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The use of engineered wood products (EWP) in residential construction has increased in recent years. Most specifications for the installation of these components are found in proprietary manufacturer literature rather than in the building code. Although some home inspections include EWP prescriptive compliance, very little applied and academic literature addresses this practice. This lack of practical information and the lack of standardized inspection methods can result in undetected non-compliant EWP installations that fail to meet the minimum safety provisions of the building code. The goal of this project was to develop a visual inspection methodology, associated knowledge base, and software application for the inspection of EWPs and connector hardware (CH) in new residential construction at the pre-drywall stage. The methodology was based upon subject matter expert (SME) inputs and validation was derived from the use of a modified Delphi method that was able to the gather, collate, refine, and validate the research process and outputs based on the expertise of the subject matter experts. The concept of high face validity was used to establish project validity. Installation problems with EWPs and CH were noted by the SMEs partly because the use and installation instructions for proprietary products are not found in building codes. Building code officials (BCO) and home inspector (HI) SME responses indicated a need for a methodology and software to aid in the inspection process. Although authoritative reference materials for prescriptive installation are available, the scope of material is not consistent between manufacturers, and is presented in different formats for different brands. The developed software application provides ready access to reference materials needed for EWP and CH installations. No widely accepted inspection methodology is available, although the HI SMEs used systematic inspection methods. Inspection methods such as the top-down method and sighting along the patterns of repetitious framing elements can improve the detection of non-compliant installations. BCO and HI SMEs identified both component-specific and zone-specific techniques as a part of the systematic inspection methodology. Definable high risk areas for each EWP and CH were identified and the associated inspection methods may help the inspector reduce the incidence of undetected problem areas. Knowledge of the high-risk areas may also enhance the inspection. The developed software application was found to be a useful inspection tool. BCO and HI SMEs determined that functions of the computer software necessary for use included ease of use, onboard reference materials, specific inspection techniques, prepared comments, and technical illustrations. / Ph. D.

This study investigated the potential regulatory effects of various coping strategies on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It first divided PTSD symptoms and selected coping strategies into cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional types. The study then conceptualized each of the preceding types of coping strategies as being controlled stress responses and the PTSD symptoms as being semiautomatic stress responses. It lastly proposed that coping strategies be further divided into activating controlled stress response and deactivating controlled stress response. Controlled stress responses are coping strategies that are consciously initiated and implemented. Semiautomatic stress responses are PTSD symptoms that spontaneously emerge without conscious intent. Activating controlled stress responses consisted of the following coping strategies: seeking understanding, avoidant actions, and expressing feelings. Deactivating controlled stress responses encompassed: positive cognitive restructuring, emotion-focused support, and physical release of emotions. Semiautomatic stress responses entailed: reexperiencing, numbing, and arousal symptoms. It was proposed that cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional activating controlled stress responses would increase corresponding cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional semiautomatic stress responses. In the same vein, it was expected that cognitive, social/motivational, and emotional deactivating controlled stress responses would decrease respective semiautomatic stress responses. To illustrate, it was predicted that with regard to the cognitive regulatory system, its activating cognitive controlled stress response (seeking understanding) would exacerbate the frequency of associated cognitive semiautomatic stress responses (reexperiencing PTSD symptoms) whereas its deactivating cognitive controlled stress response (positive cognitive restructuring) would ameliorate it. Path analyses were conducted on correlation matrices whose elements represented two coping strategies (e.g., an activating controlled stress response: seeking understanding, and a deactivating controlled stress response: positive cognitive restructuring) and one PTSD symptom cluster of the same nature (e.g., the semiautomatic stress response: reexperiencing). Data were obtained from a sample of sixty-four children and adolescents ages 8-18. The coping strategies were assessed via ratings on items included in the How I Cope Under Pressure (HICUPS) instrument and the PTSD clusters through the use of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA). Only one hypothesis was partially supported. It was found that the social/motivational activating controlled stress response (avoidant actions) indeed increased social/motivational semiautomatic stress responses (numbing symptoms). / Ph. D.

This study develops a decision-support framework assisting the design of non-residential buildings with natural ventilation. The framework is composed of decision modules with input, analysis algorithms and output of natural ventilation design. The framework covers ventilation with natural driving force and mechanical-assisted ventilation. The framework has two major assessment levels: feasibility assessment and comparison of alternative natural ventilation approaches. The feasibility assessment modules assess the potential of the site with the design proposition for natural ventilation in terms of wind, temperature, humidity, noise and pollution conditions. All of the possible natural ventilation approaches and system designs are assessed by first applying constraints functions to each of the alternatives. Then the comparison of alternative approaches to natural ventilation continues by assessing the critical performance mandates that include energy savings, thermal comfort, acoustic control, indoor air quality and cost. Approaches are finally ranked based on their performance. / Ph. D.

Recent advancements in the general child disaster literature underscore the important role of coping in children's postdisaster adjustment. Religious coping in children, a potentially important category of coping strategies, has received little attention until recent years. Moreover, its role in the context of post fire adjustment has not been studied. The present study examined the psychometric soundness of the Religious Coping Activities Scale (RCAS; Pargament et al., 1990) in children and adolescents and explored its utility in predicting children's religious coping over time: moreover, the study evaluated its role in predicting PTSD symptomatology over an extended period of time. This investigation included 140 children and adolescents (ages 8-18). Factor analyses of the RCAS revealed a 6-factor solution very similar to the factor structure in the original study. This finding suggests that the RCAS is a promising instrument to measure children's religious coping efforts. Hypotheses concerning the prediction of children's religious coping were only partially supported. Regression analyses indicated mixed findings in terms of the contributions of selected variables to the prediction of children's Spiritually Based Coping and Religious Discontent. Overall, the regression model predicted Religious Discontent better than Spiritually Based Coping. A mixed-effects regression model and hierarchical regression analyses were both employed to examine the role of children's religious coping in predicting short-term and long-term PTSD symptomatology following the residential fires. Results from the mixed-effects regression indicated that loss, time since the fire, child's age, race, and race by age interaction significantly predicted children's PTSD symptoms over time. However, time specific regression analyses revealed different predictive power of the variables across the three assessment waves. Specifically, analyses with Time 1 data revealed the same findings as did the mixed-effects model, except that time since the fire was not a significant predictor in this analysis. General coping strategies appeared to be the only salient predictors for PTSD at Time 2. Finally, Religious Discontent appeared to be negatively related to PTSD at a later time. / Ph. D.