The relationship between exposure to trauma and the development of both Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and general distress has been widely discussed in the empirical literature. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the specific processes through which trauma exposure leads to distress. This lack of research is particularly apparent in research involving residential fire. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which the four types of resource loss (object resource loss, condition resource loss, personal characteristics resource loss, and energy resource loss) mediate the relationship between fire exposure and total distress (as well as intrusion and avoidance symptom clusters). Additionally, total resource loss (a sum of the four types of resource loss) will be examined as a fifth potential mediator. The sample consists of 120 children (mean age = 12.31, SD = 2.83) exposed to residential fire who were interviewed three months after their experience. The proposed mediational analyses were explored through use of regression techniques. With regard to the relationships that showed the necessary significant correlations to perform mediational analyses, the findings of the current investigation provided some preliminary evidence for the mediational role of object resource loss and total resource loss (though these results generally failed to retain significance under the Bonferroni correction). Furthermore, the role of resource loss in the development and maintenance of PTSD was supported. Implications for future research and clinical intervention are discussed. / Master of Science

Aluminum is used as a structural member in marine applications because of its low weight. One challenge is to design against failure of aluminum structures in fire. A parametric study was performed to quantify the effects of parameters on the compression failure of aluminum plates during a fire. A thermo-structural apparatus was designed to perform compression tests on aluminum samples consisting of a compression load frame, a hydraulic system, and electric heaters. The effect of dimensional variation on failure behavior was examined. Aluminum 5083 and 6082 alloys were tested with three thicknesses, two lengths and two widths. Three heat fluxes and various buckling stresses were used. Micro Vicker's hardness values were measured before and after testing to quantify the effect of heating on the strength of the aluminum. In general, lower applied stress resulted in higher failure temperature and longer time to failure. Dimensional variations had a negligible effect on failure behavior. The 5083 alloy has a minimum stress level of 50% of the buckling stress at 10kW/m2 and 10% of the buckling stress at 20kW/m2, while the 6082 alloy has a minimum stress level of 75% of the buckling stress at 10kW/m2 and 25% of the buckling stress at 20kW/m2. The 6082 failed at higher temperatures and longer failure times than the 5083. The presence of insulation on the exposed surface decreased the temperature rise, resulting in longer failure times. Vicker's hardness decreased with heating in general. The results describe the effects of parameters of the failure of aluminum. / Master of Science

Fire-scarred trees provide an important source of data and direct evidence for understanding past fires and vegetation dynamics. Although dendrochronological fire scar records provide fine-scale temporal and spatial resolution, limitations exist in the development, analysis, and interpretation of these fire history datasets. In order to assess these limitations, we applied a systematic gridded sampling scheme to a 4-hectare study area located in the Ridge and Valley Province of northeastern Pennsylvania. We mapped and described a total of 155 fire-scarred trees within a 50-meter resolution grid, noting the species, health status, and basal scar orientation for each tree. Additionally, we cut a full or partial cross section from 58 fire-scarred pitch pine (Pinus rigida) for the purpose of assessing multiple "filtering" techniques and for the development of a fire interval simulation model. The simulation model randomly selected trees from each grid cell to estimate fire return intervals at multiple spatial scales. Our results indicate that fire return intervals are dependent upon the definition of "recorder" years and influenced by various filtering methods, including minimum number and minimum percentage of trees scarred. For example, the number and length of fire intervals was greater when years prior to the initial scar were considered "non-recording" vs. "recording" and when a percentage scarred filter was applied. The simulation model provides an additional range of fire interval estimations that can be used by land managers to guide forest restoration and fire management objectives. / Master of Science / Fire-scarred trees provide a valuable source of data and direct evidence for understanding past fires and vegetation dynamics. Although dendrochronological fire scar records provide fine-scale temporal and spatial resolution, limitations exist in the development, analysis, and interpretation of these fire history datasets. In order to assess these limitations, we applied a systematic gridded sampling scheme to a 4-hectare study area located in the Ridge and Valley Province of Northeastern Pennsylvania. We mapped and described a total of 155 fire-scarred trees within a 50-meter resolution grid, noting the species, health status, and basal scar orientation for each tree. Additionally, we cut a full or partial cross section from 58 fire-scarred pitch pine (Pinus rigida) for the purpose of assessing multiple “filtering” techniques and for the development of a fire interval simulation model. The simulation model randomly selected trees from each grid cell to estimate fire return intervals at multiple spatial scales. Our results indicate that fire return intervals are dependent upon the definition of “recorder” years are influenced by various filtering methods, including minimum number and minimum percentage of trees scarred at local and landscape scale. For example, the number and length of fire intervals was greater when years prior to the initial scar were considered “non-recording” vs. “recording” and when a percentage scarred filter was applied. The simulation model provides an additional range of fire interval estimations that can be used by land managers to guide forest restoration and fire management objectives.

Fires within the built environment are a fact of life and through design and the application of the building regulations and design codes, the risk of fire to the building occupants can be minimised. However, the building regulations within the UK do not deal with property protection and focus solely on the safety of the building occupants. This research details the statistical analysis of the UK Fire and Rescue Service and the Fire Protection Association's fire incident databases to create a loss model framework, allowing the designers of a buildings fire safety systems to conduct a cost benefit analysis on installing additional fire protection solely for property protection. It finds that statistical analysis of the FDR 1 incident database highlights the data collection methods of the Fire and Rescue Service ideally need to be changed to allow further risk analysis on the UK building stock, that the statistics highlight that the incidents affecting the size of a fire are the time from ignition to discovery and the presence of dangerous materials, that sprinkler activations may not be as high as made out by sprinkler groups and that the activation of an alarm system gives a smaller size fire. The original contribution to knowledge that this PhD makes is to analyse the FDR 1 database to try and create a loss model, using data from both the Fire Protection Association and the Fire and Rescue Service.

It is critical for the construction industry to ensure that new building designs and materials, including wall and floor assemblies, provide an acceptable level of fire safety. A key fire safety requirement that is specified in building codes is the minimum fire resistance rating. A manufacturer of building materials (e.g., insulation or drywall) is currently required to perform full-scale fire furnace tests in order to determine the fire resistance ratings of assemblies that use their products. Due to the cost of these tests, and the limited number of test facilities, it can be difficult to properly assess the impact of changes to individual components on the overall fire performance of an assembly during the design process. It would be advantageous to be able to use small-scale fire tests for this purpose, as these tests are relatively inexpensive to perform. One challenge in using results of small-scale fire tests to predict full-scale fire performance is the difficulty in truly representing a larger product or assembly using a small-scale test specimen. Another challenge is the lack of established methods of scaling fire test results. Cone calorimeter tests were used to measure heat transfer through small-scale specimens that are representative of generic wall assemblies for which fire resistance ratings are given in the National Building Code of Canada. Test specimens had a surface area of 111.1 mm (4.375 in.) by 111.1 mm (4.375 in.), and consisted of single or double layers of gypsum board, stone wool insulation and spruce-pine-fir (SPR) studs. As the specimens were designed to represent a one-quarter scale model of a common wall design, with studs spaced at a centre-to-centre distance of 406.4 mm (16 in.), the wood studs were made by cutting nominal 2x4 studs (38 mm by 89 mm) into 9.25 mm by 89 mm (0.375 in. by 3.5 in.) pieces. The scaled studs were then spaced at a centre-to-centre distance of 101.6 mm (4 in.). Three types of gypsum board were tested: 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) regular and lightweight gypsum board, and 15.9 mm (0.625 in.) type X gypsum board. Temperature measurements were made at various points within the specimens during 70 min exposures to an incident heat flux of 35, 50 and 75 kW/m2 using 24 AWG Type K thermocouples and an infrared thermometer. Temperature measurements made during cone calorimeter tests were compared with temperature measurements made during fire resistance tests of the same generic assemblies and the result show a very good agreement for the first 25 min of testing at the unexposed side. A one-dimensional conduction heat transfer model was developed using the finite difference method in order to predict temperatures within the small-scale wall assemblies during the cone calorimeter tests. Constant and temperature-dependent thermal properties were used in the model, in order to study the effects of changes to materials and thermal properties on fire performance. A comparison of predicted and measured temperatures during the cone calorimeter tests of the generic wall assemblies is presented in this thesis. The model had varying degrees of success in predicting temperature profiles obtained in the cone calorimeter tests. Predicted and measured times for temperatures to reach 100C and 250C on the unexposed side of the gypsum board layer closest to the cone heater were generally within 10%. There was less agreement between predicted and measured times to reach 600C at this location, and the temperature increase on the unexposed side of the test specimen. The model did not do a good job in predicting temperatures in the insulated double layer walls. Sensitivity studies show that the thermal conductivity of the gypsum board has the most significant impact on the predicted temperature.

O histórico de incêndios florestais pode ajudar o gestor na localização de áreas de maior risco e, consequentemente, alocar de maneira mais eficaz os recursos de produção. Este trabalho mostra como o histórico de incêndios em florestas de eucalipto pode ser usado para gerar dois modelos preditivos, um de probabilidade de incêndio em nível de talhão e outro de cicatrizes que identificam áreas com cobertura florestal danificada por incêndio. O ajuste do modelo preditivo de probabilidade anual de incêndio teve como variáveis preditivas, uma combinação de variáveis biométricas (volume comercial com casca), climáticas (face de exposição do terreno, precipitação anual, precipitação total anualizada, temperatura média anual e média de umidade relativa do ar), sociais (distância para área urbana, para estradas e para assentamento rural, população municipal, densidade demográfica, e população da zona rural) e de dados processados de levantamentos a laser aerotransportados (ALS): volume estimado por métricas ALS; índice de área foliar para altura total das árvores (LAI), para frações de altura de 1 a 5 metros (LAI_1_5m) e 1 a 10 metros (LAI_1_10m), e estimativa de sub-bosque (proporção entre LAI_1_5m e LAI). Foram utilizadas como técnicas de ajuste, a regressão logística (LOGIT) e o algoritmo Random Forest (RF), que se mostrou superior após o processo de validação-cruzada (tipo \"k-fold\", com k=10). Dados ALS não se mostraram significativos, e o método RF com as variáveis volume comercial com casca, precipitação total anualizada, distância para áreas urbanas e para assentamentos e população da zona rural foi o de melhor eficácia. Esse resultado se expressou nas medidas de especificidade (classificação correta de áreas com registro de incêndio) e performance (classificação correta de áreas preditas como incendiadas). O melhor resultado revela especificidade e performance de 77%. Dentre as variáveis preditoras, a de maior importância foi a precipitação total anualizada. O modelo preditivo de cicatrizes de áreas com cobertura danificada teve sua classificação baseada em três classes: Incêndio, Colheita/Terra Nua e Plantação. O ajuste utilizou como variáveis preditivas 16 métricas multiespectrais, derivadas do sensor RapidEye, e 29 métricas ALS. A resolução espacial das predições é de 5m. Os algoritmos Support Vector Machine (SVM) e Random Forest foram usados como técnicas de classificação, que após a validação-cruzada (\"k-fold\" com k=10), identificou o RF como superior. Neste caso, a inclusão das métricas ALS ao cenário em que se usam apenas dados multiespectrais, aumentaram a sensibilidade para aspectos estruturais da vegetação, verificado para as classes \"Incêndio\" e \"Plantação\" e melhorou a acurácia das predições de 94%, para 97%, e o índice kappa de 90% para 95%. Por importância de capacidade preditiva de cicatrizes de dano, destacam-se as variáveis banda vermelho e NDVI para o RapidEye e, as variáveis relacionadas à cobertura e densidade do dossel, para os dados ALS. Os modelos gerados são úteis para gestores florestais, pois permitem melhor planejamento das operações de combate a incêndio, podendo, inclusive, reduzir custos na operação devido a melhor eficiência logística. / Historical forest fire data can help managers to locate risk areas and, consequently, allocate more efficiently production resources. This work shows how historical fire data from eucalyptus plantations can be used to generate two predictive models, one for fire probability at stand level and another of scars generated from areas with forest cover damaged by fire. The adjustment of the predictive model for fire probability used, as predictive variables, a combination of biometric (volume), climatic (aspect, annual precipitation, annualized total precipitation, annual mean temperature and mean relative air humidity), social (distance to urban area, to roads and to rural settlement, municipal population, demographic density, and rural population), and LiDAR variables: predicted volume by ALS metrics, leaf area index for tree\'s total height (LAI), and for fractions of 1 to 5 meters heigth (LAI_1_5m) and 1 to 10 meters (LAI_1_10m), and a shrub estimation (fraction between LAI_1_5_m and LAI). Logistic regression (LOGIT) and Random Forest (RF) algorithms were compared and RF achieved better accuracy after the 10-fold cross-validation. Adding LiDAR data resulted non significance, and the best adjustment for RF method used wood volume, annualized total precipitation, distance to urban areas, distance to settlements and rural population. The model predictive performance was evaluated by computing the specificity (correct classification of areas with fire registry) and performance (correct classification of areas predicted as burned). The best model yelds specificity and performance of 77%. Among the predictive variables, the one that presented the greatest importance was the annualized total precipitation. The predictive fire scars model had its classification based on three classes: Fire, Harvest / BareLand and Plantation. The adjustment used as predictive variables, 16 multispectral metrics, derived from the RapidEye sensor, and 29 ALS metrics. The spatial resolution of the predictions is 5m. The algorithms Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest were used as classification techniques, and, after the 10-fold cross-validation RF reached the best tune. In this case, combining ALS metrics to the scenario that used only multispectral data, the sensitivity increased for vegetation structure, verified for the \"Fire\" and \"Plantation\" classes, and improved the prediction accuracy from 94% to 97%, and the kappa index from 90% to 95%. Red band and NDVI were the dominant factors from RapidEye to predict fire scars pixels, and variables related to canopy cover and canopy density were the most important variables from the ALS data. The generated models are useful for forest managers, as they allow better planning of fire-fighting operations, and may even reduce operating costs due to better logistics efficiency.

"An organization of a variety of useful references and tools for evaluating typical situations that have to be addressed in a performance based fire safety design are structured in this project. The chapters in this paper are arranged the same way as the situations may appear in fire scenarios. Each chapter discusses relevant issues for regulatory required sub evaluations in fire safety engineering. In this paper the sub evaluations are named; Fire spread within the origin, Barriers and fire spread beyond the origin, Fire detection and initial action, Automatic sprinkler systems, Smoke movement, control and toxicity, Structural frame, Fire brigade intervention and Life safety. The paper addresses standards and publications to evaluate fire safety in buildings. The tools and references presented are an assortment from a variety of methods and correlations that have been developed through the years in order to achieve knowledge of the dynamics of the fire and how to control its severity. The topics for the sub evaluations are codes and standards, design fire development, fire protection efficiencies in fires, reliability issues, building and construction characteristics, occupant characteristics, evaluation tools and evaluation software."

" The Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility (NCTRF) has been conducting fabric research for many decades. This project is a joint effort in establishing new test methods for evaluating the thermal protection garments provide. As a result of this project a new full scale test facility was constructed and is now operational. In this facility, a new traversing manikin test has been developed and will hopefully become a recognized test standard in the future. The traversing manikin test is designed to work with current test methods but also to provide a more detailed evaluation of a garment. Incorporated into the facility is the ability to reconfigure the fire source to recreate design fires that resemble those likely to occur onboard naval ships. While the data gather thus far is limited, it is believed with future testing a large set of data will be available to allow a cross comparison of this test with established test methods. "

"The objective of this thesis is to examine the methods of barrier analysis used in the Building Fire Safety Engineering Method (BFSEM), and to develop the areas of the analysis which currently rely almost exclusively on subjective judgment rather than quantitative measures. The use of the Normalized Heat Load to quantify heat energy impact on a barrier is examined in detail. Procedures are developed which apply the properties of a normal statistical distribution to barrier failures times, for use in simplifying the construction of barrier catalog curves. A framework is also developed to help standardize the selection of barrier effectiveness factors. Finally, this thesis outlines the procedure for developing barrier performance curves to allow easy implementation of the barrier analysis into the general framework of the BFSEM. A design example is presented to illustrate the analysis procedures."

A material study was conducted on two types of cored composite materials used in shipbuilding: a GRP/Balsa Cored sandwich and a GRP/PVC Foam Cored sandwich. The two materials were tested in the Cone Calorimeter and the LIFT Apparatus to obtain data on ignitability, heat release rate, mass loss rate, and smoke production. The observed phenomena of delamination, melting and charring of the core materials, and edge effects are discussed in the context of how they affect test results. The ignition data analysis method specified in ASTM E 1321 "Standard Test Method for Determining Material Ignition and Flame Spread Properties" and Janssens' "improved" method of analysis were both used to derive effective material properties of the test materials. These two analysis methods are shown to produce different material property values for critical irradiance for ignition, ignition temperature, and the effective thermal property, $k ho c$. Material properties derived using Janssens' method are shown to be more consistent between the two test materials and the two different test methods; they were also shown to be better predictors of time to ignition when compared to actual test data. Material properties are used as input to Quintiere's fire growth model in order to evaluate their affect on time to flashover predictions in the ISO 9705 Room/Corner test scenario. Recommendations are made for future testing of cored composite materials, ignition data analysis methods, predictive fire growth models, and other work with composite materials. ** This copy contains no figures or appendices **