1,094 research outputs found
Renting in converted green buildings : exploratory study on office tenants views
PURPOSE : Greening the existing stock of non-green office buildings in
South Africa is a significant challenge faced by the local green
industry. This study evaluated the opinions of tenants of nongreen
office buildings in Gauteng, South Africa on renting green
office space in existing office buildings.
METHODOLOGY : This report builds on a previous study by Hoffman & Pedregal1 on
the opinions and believes of Gauteng office tenants on converting
existing office buildings into Green Star SA certified buildings.
Data was acquired with a Likert-scale based questionnaire
completed by 32 randomly selected commercial office tenants
from A-rated office buildings in Sandton, Rosebank and
Centurion.
FINDINGS : The study indicated that 81% of office tenants support knowledge
about environmental sustainability but only 50% have green
building strategies and only 22% are considering renting space
in a converted Green Star SA certified office building soon. Small
firms and recently established firms were much less supportive
of green building practices.
LIMITATIONS : A larger, more representative follow-up study is necessary to
provide industry stakeholders with more authoritative findings. More specific information is required on what will persuade
tenants to actively pursue green office space.
VALUE : This study described the views of commercial office tenants
regarding renting green office space offered in existing office
buildings. Evidence was provided that supplying focussed
information and education to office tenants may be an efficient
way to stimulate demand for green office spacehttp://asocsa.orgpublications.htmlam2018Construction Economic
Evaluation of office space utilisation in South African municipalities
PURPOSE: Office space planning requires design skills and space
planning norms to ensure space efficient office areas allowing
occupants to perform optimally. No specific space norms exist for
South African municipalities. Municipal facilities are unique and
fulfil many functions, challenging the application of space norms.
This study was part of work commissioned by the Development
Bank of South Africa (DBSA) to understand municipal office space
use in preparing a guideline for future municipal office building
funding applications. The study evaluated current South African
municipal office space allocation, compared it to office space
planning norms for South African organs of state and identified
possible challenges to applying the said space planning norms
to municipal office space planning.
DESIGN: The study was based on data from fieldwork surveys by
professional quantity surveyors and valuators on municipal office
space utilisation. Time and cost constraints restricted the survey to
non-metropolitan municipalities in four provinces. The study adopted
qualitative and quantitative methods to reach the findings.
FINDINGS: The study revealed significant comparisons and deviations
from South African and international space planning norms
and identified challenges for municipalities to apply space planning
norms. VALUE: This study provides insight into the current state and
efficiency of municipal office space utilisation. By identifying
challenges for applying space planning norms to municipalities
the study suggests where future action should be focused to address
the problem.http://asocsa.org/publications.htmlam201
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Dynamic pulse buckling of cylindrical shells under axial impact: A benchmark study of 2D and 3D finite element calculations
A series of tests investigating dynamic pulse buckling of a cylindrical shell under axial impact is compared to several 2D and 3D finite element simulations of the event. The purpose of the work is to investigate the performance of various analysis codes and element types on a problem which is applicable to radioactive material transport packages, and ultimately to develop a benchmark problem to qualify finite element analysis codes for the transport package design industry. During the pulse buckling tests, a buckle formed at each end of the cylinder, and one of the two buckles became unstable and collapsed. Numerical simulations of the test were performed using PRONTO, a Sandia developed transient dynamics analysis code, and ABAQUS/Explicit with both shell and continuum elements. The calculations are compared to the tests with respect to deformed shape and impact load history
'Investigating water supply challenges in the Elias Motsoaledi Municipality of Limpopo Province, South Africa : a case of Motetema Settlement
PURPOSE : The study discussed water supply challenges in rural South
Africa and evaluated community perceptions of the municipal
capacity. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : Municipal planning documents described the targeted study
area. Questionnaires by 98 randomly selected community
respondents profiled the respondents and evaluated several
aspects of water delivery in the community. FINDINGS : The results reveal several operational challenges. Water delivery
was sporadic and unreliable, the water quality was poor and the
breakdowns response time was unacceptable. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS : The causes of the water delivery problems were not investigated.
The study suggested solutions and was restricted to one
municipal area only. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS : The local municipality should response should focus on quality
control, monitoring, training, funding and capacity building of
their service delivery function. More efficient communication
with the community is required. WHAT IS ORIGINAL/VALUE OF THE PAPER : Several water service delivery challenges were revealed and will
be of value to the municipality to mobilise, plan and structure a
proper response to challenges.http://asocsa.orgpublications.htmlam2017Construction Economic
Defect and anisotropic gap induced quasi-one-dimensional modulation of local density of states in YBaCuO
Motivated by recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES)
measurement that superconducting YBaCuO (YBCO) exhibits a
-symmetry gap, we show possible quasi-one-dimensional
modulations of local density of states in YBCO. These aniostropic gap and
defect induced stripe structures are most conspicuous at higher biases and
arise due to the nesting effect associated with a Fermi liquid. Observation of
these spectra by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) would unify the picture
among STM, ARPES, and inelastic neutron scattering for YBCO.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Circular dichroism and Raman optical activity in antiferromagnetic transition metal fluorides
The Raman optical activity (ROA) of magnons in rutile-structure antiferromagnetic FeF₂
(TN = 78 K) has been studied as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field. For exciting
light incident along the c axis, ROA is observed for magnons but not for phonons. In zero field, a
small splitting (0.09 cm⁻¹) of the two acoustic–magnon branches is observed for the first time by
inelastic light scattering. The splitting in applied magnetic field is found to reduce with increasing
temperature in accordance with theory. No ROA was detected for two-magnon excitations. In optical
absorption measurements performed over thirty years ago, a very small circular dichroism
(CD) was observed in the magnon sidebands of other simple rutile antiferromagnetic fluorides
(MnF₂ and CoF₂). The origin of this CD was not understood at the time. The Raman studies of the
one-magnon Raman scattering in FeF₂ have demonstrated that in zero field the degeneracy of the
antiferromagnetic magnon branches is lifted by a weak magnetic dipole–dipole interaction, as predicted
by Pincus and Loudon and by White four decades ago. The source of the observed CD in the
magnon sidebands can now be traced to this same magnetic–dipole induced splitting
In Reply
In Reply - When comparing the infection risks of transparent
vs gauze dressings used on central venous catheters, the
RRs were 1.78 for catheter-tip infection, 1.63 for bacteremia,
and 1.69 for catheter sepsis. These RRs represent the best
assessment of the overall risk associated with the use of
transparent dressings. (For catheter-tip infection, P<.001;
for catheter sepsis, P=.06.) In our discussion we used the
word "trend" in discussing this level of significance. The
choice of .05 as the level of "statistical significance" is arbitrary,
and given the RRs demonstrated in the meta-analysis,
further studies are warranted before accepting transparent
dressings as safe
Magnetic switching in granular FePt layers promoted by near-field laser enhancement
Light-matter interaction at the nanoscale in magnetic materials is a topic of
intense research in view of potential applications in next-generation
high-density magnetic recording. Laser-assisted switching provides a pathway
for overcoming the material constraints of high-anisotropy and high-packing
density media, though much about the dynamics of the switching process remains
unexplored. We use ultrafast small-angle x-ray scattering at an x-ray
free-electron laser to probe the magnetic switching dynamics of FePt
nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix following excitation by an optical
femtosecond laser pulse. We observe that the combination of laser excitation
and applied static magnetic field, one order of magnitude smaller than the
coercive field, can overcome the magnetic anisotropy barrier between "up" and
"down" magnetization, enabling magnetization switching. This magnetic switching
is found to be inhomogeneous throughout the material, with some individual FePt
nanoparticles neither switching nor demagnetizing. The origin of this behavior
is identified as the near-field modification of the incident laser radiation
around FePt nanoparticles. The fraction of not-switching nanoparticles is
influenced by the heat flow between FePt and a heat-sink layer
Axion-like particles as ultra high energy cosmic rays?
If Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) with E>4 10^{19} eV originate from
BL Lacertae at cosmological distances as suggested by recent studies, the
absence of the GZK cutoff can not be reconciled with Standard-Model particle
properties. Axions would escape the GZK cutoff, but even the coherent
conversion and back-conversion between photons and axions in large-scale
magnetic fields is not enough to produce the required flux. However, one may
construct models of other novel (pseudo)scalar neutral particles with
properties that would allow for sufficient rates of particle production in the
source and shower production in the atmosphere to explain the observations. As
an explicit example for such particles we consider SUSY models with light
sgoldstinos.Comment: 5 pages, 2 postscript figures, ref. adde
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