Creep and Shrinkage Properties of Lightweight Concrete Used in the State of Iowa, HR-136, Phase I, 1968

In February of 1968 a cooperative research project by the Iowa State Highway Commission (Project No. HR-136) and the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa was initiated in order to determine experimentally the creep and shrinkage characteristics of lightweight-aggregate concrete used in the State of Iowa. This report is concerned with Phase 1 of the Project as described in the Prospectus for the project submitted in November of 1967: "The State Highway Commission is planning to conduct pilot studies in prestressed-lightweight structures fabricated with materials that are proposed for use in bridge structures in the near future. Thus, Phase will have as its immediate objective, investigating the materials to be used in the above mentioned pilot studies.” (1) The work described in this report was also carried out in conjunction with a second cooperative project: "Time-Dependent Camber and Deflection of Non-Composite and Composite Lightweight-Prestressed Concrete Beams" (Project No. HR-137).

Highway 60 Reconstruction Project : Final Environmental Impact Statement, 2004

The proposed reconstruction of Trunk Highway 60 is considered a Federal Class I Action because of the potential for significant impacts on the natural and physical environment. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a full disclosure document that discusses the environmental impacts of a proposed Class I action. The Draft EIS, which was distributed in July 2002, is incorporated by reference herein and made a part of the Final EIS.

Highway Location Reference Procedure Project, 1990

The purpose of the proposed Highway Location Reference Procedure is stated in the contract as follows: "Establishment of a highway network locational reference process that will primarily allow for the proper correlation of pavement management data, and secondarily provide the basis for other existing and future data base integration and for the planned Iowa DOT Geographic Information System. In addition, the locational reference process will be able to correlate network applications with a statewide spatial location method to facilitate the relationship of Iowa DOT data to that of other agencies and to allow for the graphic display of the network in map form." The Design Specifications and Implementation Plan, included in this Final Report, are intended to provide the basis for proceeding with immediate development and implementation of the pavement management system. These specifications will also support the future Iowa DOT implementation of other integrated data bases and/or the planned Geographic Information System.

Supplemental Pre-Location Report, U.S. 18, Mason City Bypass I-35 to Rudd : Cerro Gordo and Floyd Counties, 1992

The purpose of this report is to compile and update the prior studies in order to select viable alternatives for inclusion in the Environmental Assessment to be prepared for this project.

The evolving profile, role and relevance of the medical director in a pharmaceutical company

Over the last years, operations in Pharmaceutical Companies have become more complex, trying to adapt to new demands of the market environment. Overall, the observed change of paradigm requires adapting, mainly by the setting of new priorities, diversification of investments, cost containment strategies, exploring new markets and developping new sets of skills. In this context, new functions have been created, the relevance of some has diminished, and the importance of others has arisen. Amongst these, the medical structure within a Pharmaceutical Company, increased to meet demands, with companies adopting different models to respond to these needs, and becoming a pillar to the business. Assuming the leading role within a medical department, the medical director function often lies in the shadow. It is a key function within Pharma Industry, either on a country or on a Global basis. It has evolved and changed in the past years to meet the constant demands of a changing environment. The Medical Director is a highly skilled and differeniated professional who provides medical and scientific governance within a Pharmaceutical company, since early stages of drug development and up to loss of exclusivity, not only but also by leading a team of other physicians, pharmacists or life scientists whose functions comprise specificities that the medical director needs to understand, provide input to, oversee and lead. As the organization of Pharmaceutical Companies tends to be different, in accordance to values, culture, markets and strategies, the scope of activities of a Medical Director can be broader or may be limited, depending on size of the organization and governance model, but they must fulfil a large set of requirements in order to leverage impact on internal and internal customers. Key technical competencies for medical directors such as an MD degree, a strong clinical foundation, knowledge of drug development, project and team management experience and written and verbal skills are relatively easy to define, but underlying behavioural competencies are more difficult to ascertain, and these are more often the true predictors of success in the role. Beyond seamless proficiency in technical skills, at this level interpersonal skills become far more important, as they are the driver and the distinctive factor between a good and an excelent medical director. And this has impact in the business and in the people doing it.

A disciplina de espanhol como espaço de aberturas às línguas de Espanha

Esta investigação visa tomar como ponto de partida a diversidade de línguas faladas em Espanha e que coabitam em muitas das comunidades autónomas (Siguán, 2001) contribuindo, desta forma, para a riqueza em termos linguísticos e culturais da Península Ibérica em geral e de Espanha em particular. Com este projeto é nossa intenção contribuir para a implementação de práticas educativas que promovam, na sala de aula de espanhol como língua estrangeira no ensino secundário português, a (re)construção das representações dos alunos face às línguas românicas faladas em Espanha como línguas oficiais, através do desenvolvimento da competência plurilingue (Alarcão, Andrade, Araújo e Sá, Melo-Pfeifer, & Santos, 2010). Neste estudo pretendemos, através de uma metodologia de índole qualitativa, analisar as representações dos alunos de espanhol iniciação do ensino secundário em Portugal face às línguas oficiais faladas em Espanha e à sua competência plurilingue, recorrendo a inquéritos por questionário. Visa-se, para além disso, evidenciar uma mostra de possíveis práticas didático-pedagógicas e materiais que possibilitem um trabalho sistemático e pró-ativo no âmbito da (re)construção das representações sobre as línguas oficiais faladas em Espanha, que promovam o desenvolvimento da competência plurilingue dos alunos e que sejam potenciadoras de cidadãos conscientes do mundo que os rodeia (Gadotti, 2003). Para tal, serão criados e implementados materiais físicos e digitais com alunos do 10.º e 11.º ano de escolaridade, a frequentar a disciplina de espanhol iniciação, num agrupamento de escolas da região de Aveiro. Os resultados mostram que práticas e materiais desta natureza podem favorecer a (re)construção das representações dos alunos, fomentando o desenvolvimento da sua competência plurilingue.

Conceptualising public-private partnerships: a critical appraisal of approaches to meanings and forms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to survey various meanings attached to a public-private partnership (PPP) and related aspects in Western literature, and identify commonalities and differences between them. Additionally, the article intends to critically assess conflicting and overlapping views on contractual and institutional PPPs, their forms and models, and draw insights for transitional economies. Design/methodology/approach – The article contrasts and compares views on PPP meanings, forms and models within Western PPP literature, and also draws comparisons with understanding of partnership aspects in the Russian language sources. The paper examines theories underpinning PPPs, builds connections to PPP advantages and drawbacks, and provides critical assessment of net benefits that PPPs may bring along to the society. Findings – The article concludes that future PPP research in transitional countries such as Kazakhstan and Russia, particularly in the area of organisational and power arrangements in partnerships, may delineate new concepts such as government as a guarantor of a PPP project, social significance of a PPP project, and risk management in a country’s contextual environment. Practical implications – In transitional countries, in which PPPs are in their infancy, clarification of theoretical positions, and identification of commonalities and differences between meanings attached to the PPP terminology may enable better decisions by researchers and practitioners in their selection and further development of partnerships and related concepts. Originality/value – Research in the field of PPPs in transitional countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan is in its infancy. The paper intends to contribute to the body of knowledge about PPPs by providing detailed account and categorisation of their principal meanings, forms, models, underpinning theories, and drawing insights for future research in transitional countries.

Linking electronic journals - Lessons from the Open Journal project

The Open Journal project has completed its three year period of funding by the UK Electronic Libraries (eLib) programme (Rusbridge 1998). During that time, the number of journals that are available electronically leapt from a few tens to a few thousand. Some of these journals are now developing the sort of features the project has been advocating, in particular the use of links within journals, between different primary journals, with secondary journals data, and to non-journal sources. Assessing the achievements of the project and considering some of the difficulties it faced, we report on the different approaches to linking that the project developed, and summarise the important user responses that indicate what works and what does not. Looking ahead, there are signs of change, not just to simple linking within journals but to schemes in which links are the basis of "distributed" journals, where information may be shared and documents built from different sources. The significance has yet to be appreciated, but this would be a major change from printed journals. If projects such as this and others have provided the initial impetus, the motivation for distributed journals comes, perhaps surprisingly, from within certain parts of the industry, as the paper shows.

Ledroit Park, A Portrait In Black And White: A Study Of Historic Districts, Social Change, And The Process Of Neighborhood Placemaking

This research examines the process of placemaking in LeDroit Park, a residential Washington, DC, neighborhood with a historic district at its core. Unpacking the entwined physical and social evolution of the small community within the context of the Nation’s Capital, this analysis provides insight into the role of urban design and development as well as historic designation on shaping collective identity. Initially planned and designed in 1873 as a gated suburb just beyond the formal L’Enfant-designed city boundary, LeDroit Park was intended as a retreat for middle and upper-class European Americans from the growing density and social diversity of the city. With a mixture of large romantic revival mansions and smaller frame cottages set on grassy plots evocative of an idealized rural village, the physical design was intentionally inwardly-focused. This feeling of refuge was underscored with a physical fence that surrounded the development, intended to prevent African Americans from nearby Howard University and the surrounding neighborhood, from using the community’s private streets to access the City of Washington. Within two decades of its founding, LeDroit Park was incorporated into the District of Columbia, the surrounding fence was demolished, and the neighborhood was racially integrated. Due to increasingly stringent segregation laws and customs in the city, this period of integration lasted less than twenty years, and LeDroit Park developed into an elite African American enclave, using the urban design as a bulwark against the indignities of a segregated city. Throughout the 20th century housing infill and construction increased density, yet the neighborhood never lost the feeling of security derived from the neighborhood plan. Highlighting the architecture and street design, neighbors successfully received historic district designation in 1974 in order to halt campus expansion. After a stalemate that lasted two decades, the neighborhood began another period of transformation, both racial and socio-economic, catalyzed by a multi-pronged investment program led by Howard University. Through interviews with long-term and new community members, this investigation asserts that the 140-year development history, including recent physical interventions, is integral to placemaking, shaping the material character as well as the social identity of residents.

A Decomposition, Construction and Post-Processing Approach for Nurse Rostering

This paper presents our work on decomposing a specific nurse rostering problem by cyclically assigning blocks of shifts, which are designed considering both hard and soft constraints, to groups of nurses. The rest of the shifts are then assigned to the nurses to construct a schedule based on the one cyclically generated by blocks. The schedules obtained by decomposition and construction can be further improved by a variable neighborhood search. Significant results are obtained and compared with a genetic algorithm and a variable neighborhood search approach on a problem that was presented to us by our collaborator, ORTEC bv, The Netherlands. We believe that the approach has the potential to be further extended to solve a wider range of nurse rostering problems.

Entre ecos e narcisos: estudo de caso sobre a prática teatral com adolescentes como atividade extracurricular numa escola de nível médio

This masters thesis discusses the studying and the teaching of drama and its implications among teenagers of the contemporary world. This paper also analyses an extracurricular project entitled Drama in the development of citizenship , which was carried out in the public state school Berilo Wanderley in Natal/RN, between 1999 and 2005 with high school students. It comprises a case study that aimed at understanding how and why they chose to take drama classes outside of the school curriculum and even after they graduated, some of them never left the school project and even started participating in the cultural and artistic context of the city of Natal quite actively, both as part of an audience as well as on artistic, political, social and pedagogical performance. The project was high significant for its participants, for the school and for the community, by creating a sense of recognition of the relevance of the pedagogical and artistic production in the public school, as it managed to yield knowledge that helped students to understand the values of group work, sharing information, collaborative assessment and, most of all, to engender actions of protagonism by the teenagers themselves within their social environments. The empirical process developed is placed in a contemporary historical context where educational paradigms shifts occur, and where categories of youth empowerment and protagonism are fundamental to the educational process in the 21st century. The objective of this study is to reflect upon the pedagogical dimension of drama classes for teenagers, aiming at providing further discussions on the role of acting classes in the construction of the personality among youngsters, thus hoping to contribute to other teaching practices, including drama and other subjects of general education

Relatório de estágio de qualificação profissional (Fase intercalar do estágio)

Relatório EPE - Relatório de estágio em Educação Pré-Escolar: O presente relatório de estágio de qualificação profissional surge no âmbito da unidade curricular de Prática Pedagógica Supervisionada na Educação Pré- Escolar, por forma a evidenciar o desenvolvimento pessoal e profissional da mestranda ao longo da prática pedagógica. Neste sentido, a mestranda foi desenvolvendo um conjunto de competências, tendo em vista a construção dos seus saberes profissionais, atendendo a uma postura de pendor reflexiva e indagadora, capaz de tomar decisões adequadas de acordo com o contexto educativo onde está inserida, uma vez que o mesmo se carateriza por ser imprevisível. O desenvolvimento dos saberes profissionais foi possibilitado através da adoção da metodologia de investigação-ação, sendo que a mesma se processa numa espiral cíclica de observação, planificação, ação e reflexão, pelo que a reflexão é intrínseca e implícita em todas as fases. Efetivamente, foram várias as estratégias que fomentaram o desenvolvimento desta metodologia, nomeadamente: elaboração de planificações, realização de narrativas colaborativas, elaboração do diário de formação, construção dos guiões de préobservação, reestruturação do Projeto Curricular de Grupo e as reuniões realizadas com o supervisor institucional. Importa, ainda, referir que o desenvolvimento da prática pedagógica em díade de formação, potenciou momentos de reflexão partilhada que contribuíram para a transformação das práticas. A elaboração deste relatório assumiu um papel fulcral, uma vez que despoletou na mestranda uma reflexão crítica sobre as práticas, confluindo na identificação da evolução das suas competências pessoais e profissionais, bem como das dificuldades que ainda predominam, por forma a contorná-las futuramente.

Children's health and indoor air quality in primary schools and homes in Portugal-Study design

The main aim of the research project "On the Contribution of Schools to Children's Overall Indoor Air Exposure" is to study associations between adverse health effects, namely, allergy, asthma, and respiratory symptoms, and indoor air pollutants to which children are exposed to in primary schools and homes. Specifically, this investigation reports on the design of the study and methods used for data collection within the research project and discusses factors that need to be considered when designing such a study. Further, preliminary findings concerning descriptors of selected characteristics in schools and homes, the study population, and clinical examination are presented. The research project was designed in two phases. In the first phase, 20 public primary schools were selected and a detailed inspection and indoor air quality (IAQ) measurements including volatile organic compounds (VOC), aldehydes, particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), bacteria, fungi, temperature, and relative humidity were conducted. A questionnaire survey of 1600 children of ages 8-9 years was undertaken and a lung function test, exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), and tear film stability testing were performed. The questionnaire focused on children's health and on the environment in their school and homes. One thousand and ninety-nine questionnaires were returned. In the second phase, a subsample of 68 children was enrolled for further studies, including a walk-through inspection and checklist and an extensive set of IAQ measurements in their homes. The acquired data are relevant to assess children's environmental exposures and health status.

p-BioSPRE-an information and communication technology framework for transnational biomaterial sharing and access

Biobanks represent key resources for clinico-genomic research and are needed to pave the way to personalised medicine. To achieve this goal, it is crucial that scientists can securely access and share high-quality biomaterial and related data. Therefore, there is a growing interest in integrating biobanks into larger biomedical information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures. The European project p-medicine is currently building an innovative ICT infrastructure to meet this need. This platform provides tools and services for conducting research and clinical trials in personalised medicine. In this paper, we describe one of its main components, the biobank access framework p-BioSPRE (p-medicine Biospecimen Search and Project Request Engine). This generic framework enables and simplifies access to existing biobanks, but also to offer own biomaterial collections to research communities, and to manage biobank specimens and related clinical data over the ObTiMA Trial Biomaterial Manager. p-BioSPRE takes into consideration all relevant ethical and legal standards, e.g., safeguarding donors’ personal rights and enabling biobanks to keep control over the donated material and related data. The framework thus enables secure sharing of biomaterial within open and closed research communities, while flexibly integrating related clinical and omics data. Although the development of the framework is mainly driven by user scenarios from the cancer domain, in this case, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and Wilms tumour, it can be extended to further disease entities.

When males are more inclined to stay at home :Insights into the partial migration of a pelagic seabird provided by geolocators and isotopes

Partial migration has never been studied in pelagic seabirds, but investigating old unresolved questions in new contexts can provide useful fresh insights. We used geolocators and stable isotopes to investigate this phenomenon in a migratory pelagic seabird, the Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea). Although most birds migrated to the southern hemisphere, 8.1% of studied birds (N = 172) remained close to the breeding colony (Selvagem Grande, Madeira, Portugal), foraging within the Canary current. Almost all resident birds were males, while age or body size did not predict migratory status. Despite displaying a high repeatability (R = 0.72) in the choice of wintering area, residency was not a fixed strategy and individuals could switch between migrating and staying in the Canary current in different years. The predictions resulting from the “body size” and the “social dominance” hypotheses, in which larger individuals or dominant individuals, respectively, remain closer to the breeding areas, were not supported by our data. Resident males were able to occupy the nesting burrows much earlier than migratory males and arrival time in this species is known to affect the probability of engaging in a reproductive attempt. The selective pressure to arrive early at the colony is therefore the most likely explanation for the maintenance of this partial migration system.