published_or_final_version / abstract / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

abstract / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Hay and straw bales can be stacked up like giant insulating bricks to form load-bearing walls for a wide variety of structures. The technique could provide home builders with inexpensive, energy efficient, long-lasting, fire-resistant, easily built, comfortable houses from a natural resource yearly renewable and locally available. Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge regarding the structural properties of the bales and the wall systems incorporating them presents a major barrier to straw-bale construction. Without the quantitative information that standard engineering testing would provide, the wider use of bale construction will continue to be severely inhibited. This thesis examines the basic mechanical properties of individual straw bales (stress-strain behavior, ultimate strength, Poisson's ratio, etc ...), and prototype wall systems (vertical strength, in-plane lateral strength, out-of-plane lateral strength, deflection, creep, etc ...). The results of the tests on the individual bales as well as the wall systems are used to develop guidelines and equations for the design of straw-bale structures.

The residual flow procedure (RFP) is used to conjunction with finite element method for solution of steady state free surface seepage in dams containing open cracks. The cracks are simulated using the thin-layer element concept. A comprehensive parametric study is performed to analyze the applicability of the numerical procedure with the thin layer element. Here, vertically trending as well as horizontally trending open cracks are considered with variable lengths, widths, and conductivities. It is found that the numerical results involve oscillatory, unstable, and physically unreasonable behavior beyond critical values of the geometry and conductivities. Here, the vertically trending configurations are found to be relatively more sensitive than the horizontally trending configurations. Although additional research will be needed to analyze other factors such as different crack geometries, transient flow, and different ratios of crack conductivities to surrounding soil conductivities, the results presented here suggest that the procedure can be applied for seepage analysis in dams containing open cracks.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering Johannesburg, 2017 / South Africa is a water scarce country and dams play a large role in the infrastructure of our country by providing water for many purposes. With the growth of the country, new dams are needed and existing dams require rehabilitation. Often, increasing a spillways capacity forms part of the rehabilitation required at dams. Therefore, one of the main aims of this study is to look at an option for increasing a spillways discharge capacity. The labyrinth and Piano key weirs (PKW) were investigated together with a combination of the two spillway types. Different geometric attributes were combined and varied to develop a new design that would assist in improving discharge capacity while reducing the cost, producing an economically viable option. Thirty five physical models were built and tested in this regard. Comparison was made with the standard PKW design in terms of discharge capacity, hydraulic efficiency, length ratio (L/W) and cost related to concrete volume required. It was concluded that efficiency, discharge capacity and cost can be improved with this new combined design however more geometric variations need to be studied to ascertain these results. / MT 2018

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture Professional, MArch(Prof), to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. / Sophisticated in creation, Comic/Japanese Manga & Animation are a drastic representations of a real or hypothetical worlds. Comic and animation is a representation of cultural legacy that informs, excites and entertains the viewer in every tangible form of its existence, while filling minds with giant robots, space ships or masked super heroes. This dissertation serves as an architectural response to comic and animation creation. Through the exploration of the notion of the adaptive eye and its influence on the design process, the thesis seeks to create a dialogue between social legacy and comic & animation creation through the design of a production house. This thesis proposes a space that represents beauty, vision and excitement, but above all else one that realizes the possibilities of comic and animation as a means of social commentary. The building aims to symbolize the essence of comic and animation through its design and location, thereby echoing the vibrancy of Newtown. The production house is an attempt at social, cultural and environmentally responsible, generative architecture that induces thinking and energy within the world of comics and animation.

by Li Wai Ming. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-79). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.v / PREFACE --- p.vi / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Company Background --- p.1 / Polymers Division --- p.2 / Project Objectives --- p.3 / Methodology --- p.4 / Chapter II --- LITERATURE REVIEW - THE EMERGING CONCEPT & TECHNOLOGY OF EIS --- p.7 / Evolution of EIS --- p.7 / Definition and Characteristics of EIS --- p.9 / The Executive's Role --- p.10 / Chapter III --- REVIEW OF CURRENT SYSTEM AND INFORMATION NEEDS --- p.15 / BPCS - AS/400 --- p.15 / Personal Computer Usage --- p.17 / Local Area Network --- p.17 / Management Information System --- p.18 / Limitations of Current Management Information System --- p.19 / Information Needs of Executives --- p.20 / Chapter IV --- CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF THE EIS --- p.23 / Addressing Problems of the Current MIS --- p.23 / New System --- p.24 / Chapter V --- SELECTION OF TOOLS --- p.26 / Considerations for Hardware and Software Selection --- p.26 / Client Server Concept --- p.28 / Microsoft Visual Basic 3.0 for Windows & Microsoft SQL Server4.21 --- p.29 / Potential Problems --- p.34 / Chapter VI --- COST ESTIMATION --- p.36 / Hardware --- p.36 / Software --- p.36 / Personnel Cost --- p.36 / Time Frame of Development --- p.37 / Chapter VII --- RESOURCE ALLOCATION --- p.38 / Existing Computing Resources in PO Division --- p.38 / Chapter VIII --- DESIGNING THE EIS INTERFACE AND DATABASE STRUCTURE OF THE NEW SYSTEM --- p.40 / User Interface --- p.41 / Information Provided by the System --- p.41 / Database Structure --- p.42 / Data Security --- p.43 / Chapter IX --- DISCUSSION --- p.44 / Implementation Problems --- p.44 / Evaluation --- p.45 / Chapter X --- CONCLUSION --- p.48 / APPENDIX --- p.53 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.78

Chan Wai Ching. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2000-2001, design report." / Time chart of design process --- p.01 / 1st external review --- p.09 / 2nd external review --- p.13 / Final review --- p.15

Ping-Ki Tsang. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-95). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgments --- p.iii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation and Aims --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Contributions --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Overview of the Thesis --- p.4 / Chapter 2 --- Asynchronous Logic g --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1 --- Motivation --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2 --- Timing Models --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Fundamental-Mode Model --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Delay-Insensitive Model --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- QDI and Speed-Independent Models --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3 --- Asynchronous Signalling Protocols --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- 2-phase Handshaking Protocol --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- 4-phase Handshaking Protocol --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4 --- Data Representations --- p.14 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Dual Rail Coded Data --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Bundled Data --- p.15 / Chapter 2.5 --- Previous Asynchronous Processors --- p.16 / Chapter 2.6 --- Summary --- p.20 / Chapter 3 --- The MSL16 Architecture --- p.21 / Chapter 3.1 --- RISC Machines --- p.21 / Chapter 3.2 --- Stack Machines --- p.23 / Chapter 3.3 --- Forth and its Applications --- p.24 / Chapter 3.4 --- MSL16 --- p.26 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Architecture --- p.28 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Instruction Set --- p.30 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- The Datapath --- p.32 / Chapter 3.4.4 --- Interrupts and Exceptions --- p.33 / Chapter 3.4.5 --- Implementing Forth primitives --- p.34 / Chapter 3.4.6 --- Code Density Estimation --- p.34 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.35 / Chapter 4 --- Design Methodology --- p.37 / Chapter 4.1 --- Basic Notation --- p.38 / Chapter 4.2 --- Specification of MSL16A --- p.39 / Chapter 4.3 --- Decomposition into Concurrent Processes --- p.41 / Chapter 4.4 --- Separation of Control and Datapath --- p.45 / Chapter 4.5 --- Handshaking Expansion --- p.45 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- 4-Phase Handshaking Protocol --- p.46 / Chapter 4.6 --- Production-rule Expansion --- p.47 / Chapter 4.7 --- Summary --- p.48 / Chapter 5 --- Implementation --- p.49 / Chapter 5.1 --- C-element --- p.49 / Chapter 5.2 --- Mutual Exclusion Elements --- p.51 / Chapter 5.3 --- Caltech Asynchronous Synthesis Tools --- p.53 / Chapter 5.4 --- Stack Design --- p.54 / Chapter 5.4.1 --- Eager Stack Control --- p.55 / Chapter 5.4.2 --- Lazy Stack Control --- p.56 / Chapter 5.4.3 --- Eager/Lazy Stack Datapath --- p.53 / Chapter 5.4.4 --- Pointer Stack Control --- p.61 / Chapter 5.4.5 --- Pointer Stack Datapath --- p.62 / Chapter 5.5 --- ALU Design --- p.62 / Chapter 5.5.1 --- The Addition Operation --- p.63 / Chapter 5.5.2 --- Zero-Checker --- p.64 / Chapter 5.6 --- Memory Interface and Tri-state Buffers --- p.64 / Chapter 5.7 --- MSL16A --- p.65 / Chapter 5.8 --- Summary --- p.66 / Chapter 6 --- Results --- p.67 / Chapter 6.1 --- FPGA based implementation of MSL16 --- p.67 / Chapter 6.2 --- MSL16A --- p.69 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- A Comparison of 3 Stack Designs --- p.69 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Evaluation of the ALU --- p.73 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Evaluation of MSL16A --- p.74 / Chapter 6.3 --- Summary --- p.81 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.83 / Chapter 7.1 --- Future Work --- p.85 / Bibliography --- p.87 / Publications --- p.95

Hu, Hai. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.