Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine the exact natural frequencies and mode shapes of multi-span uniform and multi-step Euler-Bernoulli beams with various concentrated elements (such as point masses, rotary inertias, linear springs, rotational springs, spring-mass systems, etc.) by using the matrix assembly method (MAM). To this end, the coefficient matrices for an intermediate pinned support, an intermediate concentrated elements, left-end support and right-end support of a beam are derived, first. Next, the overall coefficient matrix for the whole structural system is obtained by using the assembly technique of the finite element method. Finally, the natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of the vibrating system are determined by equating the determinant of the last overall coefficient matrix to zero and substituting the corresponding values of integration constants into the associated eigenfunctions respectively. The effects of in-span pinned supports and various concentrated elements on the free vibration characteristics of the beam are also studied.

In the TDB[1]-like corpora annotation efforts, which are constructed by the intuitions of the annotators, the reliability of the corpus can only be determined via correct interannotator agreement measurement methodology (Artstein, &amp / Poesio, 2008). In this thesis, a methodology was defined to measure the inter-annotator agreement among the TDB annotators. The statistical tests and the agreement coefficients that are widely used in scientific communities, including Cochran&rsquo / s Q test (1950), Fleiss&rsquo / Kappa (1971), and Krippendorff&rsquo / s Alpha (1995), were examined in detail. The inter-annotator agreement measurement approaches of the various corpus annotation efforts were scrutinized in terms of the reported statistical results. It was seen that none of the reported interannotator agreement approaches were statistically appropriate for the TDB. Therefore, a comprehensive inter-annotator agreement measurement methodology was designed from scratch. A computer program, the Rater Agreement Tool (RAT), was developed in order to perform statistical measurements on the TDB with different corpus parameters and data handling approaches. It was concluded that Krippendorff&rsquo / s Alpha is the most appropriate statistical method for the TDB. It was seen that the measurements are affected with data handling approach preferences, as well as the used agreement statistic methods. It was also seen that there is not only one correct approach but several approaches valid for different research considerations. For the TDB, the major data handling suggestions that emerged are: (1) considering the words as building blocks of the annotations and (2) using the interval approach when it is preferred to weigh the partial disagreements, and using the boundary approach when it is preferred to evaluate all disagreements in same way.

The study presents the results of an experimental and analytical investigation aimed at examining the lateral stability of rectangular reinforced concrete slender beams. In the experimental part of the investigation, a total of eleven reinforced concrete beams having a depth to width ratio between 10.20 and 12.45 and a length to width ratio between 96 and 156 were tested. Beam thickness, depth and unbraced length were 1.5 to 3.0 in., 18 to 44 in., and 12 to 39.75 ft, respectively. Each beam was subjected to a single concentrated load applied at midspan by means of a gravity load simulator that allowed the load to always remain vertical when the section displaces out of plane. The loading mechanism minimized the lateral translational and rotational restraints at the load application point to simulate the nature of gravity load. Each beam was simply-supported in and out of plane at the ends. The supports allowed warping deformations, yet prevented twisting rotations at the beam ends. In the analytical part of the study, a formula was developed for determining the critical loads of lateral torsional buckling of rectangular reinforced concrete beams free from initial geometric imperfections. The influences of shrinkage cracking and inelastic stress-strain properties of concrete and the contribution of longitudinal reinforcement to the lateral stability are accounted for in the critical load formula. The experiments showed that the limit load of a concrete beam with initial geometric imperfections can be significantly lower than the critical load corresponding to its geometrically perfect configuration. Accordingly, a second formula was developed for the estimation of limit loads of reinforced concrete beams with initial lateral imperfections, by introducing the destabilizing effect of sweep to the critical load formula. The experimental results were compared to the proposed analytical solution and to various lateral torsional buckling solutions in the literature. The formulation proposed in the present study was found to agree well with the experimental results. The incorporation of the geometric and material nonlinearities into the formula makes the proposed solution superior to the previous lateral torsional buckling solutions for rectangular reinforced concrete beams.

The study is based on a human science perspective in which we are interested in the school as a workplace for adults and work with personnel issues. The aim is to contribute with new knowledge about what conditions an employee considers important to carry out their work, and employees' experiences of working in large personnel groups. We have made a case study in a Swedish local primary school for students in lower ages, with between 60-70 employees. We conducted nine semi- structured interviews with a hand-picked selection of employees from different occupational groups in the school. The study is empirical data -driven qualitative with abductive approach. To analyze the collected datamaterial, we have used the empirical data -driven thematic analysis. From the results of the study some aspects appear clearly; employees need to be seen by his/her boss, importance of employee autonomy and employee experience of stress. Some employees feel to a greater extent than others that they are seen by their boss and have the opportunity to influence their work situation. This appears to be linked to the type of relationship the employee has to school management.

[Truncated abstract] As a consequence of the increase in terrorist incidents, many comprehensive researches, both experimental and numerical modelling of structure and blast interaction, have been conducted to examine the behaviour of civilian structures under dynamic explosion and its impact. Nevertheless most of the works in literature are limited to response of simple structures such as masonry walls, reinforced concrete beams, columns and slabs. Although these studies can provide researchers and structural engineers a good fundamental knowledge regarding blast load effect, it is more likely for blast load to act upon entire structures in actual explosion events. The interaction between blast load and structures, as well as the interaction among structural members may well affect the structural response and damage. Therefore it is necessary to analyse more realistic reinforced concrete structures in order to gain an extensive knowledge on the possible structural response under blast load effect. Among all the civilian structures, bridges are considered to be the most vulnerable to terrorist threat and hence detailed investigation in the dynamic response of these structures is essential. This thesis focuses on the study of the response of a modern cable-stayed bridge under blast loadings. ... Firstly, analysis is conducted to examine the failure of four main components namely pier, tower, concrete back span and steel composite main span under close proximity dynamic impact of a 1000 kg TNT equivalent blast load. Secondly, based on such results, the remainder of the bridge structure is then tested by utilizing the loading condition specified in the US Department of Defence (DoD) guideline with the aim to investigate the possibility of bridge collapse after the damage of these components. It is found that failure of the vertical load bearing elements (i.e. pier and tower) will lead to catastrophic collapse of the bridge. Assuming that terrorist threat cannot be avoided, hence protective measures must be implemented into the bridge structure to reduce the damage induced by explosive blast impact and to prevent bridge from collapse. As such, a safe standoff distance is determined for both the pier and tower under the blast impact of 10000 kg TNT equivalent. This information would allow the bridge designer to identify the critical location for placing blast barriers for protection purpose. For the case of bridge deck explosion, carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) is employed to examine in respect of its effectiveness in strengthening the concrete structure against blast load. In this research, appropriate contact is employed for the numerical model to account for the epoxy resin layer between the CFRP and concrete. In addition, to ensure that the CFRP can perform to its full capacity, anchors are also considered in the numerical study to minimize the chance of debonding due to the weakening of the epoxy. The results reveal that although severe damage can still be seen for locations in close proximity to the explosive charge, the use of CFRP did reduce the dynamic response of the bridge deck as compared to the unprotected case scenario. Further investigation is also carried out to examine the change in damaged zone and global response through variation in CFRP thickness.

Thesis (M.App.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-127). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M. App. Sc.)--Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-186). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Bakgrunden till denna studie är den tilltagande svenska psykosociala ohälsan där stress är en huvudsaklig faktor. Stress förekommer när det finns en obalans mellan individers resurser samt upplevda krav. Vid hög arbetsbelastning kan socialt stöd vara avgörande för hur individer förmår att hantera kraven, tillgång till detta sociala stöd är dock ofta en bristvara. Forskning har tidigare fokuserat på undersökning samt förbättring av medarbetares arbetsmiljö, detta trots att just chefers välmående är centralt för att skapa välfungerande och hållbara arbetsplatser. En specifikt utsatt yrkesgrupp är enhetschefer inom äldreomsorgen och tidigare studier visar att majoriteten av dessa upplever negativa hälsoeffekter såsom hjärtklappning, sömnproblem samt högt blodtryck. Detta leder sammantaget fram till följande problemformulering: Hur kan enhetschefers upplevelse av socialt stöd förstås och hur inverkar detta på att upprätthålla ett hållbart arbetsliv? Syfte med föreliggande studie är att undersöka enhetschefers individuella upplevelse av arbetsrelaterat socialt stöd samt vilken inverkan det har på att upprätthålla ett hållbart arbetsliv. För att utreda detta har enhetschefers tillgång och behov av socialt stöd samt dess relation till kontrollspann att studeras. Föreliggande studie har en kvalitativ ansats och resultatet har samlats in genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med enhetschefer inom äldreomsorgen. Studiens empiri visar att respondenterna upplever en ansträngd arbetsbörda vilket leder till ett ytterligare behov av praktiskt socialt stöd. Gällande känslomässigt socialt stöd råder delade meningar då hälften av respondenterna inte ser sig ha något större behov av detta stöd. Vidare upplever respondenterna att den huvudsakliga faktorn till tidsbrist inte är relaterad till kontrollspannet, det vill säga antal medarbetare de ansvarar för. Faktorer som istället nämns som anledning till detta är ett splittrat verksamhetsområde, sidouppdrag samt arbetsgruppens självständighet. Studiens empiriska resultat visar att viktiga begrepp gällande socialt stöd och ett hållbart arbetsliv är närhet och tid. Socialt stöd krävs i närtid till upplevt behov och avstånd avgör vilka källor enhetscheferna vänder sig till för stöd. Studien slutsats visar att upplevelsen av socialt stöd är avgörande för att enhetschefer ska upprätthålla ett hållbart arbetsliv. Vidare är det vetskapen om att socialt stöd finns tillgängligt som är avgörande snarare än användning av det faktiska stödet. / The background to this study is the increase of psychosocial illness in Sweden, where stress is a major factor. Stress occurs when there is an imbalance between the individual's resources and perceived requirements. At high workloads, social support can be critical to how individuals handles the requirements, however access to this social support is often a shortcoming. Research has previously focused on analysis and improvement of subordinates working environment, despite the fact that the well-being of the managers is central to creating wellfunctioning and sustainable workplaces. A particular and exposed occupational group is head of elderly care unit's and previous studies show that the majority experience negative health effects such as palpitation, sleep problems and high blood pressure. This leads to the following problem that is set for the study: How can head of elderly care unit's experience of social support be understood and what is the effect on maintaining a sustainable working life? The purpose of this study is to examine head of elderly care unit's experience of work-related social support. To examine this, head of elderly care unit's access to and need for social support as well as the relationship with the span of control, will be studied. The present study has a qualitative approach and the results have been collected through ten semi-structured interviews with head of elderly care unit's. The empirical study shows that respondents are experiencing an strained workload which leads to an additional need for practical support. Regarding emotional support there are shared opinions, as half of respondents do not consider themselves in a greater need of this support. In addition, respondents find that a major factor in time shortage is not related to the span of control. Factors mentioned instead are a fragmented area of business, side assignments and the independence of the working group. The empirical study also shows that important concepts regarding social support and sustainable working life are physical closeness and time. Social support is required in the near future to perceived needs and distance determines what sources to address for support. The conclusion of the study shows that the experience of social support is critical for head of elderly care unit's to maintain a sustainable working life. Furthermore, knowing that the support is available is crucial rather than using the actual support.

The present research is conducted to investigate the structural behaviour of continuously supported deep beams made with SCC. A series of tests on eight reinforced two-span continuous deep beams made with SCC was performed. The main parameters investigated were the shear span-to-depth ratio, the amount and configuration of web reinforcement and the main longitudinal reinforcement ratio. All beams failed due to a major diagonal crack formed between the applied mid-span load and the intermediate support separating the beam into two blocks: the first one rotated around the end support leaving the rest of the beam fixed on the other two supports. The amount and configuration of web reinforcement had a major effect in controlling the shear capacity of SCC continuous deep beams. The shear provisions of the ACI 318M-11 reasonably predicted the load capacity of SCC continuous deep beams. The strut-and-tie model recommended by different design codes showed conservative results for all SCC continuous deep beams. The ACI Building Code (ACI 318M-11) predictions were more accurate than those of the EC2 and Canadian Code (CSA23.3-04). The proposed effectiveness factor equations for the strut-and-tie model showed accurate predictions compared to the experimental results. The different equations of the effectiveness factor used in upper-bound analysis can reasonably be applied to the prediction of the load capacity of continuously supported SCC deep beams although they were proposed for normal concrete (NC). The proposed three dimensional FE model accurately predicted the failure modes, the load capacity and the load-deflection response of the beams tested.

L’objectif de ce travail de thèse était de mieux caractériser l’hétérogénéité de la dyslexie développementale et d’étudier les implications de cette hétérogénéité pour la remédiation de ce trouble d’acqusition de la lecture. L’Etude I met en évidence une hétérogénéité cognitive au sein d’une population d’enfants dyslexiques, qui pourtant ont un profil de lecture homogène de dyslexie mixte. Ce profil est classiquement interprété comme relevant d’un double déficit. Or nous montrons que la plupart de ces enfants présente en fait un déficit cognitif unique, soit phonologique, soit de l’empan visuo-attentionnel (VA). De plus, ces deux sous-groupes à déficit unique ont des profils de lecture très similaires lorsqu’ils sont directement comparés. Ces données suggèrent donc que la classification en sous-types basée sur les profils de lecture n’est pas pertinente pour identifier des sous-groupes cognitivement homogènes dans la population dyslexique. Dans l’Etude II, nous décrivons un cas de dyslexie avec trouble sélectif de la lecture des pseudo-mots. Ce profil est classiquement interprété comme reflétant un déficit phonologique. Or, le cas que nous décrivons présente un trouble de l’empan VA en l’absence de toute atteinte verbale ou phonologique. Cette étude confirme une relation entre trouble cognitif et profil de lecture complexe et non univoque. L’Etude III interroge plus spécifiquement les liens entre troubles de l’empan VA, de la conscience phonémique et de la perception catégorielle des phonèmes. Nous montrons que la conscience phonémique joue un rôle de médiation entre perception catégorielle et lecture, et que cette relation est indépendante des capacités d’empan VA. Ces données nous ont ainsi permis de mieux caractériser l’hétérogénéité cognitive de la population dyslexique. Dans les deux dernières études, nous nous sommes interrogés sur la prise en compte de cette hétérogénéité cognitive dans la remédiation de la dyslexie. L’Etude IV est une étude d’entrainement cognitif. Deux types d’entraînements ont été successivement proposés à des enfants dyslexiques : un entraînement à la perception catégorielle et un entraînement de l’empan VA. Nous avons étudié les effets de chacun de ces entraînements sur des sous-groupes qui présentent un trouble cognitif unique, soit phonologique, soit de l’empan VA. Les résultats montrent l’intérêt de proposer une remédiation ciblée sur le déficit cognitif sous-jacent. Cette étude a également des enjeux théoriques majeurs, puisqu’elle nous a permis d’interroger les relations de causalité entre ces déficits cognitifs sous-jacents et la dyslexie. Enfin, dans l’Etude V la méthode d’adaptation visuelle par saillance syllabique étudiée n’améliore pas la lecture des enfants dyslexiques. L’ensemble des ces études confirment l’hétérogénéité cognitive de la population dyslexique et l’importance de prendre en compte cette hétérogénéité dans les méthodes de remédiation qui peuvent être proposées. / The first aim of this doctoral thesis was to better understand the heterogeneity of developmental dyslexia focusing on the relationship between reading profiles and cognitive disorders. Our second purpose was to question the implications of cognitive heterogeneity for the remediation of developmental dyslexia. Study I revealed cognitive heterogeneity despite the homogeneous reading profile of the recruited population. Most children with a mixed reading profile typically interpreted as resulting from a double deficit, actually suffered from a single cognitive disorder, either a phoneme awareness or a visual attention (VA) span disorder. In addition, direct comparisons of these two cognitively distinct subgroups revealed very similar reading profiles. These findings suggest that the classification based on reading profiles is irrelevant to identify cognitively homogeneous subgroups in dyslexia. In Study II, we report the case study of a child with a selective pseudo-word reading disorder, a profile typically attributed to a phonological deficit. Contrary to this prediction however, we show that this dyslexic child shows preserved verbal and phonological skills but a VA span deficit. This finding again suggests the absence of one-to-one relationships between reading profiles and cognitive disorders. Study III more specifically explored the links between three types of cognitive deficits, namely the VA span disorder, the phoneme awareness deficit and the categorical perception disorder. Results show that phoneme awareness mediates the relationship between categorical perception and reading: poor categorical perception causes poor phoneme awareness, which in turn impacts reading performance. Poor VA span also impacts reading performance but independently of phoneme awareness and categorical perception. These findings are further evidence for the independent contribution of phonology and VA span to the reading outcome of dyslexic children. In Study IV, we assessed the longitudinal effects of two cognitive trainings. Dyslexic participants with a single phonological or a single VA span disorder were administered successively either a categorical perception then a VA span intervention, or the two trainings in the reverse order. At the clinical level, results show that intervention is more efficient when targeted on the underlying cognitive deficit. At the theoretical level, they question causal relationship between these cognitive deficit and dyslexia. Last, Study V explored the compensation power of a visual adaptation method using syllabic saliency. Results failed to show any positive effect of this method on reading performance. The overall findings support the cognitive heterogeneity of the dyslexic population and show that taking this issue into account is crucial to improve the effects of intervention programs.