Search results for: federal structure

Authors: Tianyu Gao

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Digital architectures use computer-aided design, programming, simulation, and imaging to create virtual forms and physical structures. Today's customers want to know more about their buildings. They want an automatic thermostat to learn their behavior and contact them, such as the doors and windows they want to open with a mobile app. Therefore, the architectural display form is more closely related to the customer's experience. Based on the purpose of building informationization, this paper studies the steel structure design based on BIM. Taking the Zigan office building in Hangzhou as an example, it is divided into four parts, namely, the digital design modulus of the steel structure, the node analysis of the steel structure, the digital production and construction of the steel structure. Through the application of BIM software, the architectural design can be synergized, and the building components can be informationized. Not only can the architectural design be feedback in the early stage, but also the stability of the construction can be guaranteed. In this way, the monitoring of the entire life cycle of the building and the meeting of customer needs can be realized.

Keywords: digital architectures, BIM, steel structure, architectural design

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Authors: Adekunle Ayodeji Folorunso, Aisha S. Habeeb

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The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing the student’s choice of food intake, a case study of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida. A review of the past work was done, and many key points were noted. A sample population of 1000 students was selected randomly (i.e. 200 students from each school) who were in the 2011/2012 academic session. The factor influencing the students' foods intake ranges from economic factors (food cost, income, availability of food), physical factors (easy to cook, shortest time), social factors (cultural, family and meal pattern) attitudes, belief and knowledge about food were discovered. The data collected were tabulated in frequency and percentages. It was revealed that ‘easy method of cooking and preparation’ influenced students’ choice of food intake more (34%) and the food frequency questionnaire shows that the students eat more of carbohydrates foods compared to other classes of food. The cooking skills of students were low (1%) which may be responsible for the limitations in the food choices. It is, therefore, recommended that students should be equipped with sound cooking skills to increase their range of food intake. Variety is needed in diet/meal because the required nutrients are scattered among many different foods.

Keywords: factors, food intake, influencing, choice, students

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Authors: Hee Yong Kang, Hyeon Ho Shin, Jung Cheol Yoo, Il Taek Lee, Sung Mo Yang

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Lightweight technology using composites is being developed for vehicle seat structures, and its design must meet the safety requirements. According to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 207 seating systems test procedure, the back moment load is applied to the seat back frame structure for the safety evaluation of the vehicle seat. The seat back frame using the composites is divided into three parts: upper part frame, and left- and right-side frame parts following the manufacturing process. When a rear moment load is applied to the seat back frame, the side frame receives the bending load and the torsional load at the same time. This results in the largest loaded strength. Therefore, strength test of the component unit is required. In this study, a component test method based on the FMVSS 207 seating systems test procedure was proposed for the strength analysis of bending load and torsional load of the automotive Bulk Molding Compound (BMC) Seat Back Side Frame. Moreover, strength evaluation according to the carbon band reinforcement was performed. The back-side frame parts of the seat that are applied to the test were manufactured through BMC that is composed of vinyl ester Matrix and short carbon fiber. Then, two kinds of reinforced and non-reinforced parts of carbon band were formed through a high-temperature compression molding process. In addition, the structure that is applied to the component test was constructed by referring to the FMVSS 207. Then, the bending load and the torsional load were applied through the displacement control to perform the strength test for four load conditions. The results of each test are shown through the load-displacement curves of the specimen. The failure strength of the parts caused by the reinforcement of the carbon band was analyzed. Additionally, the fracture characteristics of the parts for four strength tests were evaluated, and the weakness structure of the back-side frame of the seat structure was confirmed according to the test conditions. Through the bending and torsional strength test methods, we confirmed the strength and fracture characteristics of BMC Seat Back Side Frame according to the carbon band reinforcement. And we proposed a method of testing the part strength of a seat back frame for vehicles that can meet the FMVSS 207.

Keywords: seat back frame, bending and torsional strength, BMC (Bulk Molding Compound), FMVSS 207 seating systems

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Authors: K. B. Ghazaryan, R. A. Ghazaryan

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Based on the constitutive model and anti-plane equations of anisotropic elastic body of monoclinic symmetry we consider the problem of shear wave propagation in multi-layered disordered composite structure with point defect. Using transfer matrix method the analytic expression is obtained providing solutions of shear Floquet wave propagation in periodic disordered anisotropic structure. The usefulness of the obtained analytical expression was discussed also in reflection and refraction problems from multi-layered reflector as well as in vibration problem of multi-layered waveguides. Numerical results are presented highlighting the effects arising in disordered periodic structure due to defects of multi-layered structure.

Keywords: shear elastic waves, monoclinic anisotropic media, periodic structure, disordered multilayer laminae, multi-layered waveguide

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Authors: B. Poorna Chander

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Urban centre is one of the most important parts of the city where all the community activities take place. They are the active zones which enhance the structure of a city. The structure of the city refers to its form, mobility patterns, and concentration of people and lifestyles of people. The purpose of the research paper is to study how does the character or structure of city changes when a new centre is established. An attempt has been made to understand this by studying how the formation of centre has been changing the form or the structure of the city since the ancient times, what are the notions of a city and a centre by various architects, by studying the various models of the future city proposed by them. And then the data has been linked to how the formation of the new centres is changing the city. As the demands of the city are increasing, it also regulates how the new centres are formed. So both, the city and the centre are interdependent on each other.

Keywords: centre, activities, lifestyles, people, form

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Authors: Hamed Alipour-Banaei, Farhad Mehdizadeh

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We report the design and characterization of ultra high quality factor filter based on one-dimensional photonic-crystal Thue-Morse sequence structure. The behavior of aperiodic array of photonic crystal structure is numerically investigated and we show that by changing the angle of incident wave, desired wavelengths could be tuned and a tunable filter is realized. Also it is shown that high quality factor filter be achieved in the telecommunication window around 1550 nm, with a device based on Thue-Morse structure. Simulation results show that the proposed structure has a quality factor more than 100000 and it is suitable for DWDM communication applications.

Keywords: Thue-Morse, filter, quality factor, photonic

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Authors: Valentina Dotto

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Climate change cases used to take the form of statutory disputes rather than constitutional or common law disputes. This changed in 2015, with the Urgenda Climate case in the Netherlands (Urgenda Foundation v. The State of the Netherlands, C/09/456689/HAZA 13-1396) and, the Juliana case in the U.S. (United States v. U.S. District Court for District of Oregon, 17-71692, 9th Cir.). The two cases represent a new type of climate litigation, the claims brought against the federal government were in fact grounded in constitutional rights. The complaints used the Doctrine of Public Trust as a cornerstone for the lawsuits asserting that government's actions against climate change failed to protect essential public trust resources; thus, violating a generation's constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. The Public Trust Doctrine –a quintessentially American legal concept-, reserved to the States by virtue of the 9th and 10th amendment of the federal Constitution, gives them considerable jurisdiction over natural resources and has been refined by a number of Supreme Court rulings. The Juliana case exemplifies the Doctrine’s evolutionary nature because it attempts to apply it to the federal government, and establish a right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life as a fundamental right protected by a substantive due process. Furthermore, the flexibility of the Doctrine makes it permissible to be applied to a variety of different legal systems as in the Urgenda case. At the very heart of the lawsuits stands the question of who owns the Earth resources and, to what extent the general public can claim the services that the Earth provides as common property. By employing the widest possible definition of the Doctrine of Public Trust these lawsuits tried to redefine environmental resources as a collective right of all people. By doing case analysis, the paper explores how these cases can contribute to widening the public access to information and broadening the public voice in decision making as well as providing a precedent to equal access in seeking justice and redress from environmental failures.

Keywords: climate change, doctrine of public trust, environmental democracy, Juliana case, Urgenda climate case

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Authors: Zi-Gui Huang, Shen-Hsien Hu

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This study proposes a fabrication of phononic-crystal acoustic wave device. A graphene-like atomic structure was adopted as the main research subject, and a graphene-like structure was designed using piezoelectric material zinc oxide and its periodic boundary conditions were defined using the finite element method. The effects of a hexagonal honeycomb structure were investigated regarding the band gap phenomenon. The use of micro-electromechanical systems process technology to make the film etched micron graphics, designed to produce four kinds of different piezoelectric structure (plat, periodic, single defect and double defects). Frequency response signals and phase change were also measured in this paper.

Keywords: MEMS, phononic crystal, piezoelectric material, Zinc oxide

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Authors: Abdelhacine Gouasmia, Abdelhamid Belkhiri, Allaeddine Athmani

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The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the modal characteristics and on the dynamic response of current structures. The objective is on the overall behaviour of a real structure of five storeys reinforced concrete (R/C) building typically encountered in Algeria. Sensitivity studies are undertaken in order to study the effects of frequency content of the input motion, frequency of the soil-structure system, rigidity and depth of the soil layer on the dynamic response of such structures. This investigation indicated that the rigidity of the soil layer is the predominant factor in soil-structure interaction and its increases would definitely reduce the deformation in the R/C structure. On the other hand, increasing the period of the underlying soil will cause an increase in the lateral displacements at story levels and create irregularity in the distribution of story shears. Possible resonance between the frequency content of the input motion and soil could also play an important role in increasing the structural response.

Keywords: direct method, finite element method, foundation, R/C Frame, soil-structure interaction

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Authors: Claudia Rodríguez Espinosa, Erika Elizabeth Pérez Múzquiz

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The Pueblos Mágicos federal program tries to preserve the traditional environment of small towns (under 20,000 inhabitants), through economic investments, legislation, and legal aid. To access the program, it’s important to cover 8 requirements; one of them is the fourth, which considers ‘Promotion of symbolic and differentiated touristic attractions, such as architecture, emblematic buildings, festivities and traditions, artisan production, traditional cuisine, and touristic services that guarantee their commercialization along with assistantship and security services’. With this objective in mind, the Federal government of Mexico had developed local programs to protect emblematic public buildings in each of the 83 towns included in the Pueblos Mágicos program that involved federal and local administrations as well as local civil associations, like Adopte una Obra de Arte. In this paper, we present 3 different intervention cases: first the restoration project (now concluded) of the 16th century monastery of Santa María Magdalena in Cuitzeo, an enormous building which took 6 years to be completely restored. Second case, the public spaces intervention in Pátzcuaro, included the Plaza Grande or Vasco de Quiroga square, and the access to the arts and crafts house known as Casa de los once patios or eleven backyards house. The third case is the recovery project of the 16th century atrium of the Tzintzuntzan monastery that included the original olive trees brought by Franciscans monks to this town in the middle 1500’s. This paper tries to present successful preservation projects in 3 different scales: building, urban spaces and landscape; and in 3 different towns with the objective to preserve public architecture, public spaces and cultural traditions. Learn from foreign experiences, different ways to manage preservation projects focused on public architecture and public spaces.

Keywords: cultural tourism, heritage preservation, traditional architecture, public policies

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Authors: Hadiza Lawan Ismail

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Academic writing in Nigeria is fraught with a lot of grammatical errors which brings backward to education specifically at the tertiary institution level. This paper deals with the use of English quantifiers in academic writing, with particular emphasis on the use of ‘MANY.’ NCEI students of the Federal College of Education, Kano were used as the case study. The paper attempts to highlight the problems that arise due to incorrect use of quantifiers as well as identifying the causes of difficulties in the use of English quantifiers by some NCE1 students. To achieve this objective, the data was collected through sentence writing test by testing the students’ use of quantifiers, using only one quantifier as the variable of the study, which is MANY. In analyzing the data, the sentence writing tests are analyzed item by item and the scores of the correct responses as well as the wrong responses are converted into percentage forms. The findings revealed that students have difficulty in remembering and grasping the grammatical restrictions that control the use of English quantifiers specifically MANY; mother tongue also affects the use of quantifiers by some NCE1 students to the extent that they use one word to represent about three or four English quantifiers. The causes of difficulty in the use of English quantifiers by the students are attributed to poor background and inadequate use of English language and quantifiers, because we cannot use quantifiers alone and get the desired meaning without putting them in a sentence.

Keywords: academic writing, English quantifiers, grammatical restrictions, tertiary institution students

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Authors: Annisa Dewanti Putri, Wang Juan, Y. Qing Shan

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The structural assessment is one of a crucial part for ancient timber structure, in which this phase will be the reference for the maintenance and preservation phase. The mechanical properties of a structure are one of an important component of the structural assessment of building. Feiyun as one of the particular preserved building in China will become one of the Pioneer of Timber Structure Building Assessment. The 3-storey building which is located in Shanxi Province consists of complex ancient timber structure. Due to condition and preservation purpose, assessments (visual inspections, Non-Destructive Test and a Semi Non-Destructive test) were conducted. The stress wave measurement, moisture content analyzer, and the micro-drilling resistance meter data will overview the prediction of Mechanical Properties. As a result, the mechanical properties can be used for the next phase as reference for structural damage solutions.

Keywords: ancient structure, mechanical properties, non destructive test, stress wave, structural assessment, timber structure

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Authors: Asad Naeem, Minsung Kim, Jinkoo Kim

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In this work, the effectiveness of damped cable systems (DCS) on the mitigation of earthquake-induced response of a framed structure is investigated. The seismic performance of DCS is investigated using fragility analysis and life cycle cost evaluation of an existing building retrofitted with DCS, and the results are compared with those of the structure retrofitted with viscous dampers. The comparison of the analysis results reveals that, due to the self-centering capability of the DCS, residual displacement becomes nearly zero in the structure retrofitted with the DCS. According to the fragility analysis, the structure retrofitted with the DCS has smaller probability of reaching a limit states compared to the structure with viscous dampers. It is also observed that both the initial and life cycle costs of the DCS method required for the seismic retrofit is smaller than those of the structure retrofitted with viscous dampers. Acknowledgment: This research was supported by a grant (17CTAP-C132889-01) from Technology Advancement Research Program (TARP) funded by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of Korean government.

Keywords: damped cable system, seismic retrofit, self centering, fragility analysis

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Authors: Soulef Amamria, Mohamed Sadok Bensalem, Mohamed Ghanmi

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The structural and sedimentological study of fault-related- folds in the Southern Tunisian Atlas is distinguished by a special geometry of the gravitational structures. This distinct geometry is observable in the example of a flap structure in Jebel Ben Zannouch with the formation of a stuck syncline. This geometry can be explained by the mechanism of major thrusting in Orbata anticline in the occidental extremity of Gafsa chains, with asymmetrical flank dips and hinge migration kinematics. These kinematics was originally controlled by the Breakthrough structure; the study of this special geometry of gravity flap structure depends on the sedimentation domain, shortening ratios, and erosion speed. This study constitutes one of the complete examples of kinematic model validation on a field scale.

Keywords: fault-related-folds, southern Tunisian Atlas, flap structure, breakthrough

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Authors: Angga S. Fajar, A. Aminullah, J. Kiyono, R. A. Safitri

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This paper discusses about the application of ANN for optimizing of bridge structure design. ANN has been applied in various field of science concerning prediction and optimization. The structural optimization has several benefit including accelerate structural design process, saving the structural material, and minimize self-weight and mass of structure. In this paper, there are three types of bridge structure that being optimized including PSC I-girder superstructure, composite steel-concrete girder superstructure, and RC bridge pier. The different optimization strategy on each bridge structure implement back propagation method of ANN is conducted in this research. The optimal weight and easier design process of bridge structure with satisfied error are achieved.

Keywords: bridge structures, ANN, optimization, back propagation

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Authors: Atiqa Marium

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In 2015, all 193 UN Member countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is an ambitious 15- year plan to address some of the most pressing issues the world faces. Goal 4 is about Quality Education which highlights the importance of inclusive and quality education for sustainable development. Sustainable Development Goal 10 focuses on reducing inequalities within and among countries. In June 2019, Federal Government in Canada released “Towards Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy”, which was an important step to move the 2030 Agenda forward. In April 2019, the Ontario government announced the performance-based funding model for publically assisted colleges and universities in Ontario, which is now part of the universities’ budget 2024-2025. The literature review has shown that the funding model has been implemented by different governments to achieve objectives. However, this model has also resulted in conflicting consequences like reducing university autonomy, education quality/ academic standards, and increased equity concerns. The primary focus of this paper will be to analyze the tensions and coherence between the proposed funding model for education for sustainable development goals and targets set by Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy. Considering that the literature review has provided evidence that the performance-based funding model has resulted in reducing quality of education and increased equity issues in other countries, it will be interesting to see how this proposed funding will align with the SDGs of “Quality Education” and “Reduced Inequalities”. This paper will be well-suited for Volume 4, with the theme of re-visioning institutional impact and sustainability. This paper will underscore the importance of policy coherence between federal and provincial policies for higher education institutions in Ontario for better institutional impact and helping universities in the attainment of goals set in 2030 Agenda towards education for sustainable development.

Keywords: performance-based funding model, education for sustainable development, policy coherence, sustainable development gaols

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Authors: Alexandre Barbosa de Almeida, Telma Woerle de Lima Soares

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Protein structure prediction is a challenging task in the bioinformatics field. The biological function of all proteins majorly relies on the shape of their three-dimensional conformational structure, but less than 1% of all known proteins in the world have their structure solved. This work proposes a deep learning model to address this problem, attempting to predict some aspects of the protein conformations. Throughout a process of multiobjective dominance, a recurrent neural network was trained to abstract the particular bias of each individual multiobjective algorithm, generating a heuristic that could be useful to predict some of the relevant aspects of the three-dimensional conformation process formation, known as protein folding.

Keywords: Ab initio heuristic modeling, multiobjective optimization, protein structure prediction, recurrent neural network

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Authors: Asyraf Abdul Halim, Mohd Edil Abd Sukor, Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha

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This paper attempts to investigate the capital structure behavior of Shariah compliant firms of various levels as well those firms who are consistently Shariah non-compliant in Malaysia. The paper utilizes a unique dataset of firms of the heterogeneous level of Shariah-compliancy status over a 20 year period from the year 1997 to 2016. The paper focuses on the effects of dynamic forces behind capital structure variation such as the optimal capital structure behavior based on the trade-off, pecking order, market timing and firmly fixed effect models of capital structure. This study documents significant evidence in support of the trade-off theory with a high speed of adjustment (SOA) as well as for the time-invariant firm fixed effects across all Shariah compliance group.

Keywords: capital structure, market timing, trade-off theory, equity risk premium, Shariah-compliant firms

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Authors: Zain Khalid

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The paper outlines the trends of cyber financial crimes and frauds – approximating upto – in Pakistan after the enactment of The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act in 2016. The paper elaborates on the newer methods that fraudsters have adopted after tighter preventive and counter measures were employed in Pakistan partly as a result of following the international finance related commitments, particularly the FATF regulations. The paper adopts case studies methods to highlight various aspects of the financial frauds and crimes committed and later investigated jointly by Pakistan’s one of the federal law enforcement agencies, the Federal Investigation Agency, and Mobilink Microfinance Bank , Pakistan’s premier microfinance bank. It additionally enriches the data through expert interviews – with crime investigators and the experts to carry out an in-depth analysis of the various factors involving the crime. This paper emphasizes the structural and situational factors that shape up the cyber financial crimes in Pakistan vis-à-vis digital illiteracy and lack of awareness among the users of financial services. This paper, thus, on the basis of findings and expert interviews, suggests policy reforms to reduce the instances of the financial crimes, especially in the remotest areas of the country.

Keywords: financial crimes, cyber crimes, digital literacy, terrorism financing, banking sector

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Authors: Sahar Jami, Iman Valizadeh

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The purpose of the study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of culture on the choice of capital structure management companies are listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. Methods: This study was a cross-document using data after the event (Retrospective) in 1394 was performed. To select a sample of elimination sampling (screening) is used to determine the sample size was 123 companies. Results: The results showed that the variables of culture, return on equity, a significant positive impact on the capital structure (ROA, QTobins) and financial leverage and firm size variables and a significant negative impact on the capital structure (ROA, QTobins).

Keywords: culture management, capital structure, ROA, QTobins, variables of culture

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Authors: Buntheng Chhorn, WooYoung Jung

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Large-scale swing has been used in entertainment and performance, especially in circus, for a very long time. To increase the safety of this type of structure, a thorough analysis for displacement and bearing stress was performed for an extreme condition where a full cycle swing occurs. Different masses, ranging from 40 kg to 220 kg, and velocities were applied on the swing. Then, based on the solution of differential dynamics equation, swing velocity response to harmonic force was obtained. Moreover, the resistance capacity was estimated based on ACI steel structure design guide. Subsequently, numerical analysis was performed in ABAQUS to obtain the stress on each frame of the swing. Finally, the analysis shows that the expansion of swing structure frame section was required for mass bigger than 150kg.

Keywords: swing structure, displacement, bearing stress, dynamic loads response, finite element analysis

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Authors: Pia Moschall, Kathrin Sackmann

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Considering a purchasing volume of around two trillion Euros per year, which equals about 14% of the European Union’s gross domestic product, European public authorities have significant market power. Making use of this market power by prioritizing the procurement of green products and services offers a great potential to contribute to the Green New Deal. The market demand that is created by Green Public Procurement (GPP) sets incentives for European producers to design and develop Green Products and Eco-Innovations. However, most procurement still does not consider environmental criteria. The goal of the work is to encourage the adaptation of GPP in the European Union. To this end, the drivers for the adaptation were investigated over different case studies. The paper analyzes good-practice cases from European authorities from 2010 to 2020 that were provided by the European Commission. This analysis was guided by Philipp Mayring’s method of qualitative content analysis, whereby the inductively formed categories led to the identification of nine major drivers. The most important ones are ‘use of official guidelines and standards, ‘political support and requirements as well as ‘market research and involvement.’ Further, the paper discusses mutual dependencies between several drivers and how to exploit them. A supporting infrastructure was identified as a crucial factor for the successful adaption of green public procurement. In the next step, the work aims to examine on which administrative level the single drivers can be implemented most effectively. Practical implications of this research are recommendations on how to create a supporting structure on a municipal, federal and national level, including training for the responsible staff, support tools, as well as guidelines and standards for involved stakeholders.

Keywords: content analysis, green public procurement, public authorities, sustainable procurement

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Authors: Rachel deCatanzaro, Madeline Austen, Ken Tuininga, Kathy St. Laurent, Christina Rohe

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In Canada, the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) provides protection for wildlife species at risk and a national legislative framework for the conservation or recovery of species that are listed as endangered, threatened, or special concern under Schedule 1 of SARA. Key aspects of the federal species at risk program include the development of recovery documents (recovery strategies, action plans, and management plans) outlining threats, objectives, and broad strategies or measures for conservation or recovery of the species; the identification and protection of critical habitat for threatened and endangered species; and working with groups and organizations to implement on-the-ground recovery actions. Environment Canada’s progress on the development of recovery documents and on the identification and protection of critical habitat in Ontario will be presented, along with successes and challenges associated with on-the ground implementation of recovery actions. In Ontario, Environment Canada is currently involved in several recovery and monitoring programs for at-risk bird species such as the Loggerhead Shrike, Piping Plover, Golden-winged Warbler and Cerulean Warbler and has provided funding for a wide variety of recovery actions targeting priority species at risk and geographic areas each year through stewardship programs including the Habitat Stewardship Program, Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk, and the Interdepartmental Recovery Fund. Key research needs relevant to the recovery of species at risk have been identified, and include: surveys and monitoring of population sizes and threats, population viability analyses, and addressing knowledge gaps identified for individual species (e.g., species biology and habitat needs). The engagement of all levels of government, the local and international conservation communities, and the scientific research community plays an important role in the conservation and recovery of species at risk in Ontario– through surveying and monitoring, filling knowledge gaps, conducting public outreach, and restoring, protecting, or managing habitat – and will be critical to the continued success of the federal species at risk program.

Keywords: conservation biology, habitat protection, species at risk, wildlife recovery

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Authors: Joachim Onyike

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The Federal Government of Nigeria in 2012 came up with a new National Housing Policy; one of its major objectives was to make housing affordable to the poor. Six years down the line, this study was carried out to find out whether the poor have fared better under the new housing policy. Owerri, the capital of Imo State, was adopted as a case study to mirror the situation nationwide. The study population was made up of low-income civil servants, i.e., grade levels 1–6 in the Imo State Civil Service. The study looked at household size, household income, rental levels, house prices, costs of major building materials, land values, land tenure, the interest rate on mortgages, inflation rate, and the status of government interventions, owing to their obvious effect on housing affordability by the low-income earners. The study made use of physical observations, questionnaires, and interviews as well as library studies to elicit relevant information. Housing affordability by the subject population did not improve. It rather dropped. The study came to the conclusion that in spite of the new National Housing Policy, housing affordability by the low-income earners has not improved. The policy as it affects the poor has not been duly implemented by both Federal and State Governments.

Keywords: house prices, housing affordability, housing policy, land values, low-income earners

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Authors: HoYoung Son, DongHoon Shin, WooYoung Jung

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This study presented the seismic fragility framework of concrete weir structure subjected to strong seismic ground motions and in particular, concrete aging condition of the weir structure was taken into account in this study. In order to understand the influence of concrete aging on the weir structure, by using probabilistic risk assessment, the analytical seismic fragility of the weir structure was derived for pre- and post-deterioration of concrete. The performance of concrete weir structure after five years was assumed for the concrete aging or deterioration, and according to after five years’ condition, the elastic modulus was simply reduced about one–tenth compared with initial condition of weir structures. A 2D nonlinear finite element analysis was performed considering the deterioration of concrete in weir structures using ABAQUS platform, a commercial structural analysis program. Simplified concrete degradation was resulted in the increase of almost 45% of the probability of failure at Limit State 3, in comparison to initial construction stage, by analyzing the seismic fragility.

Keywords: weir, FEM, concrete, fragility, aging

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Authors: Bing Lu, Shuang Li, Hongyuan Zhou

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The steel–concrete hybrid structure has been extensively employed in high–rise buildings and super high–rise buildings. The light gauge steel–concrete hybrid structure, including light gauge steel structure and concrete hybrid structure, is a new–type steel–concrete hybrid structure, which possesses some advantages of light gauge steel structure and concrete hybrid structure. The seismic behavior and loss assessment of three high–rise buildings with three different concrete hybrid structures were investigated through finite element software, respectively. The three concrete hybrid structures are reinforced concrete column–steel beam (RC‒S) hybrid structure, concrete–filled steel tube column–steel beam (CFST‒S) hybrid structure, and tubed concrete column–steel beam (TC‒S) hybrid structure. The nonlinear time-history analysis of three high–rise buildings under 80 earthquakes was carried out. After simulation, it indicated that the seismic performances of three high–rise buildings were superior. Under extremely rare earthquakes, the maximum inter–storey drifts of three high–rise buildings are significantly lower than 1/50. The inter–storey drift and floor acceleration of high–rise building with CFST‒S hybrid structure were bigger than those of high–rise buildings with RC‒S hybrid structure, and smaller than those of high–rise building with TC‒S hybrid structure. Then, based on the time–history analysis results, the post-earthquake repair cost ratio and repair time of three high–rise buildings were predicted through an economic performance analysis method proposed in FEMA‒P58 report. Under frequent earthquakes, basic earthquakes and rare earthquakes, the repair cost ratio and repair time of three high-rise buildings were less than 5% and 15 days, respectively. Under extremely rare earthquakes, the repair cost ratio and repair time of high-rise buildings with TC‒S hybrid structure were the most among three high rise buildings. Due to the advantages of CFST-S hybrid structure, it could be extensively employed in high-rise buildings subjected to earthquake excitations.

Keywords: seismic behavior, loss assessment, light gauge steel–concrete hybrid structure, high–rise building, time–history analysis

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Authors: Luthfi Assholam Solamat

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Nowadays many people do not know the soil failure pattern as an important part in planning the under structure caused by the loading occurs. This is because the soil is located under the foundation, so it cannot be seen directly. Based on this study, the idea occurs to do a study for testing the soil failure pattern, especially the type of sand soil under the foundation. The necessity of doing this to the design of building structures on the land which is the initial part of the foundation structure that met with waves/vibrations during an earthquake. If the underground structure is not strong it is feared the building thereon more vulnerable to the risk of building damage. This research focuses on the search of soil failure pattern, which the most applicable in the field with the loading periodic re-testing of a particular time with the help of the integrated video visual observations performed. The results could be useful for planning under the structure in an effort to try the upper structure is minimal risk of the earthquake.

Keywords: soil failure pattern, earthquake, under structure, sand soil testing method

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Authors: Suresh Narayana, Chaitanya Akkannavar

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Assessment of behavior of reinforced concrete structures subjected to fire load, and its behavior for the multi-floor fire have been presented in this paper. This research is the part of the study to evaluate the performance of ten storied RC structure when it is subjected to fire loads at multiple floors and to evaluate the post-fire effects on structure such as deflection and stresses occurring due to combined effect of static and thermal loading. Thermal loading has been assigned to different floor levels to estimate the critical floors that initiate the collapse of the structure. The structure has been modeled and analyzed in Solid Works and commercially available Finite Element Software ABAQUS. Results are analyzed, and particular design solution has been suggested.

Keywords: collapse mechanism, fire analysis, RC structure, stress vs temperature

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Authors: Fateh Adhnouss, Husam El-Asfour, Kenneth McIsaac, AbdulMutalib Wahaishi, Idris El-Feghia

Abstract:

Conceptualization is an essential component of semantic ontology-based approaches. There have been several approaches that rely on extensional structure and extensional reduction structure in order to construct conceptualization. In this paper, several limitations are highlighted relating to their applicability to the construction of conceptualizations in dynamic and open environments. These limitations arise from a number of strong assumptions that do not apply to such environments. An intensional structure is strongly argued to be a natural and adequate modeling approach. This paper presents a conceptualization structure based on property relations and propositions theory (PRP) to the model ontology that is suitable for open environments. The model extends the First-Order Logic (FOL) notation and defines the formal representation that enables interoperability between software systems and supports semantic integration for software systems in open, dynamic environments.

Keywords: conceptualization, ontology, extensional structure, intensional structure

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Authors: F. N. Bolu-Steve, T. A. Ajiboye

Abstract:

A study was carried out on the awareness of counselling needs of psychiatric patients as perceived by medical personnel in the Federal Neuropsychiatric hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Nigeria. The respondents comprised of medical personnel of the Neuropsychiatric hospital in Aro. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The target population of the study consisted of all medical doctors treating the psychiatric patients. A total of 200 respondents participated in the study out of which 143 were males and 57 of them were females. With their years of experience as a medical doctors, 49.5% of them have worked between 1-5 years, 30.5% of the respondents have 6-10 years’ experience while those with 16 years and above experience are 7.0%. The major counselling need of psychiatric patients as expressed by medical doctors is the need to have information about the right balance diet. The data were analyzed using percentages, mean, frequency, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and t-test statistical tools. The instrument used for data collection was the structured questionnaire titled “Counselling Needs of Psychiatric Patients Questionnaire” (CNPPQ). This instrument was drafted by the researchers through the review of related literature. The reliability of the instrument was established using test-retest method. A reliability index of 0.74 was obtained. Three of the hypotheses were rejected while two of them were accepted at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that broad based counselling services should be provided to psychiatric patients in order to assist them to develop positive self- image and to cope with their challenges.

Keywords: counselling, needs, psychiatric, medical personnel, patients

Procedia PDF Downloads 396