Local site conditions can greatly increase the intensity and character of earthquake shaking and, thus, the extent and type of structural damage. The removal and replacement of in-situ soils with compacted gravel-sized volcanic rock has been prevalent in the Icelandic foundation subgrade construction practice for decades, despite the unknown seismic site response characteristics of the fill (e.g., the predominant frequency and relative site amplification). To fill this knowledge gap, over 500 hours of microtremor measurements were made at six study sites located throughout the Reykjavík, Iceland, capital region. Measurements recorded at various construction stages (e.g., the in-situ or pre-excavation, post-excavation, intermediate grades, and final grade) reveal the change in site response characteristics before and after gravel fill placement. The data was analyzed using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) technique over a bandwidth of 0.3 to 25 Hz. Generally, the pre-excavation condition had a predominant site frequency between 3.5 and 7 Hz with relative amplification between 3.8 and 3.9 times. The placement of gravel fill atop dense to very dense silty sand underlain by bedrock shifts the predominant frequency between 10 and 16 Hz with a relative peak amplification between 2.5 and 5.3 times, generally increasing with fill thickness. Fill underlain by undulating lava rock also results in a higher a predominant frequency between 9 and 10.5 Hz, but little change in relative site amplification occurred at these frequencies (between 0.95 and 1.2 times). This dissimilarity is due to the unique lava rock HVSR signatures which have large amplification values (between 2.6 to 3.9 times) throughout the high-band frequency range. Additional investigations of sites underlain by lava rock are required to draw stronger empirical trends. The data set produced by this study can serve as a useful tool for the local geotechnical and seismological communities to mitigate seismic risk for the capital region. / Master of Science / Problematic soil conditions can greatly increase the intensity and character of earthquake shaking and, thus, the extent and type of building damage. The removal of native soils and replacement with compacted gravel-sized fill has been the predominant building foundation subgrade construction method in Iceland for decades. The practice of removal and replacement is one of the oldest and conceptually simplest approaches of site improvement to reduce settlement and increase soil strength. However, the understanding of how compacted gravel fill responds to earthquake shaking was nonexistent in literature. To fill this knowledge gap, the response characteristics of compacted gravel fill were derived using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) and standard spectral ratio (SSR) analysis techniques from a data set of over 500 hours of experimental in-field measurements. Measurements were recorded at various construction stages (e.g., pre-excavation or native soil, post-excavation, intermediate fill grades, and the final fill grade) to reveal the change in site response characteristics before and after gravel fill placement. The findings presented in this thesis can serve as useful information for the local geotechnical and seismological communities to mitigate seismic risk (e.g., the probability of building damage and/or loss of lives) of structures with compacted gravel fill subgrades in the Reykjavík, Iceland capital region.

No description available.

Téhéran, capitale de l'Iran et ville en pleine expansion démographique comptant déjà environ 8 millions d'habitants, est sous la menace de séismes de magnitude supérieure à 7 sur des failles très proches. L'alea et le risque sismiques y sont donc très élevés et préoccupants, et ont conduits à 'une action de collaboration franco-iranienne sur la tectonique de l'Alborz Central et l'aléa sismique à Téhéran. Dans ce cadre, la présente thèse se focalise sur l'analyse des conditions géotechniques dans l'agglomération de Téhéran, et de leurs conséquences sur les caractéristiques des mouvements sismiques. Dans ce but, une campagne d'enregistrements sismologiques dans l'agglomération a été conduite de février à juin 2002. L'objectif en était la mesure expérimentale des effets d'amplification ou de déamplification du proche sous-sol, dans la perspective, à moyen terme, d'un microzonage sismique à mettre en œuvre par les autorités locales. 13 stations sismologiques ont été installées sur différents sites, choisis en fonction de leur représentativité géotechnique: rocher au nord et à l'Est, sédiments raides dans la partie nord et sédiments plus mous dans la partie sud. En outre, plus de 60 mesures ponctuelles de bruit de fond ont été effectuées pour guider l'interpolation des fonctions de transfert expérimentales obtenues sur les 13 sites. Une premier volet de ce travail a consisté à analyser ces enregistrements en relation avec les caractéristiques géotechniques, au moyen de différentes techniques de traitement visant à l'estimation des effets de site en amplitude et en durée: rapport spectral site/référence; fonction récepteur ou rapport H/V séismes; rapport spectral horizontal/vertical sur le bruit de fond; délai de groupe et sonogramme. Ces traitements ont mis en évidence un effet d'amplification important tant en amplitude qu'en durée sur la plupart des sites considérés et particulièrement au sud-ouest de la ville où le niveau d'amplification atteint jusqu'à 7-8 contrastant aussi avec les valeurs modérées (facteur 2 à 3) prédites dans les études précédentes avec une approche 1D. De plus cette amplification se produit sur une gamme de fréquence très large, démarrant à très basse fréquence (0.3-0.4 Hz). Cette thèse comporte également une comparaison systématique des informations déduites du bruit de fond à celles déduites des enregistrements de séismes, intégrant d'autres données en provenance de plus de 150 sites européens. Cette comparaison montre que malgré la capacité de la méthode H/V à prédire la fréquence fondamentale dans environ 80% des cas, il y a des échecs, notamment dans le cas de Téhéran où les courbes H/V restent plates pour la plupart des sites. Elle met aussi en évidence les fortes différences entre l'amplitude du pic H/V et l'amplification réelle: si la première est quasi-systématiquement inférieure à la seconde, il semble aussi que ces différences soient d'autant plus importantes que l'on s'éloigne d'une stratification horizontale (effets "de vallée"). Enfin le dernier aspect a concerné à la simulation des mouvements forts par la méthode de fonction de Green empirique. Quatre scénarios différents, correspondant à l'occurrence de séismes forts sur les failles de Mosha, Nord-Alborz et Garmsar ont été simulés. Pour ces trois failles un séisme de magnitude Mw = 7.1 est considéré comme le séisme cible; pour la dernière un séisme de magnitude Mw = 7.6 a été aussi envisagé. Les résultats montrent les valeurs d'accélérations maximales assez significatives et des spectres de réponse dépassant parfois le spectre réglementaire actuellement en vigueur, principalement à cause des effets d'amplification.

The premise of this study is the in-depth exploration and investigation of the nature of Ethical Decision Making (EDM) in marketing research. More specifically, this research is concerned with exploring the understanding and the holistic conceptualisation of Ethical Decision Making (EDM) through the investigation of different moral agents in marketing research in the United Kingdom. In particular, marketing research researchers’ (MR researchers) and marketing research respondents’ (MR respondents) ethical judgements and behavioural intentions have been investigated based on two marketing research techniques that generate ethical issues; neuromarketing [NM] and autoethnography [AE], Despite the examination of the two aforementioned moral agents, at the heart of this thesis has been the investigation of MR researchers’ (un)willingness to adopt or practice (i.e. behavioural intentions) these marketing research techniques. This study employed a qualitative design and was initiated on descriptive behavioural ethics, in order to investigate MR researchers’ behavioural intentions, while it has a nonnative purpose towards norm generation in the field. Thus, the Theory of Planned Behaviour’ and the ‘General Theory of Marketing Ethics’ (i.e. H-V model) were applied for the initial theoretical considerations of this thesis. By utilising descriptive and nonnative ethical accounts, this study has found that Ethical Decision Making (EDM) in marketing research is grounded in a social contract ethics foundation of a multidimensional structural functionalistic premise. Within this ethical setting the MR researcher is considering the MR respondent’s decision making processes with regards to norm generation, governed by social consensus, social proof and conformity. This results from a multidimensional interdependent social interaction of the two moral agents. Finally, this thesis concludes that Ethical Decision Making (EDM) in marketing research is not conceptualised in a linear progressive manner, but it consists of numerous constructs that fit with each other in a rather loosely coupled modular manner depicting a rather complex and dynamic system of multilayered factors and multi-dimensional constructs.

No description available.

Yes / Falls on stairs are a common and dangerous problem for older people. This series of studies evaluated whether or not selected changes to the appearance of stairs could make them safer for older people to negotiate. Objectives: To determine the effect of (1) a step edge highlighter and its position and (2) an optimised horizontal–vertical (H–V) visual illusion placed on a step riser on gait safety during stair descent and ascent. Design: A series of studies using a repeated measures, laboratory-based design, investigating gait control and safety in independently mobile older people. Setting: The University of Bradford Vision and Mobility Laboratory. Participants: Fit and healthy older people aged 60 years of age or more, independently mobile, reasonably active and with normal healthy eyes and corrected vision. Interventions: A step edge highlighter in a variety of offsets from the stair edge and an optimised H–V visual illusion placed on the stair riser. The H–V illusion was provided on a staircase by horizontal step edge highlighters on the tread edges and vertical stripes on the step risers. Main outcome measures: Gait parameters that are important for safe stepping in ascent and descent, particularly toe clearance during stair ascent and heel clearance during stair descent. Results: The step edge highlighter increased the precision of heel clearance during stepping and its positioning relative to the tread edge determined the extent of heel clearance over the tread edge. Positioning the highlighter away from the tread edge, as is not uncommonly provided by friction strips, decreased heel clearance significantly and led to greater heel scuffs. Although psychophysics experiments suggested that higher spatial frequencies of the H–V illusion might provide greater toe clearance on stair ascent, gait trials showed similar increased toe clearances for all spatial frequencies. When a 12 cycle per step spatial frequency H–V illusion was used, toe clearance increases of approximately 1 cm (17.5%) occurred without any accompanying changes in other important gait parameters or stability measures. Conclusions: High-contrast tread edge highlighters present on steps and stairs and positioned flush with the edge of the tread or as near to this as possible should improve stair descent safety in older people. A H–V illusion positioned on the riser of a raised surface/walkway (e.g. kerbs) and/or the top and/or bottom of a stairway is likely to increase foot clearance over the associated step/stair edge, and appears not to lead to any decrement in postural stability. Thus, their use is likely to reduce trip risk and hence improve stair ascent safety. The effect of the step and stair modifications should be assessed in older people with visual impairment. The only other remaining assessment that could be made would be to assess fall prevalence on steps and stairs, perhaps in public buildings, with and without these modifications. / National Institute for Health Research, Public Health Research programme. PHR programme as project number 10/3009/06

A destruição causada por um terremoto depende de muitos fatores, como características e profundidade da fonte, magnitude, distância epicentral e da configuração geológica da área. A destruição causada devido à configuração geológica da área é denominada como efeito local. A modelagem do efeito local implica na determinação do tempo e nível de vibração e do efeito de amplificação do deslocamento. As propriedades elásticas dos materiais geológicos (velocidade das ondas de compressão e de cisalhamento, densidade, espessura da camada de solo, etc.) podem ser obtidas por diversos métodos geofísicos. O conhecimento dessas propriedades elásticas ajuda a melhor projetar as infraestruturas e reduzir as chances de danos. Este procedimento é denominado de microzoneamento. Os parâmetros mais importantes para realizar o microzoneamento são as espessuras dos sedimentos que recobrem o embasamento e o perfil das velocidades das ondas S (cisalhamento). Esses dois parâmetros são adequadamente caracterizados pelo uso de várias técnicas geofísicas como perfilagens em furos de sondagem, reflexão e refração sísmica. Esses métodos geofísicos trazem algumas restrições como a necessidade da execução de um furo, emprego de fontes sísmicas artificiais que muitas vezes são dispendiosas e por vezes de uso restrito em áreas urbanas, além de muitas vezes estarem limitadas a investigações de apenas algumas dezenas de metros. Os métodos que substituíram esses métodos geofísicos convencionais nas últimas décadas são a análise do ruído sísmico produzido por fontes naturais e culturais. Este ruído sísmico ambiental pode ser registrado com menor custo e esforço e com boa cobertura lateral. Várias técnicas que se utilizam do ruído sísmico podem ser empregadas, no entanto, aquela que obteve maior atenção nos últimos anos é a técnica da razão do espectro horizontal sobre o espectro vertical da onda de superfície (H/V). A curva da razão espectral H/V é uma ferramenta rápida, fácil e de baixo custo para a caracterização da subsuperfície rasa. Existem vários estudos realizados sobre o tema que tentaram cobrir todos os aspectos e problemas associados ao método. Aqui neste estudo são aprofundados alguns aspectos ainda não avaliados em detalhe. Diferentes procedimentos para a modelagem e as associações entre os fenômenos físicos envolvidos e as características da curva H/V são discutidos e os resultados numéricos desses estudos são comparados com informações extraídas de perfis de sondagens de um dos locais estudados. O pico e a forma da curva H / V são modelados para encontrar o desvio na frequência de pico a partir da frequência de ressonância da onda de cisalhamento considerando diferentes campos de onda em torno do pico, assim como sua relação com a forma dominante da curva. A frequência de pico das curvas H/V é utilizada para estimar a relação entre a frequência a espessura através de análise de regressão. O estudo mostra que a curva de dispersão obtida a partir de um ensaio MASW pode ser usada para estimar a velocidade da onda S a um metro de profundidade e sua tendência de aumento com a profundidade. Esses valores podem ser usados para estimar a relação frequência-espessura para uma área. Esses resultados são comparados com a relação frequência-espessura derivada experimentalmente para a mesma área. A sensibilidade da forma da curva H/V à estrutura de velocidade do meio é analisada através de duas técnicas de modelagem (elipticidade da onda Rayleigh e campo difuso baseado na curva H/V). Diferentes partes da curva H/V são invertidas visando avaliar qual a parte da curva H/V contém as informações mais importantes sobre a estrutura subterrânea. As lições aprendidas dessas análises são aplicadas a três dados experimentais de locais distintos. As ondas Love podem contaminar o resultado da curva H/V. Duas técnicas diferentes para remover o efeito das ondas amorosas são discutidas. Em seguida, são discutidos os resultados da inversão conjunta das curvas de dispersão e da curva H/V após remoção do efeito da onda Love, ou seja, a curva de elipticidade. Alguns aspectos novos da técnica H/V são discutidos no final. / The destruction caused by an earthquake at a site depends on many factors like source characteristics such as magnitude, epicentral distance from the site, depth of the source, and on the geological setting of the area. The destruction caused due to the geological setting of an area is termed as site effect. To model the site effect of an area is to determine the shaking level longevity and its displacement amplification. The elastic properties (shear and compressional wave velocities, density, thickness of soil layer, etc.) of the site are required to find out by employing various geophysical procedures. The knowledge of these elastic properties help in better designing the infrastructure, which reduces the chances of destruction caused by a local geological setting due to an earthquake occurrence. This procedure is widely termed as microzonation. The most important parameters for the microzonation are the thickness of soft sediments over the seismic bedrock and its shear wave velocity profile. These two parameters are properly characterized by employing various geophysical techniques like borehole measurement, seismic reflection and seismic refraction. The conventional geophysical methods bring some hindrance to the picture such as, the drilling of a borehole and artificial seismic sources deployment for the reflection and refraction survey, which are both expensive and time consuming, difficult or even in some case impossible to implement in urbanized environment, the investigation is depth limited to few tens of meter. The methods which replaced this conventional geophysical method from the last decades or so is the analysis of Earth vibration caused by the seismic noise which is produced by both natural and cultural sources. This ambient seismic noise can be recorded with less cost and effort with good lateral coverage. Various seismic noise techniques are employed for this job; however, the one which got the most attention in recent years is the horizontal over vertical spectral ratio (H/V) technique. The H/V spectral ratio curve is a fast easy and cheap tool for the near-subsurface characterization. There are various study performed on the topic which has tried to cover almost all the aspects and problems associated with the method. Here in this study, we try to detail the aspects of this technique, which are not been evaluated fully. The different modelling procedures presented to model and physically link the H/V curve with some physical phenomenon will be discussed and its numerical result with the experimental H/V curve will be compared for a borehole test site. The peak and the shape of the H/V curve will be modelled to find its peak frequency deviation from the shear wave resonance frequency by considering different wave-field around the peak. Similarly, the shape dominancy of the H/V curve linkage will be find out. The peak frequency of the H/V curve is used to estimate the thickness-frequency relation by regression analysis. Here we will show that the dispersion curve obtained from multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) can be used to estimate the velocity at one meter and the shear wave velocity increase trend with depth. These values can be used to estimate the thickness frequency relation for an area and its result will be compared with the experimentally derived thickness-frequency relationship for the same area. The sensitivity of the H/V curve shape to the subsurface velocity structure will find out for two main modelling techniques (Rayleigh wave ellipticity and diffused field based H/V curve). The different parts of the H/V curve are inverted (back modelled) to find out the part of H/V curve which is carrying the most important information about the subsurface structure. The lesson learned from all this analysis will be applied to experimental data of three different sites. The Love waves might contaminate the result of the H/V curve. Two different techniques to remove their effects will be discussed. Then, the joint inversion result of the dispersion and this Love effect removed H/V for more precisely ellipticity curve is discussed. Some new aspects of the H/V curve technique are also discussed at the end.

A destruição causada por um terremoto depende de muitos fatores, como características e profundidade da fonte, magnitude, distância epicentral e da configuração geológica da área. A destruição causada devido à configuração geológica da área é denominada como efeito local. A modelagem do efeito local implica na determinação do tempo e nível de vibração e do efeito de amplificação do deslocamento. As propriedades elásticas dos materiais geológicos (velocidade das ondas de compressão e de cisalhamento, densidade, espessura da camada de solo, etc.) podem ser obtidas por diversos métodos geofísicos. O conhecimento dessas propriedades elásticas ajuda a melhor projetar as infraestruturas e reduzir as chances de danos. Este procedimento é denominado de microzoneamento. Os parâmetros mais importantes para realizar o microzoneamento são as espessuras dos sedimentos que recobrem o embasamento e o perfil das velocidades das ondas S (cisalhamento). Esses dois parâmetros são adequadamente caracterizados pelo uso de várias técnicas geofísicas como perfilagens em furos de sondagem, reflexão e refração sísmica. Esses métodos geofísicos trazem algumas restrições como a necessidade da execução de um furo, emprego de fontes sísmicas artificiais que muitas vezes são dispendiosas e por vezes de uso restrito em áreas urbanas, além de muitas vezes estarem limitadas a investigações de apenas algumas dezenas de metros. Os métodos que substituíram esses métodos geofísicos convencionais nas últimas décadas são a análise do ruído sísmico produzido por fontes naturais e culturais. Este ruído sísmico ambiental pode ser registrado com menor custo e esforço e com boa cobertura lateral. Várias técnicas que se utilizam do ruído sísmico podem ser empregadas, no entanto, aquela que obteve maior atenção nos últimos anos é a técnica da razão do espectro horizontal sobre o espectro vertical da onda de superfície (H/V). A curva da razão espectral H/V é uma ferramenta rápida, fácil e de baixo custo para a caracterização da subsuperfície rasa. Existem vários estudos realizados sobre o tema que tentaram cobrir todos os aspectos e problemas associados ao método. Aqui neste estudo são aprofundados alguns aspectos ainda não avaliados em detalhe. Diferentes procedimentos para a modelagem e as associações entre os fenômenos físicos envolvidos e as características da curva H/V são discutidos e os resultados numéricos desses estudos são comparados com informações extraídas de perfis de sondagens de um dos locais estudados. O pico e a forma da curva H / V são modelados para encontrar o desvio na frequência de pico a partir da frequência de ressonância da onda de cisalhamento considerando diferentes campos de onda em torno do pico, assim como sua relação com a forma dominante da curva. A frequência de pico das curvas H/V é utilizada para estimar a relação entre a frequência a espessura através de análise de regressão. O estudo mostra que a curva de dispersão obtida a partir de um ensaio MASW pode ser usada para estimar a velocidade da onda S a um metro de profundidade e sua tendência de aumento com a profundidade. Esses valores podem ser usados para estimar a relação frequência-espessura para uma área. Esses resultados são comparados com a relação frequência-espessura derivada experimentalmente para a mesma área. A sensibilidade da forma da curva H/V à estrutura de velocidade do meio é analisada através de duas técnicas de modelagem (elipticidade da onda Rayleigh e campo difuso baseado na curva H/V). Diferentes partes da curva H/V são invertidas visando avaliar qual a parte da curva H/V contém as informações mais importantes sobre a estrutura subterrânea. As lições aprendidas dessas análises são aplicadas a três dados experimentais de locais distintos. As ondas Love podem contaminar o resultado da curva H/V. Duas técnicas diferentes para remover o efeito das ondas amorosas são discutidas. Em seguida, são discutidos os resultados da inversão conjunta das curvas de dispersão e da curva H/V após remoção do efeito da onda Love, ou seja, a curva de elipticidade. Alguns aspectos novos da técnica H/V são discutidos no final. / The destruction caused by an earthquake at a site depends on many factors like source characteristics such as magnitude, epicentral distance from the site, depth of the source, and on the geological setting of the area. The destruction caused due to the geological setting of an area is termed as site effect. To model the site effect of an area is to determine the shaking level longevity and its displacement amplification. The elastic properties (shear and compressional wave velocities, density, thickness of soil layer, etc.) of the site are required to find out by employing various geophysical procedures. The knowledge of these elastic properties help in better designing the infrastructure, which reduces the chances of destruction caused by a local geological setting due to an earthquake occurrence. This procedure is widely termed as microzonation. The most important parameters for the microzonation are the thickness of soft sediments over the seismic bedrock and its shear wave velocity profile. These two parameters are properly characterized by employing various geophysical techniques like borehole measurement, seismic reflection and seismic refraction. The conventional geophysical methods bring some hindrance to the picture such as, the drilling of a borehole and artificial seismic sources deployment for the reflection and refraction survey, which are both expensive and time consuming, difficult or even in some case impossible to implement in urbanized environment, the investigation is depth limited to few tens of meter. The methods which replaced this conventional geophysical method from the last decades or so is the analysis of Earth vibration caused by the seismic noise which is produced by both natural and cultural sources. This ambient seismic noise can be recorded with less cost and effort with good lateral coverage. Various seismic noise techniques are employed for this job; however, the one which got the most attention in recent years is the horizontal over vertical spectral ratio (H/V) technique. The H/V spectral ratio curve is a fast easy and cheap tool for the near-subsurface characterization. There are various study performed on the topic which has tried to cover almost all the aspects and problems associated with the method. Here in this study, we try to detail the aspects of this technique, which are not been evaluated fully. The different modelling procedures presented to model and physically link the H/V curve with some physical phenomenon will be discussed and its numerical result with the experimental H/V curve will be compared for a borehole test site. The peak and the shape of the H/V curve will be modelled to find its peak frequency deviation from the shear wave resonance frequency by considering different wave-field around the peak. Similarly, the shape dominancy of the H/V curve linkage will be find out. The peak frequency of the H/V curve is used to estimate the thickness-frequency relation by regression analysis. Here we will show that the dispersion curve obtained from multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) can be used to estimate the velocity at one meter and the shear wave velocity increase trend with depth. These values can be used to estimate the thickness frequency relation for an area and its result will be compared with the experimentally derived thickness-frequency relationship for the same area. The sensitivity of the H/V curve shape to the subsurface velocity structure will find out for two main modelling techniques (Rayleigh wave ellipticity and diffused field based H/V curve). The different parts of the H/V curve are inverted (back modelled) to find out the part of H/V curve which is carrying the most important information about the subsurface structure. The lesson learned from all this analysis will be applied to experimental data of three different sites. The Love waves might contaminate the result of the H/V curve. Two different techniques to remove their effects will be discussed. Then, the joint inversion result of the dispersion and this Love effect removed H/V for more precisely ellipticity curve is discussed. Some new aspects of the H/V curve technique are also discussed at the end.

No description available.