Overview of design concepts of traditional Iranian architecture and its reflections in Iranian contemporary architecture

This article has attempted to investigate the patterns of traditional architecture in Iran's warm and dry climate and whether these patterns have been attended to in Iran's contemporary architecture or not. Since the two elements of culture and climate are much significant in Iran's traditional constructions, this article aimed at dealing with subjects such as the causes of the shapes of traditional buildings in Iran's warm and dry climate in constructions like houses, schools, mosques and bazaars, and why they were constructed in those shapes, and also considering their patterns in these places in the light of cultural and climatic aspects, and their cultural and climatic relationships and investigating cultural-climatic causes of the directions and situations designed for the spaces present in these buildings and finally it is intended to classify the conceptual patterns of the traditional architecture of Iran's warm and dry climate. The article is going to consider the amount of using these patterns in Iran's contemporary architecture. The study has been conducted using library and field method.

Exploring accuracy factors in cost estimating practice towards implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM)

Cost estimating has been acknowledged as a crucial component of construction projects. Depending on available information and project requirements, cost estimates evolve in tandem with project lifecycle stages; conceptualisation, design development, execution and facility management. The premium placed on the accuracy of cost estimates is crucial to producing project tenders and eventually in budget management. Notwithstanding the initial slow pace of its adoption, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has successfully addressed a number of challenges previously characteristic of traditional approaches in the AEC, including poor communication, the prevalence of islands of information and frequent reworks. Therefore, it is conceivable that BIM can be leveraged to address specific shortcomings of cost estimation. The impetus for leveraging BIM models for accurate cost estimation is to align budgeted and actual cost. This paper hypothesises that the accuracy of BIM-based estimation, as more efficient, process-mirrors of traditional cost estimation methods, can be enhanced by simulating traditional cost estimation factors variables. Through literature reviews and preliminary expert interviews, this paper explores the factors that could potentially lead to more accurate cost estimates for construction projects. The findings show numerous factors that affect the cost estimates ranging from project information and its characteristic, project team, clients, contractual matters, and other external influences. This paper will make a particular contribution to the early phase of BIM-based project estimation.

A review of efficiency measures for REITs and their specific application for Malaysian Islamic REITs

Purpose This paper aims to present a conceptual model on the efficiency of Islamic Real Estate Trusts (I-REITs) available in Malaysia. The key difference between the Islamic and their conventional investment vehicle part is mainly its own Shariah framework. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews and synthesises the relevant literature on the performance analysis and efficiency measurements of Real Estate Investment Trusts. The paper then develops and proposes a conceptual model to measure the efficiency of Malaysian Islamic REITs. Findings The paper identifies and examines the appropriate methods and instruments to measure the efficiency in relation to the risk and profitability of Islamic REITs. The efficiency measure is important for the fund managers in order to maximise the shareholders’ return in an investment of property portfolio as well as proposing the best way to allocate resources efficiently. Research limitation/implications This is a preliminary review of current work that identifies the issues that will be addressed in future empirical research. The authors will be undertaking this future empirical research in measuring the efficiency of Malaysian REITs particularly the Islamic REITs using the non-parametric approach of Data Envelopment Analysis. Originality/value To date, there has been very limited research on the efficiency measurement of Islamic REITs. The current analysis of REIT has been focused on traditional non-Islamic funds. This paper will review and discuss the current literature on efficiency measurement to determine the most appropriate approaches and methodologies for future application in performance analysis of efficiency measure for Malaysian Islamic REITs.

On the interaction between radon progeny and particles generated by electronic and traditional cigarettes

During their entire lives, people are exposed to the pollutants present in indoor air. Recently, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, mainly known as electronic cigarettes, have been widely commercialized: they deliver particles into the lungs of the users but a “second-hand smoke” has yet to be associated to this indoor source. On the other hand, the naturally-occurring radioactive gas, i.e. radon, represents a significant risk for lung cancer, and the cumulative action of these two agents could be worse than the agents separately would. In order to deepen the interaction between radon progeny and second-hand aerosol from different types of cigarettes, a designed experimental study was carried out by generating aerosol from e-cigarette vaping as well as from second-hand traditional smoke inside a walk-in radon chamber at the National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology (INMRI) of Italy. In this chamber, the radon present in air comes naturally from the floor and ambient conditions are controlled. To characterize the sidestream smoke emitted by cigarettes, condensation particle counters and scanning mobility particle sizer were used. Radon concentration in the air was measured through an Alphaguard ionization chamber, whereas the measurement of radon decay product in the air was performed with the Tracelab BWLM Plus-2S Radon daughter Monitor. It was found an increase of the Potential Alpha-Energy Concentration (PAEC) due to the radon decay products attached to aerosol for higher particle number concentrations. This varied from 7.47 ± 0.34 MeV L−1 to 12.6 ± 0.26 MeV L−1 (69%) for the e-cigarette. In the case of traditional cigarette and at the same radon concentration, the increase was from 14.1 ± 0.43 MeV L−1 to 18.6 ± 0.19 MeV L−1 (31%). The equilibrium factor increases, varying from 23.4% ± 1.11% to 29.5% ± 0.26% and from 30.9% ± 1.0% to 38.1 ± 0.88 for the e-cigarette and traditional cigarette, respectively. These growths still continue for long time after the combustion, by increasing the exposure risk.

More than thirty years of ultimatum bargaining experiments: Motives, variations, and a survey of the recent literature

Take-it or leave-it offers are probably as old as mankind. Our objective here is, first, to provide a, probably subjectively colored, recollection of the initial ultimatum game experiment, its motivation and the immediate responses. Second, we discuss extensions of the standard ultimatum bargaining game in a unified framework, and, third, we offer a survey of the experimental ultimatum bargaining literature containing papers published since the turn of the century. The paper argues that the ultimatum game is a versatile tool for research in bargaining and on social preferences. Finally, we provide examples for open research questions and directions for future studies.

Systematic literature review of incidence rates of low-speed vehicle run-over incidents in children

Aim: To systematically review the literature investigating the incidence of fatal and or nonfatal low-speed vehicle run-over (LSVRO) incidents in children aged 0–15 years. Methods: The following databases were searched using specific search terms, from their date of conception up to June 2011: Cochrane Library, Medline, CINAHL, Embase, AMI, Sociological Abstracts, ERIC, PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Urban Studies and Planning; Australian Criminology Database; Dissertations and Thesis; Academic Research Library; Social Services Abstracts; Family and Society; Scopus; and Web of Science. A total of 128 articles were identified in the databases (33 found by hand searching). The title and abstract of these were read, and 102 were removed because they were not primary research articles relating to LSVRO-type injuries. Twenty-six articles were assessed against the inclusion (reporting population level incidence rates) and exclusion criteria, 19 of which were excluded, leaving a total of five articles for inclusion in the review. Findings: Five studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. The incidence rate in nonfatal LSVRO events varied in the range of 7.09 to 14.79 per 100,000 and from 0.63 to 3.2 per 100,000 in fatal events. Discussion: Using International Classification of Diseases codes for classifying fatal or nonfatal LSVRO incidents is problematic as there is no specific code for LSVRO. The current body of research is void of a comprehensive secular population data analysis. Only with an improved spectrum of incidence rates will appropriate evaluation of this problem be possible, and this will inform nursing prevention interventions. The effect of LSVRO incidents is clearly understudied. More research is required to address incidence rates in relation to culture, environment, risk factors, car design, and injury characteristics. Conclusions: Thevlack of nursing research or policy around this area of injury, most often to children, indicates a field of inquiry and policy development that needs attention.

Main themes and missing elements in psychological research into child maltreatment in Africa

These 18 papers on aspects of violence against children add to a growing body of African literature that tends to focus on four major themes. The first three are generic to research worldwide, and include efforts to uncover the extent of adverse experiences during childhood, describe the effects on health and well-being, and examine professional practices, concepts and myths. The fourth theme is more particular to Africa, and is focused on understanding how to protect children within the context of poverty, some harmful traditional practices and community violence. Despite best efforts by researchers and child rights advocates, there are missing elements in the research to date, including scant focus on the problems of emotional abuse and neglect, and limited attention to evaluation of the effectiveness of prevention and care programs.

Sidewall inclined slot in a rectangular waveguide: Theory and experiment

A novel analysis to compute the admittance characteristics of the slots cut in the narrow wall of a rectangular waveguide, which includes the corner diffraction effects and the finite waveguide wall thickness, is presented. A coupled magnetic field integral equation is formulated at the slot aperture which is solved by the Galerkin approach of the method of moments using entire domain sinusoidal basis functions. The externally scattered fields are computed using the finite difference method (FDM) coupled with the measured equation of invariance (MEI). The guide wall thickness forms a closed cavity and the fields inside it are evaluated using the standard FDM. The fields scattered inside the waveguide are formulated in the spectral domain for faster convergence compared to the traditional spatial domain expansions. The computed results have been compared with the experimental results and also with the measured data published in previous literature. Good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results is obtained to demonstrate the validity of the present analysis.

Constructing a traditional Chinese medicine data warehouse application

The explosive growth in the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has resulted in the continued increase in clinical and research data. The lack of standardised terminology, flaws in data quality planning and management of TCM informatics are preventing clinical decision-making, drug discovery and education. This paper argues that the introduction of data warehousing technologies to enhance the effectiveness and durability in TCM is paramount. To showcase the role of data warehousing in the improvement of TCM, this paper presents a practical model for data warehousing with detailed explanation, which is based on the structured electronic records, for TCM clinical researches and medical knowledge discovery.

The modern day bystander: Online and face-to-face bystander actions of adolescents in traditional bullying and cyberbullying

This study investigated whether bystanders of traditional bullying and cyberbullying used face-to-face methods, online methods or both methods when reporting, discouraging and providing support to the victims of traditional bullying and cyberbullying. A questionnaire was completed by 348 high school students (Years 7 – 12) from seven independent schools in Australia. Overall, students predominantly utilized face-to-face methods when reporting to others for both types of bullying. Older students were more likely to use online methods to discourage the traditional bully (i.e., asking the bully to stop). Males and older students were more likely to use online methods to support victims of traditional bullying. Females were more likely to use face-to-face methods to support victims of cyberbullying. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Worker views on safety at roadworks

Roadworks in live traffic environments are hazardous to workers and road users alike. In an increasing body of international research literature, roadwork risks and hazards have been comprehensively examined. As in the broader field of road safety research, much of the work rightly takes a quantitative approach to assessing risk and related issues and to addressing the identified risks appropriately. In Australia, however, limited official data constrains the ability of researchers to achieve an in-depth understanding of the situation at state/territory and national levels based on traditional quantitative analyses. One way to enhance and supplement the limited available data is to consult those who are directly involved in roadworks for qualitative information, although such an approach is rarely reported in the roadwork safety arena. As part of the major study focusing on safety at roadworks in Queensland, 66 workers were interviewed about their perceptions and experiences regarding roadwork safety. This paper thus outlines a qualitative examination of workers' perceptions of the causes of roadwork incidents and the effectiveness of hazard mitigation measures. Consistent with findings reported in the literature is the view among workers that speeding is a major hazard and that police enforcement is the most effective countermeasure. Other hazards commonly observed by workers but less frequently reported elsewhere include driver distraction and aggression toward workers, working in poor weather and working at night. Workers mostly suggested educational measures to address distraction and aggression issues, though such measures are only tentatively supported in the literature.

Mixed Convection Boundary Layer Flow Past a Horizontal Circular Cylinder Embedded in a Bidisperse Porous Medium

Adopting a two-temperature and two-velocity model, appropriate to a bidisperse porous medium (BDPM) proposed by Nield and Kuznetsov (2008), the classical steady, mixed convection boundary layer flow about a horizontal, isothermal circular cylinder embedded in a porous medium has been theoretically studied in this article. It is shown that the boundary layer analysis leads to expressions for the flow and heat transfer characteristics in terms of an inter-phase momentum parameter, a thermal diffusivity ratio, a thermal conductivity ratio, a permeability ratio, a modified thermal capacity ratio, and a buoyancy or mixed convection parameter. The transformed partial differential equations governing the flow and heat transfer in the f-phase (the macro-pores) and the p-phase (the remainder of the structure) are solved numerically using a very efficient implicit finite-difference technique known as Keller-box method. A good agreement is observed between the present results and those known from the open literature in the special case of a traditional Darcy formulation (monodisperse system).

A methodological survey of future mobility literature: Opportunities for design research

This research establishes that the study of mobility and transportation is multi-disciplinary and highly complex, involving the diverse interplay between infrastructural and psychological factors. Coincidently, a new paradigm in personal mobility is developing. A new generation of mobility solutions is becoming widely available in the form of car and ride sharing services. These services build on the assumption that customers no longer need ownership of a product in order to benefit from it. With the emergence of this new paradigm, this paper presents a methodological review of current practises used by the wider research community. Therefore, this research piece aims to explore methodological approaches involved in the study the effect of community on an individual’s attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of future mobility solutions. The results of this review indicate that the majority of published literature uses quantitative methods as opposed to qualitative and even fewer studies have sought to understand the human factors in these new mobility solutions. This gap in knowledge is a valuable opportunity for design. Inherently qualitative and human focused, design research can fill this gap in knowledge by applying distinctly user-centred methods such as persona design, narrative storytelling, and in-depth observations to discover deeper human insights.

Questionnaire design for airport passenger experience survey

Assessing airport service performance requires understanding of a complete set of passenger experiences covering all activities from departures to arrivals. Weight-based indicator models allow passengers to express their priority on certain evaluation criteria (airport domains) and their service attributes over the others. The application of multilevel regression analysis in questionnaire design is expected to overcome limitations of traditional questionnaires, which require application of all indicators with equal weight. The development of a Taxonomy of Passenger Activities (TOPA), which captures all passenger processing and discretionary activities, has provided a novel perspective in understanding passenger experience in various airport domains. Based on further literature reviews on various service attributes at airport passenger terminals, this paper constitutes questionnaire design to employ a weighting method for all activities from the time passengers enter an airport domain at the departure terminal until leaving the arrival terminal (i.e. seven airport domains for departure, four airport domains during transit, and seven airport domains for arrival). The procedure of multilevel regression analysis is aimed not only at identifying the ranking of each evaluation criterion from the most important to the least important but also to explain the relationship between service attributes in each airport domain and overall service performance.

A critical evaluation of literature on robot path planning in dynamic environment

Robot Path Planning (RPP) in dynamic environments is a search problem based on the examination of collision-free paths in the presence of dynamic and static obstacles. Many techniques have been developed to solve this problem. Trapping in a local minima and maintaining a Real-Time performance are known as the two most important challenges that these techniques face to solve such problem. This study presents a comprehensive survey of the various techniques that have been proposed in this domain. As part of this survey, we include a classification of the approaches and identify their methods.