Structural Behaviour of Load-Bearing Interlocking Hollow Block Masonry

The structural behaviour of an interlocking block system has been investigated in this research. The interlocking blocks developed by the Housing Research Center, Universiti Putra Malaysia have been used to assemble a number of prisms and wall panels. This interlocking block system has been filed for a patent. Three types of individual blocks are utilized in this research, these are stretcher, comer and half block units. I The research covers the production of the block using a manually controlled machine which has been developed for the production of the three different types of block. The test program includes testing of individual blocks, prisms and different wall panels. Forty individual blocks have been tested under axial compression. Ten prisms have been tested under axial1oad. The failure mechanism were recorded for each type of specimen. Sixteen wall specimens having different height (slenderness ratio), subjected to load applied at different eccentricities, have been tested. The selected heights of the tested walls are 1.2, 1.8, 2.4 and 3.0m. The eccentricity of the applied load is another important parameter considered in testing the wall specimens to simulate the actual nature of the applied load in construction. The values are 0, 20, 40 and 55mm measured from the centerline of the wall panels. The structural behaviour of the wall panel specimens were studied in terms of the load-deflection characteristic, strain-stress distribution, efficiency of the wall and the failure mode of the interlocking walls. The study focuses on the differences and similarities of the behaviour of interlocking walls compared to bonded walls. BS 5628: Part 1: 1978 was used to explore the behaviour of the bonded walls. The study showed that the strength of the interlocking block and its interlocking mechanism were sufficient and that the block can be used for construction of load bearing walls. Based on the test results, a number of mathematical equations have been proposed to predict the reduction in the wall efficiency with the increases of the eccentricity of the applied load and the slenderness ratio of the wall. A design procedure has also been proposed to be used in the design of load bearing interlocking hollow block system

Development of an Interface Analysis Template for System Design Analysis

yesInterface definition is an essential and integral part of systems engineering. In current practice, interface requirements or control documents are generally used to define systems or subsystems interfaces. One of the challenges with the use of such documents in product development process is the diversity in their types, methodology, contents coverage, and structure across various design levels and across multidisciplinary teams, which often impedes the design process. It is important that interface information is described with appropriate detail and minimal or no ambiguity at each design level. The purpose of this paper is to present an interface analysis template (IAT) as a structured tool and coherent methodology, built upon a critical review of existing literature concepts, with the aim of using and implementing the same template for capturing interface requirements at various levels of design starting from stakeholders' level down to component level analysis. The proposed IAT is illustrated through a desktop case study of an electric pencil sharpener, and two examples of application to automotive systems

Application of the interface analysis template for delivering system requirements

yesThis paper presents a structured approach for systems requirements analysis that integrates use case modelling with a coherent flows based approach for describing interface exchanges based on the Interface Analysis Template. The approach is discussed in the context of current frameworks for requirements elicitation from the engineering design and systems engineering domains, and it is illustrated with an automotive case study. This illustrates the strength of the framework to support structured multi-domain and multi-disciplinary analysis of requirements for complex systems

A Framework for Complex Product Architecture Analysis using an Integrated Approach

YesContemporary design decomposition and synthesis analytical tasks at the conceptual design stage reply on functional and structural modelling approaches. There is a wide diversity of elements used by various modelling approaches for information and representation of product architecture, which incurs difficulties for multidisciplinary engineers working across different phases of design in capturing, visualising, sharing and tracing consistent yet common knowledge and elements across the function and structure domains. This prompts for fixation of detail and common modelling knowledge across both functional and structural analytical approaches which is also critical from automatized software perspective. A limitation of existing approaches is that they tend to focus more on ‘what’ and less on ‘how’ (and vice versa). This paper proposes an integrated conceptual product architecting approach that combines and expands the functional and structural modelling approaches, enabling capturing and tracing knowledge coherently through a common binding domain. This is underpinned by the view that most interaction requirements amongst the physical components during structural modelling can be derived from functional modelling. The proposed integrated approach is underpinned by the critical analysis and synthesis of existing approaches in literature dealing with functional and structural architecture analysis, integrated within a Multiple Domain Matrix (MDM) to fuse the knowledge of both solution independent (functional) and dependent (structural) analyses. The proposed framework is illustrated with a case study of solar robot toy, followed by discussion and suggestions for future work

Gender-Based Health Disorders in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients in the Hospital Elmarj City of Libya

End-stage renal disease is the last stage of chronic kidney disease, hence a dangerous disease and poses many problems for the patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the risk factors for end-stage renal disease in Elmarj, Libya. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires to the respondents. The questionnaire was a set of written questions used to obtain information from respondents, be it their personal statements or things that they knew. The questionnaires were distributed to the respondents in person; the researchers distributed questionnaires to the respondents. The aim of this research is to determine the risk factors associated with ESRD (hypertension, DM, urinary tract infection, urinary tract stone, and obesity) among patients with ESRD the hospital Elmarj City Libya. This can be seen as the descriptive risk factors

Implementasi Pendidikan Karakter Terintegrasi dalam Kegiatan Pembelajaran pada Smk Jurusan Bangunan di Daerah Istimewa YOGYAKARTA

The purposes of this research are to (1) identify the character values which are developed and integratedin the learning process, (2) reveal teachers' learning strategy and its evaluation in integrating character values inthe learning process, and (3) identify the obstacels among vocational high school teachers of Building departmentin integrating character values.This study belongs to descriptive-evaluative research which was conducted through 8 state vocational highschools of Building department in Special Region of Yogyakarta. This research was under the umbrella theme from3 studies of the students of Civil Engineering Education and Planning Department, Faculty of Engineering UNY.The research participants were the teachers who taught the subjects of normative skills, vocational theory, andvocational practicum in Building Department of Vocational High Schools. Data collection techniques were usingquestionnaire, interview and documentation. Instrument validation was conducted by content validation. Dataanalysis technique was using descriptive analysis for both quantitative and qualitative method.The result of the research showed that (1) character values was developed differently through integrationthe learning process in the subjects of normative skills, vocational theory, and vocational practicum but most ofthem were not written in syllabus or lesson plan, (2) most of the learning strategies were generally conventionalones, which were not not written in syllabus or lesson plan as well as in the learning scenario, (3) the evaluationof character education was the weakest aspect from the implementation of integrated character education onlearning process because it had not conducted appropriately yet with the integrated character values, and (4) theteacher obstacles in implementing integrated character values were especially related to the teachers' low abilityin designing, implementing, and evaluating the learning process of developed cha

The Occurrence of Insects, Fungi and Organoleptic Characteristics in Stored Coffee Beans in Lampung

A survey on postharvest handling and technology processing of coffee beans at farmer, trader and exporter levels was conducted in West Lampung and Tanggamus regencies of Lampung province during harvest time (July 1998). Interviews and sampling of coffee beans were carried out during the survey. The number of respondents at farmer, trader and exporter levels was 22, 20 and 4, respectively, while the number of samples collected from each level was 20. All samples were analyzed for moisture content, physical quality, insect and fungal infestation, reducing sugar content, and coffee cupping. The results of the interviews indicated that postharvest handling and technology processing became better from farmers to exporters. Moisture contents of coffee beans collected from farmers and traders were higher than the tolerable limit recommended by SNI (13%). Physical quality of coffee beans collected from exporters was higher than that collected from farmers and traders. Insects were found on coffee beans collected from farmers, traders and exporters, but the number of species and the percentage of samples infested by insects from each level were relatively low. The predominant species was Liposcelis entomophila. The number of fungal species on coffee beans collected from farmers was higher than that collected from traders and exporters. The predominant species at the three levels was Aspergillus Niger, but the lowest percentage of beans infected by this fungus was found on coffee beans collected from exporters. The lowest percentage of samples infected by all fungi was also found on coffee beans collected from exporters. Reducing sugar content of coffee beans collected from exporters was lower than that from farmers and traders. Aroma and flavor values tended to increase from farmers through traders to exporters, while the body decreased. Some off-flavors (i.e. earthy, mouldy, fermented and woody) were encountered in a few coffee samples from farmers as well as from traders. There was no off-flavor encountered in the coffee samples from exporters

THE IMAGE OF KAMPUNG BALUWARTI AS A JAVANESE CULTURAL EDU-TOURISM DESTINATION BASED ON THE CULTURE OF SURAKARTA SUNANATE PALACE

Kampung Baluwarti is a cultural edu-tourism destination in Surakarta City, Central Java, Indonesia. Systematically, this study aims to: 1) identify the characteristics of the tourism products of Kampung Baluwarti; 2) study the development strategies of the image of Kampung Baluwarti as a cultural edu-tourism destination in Surakarta and formulate the cultural education tour packages that are tailored to existing potentials, environment, and regional planning. The research applied a descriptive-qualitative method with PASOLP (Product Analysis of Outdoor Leisure Planning Sequence) which offers a creative, pragmatic, and operational approach to modern tourism area planning. In this case, the research conducted two PASOLP stages: defining the object and attraction and providing recommendations on the needs and priorities. The data collection technique was conducted by collecting the necessary information through interviews with key informants. Field observation carried out the existing condition. Besides, a literature study was used to dig up literary information related to Kampung Baluwarti that was not obtained in interviews and observation. Besides, a literature study was used to explore literary information related to Kampung Baluwarti that was not obtained in interviews and observation. The results show that the tourism products, in this case, have multiple roles: not only for conservation and preservation purposes but also for improving the economy of the local people living in the area. Development strategies that are tailored to product characteristics, local community conditions, and planning are formulated with Javanese traditional tour packages that can form the image of Kampung Baluwarti as a cultural edu-tourism destination in Surakarta. Therefore, cultural edu-tourism destination carries the appropriate concept in developing tourism strategies based on the Javanese culture of Surakarta Sunanate Palace

A comparison of RFID and visual ear tag retention in dairy cattle in Malaysia

Animal identification is a basic tool to identify animals for all activities including for farm management. Electronic ear tag using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been newly introduced in the dairy population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the retention of RFID and visual ear tag of various brands in dairy cattle in Malaysia. A field trial was carried out on 102 dairy cattle to assess the retention of four brands of RFID tags (Allflex, Cybortra, TSG and Ecosensa) and three brands of visual ear tags (Allflex, Cybortra, and Ecosensa). The presence or lost of the tag was evaluated every three month for one year. Cybortra RFID tag and Allflex visual ear tag have the highest percentage of tag retention at 81.5 and 96.1%, respectively when compared to other brands. The percentage of cattle that lost both of its tag (RFID and visual ear tag) was low at 3.7% for Cybortra brand and 0.0% for Allflex brand. Whereas, the percentage of cattle that lost its single identification was highest (45.5%) for TSG RFID tag. Severe ear necrosis was observed to be one of the reasons that influence the tag lost. Cattle with two identifications was found to be traced more efficiently compared to the cattle with single identification

Seasonality of presentation and birth in catatonia

BACKGROUND: Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric syndrome associated with both psychiatric disorders and medical conditions. Understanding of the pathophysiology of catatonia remains limited, and the role of the environment is unclear. Although seasonal variations have been shown for many of the disorders underlying catatonia, the seasonality of this syndrome has not yet been adequately explored. METHODS: Clinical records were screened to identify a cohort of patients suffering from catatonia and a control group of psychiatric inpatients, from 2007 to 2016 in South London. In a cohort study, the seasonality of presentation was explored fitting regression models with harmonic terms, while the effect of season of birth on subsequent development of catatonia was analyzed using regression models for count data. In a case-control study, the association between month of birth and catatonia was studied fitting logistic regression models. RESULTS: In total, 955 patients suffering from catatonia and 23,409 controls were included. The number of catatonic episodes increased during winter, with a peak in February. Similarly, an increasing number of cases was observed during summer, with a second peak in August. However, no evidence for an association between month of birth and catatonia was found. CONCLUSIONS: The presentation of catatonia showed seasonal variation in accordance with patterns described for many of the disorders underlying catatonia, such as mood disorders and infections. We found no evidence for an association between season of birth and risk of developing catatonia. This may imply that recent triggers may underpin catatonia, rather than distal events