<p> A research program is presented for assessing the plastic collapse load and incremental collapse load of reinforced concrete frames. This investigation attempts to establish a range of validity of simple plastic theory when applied to the under reinforced concrete frames and to determine the sensitivity of such structures to variable repeated loading. </p> <p> An experimental program was conducted on 4 reinforced concrete frames and two reinforced concrete columns. Deflections and strains of these models of nearly prototype size were measured and compared with predicted values at critical cross-sections. </p> <p> Resulting conclusions and recommendations for further research are made. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

This thesis examines breastfeeding, weaning, and the post-weaning diets of 18 adults (18y+) and two subadults (aged 10y – 14y) from the rural Imperial Roman (1st – 4th c. CE) site of Vagnari, located in southern Italy. The investigation used a new method to sample dentine sections that accounts for the oblique nature of dentine development and allowed for the assignment of age categories to diagenetically altered teeth without visible dentine lines. The results indicate Vagnari children were weaned by ~3.5y, and that some males appear to have been breastfed longer than females. Despite the similar ages-at-weaning across the sample, the individuals in this study demonstrated a variety of weaning rates (i.e., speeds or paces), post-weaning dietary trends, and changes in diet across the life course. Some individuals (n = 6) appear to have been weaned rapidly, marked by significant removal of breastmilk prior to 2.5y, with small amounts of breast milk remaining in the diet until ~3.5y. Other children (n = 9) were weaned gradually, with slow, consistent removal of breastmilk until as late as 5.0y. Throughout and after the weaning period, children were fed a diet based on C3 plants and terrestrial proteins such as wheat, goat/sheep, and their by-products. A comparison of early life dentine and adult bone collagen signals for 14 individuals revealed changes in diet with increasing age, in which most people had increased access to higher terrestrial food sources such as pork and/or small amounts of marine food later in life. However, there was notable variation in dietary trends and practices across the sample, suggesting diverse dietary patterns among people from Vagnari. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / In this thesis, I used samples from tooth dentine to analyze longitudinal stable isotope data for breastfeeding, weaning, and post-weaning dietary signals in a sample of 20 individuals from the Roman Imperial estate of Vagnari (1st – 4th c. CE) located in southern Italy. On average, children were weaned by ~3.5 years of age. Despite the similar age-at-weaning across the sample, individuals exhibited different weaning patterns and diversity in early life dietary practices at Vagnari. During and after weaning, the isotope data indicate that children were fed with C3 plants (e.g., wheat) and terrestrial proteins such as sheep/goat and pig. I analyzed childhood and adult diet by comparing dentine stable isotope data to bone collagen results from a sub-sample of 14 individuals. There was variability between the childhood dentine data and the adult bone collagen data, where individuals appeared to eat more pork and small amounts of fish later in life. This is the first study to explore breastfeeding and weaning practices of rural Roman children in southern Italy using stable isotope analysis of tooth dentine.

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We address the problem of learning discrete hidden Markov models from very long sequences of observations. Incremental versions of the Baum-Welch algorithm that approximate the beta-values used in the backward procedure are commonly used for this problem since their memory complexity is independent of the sequence length. However, traditional approaches have two main disadvantages: the approximation of the beta-values deviates far from the real values, and the learning algorithm requires previous knowledge of the topology of the model. This dissertation describes a new incremental Baum-Welch algorithm with a novel backward procedure that improves the approximation of the â-values based on a one-step lookahead in the training sequence and investigates heuristics to prune unnecessary states from an initial complex model. Two new approaches for pruning, greedy and controlled, are introduced and a novel method for identification of ill-conditioned models is presented. Incremental learning of multiple independent observations is also investigated. We justify the new approaches analytically and report empirical results that show they converge faster than the traditional Baum-Welch algorithm using fewer computer resources. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the new learning algorithms converge faster than the previous incremental approaches and can be used to perform online learning of high-quality models useful for classification tasks. Finally, this dissertation explores the use of the new algorithms for anomaly detection in computer systems, that improve our previous research work on detectors based on hidden Markov models integrated into real-world monitoring systems of high-performance computers.

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This dissertation presents a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design methodology that can be used to shorten the FPGA design-and-debug cycle, especially as gate counts increase to many millions. Core-based incremental placement algorithms, in conjunction with fast interactive routing, are investigated to reduce the design processing time by distinguishing the changes between design iterations and reprocessing only the changed blocks without affecting the remaining part of the design. Different from other incremental placement algorithms, this tool provides the function not only to handle small modifications; it can also incrementally place a large design from scratch at a rapid rate. Incremental approaches are inherently greedy techniques, but when combined with a background refinement thread, the incremental approach offers the instant gratification that designers expect, while preserving the fidelity attained through batch-oriented programs. An incremental FPGA design tool has been developed, based on the incremental placement algorithm and its background refiner. Design applications with logical gate sizes varying from tens of thousands to approximately one million are built to evaluate the execution of the algorithms and the design tool. The results show that this incremental design tool is two orders of magnitude faster than the competing approaches such as the Xilinx M3 tools without sacrificing much quality. The tool presented places designs at the speed of 700,000 system gates per second. The fast processing speed and user-interactive property make the incremental design tool potentially useful for prototype developing, system debugging and modular testing in million-gate FPGA designs. / Ph. D.

Industrial control systems (ICS) play an extremely important role in the world around us. They have helped in reducing human effort and contributed to automation of processes in oil refining, power generation, food and beverage and production lines. With advancement in technology, embedded platforms have emerged as ideal platforms for implementation of such ICSes. Traditional approaches in ICS design involve switching from a model or modeling environment directly to a real-world implementation. Errors have the potential to go unnoticed in the modeling environment and have a tendency to affect real control systems. Current models for error identification are complex and affect the design process of ICS appreciably. This thesis adds an additional layer to ICS design: an Interface Abstraction Process (IAP). IAP helps in incremental migration from a modeling environment to a real physical environment by supporting intermediate design versions. Implementation of the IAP is simple and independent of control system complexity. Early error identification is possible since intermediate versions are supported. Existing control system designs can be modified minimally to facilitate the addition of an extra layer. The overhead of adding the IAP is measured and analysed. With early validation, actual behavior of the ICS in the real physical setting matches the expected behavior in the modeling environment. This approach to ICS design adds a significant amount of latency to existing ICSes without affecting the design process significantly. Since the IAP helps in early design validation, it can be removed before deployment in the real-world. / Master of Science

Very little empirical evidence exists linking the motivational traits portion of the motivational traits and skills framework to goal setting processes. The present study explored relationships between motivational traits, task-specific self-efficacy and self-set goal level during a computer-based task. Along with direct assessment of these relationships, we assessed whether task-specific self-efficacy mediates relationships between motivational traits and self-set goal level. In the current study, we also examined the ability of motivational traits to provide an increment in the prediction of motivational outcomes over currently accepted goal orientation constructs. Analyses suggest that the motivational traits personal mastery and motivation related to anxiety are consistent predictors of task-specific self-efficacy but inconsistent predictors of self-set goal level while competitive excellence entirely unrelated to motivational outcomes. Motivational traits failed to provide any significant increment in the prediction of task-specific self-efficacy over respective goal orientation constructs. Implications and future directions are discussed. / Master of Science