Influence of palm oil fuel ash on the high strength and ultra-high performance concrete : A comprehensive review

In recent days, the increase in significant infrastructure projects has led to urgent requirements for the use of high strength concrete (HSC) and ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). However, the use of cement and its derivative products, such as concrete, is associated with a high generation of carbon dioxide (CO2). The construction industry contributes about 8% of the total global CO2 production. Therefore, there is an urgent need to use agriculture-waste materials such as palm oil fuel ash (POFA) to help reduce environmental concerns associated with concrete. The accumulation of palm oil waste over an extended period of time causes environmental pollution. The use of these materials is expected to improve the environment by reducing the disposal of this waste in landfills and open areas. The chemical composition of POFA can vary depending on the source and processing methods. Elevated levels of impurities such as organic matter, unburned carbon, and chloride content in POFA can adversely affect the setting time, workability, and long-term durability of concrete. The optimal mix proportioning and replacement levels of POFA in concrete need to be carefully determined. Incorporating higher levels of POFA without proper adjustments to the mix design can result in detrimental effects on fresh and hardened concrete properties, including reduced compressive strength and decreased resistance to chemical attacks. This paper will highlight the impacts of POFA on the properties of HSC and UHPC in their fresh and hardened states. Durability and microstructure properties were also discussed. The use of ultrafine POFA helped in reducing the rapid chloride permeability and water absorption of HSC, thus improved its structure. Lastly, some recommendations for future studies are presented

Optimising concrete containing palm oil clinker and palm oil fuel ash using response surface method

Cement production led to the consumption of high energy and generated harmful gases, such as CO2. Therefore, the use of alternative materials becomes necessary. The research attempts to use palm oil clinker (POC) and ultrafine palm oil fuel ash (UPOFA) as a full replacement of coarse aggregate and partial cement replacement, respectively. This study aims to use the response surface method (RSM) to optimise the properties of concrete, namely, density and water absorption. The study investigated the density and water absorption of concrete using RSM. Results showed that the density reduced sharply owing to the full replacement coarse aggregate by POC aggregate. Meanwhile, water absorption increased significantly due to the rise in the POC aggregate replacement. However, water absorption decreased because of the use of UPOFA as cement replacement. The study recommended the use of more UPOFA as cement replacement because of its high pozzolanic property

International longitudinal registry of patients with atrial fibrillation and treated with rivaroxaban: RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting (RIVER)

Background Real-world data on non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are essential in determining whether evidence from randomised controlled clinical trials translate into meaningful clinical benefits for patients in everyday practice. RIVER (RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting) is an ongoing international, prospective registry of patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and at least one investigator-determined risk factor for stroke who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment for the prevention of thromboembolic stroke. The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the RIVER registry and baseline characteristics of patients with newly diagnosed NVAF who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment. Methods and results Between January 2014 and June 2017, RIVER investigators recruited 5072 patients at 309 centres in 17 countries. The aim was to enroll consecutive patients at sites where rivaroxaban was already routinely prescribed for stroke prevention. Each patient is being followed up prospectively for a minimum of 2-years. The registry will capture data on the rate and nature of all thromboembolic events (stroke / systemic embolism), bleeding complications, all-cause mortality and other major cardiovascular events as they occur. Data quality is assured through a combination of remote electronic monitoring and onsite monitoring (including source data verification in 10% of cases). Patients were mostly enrolled by cardiologists (n = 3776, 74.6%), by internal medicine specialists 14.2% (n = 718) and by primary care/general practice physicians 8.2% (n = 417). The mean (SD) age of the population was 69.5 (11.0) years, 44.3% were women. Mean (SD) CHADS2 score was 1.9 (1.2) and CHA2DS2-VASc scores was 3.2 (1.6). Almost all patients (98.5%) were prescribed with once daily dose of rivaroxaban, most commonly 20 mg (76.5%) and 15 mg (20.0%) as their initial treatment; 17.9% of patients received concomitant antiplatelet therapy. Most patients enrolled in RIVER met the recommended threshold for AC therapy (86.6% for 2012 ESC Guidelines, and 79.8% of patients according to 2016 ESC Guidelines). Conclusions The RIVER prospective registry will expand our knowledge of how rivaroxaban is prescribed in everyday practice and whether evidence from clinical trials can be translated to the broader cross-section of patients in the real world

A Case Study of Designing an E-learning Electrical Engineering Course

Abstract: This paper presents a case study of designing an e-learning course in the field of electrical engineering- Industrial automation program at Palestine Polytechnic University. The applied methodology consisting of few stages starting with formulating the major course objectives, extracting topics outcomes, design the appropriate teaching tools and storyboard, and as final stage the evaluation system is designed. On other hand, an information communication technology (ICT) questionnaire has been designed and targeting attended in the course students with purpose evaluating student ICT knowledge, knowledge leveling, and treatment their weaknesses. The designed topics are modified according to feedback evaluation obtained from students throughout designed for this purpose questionnaire. The observed weaknesses in course topics have been eliminated and finally the modified course was uploaded to the university e-learning platform. Electrical engineering core course with 300 level was carried out for department students, where the obtained results shows significant enhancement in teaching and learning performances of both course instructors and students

Implementation of a Remote Analog and Digital Communications Laboratory for e-Learning

Rapid changes in the field of engineering technology have increased the need for universities to provide engineering and engineering technology students with meaningful and relevant practical experiences; however, limited available resources in the provision of laboratory hardware and infrastructure have been the principal impediment in achieving this objective. Such hardware limitations have been increasingly marginalizing the quality of engineering and engineering technology education. E-learning can be used to help universities and technical colleges overcome this problem. One approach that can be implemented to overcome this problem is to expand e-learning activities in programs with limited resources to take advantage of online computer-based technology. In this model, remote instrumentation technology and the internet are merged to interface students with the physical worl

Safety Barriers Identification, Classification, and Ways to Improve Safety Performance in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Industry: Review Study

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is one of the most dangerous industries due to its unique nature. Safety is a critical issue in developed and developing countries. The main objective of this paper was to identify and classify the barriers that hinder the implementation of safety in projects and ways to improve safety performance. The method used in this paper includes a heavy review of many sources related to the safety barriers in the AEC industry, including a process of identification and classification of these barriers, after which we discuss the most popular methods between them, based on the appearance of it in the sources which were reviewed. Then, the ways to improve safety performance were viewed in AEC industry. Based on that, it was found that there are the following 4 categories associated with safety barriers: (1) Behavior Barriers; (2) Management Barriers; (3) Awareness Barriers; and (4) Culture Barriers. At the same time, the most popular barriers are based on appearance in sources: lack of safety training, lack of commitment, work pressure is high when deadlines are approaching, and low level education, lack of experience, and lack of knowledge. The many ways to improve safety performance are illustrated in the end of this paper. The results of this paper show the importance of safety and that the actual safety of the projects should be focused on in order to reduce injuries, accidents, and reduce barriers of applying safety, which will enhance the sustainability and development of safe environments within in AEC industry

Potential features of building information modeling (BIM) for application of project management knowledge areas in the construction industry

The construction industry (CI) plays a vital role in infrastructure development and improves the socio-economic status with employment opportunities and contribution to gross domestic progress (GDP) of countries. However, its productivity has diminished in recent years due to increasing complexities in construction projects (CPs) and lack of adoption of novel technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM). Also, there is a significant need of polishing the capabilities of construction practitioners to meet the project requirements in agreement with project management knowledge areas (PMKAs). This study, therefore, focused on identification and evaluation of factors necessary for measurement of extent of application of PMKAs. Subsequently, noteworthy features of BIM helpful for enhancing the capabilities of project managers (PMs) in application of PMKAs were identified from literature. A total of thirty-three factors for measurement of extent of application of PMKAs and sixty-six features of BIM helpful in enhancing the capabilities of PMs in application of PMKAs were found. The detailed study and analysis of these ninety-nine factors with the help of previous studies suggested that extent of application of PMKAs is measured with three sub-tasks i.e., plan, manage/develop, and monitor/control. In addition, by virtue of remarkable features and services of BIM, it helps in enhancing the capabilities of PMs in applying PMKAs: project integration, scope, cost, time, quality, resource, communications, procurement, risk, safety, and stakeholder management

Approximating GED using a Stochastic Generator and Multistart IPFP

International audienceThe Graph Edit Distance defines the minimal cost of a sequence of elementary operations transforming a graph into another graph. This versatile concept with an intuitive interpretation is a fundamental tool in structural pattern recognition. However, the exact computation of the Graph Edit Distance is N P-complete. Iterative algorithms such as the ones based on Franck-Wolfe method provide a good approximation of true edit distance with low execution times. However, underlying cost function to optimize being neither concave nor convex, the accuracy of such algorithms highly depends on the initialization. In this paper, we propose a smart random initializer using promising parts of previously computed solutions