5,908 research outputs found
Manual for the Assessment, Location and Design of Reefwalking Activities
No full text1985 Technical Report for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Financed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and undertaken with the co-operation of the School of Australian Environmental Studies, Griffith University
Vacuum Insulation Panels Applied in Building Constructions
No full textDue to sustainability and due to international treaties, it is desired and required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. One contributor to these emissions is the burning of fossil fuels for generating power and electricity to be used in and for buildings. Buildings and building-related processes are responsible for about 40% of the primary energy consumption in the European Union. More than half of this energy is applied for heating systems in dwellings and commercial buildings. The European Union therefore has laid down new energy performance requirements for buildings in the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings. Moreover, a reduction of energy losses of buildings during their occupational phase is important for facilitating the implementation of sustainable energy sources in the built environment. Increasing the insulation value of the envelope of buildings may contribute to this reduction of primary energy use. Two strategies can be followed. The first strategy is to increase the thickness of the thermal insulation layer. Until recently, this strategy has primarily been adopted. If, however, German or Swiss Passivhaus standard is applied, the thickness of this insulation layer would increase to beyond 30 cm, resulting in very thick building enclosures. The second, more innovative, strategy for reducing energy losses through the building skin would be the application of more effective thermal insulators. One such more effective thermal insulator is a vacuum insulation panel, abbreviated as VIP. A VIP consists of an open-celled core material which is evacuated and then tightly sealed into a barrier envelope to maintain this vacuum. The vacuum inside the pores of the core material reduces the thermal conductivity of the product significantly, as a result of which the thickness of the insulation layer can be reduced to obtain a certain performance. This reduction of thickness is among the most promising features for large-scale application of VIPs in the building industry. However, integration of VIPs into buildings must be performed very meticulously for several reasons; first, due to its nature a VIP cannot be processed on site and needs careful planning in advance; second, it is very sensitive to mechanical damage thus requiring careful handling; third, thermal bridges along the panel’s edges reduce its performance; fourth, the composite system is highly subjected to aging. This dissertation therefore looks into many of these aspects, presents several calculation tools and shows how VIPs can be applied in façade panels, EPS insulation boards and as under-floor insulation. With the wide-spread proliferation of VIPs in buildings a more sustainable and healthy environment can then be achieved.Building TechnologyArchitectur
Author Co-Citation Analysis (ACA): a powerful tool for representing implicit knowledge of scholar knowledge workers
No full textIn the last decade, knowledge has emerged as one of the most important and valuable organizational assets. Gradually this importance caused to emergence of new discipline entitled ―knowledge management‖. However one of the major challenges of knowledge management is conversion implicit or tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. Thus Making knowledge visible so that it can be better accessed, discussed, valued or generally managed is a long-standing objective in knowledge management. Accordingly in this paper author co- citation analysis (ACA) will be proposed as an efficient technique of knowledge visualization in academia (Scholar knowledge workers)
In-plane response of perforated unreinforced masonry walls under cyclic loading: experimental study
No full textAbstract not available.M.K. Howlader, M.J. Masia, and M.C. Griffit
Work and Health Psychology as a Scientific Discipline: Facing the Limits of the Natural Science Paradigm
No full textExperimental testing of unreinforced masonry walls with openings subject to cyclic in-plane shear
No full textBook of Conference proceedings - Brick and Block Masonry - Trends, Innovations and ChallengesThis chapter presents the results of an experimental testing program of Unreinforced Masonry (URM) walls with openings subjected to cyclic in-plane shear loading. The primary aim of the experimental program is to obtain force-displacement relationships for URM walls with openings to be used in future nonlinear static pushover analyses of entire URM buildings. The seismic vulnerability is due to URM's high mass and stiffness, low tensile and shear strength, low ductility, and high variability of material properties. When a building is subject to earthquake loading, inertial forces are transferred from floors and out-of-plane walls to in-plane walls. The wall geometrical properties and vertical pre-compression levels for the experimental testing programme were selected so that both pier and spandrel failure modes would occur in the walls.C. Allen, M.J. Masia, A.W. Page, M.C. Griffith, H. Derakhshan, N. Mojsilovi
Book Review: Reginald M.J. Oduor’s Introduction to Ethics
No full textTITLE OF BOOK: Introduction to Ethics
AUTHOR: Reginald M.J. Oduor
Nairobi: Sophia Publications Ltd., 2009, 116 pages
COVER: Paperback
ISBN: 9966-7457-0-X
This book is a product of more than a decade of Oduor’s experience in teaching ethics (moral philosophy) at the University of Nairobi. In the course of this introduction, the reader gets to see the techniques of philosophic reflection in action, as they are employed to scrutinise various pertinent moral questions
Optimal Utilization of Renewable Power Production by Sharing Power among Commercial Buildings: Case Study of Griffith University
No full textAdvancements in smart-grid technology such as the development of a bi-directional communication infrastructure and smart metering provide an opportunity to reduce energy cost by sharing renewable energy among buildings. A proactive building equipped with renewable energy sources (RESs) can share surplus renewable power (SRP) with neighboring traditional buildings (without RESs) for the optimal utilization of RESs. In this paper, the interaction of a proactive building with neighboring traditional buildings in the context of power sharing based on generation and load demand is considered. Within a given time horizon divided into multiple time steps in which generation and load demand occurs, the proactive buildings may experience a power surplus or deficit. While any deficit can be obtained from the utility grid, the proactive building may consider sharing/selling its unused power with neighboring buildings. An algorithm is developed to manage SRP based on price signals, RESs' production and load demand. The developed algorithm is tested using real-time load and generation data of different buildings situated in Griffith University, Australia. A cost-benefit analysis is also carried out using current electricity charges to show the cost effectiveness of power sharing
Theoretical studies of the historical development of the accounting discipline: a review and evidence
No full textMany existing studies of the development of accounting thought have either been atheoretical or have adopted Kuhn's model of scientific growth. The limitations of this 35-year-old model are discussed. Four different general neo-Kuhnian models of scholarly knowledge development are reviewed and compared with reference to an analytical matrix. The models are found to be mutually consistent, with each focusing on a different aspect of development. A composite model is proposed. Based on a hand-crafted database, author co-citation analysis is used to map empirically the entire literature structure of the accounting discipline during two consecutive time periods, 1972–81 and 1982–90. The changing structure of the accounting literature is interpreted using the proposed composite model of scholarly knowledge development
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