• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.45-67
• /
• 2010

Composite steel-concrete structures are employed extensively in modern high rise buildings and bridges. This concept has achieved wide spread acceptance because it guarantees economic benefits attributable to reduced construction time and large improvements in stiffness. Even though the combination of steel and concrete enhances the strength and stiffness of composite beams, the time-dependent behaviour of concrete may weaken the strength of the shear connection. When the concrete loses its strength, it will transfer its stresses to the structural steel through the shear studs. This behaviour will reduce the strength of the composite member. This paper presents the development of an accurate finite element model using ABAQUS to study the behaviour of shear connectors in push tests incorporating the time-dependent behaviour of concrete. The structure is modelled using three-dimensional solid elements for the structural steel beam, shear connectors, concrete slab and profiled steel sheeting. Adequate care is taken in the modelling of the concrete behaviour when creep is taken into account owing to the change in the elastic modulus with respect to time. The finite element analyses indicated that the slip ductility, the strength and the stiffness of the composite member were all reduced with respect to time. The results of this paper will prove useful in the modelling of the overall composite beam behaviour. Further experiments to validate the models presented herein will be conducted and reported at a later stage.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.19-34
• /
• 2017

The widespread damage to steel Moment Resisting Frames (MRFs) in past major earthquakes have underscored the need to understand the nonlinear inelastic behaviour of such systems. To assess the seismic performance of steel MRF, it is essential to model the nonlinear force-deformation behaviour of beam to column joints. To determine the extent of inelasticity in a beam to column joint, nonlinear finite element analysis is generally carried out, which is computationally involved and demanding. In order to obviate the need of such elaborate analyses, a simplistic method to predict the force-deformation behaviour is required. In this study, a simple, mechanics driven, hand calculation method is proposed to obtain the forcedeformation behaviour of strong axis beam to column moment joints. The force-deformation behaviour for twenty-five interior and exterior beam to column joints, having column to beam strength ratios ranging from 1.2 to 10.99 and 2.4 to 22, respectively, have been obtained. The force-deformation behaviour predicted using the proposed method is compared with the results of finite element analyses. The results show that the proposed method predicts the force-deformation behaviour fairly accurately, with much lesser computational effort. Further the proposed method has been used to conduct Nonlinear Dynamic Time History Analyses of two benchmark frames; close correspondence of results obtained with published results establishes the usefulness and computational accuracy of the method.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.30-48
• /
• 2016

Information seeking behaviour is an activity of an individual in the process of identifying information that suits his/her knowledge pursuit. It is observed from the review of literature that there is no single study on the information seeking behaviour of faculties of pharmacy either at state level or national levels in India. Therefore this research has been conducted to bridge the gap on information seeking behaviour of pharmacy faculty in Tamil Nadu in view of the recent developments in information seeking behaviour, with objectives such as: to identify the information needs and seeking behaviour of faculty of the pharmacy educational institutions in Tamil Nadu (India); to examine the motivating factors for information seeking behaviour of the pharmacy faculty; to examine faculty opinions about the comprehensiveness or otherwise of respective institutions' library collections; and to analyse the extent of use and dependence on various sources of information for teaching and research. A total of 729 questionnaires have been distributed among 41 pharmacy educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, out of which 601 have responded, and the response rate is 82.44%. Based on the findings of the study certain implications have been derived as measures to enhance the quality of the pharmacy libraries in Tamil Nadu.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.256-268
• /
• 2007

The present research investigated the relationship between social competence and behaviour problems of children with mental retardation. Participants were 73 from both regular and special education schools. Social competence and behaviour problems were measured using the Teacher-Child Rating Scale. An important findings of this study described as the following. First, there were no significant differences in social competence and behaviour problems between boys and girls. Second, there were moderate significant differences in social competence between lower and higher grade children with mental retardation. Children who are higher grade had a significantly more social competence when compared with children who are lower grade. But there are no significant differences in behaviour problems between lower and higher grade. Third, there were moderate significant differences in social competence between lower and higher IQ children with mental retardation. Children who are higher IQ had a significantly higher level of social competence and significantly lower level of behaviour problems, when compared with children who are lower IQ. Forth, there were moderate significant differences in social competence between the regular schools and special education groups. Children who attended special education schools had a significantly higher level of social competence and significantly lower level of behaviour problems, when compared with children who attended regular schools. Fifth, social competence of children with mental retardation was negatively related to behaviour problems. These findings suggest that characteristics of social competence and behaviour problems of students with mental retardation should be considered in order to successfully implement social competence interventions of students with mental retardation.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.193-209
• /
• 2012

China's airline industry is experiencing a booming development as one hand, on the other hand the incidents involving unruly behaviour on board aircraft also becomes a growing concern for the whole industry. The thesis examines the basic issues concerning the unruly behaviour, such as definition of unruly behaviour, the impact and root causes of unruly behaviour. Then it focuses on the China's legal sources governing the problem of unruly behaviour. Generally speaking, China's legislation with this respect is systematic and self-contained, except some minor shortcomings which need to be revised. Finally the thesis holds the view that the preventative measures jointly contributed by all the parties concerned are something more important than the legislation itself.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.243-260
• /
• 2008

The present article summarises the fundamental characteristics of concrete behaviour which underlie the formulation of an engineering finite element model capable of realistically predicting the behaviour of (plain or reinforced) concrete structural forms in a wide range of problems ranging from static to impact loading without the need of any kind of re-calibration. The already published evidence supporting the proposed formulation is complemented by four additional typical case studies presented herein; for each case, a comparative study is carried out between numerical predictions and the experimental data which reveals good agreement. Such evidence validates the material characteristics upon which the FE model's formulation is based and provides an alternative explanation regarding the behaviour of structural concrete and how it should be modelled which contradicts the presently (widely) accepted assumptions adopted in the majority of FE models used to predict the behaviour of concrete.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.383-407
• /
• 2012

A numerical approach to simulate the behaviour of timber shear walls under both static and dynamic loading is proposed. Because the behaviour of timber shear walls hinges on the behaviour of the nail connections, the force-displacement behaviour of sheathing-to-framing nail connections are first determined and then used to define the hysteretic properties of finite elements representing these connections. The model nails are subsequently implemented into model walls. The model walls are verified using experimental results for both monotonic and cyclic loading. It is demonstrated that the complex hysteretic behaviour of timber shear walls can be reasonably represented using model shear walls in which nonlinear material failure is concentrated only at the sheathing-to-framing nail connections.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2023

Under the dual pressure of population growth and land shortage, threedimensional development is the inevitable choice for cities in China. In such a scenario, a mixed-use complex has considerable potential in its realization and research. Based on space syntax and the three-dimensional visibility graph analysis, this paper describes the spatial and functional layout of the Shanghai Super Brand Mall and studies the relationship between spatial visibility and user behaviour through linear regression analysis and correlation analysis. This paper studies three different types of user behaviour, namely, path selection, staying selection, and store selection, and finds that spatial visibility and accessibility have different effects on user behaviour depending on the type and purpose of the activity. This paper reveals the influence of spatial and functional layout on user behaviour and puts forward the corresponding design strategy under the three-dimensional environment.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.297-307
• /
• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to identify the relationships between stroke knowledge, health perception, exercise self-efficacy and stroke prevention behaviour and the factors influencing stroke prevention behaviour in middle-aged adults. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2 cities of Korea from May to July 2020, using structured questionnaire. The participants were 168 middle-aged adults without a history of stroke. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 25.0. Results: There was significant correlations among degree of stroke prevention behaviour, stroke knowledge about warning sign (r= .20, p= .010), health perception (r= .35, p< .001) and exercise self-efficacy (r= .43, p< .001). The most important factor influencing stroke prevention behaviour was exercise self-efficacy (β= 0.38, p< .001), followed by health perception (β= 0.18, p= .008), body mass index (β= -0.17, p= .011), stroke knowledge about warning sign (β= 0.13, p= .045) in that order. These factors explained 37.7% of total variance in stroke prevention behaviour (F= 11.09, p< .001). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the development of nursing intervention for stroke prevention behaviour improvement is needed considering exercise self-efficacy and stroke knowledge.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.17
• /
• pp.7287-7290
• /
• 2014

Background: Brief physician counselling has been shown to be effective in improving smokers' behaviour. If the counselling sessions can be given at the workplace, this would benefit a larger number of smokers. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of a ten-minute physician counseling session at the workplace in improving smoking behaviour. Materials and Methods: This prospective randomised control trial was conducted on smokers in a factory. A total of 163 participants were recruited and randomised into control and intervention groups using a table of random numbers. The intervention group received a ten-minute brief physician counselling session to quit smoking. Stages of smoking behaviour were measured in both groups using a translated and validated questionnaire at baseline, one month and three months post intervention. Results: There was a significant improvement in smoking behaviour at one-month post intervention (p=0.024, intention to treat analysis; OR=2.525; CI=1.109-5.747). This was not significant at three-month post intervention (p=0.946, intention to treat analysis; OR=1.026; 95% CI=0.486-2.168). Conclusions: A session of brief physician counselling was effective in improving smokers' behaviour at workplace, but the effect was not sustained.