Cost Estimation of Structural Work for Residential Building with Seismic Design Consideration

The Sumatra-Andaman earthquakes had triggered local earthquakes in Malaysia by reactivation of ancient inactive faults. Previously on 5th June 2015, Ranau, a region located in Sabah, Malaysia, had experienced a moderate earthquake of Mw6.1. The structural failures occurred because all existing buildings only designed for gravity load without any seismic provision. Recent research work exhibits the seismic designs’ impact on the cost of material and its parameters that impact the cost. There are two types reinforced concrete residential buildings called Type 1 and Type 2 for two storey and four storey which had been used as models. This research applied four seismicity levels to the reference peak ground acceleration value, αgR = 0.07g, 0.10g, 0.13g & 0.16g, and two soil types: Soil Types B and D. The result shows that for two storey reinforced concrete residential buildings on soil types B and D, seismic design increases structural work costs, which is around 0.62% to 1.31% and 0.61% to 2.16%, respectively, for Type 1 model compared to non-seismic design. Besides, model Type 2, the increment is around 0.24% to 1.22% and 0.20% to 1.71%, respectively. Otherwise, for reinforced concrete residential building with four storey on soil types B and D, the result shows that seismic design tends to have a higher structural work’s cost around 0.41% to 2.48% and 0.98% to 11.23%, respectively, for Type 1 model. Besides, for model Type 2 the increment is around 1.80% to 2.05% and 2.34% to 8.53%, respectively, compared to nonseismic design

Cost Estimation of Structural Work for Residential Building with Seismic Design Consideration

The Sumatra-Andaman earthquakes had triggered local earthquakes in Malaysia by reactivation of ancient inactive faults. Previously on 5th June 2015, Ranau, a region located in Sabah, Malaysia, had experienced a moderate earthquake of Mw6.1. The structural failures occurred because all existing buildings only designed for gravity load without any seismic provision. Recent research work exhibits the seismic designs’ impact on the cost of material and its parameters that impact the cost. There are two types reinforced concrete residential buildings called Type 1 and Type 2 for two storey and four storey which had been used as models. This research applied four seismicity levels to the reference peak ground acceleration value, αgR = 0.07g, 0.10g, 0.13g & 0.16g, and two soil types: Soil Types B and D. The result shows that for two storey reinforced concrete residential buildings on soil types B and D, seismic design increases structural work costs, which is around 0.62% to 1.31% and 0.61% to 2.16%, respectively, for Type 1 model compared to non-seismic design. Besides, model Type 2, the increment is around 0.24% to 1.22% and 0.20% to 1.71%, respectively. Otherwise, for reinforced concrete residential building with four storey on soil types B and D, the result shows that seismic design tends to have a higher structural work’s cost around 0.41% to 2.48% and 0.98% to 11.23%, respectively, for Type 1 model. Besides, for model Type 2 the increment is around 1.80% to 2.05% and 2.34% to 8.53%, respectively, compared to nonseismic design

Axial impact crushing behaviour of thin-walled braided composite tubes: experimental comparison on basalt fibre and glass fibre reinforcement

The collapse performance and energy absorption of thin-walled tube of basalt/epoxy and glass/epoxy subjected to axial quasi-static and dynamic impact crushing were investigated. The effects of braid orientation, fibre materials, and loading rate focusing on crushing behaviour were discussed. The braid orientation could be found to have significant influences on energy absorption performance and crushing mechanism. Based on results, thin-walled basalt composite tube has greater energy absorption capacity than thin-walled glass composite tube. The energy absorption capability in impact crushing tests could be found approximately 30% to be higher than that in quasi-static crushing tests. Thin-walled basalt/epoxy tubes have lower crush rate dependency as compared with thin-walled glass/epoxy tube

Effect of nano-sized Co3O4 addition on the transport properties of YBa2Cu3O7−δ

The effect of nano-sized Co3O4 (10 - 30 nm) addition on YBa2Cu3O7−δ(Co3O4)x with x = 0 to 0.12 wt.% has been investigated by powder X-ray diffraction method, dc electrical resistance measurements and scanning electron microscopy. The Co3O4 particle size was larger than the coherence length but smaller than the penetration depth of the YBa2Cu3O7−δ superconductor. The onset transition temperature (T c onset) showed no significant changes for low Co3O4 addition (x ≤ 0.02 wt. %) and then decreased monotonically with the increase in Co3O4 content indicating a pair-breaking like mechanism in T c suppression for x = 0.03 to 0.12 wt. %. A sudden broadening of the superconducting-transition-width for x ≥ 0.11 wt. % was also observed. The transport properties were measured and related to the microstructure. Scanning electron micrographs showed homogeneous distribution of Co3O4 throughout the samples and the distance between particles was smaller than 1 μm but larger than the typical Abrikosov vortex lattice constant

Parametric Study on the Compact G Shaped Monopole Antenna for 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz Application

Abstract—This paper describes the design of a compact printed microstrip G-shaped monopole antenna for wireless local area network (WLAN application). The antenna has G-shaped resonating element which is designed for the two resonance frequencies at 2.4GHz and 5.2GHz respectively, which are the operating bands for WLAN application. The antenna is constructed by a non-conductor backed G-shaped strip with a mircostrip feed line. The dual band performance can be easily achieved by finetuning the length of the resonant path. The antenna is designed and simulated by using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Studio simulation software. The parametric study with five different ground lengths had been done using parametric sweep. The the measurement results will be compared and analyzed with the simulated antenna

Thermal analysis of a portable DSSC mini greenhouse for botanical drugs cultivation

Photovoltaic farms in Malaysia are being developed tremendously as a form of supporting fossil fuel setbacks in Malaysia power generation. An important parameter of the PV installation is the power (Watts) accumulated over sunlight retrieval. Considerable losses may arise from the conversion, where the efficiency is typically 15% to 23%, with the remainder becoming losses in the form of accumulated heat under the PV array or panel installations. PV heat dissipation is dependent on solar radiation, air convection and PV cell conduction. Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) has been applied as a greenhouse shading element, having the ability of enabling specified spectrum of light color penetration during electric accumulation. Furthermore, only light of wavelength between 400 and 700 nm (PAR) is absorbed by the greenhouse plants which is essential for their growth and photosynthesis. A Portable DSSC Mini Greenhouse (PDMG) can provide simple, effective and suitable light source for botanical drugs. Light which is associated with increasing temperature and heat is critical to be measured. A measurement of average heat gain flowing into a building through building envelope (OTTV- Overall Thermal Transfer Value) is a well-known method adopted in green building design. In this paper, the OTTV approach is applied to calculate heat transfer properties, from outdoor surroundings to the PDMG structure, giving justification of the PDMG thermal conditions

The Risk of Recurrence in Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Tamoxifen: Polymorphisms of CYP2D6 and ABCB1

CYP2D6 plays a major role in the metabolism of tamoxifen, and polymorphism of Pglycoprotein has been associated with resistance of many drug therapies. This study investigates the clinical impact of genetic variants of CYP2D6 and ABCB1 in breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen. Blood samples from 95 breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen were collected and genotyped for CYP2D6 and ABCB1 variants using allele-specific PCR method. Recurrence risks were calculated using Kaplan–Meier analysis and compared using the log-rank test. Patients carrying CYP2D6*10/*10 and heterozygous null allele (IM) showed higher risks of developing recurrence and metastasis (OR 13.14; 95% CI 1.57–109.94; P=0.004) than patients with CYP2D6*1/*1 and *1/*10 genotypes. Patients with homozygous CC genotypes of ABCB1 C3435T showed a shorter time to recurrence. Patients who were CYP2D6 IM and homozygous CC genotype of C3435T have statistically significant higher risks of recurrence (P=0.002). Similarly, median time to recurrence in these patients was only 12 months (95% CI=0.79–23.2) compared to those without this combination which was 48 months (95% CI=14.7–81.2). Patients with CYP2D6 IM and homozygous CC genotype of ABCB1 C3435T have shorter times to recurrence. The results confirmed the findings of previous studies and support FDA recommendation to perform pre-genotyping in patients before the choice of therapy is determined in breast cancer patients

Abrasive wear failure analysis of tungsten carbide hard facing on carbon steel blade

This study investigate the abrasive wear failure of tungsten carbide hardfacing on continuous digester (CD) blade (carbon steel) in an environment of sulphuric acid and ilmenite ore mixture. Comparison being made on the hardness, thickness and microstructural of the hardfacing between unworn and 3 months old worn blade on few locations around the blade. The cross sections of the blade revealed non-uniform coverage of the hardfacing on the blade for both worn and unworn blade. The edge of the blade has the least amount of hardfacing thickness which with time acts as the point of failure during the wear process. The hardness obtained from both the unworn and worn samples are around 25% lower from the hardfacing electrode manufacturer’s hardness specification. Microstructural micrograph analysis of the hardfacing revealed non uniform size carbide with non-uniform distributed of carbide in the hardfacing layer

The Role of Dicer Protein Partners in the Processing of MicroRNA Precursors

One of the cellular functions of the ribonuclease Dicer is to process microRNA precursors (pre-miRNAs) into mature microRNAs (miRNAs). Human Dicer performs this function in cooperation with its protein partners, AGO2, PACT and TRBP. The exact role of these accessory proteins in Dicer activity is still poorly understood. In this study, we used the northern blotting technique to investigate pre-miRNA cleavage efficiency and specificity after depletion of AGO2, PACT and TRBP by RNAi. The results showed that the inhibition of either Dicer protein partner substantially affected not only miRNA levels but also pre-miRNA levels, and it had a rather minor effect on the specificity of Dicer cleavage. The analysis of the Dicer cleavage products generated in vitro revealed the presence of a cleavage intermediate when pre-miRNA was processed by recombinant Dicer alone. This intermediate was not observed during pre-miRNA cleavage by endogenous Dicer. We demonstrate that AGO2, PACT and TRBP were required for the efficient functioning of Dicer in cells, and we suggest that one of the roles of these proteins is to assure better synchronization of cleavages triggered by two RNase III domains of Dicer