Keywords: thermal comfort, office buildings, indoor environments, predicted mean vote

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Authors: Miguel A. Orellana, Sonia E. Ruiz, Juan Bojórquez

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Optimal load factors (dead, live and seismic) used for the design of buildings may be different, depending of the seismic ground motion characteristics to which they are subjected, which are closely related to the type of soil conditions where the structures are located. The influence of the type of soil on those load factors, is analyzed in the present study. A methodology that is useful for establishing optimal load factors that minimize the cost over the life cycle of the structure is employed; and as a restriction, it is established that the probability of structural failure must be less than or equal to a prescribed value. The life-cycle cost model used here includes different types of costs. The optimization methodology is applied to two groups of reinforced concrete buildings. One set (consisting on 4-, 7-, and 10-story buildings) is located on firm ground (with a dominant period Ts=0.5 s) and the other (consisting on 6-, 12-, and 16-story buildings) on soft soil (Ts=1.5 s) of Mexico City. Each group of buildings is designed using different combinations of load factors. The statistics of the maximums inter-story drifts (associated with the structural capacity) are found by means of incremental dynamic analyses. The buildings located on firm zone are analyzed under the action of 10 strong seismic records, and those on soft zone, under 13 strong ground motions. All the motions correspond to seismic subduction events with magnitudes M=6.9. Then, the structural damage and the expected total costs, corresponding to each group of buildings, are estimated. It is concluded that the optimal load factors combination is different for the design of buildings located on firm ground than that for buildings located on soft soil.

Keywords: life-cycle cost, optimal load factors, reinforced concrete buildings, total costs, type of soil

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Authors: Yao Meng, Mahroo Eftekhari, Dennis Loveday

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Currently, there are two types of heating systems in Chinese residential buildings, with respect to the controllability of the heating system, one is an old heating system without any possibility of controlling room temperature and another is a new heating system that provides temperature control of individual rooms. This paper is aiming to evaluate the impact of potential variables on the energy performance of old and new buildings respectively in China, and to explore how the use of individual room temperature control would change occupants’ heating behaviour and thermal comfort in Chinese residential buildings and its impact on the building energy performance. In the study, two types of residential buildings have been chosen, the new building install personal control on the heating system, together with ‘pay for what you use’ tariffs. The old building comprised uncontrolled heating with payment based on floor area. The studies were carried out in each building, with a longitudinal monitoring of indoor air temperature, outdoor air temperature, window position. The occupants’ behaviour and thermal sensation were evaluated by questionnaires. Finally, use the simulated analytic method to identify the impact of influence variables on energy use for both types of buildings.

Keywords: residential buildings, China, design parameters, energy efficiency, simulation analytics method

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Authors: H. Nejadriahi

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A growing demand for sustainability makes sustainability as one of the significant debates of nowadays. Energy saving is one of the main criteria to be considered in the context of sustainability. Reducing energy use in buildings is one of the most important ways to reduce humans’ overall environmental impact. Taking this into consideration, study of different design strategies, which can assist in reducing energy use and subsequently improving the sustainability level of today's buildings would be an essential task. The sustainability level of a building is highly affected by the sustainability performance of its components. One of the main building components, which can have a great impact on energy saving and sustainability level of the building, is its facade. The aim of this study is to investigate on the role of facade in sustainability enhancement of the contemporary buildings of Iran. In this study, the concept of sustainability in architecture, the building facades, and their relationship to sustainability are explained briefly. Following that, a number of contemporary Iranian buildings are discussed and analyzed in terms of different design strategies used in their facades in accordance to the sustainability concepts. The methods used in this study are descriptive and analytic. The results of this paper would assist in generating a wider vision and a source of inspiration for the current designers to design and create environmental and sustainable buildings for the future.

Keywords: building facade, contemporary buildings, Iran, sustainability

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Authors: Jen-Te Pai, Jao-Heng Liu, Shin-En Pai

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The impact of climate change has intensified in recent years, causing Taiwan to face higher frequency and serious natural disasters. Therefore, it is imperative for industrial parks manufacturers to promote adaptation policies in response to climate change. On the other hand, with the rise of the international anti-terrorism situation, once a terrorist attack occurs, it will attract domestic and international media attention, especially the strategic and economic status of the science park. Thus, it is necessary to formulate adaptation and mitigation strategies under climate change and social economic disasters. After reviewed the literature about climate change, urban disaster prevention, vulnerability assessment, and risk communication, the study selected 62 industrial parks compiled by the Industrial Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan as the research object. This study explored the vulnerability and disaster prevention and disaster relief functional assessment of these industrial parks facing of natural and socio-economic disasters. Furthermore, this study explored planned adaptation of industrial parks management section and autonomous adaptation of corporate institutions in the park. The conclusion of this study is that Taiwan industrial parks with a higher vulnerability to natural and socio-economic disasters should employ positive adaptive behaviours.

Keywords: adaptive behaviours, analytic network process, vulnerability, industrial parks

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Authors: Maria Sheila S. Garcia

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A good number of researches indicate that living in another country may create different and unexpected adjustment problems, and foreign students are not exempted from this. To provide an understanding of this process, 30 foreign college students studying English in Tarlac City were asked to answer questionnaires. This is to determine their sociocultural adaptation, openness to the host culture and success of sojourn. Through statistical analysis, it was found that the students experience greater difficulty in the academic area. Moderate difficulty was attributed to everyday life and social interactions. Albeit difficult, what they like best is the school’s methods of teaching English while the areas that need improvement are the libraries and internet connection. The only significant relationship was found between sociocultural adaptation and success of sojourn. Negatively correlated, if students experience greater difficulties in their host country, they are likely to regret their stay and will not recommend it to anyone. Openness to the host culture did not have an effect on the adaptation and success of sojourn. The short period of time that the students have are spent in studying rather than making friends. Nonetheless, this indicates the need to look deeper into the academic, extra-curricular activities and facilities provided by learning institutions.

Keywords: foreign students, sociocultural adaptation, success of sojourn, Tarlac Philippines

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Authors: Rafia Afroz

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This article examines the perceptions, consciousness and attitudes of farmers on climate change in Kedah Malaysia. To reach the objectives of this study, a survey was conducted on 350 farmers and the collected data were used to perform multiple regression analysis. The results show that factors such as age, farm income, farm experience, limited agricultural prevalence, inadequacies in credit availability and farm size are factors influencing adjustment practices. Moreover, farmers have a positive attitude through adaptation strategies that are appropriate for climate change issues. However, the study found that various adaptation barriers prevented farmers from implementing climate change adjustment policies. At present, Malaysia does not seem to have a specific policy aimed at counteracting the impacts and productivity of climate change on individual sectors. For this reason, the findings of this study will help policymakers to comply with an appropriate policy framework that takes into account the best fit alignment strategies that can come across all relevant obstacles.

Keywords: climate change, adaptation, awareness, perception, attitude

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Authors: Narayan Gurung, Fawu Wang, Ranjan Kumar Dahal

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Nepal is highly prone to earthquakes and has witnessed at least one major earthquake in 80 to 90 years interval. The Gorkha earthquake, that measured 7.8 RS in magnitude and struck Nepal on 25th April 2015, after 81 years since Mw 8.3 Nepal Bihar earthquake in 1934, was the largest earthquake after Mw 8.3 Nepal Bihar earthquake. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the lessons learnt from the MwW 7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake. Several types of damage patterns in buildings were observed for reinforced concrete buildings, as well as for unreinforced masonry and adobe houses in the earthquake of 25 April 2015. Many field visits in the affected areas were conducted, and thus, associated failure and damage patterns were identified and analyzed. Damage patterns in non-engineered buildings, middle and high-rise buildings, commercial complexes, administrative buildings, schools and other critical facilities are also included from the affected districts. For most buildings, the construction and structural deficiencies have been identified as the major causes of failure; however, topography, local soil amplification, foundation settlement, liquefaction associated damages and buildings built in hazard-prone areas were also significantly observed for the failure or damages to buildings and hence are reported. Finally, the lessons learnt from Mw 7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake are presented in order to mitigate impacts of future earthquakes in Nepal.

Keywords: Gorkha earthquake, reinforced concrete structure, Nepal, lesson learnt

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Authors: Mahsa Karimpour, Martin Belusko, Ke Xing, Frank Bruno

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Traditionally the embodied energy of design choices which reduce operational energy were assumed to have a negligible impact on the life cycle energy of buildings. However with new buildings having considerably lower operational energy, the significance of embodied energy increases. A life cycle assessment of a population of house designs was conducted in a mild and mixed climate zone. It was determined not only that embodied energy dominates life cycle energy, but that the impact on embodied of design choices was of equal significance to the impact on operational energy.

Keywords: building life cycle energy, embodied energy, energy design measures, low energy buildings

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Authors: Venkatesh Kumar, Kasun Hewage, Rehan Sadiq

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Residential buildings consume significant amounts of energy and produce a large amount of emissions and waste. However, there is a substantial potential for energy savings in this sector which needs to be evaluated over the life cycle of residential buildings. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been employed to study the primary energy uses and associated environmental impacts of different phases (i.e., product, construction, use, end of life, and beyond building life) for residential buildings. Four different alternatives of residential buildings in Vancouver (BC, Canada) with a 50-year lifespan have been evaluated, including High Rise Apartment (HRA), Low Rise Apartment (LRA), Single family Attached House (SAH), and Single family Detached House (SDH). Life cycle performance of the buildings is evaluated for embodied energy, embodied environmental impacts, operational energy, operational environmental impacts, total life-cycle energy, and total life cycle environmental impacts. Estimation of operational energy and LCA are performed using DesignBuilder software and Athena Impact estimator software respectively. The study results revealed that over the life span of the buildings, the relationship between the energy use and the environmental impacts are identical. LRA is found to be the best alternative in terms of embodied energy use and embodied environmental impacts; while, HRA showed the best life-cycle performance in terms of minimum energy use and environmental impacts. Sensitivity analysis has also been carried out to study the influence of building service lifespan over 50, 75, and 100 years on the relative significance of embodied energy and total life cycle energy. The life-cycle energy requirements for SDH is found to be a significant component among the four types of residential buildings. The overall disclose that the primary operations of these buildings accounts for 90% of the total life cycle energy which far outweighs minor differences in embodied effects between the buildings.

Keywords: building simulation, environmental impacts, life cycle assessment, life cycle energy analysis, residential buildings

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Authors: Nadine Yehya, Chantal Maatouk

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Low energy buildings have been developed to achieve global climate commitments in reducing energy consumption. They comprise energy efficient buildings, zero energy buildings, positive buildings and passive house buildings. The reduced energy demands in Low Energy buildings call for advanced building energy modeling that focuses on studying active building systems such as heating, cooling and ventilation, improvement of systems performances, and development of control systems. Modeling and building simulation have expanded to cover different modeling approach i.e.: detailed physical model, dynamic empirical models, and hybrid approaches, which are adopted by various simulation tools. This paper uses DesignBuilder with EnergyPlus simulation engine in order to; First, study the impact of efficiency measures on building energy behavior by comparing Low energy residential model to a conventional one in Beirut-Lebanon. Second, choose the appropriate energy systems for the studied case characterized by an important cooling demand. Third, study dynamic modeling of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system in EnergyPlus that is chosen due to its advantages over other systems and its availability in the Lebanese market. Finally, simulation of different energy systems models with different modeling approaches is necessary to confront the different modeling approaches and to investigate the interaction between energy systems and building envelope that affects the total energy consumption of Low Energy buildings.

Keywords: physical model, variable refrigerant flow heat pump, dynamic modeling, EnergyPlus, the modeling approach

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Authors: Mohammed Sherzad

Abstract:

The Sahara desert covers third of the total surface of Africa with a quarter of this area within the national boundaries of Algeria. Sand drift and deposition is considered one of the major factors of the desertification process in the area. It is estimated that a third of the world's hot arid lands are covered by aeolian sand deposits, forming extensive sand bedforms. The Gourrara region in the Grand Erg Occidental (west of Algerian Sahara) and the region of Souf in the Grand Erg Oriental (east of Algerian Sahara) have been chosen as case studies. These were significant cultural and trading centers for many centuries despite their remote location and their harsh desert environment particularly solar radiation and sand drift and deposition. The architecture of the sustained vernacular settlements in each of the two regions has unique design features for this environment. So do the irrigation systems used - palm groves and the foggara system for capturing and distributing groundwater. However, the ecological balance which enabled the Saharans to live with the desert has been upset. New buildings often use technology based on models imported or imposed from areas that climatically have little in common. These make the inhabitants live ‘in the desert’ rather than ‘with the desert’. This paper will describe the qualities of the vernacular architecture and demonstrate its effectiveness and adaptability to the region’s harsh desert environment in comparison with contemporary buildings. Developing design guides and approaches based on lessons from the traditional architecture is important to ensure sustained livelihoods of the inhabitants in these areas.

Keywords: vernacular architecture, desert architecture, hot climate, aeolian sand deposition

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Authors: Hossein Arfaeinia, Azam Nadali, Zahra Asadgol, Mohammad Fahiminia

Abstract:

Indoor and outdoor particulate matters (PM) were monitored in 20 residential buildings in a two-part study. In part I, the levels of indoor and outdoor PM₁₀, PM₂.₅ and PM₁ was measured using real time GRIMM dust monitors. In part II, the effect of negative air ions (NAIs) method was investigated on the reduction of indoor concentration of PM in these residential buildings. Hourly average concentration and standard deviation (SD) of PM₁₀ in indoor and outdoor at residential buildings were 90.1 ± 33.5 and 63.5 ± 27.4 µg/ m3, respectively. Indoor and outdoor concentrations of PM₂.₅ in residential buildings were 49.5 ± 18.2 and 39.4± 18.1 µg/ m3 and for PM₁ the concentrations were 6.5 ± 10.1and 4.3 ± 7.7 µg/ m3, respectively. Indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratios and concentrations of all size fractions of PM were strongly correlated with wind speed and temperature whereas a good relationship was not observed between humidity and I/O ratios of PM. We estimated that nearly 71.47 % of PM₁₀, 79.86 % of PM₂.₅ and of 61.25 % of PM₁ in indoor of residential buildings can be removed by negative air ions.

Keywords: particle matter (PM), indoor air, negative air ions (NAIs), residential building

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Jalalludin Abdul Malek, Zurinah Tahir

Abstract:

When the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was launched in 1995, it became the catalyst for the implementation of the intelligent city concept, an area that covers about 15 x 50 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The concept of intelligent city means that the city has an advanced infrastructure and infostructure such as information technology, advanced telecommunication systems, electronic technology and mechanical technology to be utilized for the development of urban elements such as industries, health, services, transportation and communications. For example, the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur has also many intelligent buildings developed by the private sector such as the KLCC Tower to implement the intelligent city concept. Consequently, the intelligent buildings in the Golden Triangle can be linked directly to the Putrajaya Intelligent City and Cyberjaya Intelligent City within the confines of the MSC. However, the reality of the situation is that there are not many intelligent buildings within the Golden Triangle Kuala Lumpur scope which can be considered of high-standard intelligent buildings as referred to by the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) building standard. This increases the need to implement the real ‘intelligent city’ concept. This paper aims to show the strengths and weaknesses of the intelligent buildings in the Golden Triangle by taking into account aspects of 'intelligence' in the areas of technology and infrastructure of buildings.

Keywords: intelligent city concepts, intelligent building, Golden Triangle, Kuala Lumpur

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Authors: Kenneth Kapalu Muzata, Dikeledi Mahlo, Pinkie Mabunda Mabunda

Abstract:

This paper presents results of a study conducted to establish special education teachers’ knowledge and application of curriculum adaptation of the 2013 revised curriculum in Zambia. From a sample of 134 respondents (120 special education teachers, 12 education officers, and 2 curriculum specialists), the study collected both quantitative and qualitative data to establish whether teachers understood and applied the concept of curriculum adaptation in teaching learners with special education needs. To obtain data validity and reliability, the researchers collected data by use of mixed methods. Semi-structured questionnaires and interviews were administered. Lesson Observations and post-lesson discussions were conducted on 12 selected teachers from the 120 sample that answered the questionnaires. Frequencies, percentages, and significant differences were derived through the statistical package for social sciences. Qualitative data were analyzed with the help of NVIVO qualitative software to create themes and obtain coding density to help with conclusions. Both quantitative and qualitative data were concurrently compared and related. The results revealed that special education teachers lacked a thorough understanding of the concept of curriculum adaptation, thus denying learners with special education needs the opportunity to benefit from the revised curriculum. The teachers were not oriented on the revised curriculum and hence facing numerous challenges trying to adapt the curriculum. The study recommended training of special education teachers in curriculum adaptation.

Keywords: curriculum adaptation, special education, learners with special education needs, special education teachers

Procedia PDF Downloads 149