In the United States design for fire safety follows a prescriptive code-based approach. Building codes detail the types of construction materials, assemblies, and fire suppression systems that are required for various building types. This prescriptive method has prevented structural engineers from exposure to performance-based design approaches for fire safety. The motivation for this thesis was to increase the awareness of the structural engineering field to the concepts behind structural design for fire safety. Extensive research has been published on the performance of structural steel in fire conditions, and simplified design tools already exist to describe its behavior. Such tools do not exist for reinforced concrete structures. Research on concrete has been more focused on material properties rather than structural performance. This thesis presents a simplified design tool which assesses the fire performance of reinforced concrete. An Excel-based spreadsheet application was developed for thermal analysis of concrete slabs. It accounts for different aggregate types, slab thicknesses, and fire exposures. Several analyses were performed with the spreadsheet application to examine the affect slab thickness and aggregate types have on the fire performance of concrete slabs in standard and natural fires. The results were compared with published test data and finite element software simulations to benchmark the accuracy of the proposed tool. Furthermore, methods for the design of reinforced concrete slabs in fire conditions are presented.

This article format dissertation explores the benefits of using detailed forms of assessment to enable feedback in educational contexts, and includes three separate, yet related articles. In the first article, I reviewed the current state of educational research in using online learning tools that collect detailed data regarding student learning. The article examined the type of data being collected, the way that these data are processed, and how the results are presented to instructors and students as feedback. In the second article, I describe a special case of these detailed forms of assessment in an Introduction to Microsoft Excel class, and look at the potential benefits of using transaction-level data to give feedback to instructors and students. This article provides empirical evidence for the difference between transaction-level data and final answer data in identifying student knowledge gaps and misconceptions. In the final article, I analyzed knowledge gaps and misconceptions identified in the Introduction to Microsoft Excel class by using additional student activity data (video watching and reading) to predict these knowledge gaps. This article serves as a case study for using data from integrated learning environments to provide feedback regarding student performance.

The purpose of this research project was to identify the extent that concrete resistivity measurements (bulk and/or surface) can be used as a performance based lab test to improve the quality of concrete in Utah bridge decks. By allowing UDOT to specify a required resistivity, concrete bridge deck quality will increase and future maintenance costs will decrease. This research consisted of two phases: the field phase and the lab phase. In the field phase, concrete samples were gathered from local concrete producers in Utah. These concrete samples were made with common concrete mixes used in bridge decks across the state of Utah. Testing multiple mix designs allowed the research team to investigate several variations of concrete constituents, for instance, water to cement ratio, common Utah supplementary cementitious materials, curing type, and aggregate type. Mechanical and durability testing was performed on concrete of different ages. These tests included strength, surface resistivity, bulk resistivity, rapid chloride permeability, and freeze and thaw tests. In the lab phase, one of the field mixes was selected as the control mix. This mix was then duplicated in the lab in order to see the performance differences of each mix in the controlled and field experiments. In addition, changes were made to the lab control mix, to see the effect of different materials on the resistivity and durability of concrete.

This study investigates whether team members work harder and perform better when they are compensated based on both team and individual performance than when compensated based on team or individual performance alone and whether teammates? familiarity with one another influences the effectiveness of the compensation scheme. Four-member ad hoc student teams repeatedly complete an interdependent task on the computer in an experiment in which I manipulate individual compensation plan (flat wage or performance-based incentives), team compensation plan (flat wage or performance-based incentives), and teammate familiarity (identified teammates with pre-experiment interaction ? strong id or unidentified teammates with no pre-experiment interaction ? weak id). Results indicate that while the combination of team and individual performance-based compensation results in the highest performance, the incremental performance boost is higher from the first performance-based reward strategy, regardless of whether it is team or individual. Under both strong and weak identity, offering a combination of individual and team performance-based compensation results in comparable performance, suggesting that lower productivity levels associated with low team identity can be overcome with performance-based compensation. Together these results suggest that, regardless of team identity, firms can benefit from offering both team and individual performance-based compensation. However, companies should understand that the performance bump may be smaller from the second performance-based scheme.

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Previous investigations regarding the health- and wellbeing-related outcomes of performance-based pay systems have been scarce and ambiguous so far. Considering the huge economic and organizational impact of stress-related health problems, it is important to further investigate this relation, including the impact of different variables that can help to explain the variation in the relationship between performance-based pay and job strain. The main purpose of this study is to challenge the research gap and to understand the effect of organizational justice and job control on the relation between performance-based pay and job satisfaction and stress. A quantitative research method in form of a survey is applied. To test the structural model and its hypotheses, the study uses an approach to partial least squares path modeling (PLS). The main results have shown that organizational justice moderates the relation between performance-based pay and stress. Moreover, performance-based pay increases job satisfaction when employees perceive high job control. It is furthermore revealed that gender, family responsibilities, experience and the type of performance evaluation can have an impact on the relationship as well. The study has contributed to fill the research gap above and has provided new, theoretical insight. Managers are recommended to provide organizational justice and to ensure high autonomy for employees. Instead of applying “one size fits all” solutions, managers should take demographic, organizational and situational factors into account when designing the compensation scheme.

The model building and fire codes in Canada permit prescriptive-based design and performance-based design approaches. Within this regulatory framework, prescriptive-based designs are attributed objective and functional statements to qualify the level of fire protection and life safety required. Performance-based designs, or alternative solutions to prescriptive-based designs, must be demonstrated to achieve at least an equivalent level of performance as the prescriptive requirement based on evaluation of each associated objective and functional statement. Due to the qualitative performance descriptions available, the current system for developing and reviewing alternative solutions is vulnerable to the acceptance of over-designed or under-designed life safety and fire protection measures in buildings. The objective of this thesis is to establish a method to compare the performance of alternative solutions with prescriptive design requirements on a quantitative basis. This thesis generates eight objectives for a fire risk analysis tool to address the challenges identified in the building regulatory industry. Based on review of existing techniques, a new fire risk analysis framework is developed. The Quantitative Design Decision (QDD) method, integrates risk analysis with quantitative decision assessment techniques to facilitate application-specific quantification of performance objectives and to aid evaluation of performance-based designs. The method utilizes an iterative three-stage structure. To demonstrate the application of the QDD method, a case-study simulation has been conducted. The case-study provides an evaluation of alternative designs to the prescriptive requirements for explosion-relief ventilation in rooms housing flammable vapour producing operations. The case study supports the conclusion that QDD achieves the eight objectives set out in this thesis. For validation, the QDD method must be applied to a wider variety of practical design challenges and it is recommended that the results be considered in conjunction with live fire test data to verify key aspects of the performance decisions generated. Future work should include evaluation of Delphi technique application in the Design Decision Stage of the QDD method. It is proposed that the method developed can be extended for use as a general performance-based design tool.

This study investigates whether team members work harder and perform better when they are compensated based on both team and individual performance than when compensated based on team or individual performance alone and whether teammates? familiarity with one another influences the effectiveness of the compensation scheme. Four-member ad hoc student teams repeatedly complete an interdependent task on the computer in an experiment in which I manipulate individual compensation plan (flat wage or performance-based incentives), team compensation plan (flat wage or performance-based incentives), and teammate familiarity (identified teammates with pre-experiment interaction ? strong id or unidentified teammates with no pre-experiment interaction ? weak id). Results indicate that while the combination of team and individual performance-based compensation results in the highest performance, the incremental performance boost is higher from the first performance-based reward strategy, regardless of whether it is team or individual. Under both strong and weak identity, offering a combination of individual and team performance-based compensation results in comparable performance, suggesting that lower productivity levels associated with low team identity can be overcome with performance-based compensation. Together these results suggest that, regardless of team identity, firms can benefit from offering both team and individual performance-based compensation. However, companies should understand that the performance bump may be smaller from the second performance-based scheme.

Performance-based contracting (PBC) for roadway maintenance is relatively new among various alternative contracting options available at present and is increasingly drawing more attention from state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and the contracting community. Because performance-based maintenance contracts extend over multiple years (typically 5-7 years) and shift performance risk to contractors, it is critical that contractors be selected based on a form of best-value method rather than on the conventional low-bid method. Currently, highway agencies use various methods for determining the best-value bid based on cost and technical scores. Five best-value bid identification methods that are already in practice by the state transportation agencies in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, United Kingdom, and New Zealand were used as case studies for this research. These five methods were evaluated in terms of the agency’s willingness to pay for quality and the neutrality of these methods with respect to lowest bid and highest quality. To understand and describe the bid evaluation method, the agency can develop a willingness to pay (WTP) curve. This curve should represent the agency’s needs and budget, reflect their project characteristics, and accommodate associated performance risks. An Excel macro based software tool has been developed that automates these five best-value bid identification methods and also helps customize anyone of these options for any agency.

Pay for performance programs are being used more and more extensively nowadays. The proponents of incentives claim that money is an important motivator for better performance, while the opponents insist that incentives can never bring lasting performance improvement, which is driven by intrinsic motivation. It has been born out that monetary reward has detrimental effects on intrinsic motivation. However, the results come mostly from experiments on school children, whether the result can be replicated in work settings is still a question needs to be examined. This study examined whether performance based pay has detrimental effect on physicians¡¦ intrinsic motivation and what effects other non-monetary rewards may have on intrinsic motivation. It is found that the intrinsic motivation of Attending Physician is significantly higher than Resident Physician, which implies that the motivational property of the work itself is a very important factor of intrinsic motivation. Physicians from privatized public hospitals have higher intrinsic motivation than those from public hospitals, of which the causes may need to be further explored. In terms of different positions, productivity-based pay, organizational performance based pay and recognition are found to have positive influence on Attending Physicians¡¦ intrinsic motivation, while career development opportunities and research-teaching based pay are found to have positive influence on Resident Physicians¡¦ intrinsic motivation. As to the effects of performance-based pay, it is found that physicians having performance-based pay do feel more controlled by pay; however, their intrinsic motivation is not negatively affected. It seems to imply that organizational workers are able to separate intrinsic reward and extrinsic reward and thus their intrinsic motivation is not affected by extrinsic rewards. This result is similar to what Fisher found in 1978. The moderating effect of individual difference is not significant in this study due to the homogeneity of physicians.