The purpose of this study was to explore regular education student perceptions of the effects of implementing behavioral interventions for seriously emotionally disturbed students (SED) in the regular classroom. Student perceptions of classroom friction or disruptiveness, apathy, and general enjoyment or satisfaction were evaluated. It was predicted that regular education students would report more classroom friction, increased apathy, and less satisfaction when interventions were implemented in the regular classroom for a target SED student.

The primary purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of an intensive, in-service training program for modifying selected personality traits among para-professional counselor aides restricted to working with emotionally disturbed youth in a residential treatment center. Additionally, an attempt was made to identify the areas in which personality traits were modified, both between experimental and control groups and between males and females.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the differences in performance of a sample of children with organically based test behavior and learning disabilities and those children whose disorders are functional in origin. It is the purpose of this paper to determine if there exists a particular profile on the Bender Gestalt and the WISC that would help to differentiate these two diagnostic categories which at some levels of behavior are quite similar. The present study is an attempt to compare the WISC and the BGT of emotionally disturbed children with the WISC and the BGT of those children who have been diagnosed as neurologically impaired. It is more important today than ever before to ascertain a correct estimate of ability, the reasons for difficulties in learning and behavioral problems of young school age children, while at the same time taking into consideration the global intelligence and potentials of the individual. This eminates from the growing interest in, and work with, the different diagnostic categories of children by clinics and schools. This increased interest is evident in the larger number of diagnostic personnel associated with the school systems and more individualized types of instruction for the child with unusual difficulties or abilities.

This study compares the impact of group counseling with that of outdoor group experience upon institutionalized adolescents. Limited to subjects between twelve and sixteen years old, the study evaluates behavior, self-esteem, social and personal adjustment, and sociometric choosing. The object of these evaluations is to test the effectiveness of these two approaches to treating disturbed adolescents who had failed to function in a community setting and who might otherwise have lapsed into delinquency. Significant change following group counseling and following outdoor group experience as measured by accrual of points for behavior suggests that both approaches are effective, with group counseling having the greater impact. Also, younger subjects appear to profit more from both group counseling and outdoor group experience. The absence of significant change reflected by standardized instruments creates two questions. Are available instruments normed on basically normal groups appropriate for use with such a unique group of subjects as those in this study? Also, does the intense resistance these subjects demonstrated toward all pencil-and-paper activities negatively affect the accuracy of results from these standardized instruments?

Corrosion of reinforcing steel is a major problem facing infrastructures owners with billions of dollars spent in repairing our aging infrastructure. One of the first steps in the repair process is to quantify the strength degradation in a reinforced concrete element caused by the corrosion of reinforcing steel. An understanding of the forces involved in the load carrying mechanisms is imperative; the transfer of shear forces in reinforced concrete beams is one of these load carrying mechanisms. The shear transfer mechanism is different near the end of beams, adjacent to point loads, and near changes in cross section. These regions are known as disturbed regions. Structural engineers have a good understanding of the shear transfer mechanism in disturbed regions. However, the effects of corroded shear reinforcement in these regions have not been widely investigated. The current study is comprised of an experimental program and analytical strut and tie modeling aimed at quantifying the strength reduction that occurs in disturbed regions of reinforced concrete beams with corroded shear reinforcement. The feasibility of strengthening a beam with dry lay-up carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) to repair the damage caused by corrosion of the shear reinforcement was also investigated. In the experimental study, a total of 16 reinforced concrete beams were cast. The specimens were 350 mm deep, 125 mm wide and 1850 mm long. Three shear-span to depth ratios (1.0, 1.5, 2.0) were selected. Each specimen was reinforced in flexure with two 25M bars and the shear reinforcement was 10M spaced at 150 mm on centre. The specimens were corroded for 21 days, 60 days, and 120 days corresponding to low, medium, and high corrosion levels. In addition, three specimens were constructed without shear reinforcement in the shear-span in order to compare the results from the corroded specimens. One specimen was also corroded to a high level and repaired with dry lay-up CFRP. The specimens were corroded using an accelerated corrosion technique. There was evidence of cracking of the cover concrete in all specimens, and in the more severely corroded specimens delamination of the cover concrete was recorded. The stiffness of the corroded specimens was less than their corresponding control specimen, and a strength reduction was evident in most specimens. The maximum recorded strength reduction was 52% compared to the companion uncorroded specimen. It was revealed that a more critical case occurs when the corroded shear reinforcement was shifted during placement or was inclined closer to the direction of the compressive force flow. Also, it was observed that the corroded shear reinforcement still provides limited ductility in comparison to the un-corroded reinforcement. A strut and tie model was developed based on the experiments to explain the behaviour of disturbed regions with corroded shear reinforcement. The model consisted of direct and indirect struts. The effects of corrosion were expressed in terms of a reduction in the stirrup cross-section, a reduction of compressive strength due to corrosion cracking, and a reduction in the concrete cross section width. It was hypothesized that the corrosion crack width influences the concrete compressive strength in the strut; consequently, a mathematical model was developed that related the reduction in concrete compressive strength with corrosion crack width. Also, a relationship between reinforcing steel mass loss and corrosion crack width was utilized from the published literature. An effective cross section width was obtained by reducing the width by the damaged concrete cover. The results from these models were input into a strut and tie model as a reduction in concrete compressive strength. The output from the strut and tie model was the ultimate shear strength of the specimen. The developed models were compared with a model from the literature and compared with the experimental results. The major contribution of this research is to allow designers to analyze disturbed regions with corroded shear reinforcement and determine the strength degradation; subsequently, one can determine what strengthening procedure would be most appropriate.

Corrosion of reinforcing steel is a major problem facing infrastructures owners with billions of dollars spent in repairing our aging infrastructure. One of the first steps in the repair process is to quantify the strength degradation in a reinforced concrete element caused by the corrosion of reinforcing steel. An understanding of the forces involved in the load carrying mechanisms is imperative; the transfer of shear forces in reinforced concrete beams is one of these load carrying mechanisms. The shear transfer mechanism is different near the end of beams, adjacent to point loads, and near changes in cross section. These regions are known as disturbed regions. Structural engineers have a good understanding of the shear transfer mechanism in disturbed regions. However, the effects of corroded shear reinforcement in these regions have not been widely investigated. The current study is comprised of an experimental program and analytical strut and tie modeling aimed at quantifying the strength reduction that occurs in disturbed regions of reinforced concrete beams with corroded shear reinforcement. The feasibility of strengthening a beam with dry lay-up carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) to repair the damage caused by corrosion of the shear reinforcement was also investigated. In the experimental study, a total of 16 reinforced concrete beams were cast. The specimens were 350 mm deep, 125 mm wide and 1850 mm long. Three shear-span to depth ratios (1.0, 1.5, 2.0) were selected. Each specimen was reinforced in flexure with two 25M bars and the shear reinforcement was 10M spaced at 150 mm on centre. The specimens were corroded for 21 days, 60 days, and 120 days corresponding to low, medium, and high corrosion levels. In addition, three specimens were constructed without shear reinforcement in the shear-span in order to compare the results from the corroded specimens. One specimen was also corroded to a high level and repaired with dry lay-up CFRP. The specimens were corroded using an accelerated corrosion technique. There was evidence of cracking of the cover concrete in all specimens, and in the more severely corroded specimens delamination of the cover concrete was recorded. The stiffness of the corroded specimens was less than their corresponding control specimen, and a strength reduction was evident in most specimens. The maximum recorded strength reduction was 52% compared to the companion uncorroded specimen. It was revealed that a more critical case occurs when the corroded shear reinforcement was shifted during placement or was inclined closer to the direction of the compressive force flow. Also, it was observed that the corroded shear reinforcement still provides limited ductility in comparison to the un-corroded reinforcement. A strut and tie model was developed based on the experiments to explain the behaviour of disturbed regions with corroded shear reinforcement. The model consisted of direct and indirect struts. The effects of corrosion were expressed in terms of a reduction in the stirrup cross-section, a reduction of compressive strength due to corrosion cracking, and a reduction in the concrete cross section width. It was hypothesized that the corrosion crack width influences the concrete compressive strength in the strut; consequently, a mathematical model was developed that related the reduction in concrete compressive strength with corrosion crack width. Also, a relationship between reinforcing steel mass loss and corrosion crack width was utilized from the published literature. An effective cross section width was obtained by reducing the width by the damaged concrete cover. The results from these models were input into a strut and tie model as a reduction in concrete compressive strength. The output from the strut and tie model was the ultimate shear strength of the specimen. The developed models were compared with a model from the literature and compared with the experimental results. The major contribution of this research is to allow designers to analyze disturbed regions with corroded shear reinforcement and determine the strength degradation; subsequently, one can determine what strengthening procedure would be most appropriate.

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the arterial walls and is the major cause of heart attack and stroke. Atherosclerosis is localized to curves or branches in the vasculature where disturbed blood flow alters endothelial cell (EC) gene expression and induces EC dysfunction. Epigenetics controls aberrant gene expression in many diseases, but the mechanism of flow-induced epigenetic gene regulation in ECs via DNA methylation has not been well studied until very recently. The goal of this project was to determine how the DNA methylome responds to flow, causes altered gene expression, and regulates atherosclerosis development. Here, we found that d-flow increases DNA Methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) expression in ECs, and we hypothesized that this causes a shift in the EC methylome and transcriptome towards a pro-inflammatory, pro-atherosclerotic gene expression program, and further that this leads to atherosclerosis development. To test this hypothesis, we employed both in vitro and in vivo experimental approaches combined with genome-wide studies of the transcriptome and DNA methylome according to the following three specific aims: 1) to elucidate the role of DNA Methyltransferase 1 in EC function, 2) to uncover the DNA methylation-dependent EC gene expression response to flow, and 3) to discover and examine master regulators of EC function that are controlled by DNA methylation. The work presented here has resulted in new knowledge about the epigenetic EC shear response, details the previously unstudied EC methylome, and implicates specific loci within the genome for additional studies on their role in EC biology and atherosclerosis. This work provides a foundation for novel and more targeted therapeutic strategies for CVD.

The disturbed state concept (DSC) based constitutive model is the focus of this research. It is applied for characterizing two problems; thermomechanical reliability analysis of electronic packages, and prediction of glacial motion. A new procedure for construction of static yield surface for materials is proposed. Further, a modified DSC model to include effect of rate of loading on material behavior is proposed.The DSC is applied to characterize the behavior of Sn-3.9Ag-0.6Cu (SAC) lead free solder alloy used in electronic packages. Proposed procedure of construction of static curve and rate dependent DSC model is applied for prediction of creep and rate dependent behavior of the SAC alloy. Laboratory test data is adopted from the literature and material parameters are determined. The DSC model is validated using the derived material parameters. A finite element analysis of the BGA 225 package is performed under cyclic thermomechanical loading. Analysis results are compared with available test data. A failure criterion for prediction of number of cycles to failure for BGA 225 is then derived.The second application of DSC discussed in this work is prediction of glacial motion. Mechanical behavior of glacial till and its contribution to overall ice movement is characterized using DSC. Two regionally significant tills are chosen and samples are collected from field. A series of laboratory tests are conducted on samples. Tests results are used for model calibration and validation. A numerical simulation of an idealized ice - till system under gravity loading is performed. Two such analyses are performed with DSC and Mohr Coulomb models and the results are compared.The DSC predicts failure when a significant portion of the material reaches a critical disturbance whereas the Mohr Coulomb model predicts failure based on peak stress. DSC predicts a gradual progression to failure whereas the Mohr Coulomb model predicts early catastrophic failure. According to DSC, the material undergoes considerable plastic strains before it reaches failure whereas the Mohr Coulomb predicts failure at very low elastic strains. In general the DSC is considered to provide a more realistic and general constitutive model for glacial tills.

The clay mineralogy data and K-Ar ages of I/S measured in this study agree with previous work conducted within the Disturbed Belt (Hoffman, 1976) and show that diagenetic I/S formed quickly at several different places in response to thrust sheet burial during the Laramide orogeny. The averages of concordant age values for clay sub-fractions separated from three bentonites of Cretaceous and Jurassic depositional age increase from southeast (53.6 Ma) to northwest (56.7 Ma) along the trend of the Disturbed Belt. This northwestward increase of mean ages of I/S is consistent with a thrust sheet emplacement model for the Disturbed Belt (Mudge and Earhart, 1980). The rate of the eastward advancement of the Lewis Thrust Sheet derived from the concordant K-Ar dates of I/S was about 1 cm/year in the Marias River area. The absence of the 2M1 illite polytype in most bentonitic shales does not permit the derivation of the age of diagenetic I/S by Illite Age Analysis and yet constrains the estimate of maximum burial temperature to 250°C.

Submitted by (edna.saturno@ufrpe.br) on 2016-06-15T16:10:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Clarissa Gomes Reis Lopes (1).pdf: 1021119 bytes, checksum: 8d291962a84690e30bd756708155fc47 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-15T16:10:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Clarissa Gomes Reis Lopes (1).pdf: 1021119 bytes, checksum: 8d291962a84690e30bd756708155fc47 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-16 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Tropical dry forests have been intensively disturbed, however knowledge of their regenerating processes is still restrict. The aim of this study is to evaluate if 16 years of regeneration in an area which the agriculture was descontinued are sufficient for the regeneration of structural and floristic features of an abondoned agricultural field and if the time of abandonment, the precipitation and the distance from a preserved fragment influence the regeneration of this area in Caruaru, PE, Brazil. All individuals with diameter ≥ 3 cm a level of soil were marked and had the height and diameter measured. Structure and floristic data were compared with secondary data of the forest fragment and of other regenerating areas of dry forest, and also to test the influence of the fragment upon the regeneration of the abandoned field. The population dynamics of aroeira, braúna and catingueira were evaluated in 105 plots (5 X 5 m) during two years. All individuals of these three species within the plots were counted and marked; the plots were monitored mensaly to record births and deaths. The field presented lower density, basal area and number of species than the forest fragment; however the number of families and the diversity were similar. Species composition and population density in altered areas of caatinga were more influenced by the precipitation than by the time of abandonment. The density, mean height and maximum diameter of individuals within the plots were not related to the distance from the forest, except for some species. The distance from the forest influenced the number of births and the density of aroeira and braúna, but it was not true for catingueira. The number of births and deaths and the population density varied between years. The total density of the area is one of the parameters of faster recuperation, whereas the basal area and the composition of species are slower ones. The results indicated that 16 years of abandonment were not sufficient for the regeneration of area. Role of preserved fragment on regeneration of antropized area influenced the species differently and this relation is stronger in M. urundeuva and S. brasiliensis. Annual variation in demography of tre species may be related to variations on rainfall. This study confirms the importance of forest fragments in the regeneration of altered areas, and suggests the importance of their preservation. / As florestas tropicais secas têm sido intensamente degradadas. Apesar disso, o conhecimento sobre o seu processo regenerativo em áreas abandonadas ainda é restrito. Objetivou-se avaliar se 16 anos de regeneração em uma área onde a agricultura foi descontinuada são suficientes para que volte a apresentar caracterísiticas estruturais e florísticas similares à encontrada na floresta madura e se o tempo de abandono, a precipitação e a distância de um fragmento preservado influenciam na regeneração em Caruaru, PE, Brasil. Todos os indivíduos com diâmetro maior ou igual a 3 cm a nível do solo foram marcados e medidos quanto a altura e diâmetro. Os dados estruturais e florísticos foram comparados com dados secundários tanto do fragmento florestal próximo quanto de outras áreas em regeneração. Os estudos floristicos e fitossociológicos em áreas antropizadas da caatinga publicados em periódicos que disponibilizaram os dados de composição e riqueza de espécies, densidade, área basal, precipitação anual e tempo de regeneração foram selecionados. As dinâmicas populacionais de Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão, Schinopsis brasiliensis Engl. e Poincianella pyramidalis (Tul.) L.P.Queiroz foram avaliadas em 105 parcelas (5 X 5 m) durante dois anos. No interior das parcelas, todos os indivíduos destas três espécies foram contados e marcados e, mensalmente, as parcelas foram monitoradas para contagem dos nascimentos e mortes. O campo apresentou menor densidade, área basal e número de espécies que o fragmento preservado próximo, porém não diferiu significativamente em relação a número de famílias e diversidade. A composição de espécies e a densidade das populações nas áreas antropizadas da caatinga mostraram-se mais influenciada pela precipitação dos habitats do que pelo tempo de abandono. A densidade, a altura média e o diâmetro máximo dos indivíduos nas parcelas não tiveram a distância da mata, mas nas populações de algumas espécies houve relações significativas. A distância da mata influenciou o número de nascimentos e a densidade populacional de M. urundeuva e S. brasiliensis, mas não de P. pyramidalis. O número de nascimentos, mortes e densidade populacional variaram bastante entre os anos. A densidade total da área é um dos parâmetros de rápida recuperação, enquanto a área basal e a composição de espécies são mais lentos. Mesmo numa área pouco perturbada, 16 anos de abandono não foram suficientes para recuperação de uma área de agricultura em um ambiente semiárido. O papel do fragmento preservado na regeneração da área antropizada influenciou de forma diferenciada as espécies, sendo mais forte em M. urundeuva e S. brasiliensis. A variação anual na demografia das três espécies pode estar relacionada com variações nos totais de precipitação. Este estudo confirma a importância dos fragmentos florestais na regeneração de áreas antropizadas, sendo importante o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas voltadas para proteção destes fragmentos.