Little previous research has been conducted concerning consumer shopping behaviors when dealing with stores that have both physical and online outlets where products can be browsed or bought, also known as "click and brick" retailers. This exploratory study seeks to determine if distinct "click and brick" consumer typologies can be formed according to consumers' preferred method of shopping. This study also examines the relationships between consumer's needs for convenience, product tangibility, social interaction and levels of trust and their preferred method of "click and brick" shopping. While significant differences were found between shopping preferences, results indicated that consumer preference significantly differs depending on the store or product type implying that an overall "click and brick" consumer typology cannot be formed. Also, results indicate that the two shopping preferences that significantly differ the most depending on motivations are still "browse and buy in store" and "browse and buy online," indicating that consumers do not heavily utilize multichannel shopping methods for purchases. / text

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This thesis presents the results of an experimental investigation into the strength of brickwork under biaxial tension-compression. Since there is insufficient experimental evidence available on the strength of brickwork under biaxial stress to explain the behaviour of brick masonry walls under in-plane loads, experiments were carried out on one-sixth scale model brickwork panels under uniform stress conditions. An idealized failure surface is suggested based on experimental results, and the effect of shear bond strength and tensile bond strength on the results is discussed. An iterative plane stress finite element computer programme incorporating the above information is used to simulate the in-plane behaviour of brickwork. Brickwork is treated as an elastic, isotropic material with limited capacity when stressed in a state of biaxial tension-compression. The model reproduces the non-linear behaviour of masonry produced by progressive cracking. Shear wall tests have been used to test the validity of the analytical model. Sensitivity analysis of the elastic constants used in the model are performed to illustrate their influence on the calculated stresses. The influence of the stress distribution on shear wall behaviour, and the derivation of a failure criterion for local failure in masonry shear walls, are described. This criterion, in terms of the vertical stress and shear stress at a point, has been derived for particular values of horizontal stress from the three dimensional surface mentioned above. The effect of the shape of the specimen, testing technique, and boundary conditions on the shear strength of masonry panels is discussed.

This project investigates the performance of brick-veneer cold-formed steel-framed domestic structures when subjected to earthquake-induced loads. It focuses on the effects of the so-called non-structural components, namely, plasterboard lining and brick veneer cladding. An extensive testing program was conducted on a full scale one-room-house measuring 2.3m x 2.4m x 2.4m high. This house was tested at various stages of construction to assess the contribution of the various components. Different types of loading, including non-destructive swept sine wave, destructive pseudo-static cyclic racking and simulated earthquakes were employed to obtain the various characteristics of the structure. The testing program on the test house was complemented by further tests on critical components such as brick ties and plasterboard connections. Detailed analytical models were developed and verified against the experimental results. These models were then used to conduct a sensitivity analysis to study other configurations, identify critical parameters and develop design guidelines. The experimental and analytical results have shown that the plasterboard wall lining can provide lateral bracing to domestic wall frames since they effectively act as shear walls. The performance of wall lining is greatly enhanced when set corner joints, ceiling cornices and skirting boards are considered. The capacity is increased by more than three times when these extra components are taken into account. Plasterboard also exhibits high damping and energy absorption capacity which are beneficial under earthquake loading. Furthermore, the strength and stiffness contributions of plasterboard lining and strap cross braces are additive.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Göttingen. / Bibliography: p. xvi-xxii.

Thesis--Copenhagen. / Illustration on cover. "Tysk resumé" in German: p. [195]-209. "Noter og henvisninger": p. [181]-194.

Zugl.: Berlin, Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2005 u.d.T.: Perlich, Barbara: Mittelalterlicher Backsteinbau in Europa.

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on November 3, 2009. Major professor: Craig Baltimore, Ph.D., S.E. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Architecture with a Specialization in Architectural Engineering." "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-12-16Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:55:51Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 nociti_dm_me_guara.pdf: 870459 bytes, checksum: e1c77fef439179aa03825419ed00aec9 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O objetivo deste trabalho é a avaliação da viabilidade de adicionar uma quantidade específica de rejeito proveniente da mineração de ferro na massa cerâmica, mantendo sua trabalhabilidade e minimizando um problema ambiental. Dois rejeitos foram escolhidos para esta avaliação. Estes foram fornecidos por uma mineradora que produz aproximadamente 640.000 toneladas/mês de rejeito arenoso e 450.000 toneladas/mês de rejeito lama. Na pesquisa foram usados argila e carvão provenientes da região de Guaratinguetá, que são matérias-primas normalmente utilizadas na fabricação de blocos cerâmicos. As caracterizações da argila e dos rejeitos foram realizadas por meio de análises de fluorescência de raios-X, difração de raios-X, análise granulométrica, análise térmica diferencial (ATD) e análise termogravimétrica (ATG). Para determinação da proporção do rejeito (arenoso ou lama) que deveria ser adicionada à massa cerâmica foram realizados ensaios de limite de liquidez e de plasticidade. Estes ensaios consideraram amostras sem adição, e, separadamente, amostras contendo diferentes porcentagens de rejeito misturado à argila. Após os testes, as proporções de 7,5% e de 5,0%, respectivamente, dos rejeitos arenoso e lama se mostraram as mais adequadas, pois mantêm a trabalhabilidade do material próxima àquela da massa cerâmica original. Após a determinação da quantidade ideal, todas as amostras foram conformadas por prensagem uniaxial e sinterizadas à 900ºC, temperatura esta comparável à utilizada pela indústria cerâmica para fabricação dos blocos. Para a caracterização dos corpos cerâmicos sinterizados utilizou-se técnicas de rugosimetria, determinação de porosidade e de densidade aparentes e resistência à flexão por três pontos. Os resultados, após trabalho estatístico... / The aim of this experience is to evaluate the viability of the addiction of a specific amount of iron mining residue into the red ceramic blend, keeping its workability and minimizing environmental problems. Two sorts of residues were chosen to be tested. Both residues were supplied by a mining company, which produces approximately 640,000 tons of sand like waste and 450,000 tons of mud waste per month. In this research we used the red ceramic blend mass and the coal from the region of Guaratinguetá; these materials are commonly used to produce clay block brick. Analyses by X-Ray Fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, granulometry, differential thermal (DTA) and thermogravimetric (TGA) were carried out in order to characterize the raw material (clay and the mining wastes). Liquid and plastic tests were done in order to determine the waste ratio that should be added to the ceramic mass. We produced samples of ceramic with and without the waste addiction, tested for different ratios. After the tests, the amounts of 7.5% for the sand like residue or 5.0% for the mud residue were considered to be the most appropriate ones. All the samples were formed by uniaxial pressing and sintering to 900ºC, like the temperature used to produce ceramic blocks. The three points flexural, perfilometry, porosity and apparent density tests were used to characterize the ceramics. The results, after the statistic work by Weibull method, pointed to a positive use of waste mixture into the ceramic mass. Adding the correct amount of residues in the red ceramic mass, it is possible to produce red brick for sealing purposes, in other words, with no structure function

The main purpose of the study is to determine strategies for retaining valuable current customers and acquiring attractive new customers for Corobrik; therefore, the problem to be investigated is the reason for Corobrik’s inability to gain significant market share in the brick market over the last five years. Although there has been tremendous growth in the building industry, Corobrik has not been able to fully capitalise on the situation despite increasing its own capacity. A competitive-strength evaluation will form the basis of this study in order to determine customer preferences, as well as competitor performance relating to these preferences. The study will be limited to the Gauteng Province owing to the enormous number of customers in South Africa as well as to time constraints. The market in Gauteng is substantial enough to yield a fair representation of what is to be achieved with the study. A questionnaire will be distributed to Architects, Contractors and Distributors, which represent the different market segments, and the data will be collected by means of telephonic interviews. McDonald & Dunbar (2004) expounded on a method of competitive-strength evaluation, entailing a method of understanding the customers’ preferences and understanding their views of competitor performance in relation to the customers' own preferences. Based on this method, a questionnaire was drafted which will be distributed to role players in the market in order to collect the required data. This research study can be seen as exploratory, since future research tasks could be discovered during the study. This study will be a ‘snapshot in time’ because of time constraints, and could possibly yield different results if repeated at any other time. The questionnaire is such that the data could be analysed and certain propositions could be compared with the ratings. Therefore, a semi-quantitative study is possible, i.e. people’s perceptions can be measured. It is important that the study be done in a ‘field setting’ to reflect what would occur under actual conditions. In addition, exactly the same questionnaire was used for all respondents, minimising the possibility of the respondents or the researcher manipulating the ratings reflected in the survey. The main findings revealed that sales to Distributors and Contractors constitute approximately 85 per cent of the total product sales of Corobrik and that Distributors and Contractors perceived Corobrik as expensive, Price being rated as their most important DBC. Architects rated Quality and Aesthetics as the most important DBCs and they rated Corobrik the best performer in these categories. This finding implies that Corobrik manages to satisfy Architects’ most important needs; however, Price was also Corobrik’s worst performing DBC in terms of the Architect ratings. Corobrik does satisfy the needs of Architects fairly well; however, this study was limited to the brick industry and did not attempt to compare face bricks with rival materials such as glass, aluminium, wood, plaster and paint and others. Consequently, Corobrik’s performance was not compared with that of the manufacturers of these rival products with regard to the relevant DBCs. It is, therefore, recommended that such a study be conducted in order to determine how well Corobrik performs in comparison with the rival companies. In addition, Corobrik should consider a marketing objective of developing new products for existing market segments (Architects), i.e. products that are able to compete with glass, aluminium and other rival materials, or that could even be used to compliment one another. This initiative could lead to increased market share, not only in the brick market but also in the bigger construction market. It appears that Corobrik has to date followed the marketing strategy of supplying existing products to new segments such as the residential market, and the researcher’s impression is that this new segment does not really want the product because of its affordability. Therefore, Corobrik needs to consider developing new products for the relatively new residential market, but with the emphasis on affordability. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / M.B.L.