There is no abstract available for this thesis.

The purpose of this study was to document the occurrence, habitat, and diet of sandhill cranes that breed in coastal British Columbia, a population believed to belong to the subspecies rowani. Specific objectives were to: 1) locate cranes and their nests in selected coastal areas of the central and north coasts (5138’N, 12805’W - 5400’N, 13037’W) and foster observer expertise in conducting aerial crane surveys; 2) describe sandhill crane nest habitat using a range of stand- and site-level characteristics; and, 3) identify diet content of breeding cranes from faecal samples. Helicopter surveys were conducted within 1.5 km of the coastline during May 2007 and 2008. Twenty nest sites were visited in 2008 to collect data on nest habitat characteristics. Satellite imagery was used to measure stand-level and landscape features for 29 nests. Faecal samples were collected at 6 nest and roost sites. During the 2008 survey, 104 cranes and 19 nests were counted over a 430 km2 area (average survey effort = 2.0 km2/min.). Crane nests were located in bog habitat, while cranes frequented bogs, shorelines, and marshes. Nests were in bog pools under 0.5 ha in size with the exception of one that occured in a 1.2 ha beaver-dammed pond (median = 0.10 ha, inter-quartile range (IQR) = 0.037 – 0.17 ha, n = 29), and had median water depth of 56 cm around nest islets (IQR = 49 – 77 cm, n = 21). Bog pools were in forest or woodland bog openings with median distance from the pool edge to the nearest treeline of 46 m (IQR – 24 – 160 m, n = 25) and median forest buffer width of 150 m (IQR = 93 – 260 m, n = 25). Forested habitat may serve as a corridor for cranes with pre-fledged young connecting bog nest and roost sites with shoreline foraging areas. Median distance from nest to shoreline was 400 m (IQR = 200 – 500 m, n = 28). Food items characteristic of faecal samples (n = 138) included mussel (Mytilus edulis), periwinkle (Littorina littorea) and limpet shells, insects, sedge (Carex spp.) and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), plant remains, and crab remains. Changes in the probability of observing periwinkle and limpet in samples were observed between sites, while the frequency of occurrence of insects differed between time periods and that of sedge, crowberry, and mussels differed between time periods and sites. Sandhill cranes were sparsely distributed on inner and outer coastal islands with bog nesting habitat and sheltered intertidal foraging habitat. / Graduate

Crane lift path planning is time-consuming, prone to errors, and requires the practitioners to have exceptional visualization abilities, in particular, as the construction site is congested and dynamically changing. This research presents a methodology based on robotics motion planning to numerically solve the crane path planning problem. The proposed methodology integrates a database in order to automatically conduct 2D path planning for a crane lift operation, and accounts for the rotation of the lifted object during its movements. The proposed methodology has been implemented into a computer module, which provides a user-friendly interface to aid the practitioners to perform a collision-free path planning, and check the feasibility of the path at different stages of the project. Three examples are described in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology and illustrate the essential features of the developed module. / Construction Engineering and Management

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 198-214). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

In his 2008 book, American Hungers: The Problem of Poverty in U.S. Literature, 1840-1945, Gavin Jones calls for academic studies of literature that examine poverty as its own actuality, worthy of discussion and definition despite its inherently polemical nature. As presented by Jones and tested here, American literature reveals how poverty is established, defined and understood; the anxieties of class; imperative connections with issues of gender and race; and the fictions of American democracy and the American Dream. This proves to be especially interesting when examining the 1890s. From a sociological standpoint, the eighteenth century's approach to poverty was largely moralistic, while the early parts of the nineteenth century moved toward acknowledging the impact of environmental and social factors. Literature itself was changing as a result of the realism and naturalism movements; the resulting popularity of local color and dialect writing and the exploding market for magazine fiction created access to and an audience for literature that discussed poverty in multifarious ways. Furthermore, New York proved to be an ideal setting - the influx of immigrants, the obvious problem of the slums, and the public's infatuation with those slums - and served as a catalyst for a diverse body of writing. Middle-class anxieties, especially, surfaced in this modern Babel. This study begins with a historical and sociological overview of the time period as well as an analysis of the problematic photography of the effective reformer Jacob Riis. Like Riis's photography, the cartoons of R.F. Outcault both challenge and subtly support stereotypes of poverty and serve as a reminder of the presence of poverty in day-to-day life and entertainment of turn-of-the-century New Yorkers. Stephen Crane's Maggie is discussed in depth, and his Tommie sketches are contrasted with the middle-class Whilomville Tales. These pieces have in common several unifying qualities: the centrality of the human body to the discussion of poverty, the failure of language for those in poverty, vision as a tool writers and artists lean heavily upon, and the awareness of multiple audiences within and without the text. Ultimately, the pieces return to the burdened bodies of small children - "the site that bears the marks, the damage, of being poor" (Jones American Hungers 3).

The tower crane is an electromechanical equipment that is used for the vertical transport of materials in a construction project and together with the two riggers form the work team to carry out this task. One of the main problems in the construction of multifamily buildings corresponds to the use of the tower crane because vertical transport causes non-contributory times, which is, dead times and waits above expectations. This research analyzes the current vertical transport process and proposes its optimization through some management tools with the aim of improving the productivity of the use of the tower crane by reducing non-contributory times. To this end, the productivity of the work team is recorded in several projects with similar characteristics, then the main problems are selected to analyze them and finally the process is optimized. The results determined that non-contributory times can be reduced by 10% if there is an orderly and continuous process.

No description available.

No description available.

<p> A report follows in which five different conditions of support of stepped crane columns were investigated. In each case the curvature or moment equations representing the column in its just-buckled condition are determined. The general solution of each differential equation is then found and solved in terms of the boundary conditions to obtain a transcendental equation which gives the critical buckling length. This transcendental equation is solved for the lowest possible value to get the critical buckling length. This lowest value is compared to the Euler critical buckling value in order to get the effective length factor.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

<p> At present there is no code of practice or design guide for the complete design of crane run ways. Many sources o-f information apply to steel structures in general and do not address some of the more important design and practical aspects of crane runways. It is the purpose of this report to review the various standard procedures together with rules and guidelines which result from practical experience in design, construction and operation. In particular it is hoped to identify those questions around which there appears to be some uncertainty or lack of substantiation. Some of these topics are identified as areas for possible future research. </p> <p> The report considers the version components of the runway system and the loads which act on them. After discussion of the dynamic nature of loading and the allowances made for vertical and horizontal loads, the supporting system is described with reference to accepted guidelines, design details and sketches of connections. Interaction of the various components considers the design and detailing of the rail the girder, the horizontal girder (or surge plate) and columns and foundations. Use is made of a computer program to compare the behaviour of alternative girder support systems and the advantages and disadvantages of each is summarized. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)