This thesis describes the influence of thermal mass on the space conditioning energy consumption and indoor comfort conditions of multi-storey buildings with concrete, steel and timber structural systems. The buildings studied were medium sized educational and commercial buildings. When calculating a building’s life-cycle energy consumption, the construction materials have a direct effect on not only the building’s embodied energy but also on the space conditioning energy. The latter depends, amongst other things, on the thermal characteristics of the building’s materials; thermal mass can also be an influence on comfort conditions in the building. A modelling comparison has been undertaken between three very similar medium-sized buildings, each designed using structural systems made primarily of timber, concrete and steel. The post-tensioned timber version of the building is a modelled representation of a real three-storey educational building that has been constructed recently in Nelson, New Zealand. The concrete- and steel-structured versions have been designed on paper to conform to the required structural codes and meet, as closely as possible, the same performance, internal space layout and external façade features as the real timber-structured building. Each of these three structurally-different buildings has been modelled with two different thermal envelopes (code-compliant and New Zealand best-practice) using a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system with heating only (educational scheme) and heating and cooling (commercial scheme). The commercial system (with cooling) was applied only to the buildings with the best-practice thermal envelope. The analysis of each of these nine different construction and usage categories includes the modelling of operational energy use with an emphasis on HVAC energy consumption, and the assessment of indoor comfort conditions using predicted mean vote (PMV). From an operational energy use perspective, the modelling comparison between the different cases has shown that, within each category (code-compliant, low-energy and low-energy-commercial), the principal structural material has only a small effect on overall performance. The most significant differences are in the building with the best-practice thermal envelope with the commercial HVAC system, were the concrete building has slightly lower HVAC energy consumption, being 3 and 4% lower than in the steel and timber buildings respectively The assessment of indoor comfort conditions during occupied periods through using PMV for each of the three categories shows that the timber structure consistently exhibited longer periods in the over-warm comfort zone, but this was much less pronounced in south-facing spaces. To examine the reasons for the less acceptable PMV in the timber-structure versions, an analysis of indoor timber and concrete surface temperatures was carried out in both buildings. It was found that, particularly in north-facing spaces, there were large diurnal swings in the temperatures of timber surfaces exposed to solar radiation. These swings were much less in the case of concrete surfaces so the environment was perceived to be more comfortable under such conditions because of the reduced influence of higher mean radiant temperatures. To moderate this potential downside of solar-exposed internal timber surfaces, better results are achieved if, when timber is used for thermal mass, the timber is not exposed to direct solar radiation, for example locating it in the ceilings or on the south side of the building. Two other approaches to combating the potential overheating problem in the timber-structured buildings were analysed in an illustrative mode; addition of external louvres to reduce direct solar gains at critical times of day and year; and use of phase change material (PCM) linings to act as light-mass energy buffers. Although external louvres increase comfort conditions significantly by reducing the periods of an overly warm environment, they produce an increase in heating energy consumption through reducing beneficial solar gains. The use of PCM linings shows little benefit to overall indoor comfort conditions for the building of this case-study.

Expectations are a key aspect of human success and behavior that predict outcomes in a variety of settings, including academics. Trait expectations (e.g., hope and optimism) and previous experiences appear relevant to the formation of specific expectations. Specific expectations predict outcomes, with positive expectations predicting better outcomes. In academics, positive specific expectations predict improved academic performance; however, there are aspects of this relationship that are unclear. This study sought to examine the formation of specific academic expectations and the relationship between these expectations and academic performance. The current study aimed to replicate previous research about the unique influences of academic expectations, expand this knowledge by examining possible mechanisms of the relationship between academic expectations and academic performance, and test how previous academic experience affected this relationship. Results of this study showed that previous GPA and optimism, but not hope, predicted academic expectations. Academic expectations predicted academic performance, but this relationship was not mediated by study time or stress. Finally, previous GPA moderated the relationship between academic expectations and academic performance, such that the positive association between academic expectations and academic performance was stronger for those with poorer prior performance. <br>

In the past decades there has been onsiderable commercial and academic interest in methods for monitoring control system performance for linear systems. Far less has been written on control system performance for nonlinear dynamic / stochastic systems. This thesis presents research results on three control performance monitoring topics for the nonlinear systems: i) Controller assessment of a class of nonlinear systems: The use of autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models to assess the control loop performance for linear systems is well known. Classes of nonlinear dynamic / stochastic systems for which a similar result can be obtained are established for SISO discrete systems. For these systems, the performance lower bounds can be estimated from closed-loop routine operating data using nonlinear autoregressive moving average with exogenous inputs (NARMAX) models. ii) Variance decomposition of nonlinear systems / time series: We develop a variance decomposition approach to quantify the effects of different sources of disturbances on the nonlinear dynamic / stochastic systems. A method, called ANOVA-like decomposition, is employed to achieve this variance decomposition. Modifications of ANOVA-like decomposition are proposed so that the NOVA-like decomposition can be used to deal with the time dependency and the initial condition. iii) Parameter uncertainty effects on the variance decomposition: For the variance decomposition in the second part, the model parameters are assumed to be exactly known. However, parameters of empirical or mechanistic models are uncertain. The uncertainties associated with parameters should be included when the model is used for variance analysis. General solutions of the parameter uncertainty effects on the variance decomposition for the general nonlinear systems are proposed. Analytical solutions of the parameter uncertainty effects on the variance decomposition are provided for models with linear parameters. / Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2007-10-17 16:02:26.376 / This work was sponsored by NSERC Discovery, NSERC Equipment, Shell Global Solutions, OGSST and QGA

The present thesis investigates the role of the prefrontal cortex and cholinergic modulation in attentional performance, and to a lesser extent, inhibitory response control, in rats. A greater understanding of these functions is important for the effective treatment of attentional and impulsive control deficits, present in a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. For this field to progress, the assessment of attentional performance in a similar manner across humans and animals is crucial. In the present thesis, attentional performance was assessed on the novel, touchscreen-based rodent continuous performance task (rCPT), which assesses sustained, focused attention in essentially an identical manner to CPTs commonly used in the clinic. Findings were compared to performance on the well-characterised 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), which assesses sustained, spatial divided attention and shares some, but not all characteristics of CPTs. The series of experiments described in this thesis contributes to the understanding of the role of the prefrontal cortex and cholinergic modulation in attentional performance; they also highlight differences between the two tasks in behaviour, brain functions and networks. Excitotoxic lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and a range of cholinergic systemic pharmacology validated the role of the prefrontal cortex and cholinergic modulation in rCPT performance. A chemogenetic study also validated the role of the ascending cholinergic basal forebrain system in 5-CSRTT performance. These findings support 1. the idea of the relationship between cholinergic system activation and attentional performance to resemble an ‘inverted-U’ shaped function; 2. a double dissociation of mPFC sub-regions on attentional performance, in which the prelimbic cortex (PL) appears to play a role in rCPT performance, compared with a role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in 5-CSRTT performance; and 3. a role of ascending cholinergic projections from the basal forebrain to the ACC in 5-CSRTT performance. These findings also establish the development of a successful flanker distractor probe in rodents on the rCPT. This thesis concludes with an important comparison of the attentional and impulsivity measures in the rCPT compared to the 5-CSRTT, to help provide guidelines as to which task is most appropriate to use for particular research questions.

No description available.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Recent changes in the allocation of land through the results of land redistribution have compelled members of communities to form committees, that is, Communal Property Associations (CPAs) that would be responsible for managing the claimed land. The Maruleng Local Municipality was not excluded from this process. Five of the CPAs have been formed under the above mentioned municipality to manage claimed land. The research investigated the impact of performance management on the Moletele CPA’s performance at Maruleng Local Municipality of the Limpopo Province. The management of Moletele CPA was not without challenges, problems such as lack of resources, adequate training programmes, lack of clear policy and objectives were also found in the study. This research also seeks to investigate why Moletele CPA is performing better than the other CPAs in the municipality. In order to understand the total context of the challenges faced by Moletele CPA, an empirical research and interviews were conducted to collect data from the members of Moletele CPA. The findings of the study suggest that a lack of resources and relevant training programmes are contributing negatively towards the performance of the Moletele CPA in particular, and other CPAs in general. To conclude, the study revealed that performance management is not determined by one factor, but other challenges such as clarity of policies and cooperation amongst stakeholders also contribute towards the success of the Moletele CPA ;hence the recommendations made in chapter five.

This thesis seeks to examine the effective convective heat exchange of sand as a heat exchange medium. The goal of this exploratory research is to quantify the heat transfer coefficient of sand in a proposed Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system which intends to complement solar thermal power generation. Standard concentrator solar thermal power plants typically employ a heat transfer fluid (HTF) that is heated in the collector field then routed to the power generators or TES unit. A fairly clear option for a TES system would be to utilize the existing HTF as the working storage medium. However, the use of conventional HTF systems may be too expensive. These fluids are quite costly as the quantity needed for storage is high and for some fluids their associated high vapor pressures require expensive highly reinforced containment vessels. The proposed storage system seeks to use sand as the storage medium; greatly reducing the expenses involved for both medium and storage costs. Most prior TES designs using sand or other solids employed them in a fixed bed for thermal exchange. The proposed TES system will instead move the sand to drive a counter flow thermal exchange. This counter flow design allows for a much closer temperature of approach when compared to a fixed bed. As cost and performance are the primary goals to tackle of the proposed system, the evaluation of the sandâ s thermal exchange effectiveness in a flowing state is necessary. Experiments will be conducted to measure the effective heat transfer coefficient between the sand and representative solid surfaces used as the heat transfer conduits. Additional experiments that will be looked at are wear caused by the sand as a consideration for long term design viability as well as angle of repose of the sand and its effect on scoop design for improved materials handling. Key investigational aspects of these experiments involve the sand grain size as well as shape of the heat exchanger surfaces. The thesis will evaluate the resulting convective heat transfer coefficient of the sand as related to these features. The data will then be compared and verified with available literature of previously studied characteristic thermal properties of sand. The measured and confirmed data will then be used to further aid in a design model for the proposed TES system.

Não é simples definir um campo de análise do qual partir quando se fala do encontro entre estética e política na atualidade, uma vez que essa relação se dissemina de formas bastante diversas. A produção de espaços de convivência entre movimentos sociais e artísticos, de ações interventivas, de imagens, são formas que se sobrepõem e vão compondo todo um complexo campo de criação. Existem entradas (e saídas) diversas para esse problema, nesse sentido esta pesquisa busca exercitar e pôr à prova uma multiplicidade de abordagens, a fim de construir um pensamento a respeito das potências estéticas e políticas que emergem deste encontro. Nas situações que embasam o pensamento construído na tese, apesar de muito diferentes, há uma relação entre discussões que põem em xeque modos de existência hegemônicos - uma certa relação com o próprio corpo, a arte, a política e com a crença do que \"é cidade\", dentre outras questões -, e o ato de criar inteligibilidade para esses problemas: como fazer circular a densidade de uma relação outra com a vida? Como captar isso de forma que as sensibilidades insurgentes passem a configurar a imaginação coletiva? No esforço de esboçar uma resposta para estas questões, reuniu-se autores de diversos campos, coletivos provenientes de diferentes países, movimentos sociais diversos, evidenciando estratégias, modos, valores, processos que se multiplicam em razão da urgência em expressar o que é, contemporaneamente, \"fazer política\" e o quanto a potência desse fazer é indissociável da dimensão estética. / It is not simple to define a field of analysis to which to resort when the subject is the encounter of aesthetics and politics in current days, given that this relationship is disseminated in many various ways. The creation of spaces for interaction between social and artistic movements, of interventional actions and images are forms that overlap one another and constitute a rather complex field of creation. There are several ways into (and out of) this problem; in that regard, this research aims to apply and challenge many different approaches in order to build a line of thought about the political and aesthetical powers that emerge from that encounter. The situations that ground the thought process developed in this thesis may be diverse, but they show a correlation between the discussions that put in check the hegemonic ways of existence--a certain relationship connecting the body itself, art, politics, and the belief in \"what is city,\" among other issues--and the act of creating intelligibility for these problems: how to promote the circulation of the substance produced by a divergent relationship with life, and how to capture this so the insurgent sensibilities can compose a collective imagination? In the effort to draft an answer to these questions, authors from several fields, collectives from many countries, and various social movements were gathered, presenting strategies, methods, values, and processes that become more and more numerous due to the urgency of expressing what \"doing politics\" means in the present day, and how inseparable that power is from the aesthetic dimension.

Não é simples definir um campo de análise do qual partir quando se fala do encontro entre estética e política na atualidade, uma vez que essa relação se dissemina de formas bastante diversas. A produção de espaços de convivência entre movimentos sociais e artísticos, de ações interventivas, de imagens, são formas que se sobrepõem e vão compondo todo um complexo campo de criação. Existem entradas (e saídas) diversas para esse problema, nesse sentido esta pesquisa busca exercitar e pôr à prova uma multiplicidade de abordagens, a fim de construir um pensamento a respeito das potências estéticas e políticas que emergem deste encontro. Nas situações que embasam o pensamento construído na tese, apesar de muito diferentes, há uma relação entre discussões que põem em xeque modos de existência hegemônicos - uma certa relação com o próprio corpo, a arte, a política e com a crença do que \"é cidade\", dentre outras questões -, e o ato de criar inteligibilidade para esses problemas: como fazer circular a densidade de uma relação outra com a vida? Como captar isso de forma que as sensibilidades insurgentes passem a configurar a imaginação coletiva? No esforço de esboçar uma resposta para estas questões, reuniu-se autores de diversos campos, coletivos provenientes de diferentes países, movimentos sociais diversos, evidenciando estratégias, modos, valores, processos que se multiplicam em razão da urgência em expressar o que é, contemporaneamente, \"fazer política\" e o quanto a potência desse fazer é indissociável da dimensão estética. / It is not simple to define a field of analysis to which to resort when the subject is the encounter of aesthetics and politics in current days, given that this relationship is disseminated in many various ways. The creation of spaces for interaction between social and artistic movements, of interventional actions and images are forms that overlap one another and constitute a rather complex field of creation. There are several ways into (and out of) this problem; in that regard, this research aims to apply and challenge many different approaches in order to build a line of thought about the political and aesthetical powers that emerge from that encounter. The situations that ground the thought process developed in this thesis may be diverse, but they show a correlation between the discussions that put in check the hegemonic ways of existence--a certain relationship connecting the body itself, art, politics, and the belief in \"what is city,\" among other issues--and the act of creating intelligibility for these problems: how to promote the circulation of the substance produced by a divergent relationship with life, and how to capture this so the insurgent sensibilities can compose a collective imagination? In the effort to draft an answer to these questions, authors from several fields, collectives from many countries, and various social movements were gathered, presenting strategies, methods, values, and processes that become more and more numerous due to the urgency of expressing what \"doing politics\" means in the present day, and how inseparable that power is from the aesthetic dimension.

Employee retention of an organization's most talented and skilled employees is vital to success. A lack of managerial strategies for motivating teams and a lack of understanding employees' needs adds to an increased rate of employee turnover in banking organizations. Some bank managers do not possess the abilities and strategies required to reduce employee turnover. Grounded by the motivation-hygiene theory; the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore successful strategies some bank managers used to reduce employee turnover. The population consisted of 5 banking managers in 3 banking organizations located in Toronto GTA, Ontario Canada in which successful retention strategies have been implemented in the last 5 years. Data were collected from semistructured face-to-face interviews and employee handbooks. Member checking aided to assure the credibility of the analysis and interpretations. Data were analyzed by using coding techniques to identify keywords, phrases, and concepts. The process led to the following 4 themes: (a) the motivational effect to retain bank employees, (b) management traits to retain bank employees, (c) effective strategies to retain bank employees, and (d) trends shaping future retention of bank employees. The implications for social change include the potential to reduce turnover by improving the employee work experience and retaining talent by building a positive work environment and a positive customer experience.