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ACI Committee 544's repeated drop-weight impact test for concrete is often criticized for large variations within the results. This paper identifies the sources of these large variations and accordingly suggests modifications to the ACI test. The proposed modifications were evaluated and compared to the current ACI test by conducting impact resistance tests on 40 specimens from two batches of polypropylene fiber-reinforced concrete (PPFRC). The results obtained from both methods were statistically analyzed and compared. The variations in the results were investigated within the same batch and between different batches of concrete. The impact resistance of PPFRC specimens tested with the current ACI test exhibited large coefficients of variation (COV) of 58.6% and 50.2% for the first-crack and the ultimate impact resistance, respectively. The corresponding COV for PPFRC specimens tested according to the modified technique were 39.4% and 35.2%, indicating that the reliability of the results was significantly improved. It has been shown that, using the current ACI test, the minimum number of replications needed per each concrete mixture to obtain an error below 10% was 41 compared to 20 specimens for the modified test. Although such a large number of specimens is not good enough for practical and economical reasons, the reduction presents a good step on the development of a standard impact test.

The aim of this study is to look at the way four teachers in, and five workbooks for, the course Svenska 1/A+B in upper-secondary schools include language varieties in their content. The research is based on qualitative and quantitative analyzes of the workbooks, where words and content are examined, and also interviews with the teachers who presents how they work with language varieties in their education. The results show that language varieties are accepted in school-education at the same time as they are, and have been, alienated in a way. The results also show that language varieties are less prioritized than other areas of education in the same subject.

A variety of lunar soils (bulk soils, grain size fractions and mineral separates) and regolith breccias are studied for nitrogen abundance and isotopic composition. in order to investigate the isotopic variation in the lunar regolith and to constrain the origin of the nitrogen. The lunar soils and breccias are analysed using a high sensitivity static-vacuum mass spectrometer. capable of measuring nanogram quantities of nitrogen with a δ¹⁵N precision of ±0.5‰. In addition to nitrogen abundance measurements, conjoint carbon and argon abundances (allthough the latter are semi-quantitative) are also measured. Lunar soils and breccias are analysed by stepped combustion and pyrolysis extraction. Typically employing temperature resolution of 25-50°C. However, some soils and breccias are analysed by high-resolution extraction using temperature increments of 10°C. constituting the highest resolution studies performed to date. The high-resolution extractions of lunar soils and breccias has confirmed the existence of the heavy-light-heavy-light-heavy (W-shaped) isotopic profile observed by previous workers for pyrolysis extractions of lunar breccias. The current study has confirmed that the W-shaped profile is restricted to pyrolysis extractions, but is present in both soils and breccias. The well documented heavy-light-heavy (V-shaped) isotopic profile is observed in stepped combustion extractions. The nitrogen in the lunar regolith has been shown to be of both solar and non-solar origin. The former is confirmed from the solar-like C/N ratios in lunar soils. and the latter is confirmed from the excess N/³⁶Ar ratio. between 5 and 39 times the solar value. Although neither nitrogen source is believed to be a minor component, the solar wind is believed to contribute -30% of the total nitrogen, although the relative proportions of solar and non-solar nitrogen are not well constrained. The surface-correlation of the low temperature nitrogen release (LTN), from the <10μm fraction from soil A12023. has enabled calculation of the isotopic composition of this component with δ¹⁵N = +35.3 ±3.6‰. It is believed that this value is representative of the isotopic composition of the recent solar wind. Furthermore, the absence of isotopically light nitrogen in agglutinates separated from A12073. and the increasing contribution of high temperature nitrogen (HTN) with increasing grain size from the same soil. has suggested that the volume-correlated nitrogen is released at temperatures ≥1050°C. This is believed to be representative of the ancient solar wind, and has a mean δ^l5N = +77.0 ± 6.0‰. This work has shown that the maximum secular variation of ¹⁵N/¹⁴N in the lunar regolith is -2.8%. significantly lower than previous estimates. The low temperature. isotopically heavy nitrogen component. NLT. and the isotopically light nitrogen components. NMT and NHT (although the latter is only observed during stepped pyrolysis extractions). display a ^l5N/^l4N variation of 38%. This cannot be accounted for by a secular variation of ¹⁵N/^l4N in this work. The origin of NLT is not well constrained. but may be due to re-implantation of atmospheric nitrogen. or fractionation of solar wind gases during the formation of amorphous rims around soils grains. A proportion 1-3% I of NHT has been observed in soil A12023. with δ¹⁵N = -186‰, the lightest observed in a lunar soil. The similarity of this value with that obtained for lunar breccia A79035. has suggested the possibility of a relict component. implanted prior to breccia consolidation. No evidence of presolar grains could be identified in A79035, although there is some evidence for amorphous carbon. This may also be associated with the presence of fine-grained metallic iron as a significant proportion of this in lunar soils is believed to originate from meteorite contamination.

In standard, written German, causal clauses introduced by the conjunction weil (because) display subordinate, verb-final word order. In spoken German, however, verb-second (V2) or main clause order has been increasingly found to follow weil. Early discussion of weil explored the possible loss of subordinate word order, the influence of English on German word order, and weil V2 as specific to a region or dialect. The present study addresses these and other arguments using a corpus of over 800 weil clauses. Spontaneous, spoken data from two groups of native German speakers who immigrated to Canada before 1970 and after 1985 were analyzed and coded for word order. The data showed an increase in the use of the conjunction weil, and weil V2 among younger native speakers. Earlier hypotheses regarding speaker origin, the influence of English and the loss of subordinate word order were either confirmed or refuted by the data. / Applied Linguistics

Articles continue to be one of the most puzzling aspects of English grammar. This thesis investigates article use variation in two groups of English varieties: Inner Circle and Outer Circle. The first group, comprising British English, American English, Australian English and New Zealand English, represents English varieties in their traditional contexts. The second group, consisting of Singapore English, Indian English, Philippine English and Kenyan English, represents varieties which are deeply entrenched in their communities due to colonial roots. The study is premised on the naturalness of corpus data. Three corpus-based analyses were conducted to investigate articles and their frequency, collocation and usage types. The frequency analysis revealed that articles are idiosyncratically used by the varieties with no clear divide between the two groups. Text types, on the other hand, emerged as a more powerful determinant of the observed frequencies. It was found that fewer articles were used in spoken language. In the collocational analysis, the varieties were found to favour different complementation patterns for two-word and multiple-world clusters. The Inner Circle varieties, however, shared more complementation patterns among them, demonstrating greater stability in terms of variation. Finally the analysis of usage types discovered ‘marked’ or untypical patterns of use in the Outer Circle group’s structural and situational definites. A number of untypical usages of first-mention/quantitative 'a/an' were also found in this group. In the same analysis, a case study of ‘house’ uncovered a few marked uses of ??, which signalled the null form but not the zero article. Although the collective findings in this study indicate that article use in both groups of varieties has more similarities than differences, the latter leave more impression on observers. These differences can be attributed to such diverse factors as text types, socio-cultural content of collocates, specificity, recategorisation of countness, indiscriminate rule application and ungrammaticality. Theoretically, however, the variation can be captured by the application of Chesterman’s three composite meanings of definiteness – locatability, inclusiveness and extensivity – and their permutations. As an instance of nativisation, article use in the Outer Circle is limited in its diffusion. The observed innovations rarely creep into more formal registers.

Frankfurt (Main), University, Diss., 2008.

Diss.--Fakultät für Linguistik und Literaturwissenschaft--Universität Bielefeld, 1989.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-128).

Hohenheim, Univ., Diss., 2007.