Reinforced Concrete Structures.- Restrained Imposed Deformations versus Loads.- Reinforced Concrete Building Design - The State of the Current Limits.- Review of Coarse Softening Analysis of Framed Concrete Structures.- Moment Redistribution in Reinforced Concrete Structures.- Elastic Rational Analysis and Tests of Unbraced Concrete Frames.- On Shear Failure of R/C Thin-Webbed Beams Limit and Evolutive Analyses: A Close Contest.- Loading on Concrete Structures During Construction.- Comparison of Fixed and Rotating Crack Models in Shear Design of Slender Concrete Beams.- 'Clean' Physical Model of Cracked Reinforced Concrete Plane Element.- Abstract from the Supporting Document of Eurocode 2 on Non Linear Analysis.- Experimental Research of Reinforced Concrete Columns Behaviour under the long-term Eccentric Normal Force.- Modelling Impact Loading of Reinforced Concrete Structures.- Prestressed Concrete Structures.- Tendon Stress in Unbonded Partially Prestressed Concrete Beams.- On the Choice of Prestressing Percentage in PPC Elements.- Stress at Ultimate in Unbonded Prestressing Tendons by Strain Compatibility.- Stresses and End Cracks in Anchorage Zones of Post-Tensioned Prestressed Concrete Beams.- Fatigue Resistance of Post-Tensioned Cables in Partial Prestressing.- Aseismic Prestressed Concrete Structures with Confined Concrete.- Structural Optimization.- Procedural and Declarative Aspects of Optimum Structural Design.- Two Notes on Structural Optimization.- Reliability-Based Structural Optimization Research at the University of Colorado: A Brief Retrospective 1983-1991.- Design Optimization of Civil Engineering Structures: A Retrospective.- Approximations for Structural Optimization.- Optimal Plastic Design of Imperfect Frame Structures.- Nonlinear Material Behaviour.- Consistent Finite Element Models for Elastic Plastic Kirchhoff Plates.- Variational Formulations of the Linear Viscoelastic Problem with General Viscous Kernels.- Application of Strain Energy in the Characterization of Non-Linear Polymeric Materials.- Incremental Elastic-Ziegler Kinematic Hardening Plasticity Formulations and an Algorithm for the Numerical Integration with an 'A Priori' Error Control.- Large Plastic Deformation of Short Tubes and Rings.- Mathematical Expressions of Non-Linear Behaviors in Structural Mechanics.- Structural Engineering.- The Degree of Restraint - A Useful Concept for Practical Stability Analysis (columns, frames, bars on elastic foundations, shells).- Expert Systems in Design of Structures: An Application to Bridges.- Reliability of Flexibly-Connected Steel Frames in Sway.- Safety Level Selection using Social Indicators.- Static Behavior of a Bearing Brick Wall Leaning on Localized Supports: A Case Study Concerning the Consolidation Project of the S. Faustino Convent in Brescia.- The Mesh Description for Structural Analysis by Mathematical Programming.- Partial Reliability Factors for Material Properties.- The Influence of the Basic Parameters on the Load Bearing Behaviour of Cable Stayed Bridges.

From ostracism on the playground to romantic rejection, bullying at work, and social disregard for the aged, individuals are at constant risk of experiencing instances of social exclusion, including ostracism, rejection, dehumanization, and discrimination. These phenomena have a powerful impact as testified by their immediate influence on people's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Social Exclusion: Psychological Approaches to Understanding and Reducing Its Impact investigates different psychological approaches, across multiple psychological subdisciplines, to understanding the causes and consequences of social exclusion and possible ways to reduce or buffer against its negative effects. The purpose of this volume is threefold. First, it lays the groundwork for the understanding of social exclusion research; reviewing the different instances of social exclusion in everyday life and methods to experimentally investigate them. Second, this volume brings together different psychological approaches to the topic of social exclusion. Leading scholars from around the world contribute perspectives from social psychology, social neuroscience, developmental psychology, educational psychology, work and organizational psychology, clinical psychology, and social gerontology to provide a comprehensive overview of social exclusion research in different psychological subdisciplines. Taken together, these chapters are conducive to the important development of new and more integrative research models on social exclusion. Finally, this volume discusses psychological strategies such as emotion regulation, psychological resources, and brain mechanisms that can reduce or buffer against the negative consequences of social exclusion. From school shootings to domestic violence, from cognitive impairment to suicide attempts, the negative impact of social exclusion has been widely documented. Thus, from an applied perspective, knowing potential ways to mitigate the negative effects of social exclusion can have a significant positive influence on people's-and society's-well-being. Overall, this book provides the reader with the knowledge to understand the impact of social exclusion and with tools to address it across many different contexts. Importantly, Social Exclusion: Psychological Approaches to Understanding and Reducing Its Impact aims to bridge the gap between the approaches of different psychological subdisciplines to this topic, working towards a comprehensive, integrative model of social exclusion.

We three editors of this volume are former Ph. D. students of Professor Mircea Cohn at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Donald Grierson obtained his Ph. D. degree in 1968, Alberto Franchi in 1977, and Paolo Riva in 1988, and as such, we span almost the entire career of Professor Cohn at Waterloo. Even though we graduated during different decades in his life, we share similar views of Mircea Cohn as an educator, researcher and man. Together we recall that he was very firm in his resolve that we get the most out of the education he was facilitating for us. Together we agree that he was inspirational in his desire to have us carry out the very best research work we were capable of. Together we feel particularly fortunate to have had such a dedicated and distinguished individual as Professor Cohn as our Ph. D. research advisor. It is with great pleasure that we ack nowledge him as our mentor and friend. We began in 1989 to plan this volume as a tribute to Professor Cohn on the occasion of his 65th birthday in 1991. Upon contacting his many former students and research associates from around the world, we were not surprised to find that they too shared our feelings of respect and admiration for Mircea Cohn as an educator, researcher and man."