Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2002. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-133).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1998. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.) in Ecology and Environmental Science--University of Maine, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 274-286).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 152 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Rip currents present a severe hazard to water users worldwide, resulting in over 100 drownings and thousands of lifeguard rescues annually. This thesis examines the demographics of who is effected by rip currents in the UK, what activity they are undertaking, when and where incidents occur, how much the public know, what people have experienced, and how best to educate them. Analysis of 7909 rip current lifeguard rescues (16777 people) across the UK between 2006-2013 highlighted the most at risk group, and subsequent target audience for education, to be male teenagers aged between 13-17 years old (n=2906, 17%). Geographically, the highest incidents occurred on the beaches in the Southwest of England (n=6911, 87%). Incidents mostly occurred outside of lifeguard flagged areas (n=4302, 54%) and mainly involved those using bodyboards (n=5290, 52%). Through the analysis of 407 public beach-based rip current and beach safety questionnaires, it was established that beach users have a poor understanding of rip currents (n=263, 65%) but a good perception of the beach safety flags (n=389, 96%). People with greater knowledge were typically educated by a lifeguard, enter the sea more frequently or have been caught in rip currents themselves. The experiences of 553 people caught in rip currents were analysed using an online questionnaire. The gender split was 69% male (n= 382) to 31% female (n= 171), indicating that males are caught in rip currents more than females. Swimming directly to shore against the rip followed an initial panic (n=108, 34%) for most people caught in a rip. Swimming parallel to the beach was the most remembered, advised, utilised, and promoted safety message. Respondents advocated the use of lifeguards to disseminate rip current safety messages. A new and unique rip current education programme was developed from the synthesis of these results. A lifeguard delivered a pilot programme to 185 teenagers in three schools and two community groups in the Southwest of England. This interactive pilot consisted of exercises using videos, photographs, news reports, and a swimming machine. Levels of rip current knowledge were evaluated before and after, and at regular intervals, to assess knowledge retention. The short-term effects after 3 months were positive, showing statistically significant (p < 0.0005) improvements in mean knowledge levels. This thesis provides a new contribution to the expanding field of social and behavioural rip current research. The development of a unique rip current education programme presents an alternative method for increasing public awareness, and supports the worldwide prevention of rip current incidents and fatalities.

Storms play a significant role in beach morphodynamics. Storm-induced beach-profile changes and their longshore variations are investigated in this study. The impacts of four summer tropical storms and two series of winter storms over the last 10 years along the coast of Treasure Island were documented. Tropical storms Alberto in 2006, Fay in 2008, Debby in 2012, Hermine in 2016 and winter storms in winter seasons of 2014 and 2015 are discussed in this study. In general, the Treasure Island beach experienced more erosion generated by tropical storms with greater intensity, but shorter duration, as compared to winter storms due to lower waves, weaker wind and smaller storm surge. Winter storms typically do not generate high storm surge and generally do not cause erosion at the dune and back beach unless the pre-storm beach is very narrow. Based on pre- and post-storm beach-profile surveys along the coast of Treasure Island, the northern end of the barrier island, located directly downdrift of the John’s Pass tidal inlet, experienced erosion along the entire profile during the storms. Along the middle part of Treasure Island, dry beach suffered erosion during both the tropical storms and winter seasons while the nearshore zone suffered erosion during the tropical storms and experienced deposition during the winter seasons. Sunset Beach at the southern end experienced severe erosion during tropical storm Debby, but not during other storms. Winter seasons caused relatively small changes to the morphology of Sunset Beach. Deposition happened in the nearshore zone along Sunset Beach during winter storms. Survey line R143 at the very south end of Treasure Island suffered erosion in tropical storm Alberto, Debby and Hermine. Beach profile changes induced by Tropical storm Fay was different as compared to other tropical storms. Considerably less beach erosion occurred due to the large distance of the storm path from the study area. Overall, Sunshine Beach, bounded by John’s Pass inlet at northern end of Treasure Island, was influenced both by wave conditions and the tidal flows. Sediment transport was to the north along the coast of Sunshine Beach when wind direction was from south, e.g. during tropical storm Fay. However the northward sediment transport was blocked by the John’s Pass jetty. Therefore, deposition occurred at Sunshine Beach during tropical storm Fay. When wind direction was from north (e.g. during tropical storms Alberto and during the winter seasons), southward sediment transport was generated. Erosion occurs during the northerly approaching storms. The morphodynamics of the middle section of Treasure Island are influenced by the sand supply at the attachment point of John’s Pass ebb delta. Sunset Beach experienced various levels of erosion during the tropical storms not only because of the high wave, strong wind and high water level generated by storms, but also due to the higher waves associated with an offshore dredged pit.

This thesis is concerned with analysing vertebrate fauna (mammals, birds, and fish) from the Locarno Beach culture (3300-2400 B.P.) of the Fraser River Delta area in southern British Columbia. The principal objective is to reconstruct site level vertebrate exploitative patterns for the Locarno Beach culture components at the Locarno Beach (DhRt 6), Whalen Farm (DfRs 3), and Musqueam NE (DhRt 4) sites. Qualitative and quantitative faunal analytic methods are employed to evaluate faunal data from each component. Data are also evaluated by seasonal availability and preferred habitat categories. The results of the faunal analysis indicate that Locarno Beach culture populations exploited mainly riverine and foreshore resources. Salmon is the major vertebrate resource, followed by land mammals (deer and elk) and waterfowl (mainly diving species). Intensive herring, flatfish, and waterfowl exploitation took place at two sites (DhRt 6 and DfRs 3), probably in conjunction with shellfish harvesting during the late winter through early spring (February to April). DhRt 6 was also occupied during the spring to early summer (April to June) for surf smelt procurement. The third site (DhRt 4) was occupied from late winter through the summer and may have been a major encampment for Fraser River salmon procurement. DhRt 4 also shares many attributes associated with Marpole and Late Prehistoric culture village sites. It is concluded that the Locarno Beach culture vertebrate subsistence economy is part of the Northwest Coast pattern. The Locarno Beach culture is a development from the St. Mungo culture (4300 - 3300 B.P.) with greater emphasis on riverine resources, especially salmon. Locarno Beach culture vertebrate fauna data indicate a range of site types, including seasonal resource extraction sites, salmon fishing sites, and possibly a winter village site. Similar to Marpole (2400-1600 B.P.) and Late Prehistoric (1600-1100 B.P.) cultures, Locarno Beach culture populations of the Fraser Delta exploited aggregated resources (e.g. herring, flatfish, waterfowl, and shellfish) at seasonally occupied camps during the late winter to early spring. The primary summer subsistence activity was salmon procurement. Preliminary evidence suggests that Fraser River sockeye salmon runs (late summer to fall) were intensively exploited with fishing nets near DhRt 4. Prolonged occupation at DhRt 4 during the winter may indicate that this site was a winter village, as well as a fishing site. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Applied Geosciences / Master / Master of Science

Title: Analysis of the influence of beach volleyball training to young indoor volleyball players. Aim: The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out expert opinions of coaches who operate in Czech volleyball, about influence of beach volleyball training to young indoor volleyball players. Furthermore, this thesis should bring information about if coaches would recommend to using beach volleyball training for young indoor volleyball players development. Secondary aim of this thesis is to find out opinions of coaches operating in USA universities about the same topic. Method: I've used method of questioning by nonstandardized questionnaire with closed and opened questions to fulfill the objective. The data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed by the sum of the number of probands and their answers. The results were processed by conventional statistical methods, expressed in words, graphs and tabulated. Results: The results of this study have illustrated opinions of coaches, about the issue of influence of beach volleyball training to young indoor volleyball players. Keywords: Volleyball Beach Volleyball Infuence of beach volleyball training Development of young players

No description available.