A brief note on Early Abbasid stucco decoration. Madinat al-Far and the first Friday Mosque of Isfahan

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how an in-depth study of the stucco decoration could be useful in dating different phases of the Early Abbasid period in the absence of other precise archaeological evidence. Two case studies are presented: the residence of Madinat al-Far in Syria and the Early Abbasid Mosque of Iṣfahān in Iran

The Feasibility of Reclaiming Shell Material from Investment Casting

This report examines the feasibility of investment shell component reclamation. Shell material components and their compositions are investigated with an industry survey, a study of the available literature, and analysis of specimen shell materials. physical properties and factors related to the reclamation and reuse of shell materials are described. Well known mineral processing methods are capable of producing concentrates of the various shell components. The theory and techniques of some applicable processes are discussed to assist with the development of reclamation operations. The recommended methods are; comminution by roll crushing, component concentration by screening, gravity settling or heavy medium separation. Aluminosilicate stucco (a major component of many investment shells) can be recovered in a form suitable for reuse as backup stucco. Zircon (a minor component in many shell compositions) -can be concentrated in an impure form, and subsequent caustic liberation treatments can remove the intermixed silica phases. Reuse of such zircon in investment casting may be possible but will require careful qualification testing. Fused and crystalline silica (major components of most shell compositions) are not reusable for investment casting. The feasibility of reclamation will be influenced by individual foundry choices of materials, composition and shell practice.HWRIC Project No. RRT-10NTIS PB92-16219

Improving Loss Estimation for Woodframe Buildings. Volume 2: Appendices

This report documents Tasks 4.1 and 4.5 of the CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project. It presents a theoretical and empirical methodology for creating probabilistic relationships between seismic shaking severity and physical damage and loss for buildings in general, and for woodframe buildings in particular. The methodology, called assembly-based vulnerability (ABV), is illustrated for 19 specific woodframe buildings of varying ages, sizes, configuration, quality of construction, and retrofit and redesign conditions. The study employs variations on four basic floorplans, called index buildings. These include a small house and a large house, a townhouse and an apartment building. The resulting seismic vulnerability functions give the probability distribution of repair cost as a function of instrumental ground-motion severity. These vulnerability functions are useful by themselves, and are also transformed to seismic fragility functions compatible with the HAZUS software. The methods and data employed here use well-accepted structural engineering techniques, laboratory test data and computer programs produced by Element 1 of the CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project, other recently published research, and standard construction cost-estimating methods. While based on such well established principles, this report represents a substantially new contribution to the field of earthquake loss estimation. Its methodology is notable in that it calculates detailed structural response using nonlinear time-history structural analysis as opposed to the simplifying assumptions required by nonlinear pushover methods. It models physical damage at the level of individual building assemblies such as individual windows, segments of wall, etc., for which detailed laboratory testing is available, as opposed to two or three broad component categories that cannot be directly tested. And it explicitly models uncertainty in ground motion, structural response, component damageability, and contractor costs. Consequently, a very detailed, verifiable, probabilistic picture of physical performance and repair cost is produced, capable of informing a variety of decisions regarding seismic retrofit, code development, code enforcement, performance-based design for above-code applications, and insurance practices

AL-Fudayn. An Umayyad Residence in Northern Jordan

The site of al-Fudayn, to the northeast of ʿAmmān and including a mosque, some residential units and baths, is part of the “developed” Umayyad residences; furthermore, the stucco decoration of the qiblī wall plays an important role in the study of Umayyad art as it is the only example, as far as we know, that can be entirely reconstructed; the aim of this essay is to describe the site and suggest its dating through comparison

2008 Iowa Real Property Appraisal Manual, May 2008

********NOTE: There are nine sections to this manual, all in separate files.************* **********NOTE: Large files may take longer to open******** The basis of real property assessment in Iowa is market value as defined in Iowa Code §441.21. Iowa Code §§ 421.17(17) and 441.21(h) provide that assessment jurisdictions follow the guidelines and rules in this manual to help achieve uniformity in assessments. Assessors are encouraged to use the International Association of Assessing Officers’ Standard on Mass Appraisal of Real Property in their mass appraisal practices. Estimating market value in mass appraisal involves accurately listing properties, developing a sales file that includes the primary influences on market value, and developing models for subsets of properties that share common market influences using recognized mass appraisal techniques. The assessment of an individual property should not be based solely on the sale price. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) standard 6 says “In developing a mass appraisal, an appraiser must be aware of, understand, and correctly employ those recognized methods and techniques necessary to produce and communicate credible mass appraisals.” Accurate listing of property is the basis of a good mass appraisal program. On-site inspection and listing of property is essential in developing a good data base for revaluation. A physical review, including an on-site verification of property characteristics, should be conducted at least every four to six years. Land values should be reviewed every two years. Factors influencing the market of each property type should be identified and collected so that these factors can be considered in the mass appraisal model. It is equally important to maintain the data once it is collected. Accessing local government permit systems should be a part of a good data maintenance program along with an inspection program. Current cadastral maps and geographical information systems (GIS) are tools that are integral in checking accuracy of listings and maintaining a comprehensive data base

The study on the integration of Activity Based Costing (ABC) system and six-sigma principle

Manufacturing organizations are facing much more challenges as compared to the earlier years. The important and crucial decisions have to be taken by the management in continuous basis in order to ensure the survival and competitiveness of company throughout the journey to become a successful organization. In order to make these decisions fast and correct, they need more accurate information related to financial and non-financial aspects. The conventional cost management systems, which were developed decades ago are unable to provide all information required to make right decision, justify the cost reduction and process improvements (Chen, 1996). This is because they were based on labor-intensive production system while today’s production processes are more sophisticated and faces constant changes. An alternative costing system, Activity Based Costing (ABC) has emerged to the new solution to costing system. It provides financial and non-financial information not only for product costing but also for each activity of manufacturing process. It can list and measure the cost of each activity individually in production and in supporting activities to deliver of a product or service right to customers (Sohal & Chung, 1998). ABC focuses on the activities performed to produce the products throughout the manufacturing process (Gunasekaran et al., 1999). By assigning other costs, such as marketing and administrative to cost object, ABC able to provide more accurate product costs. It helps to improve the operational performance by allocating overhead costs correctly. It provides cost information based on the actual consumption of the resources by each particular activity. The goal of ABC is to reveal cost allocation information by tracing the production costs accurately to activities and product (Gunasekaran et al., 1999). The implementation of ABC has provided many benefits, such as more accurate product costing, providing of cost behavior information and tracing resources consumptions. Realizing many benefits gain from implementation of ABC, many companies have embarked in applying ABC system. However, there are many problems and barriers they encountered during the implementation, which made some has decided to abort this system and not be able to exploit its advantages. It is the objective of this study to help foster the growth of Malaysian companies by helping them to provide better understanding,knowledge and skills to take advantage of using ABC as a tool to improve their manufacturing process. The title of the project is The Study on Integration of Activity-based Costing and Six-sigma Principle. The specific objective of the study is to determine success factors for ABC implementation in manufacturing companies based on Six-sigma process improvement principle. The focus of the study is to identify and understand the critical success factors in implementation of ABC, to identify and specified the problems and barriers and to understand their relationship with the ABC success. In order to identify, understand and formulate the proposed solution, this study will use a survey approach to get required data for further analysis. The survey will be based on mailed questionnaires to selected manufacturing industries in Malaysia. In order to formulate a comprehensive and relevant set of questionnaires, a comprehensive review of literature will be studied, followed by validation and verification process,which involved expert opinions and a pilot study. The next phase is where data from the study will be analyzed to identify areas related to the level of acceptance of ABC,the critical success factors and also to determine the relationship between the organization’s factors and the success of implementation of ABC system. The tangible outcome of this project is to provide a set of proposed guidelines and support tools for manufacturing organizations in applying Activity-based Costing for process improvement efforts as suggested by Six-sigma improvement principle

Material effects on strawbale wall seismic capacity

Strawbale construction is a sustainable, viable alternative to conventional building practices. As a newly introduced appendix to the International Residential Code (IRC), the strawbale construction requirements may benefit from further evaluation and possible refinement. Such evaluation and refinement may lead towards code change proposals that will improve the provisions and make strawbale construction safer and more accessible to the general public. This seismic test series addressed the effect of mesh wire type on ductility and the validity of the existing wall slenderness limits. The tests focused on slender walls dominated by flexural deformations. Welded wire mesh wall performed better than the woven wire mesh wall of the same detailing, yet fell short of expected values. Slenderness must continue to be analyzed as the results of a wall using 14” bales were impacted by bale irregularity. The additional tests done as part of this thesis, including vertical load tests and materials testing, added to the understanding of strawbale construction performance and expanded the corpus of strawbale wall test data. All tested walls performed satisfactorily under vertical loading in post-seismic conditions. The purpose of this test series was to validate and potentially suggest improvements to the building code provisions to enhance the prevalence and safety of strawbale construction

Cost-Effectiveness of Stronger Woodframe Buildings

We examine the cost-effectiveness of improvements in woodframe buildings. These include retrofits, redesign measures, and improved quality in 19 hypothetical woodframe dwellings. We estimated cost-effectiveness for each improvement and each zip code in California. The dwellings were designed under the CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project. Costs and seismic vulnerability were determined on a component-by-component basis using the Assembly Based Vulnerability method, within a nonlinear time-history structural-analysis framework and using full-size test specimen data. Probabilistic site hazard was calculated by zip code, considering site soil classification, and integrated with vulnerability to determine expected annualized repair cost. The approach provides insight into uncertainty of loss at varying shaking levels. We calculated present value of benefit to determine cost-effectiveness in terms of benefit-cost ratio (BCR). We find that one retrofit exhibits BCRs as high as 8, and is in excess of 1 in half of California zip codes. Four retrofit or redesign measures are cost-effective in at least some locations. Higher quality is estimated to save thousands of dollars per house. Results are illustrated by maps for the Los Angeles and San Francisco regions and are available for every zip code in California

Дзеркальний інтер'єр іранських палаців і святих місць

Дзеркальний інтер'єр іранських палаців і святих місцьЗеркальные интерьеры иранских дворцов и святых местMirrored interiors of Iran palaces and holy place