THE EVOLUTION OF THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF MASONRY BUILDINGS IN AUSTRALIA

Masonry is a construction material which is widely used in Australia in a number of forms (fired clay, concrete, calcium silicate, natural stone, autoclaved aerated concrete) and in a wide range of both loadbearing and non-loadbearing applications. As such, it serves as the primary structural element in structures such as 3-4 story “walk up” apartment buildings or low rise commercial structures, or as a veneer or infill in housing or high rise framed construction. Despite its current widespread use, for masonry to remain a viable construction material in the future, design and construction practices need to be flexible, able to adapt to change and be receptive to innovation. This applies not only to advances in materials technology and the development of new products and building systems, but also an effective response to changes in the regulatory framework which have an increasing emphasis on thermal and acoustic performance, seismic resistance and sustainable practices. In this context, an overview of the Australian past, present and possible future masonry scene is given

Should Canadian Medical Schools Implement a Widespread 3 Year Medical Curriculum?

Background: This paper addresses the potential costs and benefits of implementing a widespread 3 year medical curriculum across the country.Methods: We compared differences in curriculum, costs, workforce production, competency, exposure to experiences, timing of career choices, and maturity of students and physicians between 3 and 4 year programs.  We accessed this information from 5 school’s online course outlines and by performing a broad search of the literature.Results- Three and four year medical programs have very similar curricular content.  The most significant cost savings in a 3 year medical program are due to these students entering the workforce a year earlier.   A 3 year program would add more physicians to our workforce initially; however, more doctors are produced over the long term by expanding class sizes.  Test scores of graduates from 3 year programs in Canada and the US are similar to graduates from 4 year medical programs.  A shorter program could limit the exposure of students to extra curriculars and force them to make earlier career decisions; however, time spent in electives appears to be similar.Conclusions: We do not find enough compelling evidence to advocate switching all medical schools in Canada to a 3 year medical program. 

Current understandings of sex-based harassment and stalking perpetration

Sex-based harassment and stalking are highly prevalent forms of interpersonal aggression that often result in an array of detrimental and severe impacts for victims. In this chapter, we examine some of the common challenges associated with defining and legislating against sex-based harassment and stalking, as well as considering existing classifications of behaviour and perpetrator motivations. In doing so, our aim is to highlight the complex nature of these forms of interpersonal aggression and the difficulties associated with ascertaining boundaries between ‘reasonable’ and ‘unreasonable’ behaviour. We proceed to discuss the importance of appropriately targeted evidence-based educational campaigns to increase public awareness and understanding regarding the reality of sex-based harassment and stalking. Our conclusion is that increased education will enable greater recognition of the diverse behaviours that constitute sex-based harassment and stalking, so that people are better able to identify both their own and others’ victimisation experiences

A fully coupled, 6 degree-of-freedom, aerodynamic and vehicle handling crosswind simulation using the DrivAer model

In a real-world environment, a vehicle on the road is subjected to a range of flow yaw angles, the most severe of which can impact handling and stability. A fully coupled, six degrees-of-freedom CFD and vehicle handling simulation has modelled the complete closed loop system. Varying flow yaw angles are introduced via time dependent boundary conditions and aerodynamic loads predicted, whilst a handling model running simultaneously calculates the resulting vehicle response. Updates to the vehicle position and orientation within the CFD simulation are achieved using the overset grid method. Using this approach, a crosswind simulation that follows the parameters of ISO 12021:2010 (Sensitivity to lateral wind - Open-loop test method using wind generator input), was performed using the fastback variant of the DrivAer model. Fully coupled aerodynamic and vehicle response was compared to that obtained using the simplified quasi-steady and unsteady, one way coupled method. Between the quasi-steady and unsteady simulations, an overshoot in aerodynamic yaw moment for the latter resulted in a larger lateral deviation of approximately 8%. However, the differences in responses between the transient, one-way and fully coupled methods were small for this particular geometry. It is expected that by increasing gust length, differences will appear, as the vehicle is exposed to the larger flow yaw angle for a longer period

Monthly average daily global and diffuse solar radiation based on sunshine duration and clearness index for Brasov, Romania

The main objective of this study is to develop single location appropriate models for the estimation of the monthly average daily global and diffuse horizontal solar radiation for Brasov, Romania. The study focuses particularly on models based on the sunshine duration and clearness index. The data used for the calibration of the models were collected during a period of 4 yr, between November 2008 and October 2012, at the Transilvania University of Brasov. The testing and validation of the models was carried out using data from the online SoDa database for Brasov for the year 2005. Different statistical error tests were applied to evaluate the accuracy of the models. The predicted values are also compared with values from three other known models concerning the global and diffuse solar radiation. A new mixed model was developed for the estimation of monthly average daily global horizontal solar radiation. The data processing was performed by means of a real-time interface developed with LabVIEW graphical programming language. The parameters taken into account were the relative sunshine, the clearness index, the extraterrestrial radiation, the latitude and the longitude. The methodology is simple and effective and may be applied for any region. Its effectiveness was proven through comparison with global models

Composing and realising a game-like performance for disklavier and electronics

“Climb!” is a musical composition that combines the ideas of a classical virtuoso piece and a computer game. We present a case study of the composition process and realization of “Climb!”, written for Disklavier and a digital interactive engine, which was co-developed together with the musical score. Specifically, the engine combines a system for recognising and responding to musical trigger phrases along with a dynamic digital score renderer. This tool chain allows for the composer’s original scoring to include notational elements such as trigger phrases to be automatically extracted to auto-configure the engine for live performance. We reflect holistically on the development process to date and highlight the emerging challenges and opportunities. For example, this includes the potential for further developing the workflow around the scoring process and the ways in which support for musical triggers has shaped the compositional approach