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An earthquake occurs at any place that is located along or nearby the Pacific Fire Ring. The differences of earthquake excitation depend on the magnitude and peak ground acceleration whether in low, medium or high region. Four different previous earthquake excitation records were adopted in this study namely Kunak, Bukit Tinggi, El-Centro and Pacoima Dam earthquakes to analyze the work and energy response of prefabricated concrete structure that was designed using BS8110. It was found that the structure did not experience damages under low Kunak and Bukit Tinggi earthquake excitations but minor damages under El-Centro and major damages under Pacoima Dam earthquake excitations. Major damage occurred at the connection of the structural element such as beam-column connection and slab-beam connection due to large energy dissipation, reducing the structural strength and stiffness. This study is important in developing the best retrofitting methods for the structures after-impact maintenance.

In Malaysia, rail transportation has become an integral part of the society. It can be seen by the effort of the Malaysia Government to improve the rail system by laying new route, provide new type of trains and others. For transporting goods, Malaysian rail authorities (Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad) used 22 coaches so-called freight train becoming one of the most popular transportation in delivery goods. In the past, wood is commonly used as a material in sleeper’s manufacturing but nowadays, prestressed concrete sleeper starts to capture their name in the industry in producing more quality sleeper as one of railway track components. This study will be focusing on determination of constant amplitude for 22 coaches, cyclic counting strain and calculation of frequency of strain on prestressed sleeper subjected to freight train. Rainflow cyclic counting method is used to determine the constant amplitude, cycle and frequency for each parts of train body. By using rainflow method and formulas, average number of cycle and frequency is obtained. From the obtained results, the individual PCS have to endure a maximum frequency and number of cycles of 11.91 Hz and 1.39 s, respectively. The outcome of this study will have a formulation of the freight train that is currently being used in Malaysia.

Malaysia is surrounded by the tectonic feature of the Sumatera area which consists of two seismically active inter-plate boundaries, namely the Indo-Australian and the Eurasian Plates on the west and the Philippine Plates on the east. Hence, Malaysia experiences tremors from far distant earthquake occurring in Banda Aceh, Nias Island, Padang and other parts of Sumatera Indonesia. In order to predict the safety of precast buildings in Malaysia under near field ground motion the response spectrum analysis could be used for dealing with future earthquake whose specific nature is unknown. This paper aimed to develop of capacity demand response spectrum subject to Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) in order to assess the performance of precast beam column joint. From the capacity-demand response spectrum analysis, it can be concluded that the precast beam-column joints would not survive when subjected to earthquake excitation with surface-wave magnitude, Mw, of more than 5.5 ...

This paper presented the load versus displacement curve for experimental work and validated with modeling results. A full-scale specimen which representing retrofitted precast RC beam-column exterior joint with corbels was tested in the laboratory under reversible lateral cyclic loading until ±1.75% interstorey drift. The specimen was rehabilitated by using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) wrapping method. Modeling work was carried out using Ruaumoko Hysteres Program. A curve representing load versus displacement for beam-column exterior joint is generated using Pampanin Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Joint Hysteresis rule with reloading slip factor. The modeling result was compared with the load versus displacement curve obtained from experimental work. It was found that the hysteresis loops exhibited good agreement between experimental and modeling results. The effective stiffness, displacement ductility and equivalent viscous damping for the specimen were also discussed and compared.

Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concretes (UHPFRC) is a highly dense concrete that present outstanding mechanical properties in various applications. This paper addressed the new development in the design of the UHPFRC concrete mixtures incorporating Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). An experimental study was conducted to establish the mechanical performances in term of compressive strength and flexural strength of modified UHPFRC. Comparison between different percentages of RAP added in the mixture contributes to the new experimental data of viability in using recycle waste in concrete matrices hence reduce the stockpile of waste in landfill. The addition of 15% and 30% RAP in the design mix showed slightly closed differences of compressive and flexural strength compared to conventional UHPFRC. However the potential values obtained in this study showed the need for further improvement of the UHPFRC design mix with other percentage of RAP to enhance the mechanical performances of concrete.

Novel extraction studies on Garcinia mangostana roots was chemically investigated. Detail phytochemical studies onthe roots of Garcinia mangostana have resulted in the isolation of six compounds. The structures of these compoundswere elucidated using spectroscopic experiments namely NMR, IR, UV and MS. The root bark of Garcinia mangostanafurnished six xanthones, ?-mangostin (1), ?-mangostin (2), ?-mangostin (3), garcinone-D (4), mangostanol (5), andgartanin (6).

Much has been said and written about the importance of teams to the success of the organizations and emphasis has been given to the benefits of team-building activities to achieving both team and organizational effectiveness. A lot of research describes attempts to move beyond team building and to link organizational development to team effectiveness in a coherent way. There is vast lliterature which addresses the topic on team effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the team effectiveness factors which focus on the organizational contexts, team design and process variables, within a manufacturing company involved in cement industry. The result indicates that these three independent variables are major contributors to the team effectiveness.