Analysis of Shear Wall with Openings Using Solid65 Element

The use of shear wall-buildings is quite common in some earthquake prone regions. During seismic excitation, they contribute in absorbing moments and shear forces and reduce torsional response. Usually, architectural design leads to the existence of doors and windows within shear walls. Previous researches on the behavior of shear walls with openings assumed elastic analysis utilizing shell and brick elements. The present work adopts nonlinear finite element analysis using solid65 element. The analysis comprises both material and geometric nonlinearities. Solid65 element models the nonlinear response of concrete material based on a constitutive model for the triaxial behavior of concrete after Williams and Warnke. Five shear wall models with different opening sizes are analyzed. A sixth model of a solid shear wall is also presented to compare the analysis results. The paper studies the effect of the size of the openings on the behavior of the reinforced concrete shear walls. The study indicates that openings of small dimensions yield minor effects on the response of shear walls with respect to both normal stresses along the base level of shear walls and maximum drift. Cantilever behavior similar to that of a solid shear wall takes place and analogous to that of coupled shear walls. On the other hand, when openings are large enough, shear walls behave as connected shear walls, exhibiting frame action behavior

Affective Witnessing: [Trans]posing the Western/Muslim Divide to Document Refugee Spaces

Architectural Affects after Deleuze and Guattari is the first sustained survey into ways of theorising affect in architecture. It reflects on the legacy and influence of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in the uptake of affect in architectural discourse and practice, and stresses the importance of the political in discussions of affect. It is a timely antidote to an enduring fixation on architectural phenomenology in the field. The contributors offer a variety of approaches to the challenge

English Teachers’ Perceptions on Using Arabic in English Language Teaching in Al-Ain in United Arab Emirates

This study investigated the use of Arabic in teaching English as a foreign language from the perspectives of English language teachers in the context of Al-Ain public schools in United Arab Emirates. The QUAN-QUAL model (triangulation) was employed in which the quantitative and qualitative data were concurrently collected throughout the study. The target population was the teachers of English from Al-Ain public schools. The researcher applied the proportional stratified sampling. The subgroups were the population of teachers divided by teaching cycle which made a sample of 100 participants. The study utilized three data collection instruments; a questionnaire distributed to 100 participants, semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 participants and classroom observations with 2 teachers purposively chosen based on their responses in the interviews. The findings supported the judicious use of Arabic in some situations in English language teaching (ELT) and revealed that using Arabic can raise students\u27 participation and prevent time being wasted on tortuous explanation and instruction. The results also highlighted that using Arabic can facilitate English learning by being an aid to creating an affective learning environment as a facilitator of students\u27 comprehension. Additionally, it was found that once Arabic is not overused and its use is modified to the context of each class, it could be seen as an efficient tool in the ELT classroom, especially for teaching grammar and explaining abstract words. Thus, it was found that Arabic can be proportionally a classroom resource in some cases, but the potential drawbacks must be always considered in case of the over-reliance on Arabic in English language. It is recommended that the results of the study are considered by the curriculum developers and policy makers. The researcher also proposed that further studies should be undertaken on larger scales to develop more understanding of teachers\u27 attitudes towards using Arabic in EFL classrooms in the Emirati context. Additionally, there may be a need to conduct experimental studies in order to evaluate the actual role of Arabic in these situations, which is likely to make an important contribution to the development of a systematic way of using Arabic to the end of effective English language teaching and learning

Witnessing as a Feminist Spatial Practice: Encountering the Refugee Camp Beyond Recognition

This PhD thesis aims to engage with the political, cultural and (thus) spatial complexities of an architectural inquiry into the refugee camp. This, in turn, offers a methodology that reclaims the position of the architect as a witness. To do so, it proposes a (postcolonial) feminist approach that thinks of the refugee camp as an encounter; critically, it acknowledges the injustices practised by the ‘refugee regime complex’ operating within refugee camps. Located in Za’atri refugee camp in Jordan, it explores the institutional hierarchies of the camp as it operates within a humanitarian NGO paradigm. Through a critique of the anthropocentric nature of such NGOs, I argue for the necessity of a relational, spatial and feminist approach that pays attention to the affective and political economies circulating through these structures

Numerical Evaluation of the Thermo-Mechanical Response of Shallow Reinforced Concrete Beams

Abstract A precise understanding of the thermo-mechanical response of shallow reinforced concrete beams is necessary to be able to design the proper sections for the shallow flexural elements, that could serve their intended purpose, in terms of safety and serviceability requirements, keeping in my mind the dominant use of ribbed slabs with concealed shallow beams in many countries. The study involves building a finite element structural model of a shallow reinforced concrete beam for the evaluation of the structural performance and thermal cracking at different temperatures. Material nonlinearity is taken into account because of the changes in material properties experienced in fire. The more complicated aspects of structural behaviour in fire conditions, such as thermal expansion, transient state strains in the concrete, cracking or crushing of concrete, yielding of steel are modelled

In-situ thermal analysis probe

A new thermal analysis technique was developed and tested. It makes use of the improvements in heat transfer characteristics associated with recent advances in heat pipe technology. Heat is extracted from a liquid sample of a melt taken in-situ from within a vessel or furnace. The rate of heat extraction is such as to cause the sample to solidify. The technique was tested both in the laboratory and on an industrial scale (Grenville Castings, Perth, Ontario). Aluminum alloys including 356, 319, Al-xSi, Al-Si-Cu-xMg, and 6063 were subjected to various melt treatments and were used to carry out the tests. Classical thermal analysis was also carried out simultaneously under the same melt conditions using a preheated graphite cup.The comparison showed that the new technique has great potential over classical thermal analysis. The major advantages of the new method are that it conducts the analysis inside the melt (since it is no longer necessary for a physical sample to be removed from the melt itself), it consumes less time and the cooling rate can be precisely controlled during the solidification process. Moreover, it produces curves of greater detail and of better resolution than conventional techniques. In fact, the detail is of such resolution that, in some cases, the cooling curves may be used to infer the chemical composition of certain components of the melt, a fact which equates to a form of rapid chemical analysis. The peaks in the signal which refer to intermetallic formation are of better resolution and more identifiable when the new technique is used. The size of the peaks obtained using the new probe is about three times greater than that obtained by the classical method. With this new technique it becomes possible to correlate the area below the intermetallic peak to the concentration of iron or copper in the melt. This is a feature which makes the new thermal analysis probe act as a rapid chemical analyzer for selected constituents

Financial Distress in the Health Care Business

Sixty-four United States hospitals closed for poor organizational performance during 2010 through 2016. Because of hospital closures, community members experienced delays in obtaining needed care, reduced access to specialty care, and increased travel distances. Based on the balanced scorecard model theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies that 10 health care leaders used at a healthcare organization in central Texas to prevent financial distress. Semistructured interviews were conducted and archival organizational accounting records were reviewed, including company surveys with employees and patients. Data were thematically analyzed and triangulated to ensure the trustworthiness of interpretations. The findings identified 3 themes: effective leadership to improve organizational performance; training, skills development and continuous learning to improve performance; and customer focus strategies to increase customer satisfaction. The findings of this study may contribute to social change by improving access to healthcare services, increasing access to specialty care, and increasing customer satisfaction