This dissertation presents the results of experimental and computational investigations on the behavior of steel simple beam end framing connections subjected to fire. While significant progress has been made in understanding the overall structural response of steel buildings subject to fire, the behavior of connections under fire conditions is not well understood. Connections are critical elements for maintaining the integrity of a structure during a fire. Fire can cause large force and deformation demands on connections during both the heating and cooling stages, while reducing connection strength and stiffness. Of particular importance are simple beam end framing connections. These are the most common type of connection found in steel buildings and are used at beam-to-girder and girder-to-column connections in the gravity load resisting system of a building. This dissertation focuses on one particular type of beam end connection: the single plate connection, also known as a shear tab vii connection. This connection is very commonly used in U.S. building construction practice. In this study, material properties of ASTM A992 structural steel at elevated temperatures up to 900°C were investigated by steady state tension coupon tests. Experimental studies on the connection subassemblies at elevated temperatures were conducted to understand and characterize the connection strength and deformation capacities, and to validate predictions of connection capacity developed by computational and design models. In the computational studies, a three-dimensional finite element connection model was developed incorporating contact, geometric and material nonlinearity temperature dependent material properties. The accuracy and limitations of this model were evaluated by comparison with experimental data developed in this research as well as data available in the literature. The computational studies investigated the typical behavior of the connection during heating and cooling phases of fires as well as the connection force and deformation demands. The finite element model was further used to study and understand the effects of several key building design parameters and connection details. Based on the test and analysis results, some important finding and conclusions are drawn, and future work for simple shear connection performance in fire are discussed. / text

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Revised 06/2015; Originally published: 07/2006 / 3 pp. / Nutritious food is an important part of individual health and wellness. One way to ensure food is nutritious is to check the date on packages. The date is a guideline to help consumers use food when it is at its peak quality or before spoilage begins. Proper storage conditions and times are also essential in keeping healthy food safe to consume.

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Salmonella enterica is a foodborne pathogen of major significance, and as such it has been extensively studied by researchers around the world. However, despite the numerous scientific publications on Salmonella, there are still many gaps in our understanding of its biology. One such gap is in the bacteria's interactions with invertebrate hosts, and in particular, oysters. Nearly 70 million pounds of oysters are consumed in the United States each year, and previous work in the Joens' laboratory found Salmonella in roughly 7% of the market oysters they sampled, with the majority of the isolates being the Newport serovar. The majority of oysters are consumed raw, which makes the presence of Salmonella within oysters a potentially significant food safety problem.To more closely examine the interactions between Salmonella and oysters, the Present Study developed a method to consistently and reproducibly raise oysters in a controlled laboratory environment in order to systematically expose them to enteric bacteria and quantify the amount of surviving bacteria at various time points after the initial exposure. Use of this model system throughout the Present Study led to four main conclusions.The first is that Salmonella enterica serovar Newport is capable of surviving in oysters for at least 60 days, from an average concentration of 3.7x103 CFU/g of oyster meat after 10 days, to over 102 CFU/g of oyster meat after 60 days. The second main conclusion is that the Newport serovar of Salmonella, which was found in such predominance in the earlier Joens' laboratory study, does not appear to have any special adaptations for survival within oysters, as other strains of Newport and other serovars of Salmonella survived equally well within our model. The third main conclusion, based on the results of immunohistochemistry, is that the relationship between Salmonella and oysters is not a transient interaction that is limited to the outside of the oyster's gut epithelium, but involves a long-term colonization inside the oysters' connective tissues. Because the survival of Salmonella in oysters could be of a pathogenic nature, the Present Study knocked out two key type III secretion systems (T3SS) found in two distinct Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPI-1 and SPI-2) known to be critical for pathogenesis in mammalian hosts and examined their role in the bacteria's ability to survive within oysters. The results revealed that neither the SPI-1 nor the SPI-2 T3SS were necessary for Salmonella's survival in oysters, which led to the final conclusion of the Present Study that the nature of Salmonella's infection of oysters is fundamentally different than the pathogenesis that occurs in mammalian hosts and that further study of the mechanisms of the survival of Salmonella in oysters is needed to better understand the important and interesting relationship between a significant source of food and this common, and occasionally deadly, foodborne pathogen.

Amongst other things, the 20th century can be seen as having been the century of aviation. Progress in the aviation industry can be measured through the evolution of aircraft, their performance, cargo volume and the number of passengers. / In the shadow of such progress, one of the main characteristics to have developed is that of the modern airport, which has moved from a simple runway to a veritable enterprise with an identity of its own. It is also linked to other related sectors such as airlines companies and States, which still have a strong involvement in airports. / The following study will focus on this modern airport as an individual entity, with a legal personality of its own developing its hopes and its fears.

The title of the study is integrating road traffic safety education in the teaching and learning of science and technology. The overall goal of this study was to develop a tool for the integration of Traffic Safety Education (TSE) in the teaching and learning of Science and Technology in School. As such, four research questions (stated in 1.2.1 to 1.2.5) were raised on critical aspects of the problem so as to direct the course of the study to provide solutions to the problem. These research questions were formulated into the aims of the study as stated in section 1.3. To attain these aims, a literature study and interviews were conducted. Through interviews and a literature study, it was found (among other things) that: • TSE has great potential for the reduction of road accidents/ collisions, and its teaching in school will prepare our learners to be safe road users. • Science and Technology has tremendous impact on traffic safety, and the three have much in common, which does provide room for them to be integrated in school curricula. • School educators are not adequately equipped to integrate TSE in the different learning areas. Consequently, an integration model called "Multilateral learning area integration model" has been developed for the integration of TSE in the learning areas of natural science and technology (see 7.2 and 7.3for details). Eleven recommendations were made in section 8.4 on the basis of the conclusions (in section 8.3) drawn from the proceedings of interviews and the literature study. These recommendations if implemented accurately, would undoubtedly contribute to solving the problem investigated in the study. This study has therefore made a valuable contribution to laying a solid foundation for Combating the problem of high road accidents/collisions on South African roads. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The current research was a cross sectional research and was designed to assess the performance of the selected wind power company on compliance with health and management system OHSAS 1800:2007. One wind power company in Pakistan was selected for the research purpose. To collect quantitative data survey was conducted based on Questionnaire. For finding gaps within the existing practices and also for effectiveness of the research check list was designed. Questionnaires were distributed to the employees and one check list was given to the top management. The questionnaires were distributed randomly to the employees and out of fifteen questionnaires twelve were received back. After analyzing the data from the eleven questionnaires, the results shows that overall employees are 61 % strongly agree, 30 % agree, 2% disagree and 1% strongly disagree that the requirements of the system OHSAS 18001:2007 are met. 6% did not decide about it. The check list was received from top management after analyzing data from the check list results shows that top management of the subjected wind power organization is 74% strongly agree, 23% agree and 3 % undecided about the implementation of the system OHSAS 1800: 2007. From the results it can be concluded that both employees and top management of the subjected organization are agree with the fact that the H&S system OHSAS18001:2007 is being implemented well within the organization.

<p> Construction safety is an essential aspect of the construction industry and measuring safety performance has been of continuing concern. Most of the preceding studies concentrated on two widely used metrics in industry to evaluate and improve safety performance, EMR and incidence rates. However, it is recognized that these metrics have shortcomings, such as being reactive and not proactive, or representing a macroscopic approach and not microscopic approach, or disregarding the events that lead to accidents and only being result-oriented. Improving safety is one aspect of a research but using an appropriate safety measure is as important. Using these parameters comes with their limitations, and they need to be well understood while drawing conclusions so as not to mislead an owner while comparing companies' safety performance or making a decision to select a safe contractor, the same holds true for the contractor's own management while self-assessing its safety performance and deficiencies. </p><p> This study focused on a new safety performance metric by introducing a proactive safety performance measurement system through observed safety violations of OSHA standards. The new metric, site safety performance value (SSPV) was based on OSHA's Gravity Based Penalty (GBP) system and quantified general contractors' site safety performance to measure their ability to comply with OSHA safety rules and regulations. This metric is a leading indicator based on pre-accident driven data. It was also used to develop a new predictive model to evaluate general contractors' safety performance and examine the relationships between the project and company demographics and the proactive safety measure, SSPV, for advancement of construction safety performance. The statistical model constructed can predict future contractor safety performance, and it may contribute to the contractor selection process. The methodology additionally included an investigation of specific construction trades to find out which trades carry the highest risk in terms of safety and impact construction safety performance the most. </p><p> The findings of this study can be used by numerous groups including the general contractors, owners, safety professionals and researchers to identify where safety performance can be improved, and determine the significant parameters that could help identify the areas of concern by utilizing a new proactive safety performance evaluation system.</p>