STATIC ANALYSIS OF SHEAR WALLS USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Shear wall is an important member resisting the lateral forces such as wind and earthquakes forces in the high rise buildings. Different structural models were used for the analysis of shear walls in building. The simplest model for the shear wall is a frame structure using beam/column element. FEM is widely used for analyzing complicated structural systems. The selected structural model must be simple, produce accurate result and be economical. The presence of the opening in shear wall structure further complicated the analysis of this structure and required a special attention. This study covers static structural analysis of solid shear wall as well as shear walls with different opening arrangements. The shear walls were modeled using beam/column and different F.E meshes. The study focuses on the accuracy and effectiveness of different structural models for analyzing shear wall structure. The structural behavior in terms of deformation and stresses distribution are presented and discussed

Strategic management of population programs

Formal strategic planning and management appear to contribute to organizational effectiveness. The author surveys the literature on strategic management in private/for-profit organizations and applies lessons from that literature to population programs. Few would argue that population programs would not benefit from strategic planning and management, but it would be inadvisable to initiate the process when the organization is faced with a short-term crisis; during or immediately before a change in leadership; or when implementation is unlikely. Public sector programs seem to have the latitude to manage strategically. Models available for adoption include life-cycle models, strategic issues management, stakeholder analysis, and portfolio analysis. The model selected may be a function of: (1) who will use it (life-cycle/evolutionary models may be well-suited to the planning needs of donors); (2) the presence of challenges to the survival of the program or to key components of it (stakeholder analysis would find ready application in those circumstances); and (3) the relative success and stability of the program (portfolio analysis may help a program balance its activities in a stable environment whereas strategic issues management is useful in responding to a dynamic environment.) It is important to marshall top-level support, designatewho will do the leg work, analyze the organization's history and current situation, assess internal strengths and weaknesses and external threats and opportunities, and summarize critical issues facing the program. Then a strategy may be developed. Among the available approaches are: (1) scenario developments (useful for a program that senses a need to change its approach to clients); (2) critical issues analysis (useful for refining successful programs); and (3) a goal approach (useful for programs with diffuse, ill-defined objectives). There are no short-cuts, it is argued. A strategic plan typically contains: (1) a mission statement that describes the social need to be addressed, what is unique about the organization, what its values are, and who the principal stakeholders are; (2) a statement of the population to be served and goals for service delivery and quality standards; (3) a service delivery strategy; (4) a financial strategy; (5) a marketing strategy; and (6) support strategies. Most organizations will find that there is no ideal structure - all require tradeoffs - and that attention should focus on eliminating patently dysfunctional aspects of the structure.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,ICT Policy and Strategies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Educational Sciences,Enterprise Development&Reform

The influence of school and teaching quality on children’s progress in primary school

This report investigates the way school and classroom processes affect the cognitive progress and social/behavioural development of children between the ages of 6 (Year 1) and 10 (Year 5) in primary schools in England. The research is part of the larger longitudinal study of Effective Pre-School and Primary Education (EPPE 3-11) funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) that is following children’s cognitive and social/behavioural development from ages 3 to 11 years. The EPPE 3-11 study investigates both pre-school and primary school influences on children’s attainment, progress and social/behavioural development. This report describes the results of quantitative analyses based on a subsample of 1160 EPPE children across Year 1 to 5 of primary education. The research builds on the earlier analyses of children’s Reading and Mathematics attainments and social/behavioural outcomes in Year 5 for the full EPPE 3-11 sample (see Sammons, 2007a; 2007b), by investigating relationships between children’s outcomes and measures of classroom processes, collected through direct observation of Year 5 classes in 125 focal schools chosen from the larger EPPE 3-11 data set. The analyses also explore patterns of association between children’s outcomes and broader measures of overall school characteristics derived from teacher questionnaires and Ofsted inspection reports for this sub-sample of schools

Effects of Transit Signal Priority on Traffic Safety: Interrupted Time Series Analysis of Portland, Oregon, Implementations

Transit signal priority (TSP) has been implemented to transit systems in many cities of the United States. In evaluating TSP systems, more attention has been given to its operational effects than to its safety effects. Existing studies assessing safety effects of TSP reported mixed results, indicating that the safety effects of TSP vary in different contexts. In this study, TSP implementations in Portland, Oregon, were assessed using interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) on month-to-month changes in number of crashes from January 1995 to December 2010. Single-group and controlled ITSA were conducted for all crashes, property-damage-only crashes, fatal and injury crashes, pedestrian-involved crashes, and bike-involved crashes. Evaluation of the post-intervention period (2003 to 2010) showed a reduction in all crashes on street sections with TSP (-4.5 percent), comparing with the counterfactual estimations based on the control group data. The reduction in property-damage-only crashes (-10.0 percent) contributed the most to the overall reduction. Fatal and injury crashes leveled out after TSP implementation but did not change significantly comparing with the control group. Pedestrian and bike-involved crashes were found to increase in the post-intervention period with TSP, comparing with the control group. Potential reasons to these TSP effects on traffic safety were discussed.Comment: Published in Accident Analysis & Preventio