Thesis (M.App.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-176). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Based on first author's thesis, Stanford University, 2006. / "July 2008." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Title from PDF title screen. "April 2006." "Research report FHWA-ICT-07-004." "UILU-ENG-2007-2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-256).

Thesis (Ph.D)--City Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: French, Steven P.; Committee Member: Drummond, William; Committee Member: Goodno, Barry; Committee Member: McCarthy, Patrick; Committee Member: Yang, Jiawen. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 283-295).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2009. / Typescript (photocopy). "April 2009." Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed June 5, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-132).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-147). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of earthquake instruction on students' earthquake content and preparedness for earthquakes. This study used an innovative direct instruction on earthquake science content and concepts with an inquiry-based group activity on earthquake safety followed by an earthquake simulation and preparedness video to help middle school students understand and prepare for the regional seismic threat. A convenience sample of 384 sixth and seventh grade students at two small middle schools in southern Illinois was used in this study. Qualitative information was gathered using open-ended survey questions, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were collected using a 21 item content questionnaire administered to test students' General Earthquake Knowledge, Local Earthquake Knowledge, and Earthquake Preparedness Knowledge before and after instruction. A pre-test and post-test survey Likert scale with 21 items was used to collect students' perceptions and attitudes. Qualitative data analysis included quantification of student responses to the open-ended questions and thematic analysis of observation notes and interview transcripts. Quantitative datasets were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods, including t tests to evaluate the differences in means scores between paired groups before and after interventions and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test for differences between mean scores of the comparison groups. Significant mean differences between groups were further examined using a Dunnett's C post hoc statistical analysis. Integration and interpretation of the qualitative and quantitative results of the study revealed a significant increase in general, local and preparedness earthquake knowledge among middle school students after the interventions. The findings specifically indicated that these students felt most aware and prepared for an earthquake after an intervention that consisted of an inquiry-based group discussion on safety, earthquake content presentation and earthquake simulation video presentation on preparedness. Variations of the intervention, including no intervention, were not as effective in significantly increasing students' conceptual learning of earthquake knowledge.

This thesis presents the results obtained from a preliminary investigation into the potential application of the friction damping concept to wood structures to improve their seismic response. Sliding friction devices which contain heavy duty brake lining pads have been proposed in order to enhance a wood structure's seismic performance. The devices are mounted onto a structure's shearwalls to dissipate seismic energy input during the wall's deformation in an earthquake. Prototypes of the four friction damping devices were tested to examine their hysteretic behaviour. Conventional full scale, 2.44 x 2.44 m (8 x 8 ft) timber shearwalls, typical of ones used in residential and light-commercial building applications, and ones retrofitted with the friction damping devices were tested on a shake table. Three set of tests were conducted. They involved loading the walls under unidirectional racking, static-cyclic and simulated earthquake loads. Test results from the two types of shearwalls were compared against each other and against the findings from the computer programs SADT and FRICWALL. SADT is a finite elements program which computes the load-deformation behaviour of shearwalls. FRICWALL is an inelastic time-history dynamic model which computes the response time-history of a shearwall under a simulated seismic event. The cyclic tests of the friction damping devices showed that they exhibited very stable and non-deteriorating hysteretic behaviour. The shake table tests of the full scale timber shearwalls showed that the friction damped walls were stiffer, can sustain an average of 23.7 % higher racking load and dissipate an average of 42.9 % more energy than the conventional ones before a ductile failure. Failure in the conventional walls was brittle. These results were in agreement with the SADT findings. Under slow cyclic loads, they dissipated more energy, but because their overall hysteretic behaviour was still pinched, they were just as inefficient as the conventional walls at dissipating energy. On the average, their seismic performance was only marginally better than that of the conventional wall, with an average drop of 9.6 % in peak wall deflection. This is far short of the average of 29.5 % computed by FRICWALL. Detailed analysis of the results show that due to bending in the framing members of the shearwall, the load necessary to cause slippage of the friction devices was not achieved until wall deflections in the order of 25.4 mm (1.0 in) was reached. Since only at the peak or near-peak excitation levels of an earthquake did shearwall deflections surpass this magnitude, the devices were not able to contribute to the energy dissipation of the shearwalls during the majority portion of a seismic event. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate