Experimental study of ductility adequacy on interior wall-slab joint subjected to lateral cyclic loading / Mohd Ashaari Masrom

In Malaysia, the tunnel-form building has been utilised in building construction since 1980 in the construction of high-rise residential house such as condominium and apartment. Most of the tunnel-form buildings have been designed according to British Standard (BS) whereby there is no provision for seismic loading. The high-rise tunnel-form building is vulnerable to seismic loading and the joint between slab and shear walls in tunnel-form building constitute an essential link in the out-ofplane lateral load-resisting mechanism. It is a known fact that Malaysia is no longer safe from earthquake disaster consequent to the damage of building. The ductility performance of interior wall-slab joint influences the pattern and distribution of lateral forces among the vertical elements of a structure. In line with that, this study presents the results of an experimental investigation on the ductility performance of interior wall-slab joint which is designed in accordance to BS 8110.The experiment work includes a full-scale test of wall-slab joint subassemblages under out-of-plane lateral cyclic loading. One subassemblage specimen of the interior wall-slab joint was designed and constructed according to the code. The specimen was tested based on lateral displacement control (drift control). It was found that the specimen is able to survive up to 1.5% drift. The analysis results indicate that the specimen was governed by brittle failure modes with ductility class low (DCL) as stated in Eurocode 8 (EC8). This resulted from insufficient reinforcement provided. Consequently, the specimen was unable to dissipate sufficient energy to sustain longer in the inelastic zone

Rates and profiles of self-harm presenting to Malaysian general hospitals: data from the Ministry of Health in 2011

Introduction: Self-harm is an important global health concern as it is a strong predictor and risk factor for completed suicide. This paper is aimed to estimate the incidence rate of self-harm and to describe the profiles of people who self-harmed in 2011. Methods: This is a descriptive study based on secondary data retrieved from the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Malaysia hospitals’ discharge records from the 1st of January to 31st of December 2011. Results: The overall self-harm rate was 16.6 per 100 000 population (n= 4 815). Adults in the state of Johor had the highest rate of self-harm. There were more female self-harmers within the peak age group of 20-29 years. Indians, Muslims and those who were unmarried had the highest rates of self-harm. Male mostly used unspecified chemical (45.89%) while female used non-opioid analgesics (24.79%). Conclusions: In 2011, the rate of self-harm was 16.6 per 100 000 population with slightly higher rate observed among adult females compared to males and twice as high among girls than boys. Less lethal methods of self-harm were employed

Seismic Behavior of Tunnel Form Building under Lateral Cyclic Loading

A three-story single-unit tunnel form building (TFB) was designed using a non-seismic code of practice (BS 8110). Two one-third scale test models were constructed and tested under in-plane lateral cyclic loading and out-of-plane lateral cyclic loading, respectively. The specimens were tested at ±0.01%, ±0.1%, ±0.25%, ±0.5%, ±0.75%, ±1.0%, ±1.25%, ±1.5%, ±1.75% ±1.8, ±1.9% and ±2% drifts, after which severe cracks were observed on the wall-slab joints and wall panels. Subsequently, the damaged specimens were repaired and retrofitted by wrapping carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) around the damaged walls and affixing steel plates and steel angles at the wall-slab joints using several different repair and retrofitting schemes. The repaired specimens were retested using the same drifts. The comparison of the seismic behavior between unrepaired and repaired specimens was made based on visual observation of damage, hysteresis loops, lateral strength capacity, stiffness, ductility, and equivalent viscous damping. The experimental results showed that the repaired specimens were improved in terms of damage, lateral strength capacity, stiffness, ductility, and equivalent viscous damping. It is recommended to strengthen and rehabilitate tunnel form buildings after an earthquake using CFRP, additional shear walls, steel plates and steel angles

Cardiovascular Activity of Labdane Diterpenes from Andrographis paniculata in Isolated Rat Hearts

The dichloromethane (DCM) extract of Andrographis paniculata Nees was tested for cardiovascular activity. The extract significantly reduced coronary perfusion pressure by up to 24.5 ± 3.0 mm Hg at a 3 mg dose and also reduced heart rate by up to 49.5 ± 11.4 beats/minute at this dose. Five labdane diterpenes, 14-deoxy-12-hydroxyandrographolide (1), 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide (2), 14-deoxyandrographolide (3), andrographolide (4), and neoandrographolide (5), were isolated from the aerial parts of this medicinal plant. Bioassay-guided studies using animal model showed that compounds, (2) and (3) were responsible for the coronary vasodilatation. This study also showed that andrographolide (4), the major labdane diterpene in this plant, has minimal effects on the heart

Physiochemical Analysis of Cocoa Powder-Like from Roasted Seeds of Fermented Nephelium lappaceum L. (Rambutan) and Nephelium mutabile Bl. (Pulasan) Fruits

The present study demonstrated the physiochemical analysis of cocoa powder-like from roasted seeds of fermented rambutan and pulasan fruits in comparison to commercial cocoa powder. The crude fat content of cocoa powder (25.70%) was lower compared to both rambutan and pulasan seeds (35.00%). The major fatty acids in pulasan seed were similar to cocoa fat, which were stearic acid and petroselinic acid. The major cocoa-like flavour components, pyrazine was found in both rambutan and pulasan seeds. Lower saponin content was obtained in pulasan seed compared to rambutan seed. Meanwhile, pulasan seed contained higher TPC concentration than rambutan seed. Both fruit seeds were concluded to have high potential to be utilized as cocoa powder substitute in the future and this could open up a new direction in the flavour and fragrance sector, and in the s manufacture of cocoa-like food product

Ductility performance of wall-slab joint in Industrialized Building System (IBS) subjected to lateral reversible cyclic loading / Mohd Ashaari Masrom, Nor Hayati Abdul Hamid and Mohd Azrizal Fauzi

Connections between floor slab and shear walls constitute an essential link in the lateral load-resisting mechanism of slab-wall of reinforced concrete building. The ductility performance of wall-slab joint influences the pattern and distribution of lateral forces among the vertical elements of a structure. This study presents the results of an experimental investigation on the ductility performance of wall-slab connection which is designed in accordance to BS 8110. The experiment work includes full-scale test of wall-slab connection under reversible lateral cyclic loading. This study focuses on ductility performance of wall-slab connection under reversible cyclic loading. The hysteresis loops was developed based on experiment data to determine the ductility of wall-slab joint under reversible cyclic loading. The theoretical background was formulated to validate the result of experiment. There was a good agreement between them. Therefore, the ductility of the joint was determined and designed accordingly. The results indicate that the wall-slab connection was governed by brittle failure modes in reinforced concrete. This is due to low ductility which resulted in the inability of the connection to absorb energy efficiently and therefore further undergoes inelastic deformation. In fact, the brittle failure modes did not allow the energy dissipation and lead to sudden failure without warning to the structures as experienced by the Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings during earthquake

Seismic Perfromance On Multi-Storey Precast Buildings (IBS) In Malaysia Subjected To Long-Distant Earthquake Excitation / Nor Hayati Abdul Hamid … [et_al.]

Seismic performance of the reinforced concrete buildings in Malaysia need to examine their structural components under earthquakes excitation. The sub-assemblage of fullscale precast hollow core slabs together with supporting beams are designed, constructed, calibrated and tested under vertical cyclic loadings. The incremental drifts are applied at the end of the cantilever slabs. The load failure, mode of failure and structural damages are recorded and observed during experimental work. Initially, the cracks start from the joints and propagated on top of the slabs and finally, the slab snapped at middle together with delimination of the bottom fibre of the slab. Another experimental work is conducted on three sets of half-scale beam-column joint with different arrangements of reinforcement bars at the joints. These specimens are attached to the foundation beams and clamped to strong floor using eight high yield threaded rods of diameters 30mm. The specimens are designed, constructed and tested under reversible vertical cyclic loading until collapse. The joint with cross-bracing suffers the least damage as compare to others joints. By using the same specimens, the next step is to design the column-foundation joints under lateral cyclic loadings. Tension lateral cyclic loading is applied at top of the column with drifts of 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5% at 2 cycles for each drift. Similar pattern of cracks and damages observed during experimental work as compared to the actual damages occurred during earthquake excitation. The first damage is due to unconfined concrete occurred between foundation beam and beamcolumn joint. The second damage is due to plastic hinge zone mechanism which occurs at column-foundation interfaces. These damages are due to the insufficient of longitudinal bars, the spacing between the stirrups are wider and spalling of concrete (lo

Seismic performance of beam-column corbel connections (IBS) in the existing precast reinforced concrete frame under reversible lateral cyclic loading / Prof. Madya Dr. Nor Hayati Abdul Hamid @ Zulkurnail, Prof. Ir. Dr. Siti Hawa Hamzah and Kay Dora Abd Ghani

Industrialized Building System (IBS) is actively promoted by CIDB (Construction Industry Development Board) in the construction industries in Malaysia. The main reasons are to overcome the dilemma pertaining to construction productivity, quality of construction products and shortage of skilled workers. In addition to the above matter, there are some advantages of using IBS to reduce manpower, shortening construction period, all weather construction and maintaining the quality of construction (Badir et. al., 2002). IBS has been used in the construction of houses, high-rise condominiums, hypermarkets, apartments, shopping complexes, office buildings and others. Furthermore, the construction of these buildings using IBS as compared to cast-in-place methods are safer in term of construction aspects, quality of material and structural performance (Pampanin, 2003). However, the safety of this system from structure stability aspect is still questionable if it is not properly designed in accordance to seismic code of practice, especially when these buildings were experience higher ground shaking or earthquake attack; either locally or in the neighbouring countries. Earthquakes occurred in Banda Acheh, Sumatera on December 2004 with 9.2 Scale Richter had triggered some tremors and shaking of the high-rise buildings especially in Penang, Klang Valley, Putrajaya and other parts of West Coast of Malaysia. There were some minor cracks in some of reinforced concrete buildings in Malaysia following these earthquakes. Recent earthquake which happened on 25* October 2010 in Mentawai Island, Indonesia with 7.5 Scale Richter has destroyed more than 150 buildings and more than 500 peoples were killed in the tsunami caused by this earthquake event. Although Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand (which are located within Sunda Plate) are categorized as low seismic regions due to its location of about 650km from the Sunda trench, the movements of neighbouring tectonic plates such as India and Australia Plates with velocity 7cm/year towards Malaysia could develop tremor among residents in multi-storey and high-rise buildings in Malaysia (Hamid et. al., 2010)

Seismic microzonation map for a fixed-jacket platform in the Malay Basin

The existence of soft soil in offshore areas may lead to the amplification of vibration received from offshore facilities, especially from the existing fixed-jacket platforms, which were designed without provision to seismicity, as in Malaysian water. Therefore, this study was designed to develop a seismic microzonation map and a soil amplification factor map according to soil type, we propose horizontal response spectra and site coefficient values (Ca and Cv) for the Malay Basin. A one-dimensional nonlinear analysis of layered soil (NERA) was used in the ground response analysis for six selected seismic events under five return periods of 100, 200, 500, 1000, and 2500 years. Soil amplification factors for soil types D and E showed a decreasing trend from 100 years to 2500 years. Two designed horizontal response spectra are proposed (for soil type D and E) under average and envelope conditions, a comparison with ISO showed that the proposed spectra were higher, especially for soil type E. To summarize, the seismicity effect should be included in the development of offshore industries as findings indicated that soil amplification occurred in soil types D and E at the Malay Basin

Dysregulation of Non-Coding RNAs: Roles of miRNAs and lncRNAs in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Myeloma

The dysregulation of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), specifically microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), leads to the development and advancement of multiple myeloma (MM). miRNAs, in particular, are paramount in post-transcriptional gene regulation, promoting mRNA degradation and translational inhibition. As a result, miRNAs can serve as oncogenes or tumor suppressors depending on the target genes. In MM, miRNA disruption could result in abnormal gene expression responsible for cell growth, apoptosis, and other biological processes pertinent to cancer development. The dysregulated miRNAs inhibit the activity of tumor suppressor genes, contributing to disease progression. Nonetheless, several miRNAs are downregulated in MM and have been identified as gene regulators implicated in extracellular matrix remodeling and cell adhesion. miRNA depletion potentially facilitates the tumor advancement and resistance of therapeutic drugs. Additionally, lncRNAs are key regulators of numerous cellular processes, such as gene expression, chromatin remodeling, protein trafficking, and recently linked MM development. The lncRNAs are uniquely expressed and influence gene expression that supports MM growth, in addition to facilitating cellular proliferation and viability via multiple molecular pathways. miRNA and lncRNA alterations potentially result in anomalous gene expression and interfere with the regular functioning of MM. Thus, this review aims to highlight the dysregulation of these ncRNAs, which engender novel therapeutic modalities for the treatment of MM.</p