An innovative pavement system known as Ultra Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (UTCRCP) was recently developed in South Africa. The technology is currently being implemented on some major routes in the country. The system consists of a high performance fibre reinforced concrete pavement slab with a nominal thickness of approximately 50 mm. The material has a significant post crack stress capacity compared to plain concrete. Current design methods for UTCRCP are based on conventional linear elastic concrete pavement design methodology, which does not take into account post crack behaviour. Questions can be raised with regards to the suitability of conventional approaches for the design of this high performance material. The hypothesis of the study is that the accuracy of design models for UTCRCP can benefit from the adoption of fracture mechanics concepts. The experimental framework for this study includes fracture experiments under both monotonic and cyclic loading, on specimens of different sizes and geometries and produced from several mix designs. The aim is to quantify size effect in the high performance fibre reinforced concrete material, to determine fracture mechanics material parameters from monotonic tests, and to investigate the fatigue behaviour of the material. As part of the study a method is developed to obtain the full work of fracture from three point bending tests by means of extrapolation of the load-displacement tail. This allows the specific fracture energy (Gƒ) of the material to be determined. An adjusted tensile splitting test method is developed to determine the tensile strength (ƒτ) of the material. The values of Gƒ and ƒτ are used in the definition of a fracture mechanics based cohesive softening function. The final shape of the softening function combines a crack tip singularity with an exponential tail. The cohesive crack model is implemented in finite element methods to numerically simulate the fracture behaviour observed in the experiments. The numerical simulation provides reliable results for the different mixes, specimen sizes and geometries and predicts the size effect to occur. Fracture mechanics based models for the prediction of the fatigue performance of the material are proposed. The predictive performance of the models is compared against a model representing the conventional design approach. It is concluded that the findings of the study support the thesis that design methods for UTCRCP can benefit from the adoption of fracture mechanics concepts. This conclusion is mainly based on the following findings from the study: <ul><li> The high performance fibre reinforced concrete material was found to be subject to significant size effect. As a consequence the MOR parameter will not yield reliable predictions of the flexural capacity of full size pavement structures, </li><li> In contrast to the MOR parameter, the fracture mechanics damage models developed as part of this study do provide reliable predictions of the flexural behaviour of the material, </li><li> The fatigue model developed based on fracture mechanics concepts, though not necessarily more precise, is more accurate. </li></ul> / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Civil Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

Organisationen wie Feuerwehren, med. Rettungsdienste oder Spezialeinheiten der Polizei zeigen auch in Situationen, die durch Unsicherheit, unvollständige Informationen oder eine sehr hohe Dynamik gekennzeichnet sind, eine effiziente und effektive Leistungsfähigkeit. Sie können deswegen als Hochleistungssysteme (HLS) bezeichnet werden. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird dargestellt wie sich Erkenntnisse der High Reliabilty Theory auf die Untersuchung von Hochleistungssystemen auswirken und welche Gemeinsamkeiten und Parallelen bestehen. Dabei wird insbesondere ein Schwerpunkt auf die Thematik des Lernens gelegt.

The purpose of this study is to advance knowledge and practitioner understanding of human resource dynamics of the U.S. fast food franchise (FFF) industry, one plagued by extraordinary voluntary turnover (VTO), estimated at 75% of total turnover, and its effects on unit productivity. Following the research of Sun, Aryee, and Law (2007), this study looks for the potential of improving the VTO problem through the practice of high-performance human resource management (HPHRM) and the potential benefits of service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (SOCB) that it offers. This study used primary research, namely the domestic operating units of a nationally franchised sub sandwich chain, with a sample size of 112 units representing 14.8% of the total units and the evaluation of 336 hourly employees. Results showed a strong correlation between HPHRM and VTO, but surprisingly there was no significant relationship between HPHRM and productivity. Despite a modest correlation between HPHRM and SOCB, that relationship did not demonstrate any significant mediating effect on the HPHRM/VTO relationship. The results may indicate a differentiation between the effectiveness of HPHRM and SOCB depending on the performance level of hourly employees, noting that low-performing employees do not respond to HPHRM or demonstrate SOCB as well as others. Numerous opportunities for further research are suggested, especially in light of the size and impact of the domestic FFF industry.

Dynamic balancing of computation and communication load is vital for the execution stability and performance of distributed, parallel simulations deployed on shared, unreliable resources of large-scale environments. High Level Architecture (HLA) based simulations can experience a decrease in performance due to imbalances that are produced initially and/or during run-time. These imbalances are generated by the dynamic load changes of distributed simulations or by unknown, non-managed background processes resulting from the non-dedication of shared resources. Due to the dynamic execution characteristics of elements that compose distributed simulation applications, the computational load and interaction dependencies of each simulation entity change during run-time. These dynamic changes lead to an irregular load and communication distribution, which increases overhead of resources and execution delays. A static partitioning of load is limited to deterministic applications and is incapable of predicting the dynamic changes caused by distributed applications or by external background processes. Due to the relevance in dynamically balancing load for distributed simulations, many balancing approaches have been proposed in order to offer a sub-optimal balancing solution, but they are limited to certain simulation aspects, specific to determined applications, or unaware of HLA-based simulation characteristics. Therefore, schemes for balancing the communication and computational load during the execution of distributed simulations are devised, adopting a hierarchical architecture. First, in order to enable the development of such balancing schemes, a migration technique is also employed to perform reliable and low-latency simulation load transfers. Then, a centralized balancing scheme is designed; this scheme employs local and cluster monitoring mechanisms in order to observe the distributed load changes and identify imbalances, and it uses load reallocation policies to determine a distribution of load and minimize imbalances. As a measure to overcome the drawbacks of this scheme, such as bottlenecks, overheads, global synchronization, and single point of failure, a distributed redistribution algorithm is designed. Extensions of the distributed balancing scheme are also developed to improve the detection of and the reaction to load imbalances. These extensions introduce communication delay detection, migration latency awareness, self-adaptation, and load oscillation prediction in the load redistribution algorithm. Such developed balancing systems successfully improved the use of shared resources and increased distributed simulations' performance.

Gaps. Building an effective team and optimizing team functioning in sport is an important, albeit complex and challenging endeavour involving several processes (Bloom, Stevens, & Wickwire, 2003; Collins & Durand-Bush, 2010; Yukelson, 1997). Unfortunately, our knowledge of what constitutes optimal team processes, and how these are developed and maintained within specific sports, remains limited. Although several frameworks targeting a few or several group processes have been put forth in the literature, limitations regarding their theoretical foundation, comprehensiveness, and application have been identified. Collins and Durand-Bush (2015a) made a call for grounded theory research in order to provide an in-depth understanding of team processes required for optimal functioning in specific sports. Given that none of the existing frameworks in the literature have been developed using a grounded theory approach, and none have been tailored to meet the needs of particular sports, this type of inductive research is warranted. Aims. This dissertation had two general aims. The first aim was to critically review theoretical/conceptual frameworks in the literature directly or indirectly addressing team processes in sport and derive implications for professional practice (Article 1). The second aim was to use a grounded theory research approach to investigate (a) factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of optimal team functioning within high performance curling (Article 2), (b) strategies used by high performance coaches and athletes to optimize team functioning (Article 3), and (c) specific roles that curling coaches play in this process (Article 4). Methods. To address the first aim, a critical review of frameworks targeting team processes that were used to guide research and/or practice in sport was performed by first identifying frameworks by searching electronic databases, then doing a content analysis to identify specific team processes that were explicitly reported or could be implicitly inferred based on the literature, conducting a second level of analysis to extract broader team processes, followed by a third level of analysis to identify general themes, and finally comparing specific team processes, broader team processes, and general themes. To address the second aim, a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006) was used to collect data from 19 high performance curling teams (N = 78 athletes and N = 10 coaches). Of these, seven were men’s teams, 12 were women’s teams, and the 10 coaches were men. Overall, data collection and analysis involved eight steps: (a) conducting interviews (face-to-face focus group interviews with teams of athletes and individual telephone interviews with coaches), (b) transcribing the data (c) reflecting and writing memos, (d) coding the data, (e) performing multiple coder checks, (f) verifying and re-coding the data, (g) developing the grounded theory model, and (h) verifying the model. Results. As indicated in Article 1, seven frameworks used to guide research and/or practice in sport were identified. Three frameworks were borrowed from general psychology while the other four stemmed from the sport psychology literature. On average, the frameworks targeted five general themes (e.g., roles/norms, personal characteristics), six broader team processes (e.g., establish roles, identify team characteristics,) and the outcome of cohesion. The general theme pertaining to roles/norms was the most prevalent one as it was addressed in six out of the seven frameworks. One of the least prevalent general themes related to goals; it was only discussed in two of the seven frameworks. Results show that all of the frameworks were developed using a deductive approach. Article 2 shows that developing and maintaining optimal team functioning in high performance curling is a dynamic process involving numerous factors that influence each other. The Optimal Team Functioning (OTF) model was inductively created to outline key attributes (N=4) and processes (N=17) deemed necessary by high performance curling coaches and athletes for optimal functioning within different contexts. The model comprises eight components under which attributes and processes are grouped: (a) Individual Attributes, (b) Team Attributes, (c) Foundational Process of Communication, (d) Structural Team Processes, (e) Individual Regulation Processes, (f) Team Regulation Processes, (g) Context, and (h) Desired Outcomes. The OTF model is unique because it is comprehensive, sport-specific, inductively derived, and applicable with a strong focus on actions. As seen in Article 3, coaches and athletes reported using many strategies to develop and sustain optimal team functioning. A total of 155 strategies were linked to the eight aforementioned components of the OTF model, which can be targeted when working with teams. Both individual (e.g., journal, apologize for mistakes, do self-assessments) and team strategies (e.g., establish a decision-making process, establish a support team, discuss leadership behaviours) were identified, some of which served multiple purposes (e.g., create a player contract). Unique to the present study was the importance of individual regulation strategies, suggesting that team building interventions should focus on both the team itself and individual members. Communication was involved in most of the strategies, thus methods aimed at enhancing communication within teams should be prioritized. Finally, Article 4 demonstrates that coaches played five major roles in optimizing team functioning: technical/tactical specialist, mediator, facilitator, manager, and motivator. Both coaches and athletes saw value in each of these roles, however, they did not necessarily perceive the importance and characteristics of these roles the same way. Perceptions were dependent on athletes’ needs as well as both coaches and athletes’ personal characteristics and competencies. In order for coaches to effectively help teams optimize functioning and achieve desired outcomes, specific training should be provided as both coaches and athletes reported that skills and attributes to successfully perform roles were sometimes lacking.

The topic of high performance workplace practices and their impact on organizational performance has been extensively researched in US and UK. Increasingly evidence with regard to diffusion of high performance workplace practices is emerging from fast developing Asian economies. However, very little is known about the state of diffusion of high performance workplace practices in Pakistan, a South Asian economy on route to industrialization. This study attempts to explore the diffusion of high performance workplace practices among the multinational and local firms in the important industrial sectors of banking, information technology and pharmaceutical in Pakistan that are characterized by high level of inward foreign direct investment. Recently the Pakistani Government has passed laws to encourage greater use of HPWS practices amongst domestic firms. This study compares the prevalence of HPWS practices in domestic firms to that in multinationals. MNCs are chosen as a competitor because they have been seen as being at forefront of HPWS use. First of all, the study explored an overall diffusion of high performance workplace practices in Pakistan and determined the state of differences with regard to diffusion of the practices between the establishments of multinational and local firms. Secondly, the study further explored the differences by taking into account the role of control variables such as age, size, percentage of non-managerial employees and nature of business at the establishment. The most important argument underpinning the high performance paradigm is that practices have substantial impact on human resource and performance outcomes of a firm. Thus the third objective of the study was to test and report the association of individual practices with various performance outcomes for a sample of local firms in Pakistan. The study observed whether such claims are valid for the local Pakistani establishments that implement such practices in hope of achieving better performance outcomes. The study found that a number of practices had a consistent and significant association with various performance outcomes across the industrial sectors in Pakistan. The results of the study suggest that latest innovations in human resource management in advanced industrial economies have fast spread among establishments in Pakistan. Moreover the results also suggest that arguments of high performance theory, in particular the universalistic/ best practice model hold ground when it comes to the diffusion of such practices in developing economies such as Pakistan with some caveats.

Esta pesquisa foi baseada em um projeto de Stone Mastic Asphalt – SMA na faixa I da especificação ET-DE-P00-031 do Departamento de Estradas de Rodagem do Estado de São Paulo, com ligante modificado por polímero, classificação 60/85, em trecho experimental da rodovia ERS-122, km 6+400 ao km 7+000. O volume elevado de veículos pesados neste trecho e as deformações decorrentes desta carga motivaram o estudo de novas tecnologias. Foram realizados ensaios laboratoriais para confirmar a dosagem da mistura e determinar as propriedades mecânicas através de ensaios de módulo de resiliência, resistência a tração na compressão diametral e deformação permanente em trilha de roda. A mistura apresentou bom desempenho a deformação permanente, módulo de resiliência e resistência a tração no teor de projeto. Além disso, foi analisado o processo executivo da mistura, desde a produção do agregado, passando pelo processo de usinagem, transporte, lançamento e compactação. Inicialmente, foi executada pista teste na praça de pedágio do Departamento Autônomo de Estradas de Rodagem do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (DAER/RS) localizada no município de Portão/RS para posterior execução no trecho experimental. Constatou-se que o processo de usinagem produziu misturas com variações positivas de até +0,3% em relação ao teor de ligante, influenciando no desempenho da mistura no que se refere aos ensaios de desempenho. Os resultados e análises apontam para uma mistura que requer uma metodologia de controle de qualidade efetiva, mas que mesmo com algumas variações, o revestimento ainda apresentou bom desempenho. / This research was based on a Stone Mastic Asphalt- SMA project in the grading smolop #1 of ET-DE-P00/031 specification of São Paulo Highways Department , with modified binder, grade 60/85, in a test section in ERS-122 highway, between km 6+400 and km 7 +0. The high volume of heavy vehicles on this highway and the resulting deformations, led to the study of new technologies. Laboratory tests were conducted to confirm the mixture design and determine the mechanical properties through resilient modulus test, tensile strength in diametrical compression and wheel-tracking test. The mixture had a good performance at the Wheel-tracking test, resilient modulus and tensile strength at the design binder content. In addition, it was analyzed the production process of the mixture, since the production at the crushing plant, mix plant facilities, delivery and compaction process. Initially, the test was performed at the toll plaza of DAER/RS in the city of Portão/RS for later execution in test section. It was found that the mixing plant produced mixtures up to 0.3% over the design binder content, influencing in the performance of the mixture on performance tests. The results and analyzes indicate that the mixture requires a effective methodology of quality control, but even with some variations, the layer still performed well.

Memória Transacional tem se demonstrado um paradigma promissor na implementação de aplicações concorrentes sob memória compartilhada que busquem evitar um modelo de sincronização baseado em locks. Em vez de sujeitar a execução a um acesso exclusivo com base no valor de um lock que é compartilhado por threads concorrentes, uma aplicação sob Memória Transacional tenta executar seções críticas de modo otimista, desfazendo as modificações no caso de um conflito de acesso à memória. Entretanto, apesar de a abordagem baseada em locks ter adquirido um número significativo de ferramentas automatizadas para a depuração, profiling e otimização automatizados (por ser uma das técnicas de sincronização mais antigas e mais bem pesquisadas), o campo da Memória Transacional ainda é comparativamente recente, e programadores frequentemente precisam adaptar manualmente suas aplicações transacionais ao encontrar problemas de eficiência. Este trabalho propõe um sistema no qual o profiling de código em uma implementação de Memória Transacional simulada é utilizado para caracterizar uma aplicação transacional, formando a base para uma parametrização automatizada do respectivo sistema especulativo para uma execução eficiente do código em questão. Também é proposta uma abordagem de escalonamento de threads guiado por profiling em uma implementação de Memória Transacional baseada em software, usando dados coletados pelo profiler para prever a probabilidade de conflitos e determinar que thread escalonar com base nesta previsão. São apresentados os resultados de experimentos sob ambas as abordagens. / Transactional Memory has shown itself to be a promising paradigm for the implementation of shared-memory concurrent applications that eschew a lock-based model of data synchronization. Rather than conditioning exclusive access on the value of a lock that is shared across concurrent threads, Transactional Memory attempts to execute critical sections optimistically, rolling back the modifications in the event of a data access conflict. However, while the lock-based approach has acquired a significant body of debugging, profiling and automated optimization tools (as one of the oldest and most researched synchronization techniques), the field of Transactional Memory is still comparably recent, and programmers are usually tasked with an unguided manual tuning of their transactional applications when facing efficiency problems. We propose a system in which code profiling in a simulated hardware implementation of Transactional Memory is used to characterize a transactional application, which forms the basis for the automated tuning of the underlying speculative system for the efficient execution of that particular application. We also propose a profile-guided approach to the scheduling of threads in a software-based implementation of Transactional Memory, using collected data to predict the likelihood of conflicts and determine what thread to schedule based on this prediction. We present the results achieved under both designs.

Orientador: Rodnei Bertazzoli / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T13:08:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marques_TamiresValim_M.pdf: 6834346 bytes, checksum: 5eb1bc6d88a438ca9002c92109a6c660 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: A crescente preocupação com a poluição das águas por novos poluentes denominados emergentes tem se intensificado, visto que aumentou o número destes compostos detectados em água. Dentre estes compostos encontram-se os fármacos e produtos de higiene pessoal, usados cotidianamente pela população. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um método simples, rápido e sensível utilizando a microextração líquido líquido (DLLME) combinada com a cromatografia líquida de ultra eficiência (HPLC) com detecção ultravioleta (UV) para a determinação de alguns benzodiazepínicos (bromazepam, clonazepam e diazepam) em amostras de água. A determinação foi realizada em uma coluna C18 de acordo com as condições cromatográficas ótimas (fase móvel acetonitrila:água (60:40, v/v); vazão 1,2 mL min-1; detecção 225 nm). No método de extração, uma mistura apropriada de solvente extrator e dispersor foi injetada rapidamente na amostra aquosa (10 mL) com auxílio de uma seringa. De modo que uma solução turva foi formada, esta solução é caracterizada por conter pequenas partículas do solvente extrator que se dispersa na fase aquosa. Os parâmetros da extração, tais como natureza e volume dos solventes extrator e dispersor, tempo de extração, pH da amostra, força iônica, velocidade e tempo de centrifugação, foram estudados para a otimização. Com as condições ótimas definidas (solvente extrator: clorofórmio, 200 ?L; solvente dispersor: metanol, 700 ?L; pH da amostra 9,0; velocidade e tempo de extração: 5000 rpm, 1 minuto; força iônica: adição de 1% (p/v) de (NH4)2SO4) o método proposto foi validado seguindo as figuras de método preconizadas pela ANVISA na Resolução N° 899 de 2003. A faixa linear para cada fármaco foram 8,0 - 96 ?g L-1 para bromazepam, 4,0 - 48 ?g L-1 para clonazepam e 1,0 - 12 ?g L-1 para diazepam. Todas as curvas obtiveram valores de (r) superiores a 0,999. Os limites de detecção e quantificação obtidos foram 2,4 e 8,0 ?g L-1 para bromazepam, 1,2 e 4,0 ?g L-1 para clonazepam, 0,2 e 1,0 ?g L-1 para diazepam, respectivamente. As recuperações variaram de 50 a 110% com RSD (Desvio Padrão Relativo) inferiores a 12,7 %. Finalmente, o método proposto foi aplicado em amostras coletadas na represa Billings localizada no município de Diadema-SP. / Abstract: The growing concern over water pollution caused by so-called new emerging pollutants has intensified since increased the number of these compounds detected in water. Among these compounds are pharmaceuticals and personal care products used daily by the population. This study aimed to develop a simple, rapid and sensitive liquid using liquid micro extraction (DLLME) combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC ) with ultraviolet detection (UV) for the determination of some benzodiazepines (bromazepam, clonazepam and diazepam) in water samples . The determination was performed on a C18 column in accordance with the optimal chromatographic conditions (mobile phase acetonitrile: water (60:40, v/v), flow rate 1.2 mL min-1, detection 225 nm). In the extraction method, a suitable mixture of extractant and dispersing solvent was injected rapidly into the aqueous sample (10 ml) with a syringe. So that a cloudy solution was formed, this solution is characterized by containing fine drops of the extractor solvent is dispersed in the aqueous phase. The parameters of the extraction, such as the nature and volume of the extractor and disperser solvents, extraction time, sample pH, ionic strength, speed and time of centrifugation, were studied for optimization. With the defined optimal conditions (extracting solvent: chloroform, 200 ?L; disperser solvent: methanol, 700 ?L, sample pH 9.0, extraction time and speed: 5000 rpm, 1 minute; ionic strength: adding 1% (p/v) (NH4)2SO4) the proposed method was validated following the figures of merit recommended by the ANVISA Resolution No. 899 of 2003. The linear ranges for each drug were 8.0 to 96 ?g L- 1 for bromazepam, 4.0 to 48 ?g L- 1 for clonazepam and 1.0 to 12 ?g L- 1 for diazepam. All curves obtained values (r) greater than 0.999. The limits of detection and quantification obtained were 2.4 and 8.0 ?g L- 1 to bromazepam, 1.2 and 4.0 ?g L- 1 to clonazepam, 0.2 and 1.0 ?g L- 1 for diazepam, respectively. Recoveries ranged from 50 to 110% with RSD (Relative Standard Deviation) of less than 12.7%. Finally, the proposed method was applied to samples collected in the Billings dam located in Diadema-SP. / Mestrado / Materiais e Processos de Fabricação / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Most of the moveable bridges use open grid steel decks, because these are factory assembled, light-weight, and easy to install. Open grid steel decks, however, are not as skid resistant as solid decks. Costly maintenance, high noise levels, poor riding comfort and susceptibility to vibrations are among the other disadvantages of these decks. The major objective of this research was to develop alternative deck systems which weigh no more than 25 lb/ft2, have solid riding surface, are no more than 4-5 in. thick and are able to withstand prescribed loading. Three deck systems were considered in this study: ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) deck, aluminum deck and UHPC-fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) tube deck. UHPC deck was the first alternative system developed as a part of this project. Due to its ultra high strength, this type of concrete results in thinner sections, which helps satisfy the strict self-weight limit. A comprehensive experimental and analytical evaluation of the system was carried out to establish its suitability. Both single and multi-unit specimens with one or two spans were tested for static and dynamic loading. Finite element models were developed to predict the deck behavior. The study led to the conclusion that the UHPC bridge deck is a feasible alternative to open grid steel deck. Aluminum deck was the second alternative system studied in this project. A detailed experimental and analytical evaluation of the system was carried out. The experimental work included static and dynamic loading on the deck panels and connections. Analytical work included detailed finite element modeling. Based on the in-depth experimental and analytical evaluations, it was concluded that aluminum deck was a suitable alternative to open grid steel decks and is ready for implementation. UHPC-FRP tube deck was the third system developed in this research. Prestressed hollow core decks are commonly used, but the proposed type of steel-free deck is quite novel. Preliminary experimental evaluations of two simple-span specimens, one with uniform section and the other with tapered section were carried out. The system was shown to have good promise to replace the conventional open grid decks. Additional work, however, is needed before the system is recommended for field application.