Sect and House in Syria: History, Architecture, and Bayt Amongst the Druze in Jaramana

This paper explores the connections between the architecture and materiality of houses and the social idiom of bayt (house, family). The ethnographic exploration is located in the Druze village of Jaramana, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. It traces the histories, genealogies, and politics of two families, bayt Abud-Haddad and bayt Ouward, through their houses. By exploring the two families and the architecture of their houses, this paper provides a detailed ethnographic account of historical change in modern Syria, internal diversity, and stratification within the intimate social fabric of the Druze neighbourhood at a time of war, and contributes a relational approach to the anthropological understanding of houses

Effect of relative density and velocity towards dynamic response of metal foam

Dynamic response of ALPORAS aluminium foam has been investigated experimentally and numerically. The dynamic response is quantified by the force produced as the foam deforms as a function of time. Quasi-static tests are conducted to determine the quasistatic properties of the foam. In the impact test, the aluminium foams are fired towards a rigid load-cell and the force signals developed are recorded. Experimental dynamic stress is also compared with theoretical prediction using existing theory. Finite element model is constructed using LS-DYNA to simulate the impact test. Results from the experiment, finite element analysis and theoretical prediction are in acceptable agreement. Finally, parametric studies have been conducted using the verified model to investigate the effect of impact velocity and relative density towards the dynamic response of the foam projectile. It is found that the dynamic response of the foam is more sensitive towards impact velocity as compare with the foam relative density