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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2016. / In this, Part 1 of a two-part MSc, the geology of the area between Lukla and Mount Everest is described. An outcome of the MSc is the production of a field guide to this area, presented as Part 2 of this thesis. The collision between India and Asia resulted in the Himalayan orogen, 3000 km in lateral extent, an elevated Tibetan Plateau and a crust of at least 60 km in thickness. The resulting crustal flow from under this region is in the direction of least resistance, eastwards towards the Pacific subduction zones, but there is also southwards flow towards the Indian subcontinent resulting in vertical complexity. This southwards extrusion of mid-crustal rocks through a mechanism termed channel flow explains the presence of Miocene leucogranite between Ordovician limestones comprising the summit of Everest, and granite gneiss underlying the exhumed granite. Rapid rates of denudation assisted the extrusion of crustal slabs between the South Tibetan Detachment (STD) and the Main Central Thrust (MCT). Low-grade metamorphic rocks of the Everest Series are juxtaposed across the STD with the underlying high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS). The GHS rocks in turn, are juxtaposed across the MCT with the underlying low-grade Siwaliks. Everest Series schists record temperatures of between 600 °C and 650 °C, and pressure estimates for these rocks ranging from 2.9 ± 0.6 kbar to 6.2 ± 0.7 kbar, corresponding to burial depths of between 10 km and 20 km. The GHS experienced eclogite facies metamorphism with pressures of > 14 kbar (>45 km depth) before being exhumed to granulite facies conditions of 4-6 kbar and 700-800 °C. High-temperature metamorphism of the GHS has resulted in partial melting and melt segregation and ascent to form the High Himalayan Leucogranites, a number of granitic bodies that have accumulated near the top of the GHS. Intense erosion through the action of glaciers, rivers, landslides and earthquakes (as the 25th April 2015 magnitude 7.8, and 12th May 2015, of magnitude 7.3 earthquakes attest), balance uplift of the Himalaya. / LG2017

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 328-335).

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<p> </p><p>In an organisation, escalation of commitment represents behaviour of decision makers who become committed to failing courses of action. This behaviour usually derives from the decision makers’ reluctance to acknowledge their failed action in the initial allotment of time and resources, and thus taking actions to manifest their prior decision were correct and they will be achieving the planned goal.</p><p> </p><p>In a single day of 1996 during a climbing expedition destined to summit Mt Everest, eight people lost their lives, including the climbing team leaders, in part due to the decision made that led to the teams to engage in escalation behaviour.  The climbing teams in the 1996 Mt Everest expedition serve as examples of temporary organisations in an extreme setting. The purpose of the research is to explore insights on the aspects promoting escalation on the Mt Everest tragedy and shed some light into how escalation manifests in temporary organisations. The factors that might be found will be applicable only to this particular case; nevertheless they might contribute on the overall development of how escalation comes about in temporary organisations. The research question of this study is how aspects promoting escalation where present in the 1996 Mt. Everest expedition?</p><p> </p><p>For many years different theories attempted to explain the factors that promote escalation behaviour. The most important theories were combined together into a theoretical framework developed by Staw and Ross (1987a), which contains four major determinants of commitment in escalation: project, psychological, social and organisational. This framework is applied in this qualitative study based on the 1996 Mt Everest case. The study was executed through the analysis of the firsthand accounts of the survivors and observers present on the mountain that year as well as mass media outputs, the framework of escalation was used as an assistance tool for making sense of the findings the research may produce.</p><p> </p><p>The results of the study managed to place the line of events in the determinants framework and identified all four types of determinants of commitment taking place through the progress of the expedition. A new organisational determinant of commitment was found (<em>pursuit of enterprise growth</em>) which yielded significant practical implications and might also lead the way for future research on escalation of commitment in temporary organisations.</p>

In an organisation, escalation of commitment represents behaviour of decision makers who become committed to failing courses of action. This behaviour usually derives from the decision makers’ reluctance to acknowledge their failed action in the initial allotment of time and resources, and thus taking actions to manifest their prior decision were correct and they will be achieving the planned goal.   In a single day of 1996 during a climbing expedition destined to summit Mt Everest, eight people lost their lives, including the climbing team leaders, in part due to the decision made that led to the teams to engage in escalation behaviour.  The climbing teams in the 1996 Mt Everest expedition serve as examples of temporary organisations in an extreme setting. The purpose of the research is to explore insights on the aspects promoting escalation on the Mt Everest tragedy and shed some light into how escalation manifests in temporary organisations. The factors that might be found will be applicable only to this particular case; nevertheless they might contribute on the overall development of how escalation comes about in temporary organisations. The research question of this study is how aspects promoting escalation where present in the 1996 Mt. Everest expedition?   For many years different theories attempted to explain the factors that promote escalation behaviour. The most important theories were combined together into a theoretical framework developed by Staw and Ross (1987a), which contains four major determinants of commitment in escalation: project, psychological, social and organisational. This framework is applied in this qualitative study based on the 1996 Mt Everest case. The study was executed through the analysis of the firsthand accounts of the survivors and observers present on the mountain that year as well as mass media outputs, the framework of escalation was used as an assistance tool for making sense of the findings the research may produce.   The results of the study managed to place the line of events in the determinants framework and identified all four types of determinants of commitment taking place through the progress of the expedition. A new organisational determinant of commitment was found (pursuit of enterprise growth) which yielded significant practical implications and might also lead the way for future research on escalation of commitment in temporary organisations.

In the context of growing tourism and global warming, the fragile landscape of the Himalayas is under immense pressure because of rapid land cover changes in developing countries like Nepal. Remotely sensed data combined with ethnographic knowledge are useful tools for studying such changes. The quantitative change can be measured analyzing satellite images whereas local people’s perceptions provide supportive information. To measure such changes in Sagarmatha National Park of Nepal, Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM) images since 1972 were used. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was calculated for different elevation classes and land cover types. These measurements, along with land cover change (1992- 2006) analysis, shows a significant conversion of the areas covered by ice, shrub and grass to rock and soil. Factors including political conflict due to a Maoist rebellion group, inactive park management, increasing tourist demand, and consequent natural resources exploitation helped to explain the change in the forested areas. This is supported by the information from short, informal, semi-structured interviews with local people. However, the local people are unaware of global warming, which has caused the ice melting and glacial lake expansion. Although global causes are out of the immediate control of land managers, better management practices and managed tourism might help alleviate deteriorating Himalayan ecosystems.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (Last 9 leaves ).

Contemporary crisis literature often returns to [in]famous and extraordinary cases with a recurring conclusion of how ill-irrational human factors lead to disastrous escalation. I argue in every crisis observed, there are human traits and paradoxes visible that commit itself to survival that can help us to explain how and why escalation occur. To enable escalation we inevitably construct realities to define aims to solve the crisis. Still if these realities can be inherently viewed as illusionistic they are inevitable and inherent to our mental states. So far there is a lacuna about how actors embody the experience of everyday life and crisis as such. Lately, management literature starts to appreciate how rationality often begins with irrational impulses, but also how crisis is socially materialized that involves how escalation builds up. Finally, how it is incorporated into our cognitive frames that constitutes reality. From an embodied perspective, this thesis aims to answer two questions, how does escalation occur and why do we escalate? Based on data from 2016, present thesis conducted an in-depth case study to explore an impromptu rescue mission on Everest. Method used was a video ethnography of 120 video clips that was analyzed through grounded theory. Specifically targeting verbal and non-verbal communication between members which is referred as a study of embodied cognition. Findings show how we tend to thinking from previous patterns from previous events. Emotions and embodiment are influential but equally important in the process, emotions are communicated that commit actions that shapes the events to become alive. Why it accomplishes is through constant reframing. I argue that our cognitive frame is a fabrication and that the embodiment helps us to revise the reality and emotions. The constant revision is accomplished since our interpretation is intimately connected to the existing fabric that also determines the emotional state. I finally propose a concept that illustrate how the fabrication process goes in loops. The conclusion of this thesis suggests emotions as prominent when and how we experience the world, the embodied dimensions are highly influential and important which not only triggers but airborne the mental cognition by making the reality come “alive”.

Everest is a creative writing project and an analysis of that project that focuses on the creative writing experience. The creative project is composed of two individual short stories focusing on themes of journeying and personal development. The stories are entitled, “Everest,” and “Shenyang.” They are based on personal experience and important life questions.