Finite Element Analysis of the Enhanced Strength of Laterally Restrained RC Slabs

This paper presents the numerical simulation of the ultimate behaviour of 85 one-way and two-way spanning laterally restrained concrete slabs of variable thickness, span, reinforcement ratio, strength and boundary conditions reported in literature by different authors. The developed numerical model was described and all the assumptions were illustrated. ABAQUS, a Finite Element Analysis suite of software, was employed. Non-linear implicit static general analysis method offered by ABAQUS was used. Other analysis methods were also discussed in general in terms of application such as Explicit Dynamic Analysis and Riks method. The aim is to demonstrate the ability and efficacy of FEA to simulate the ultimate load behaviour of slabs considering different material properties and boundary conditions. The authors intended to present a numerical model that provides consistent predictions of the ultimate behaviour of laterally restrained slabs that could be used as an alternative for expensive real life testing as well as for the design and assessment of new and existing structures respectively. The enhanced strength of laterally-restrained slabs compared with conventional design methods predictions is believed to be due to compressive membrane action (CMA). CMA is an inherent phenomenon of laterally restrained concrete beams/slabs. The numerical predictions obtained from the developed model were in good correlation with the experimental results and with those obtained from the CMA method developed at the Queen’s University Belfast, UK.

Studying Gender in Conference Talks -- data from the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society

We present a study on the gender balance, in speakers and attendees, at the recent major astronomical conference, the American Astronomical Society meeting 223, in Washington, DC. We conducted an informal survey, yielding over 300 responses by volunteers at the meeting. Each response included gender data about a single talk given at the meeting, recording the gender of the speaker and all question-askers. In total, 225 individual AAS talks were sampled. We analyze basic statistical properties of this sample. We find that the gender ratio of the speakers closely matched the gender ratio of the conference attendees. The audience asked an average of 2.8 questions per talk. Talks given by women had a slightly higher number of questions asked (3.2$\pm$0.2) than talks given by men (2.6$\pm$0.1). The most significant result from this study is that while the gender ratio of speakers very closely mirrors that of conference attendees, women are under-represented in the question-asker category. We interpret this to be an age-effect, as senior scientists may be more likely to ask questions, and are more commonly men. A strong dependence on the gender of session chairs is found, whereby women ask disproportionately fewer questions in sessions chaired by men. While our results point to laudable progress in gender-balanced speaker selection, we believe future surveys of this kind would help ensure that collaboration at such meetings is as inclusive as possible.

Unsupervised Solution Post Identification from Discussion Forums

Discussion forums have evolved into a dependablesource of knowledge to solvecommon problems. However, only a minorityof the posts in discussion forumsare solution posts. Identifying solutionposts from discussion forums, hence, is animportant research problem. In this paper,we present a technique for unsupervisedsolution post identification leveraginga so far unexplored textual feature, thatof lexical correlations between problemsand solutions. We use translation modelsand language models to exploit lexicalcorrelations and solution post characterrespectively. Our technique is designedto not rely much on structural featuressuch as post metadata since suchfeatures are often not uniformly availableacross forums. Our clustering-based iterativesolution identification approach basedon the EM-formulation performs favorablyin an empirical evaluation, beatingthe only unsupervised solution identificationtechnique from literature by a verylarge margin. We also show that our unsupervisedtechnique is competitive againstmethods that require supervision, outperformingone such technique comfortably.

Perceptions of high involvement work practices, person-organization fit and burnout: a time lagged study of health care employees

Previous research demonstrates that high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) may be associated with burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization); however, to date, the process through which HIWPs influence burnout is not clear. This article examined the impact of HIWPs on long-term burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) by considering the mediating role of person-organization fit (P-O fit) in this relationship. The study used a time-lagged design and was conducted in a Canadian general hospital among health care personnel. Findings from structural equation modeling (N = 185) revealed that perceived HIWPs were positively associated with P-O fit. There was no direct effect of HIWPs on burnout; rather, P-O fit fully mediated the relationship between employee perceptions of HIWPs and burnout. This study fills a void in the HR and burnout literature by demonstrating the role that P-O fit has in explaining how HIWPs alleviate emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nursing Home Care- Nursing Students as Carers discussing and addressing the negatives; a Northern Ireland Perspective

Abstract
The quality of nursing home care for some remains a significant cause of concern. This paper explores and discusses some of the significant critiques and limitations to nursing home care within the UK, particularly and including end of life care. The paper also explores some of the international literature by way of comparison.
Aim
To identify some of the characteristics contributing to the quality of holistic care within nursing homes
Methods
Two short narratives drawn from the experiences of nursing home care within Northern Ireland. The narrators (and co-authors to the paper) are first year student nurses who are also employed (part-time) as carers within nursing homes
Results
The paper identifies evidence of good nursing and care, together with evident quality in end of life care within nursing homes. The paper addresses the context of nursing home care and explores significant characteristics that reflect in the delivery of holistic care to nursing home residents, including the important role of a `culture’ of care, ongoing and specialist training( particularly and including within end of life care) and the important impact in the quality of nursing home leadership.
The paper concludes with some short recommendations to better develop practice within nursing homes