Do federal policies influence program offerings for career and technical education(CTE)? Often the implication of compliance and the expectation of connecting compliance to funding is considered a tactic to leverage expectations on a large scale. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if the CTE programs located in a singular region of Texas were compliant with federal expectations by way of evaluating the alignment of programs offered and local labor markets prior to the implementation of Perkins V. The evaluation of a variety of archival data and subsequent findings of the correlation of alignment of programs within the region along with the amount of federal Perkins's dollars spent on CTE was a confirmed as an effective policy reform measure. Additional evaluations included the combination of federal and state spending in correlation to the number of programs offered in career and technical education along with the actual CTE student enrollment of a given district. Major findings showed that through a moderation analysis for some districts the number of programs offered could be influenced by program funding and size. In addition, this study confirmed that many programs are indeed compliant, however compliance does not guarantee program opportunities when resources and enrollment are abundant. Recommendations for future studies concerning administrative decisions for programming and compliance are discussed.

The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is one of the major factors responsible for distresses in concrete pavements and structures. Continuously reinforced concrete pavements (CRCPs) in particular are highly susceptible to distresses caused by high CTE in concrete. CRCP is a popular choice across the U.S. and around the world for its long service life and minimal maintenance requirements. CRCP has been built in more than 35 states in the U.S., including Texas. In order to prevent CRCP distresses, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has limited the CTE of CRCP concrete to a maximum of 5.5 x10-6 strain/oF (9.9 x10-6 strain/oC). Coarse aggregate sources that produce concrete with CTE higher than the allowable limit are no longer accepted in the TxDOT CRCP projects. Moreover, CTE is an important input in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). Small deviations in input CTE can affect the pavement thickness significantly in MEPDG designs. Therefore, accurate determination of concrete CTE is important, as it allows for enhanced concrete structure and pavement design as well as accurate screening of CRCP coarse aggregates. Moreover, optimizing the CTE of concrete according to a structure’s needs can reduce that structure’s cracking potential. This will result in significant savings in repair and rehabilitation costs and will improve the durability and longevity of concrete structures. This study found that the CTEs determined from saturated concrete samples were affected by the internal water pressure. As a result, the TxDOT method yielded higher values than did the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) method. To further investigate the effect of internal water pressure, an analytical model was developed based on the poroelastic phenomenon of concrete. According to the model, porosity, permeability, and the rate of temperature change are the major factors that influence the internal water pressure development. Increasing the permeability of concrete can reduce the internal water pressure development and can thus improve the consistency of measured CTE values. Preconditioning concrete samples by subjecting them to several heating and cooling cycles prior to CTE testing and reducing the rate of temperature change improved the consistency of the CTE test results. Concrete CTE can be reduced by blending low-CTE aggregates with high-CTE aggregates and reducing the cement paste volume. Based on these findings, a concrete CTE optimization technique was developed that provides guidelines for the selection of concrete constituents to achieve target concrete CTE. A concrete proportioning technique was also developed to meet the need for CTE optimization. This concrete proportioning technique can use aggregate from any sources, irrespective of gradation, shape, and texture. The proposed technique has the potential to reduce the cement requirement without sacrificing performance and provides guidelines for multiple coarse and fine aggregate blends. / text

The probe method (PM) is a learning model that equips students with essential learning strategies and skills so they can be successful and competitive in a highly diverse technological global workforce. Although research indicates this learning model was successful at the elementary school level with improving students' motivation to learn, their critical thinking skills, and their ability to solve complex problems, little research has examined the impact of this method at the high school level for students who participated in a career and technical education (CTE) program. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to fill a gap in knowledge about the role and function of the PM on high school students' motivation to learn and their critical thinking skills in a CTE program. Guided by the conceptual framework of constructivism, data were collected through surveys, reflective journals, interviews with 17 students, and a teacher interview. Data were analyzed through descriptive and content analysis using open coding to determine what active learning was taking place, whether authentic project-based and problem-based learning strategies were implemented, and what 21st century workforce skills were being taught. Findings indicated that the PM had a positive impact on high school students' motivation to learn and their ability to think critically in a CTE program. This study supports positive social change by providing high school CTE teachers with a valuable learning model that infuses reflective thought, collaboration, communication, problem solving, and critical thinking into the learning process while at the same time motivating students to learn.

In Midwestern high schools, English language learners (ELLs) who are enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes transition from school to the workforce at unacceptably low levels. This loss of opportunity has been linked to CTE instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to explore the instructional practices used by CTE teachers to support ELL instruction and how the teachers perceive those practices to improve ELL transition from school to the workforce. The conceptual framework included Freire's critical consciousness theory, which holds that it is important to include learners in the learning process. The framework grounded the study by linking student-centered teaching research to improved ELL outcomes. This basic qualitative study was conducted in secondary school settings in the urban Midwest. Data were collected from 8 CTE education teachers through semistructured interviews and data analyzed by using open and a priori codes. The codes were placed into categories from which themes emerged. Primary themes indicated that CTE teachers apply certain instructional practices with ELLs and perceive that they help ELLs transition to the workforce. These practices include classroom management techniques, adapting curriculum, instructional consistency, questioning techniques, developing community partnerships, and teaching culturally relevant subject matter. A project, in the form of a policy recommendation paper, was created and may translate to an increased number of high school ELL graduates who are prepared to enter the workforce with the skills necessary to be successful. The findings contribute to positive social change through increased understanding of CTE instructional practices toward ELLs.

The purpose of this study was to build on the research already completed by the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) in the development of ACTE’s quality Program of Study Framework and accompanying evaluation instrument to examine the validity of the instrument’s results and its utility when used independently by local educators in a pilot test. The study used a two-phase mixed-methods design. In the first phase, 39 participating programs were evaluated using the instrument, consisting of 102 items organized into 12 elements. Representatives of participating programs, either teachers or administrators, then provided quantitative and qualitative feedback about the instrument, and 23 of the programs submitted Perkins program performance data. Results on the program evaluation instrument were correlated with the Perkins performance data to determine the criterion validity of the instrument. Correlations were significant for two of the performance measures, student technical skill attainment and completion, and positive but not statistically significant for student placement. Results related to the utility of the instrument, including for ease of use, practicality across programs, and usefulness of information, were all positive, and participants provided suggestions to further increase the possibility of wide scale future use. In Phase Two of the study, results of Phase One were used to inform in-depth interviews with a sample of five participants. These interviews provided further insight on the validity and utility questions guiding the study. The study is significant because it helps to more clearly define the characteristics of a high-quality CTE program and provide a standardized way to determine and improve the quality of CTE programs for millions of students around the country.

<p>Handel är en central del av världen i det rådande tillväxtparadigmet. För att underlätta handel mellan nationalstater skapades år 1948 GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Detta avtal var så lyckat i att avskaffa handelshinder att övervakningsorganisationen WTO (World Trade Organization) skapades. WTO har sedan det bildades arbetat med att förenkla och effektivisera handeln och införlivat flera handelsrelaterade frågor till sin organisation. Då WTO bildades (1994) initierades samtidigt kommittén, CTE (Committee on Trade and Environment). Denna kommitté berör många frågor relaterade till handel och miljö, däribland klimatförändringsproblematiken.</p><p>Dagens klimatdiskussion har ändrat perspektiv från klimatförändringens egentliga existerande till hur den på bästa sätt ska hanteras och förebyggas. I och med FN:s klimatkonvention (UNFCCC) och Kyoto-protokollet bands de industrialiserade länderna juridiskt till att sänka utsläppen av klimatpåverkande utsläpp. Arbetet med denna minskning fortgår idag inom flera av de länder som ratificerat protokollet och de internationella organisationer som de är medlemmar i.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur aktörerna inom CTE i WTO behandlat klimatfrågan. Mer specifikt ska vi analysera hur diskussionerna förs/har förts vid behandlandet av klimatfrågan från dess att klimatfrågan första gången tas upp på CTE:s agenda 1995 och framåt. Uppsatsen kommer även att belysa vilka implicita intressen som drivit/driver medlemmar eller grupperingar till en viss strategi kring klimatfrågan. För att göra detta synligt använder uppsats de två textanalyserna korpusanalys och diskussionsanalys. Utifrån dessa metoder analyseras mötesrapporter från CTE.</p><p>Inom CTE förs klimatdiskussionerna ur olika perspektiv, vissa länder talar endast om miljöåtgärder kopplat till dess påverkan på handel, medan andra länder försöker diskutera handels påverkan på miljö. Resultat och Analysdelen beskriver hur diskussionerna förs, här påvisas ett flertal olika mönster inom dessa diskussioner, det tydligaste mönstret som framträder är hur medlemmar i samband med klimatdiskussionerna argumenterar utifrån det egna landets ekonomiska vinning. Ett annat resultat som framkommit är att vissa av diskussionens deltagare angående om klimatfrågan skall hanteras inom CTE eller ej tycks växla sida med varandra. Avslutningsvis kommenterar slutsatserna diskussionen i uppsatsen och lyfter fram intressanta synvinklar.</p>

This research characterizes the thermal stress resulting from temperature gradients in hybrid solid oxide fuel cells that are processed using a novel oxide powder slurry technology developed at Georgia Tech. The hybrid solid oxide fuel cell is composed of metallic interconnect and ceramic electrolyte constituents with integral mechanical bonds formed during high temperature processing steps. A combined thermo-mechanical analysis approach must be implemented to evaluate a range of designs for power output and structural integrity. As an alternative to costly CFD analysis, approximate finite difference techniques that are more useful in preliminary design are developed to analyze the temperature distributions resulting from a range of fuel cell geometries and materials. The corresponding thermal stresses are then calculated from the temperature fields using ABAQUS. This model analyzes the manufacturing, start-up, and steady state operating conditions of the hybrid solid oxide fuel cell.

Two subjects are included in this thesis; one is to construct the Coffin-Manson equation of the unleaded SnAgCu solder according to the experimental results provided by the Metal Research Laboratory (MRL) of Industrial Technologies Research Institute (ITRI). The results of CSP thermal cycle fatigue and SOJ pull tests and the corresponding stress and strain distributions solved from FEM analyses have been used to derive the Coffin-Manson equation for the SnAgCu solder. The other subject is to investigate the effect of CTE mismatch on the fatigue life of solder balls in the opto-electronic packaging. The solidified shapes of the different solder balls after undergoing the re-flow process are predicted by employing the Surface Evolver package program. The FEA meshes of the solidified solder balls in opto-electronic packaging are built according to the output results of the Surface Evolver program. The maximum equivalent plastic shear strain range of the solder after under one thermal cycle process is calculated by employing the MARC finite element package. The fatigue lives of solder balls under different arrangements are estimated according to the proposed Coffin-Manson equation. The effect of solder ball parameters, i.e. solder volume, solder offset distance, solder DNP and solder material on the reliability of different solder balls has also been explored in this thesis.

Ce mémoire concerne la reconnaissance automatique des Actes de Dialogues (ADs) en tchéque et en français. Les actes de dialogues sont des unités au niveau de la phrase qui représentent des différents états d'un dialogue, comme par exemple les questions, les affirmations, les hésitations, etc. <br />La première contribution de ce travail est de proposer et comparer plusieurs approches de reconnaissance des actes de dialogues qui sont basées sur trois types d'informations : lexical, prosodique et relative à la position des mots dans une phrase. Ces approches ont eté testées sur un corpus tchèque de dialogues entre utilisateurs et personnel dans le domaine de la réservation de billets de chemins de fer. Ce corpus a été transcris en mots manuellement, et avec un moteur de reconnaissance automatique afin de valider les approches dans des conditions réelles. Les résultats expérimentaux confirment que chaque type d'attributs (lexical, prosodique et syntaxique de position) apporte des informations pertinentes et complémentaires. Les méthodes proposées qui exploitent la position des mots dans la phrase sont particulièrement intéresantes, parce qu'elles utilisent une information globale sur la structure de la phrase, alors que les modèles statistiques traditionnels de type n-gram modélisent seulement les dépendances locales.<br />Une autre contribution conséquente, relative au manque de corpus étiquettés dans le domaine de la reconnaissance automatique des actes de dialoques, concerne le développement et l'étude de méthodes d'étiquetage semi-automatique de nouveaux corpus. Cette méthode est basée sur l'algorithme d'Espérance-Maximisation avec des ADs prédéfinis spécifiques à la tâche visée. Nous proposons deux mesures de confiance pour sélectionner les exemples qui ont le plus de chance d'être classifiés correctement : une mesure utilisant le critère de maximisation de la probabilité a posteriori, et une autre exploitant un critère basé sur une différence de probabilités a posteriori. Les résultats expérimentaux démontrent que la méthode proposée est une approche intéressante pour la création de nouveaux corpus d'actes de dialogues à moindre coût.

The trend to high I/O density, performance and miniaturization at low cost is driving the industry towards shrinking interposer design rules, requiring a new set of packaging technologies. Low-CTE packages from silicon, glass and low-CTE organic substrates enable high interconnection density, high reliability and integration of system components. However, the large CTE mismatch between the package and the board presents reliability challenges for the board-level interconnections. Novel stress-relief structures that can meet reliability requirements along with electrical performance while meeting the cost constraints are needed to address these challenges. This thesis focuses on a comprehensive methodology starting with modeling, design, fabrication and characterization to validate such stress-relief structures. This study specifically explores SMT-compatible stress-relief microwire arrays in thin polymer carriers as a unique and low-cost solution for reliable board-level interconnections between large low-CTE packages and printed wiring boards. The microwire arrays are pre-fabricated in ultra-thin carriers using low-cost manufacturing processes such as laser vias and copper electroplating, which are then assembled in between the interposer and printed wiring board (PWB) as stress-relief interlayers. The microwire array results in dramatic reduction in solder stresses and strains, even with larger interposer sizes (20 mm × 20 mm), at finer pitch (400 microns), without the need for underfill. The parallel wire arrays result in low resistance and inductance, and therefore do not degrade the electrical performance. The scalability of the structures and the unique processes, from micro to nanowires, provides extendibility to finer pitch and larger package sizes. Finite element method (FEM) was used to study the reliability of the interconnections to provide guidelines for the test vehicle design. The models were built in 2.5D geometries to study the reliability of 400 µm-pitch interconnections with a 100 µm thick, 20 mm × 20 mm silicon package that was SMT-assembled onto an organic printed wiring board. The performance of the microwire array interconnection is compared to that of ball grid array (BGA) interconnections, in warpage, equivalent plastic strain and projected fatigue life. A unique set of materials and processes was used to demonstrate the low-cost fabrication of microwire arrays. Copper microwires with 12 µm diameter and 50 µm height were fabricated on both sides of a 50 µm thick, thermoplastic polymer carrier using dryfilm based photolithography and bottom-up electrolytic plating. The copper microwire interconnections were assembled between silicon interposer and FR-4 PWB through SMT-compatible process. Thermal mechanical reliability of the interconnections was characterized by thermal cycling test from -40°C to 125°C. The initial fatigue failure in the interconnections was identified at 700 cycles in the solder on the silicon package side, which is consistent with the modeling results. This study therefore demonstrated a highly-reliable and SMT-compatible solution for board-level interconnections between large low-CTE packages and printed wiring board.