The aim of this work was to investigate whether the Malaysian current building projects are considered as “Green Designs”. To achieve this aim a questionnaire survey was conducted. A sample of 274 respondents is covered, which included architects and engineers in the building design and consultancy sectors. WINSTEPS software is used in Rasch modeling to determine the validity and reliability of the data. Descriptive data analysis (quantitative and qualitative) is done. The results reveal that design green building performance, in general, energy efficiency, and indoor air quality requirements are considered moderate. The majority of the designed buildings are with low utilization of recycled and reused materials. Moreover, high utilization of regional materials, low consideration to water efficiency requirements and environmental innovations are also moderate. Design team attributes are the key factors to improve green design performance. Client quality play major role to enhance design team attributes. Therefore, effective Design team attributes and client’s qualities may increase performance of the design green building performance in order to enhance building performance and reduce building impact on environment.

Activation of innate immunity is regulated by a variety of signaling molecules within

the immune cells. The present thesis was aimed to improve our understanding

innate signaling mechanism and their possible use as bio-indicators of exposure and

disease. The first part of the thesis deals with the involvement of TOM1L1 (Target

of Myb1 like 1) in innate immune signaling and regulation of inflammatory cytokines

in immune cells (study I and II). The initial event of T-cells activation depend

on the recruitment of Src family kinases Fyn and Lck, leading to interleukine-2 (IL-

2) production in T cells. Understanding the regulatory aspects of IL-2 induction in

T-cells is of importance as IL-2 is a key regulator for T-cell proliferation and survival.

Interaction screening indicated the ability of TOM1L1 protein to interact with

Fyn, and Lck, that is important for IL-2 production in Jurkat T-cells. TOM1L1

silencing decreased the levels of CD3/CD28 dependent induction of IL-2 in Jurkat

T-cells, and LPS dependent induction of TNF-α in THP-1. Furthermore, overexpression

of TOM1L1 in Jurkat T-cells causes an increase of STAT3 expression. This

was accompanied by an increase in the levels of IL-1β dependent induction of IL-6

and TNF-α in THP-1 cells. These results indicate that TOM1L11 participate in

regulation of innate immune response. The second part of the thesis deals with

development of innate immune signaling responses used as a diagnosis tools for

disease and exposure (study III and IV). Inflammatory diseases are associated with

innate immune reactions. In response to inflammation, the immune cells release

inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1-β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α and CXCL8. These

cytokines are regulated by stress related kinases include MAP kinase proteins such

as ERK1-2, JNK, and MAPK p38, through activation of transcription factors AP-1,

ATF-2, and NF-AT. In a clinical study, it was observed that activated MAPK p38

has a potential role in the regulation of IL-10 expression in intermittent claudication.

However, expression of IL-10 and MAPK p38 was opposed in stable angina

group. Therefore, targeting MAPK p38 in inflammatory disease such as cardiovascular

diseases, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis might be useful in development of

treatment strategies. Innate immune reactions can also be used to monitor stress

related inflammatory responses following environmental exposure of immune cells.

Inflammatory responses of exposure were studied by in vitro exposure to waters

from sewage treatment works and recipient waters. The analysis shows that exposure

to inland waters can result in activated immune responses and that these responses

are both site dependent and vary over time.

Keywords: Innate immunity, TOM1L1, inflammatory responses.

Eurocodes [1], [2] cover presently only the so-called basic design situations where the beam-to-column joints are subjected to hogging bending with a negligible influence of the axial force. Design requirements for structural robustness in case of exceptional or extreme actions are being developed in which the joint ductility demand is one of the primary requirement [3][6]. Localized structural damage due to these actions may propagate through a large portion of a structural system causing its entire collapse or the progressive collapse process may be restricted to the relatively small region that is in proportion to the load effects caused. The latter might be provided by design ensuring the ability of transfer the so-called tying forces. Eurocodes do not give any guidelines on how to calculate the tying resistance of joints, mainly because of lack of experimental evidence on the joint ductility under extreme actions. For robust design, joints need to pose the rotation capacity required for inelastic redistribution process to take place on the so-called alternative equilibrium path. The capability of a structure to sustain local damage is evaluated by a notionally conducted removal of its column(s) and checking whether the local damage may be absorbed by the deteriorated structural system. This requires investigations conducted into the behaviour of joint responses to sagging bending accompanied by an axial tying. This paper is concerned with experimental tests of steel and steel-concrete composite sub-frames through which the beam-to-column joint behaviour in typical standard and exceptional design situations is possible to be evaluated. Problems related to the joint strength, stiffness and rotation capacity response under sagging moment in case of the column removal that simulates the frame system behaviour in an exceptional situation are addressed and conclusions drawn.

Various types of pavement deterioration can affect pavement performance, including rutting,

which causes safety and service quality problems on the highways. Rutting, often referred to as

permanent deformation of a pavement surface, causes longitudinal depressions creating

channels in wheel paths. There are many in-service pavement performance databases, but the

Long Term Pavement Performance database (LTTP) is the largest of its kind in the world. It

encompasses data from four different climate zones in North America. Data on flexible

pavements from only the dry freeze zone was included in the scope of the study reported herein.

Regression analysis was performed to develop a rutting model. The proposed model indicates

that the voids in the mineral aggregate (VMA) of hot mixed asphalt is the most important factor

and the positive values of the regression coefficient of VMA implies that rut depth increases

when VMA increases. The other important factors in this model are Marshall stiffness and

freeze index. The negative values of the regression coefficients of Marshall stiffness and freeze

index indicates that the rut depth will decrease when the Marshall stiffness and freeze index

increase.

The present paper involves a detailed evaluation of specific steroid biomarkers by gas chromatography– mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and GC-metastable reaction monitoring (MRM) analyses of several crude oils and source rocks from the East Sirte Basin. 24-Norcholestanes, dinosteranes, 4a-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes and triaromatic steroids have been identified in both source-rocks and crude oils of the East Sirte Basin. Diatoms, dinoflagellates (including those potentially associated with corals) and/or their direct ancestors are amongst the proposed sources of these biomarkers. These biomarker parameters have been used to establish a Mesozoic oil–source correlation of the East Sirte Basin. Hydropyrolysis of an extant coral extract revealed a similar distribution (although immature) of dinosteranes and 4a-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes also observed in the Sirte oils and source-rocks. This is consistent with the presence of dinoflagellates present during the deposition of the Mesozoic aged East Sirte Basin Formations. A good data correlation for the rock extracts revealed a similar distribution of 3,24-dimethyl triaromatic steroids, 3-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes, 4-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes and 2-methyl-24-ethylcholestanes observed in one of the oil families and associated source-rocks for the East Sirte Basin.

Historically, applications for traditional phenolic resin/polyurethane materials are limited due to the inherently weak thermal stability of urethane-phenolic linkage and slow reaction rate. A novel concept has been developed to produce phenolic resin/polyurethane copolymers ...

The unique features of polybenzoxazines make them attractive for a wide range of applications. The characteristics of polybenzoxazines such as excellent dimensional stability, lower surface energy, higher Tg, and lower moisture absorption are attributed to the stable intramolecular hydrogen bonding in their network structure. The features make polybenzoxazines excellent candidates for the applications that require near zero shrinkage and high dimensional stability. Polybenzoxazines are formed by the autocatalytic polymerization of benzoxazine monomers. Polybenzoxazines are well known as a new class of thermoset polymers used for high performance applications. They provide the characteristic properties found in phenolic resins, such as high thermal stability, excellent electrical properties, good mechanical properties, and better flame retardancy. Furthermore, they have the advantages …