Thesis (M.S. in civil engineering)--Washington State University, December 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 4, 2010). "Department of Civil Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-135).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2003. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S. in C.E.)--School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Glenn J. Rix. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-97).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2003. / Includes vita. In two parts. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 598-603).

Organisations play a vital role in assisting communities to recover from disasters. They are the key providers of goods and services needed in both response and recovery efforts. They provide the employment which both anchors people to place and supports the taxation base to allow for necessary recovery spending. Finally, organisations are an integral part of much day to day functioning contributing immensely to people’s sense of ‘normality’ and psychological wellbeing. Yet, despite their overall importance in the recovery process, there are significant gaps in our existing knowledge with regard to how organisations respond and recover following disaster. This research fills one part of this gap by examining collaboration as an adaptive strategy enacted by organisations in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, which was heavily impacted by a series of major earthquakes, occurring in 2010 and 2011. Collaboration has been extensively investigated in a variety of settings and from numerous disciplinary perspectives. However, there are few studies that investigate the role of collaborative approaches to support post-disaster business recovery. This study investigates the type of collaborations that have occurred and how they evolved as organisations reacted to the resource and environmental change caused by the disaster. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews, survey and document analysis, a rich and detailed picture of the recovery journey is created for 26 Canterbury organisations including 14 collaborators, six non-traders, five continued traders and one new business. Collaborations included two or more individual businesses collaborating along with two multi-party, place based projects. Comparative analysis of the organisations’ experiences enabled the assessment of decisions, processes and outcomes of collaboration, as well as insight into the overall process of business recovery. This research adopted a primarily inductive, qualitative approach, drawing from both grounded theory and case study methodologies in order to generate theory from this rich and contextually situated data. Important findings include the importance of creating an enabling context which allows organisations to lead their own recovery, the creation of a framework for effective post-disaster collaboration and the importance of considering both economic and other outcomes. Collaboration is found to be an effective strategy enabling resumption of trade at a time when there seemed few other options available. While solving this need, many collaborators have discovered significant and unexpected benefits not just in terms of long term strategy but also with regard to wellbeing. Economic outcomes were less clear-cut. However, with approximately 70% of the Central Business District demolished and rebuilding only gaining momentum in late 2014, many organisations are still in a transition stage moving towards a new ‘normal’.

Earthquake-induced sliding displacements are commonly used to assess the seismic performance of slopes. These displacements represent the cumulative, downslope movement of a sliding block due to earthquake shaking. While the sliding block model is a simplified representation of the field conditions, the displacements predicted from this model have been shown to be a useful index of seismic performance of slopes. Current evaluation procedures that use sliding block displacements to evaluate the potential for slope instability typically are based on a deterministic approach or a pseudo-probabilistic approach, in which the variabilities in the expected ground motion and predicted displacement are either ignored or not treated rigorously. Thus, there is no concept of the actual hazard (i.e., the annual probability of exceedance) associated with the computed displacement. This dissertation focuses on quantifying the risk for earthquake-induced landslides. The basic approach involves a probabilistic framework for computing the annual rate of exceedance of different levels of sliding displacement for a slope such that a hazard curve for sliding displacement can be developed. The framework incorporates the uncertainties in the prediction of earthquake ground shaking, in the prediction of sliding displacement, and in the assessment of soil properties. The framework considers two procedures that will yield a displacement hazard curve: the scalar hazard approach that utilizes a single ground motion parameter and its associated hazard curve to compute permanent sliding displacements; and a vector hazard approach that predicts displacements based on two (or more) ground motion parameters and the correlation between these parameters. Current predictive models for sliding displacement provide the expected level of displacement as a function of the characteristics of the slope (e.g., geometry, strength, yield acceleration) and the characteristics of earthquake shaking (e.g., peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity). However, current models contain significant aleatory variability such that the range of predicted displacements is large. To reduce the variability in the sliding displacement prediction and to provide models appropriate for the presented probabilistic framework, sliding displacement predictive equations are developed that utilize single and multiple ground motion parameters. The developed framework is implemented to the Mint Canyon 7.5-minute quadrangle in California to generate a map of earthquake-induced landslide hazard. Application of the probabilistic procedure to a 7-1/2 minute quadrangle of California is an important exercise to identify potential difficulties in California Geological Survey’s (CGS) current application for hazard mapping, and for the eventual adoption by CGS and USGS. / text

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Timber has been a widely used construction material throughout the history of human development and it is still popular to this day. Timber frames are a common structural form used in historical and modern day structures. An effective means to connect timber members together is via bolts or dowels due to their high strength, ductile behaviour and flexibility in application. Such joints are, however, vulnerable and prone to damage especially during seismic attacks. In order to improve the performance and longevity of timber framed structures, it is necessary to develop simple but effective strengthening schemes for dowel-type timber joints. Additionally, strategies to repair and reinstate damaged joints are also required. The main objectives of this program of doctoral research are to (1) develop strengthening and repair schemes for bolted timber joints using advanced composite materials (i.e. carbon fibre reinforced polymer, CFRP) as well as traditional materials (i.e. steel plates, epoxies and mortars), and (2) investigate the effectiveness of the schemes in improving the seismic performance of timber frames. The strengthening and repair schemes are applied to single-bolt joints and tested under monotonic load. Optimal strengthening and repair schemes are then applied to moment resisting joints and the joints are subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading. Finite element models are then assembled for the latter joint tests. The calibrated joint models are then used in finite element models of timber frames with varying number of storeys and support conditions. The seismic performances of the timber frames are investigated by conducting both nonlinear static and nonlinear time history analyses. The results of the experimental investigations and the finite element analyses show that the strengthening schemes can enhance the strength and stiffness of joints. Optimum strengthening schemes can also improve the seismic performance of timber frames. Based on the work arising from the program of research, future research needs are finally identified. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Not available / text

Kyoto University (京都大学) / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第19115号 / 情博第561号 / 新制||情||99 / 32066 / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 林 春男, 教授 田中 克己, 教授 喜多 一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当