The application of BIM tools to explore the dynamic characteristics of smart materials in a contemporary Shanashil building design element

Traditional architecture is known for its crafted facade features that respond to environmental, social and cultural requirements. Contemporary architecture produced façade features that attempted to enhance local design identity and local culture. Despite the advantages of modern technology, architectural elements have difficulties in fulfilling the idea of sustainable elegance that once traditional elements provided. This problem calls for an interdisciplinary design approach to deliver sustainable design solutions that positively adapt to the surrounding environment as well as maintain the state of elegance in design. With this in mind, the research aims to explore the role of new glass technologies to improve the performance and at the same time maintain the design value of traditional façade element “shanashil” in Baghdadi buildings. This research utilises BIM tools and uses smart materials to restore the lost value in design, which mimics the dynamic characteristics observed in nature, inspired by biomimetics strategies. Such qualities are found in the characteristics of smart dynamic glazing material particularly in the switchable, reversible properties of transparency and coloration efficiency. The material characteristics are attached to a 3D digital prototype to visualise the difference between dynamic and static properties through the use of technology tools Revit plugin and smart glazing virtual reality prototype. This research concludes that the dynamic characteristics of smart glazing materials are effective in delivering a multifunctional design quality to collectively blend in harmony with the surrounding environment

Bayesian methods for analysing pesticide contamination with uncertain covariates

Two chemical properties of pesticides are thought to control their environmental fate. These are the adsorption coefficient k(_oc) and soil half-life t(^soil_1/2). This study aims to demonstrate the use of Bayesian methods in exploring whether or not it is possible to discriminate between pesticides that leach from those that do not leach on the basis of their chemical properties, when the monitored values of these properties are uncertain, in the sense that there are a range of values reported for both k(_oc) and t(^soil_1/2) - The study was limited to 43 pesticides extracted from the UK Environment Agency (EA) where complete information was available regarding these pesticides. In addition, analysis of data from a separate study, known as "Gustafson's data”, with a single value reported for k(_oc) and t(^soil_1/2) was used as prior information for the EA data. Bayesian methods to analyse the EA data are proposed in this thesis. These methods use logistic regression with random covariates and prior information derives from (i) available United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data base values of k(_oc) and t(^soil_1/2) for the covariates and (ii) Gustafson's data for the regression parameters. They are analysed by means of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation techniques via the freely available WinBUGS software and R package. These methods have succeeded in providing a complete or a good separation between leaching and non-leaching pesticide

Pathological, Bacteriological and Prevalence Studies Of Ovine Footrot

Ovine footrot, is a disease associated with infection by the bacterium Dichelobacter nodosus. It is a disease that limits the productivity or sheep-farming enterprises throughout the world. Both wool production and body weight are adversely affected during the clinical phase of the infection. Ovine footrot has become an important contagious disease in Malaysia. The first confirmed case of footrot was reported in a government sheep farm in mid-198Os. The disease is now present ill other farms throughout the country, and local vaccine is being used to reduce the disease. Previous studies have identified D. nodosus in three sheep farms ill Malaysia and only serogroup B was identified. The possible presence of other D. nodosus serogroups and scrotypes is unknown. This study attempts to isolate and identify the unknown serogroups and serotypes so as develop a better vaccine candidate using local isolates of D. nodosus. Eight sheep farms were investigated in this study. Four sheep farms were found to be infected with D. nodosus. Two hundred and ninety-three D. nodosus isolates were obtained from 741 foot samples. Five serogroups were identified in Malaysia. This is the first study where serogroups A, C, F and I with their serotypes AI, A2, CI, FI and F2 were identified in the infected sheep farms. Serogroup B was the predominant serogroup isolated (78.2%) while the isolation percentages for serogroups F, A, I and C were 7.9%, 7.5%, 3.8% and 2.7% respectively. The information on the pathogenesis of the disease is still lacking despite previous studies on ovine footrot. Interdigital cutaneous changes associate with footrot in sheep is not well documented. The disease was induced experimentally in sheep by topical application of bacterial isolates on the interdigital skin of the hoof, and light and electron microscopy studies of the lesions were conducted. Virulent footrot was observed by a gross progressive separation of the horny tissues from the soft tissues. On day 21 post inoculation (p.i.), a complete separation of the hoof from the underrunning structures and lameness were evident. The benign footrot was observed with mild interdigital dermatitis and all infected feet completely recovered on day 21 p.i.. Histopathological changes in virulent footrot were observed in the interdigital skin layers and hoof matrix. These ranged from acute dermatitis to hyperkeratosis, parakeratosis and acanthosis of the epidermis. Oedema and leukocytic infiltration with neutrophils, macrophages and scanty lymphocytes were also evident in the dennis. Furthermore, vasculitis and perivascular cuffing, lymphangitis and inflammation of the sweat glands were observed in the dermis. The histopathological changes of benign footrot were less severe than virulent form in the epidermis and there were no pathological changes in the dermis. In scanning electron microscopy, a severe zone of lysis appearing as a surface depression around bacteria in the horny layer of the interdigital skin of the hoof was detected in virulent footrot, while this lesion was less severe in the benign form. Transmission electron microscopy revealed degeneration in the epiderm is and dermis. Degeneration in the basal cell layer of the epidermis and the basement membrane in virulent form of footrot, which have not been reported previously was observed in this study. Dichelobacter nodosus was observed in the lesions of the epidermis and dermis of virulent footrot. Its' isolation from characteristic foot lesions indicated that it was associated with footrot. Immunohistochemistry observations validate the relationship between the lesions seen in footrot and virulent D. nodosus. Immunogold staining technique facilitates to detection and localisation of D. nodosus for electron microscopy. Specific reactions were labelled in components and the matrix of epidermis and dermis of the interdigital skin. Dichelobacter nodosus antigen labelled with 5 nm gold particles was observed in the intracellular and intercellular spaces of the epidermis. This is the first report where immunogold labelling technique have been used in the study of footrot lesions in sheep for electron microscopical observations. The total monthly rainfall and mean daily temperature have a relation to the prevalence rate of the disease. These conditions provide suitable environment propagation of D. nodosus. The overall prevalence of footrot in the eight farms investigated was 3.3%. The highest prevalence was recorded in April (0.8%), while the lowest in August (0.3%) in IHK farm by survey study. Observations described in this study were made to define the prevalence are related to seasonal conditions, but the effect of rainfall overrides all other factors for footrot to occur. Adults were more susceptible than weaners. No cases were detected in preweaners. The prevalence by sex which was 4.4% in the male and 7.7% in the female was significant (p=O.009). No significant difference in prevalence rates between breeds was detected

Effect of Mineral Acids on Rooting Response of Aging Mung Bean (Phaseolus aureus Roxb. ) Cuttings via Indole Acetic Acid Level

The influence of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as a strong mineral acid on rooting response of fresh and aging mung bean cuttings has been studied on the level of (IAA) . The data revealed significant increase in rooting response of aged cuttings      ( for 3 days in d/H2O ) with (0.001 and 0.01%) concentrations of H2SO4 solution and highly significant increase in rooting response of aged cuttings (for 3 days in H2SO4 solution) with (0.0001 , 0.001 and 0.01%) concentration , While highly concentration (0.1 and 0.5 %) revealed highly significant decrease in rooting response compared to control (d/H2O). Quantitative estimation of IAA by spectrophotometric method as indicators for oxidative processes that occur during aging phenomenon verified a highly significant increase of IAA content in hypocotyles of aged cuttings in optimal concentration of H2SO4 . Key words: Aging, IAA biosynthesis, Rooting response, Mineral acids, Macronutrients, Stem cuttings

Optimizing Program Efficiency with Loop Unroll Factor Prediction

Loop unrolling is a well-established code transformation technique that can improve the performance of a program at runtime. The key benefit of unrolling a loop is that it often requires fewer instruction executions than the original loop. However, determining the optimal number of loop unrolling is a critical concern. This paper presents a novel method for predicting the optimal unroll factor for a given program. Specifically, a dataset is constructed that includes the execution times of several programs with varying loop unroll factors. The programs are sourced from different benchmarks, such as Ploybench, Shooutout, and other programs. Similarity measures between the unseen program and the existing programs are computed, and the three most similar programs are identified. The unroll factor that led to the greatest reduction in execution time for the most similar programs is selected as the candidate for the unseen program. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can enhance the performance of training programs for unroll factors of 2, 4, 6, and 8 by approximately 13%, 18%, 19%, and 21%, respectively. For the unseen programs, the speedup rate is approximately 37.7% for five programs