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Internal hydrophobation by adding hydrophobic agents during the mixing process is a method for reducing water permeability of cement based materials. It can be used as an alternative to other methods such as reducing water cement ratio (w/c) or using silica fume (SF). However, it may affect other properties of cement based materials such as compressive strength. In this paper the results of an experimental study on compressive strength of different hcps with main variables w/c, SF and hydrophobic agents are presented. Rapeseed oil and alkyl alkoxysilane were selected as hydrophobic agents. Although, a low dosage of hydrophobic agents can be more effective than lowering w/c or adding SF in reducing water permeability, an obvious reduction was observed in compressive strength by this way of internal hydrophobation compared to the other above mentioned methods. Different reasons such as lower hydration degree, chemical reactions of hydrophobic agents and non-uniform distribution of hydrophobic materials in the hcp could have resulted in lower compressive strength of hydrophobed samples. Using other types of hydrophobic agents or impregnation after the curing process can be other alternatives which would have less effect on compressive strength.

The purpose of this study is to review and summarise the existing available literature on lightweight cladding systems to provide detailed information on fire behaviour (ignitibility, heat release rate and smoke toxicity) and various test method protocols. Additionally, the paper discusses the challenges and provides updated knowledge and recommendation on selective-fire mechanisms such as rapid-fire spread, air cavity and fire re-entry behaviours due to dripping and melting of lightweight composite claddings.

A comprehensive literature review on fire behaviour, fire hazard and testing methods of lightweight composite claddings has been conducted in this research. In summarising all possible fire hazards, particular attention is given to the potential impact of toxicity of lightweight cladding fires. In addition, various criteria for fire performance evaluation of lightweight composite claddings are also highlighted. These evaluations are generally categorised as small-, intermediate- and large-scale test methods.

The major challenges of lightweight claddings are rapid fire spread, smoke production and toxicity and inconsistency in fire testing.

The review highlights the current challenges in cladding fire, smoke toxicity, testing system and regulation to provide some research recommendations to address the identified challenges.

The purpose of this study is to compare two bibliography assignments completed after one-shot library instruction to determine which research skills first-year students retain over the course of a semester.

A rubric was developed for citation analysis of student-annotated bibliographies and final bibliographies. Each assignment was scored on a three-point scale, and four criteria were assessed: the quality of sources used, variety of sources used, quality of annotations (for first assignment only) and citation accuracy.

Students scored highest on the quality of sources used in both assignments, although there was a statistically significant decline in overall scores from the first assignment to the second. Students had the most difficulty with writing annotations, followed closely by citation accuracy. Students primarily cited journal articles in their annotated bibliographies and reference sources in their final bibliographies. Website use increased notably from one assignment to the other.

This research is unique in its analysis of two separate bibliography assignments completed by first-year students over the course of a semester. It is of interest to librarians teaching one-shot library instruction or any librarian interested in assessing the research skills of first-year students.

The purpose of this paper is to examine what impacts university students perceived from their short-term intensive international courses as part of undergraduate multidisciplinary education.

The study design was informed by interpretative phenomenological analysis. Semi-structured interviews explored informants’ views of their experience to elicit key themes of their experience.

The analysis resulted in four major themes: personal development, generic skills, global perspectives and subject-specific matter. Some text segments were coded with multiple themes, which suggests that the impacts of short-term international courses are multifaceted.

Academic topics of the courses substantially centred around humanities and social sciences at a particular university. This paper furthermore primarily depended on students’ self-reported answers, and it is possible that the participants who chose to enrol in the elective international courses may be principally willing to acquire global competence. Therefore, this study did not set out to present the generalised impacts of any short-term international courses.

The findings could be used as a conceptual tool for the design and evaluation of new and existing courses. In addition, the four major themes that this study elicited are useful as a cue for students’ self-reflection about their own learning experiences.

There have been significant efforts devoted to increasing the quantity of short-term international programs, but there has been less focus on the quality of these programs. This study supports the findings of existing literature but also identified one of the potential unfavourable impacts that short-term international courses may have on students’ development.

The facilities at airports are extensive, diverse in nature and are core to future income and therefore future profitability. Current forecasts indicate a probable growth in air travel of approximately 100 per cent over the next 20 years. It is unlikely that such growth will be accommodated without considerable expansion of the built facilities presently found at existing airports. However, airports are notoriously poor environmental performers. Any growth or expansion must be accompanied by improvements in relation to environmental impact. Argues that facilities management has a significant role to play in ensuring that future airport expansion is sustainable. The role of the facilities management profession in this regard is investigated and a conceptual evaluation framework designed to measure the likely sphere of influence of the airport facilities manager is developed. While the framework presented herein is designed to understand the role of the FM in the context of airport facilities, the analytical technique underpinning it is applicable to designing evaluation models to perform analyses of the FM influence in the case of other facilities. The paper’s relevance thus extends beyond airport management.

The study aims to reveal how the students improved their academic presentation skills and the limitations to improvement with or without influences of students’ language backgrounds. Since the career paths of postgraduates have become more diverse in recent years, generic skills training is increasingly included in postgraduate programmes in addition to specific research training. However, PhD education generally adopts a traditional style, often relying on an individual supervisor without the inclusion of specific programmes to improve students’ generic skills. As academic presentation skills are crucial to research and are a generic skill that PhD students in science must acquire, we propose that existing student seminar programmes can be used effectively as an active training programme to improve these skills.

To design effective student seminars, we investigated how PhD students improved their academic presentation skills when opportunities to give regular seminars were provided and students were given detailed scores that measured performance in specific areas of presentation competency. We outline an extensive case study of 95 PhD students who presented at student seminars over a period of six years (2006-2011). Valid data of 73 students were collected, and data of 58 students were used for detailed analysis. Performance in three major factors important to presentation skills: structure, visuals and delivery, were scored for each seminar, and the scores underwent detailed statistical analysis.

Our key findings are that international students obtained better scores than Australian students for their first presentations while Australian students obtained a better score than international in for their second and the later presentations. The improvement of international students is slower than Australian students but occurs at a steadier pace. International students showed difficulty in improving answering questions.

This is the first time that a longitudinal study on PhD students’ development of academic presentation skills has been undertaken. Our results revealed how the students improved academic presentation skills and that the limitations to improvement depended on their language backgrounds. We discuss our findings from the viewpoint of student language backgrounds and the process of adaptation to academic culture.

The purpose of this paper is to bridge the void in virtual teams’ (VTs) lived experiences on the high-performance work process theme by exploring process alignment best practices for the functioning of effective VTs in the software sector of the technology industry of South Africa.

A qualitative, interpretivist case study was used to gain insight into the lived experiences of VT members. A purposive sample was selected, and data were collected through an electronic questionnaire and analysed by means of content analysis.

International literature corpus informed the process theme. Empirical evidence suggests that a value-driven work orientation to combat cybercrime linked with the pre-existence to specific architecture effectively contribute to the practice of VT expertise by delivering innovative new paths instead of aligning to traditional processes.

The qualitative approach of this paper limits the replication possibilities beyond the information and communication technology (ICT) VTs who participated in the study. The themes, elements and the virtual nature of the study could be generalised across various technology-infused organisations in other VTs and within other knowledge working fields.

An exemplary questionnaire and method to obtain deep knowledge from the lived experiences of the virtually dispersed participants could be utilised for similar future studies.

ICT software organisations trading on the African, within VT environments and South Africa, people practitioners and risk managers would benefit from the process alignment practices suggested in this study.

This paper complements seminal VT theorists, and presents suggestions towards a practical implementable novel framework for the implementation of VT processes alignment.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of panel connections on the hygrothermal performance of facade panels using a coupled, transient heat and moisture transfer analysis.

A coupled, transient heat and moisture transfer analysis has been conducted to investigate the effect of panel connections in the hygrothermal behavior of facade panels. Governing partial differential equations for the coupled heat and moisture transfer were formulated. Four panel connections proposed by pre-cast/pre-stressed concrete institute were modeled for the ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete facade panel as illustrations and a finite element method was used to solve the numerical models.

The results of heat transfer analysis showed that steel connections could significantly reduce the thermal resistivity of facade panels by converging heat fluxes and acting as thermal bridges within facade panels. The results also showed that the maximum heat flux in the steel connector of the panel to foundation connection was 10 times higher compared to the other connections. Also, the results of moisture transfer showed that air gaps between the panels had higher moisture flux compared to the other layers in the models. The results show the significant importance of panel connections in the energy performance analysis of facade systems. They also highlight the importance of devising novel connection designs and materials that consider the transient, coupled heat and moisture transfer in the connections to effectively exploit the potential opportunities provided by innovative facade systems to improve building energy efficiency.

This paper, for the first time, investigates the effect of panel connections in the hygrothermal performance of building facade systems using a coupled, transient heat and moisture transfer analysis.

This paper aims to examine two specific research issues among future members of the Malaysian accountancy profession. First, it explores the extent of committed academic dishonesty (AD) among accounting students in two institutions of higher learning in which Islamic orientation and emphasis are observably different. Second, it investigates whether pious accounting students are dishonesty-resistant, premising the investigation on the maintained assumption based on the Islamic religious scriptures that piety should be placed at the forefront of the crusade against academic malaise particularly AD.

Using a questionnaire survey to measure both AD and piety, the usable responses were analyzed using mean score and independent sample t-tests.

The results indicate that AD practices are within the safe and non-disturbing limit. The results on piety which form the crux of the research suggest that findings are sensitive to different piety measurement, indicating the need for a refine piety proxy in future Islamic piety research.

Notwithstanding the small sample based on only two universities, the results provide a critical basis for reality check and policy input on issues relating to AD and piety for all stakeholders, particularly in designing the relevant and necessary trainings and relevant policy formulation in addressing integrity issues in accounting education.