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This thesis emphasizes the critical importance of crack control in designing and constructing reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Cracks in such structures can significantly reduce strength and durability, pose safety risks, and lead to high repair costs. Existing codes and standards offer varying approaches, resulting in inconsistent results in designing for serviceability limit state (SLS). The evolution of modern reinforced concrete, incorporating additives like superplasticizers and silica fume, requires an update to crack control models based on outdated conceptions. The thesis aims to compare crack width calculations, understand bond stress in contemporary concrete models, and enhance crack control models. The study covers crack development, mathematical aspects of crack design, laboratory testing, and analysis of RC specimens. The findings aim to offer valuable recommendations and improve crack control measures, contributing to a more robust database and aiding the development of effective global model codes and standards for crack control in RC structures.:1. Introduction 2. General knowledge of cracks in RC structures 2.1. Cause of crack formation 2.1.1. Crack during the hardening process 2.1.1.1. Plastic shrinkage cracks 2.1.1.2. Plastic settlement cracks 2.1.2. Crack of hardened concrete 2.1.2.1. Drying shrinkage cracks 2.1.2.2. Thermal cracks 2.1.2.3. Crack due to chemical reaction 2.1.3. Crack due to external loads 2.2. Crack development in an axially loaded member 3. Crack width calculations 3.1. Design formula according to EN:1992 3.1.1. Calculating crack width 3.1.2. Calculating minimum reinforcement 3.1.3. Detailing of reinforcement 3.2. Design formula according to fib Model Code 3.2.1. Crack width calculation per fib Model Code 1990 3.2.2. Crack width calculation per fib Model Code 2010 3.3. Design formula in other codes and standards 3.3.1. Crack width calculation in American standard (ACI) 3.3.2. Crack width calculation in British standard (BS) 3.3.3. Crack width calculation in Vietnamese standard (TCVN) 3.3.4. Summary and example of crack width calculations a. Crack control per EN 1992-1-1 b. Crack control per Model Code 1990 c. Crack control per Model Code 2010 d. Crack control per ACI e. Crack control per BS f. Crack control per TCVN 4. Pull-out experiments 4.1. Experimental basis 4.2. Experiment setup 4.2.1. Test machine 4.2.2. Test cubes 5. Results and Discussion 5.1. Failure modes and bond-slip curves 5.2. The bond-slip functions 6. Conclusion 7. References

A certificate based approach is proposed for access control operations of context aware systems for multi domain environments. New model deals with the removal of inter-domain communication requirement in access request evaluation process. The study is applied on a prototype implementation with configuration for two dierent cases to show the applicability of the proposed certificate based, context aware access control model for multi domain environments. The outputs for the cases show that proposed access control model can satisfy the requirements of a context aware access control model while removing inter domain communication needs which may cause some latency in access request evaluation phase.

Traditional scheduling tools like Gantt Charts and CPM while useful in planning and execution of complex construction projects with multiple interdependent activities haven?t been of much help in implementing effective control systems for the same projects in case of deviation from their desired or assumed behavior. Further, in case of such deviations project managers in most cases make decisions which might be guided either by the prospects of short term gains or the intension of forcing the project to follow the original schedule or plan, inadvertently increasing the overall project cost. Many deterministic project control methods have been proposed by various researchers for calculating optimal resource schedules considering the time-cost as well as the time-cost-quality trade-off analysis. But the need is for a project control system which optimizes the effort or cost required for controlling the project by incorporating the stochastic dynamic nature of the construction-production process. Further, such a system must include a method for updating and revising the beliefs or models used for representing the dynamics of the project using the actual progress data of the project. This research develops such an optimal project control method using Kalman Filter forecasting method for updating and using the assumed project dynamics model for forecasting the Estimated Cost at Completion (EAC) and the Estimated Duration at Completion (EDAC) taking into account the inherent uncertainties in the project progress and progress measurements. The controller is then formulated for iteratively calculating the optimal resource allocation schedule that minimizes either the EAC or both the EAC and EDAC together using the evolutionary optimization algorithm Covariance Matrix Adaption Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES). The implementation of the developed framework is used with a hypothetical project and tested for its robustness in updating the assumed initial project dynamics model and yielding the optimal control policy considering some hypothetical cases of uncertainties in the project progress and progress measurements. Based on the tests and demonstrations firstly it is concluded that a project dynamics model based on the project Gantt chart for spatial interdependencies of sub-tasks with triangular progress rates is a good representation of a typical construction project; and secondly, it is shown that the use of CMA-ES in conjunction with the Kalman Filter estimation and forecasting method provides a robust framework that can be implemented for any kind of complex construction process for yielding the optimal control policies.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka stressreducerade ledarskapsbeteenden som chefer använder sig av gentemot sina medarbetare. Studien har en deduktiv ansats där två etablerade balansteorier; Karasek och Theorells (1990) krav och kontrollmodell samt Siegrits (1996) ansträngning och belöningsmodell, användes för att studera empirin. Ett målinriktat urval gjordes (n = 10) och av dessa var fem stycken kvinnor och fem stycken män. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med chefer på samma eller liknande position i en organisation. Det empiriska materialet analyserades genom en tematisk modell. Resultatet visade att cheferna använder sig av olika dimensioner av balansteorierna. Samtliga chefer använde sig av socialt stöd i olika former och majoriteten av cheferna gav medarbetarna kontroll över sin arbetssituation för att reducera stress. Ett fåtal av cheferna försökte få medarbetarna att uppleva yrkesstatus som belöning och slutligen lyfte cheferna fram vikten av att skapa en balans mellan arbetslivet och privatlivet för att främja medarbetarnas hälsa.

The control of complex robotic platforms is a challenging task, especially in designs with high levels of kinematic redundancy. Novel variable impedance actuators (VIAs) have recently demonstrated that, by allowing the ability to simultaneously modulate the output torque and impedance, one can achieve energetically more efficient and safer behaviour. However, this adds further levels of actuation redundancy, making planning and control of such systems even more complicated. VIAs are designed with the ability to mechanically modulate impedance during movement. Recent work from our group, employing the optimal control (OC) formulation to generate impedance policies, has shown the potential benefit of VIAs in tasks requiring energy storage, natural dynamic exploitation and robustness against perturbation. These approaches were, however, restricted to systems with smooth, continuous dynamics, performing tasks over a predefined time horizon. When considering tasks involving multiple phases of movement, including switching dynamics with discrete state transitions (resulting from interactions with the environment), traditional approaches such as independent phase optimisation would result in a potentially suboptimal behaviour. Our work addresses these issues by extending the OC formulation to a multiphase scenario and incorporating temporal optimisation capabilities (for robotic systems with VIAs). Given a predefined switching sequence, the developed methodology computes the optimal torque and impedance profile, alongside the optimal switching times and total movement duration. The resultant solution minimises the control effort by exploiting the actuation redundancy and modulating the natural dynamics of the system to match those of the desired movement. We use a monopod hopper and a brachiation system in numerical simulations and a hardware implementation of the latter to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our approach on a variety of dynamic tasks. The performance of model-based control relies on the accuracy of the dynamics model. This can deteriorate significantly due to elements that cannot be fully captured by analytic dynamics functions and/or due to changes in the dynamics. To circumvent these issues, we improve the performance of the developed framework by incorporating an adaptive learning algorithm. This performs continuous data-driven adjustments to the dynamics model while re-planning optimal policies that reflect this adaptation. The results presented show that the augmented approach is able to handle a range of model discrepancies, in both simulation and hardware experiments using the developed robotic brachiation system.

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No description available.

No description available.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Os girinos são organismos diversos e abundantes nos pequenos riachos de cabeceira de florestas tropicais e constituem importantes componentes da diversidade biológica, da trófica e funcional dos sistemas aquáticos. Diferentes características estruturais e limnológicas dos ambientes aquáticos influenciam a organização das assembleias de girinos. Embora o estágio larvar dos anuros seja o mais vulnerável de seu ciclo de vida, sujeito a elevadas taxas de mortalidade, as pesquisas sobre girinos na região neotropical ainda são pouco representativas diante da elevada diversidade de anfíbios desta região e ferramentas que permitam a sua identificação ainda são escassas. Nesta tese, dividida em três capítulos, apresento uma compilação das informações relacionadas aos principais fatores que afetam as assembleias de girinos na região tropical (Capítulo 1), a caracterização morfológica dos girinos encontrados nos riachos durante o estudo e uma proposta de chave dicotômica de identificação (Capítulo 2) e avalio a importância relativa da posição geográfica e da variação temporal de fatores ambientais locais sobre as assembleias de girinos, assim como a correlação entre as espécies de girinos e as variáveis ambientais de 10 riachos, ao longo de 15 meses, nas florestas da REGUA (Capítulo 3). Há pelo menos oito tendências relacionadas à distribuição das assembleias de girinos: (1) o tamanho dos riachos e a diversidade de microhabitats são importantes características abióticas influenciando a riqueza e a composição de espécies; (2) em poças, o gradiente de permanência (e.g., hidroperíodo) e a heterogeneidade do habitat são os principais fatores moldando as assembleias de girinos; (3) a composição de espécies parece ser um parâmetro das assembleias mais relevante do que a riqueza de espécies e deve ser primeiramente considerado durante o planejamento de ações conservacionistas de anuros associados a poças e riachos; (4) a predação parece ser a interação biótica mais importante na estruturação das assembleias de girinos, com predadores vertebrados (e.g. peixes) sendo mais vorazes em habitats permanentes e predadores invertebrados (e.g. larvas de odonata) sendo mais vorazes em ambientes temporários; (5) os girinos podem exercer um efeito regulatório, predando ovos e girinos recém eclodidos; (6) o uso do microhabitat varia em função da escolha do habitat reprodutivo pelos adultos, presença de predadores, filogenia, estágio de desenvolvimento e heterogeneidade do habitat; (7) os fatores históricos restringem os habitats reprodutivos que uma espécie utiliza, impondo restrições comportamentais e fisiológicas; (8) a variação temporal nos fatores bióticos (e.g., fatores de risco), abióticos (e.g., distribuição de chuvas), e no padrão de reprodução das espécies pode interferir na estrutura das assembleias de girinos tropicais. A variação temporal na heterogeneidade ambiental dos riachos da REGUA resultou na previsibilidade das assembleias locais de girinos, sendo que os parâmetros ambientais explicaram 23% da variação na sua composição. Os parâmetros espaciais explicaram uma porção menor da variação nas assembleias (16%), enquanto uma porção relativamente elevada da variação temporal da heterogeneidade ambiental foi espacialmente estruturada (18%). As variáveis abióticas que apresentaram as maiores correlação com a composição das assembleias de girinos foram a proporção de folhiço e de rochas no fundo do riacho, e secundariamente a profundidade, a condutividade e a temperatura. O gradiente gerado pela proporção de folhiço e de rochas representou a transição entre riachos permanentes e intermitentes. Este gradiente proporcionou o turnover de espécies, o qual também seguiu um gradiente de condutividade, temperatura, profundidade, e em menor extensão, de hidroperíodo e largura, que estiveram fortemente associado ao grau de permanência dos riachos. Estes resultados corroboram tanto a hipótese do controle ambiental, como do controle biótico de comunidades e indicam que a variação temporal da heterogeneidade ambiental e a variação na posição geográfica são importantes para a estruturação local de assembleias de girinos da REGUA. Os resultados também permitiram distinguir entre assembleias de girinos exclusivas de riachos permanentes, exclusivas de riachos intermitentes e aquelas registradas nos dois tipos de riachos. Os resultados deste capítulo são relevantes para compreender em que extensão os efeitos da variação temporal na heterogeneidade ambiental e de processos espaciais afetam localmente a estruturação de assembleias de girinos. / Tadpoles are diverse and abundant organisms in headwater streams of tropical rainforests and constitute important components of biological, trophic and functional diversity. Furthermore, different structural (e.g. size, depth, microhabitat availability) and limnological (e.g. conductivity, temperature) characteristics affect tadpole organization. Although the larval stage is the most vulnerable in anurans, subject to high mortality rates, researches on tadpoles in the neotropics, as tools for their identification, remain scarce face the high diversity of anurans found in this region. In this thesis, I present a compilation of information on the main factors affecting tadpole assemblages in the tropics (Chapter 1), the morphological characterization of tadpoles found in streams during the study with a propose of dichotomous key of identification (Chapter 2), and evaluated the relative importance of geographical position and the temporal variation o local environmental factors on tadpole assemblages through 15 months in 10 small streams in the Atlantic Forest of Reserva Ecológica do Guapiaçu (REGUA), municipality of Cachoeiras de Macacú, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I also investigated the correlation between tadpoles and the environmental variables of streams (Chapter 3). We can recognize at least eigth major trends regarding the distribution and structure of tropical tadpole assemblages: (1) stream size and microhabitat diversity are important abiotic features influencing species richness and composition; (2) in ponds, the permanence gradient (e.g., hydroperiod), and the heterogeneity of habitat are the main factors modeling tropical tadpole assemblages; (3) species composition seems to be a more relevant assemblage parameter than species richness and should be first considered when planning conservation of both pond and stream-dwelling anurans; (4) predation seems to be the most important biotic interaction structuring tropical tadpole assemblages, with vertebrate predators (e.g., fishes) being more voracious in permanent habitats, while invertebrates (e.g., odonate naiads) are the most important in temporary ones; (5) tadpoles may play a regulatory effect preying upon anuran eggs and recently hatched tadpoles (6) microhabitat use varies in function of breeding habitat choice by adults, presence of predators, phylogeny, stage of development and heterogeneity of the habitat; (7) historical factors restrict the breeding habitats that species may use, and impose behavioral and physiologic constrains; (8) temporal variation in biotic (e.g., risk factors) and abiotic factors (e.g., rainfall distribution), and the reproductive patterns of the species may interfere in the structure of tropical tadpole assemblages. Future efforts regarding the study of tadpoles should contemplate assemblages associated with streams, and experimental studies. Temporal variation in the environmental heterogeneity resulted in predictability of local tadpole assemblages. The environmental component explained 23% of the variation in tadpole composition, while spatial parameters explained the smaller portion of the variation (16%). A comparatively high portion of temporal variation in the environmental heterogeneity was spatially structured (18%). The proportion of litter and rocks on the stream bottom, depth, conductivity, and temperature were correlated with tadpole composition. The gradient created by the proportion of litter and rocks represented the changes from permanent and intermittent streams. This gradient provided the species turnover, which also followed a gradient of conductivity, temperature, depth, and in a lesser proportion, hydroperiod and width, all being strongly associated with permanence of streams. The results also corroborate with both the environmental and the biotic control model and indicate that temporal variation in environmental heterogeneity and the spatial position are important to the structuring of local tadpole assemblages in the streams of REGUA. The results also allowed to distinguish between tadpoles assemblages exclusive of permanent, intermittent, and those inhabiting both streams. The results of this chapter are relevant to understand in which extension the effects of temporal variation in environmental heterogeneity and spatial processes affect the structure of tadpole assemblages, the most fragile life stage of anurans