The development of microstructure during the hydration of Portland cement.

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Inter-rater reliability of treatment fidelity and therapeutic alliance measures for psychological therapies for anxiety in young people with autism spectrum disorders

Objectives: This article presents work undertaken to establish inter-rater reliability for a measure of treatment fidelity and a measure of therapeutic alliance for therapies for anxiety for young people with autism spectrum disorders. The discussion and decision-making processes behind achieving consensus of raters are rarely published. Margolin et al. (1998) have highlighted this issue and called for researchers to communicate the details of their observational and rating procedures. This article is a response to their call for greater transparency so that these methods are readily accessible for comparison with other studies. Methods: Participants were young people with autism spectrum disorders receiving treatment for anxiety, clinical staff treating these young people and the independent raters assessing the treatment sessions. We report: (i) the processes involved in establishing inter-rater reliability for two instruments, (ii) the results obtained with a sample of young people with autism spectrum disorders using these instruments. Results and conclusions: Results demonstrate that it was possible to attain satisfactory inter-rater reliability with each of these two instruments with a client group with autism spectrum disorders, even though the instruments were originally designed for typically-developing populations

Inter-rater reliability of treatment fidelity and therapeutic alliance measures for psychological therapies for anxiety in young people with autism spectrum disorders

Objectives: This article presents work undertaken to establish inter-rater reliability for a measure of treatment fidelity and a measure of therapeutic alliance for therapies for anxiety for young people with autism spectrum disorders. The discussion and decision-making processes behind achieving consensus of raters are rarely published. Margolin et al. (1998) have highlighted this issue and called for researchers to communicate the details of their observational and rating procedures. This article is a response to their call for greater transparency so that these methods are readily accessible for comparison with other studies. Methods: Participants were young people with autism spectrum disorders receiving treatment for anxiety, clinical staff treating these young people and the independent raters assessing the treatment sessions. We report: (i) the processes involved in establishing inter-rater reliability for two instruments, (ii) the results obtained with a sample of young people with autism spectrum disorders using these instruments. Results and conclusions: Results demonstrate that it was possible to attain satisfactory inter-rater reliability with each of these two instruments with a client group with autism spectrum disorders, even though the instruments were originally designed for typically-developing populations

Performance of Concrete Made with a Calcined Clay – Limestone-Portland Cement Exposed to Natural Conditions

This work presents the results of an investigation carried out to assess durability of concrete made with a calcined clay- limestone-Portland cement with 47% of clinker, hereafter named LC3, produced during an industrial trial in 2013. LC3 was used to cast concrete blocks and later expose them at a natural location at the northern coast of Cuba. Reference concrete was cast with Cuban Portland cement having 88% of clinker. Throughout three years (2015, 2016, 2017) concrete cores were systematically taken and the specimens were subjected to a testing program that included Formation factor, chloride profiling, surface resistivity, air permeability and carbonation depth. The studies proved that concrete made with the new binder presents a more refined capillary pore network, thus the movement of ions through the concrete matrix is slower than in normal PC concrete. Experimental measurement of the chloride profiles, Formation factor, surface resistivity and air permeability confirm an improvement of performance in the range of 2-3 compared to PC concrete. This is attributed to the presence of calcined clay in the new system and the synergy with limestone. For concrete exposed in coastal areas in hot & humid regions, carbonation is hindered by the high Relative Humidity, which saturates the pore system and reduces CO2 diffusion. The use of LC3 in concrete in very aggressive –chloride- conditions could yield a better performance against steel corrosion, as the tests on surface resistivity have proven

An EEG study of detection without localisation in change blindness

Previous studies of change blindness have suggested a distinction between detection and localisation of changes in a visual scene. Using a simple paradigm with an array of coloured squares, the present study aimed to further investigate differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) between trials in which participants could detect the presence of a colour change but not identify the location of the change (sense trials), versus those where participants could both detect and localise the change (localise trials). Individual differences in performance were controlled for by adjusting the difficulty of the task in real time. Behaviourally, reaction times for sense, blind, and false alarm trials were distinguishable when comparing across levels of participant certainty. In the EEG data, we found no significant differences in the visual awareness negativity ERP, contrary to previous findings. In the N2pc range, both awareness conditions (localise and sense) were significantly different to trials with no change detection (blind trials), suggesting that this ERP is not dependent on explicit awareness. Within the late positivity range, all conditions were significantly different. These results suggest that changes can be 'sensed' without knowledge of the location of the changing object, and that participant certainty scores can provide valuable information about the perception of changes in change blindness

Cognitive behaviour therapy versus counselling intervention for anxiety in young people with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: a pilot randomised controlled trial

The use of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) as a treatment for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been explored in a number of trials. Whilst CBT appears superior to no treatment or treatment as usual, few studies have assessed CBT against a control group receiving an alternative therapy. Our randomised controlled trial compared use of CBT against person-centred counselling for anxiety in 36 young people with ASD, ages 12–18. Outcome measures included parent- teacher- and self-reports of anxiety and social disability. Whilst each therapy produced improvements inparticipants, neither therapy was superior to the other to a significant degree on any measure. This is consistent with findings for adults

The last animal: cosmopolitanism in The Last Man

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Étude de faisabilité d’une coopérative spécialisée dans la confection et la distribution de plats cuisinés sains et durables en circuit court

Ce document comprend l’étude de faisabilité d’une coopérative à finalité sociale spécialisée dans l’alimentation saine et durable qui confectionne et distribue des plats préparés en circuits courts : Appiti. Réunis autour d’une passion commune pour des modèles solidaires et collaboratifs, cette idée a germé dans nos têtes dans le cadre de notre mémoire interdisciplinaire à l’Université Catholique de Louvain au sein du programme CPME. Afin de faire mûrir le projet, nous nous sommes entourés d’un large panel de profils expérimentés (entrepreneurs de l’agroalimentaire, professionnels de la cuisine, spécialistes de la santé, etc.) qui soutiennent le projet et ont permis de le faire grandir. Cette fabuleuse aventure à l’ADN profondément local débute par un premier établissement à Namur en partenariat avec le magasin D’ici. En plus de son large réseau de producteurs du terroir, D’ici nous fournit une cuisine ainsi que les matières premières nécessaires à la confection de nos préparations. Sur ce premier marché namurois, Appiti s’adresse aux consomm’acteurs : une part croissante de la population connectée, soucieuse de sa santé et désireuse de poser un acte citoyen de soutien à une production alimentaire raisonnée porteuse de sens. Les initiatives similaires à notre modèle sont encore peu présentes en Belgique, et absentes en région namuroise. Ceci nous procure l’avantage du premier entrant sur un marché en demande.Master [120] en Ingénieur de gestion, Université catholique de Louvain, 2018Master [120] en sciences de la motricité, orientation éducation physique, Université catholique de Louvain, 2018Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, Université catholique de Louvain, 2018Master [120] en sciences de gestion, Université catholique de Louvain, 2018La diffusion de ce mémoire n'est pas autorisée par l'institutio

Microstructural modelling of autogenous shrinkage in Portland cement paste at early age

PurposeThis paper aims to develop a numerical, micromechanical model to predict the evolution of autogenous shrinkage of hydrating cement paste at early age (up to 7 days). Autogeneous shrinkage can be important in high-performance concrete characterized by low water to cement (w/c) ratios. The occurrence of this phenomenon during the first few days of hardening may result in early-age cracking in concrete structures. A good prediction of autogeneous shrinkage is necessary to achieve better understanding of the mechanisms and the deployment of effective measures to prevent early-age cracking.Design/methodology/approachThree-dimensional digital microstructures from the hydration modelling platform mu ic of cement paste were used to simulate macroscopic autogenous shrinkage based on the mechanism of capillary tension. Elastic and creep properties of the digital microstructures were calculated by means of finite element (FE) method homogenization. Autogenous shrinkage was then estimated as the average hydrostatic strain resulting from the capillary stress that was globally applied on the simulated digital microstructures. For this estimation, two approaches of homogenization technique, i.e. analytical poro-elasticity and numerical creep-superposition were used.FindingsThe comparisons of between the simulated and experimentally measured deformations indicate that the creep-superposition approach is more reasonable to estimate shrinkage at different water to cement ratios. It was found that better estimations could be obtained at low degrees of hydration, by assuming a loosely packed calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) growing in the microstructures. The simulation results show how numerical models can be used to upscale from microscopic characteristics of phases to macroscopic composite properties such as elasticity, creep and shrinkage.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the good predictions of some cement paste properties from the microstructure at early age were obtained, the current models have several limitations that are needed to overcome in the future. Firstly, the limitation of pore-structure representation is not only from lack understanding of C-S-H structure but also from the computational complexity. Secondly, the models do not consider early-age expansion that usually happens in practice and appears to be superimposed on an underlying shrinkage as observed in experiments. Thirdly, the simplified assumptions for mechanical simulation do not accurately reflect the solid-liquid interactions in the real partially saturated system, for example, the globally applying capillary stress on the boundary of the microstructure to find the effective deformation, neglecting water flow and the pore pressure. Last but not least, the models, due to the computational complexities, use many simplifications such as FE approximation, mechanical phase properties and creep statistical data.Originality/valueThis study holistically tackles the phenomenon of autogeneous shrinkage through microstructural modelling. In a first such attempt, the authors have used the same microstructural model to simulate the microstructural development, elastic properties, creep and autogeneous shrinkage. The task of putting these models together was not simple. The authors have successfully handled several problems at each step in an elegant manner.For example, although several earlier studies have pointed out that discrete models are unable to capture the late setting times of cements due to mesh effects, this study offers the most effective solution yet on the problem. It is also the first time that creep and shrinkage have been modelled on a young evolving microstructure that is subjected to a time variable load