Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. [53]-54.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-117).

Thesis (Doctoral)--University of Tokyo, 1973. / One folded plate in pocket. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-81).

Thesis--University of Connecticut. / Includes abstract (2 leaves). Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-94).

Low-amplitude floor vibrations have become a governing serviceability performance design consideration for floors constructed with low mass-to-stiffness ratio materials such as wood. Studies reported here were conducted at the University of Ottawa to assess vibration serviceability performance of glued-laminated-timber (glulam) beam-and-deck floor systems. Such floors are applicable in non-residential buildings having spans up to about 10 m. The primary goal was to use test and numerical analysis methods to investigate how construction variables (e.g. beam span, beam spacing, addition of nonstructural overlays) affect the vibration responses of such floors. A secondary goal was to assess applicability of vibration serviceability design criteria proposed for other types of floors to glulam beam-and-deck floors. Apart from tests aimed at characterizing responses of laboratory built rectangular plan floors, focus groups were asked to subjective rate acceptability of the performances of those floors. Focus group ratings determined ability of humans to discern alterations in floor motions resulting from construction modifications, based on an opinion survey technique developed by other researchers. This determined that humans can detect and rate performance of floors having different engineering design characteristic, but cast doubts on the consistency of the employed opinion survey technique. Laboratory tests revealed that mid-span displacements of floors are functions of two-way deflected shapes of floors and are reduced by adding nonstructural overlays and extra beams. Adding non-structural overlays reduces fundamental natural frequency demonstrating gain in modal mass was greater than for modal stiffness. There was inconsistency between the result of focus group evaluations and predictions of acceptability of floors made using available suggested vibration serviceability design criteria. Finite Element (FE) models of glulam beam-and-deck floor systems were created and verified using laboratory test data. Based on those models it was concluded that fundamental natural frequencies and mid-span displacements of floors are relatively insensitive to variations in floor width-to-span ratios. However, higher order natural frequencies are strongly affected by floor width-to-span ratios. Increasing thickness of deck elements can decrease natural frequencies and cause them to cluster in ways that amplify surface motions caused by dynamic forces like human footfall impacts. Field vibration tests were conducted to investigate the dynamic behaviour of a large glulam beam-and-deck office floor having a complex plan shape and support conditions. That floor has long beam spans and partial continuity between bays defined by a mixture of column and wall supports. It was tested before non-structural floor toppings were added and after building completion and occupation. FE modeling of the floor was created and predicted modal characteristics (i.e. mode shapes, natural frequencies) compared with experimentally derived ones. Controlled walking tests were conducted to assess the dynamic response under office occupation conditions. It was concluded the vibration serviceability response of the floor was satisfactory based on peak acceleration measurements and lack of office worker dissatisfaction. Importance of this is the floor has low order natural frequencies less than 8Hz, which means existing proposed design practices created for lightweight timber floor would incorrectly classify its performance. The discrepancy is indicative that such design practices fail to capture effects of construction variables and damping characteristics of large floors. In general, vibration characteristics of lightweight floors are highly related to effects of construction details such as plan aspect ratio, boundary conditions and presence of nonstructural elements. Apart from clarifying specifics of how glulam beam-and-deck floors vibrate, this thesis is intended to contribute to Canadian and international efforts to create engineers design methods that robustly predict whether or not specific floors will have adequate vibration serviceability performance under defined floor occupancy conditions.

High-resolution sampling of Neoproterozoic basin-floor to slope deposits in the Windermere Supergroup, east-central British Columbia indicates three distinct stratigraphically ascending clusters suggesting temporal changes in sediment provenance. Assemblage 1 has a characteristic northwestern Laurentia bimodal detrital zircon distribution with low εNd values, and intermediate to mafic igneous provenance as indicated by discriminant function analysis of major elements, low Th/Sc and Zr/Sc, high Co/Th, and high Cr abundance. This suggests derivation from western Laurentia basement rocks and Archean mafic and ultramafic suites from the Central Hearne province supracrustal belt. Assemblage 2, although compositionally similar, has an additional 655 Ma detrital zircon age population, higher εNd values, and felsic igneous to recycled provenance, suggesting a significant Neoproterozoic igneous rift-related source. Assemblage 3 marks the end of input from the juvenile ca. 655 Ma source and felsic igneous to recycled provenance, suggesting a return to western Laurentian cratonic sources.

Building Information Models (BIM) are becoming a standard in the construction indus- try for storing information about buildings and assets. Automatically creating BIMs has attracted a lot of attention, as it has great potential to improve efficient resource man- agement. A detailed description of the building can decrease the cost of management, heating and cooling, and restoration. For pre-existing structures design documents are typically outdated or unavailable, making BIMs challenging to acquire. The field of indoor floor plan creation has grown in recent years due to advancements in LIDAR technology. However, LIDARs create millions of points per scan, making it computationally expensive to process all of them. In order to properly create a floor it is imperative to acquire a sufficient number of scans to visualize the whole building, while simultaneously minimizing the number of scans for computational reasons. We propose a method for selecting a subset of the scans, as well as a method for clustering points into lines to be used for floor plan extraction. Our method works by clustering nearby points, creating a convex hull around them, and selecting scans based on the most area covered by the union of the hulls. The point clustering splits the pointcloud into potential lines by projecting each point along its surface normal, clustering points from the same line together. Those improvements allow for the efficient generation of floor plans for large buildings. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Purpose: To accurately and precisely evaluate the validity and reliability of the English-language Pelvic Floor Inventories (PelFIs) administered questionnaire. Participants: Fifty female patient volunteers (ages 24 to 82 years) plus fifty female control volunteers (ages 21 to 83 years) completed the 149-item questionnaire. Results: Construct validity of the English-language PelFIs was established by quantifying the differences in prevalence of pfm dysfunction between the patient population and the control population. Very significant findings of F=10.83, p<0.0001 were found for the document as a whole. Content validity was attained by experts, and additional information gathered for further improvement of this tool. Test-retest reliability for all domains was established with ICC=0.905 and no significant differences were found between time-one and time-two. Internal consistency was obtained with significant Pearson's Correlation noted between the domains. The prevalence of co-occurrence of pfm disorders with patients presenting for treatment of a single pfm dysfunction was quantified and 100% of the patients reported symptoms in domains additional to the domain they sought treatment for. The presence of pfm dysfunction was also quantified in the control population and 94% were found to display symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. Conclusions: The English-language PelFIs was shown to be valid and reliable. Co-occurrence of pfm dysfunction was found to be highly prevalent.

Purpose: To accurately and precisely evaluate the validity and reliability of the English-language Pelvic Floor Inventories (PelFIs) administered questionnaire. Participants: Fifty female patient volunteers (ages 24 to 82 years) plus fifty female control volunteers (ages 21 to 83 years) completed the 149-item questionnaire. Results: Construct validity of the English-language PelFIs was established by quantifying the differences in prevalence of pfm dysfunction between the patient population and the control population. Very significant findings of F=10.83, p<0.0001 were found for the document as a whole. Content validity was attained by experts, and additional information gathered for further improvement of this tool. Test-retest reliability for all domains was established with ICC=0.905 and no significant differences were found between time-one and time-two. Internal consistency was obtained with significant Pearson's Correlation noted between the domains. The prevalence of co-occurrence of pfm disorders with patients presenting for treatment of a single pfm dysfunction was quantified and 100% of the patients reported symptoms in domains additional to the domain they sought treatment for. The presence of pfm dysfunction was also quantified in the control population and 94% were found to display symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. Conclusions: The English-language PelFIs was shown to be valid and reliable. Co-occurrence of pfm dysfunction was found to be highly prevalent.

Experimental and analytical research was conducted to address the vibration properties of Long Span Deck Floor Systems (LSDFS). The research comprised three stages. In the first part, experimental in-situ tests were conducted on thirteen bays of buildings under construction. The natural frequencies and acceleration responses were captured to observe the vibration behavior of the tested floors. In the second part, a laboratory footbridge was constructed to determine the fixity level attained at the supports when a LSDFS is supported by CMU walls. For this purpose, the footbridge was tested with three support conditions, and a number of experiments were carried out to determine the dynamic properties of the structure. Static tests using both point and distributed loadings were conducted to measure the deflections at the footbridge midspan. The static test results were compared to the theoretical deflections for a pinned-end beam and a fixed-end beam. Dynamic tests using experimental modal analysis techniques were conducted to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the structure. The measured fundamental natural frequency of the footbridge was compared to the frequencies calculated for a simply supported beam and a beam with fixed ends, to determine the degree of fixity attained in the connection between the LSDFS and the supporting walls. In the last part of the research, three analytical procedures to predict modal characteristics of long span deck floor systems are studied. Floor frequencies are calculated using finite element analyses. Two design guides for floor vibration analysis were used to calculate natural frequencies and response accelerations. The predicted results obtained from the analytical methods are compared to the experimental results to determine their accuracy. Recommendations for the use of the analytical methods are provided. / Master of Science