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The objectives of this research were to investigate the effect of stay-in-place metal forms (SIPMFs) on the performance of concrete bridge decks in Utah. The research program included six bridge decks with SIPMFs and six decks without SIPMFs, which were all located within the Interstate 215 corridor in the vicinity of Salt Lake City, Utah, and therefore subject to similar traffic loading, climatic conditions, and maintenance treatments, including applications of deicing salts during winter months. All of the tested decks were constructed between 1984 and 1989 using epoxy-coated rebar. Several tests were performed at each of six locations on each deck, including visual inspection, chain dragging, hammer sounding, Schmidt hammer testing, half-cell potential testing, and chloride concentration testing. Because differences in deck age and average cover for the two deck types were found to be statistically significant, the collected data were subjected to analysis of covariance (ANOCOVA) testing, with age and cover as covariates. All calculated p-values were compared to the standard value of 0.05. The distress survey results indicate that the average crack width and crack density for decks without SIPMFs were greater by 41 and 25 percent, respectively, than the corresponding values for decks with SIPMFs and that decks without SIPMFs had more potholes than decks with SIPMFs. However, the delamination density for bridge decks with SIPMFs was 71 percent higher than that of decks without SIPMFs. The average Schmidt rebound number for decks with SIPMFs was higher than that for decks without SIPMFs by an equivalent of 1,400 psi. The half-cell potential for decks with SIPMFs was 0.123 lower than that of decks without SIPMFs, indicating that a more active state of corrosion exists on decks with SIPMFs. On average, the chloride concentration in the bridge decks with SIPMFs was 205 percent greater than the concentration in the decks without SIPMFs. Among all of the distress measurements evaluated in the ANOCOVA, crack width was the only parameter that was determined to be significantly different between the two types of decks at the time of testing. In addition, Schmidt rebound number, half-cell potential, and chloride concentration at 2-in. depth all yielded p-values less than 0.05, indicating that significant differences in these properties exist between decks with and without SIPMFs. Specifically, the decks with SIPMFs have a higher compressive strength, a more active state of corrosion, and a higher chloride concentration, which may all be attributable to elevated moisture contents in decks with SIPMFs arising from the reduction in deck surface area from which moisture may evaporate. These data indicate that decks with SIPMFs are clearly more susceptible to reinforcement corrosion compared to decks without SIPMFs and may therefore exhibit greater magnitudes of damage with time. Given these research findings, engineers should carefully compare the short-term advantages against the potential long-term disadvantages associated with the use of SIPMFs for concrete bridge deck construction. If SIPMFs are approved for use, engineers may consider applying surface treatments to the affected decks early in the deck life to minimize the ingress of chlorides into the concrete over time and therefore retard the onset of reinforcement corrosion.

Considering the pervasive presence of chlorides in concrete bridge decks, bridge engineers have a critical responsibility to perform proper and effective preventive maintenance and rehabilitation operations. Bridge engineers often perform scarification and overlay (SO) procedures on concrete bridge decks to minimize the corrosion of reinforcing steel due to chloride ingress. Given the need to develop guidelines for the initial timing of SO treatments, the specific objectives of this research were to collect information from several department of transportation (DOT) personnel about their SO procedures and, subsequently, to determine the recommended timing of initial SO procedures on concrete bridge decks for preventing the accumulation of corrosion-inducing levels of chlorides and extending deck service life. A questionnaire survey of state DOTs was conducted, and numerical modeling of SO treatments was performed. Simulations involving both decks with and without stay-in-place metal forms (SIPMFs) were performed. Numerical modeling was performed for each unique combination of variables through a service life of 50 years to determine the recommended initial timing of SO treatment in each case. The research results show that, overall, bridge decks without SIPMFs can endure longer delays in SO treatment timing than those with SIPMFs; in all cases, the absence of SIPMFs extended the amount of time before an SO treatment was needed. For decks with SIPMFs, the allowable delay in SO timing ranged from 2 to 6 years, while on decks without SIPMFs the allowable delay in SO timing ranged from 6 to 18 years. These delays are only 1 to 3 years longer than allowable delays associated with placement of surface treatments investigated in previous research. On average, the period of additional delay allowed before an SO treatment is required in decks with SIPMFs was 2 years with each additional 0.5 in. of OCD. In decks without SIPMFs, the presence of a greater OCD had a more pronounced effect on the latest recommended timing of treatment than in the decks with SIPMFs; an average additional delay period of 5 years was obtained with each additional 0.5 in. of OCD in decks without SIPMFs. Together with the findings of this research and the specific properties of the bridge deck under scrutiny, engineers can determine the appropriate timing of rehabilitation procedures to prevent or mitigate corrosion of the steel reinforcement of a bridge deck and ensure the usability of the deck for its intended service life. Although the conditions studied in this research were consistent with bridges located in the state of Utah, bridge decks that exist in similar environments and that are subjected to similar treatments of deicing salts as part of winter maintenance could exhibit similar properties to the decks simulated in this research. Engineers should carefully consider the results of this research and implement proper timing of SO treatments on their respective bridge decks to protect against and minimize the effects of corrosion due to chloride ingress.

Each year approximately five million people are treated in the nation's intensive care units making intensive care one of the most expensive components of the U.S. healthcare system. Of these patients, 400,000-500,000 will die annually giving the ICU the distinction of having the highest rate of mortality and complications in the hospital setting. Studies have demonstrated that one in ten patients who die each day in ICUs might survive if intensivists were present to manage clinical care and direct treatment plans (Randolph & Pronovost, 2002; Dimick, Pronovost, Heitmiller & Lipsett, 2001; Pronovost et al., 2002). The utilization of supplemental remote telemedicine has been investigated as a means of compensating for the limited resource of intensivists (Breslow et al., 2004; Rosenfeld et al., 2000). One specific use of this technology, the electronic intensive care unit or eICU®, has previously demonstrated the potential to improve physiological and economic outcomes in ICU patients through the use of integrated decision-support and patient data systems. The present study focuses on the eICU® as a 21st century technology capable of improving the quality of patient care and identifies those factors most likely to impact the success of this clinical intervention. This research utilizes a non-experimental pre-and post-intervention study design and examines patient data collected on all admissions to five ICUs managed by two regional tertiary care hospitals during a 36-month time period. Each ICU is equipped with eICU® software systems that allow intensivist surveillance of patients from a remote facility. The data is analyzed using both structural equation modeling and decision tree regression modeling to statistically evaluate the effects of patient, hospital and unit characteristics on proximal and distal outcomes in ICU patients. As the development of clinical complications subsequently affects patient length of stay, cost of stay, and mortality, it becomes increasingly imperative to seek interventions capable of reducing the risk of unfavorable patient outcomes. This study closely examines one such intervention, the eICU®.

[pt] A presente Tese de Doutorado é resultado da pesquisa sobre as trajetórias universitárias dos ex-estudantes do Centro de Ciências Sociais – CCS, da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro – PUC-Rio, que cursaram o Ensino Superior como bolsistas do Programa Universidade Para Todos – ProUni e as narrativas das estratégias de superação dos desafios da permanência estudantil no ensino superior. A pesquisa tem como objetivo compreender o perfil e analisar a trajetória universitária dos ex-estudantes do CCS da PUC-Rio, bolsistas do PROUNI, no período entre 2005 e 2010, no que tange as relações institucionais e pessoais, assim como as narrativas das estratégias adotadas para superação dos desafios da permanência estudantil. Na presente tese, o ProUni é compreendido como uma política pública de ação afirmativa do governo federal que desde 2005 vem promovendo o acesso ao ensino superior de estudantes das camadas populares, pois esse programa ampliou o número de vaga nas Instituições Privadas e Comunitárias de Ensino Superior com o objetivo de promover a democratização do setor. Os procedimentos metodológicos utilizados na pesquisa foi a realização de entrevistas por meio de um questionário on-line com perguntas semi- estruturadas, com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa e a obtenção de doze respostas de ex-estudantes que ingressaram na PUC-Rio por meio do ProUni, em um dos cursos de graduação do CCS, no período compreendido entre 2005 e 2010 e que concluíram a trajetória universitária. Foi feita uma análise dos documentos institucionais que contém os dados dos estudantes bolsistas do ProUni. Como resultado da pesquisa, a análise dos dados nos permite aferir que, quanto ao perfil socioeconômico, os ex-estudantes são oriundos das regiões periféricas, majoritariamente das regiões norte e sul da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Os ex-estudantes do ProUni trazem em suas narrativas a percepção de que eram vistos como estranhos ao ambiente universitário pelos demais estudantes e professores dentro da universidade. As narrativas destacaram também que as relações pessoais e institucionais impactaram diretamente no processo de afiliação a vida universitária reverberado incialmente em um sentimento de não pertencimento ao meio. Contudo, os ex-estudantes foram protagonistas de suas próprias trajetórias universitárias, pois adotaram estratégias de superação dos desafios da permanência e ressaltaram em suas narrativas a importância de políticas e programas de assistência estudantil como apoio fundamental para permanecer e concluir o ensino superior. / [en] This Doctoral Thesis is the result of research into the university trajectories of former students from the Center for Social Sciences – CCS, from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro – PUC-Rio, who attended Higher Education as scholarship holders of the University for All Program – ProUni and the narratives of strategies for overcoming the challenges of student retention in higher education. The research aims to understand the profile and analyze the university trajectory of former CCS students at PUC-Rio, PROUNI scholarship holders, in the period between 2005 and 2010, regarding institutional and personal relationships, as well as narratives of strategies adopted to overcome the challenges of student retention. In this thesis, ProUni is understood as a public affirmative action policy of the federal government that since 2005 has been promoting access to Higher Education for students from the popular classes, as this program increased the number of places in Private and Community Higher Education Institutions with the objective of promoting the democratization of the sector. The methodological procedures used in the research was to carry out interviews, using an online questionnaire with semi- structured questions, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, obtaining twelve responses from former students who entered PUC-Rio through from ProUni, in one of the CCS undergraduate courses, in the period between 2005 and 2010 and who completed their university career. An analysis of institutional documents containing data on ProUni scholarship students was carried out. As a result of the research, data analysis does not allow us to determine that, in terms of socioeconomic profile, former students come from peripheral regions, mostly from the north and south regions of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Former ProUni students bring in their narratives the perception that they were seen as strangers to the university environment by other students and professors within the university. The narratives also highlighted that personal and institutional relationships directly impacted the process of affiliation with university life, initially reverberating in a feeling of not belonging to the environment. However, former students were protagonists of their own university trajectories, as they adopted strategies to overcome the challenges of permanence and highlighted in their narratives the importance of student assistance policies and programs as fundamental support for remaining and completing higher education.

Studien syftar till att studera och bidra med kunskap om vilka uppfattningar medarbetare har om hållbart medarbetarengagemang, och dess betydelse för att stanna i en kommunal verksamhet. Syftet preciseras genom två frågeställningar; Hur uppfattar medarbetare hållbart medarbetarengagemang i den studerade kommunala verksamheten? Vilka uppfattningar har medarbetare om förutsättningar som främjar deras engagemang att vilja stanna kvar i den kommunala verksamheten? Studien har en fenomenografisk forskningsansats där data har samlats in genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare inom en kommunal verksamhet. Resultatet visade att medarbetarengagemang uppfattades som ett viktigt fenomen i arbetet, som kan förstås utifrån medarbetarens inre och yttre förutsättningar. De inre förutsättningarna kan kopplas till medarbetarnas personliga vilja och till ett personligt ansvar. Yttre förutsättningar är aspekter som organisationer och chefer kan bidra med och tillhandahålla för att medarbetarnas engagemang ska bli hållbart. De yttre förutsättningarna som identifierades var arbetsrelationer, arbetsmiljö, lärande-, utveckling- och karriärmöjligheter samt arbetsuppgifter. / The study aims to study and contribute knowledge about what perceptions employees have about sustainable employee engagement, and its importance to stay in a municipal operation. The purpose is specified through two research questions; How do employees perceive sustainable employee engagement in the studied municipal operations? What perceptions do employees have about conditions that promote their commitment to wanting to stay in municipal operations? The study has a phenomenographic research approach where data has been collected through ten semi-structured interviews with employees within a municipal operation. The result showed that employee engagement was perceived as an important phenomenon in work, which can be understood based on the employee's internal and external conditions. The internal conditions can be linked to the personal will of the employees and to personal responsibility. External prerequisites are aspects that organizations and managers can contribute to and provide in order for employee engagement to be sustainable. The external conditions that were identified were work relations, work environment, learning, development and career opportunities, and work tasks.

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[pt] A presente dissertação, intitulada Mulheres Negras e Universidade: uma reflexão sobre a permanência estudantil das discentes negras do curso de Serviço Social da PUC-Rio, trata da questão da permanência e do programa de assistência estudantil da PUC-Rio. Assistência estudantil é aqui compreendida como um programa voltado para a permanência de estudantes das classes trabalhadores e/ou pertencentes a grupos que vivem em condições de desigualdade social e tem como objetivo central proporcionar às necessidades e demandas acadêmicas condições que possibilitem a vivência plena da vida universitária e contribuam para a diminuição da evasão. A pesquisa tem como parte dos objetivos analisar as principais dificuldades de permanência vivenciadas pelas estudantes negras de Serviço Social da PUC-Rio, matriculadas nos anos de 2018 e 2019, realizar o levantamento do perfil dos discentes matriculados nos anos de 2018 e 2021 e identificar a importância do Fundo Emergencial de Solidariedade da PUC-Rio na trajetória universitária das estudantes negras. Para isso foram entrevistados 33 discentes e posteriormente 5 discentes negras, por meio de um formulário que foi enviado por estudantes do Centro Acadêmico Zica de Oliveira de Serviço Social para as representantes das turmas e ingressantes nos anos 2018, 2019, 2020 e 2021. Este estudo possibilitou a compreensão dos desafios enfrentados pelas discentes negras e pertencentes às classes populares, a importância do programa oferecido pela Universidade para a permanência dessas estudantes e analisou propostas apresentadas por elas para a manutenção da vida acadêmica que ainda não são ofertadas pela PUC-Rio. / [en] This dissertation entitled, Black Women and University: a reflection on the student permanence of black students of the course of Social Work of PUC-Rio, deals with the issue of permanence and student assistance program of PUC-Rio. Student assistance is understood here as a program aimed at the permanence of students of the working classes and/ or belonging to groups that live in conditions of social inequality and its main objective is to provide the needs and academic demands, full experience of university life and contributing to the reduction of evasion. The research has as part of the objectives, to analyze the main difficulties of permanence experienced by black students of Social Work of PUC-Rio, enrolled in the years To carry out the survey of the profile of the students and to identify the importance of the Emergency Solidarity Fund of the PUC-Rio in the university trajectory of black students. For this, 33 students were interviewed and later 5 black students, through a form that was sent by students of the Zica de Oliveira Academic Center for Social Work for the representatives of the classes and those who joined in the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. This study enabled the understanding of the socioeconomic challenges faced by black and the importance of the program offered by the University for the permanence of these students and analyzed proposals presented by them for the maintenance of academic life that are not yet offered by PUC-Rio.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Sandra M. Stith and Amber Vennum / Ending a college dating relationship is common as college coeds begin trying on romantic relationships for size. Ending the relationship because the relationship has become violent can add more complexities to an already unpleasant task. This study was an attempt to better understand the stay/leave decisions for college women who were victims of dating violence and whether or not these decisions differed for college women who were involved in violent versus non-violent dating relationships. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the factors that influenced the likelihood of female college students’ dating relationships to end using Choice and Lamke’s (1999) two-part decision-making model. In summary, victims reported greater relationship distress, less attraction towards someone other than their partner, less relationship safety, lower relationship efficacy, less social support, and fewer good friends than non-victims. Results also indicated that college women’s consideration of “Will I be better off?” was more important in the decision to leave a dating relationship than their perception of “Can I do it?” In addition, results from Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) modeling found that, while victims believed they were more likely to be better off leaving their violent, dating partners, they felt less able to actually leave the relationship than their non-victim counterparts. MIMIC modeling also found that being a victim or not of dating violence did not predict breakup directly. These findings have important implications for prevention and treatment of dating violence and can be used to further the research in the area of dating violence, college students, and stay/leave decisions.