The surface roughness of unfilled rock discontinuities has a major influence on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of discontinuous rock masses. Although it is widely recognized that surface roughness is comprised of large-scale (waviness) and small-scale (unevenness) components, most investigations of surface roughness have been restricted to small fracture surfaces (<1m2). Hence, the large-scale components of roughness are often neglected. Furthermore, these investigations typically define roughness using two-dimensional profiles rather than three-dimensional surfaces, which can lead to biased estimates of roughness. These limitations have led to some contradictory findings regarding roughness scale effects. This thesis aims to resolve some of these issues. The main findings indicate that discontinuity roughness increases as a function of the sampling window size contrary to what is commonly assumed. More importantly, it is shown that the estimated roughness significantly decreases as the resolution of surface measurements decrease, which could lead to the under estimations of roughness and, consequently, discontinuity shear strength.

This paper measures the party incumbency advantage for the Democratic Party in state legislatures nationwide. To do so, this paper employs regression discontinuity design (RDD), following the structure laid out in Lee (2008). The results show a stronger incumbency advantage in state legislatures than the 8% figure found for U.S. House of Representative elections by Lee (2008), with a finding of a 14% advantage for lower houses nationwide and a 12% advantage for upper houses nationwide. Furthermore, this paper finds a strengthened incumbency advantage in states that hold their elections in off-years (34% in lower houses and 21% in upper houses). The paper concludes by suggesting that the boosted incumbency advantage for off-year states is a consequence of depressed voter turnout, testing this hypothesis using the Virginian lower house as a case study. Analysis suggests that the incumbency advantage drops substantially to 8% during years with a gubernatorial race and high voter turnout, and jumps substantially to 25% during years without a gubernatorial race and low voter turnout. However, large errors prevent these results from being statistically significant.

Esta pesquisa investiga os fatores que estão relacionados à descontinuidade do tratamento da tuberculose em Rio Branco-Acre, e propõe-se a compreender tais fatores. Para a realização desta pesquisa adotou-se uma contribuição da etnografia, para poder de fato fazer uma apreensão da realidade a ser estudada. A pesquisa desenvolveu-se em duas etapas de mapeamento: na primeira procedeu-se à busca de informações na base de dados do SINAN (Sistema de Notificação de Agravos Nacional) e na Coordenação Municipal do Programa de Tuberculose, a segunda procurou registrar fatos a partir da observação do atendimento numa unidade de saúde que presta assistência aos portadores de tuberculose em tratamento, só após esse período de observação dos atendimentos é que se partiu para as entrevistas dos sujeitos eleitos para a pesquisa. Na análise das observações, coletas de narrativas e entrevistas, observou-se que os profissionais dos serviços de saúde rotulam algumas pessoas como propícias a descontinuarem o tratamento e não considera os diferentes modos de vida na abordagem de seus pacientes, dificultando assim a formação do vínculo e favorecendo a descontinuidade. Identificou-se também que as pessoas que faziam o tratamento da tuberculose tinham várias formas de lidar com as limitações que foram geradas pela doença, como a restrição para o trabalho, entre outras, e as pessoas que descontinuaram o tratamento levavam em consideração seu sistema de crenças e valores, assim como a própria percepção de saúde/doença, devido a estarem se sentindo curados quando interromperam seus tratamentos. Destaca-se a necessidade de intervenções nos serviços de saúde para que se desenvolvam estratégias para trabalhar com as pessoas que apresentam diferentes modos de vida, levando em consideração o contexto no qual o doente está inserido, para dessa forma se ter um melhor controle da doença. / This research investigates the factors related to the discontinuity of the treatment of tuberculosis in Rio Branco-Acre, and intends to comprehend such factors. To the fulfillment of this research, a contribution to ethnography has been adopted, for the successful apprehension of the reality to be studied. The research has been developed in two mapping steps: on the first, a search for information on the SINAN (System of National Injuries Notification Sistema de Notificação de Agravos Nacionais) and on the Municipal Coordination of the Tuberculosis Program databases was taken; the second aimed to record facts from the observation of the care given on a health care unit, which serves assistance to tuberculosis carriers in treatment; only after this observation period of the care service, the interviews of the elected subjects started for the research. On the analysis of the observations, narrative and interview collection, it was observed that the professionals of health services label some people as auspicious to discontinue the treatment and dont consider the different ways of life on the approach of their patients, complicating the formation of the bond and favoring the discontinuity. It was also identified people treating for tuberculosis that had many ways of dealing with the limitations generated by the disease, such as restrictions for the work, among others, and people that discontinued the treatment took in consideration their system of beliefs and values, as well as the perception of health/disease, due to the feeling of cure when the treatment was interrupted. Attention to the need of intervention on the helath care services, so strategies to work with people who present different ways of life can be developed, taking in consideration the context in which the diseased is, leading to a better control of the illness.

Nas últimas décadas diversas reformas no financiamento da educação foram realizadas no Brasil e no exterior, além da adoção de políticas públicas de transferências de recursos, almejando melhorar o desempenho dos alunos e a qualidade da educação. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar o impacto dos programas de descentralização de gasto público na educação, sobre a variação do desempenho obtido na Prova Brasil entre os anos de 2005 e 2007, pelas escolas públicas da rede de ensino fundamental da Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo. Analisamos o Programa Dinheiro Direto na Escola (PDDE), criado pelo governo federal em 1995, além do Programa de Transferência de Renda Financeira (PTRF), implantado no final de 2005 pela Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo. Esses programas transferem recursos financeiros diretamente para as escolas, que tem o poder de decidir como utilizar esses repasses. Os dois programas possuem múltiplos pontos de corte, conforme o número de matrículas, para efeito de determinação do valor das transferências de recursos. Em uma primeira abordagem, são calculadas as médias da variação da nota das escolas em torno dos pontos de corte. Para o PTRF são observadas melhores variações de nota, para as escolas nas faixas superiores de tratamento, principalmente para a 4ª série, já para o PDDE os resultados não indicam efeitos positivos de mudança de faixa de tratamento. Empregando a metodologia de mínimos quadrados ordinários, apenas o coeficiente do valor per capita do PTRF apresentou efeito positivo e significativo sobre a variação da nota da Prova Brasil. Posteriormente, com a regressão descontínua Sharp paramétrica e não-paramétrica, são obtidos resultados positivos para as variações das notas da Prova Brasil da 4ª e 8ª série, caso as escolas estejam no início de uma faixa de tratamento superior do PTRF. Para o PDDE, poucos casos apresentaram impactos positivos e significativos; quando acontece a alteração de faixa de tratamento, alguns resultados obtidos sugerem que o programa federal não possui efeito. / In recent decades various reforms in education funding were implemented in Brazil and abroad, beyond the adoption of public transfers of resources, aiming to improve student achievement and education quality and student performance. This paper evaluates the impact of decentralization programs of public spending in education, about the variation of performance in standardized test (Prova Brasil) between 2005 and 2007, the public school system of elementary education belonging São Paulo municipal administration. We analyzed the Programa Dinheiro Direto na Escola (PDDE), created by the federal government in 1995, and Programa de Transferência de Renda Financeira (PTRF), implemented in late 2005 by the São Paulo municipal administration. These programs transfer financial resources directly to schools, which has the power to decide how to use these transfers. Both programs have multiple cut points, according to enrollment, to determine the value of the distribution of resources. In a first approach, the averages are calculated varying the note of a fixed amount of schools near the cutoff. For PTRF and are best observed variations of note, top bands from schools in treatment mainly for the 4th grade, as for the PDDE, the results do not indicate positive effects of changing band treatment. Employing the method of ordinary least square, only the coefficient of per capita value for PTRF showed positive and significant effect on the variation of the note in standardized test. Later, with the regression discontinuity Sharp parametric and nonparametric, positive results are obtained for variations of the notes of standardized test, 4th and 8th grades, where schools are at the beginning of a range of superior treatment of PTRF. For the PDDE, few cases were positive and significant when the change occurs in the range of treatment, some results suggest that federal program has no effect.

Esta pesquisa investiga os fatores que estão relacionados à descontinuidade do tratamento da tuberculose em Rio Branco-Acre, e propõe-se a compreender tais fatores. Para a realização desta pesquisa adotou-se uma contribuição da etnografia, para poder de fato fazer uma apreensão da realidade a ser estudada. A pesquisa desenvolveu-se em duas etapas de mapeamento: na primeira procedeu-se à busca de informações na base de dados do SINAN (Sistema de Notificação de Agravos Nacional) e na Coordenação Municipal do Programa de Tuberculose, a segunda procurou registrar fatos a partir da observação do atendimento numa unidade de saúde que presta assistência aos portadores de tuberculose em tratamento, só após esse período de observação dos atendimentos é que se partiu para as entrevistas dos sujeitos eleitos para a pesquisa. Na análise das observações, coletas de narrativas e entrevistas, observou-se que os profissionais dos serviços de saúde rotulam algumas pessoas como propícias a descontinuarem o tratamento e não considera os diferentes modos de vida na abordagem de seus pacientes, dificultando assim a formação do vínculo e favorecendo a descontinuidade. Identificou-se também que as pessoas que faziam o tratamento da tuberculose tinham várias formas de lidar com as limitações que foram geradas pela doença, como a restrição para o trabalho, entre outras, e as pessoas que descontinuaram o tratamento levavam em consideração seu sistema de crenças e valores, assim como a própria percepção de saúde/doença, devido a estarem se sentindo curados quando interromperam seus tratamentos. Destaca-se a necessidade de intervenções nos serviços de saúde para que se desenvolvam estratégias para trabalhar com as pessoas que apresentam diferentes modos de vida, levando em consideração o contexto no qual o doente está inserido, para dessa forma se ter um melhor controle da doença. / This research investigates the factors related to the discontinuity of the treatment of tuberculosis in Rio Branco-Acre, and intends to comprehend such factors. To the fulfillment of this research, a contribution to ethnography has been adopted, for the successful apprehension of the reality to be studied. The research has been developed in two mapping steps: on the first, a search for information on the SINAN (System of National Injuries Notification Sistema de Notificação de Agravos Nacionais) and on the Municipal Coordination of the Tuberculosis Program databases was taken; the second aimed to record facts from the observation of the care given on a health care unit, which serves assistance to tuberculosis carriers in treatment; only after this observation period of the care service, the interviews of the elected subjects started for the research. On the analysis of the observations, narrative and interview collection, it was observed that the professionals of health services label some people as auspicious to discontinue the treatment and dont consider the different ways of life on the approach of their patients, complicating the formation of the bond and favoring the discontinuity. It was also identified people treating for tuberculosis that had many ways of dealing with the limitations generated by the disease, such as restrictions for the work, among others, and people that discontinued the treatment took in consideration their system of beliefs and values, as well as the perception of health/disease, due to the feeling of cure when the treatment was interrupted. Attention to the need of intervention on the helath care services, so strategies to work with people who present different ways of life can be developed, taking in consideration the context in which the diseased is, leading to a better control of the illness.

Surface and subsurface data from the Sulaiman thrust belt show that nearly all the 10 km thick sequence of dominantly platform (>7 km) and molasse strata is detached at the deformation front. These strata thicken tectonically to a minimum of 20 km in the hinterland of the Sulaiman fold belt without significant thrust faults at the surface. The balanced structural cross-:section suggests that the tectonic uplift in the Sulaiman fold belt is a result of thin-skinned, passive-roof duplex style of deformation. The duplex sequence of Jurassic and older rocks is separated from the roof sequence by a passive-back thrust in thick Cretaceous shales. The passive-roof sequence remains intact for about 150 km and becomes emergent along a passive-back thrust in the hinterland. The structures are expressed at the surface by fault-related folds in the foreland and out-of-sequence structures (secondary faults and related pop-ups) in the interior. The duplex structure varies from fault-bend folds to anticlinal stacks, and hinterland dipping duplexes. Progressive deformation reveals a series of structural and geometrical features including: (1) broad concentric folding at the fault tip; (2) development of a passive-roof and duplex sequence; (2) forward propagation of the duplex as critical taper is achieved; (4) tear faults and extensional normal faults within the overthrust wedge; and (5) out of sequence (secondary) thrusting. The 349 km long balanced cross-section from the Sulaiman fold belt restores to an original length of 727 km that provides 378 km of shortening in the cover strata of the Indian subcontinent. Minimum estimate of shortening is 328 km. Modelling of the Bouguer gravity profile from the Sulaiman foredeep across the Indian/ Afghan collision zone suggests the depth to the Moho at the Sulaiman deformation front is about 36 km. Depth to Moho increases northward with a gentle gradient of 1.1° (20 m/km) for 280 km to the hinterland where the depth to the Moho is about 42 km. About 150 km north across the Khojak flysch the Moho gradient steepens abruptly to about 7.8° (136 m/km) to attain an average depth of about 57 km in eastern Afghanistan. This suggests that the Sulaiman fold belt is underlain by transitional crust associated with the western passive margin of the Indian subcontinent. / Graduation date: 1992

This thesis aims to, with the aid of Anthony Gidden¡¦s and Stuart Hall¡¦s theories on modernity and identity, discuss the process of changes initiated by modernity in the societies of V. S. Naipaul¡¦s three Trinidad novels in his writing career: namely, The Mystic Masseur (1957), Miguel Street (1959), and A House for Mr. Biswas (1961). My argument is that in these Trinidad novels, the process of modernization is fragmenting the old and agrarian Trinidadian society, and therefore has caused rupture and discontinuities in people¡¦s life. This fragment is actually a pertinent chance for both the protagonists and Naipaul to regain their genuine self and cultural identity by escaping from the limiting environment. In Chapter One, there is basic historical background information of Trinidad and of V. S. Naipaul. I will list out some key concepts of Anthony Gidden¡¦s ideas of modernity, along with the ones of the importance of self-identity in a modern society. Moreover, Stuart Hall¡¦s concepts of modernity and identity will be presented as well. Chapter Two, with some comparisons with The Mystic Masseur and A House for Mr. Biswas, will mainly focus on Miguel Street and on the impact of modernity on it. The institutional and economical changes caused by modernity lead to rupture and discontinuity in people¡¦s life, and consequently, force them to search for self-identity. Chapter Three will move on to discussion of the self-identity formation of Mr. Biswas in A House for Mr. Biswas. During his growth and struggle in Trinidad, he finally gains his identity as an individual in a modern society. Moreover, his newly established sense of cultural identity will be inherited by his son, Anand. Anand serves an analogy to the boy narrator in Miguel Street whereas Ganesh in The Mystic Masseur is seen as an antithesis to Mr. Biswas. At last, I will define Naipaul¡¦s sense of identity as a Trinidad-born writer.

The manufacturing process has been a heavily studied area over the past century. The study completed herein has established a foundation for the future of manufacturing research. The next step of this industry is to become proficient at the micro and nano scale levels of manufacturing. In order to accomplish this goal, the modeling of machining system needs to be completely understood throughout the entire process. In effort to attack this problem, this study will focus on the boundaries present in machining systems; and will define and interpret the associated phenomena. This particular focus is selected since nearly all manufacturing related studies concentrate on continuous processes; which by definition considers only one particular operation. There is a need to understand the phenomena corresponding to interactions of multiple processes of manufacturing systems. As a means to this end, the nonlinear phenomena associated in the continuous domains of machining systems will be modeled as linear to ensure the boundary interactions are clearly observed. Interference of additional nonlinearities is not the focus of this research. In this dissertation, the mechanical model for a widely accepted machine-tool system is presented. The state and continuous domains are defined with respect to the boundaries in this system (contact and frictional force acting at the point of tool and work-piece contact). The switching sets defining plane boundaries for the continuous systems of this machine-tool will be defined and studied herein. The forces and force products, at the point of switching from one continuous system to another, govern the pass-ability of the machine-tool through the respective boundary. The forces and force product components at the switching points are derived according to discontinuous systems theory Luo [1]. Mapping definitions and notations are developed through the switching sets for each of the boundaries. A mapping structure and notation for periodic interrupted cutting, non-cutting and chip seizure motions are defined. The interruption of the chip flow for a machining system will be investigated through a range of system parameters. The prediction of interrupted periodic cutting, non-cutting and chip seizure motion will be completed via closed form solutions for this machine-tool. The state of this system is defined to utilize the theory of Luo [1]. This is necessary to properly handle the frictional force boundary at the chip/tool interface, the onset of cutting boundary and the contact boundary between the tool and work-pieces. The predictions by this method will be verified via numerical simulation and comparison to existing research. A goal of this research is to illustrate the effects of the dynamical systems interacting at the frictional force (chip/tool) boundary and the chip onset of growth and vanishing boundary. The parameter space for this machine-tool model is studied through numerical and analytical predictions, which provide limits on the existence of interrupted periodic cutting, non-cutting and chip seizure motions.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 177-186. Also available online.

Nas últimas décadas diversas reformas no financiamento da educação foram realizadas no Brasil e no exterior, além da adoção de políticas públicas de transferências de recursos, almejando melhorar o desempenho dos alunos e a qualidade da educação. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar o impacto dos programas de descentralização de gasto público na educação, sobre a variação do desempenho obtido na Prova Brasil entre os anos de 2005 e 2007, pelas escolas públicas da rede de ensino fundamental da Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo. Analisamos o Programa Dinheiro Direto na Escola (PDDE), criado pelo governo federal em 1995, além do Programa de Transferência de Renda Financeira (PTRF), implantado no final de 2005 pela Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo. Esses programas transferem recursos financeiros diretamente para as escolas, que tem o poder de decidir como utilizar esses repasses. Os dois programas possuem múltiplos pontos de corte, conforme o número de matrículas, para efeito de determinação do valor das transferências de recursos. Em uma primeira abordagem, são calculadas as médias da variação da nota das escolas em torno dos pontos de corte. Para o PTRF são observadas melhores variações de nota, para as escolas nas faixas superiores de tratamento, principalmente para a 4ª série, já para o PDDE os resultados não indicam efeitos positivos de mudança de faixa de tratamento. Empregando a metodologia de mínimos quadrados ordinários, apenas o coeficiente do valor per capita do PTRF apresentou efeito positivo e significativo sobre a variação da nota da Prova Brasil. Posteriormente, com a regressão descontínua Sharp paramétrica e não-paramétrica, são obtidos resultados positivos para as variações das notas da Prova Brasil da 4ª e 8ª série, caso as escolas estejam no início de uma faixa de tratamento superior do PTRF. Para o PDDE, poucos casos apresentaram impactos positivos e significativos; quando acontece a alteração de faixa de tratamento, alguns resultados obtidos sugerem que o programa federal não possui efeito. / In recent decades various reforms in education funding were implemented in Brazil and abroad, beyond the adoption of public transfers of resources, aiming to improve student achievement and education quality and student performance. This paper evaluates the impact of decentralization programs of public spending in education, about the variation of performance in standardized test (Prova Brasil) between 2005 and 2007, the public school system of elementary education belonging São Paulo municipal administration. We analyzed the Programa Dinheiro Direto na Escola (PDDE), created by the federal government in 1995, and Programa de Transferência de Renda Financeira (PTRF), implemented in late 2005 by the São Paulo municipal administration. These programs transfer financial resources directly to schools, which has the power to decide how to use these transfers. Both programs have multiple cut points, according to enrollment, to determine the value of the distribution of resources. In a first approach, the averages are calculated varying the note of a fixed amount of schools near the cutoff. For PTRF and are best observed variations of note, top bands from schools in treatment mainly for the 4th grade, as for the PDDE, the results do not indicate positive effects of changing band treatment. Employing the method of ordinary least square, only the coefficient of per capita value for PTRF showed positive and significant effect on the variation of the note in standardized test. Later, with the regression discontinuity Sharp parametric and nonparametric, positive results are obtained for variations of the notes of standardized test, 4th and 8th grades, where schools are at the beginning of a range of superior treatment of PTRF. For the PDDE, few cases were positive and significant when the change occurs in the range of treatment, some results suggest that federal program has no effect.