Due to the inherent hazardous characteristics associated with dolomite and development on dolomite, quantification of the stability attributes related to dolomite is essential. In large parts of South Africa, development on dolomite is inevitable due to the location thereof. The purpose of this study is to define an implementation framework for decision-making with regards to development on dolomite. The decision-making process is based on a dolomite stability investigation conducted by AGES North West (AGES, 2012) within Sarafina, Ikageng. The results from this study are interpreted by means of a decision support system that is based on the geo-environmental setting of the study area and the geotechnical properties related to the subsurface profile. This includes but is not limited to: Geo-environmental site conditions: • Drainage • Topography • Geophysical conditions • Regional geological conditions • Local geological conditions • Regional groundwater conditions • Local groundwater conditions Geotechnical stability of the dolomite based on the hazard characterisation and evaluation procedures: • Percussion drilling data • Receptacle development • Mobilisation agencies • Potential surface manifestation development space • Nature and mobilisation potential of the blanketing layer • The bedrock morphology These parameters are all inter-related and affect each other in various ways. During the study the importance of site specific observations and interpretations are emphasized. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Learners at the public schools of North West Province in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda Education region, within the Matlosana Local municipality’s municipal area of jurisdiction, are exposed to unhygienic health hazard conditions due to insufficient toilet facilities used by a large number of learners and poor health conditions resulting out of it, which might cause and spread health related diseases to the users of these toilet facilities. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the nature and extent of the provisioning and maintenance of toilet facilities in the public schools within the Matlosana Local Municipality’s municipal area. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to obtain information from 57 respondents who comprised of the 3 schools principals who constituted 5% of the research population, 18 educators who constituted 32% and 36 learners who constituted 63%, all totalling 100% of the research sample size, at Are-Fadimeheng; Dominion Reefs and Nkagisang public schools. The findings revealed that the majority, which is 85% of the research population (learners and educators) as users of these facilities are affected and were generally unhappy about the prevailing conditions of the school toilet facilities. This they attribute to lack of proper budgeting as the main cause. The most aggravating factor is the absence of a janitor with plumbing skills to look after the schools’ toilet facilities. Findings highlighted that school learners and educators deserve as their human right to live under acceptable health conditions and clean environment. However it is the responsibility of the Government to expand the existing schools toilet structures which are in line with the National Building regulation ratio of 1:25 of users per toilet as recommended by Department of Water Affairs (DWA), to ensure health for all. The results of this study can assist the government to embark on strategic intervention programmes that can improve conditions of public schools toilet facilities in the North West Province, South Africa to meet the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) target in addressing sanitation backlogs by half in 2015. Conclusions for the study were drawn and recommendations were made for the improvement of conditions in the Public Schools Toilet facilities. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Learners at the public schools of North West Province in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda Education region, within the Matlosana Local municipality’s municipal area of jurisdiction, are exposed to unhygienic health hazard conditions due to insufficient toilet facilities used by a large number of learners and poor health conditions resulting out of it, which might cause and spread health related diseases to the users of these toilet facilities. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the nature and extent of the provisioning and maintenance of toilet facilities in the public schools within the Matlosana Local Municipality’s municipal area. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to obtain information from 57 respondents who comprised of the 3 schools principals who constituted 5% of the research population, 18 educators who constituted 32% and 36 learners who constituted 63%, all totalling 100% of the research sample size, at Are-Fadimeheng; Dominion Reefs and Nkagisang public schools. The findings revealed that the majority, which is 85% of the research population (learners and educators) as users of these facilities are affected and were generally unhappy about the prevailing conditions of the school toilet facilities. This they attribute to lack of proper budgeting as the main cause. The most aggravating factor is the absence of a janitor with plumbing skills to look after the schools’ toilet facilities. Findings highlighted that school learners and educators deserve as their human right to live under acceptable health conditions and clean environment. However it is the responsibility of the Government to expand the existing schools toilet structures which are in line with the National Building regulation ratio of 1:25 of users per toilet as recommended by Department of Water Affairs (DWA), to ensure health for all. The results of this study can assist the government to embark on strategic intervention programmes that can improve conditions of public schools toilet facilities in the North West Province, South Africa to meet the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) target in addressing sanitation backlogs by half in 2015. Conclusions for the study were drawn and recommendations were made for the improvement of conditions in the Public Schools Toilet facilities. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Future changes in climate and land use are likely to affect catchment hydrological responses and consequently influence the amount of runoff reaching roads. Blockages and damage to under-dimensioned infrastructure can be extremely costly for the regions affected. This study aims to produce scientifically well-founded suggestions on adaptation of road drainage systems to climate changes resulting in more frequent floods. This thesis demonstrates the need to integrate aspects of climate change and land use impacts into the planning and practice of road construction and maintenance in Sweden. Tools such as hydrological models are needed to assess impacts on discharge dynamics. Identifying a ‘best’ practically performing hydrological model is often difficult due to the potential influence of modeller subjectivity on calibration procedure, parameter selection, etc. Hydrological models may need to be selected on a case-by-case basis and have their performance evaluated on an application-by-application basis. The work presented here began by examining current practice for road drainage systems in Sweden. Various hydrological models were then used to calculate the runoff from a catchment adjacent to a road and estimate changes in peak discharge and total runoff resulting from simulated land use measures. Overall, the results indicate that the specific effect of land use measures on catchment discharge depend on their spatial distribution and on the size and timing of storm events. Scenarios comprising a changing climate up to 2050 or to 2100 and forest clear-cutting were used to determine whether the current design of road drainage construction is sufficient for future conditions. Based on the findings, the approach developed can be used for similar studies, e.g. by the Swedish Transport Administration in dimensioning future road drainage structures to provide safe and robust infrastructure. Furthermore, a statistical method was developed for estimating and mapping flood hazard probability along roads using road and catchment characteristics. The method allows flood hazards to be estimated and provides insight into the relative roles of landscape characteristics in determining road-related flood hazards. Overall, this method provides an efficient way to estimate flooding hazards and to inform the planning of future roadways and the maintenance of existing roadways. / <p>QC 20140130</p>

Objective: The primary goal of this research is to identify social vulnerability and resilience to earthquake hazards within the Capital Regional District (CRD) and to generate recommendations for how the provincial health system and various local and regional government agencies can support the continued enhancement of disaster-resilient communities. Methods: Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed to evaluate social vulnerability and resilience. Quantitatively, the methodology developed by Cutter et al., was replicated to create a Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI). These data were supported by qualitative data obtained from focus group interviews in three communities in the CRD. Together, this mixed methods approach provided additional insights into the dimensions of social vulnerability, and resilience within the CRD. Results. From the SoVI, twenty-five census tracts (CTs) within the CRD exhibited ‘high social vulnerability’. These highly vulnerable CTs were most likely to be in more densely populated areas, whether they were in inner city neighbourhoods or suburbs of the City. The qualitative results suggest that a large scale seismic hazard will present substantial challenges for the CRD. The smaller, rural and remote communities of Sooke and Port Renfrew appeared to be more interested in emergency preparation than those in the City of Victoria, if judged by their participation rates. Conclusion. The information collected from research participants and the generation of the SoVI complements existing hazard maps and local knowledge well. Both have their place as tools for enhancing understanding of risk-assessment for the area. / Graduate

Communities on Vancouver Island, British Columbia face significant exposure to damaging earthquakes. This seismic risk arises not only from the Island’s proximity to crustal, sub-crustal and subduction earthquake sources in the Cascadia Subduction Zone and from their associated aftershock sequences, but also from environmental (natural and human-made) and social vulnerabilities in Vancouver Island communities and their current capacities to respond and recover from a large seismic event. Seeking to 1) assist community officials and the general public to better understand the scope of the earthquake risk on Vancouver Island; 2) raise awareness of the gaps in Vancouver Island’s risk assessment; 3) encourage and facilitate comprehensive seismic risk discussions at all levels of governance; and 4) offer quantitative data on which to base sound funding and policy decisions, this dissertation offers three new studies, presented in paper format, toward the comprehensive management of seismic risk on Vancouver Island. The first paper, reviews the components of risk and, building on international risk management standards and best practices, develops a new, comprehensive Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Framework for practitioners. This DRM Framework is then used to review existing knowledge of Vancouver Island’s seismic risk. A number of information gaps are identified, and two in particular, mainshock and aftershock hazard assessment, are targeted for further analysis. / Graduate

Sites in a 66-station geodetic network in central Greece have been occupied up to six times since 1989 using GPS surveying, and accurate positions have been computed using fiducially-improved or precise orbits. Site velocities are calculated under the assumption that they are constant with time, after correcting for co-seismic effects, and that the position of the fixed base station (and hence the entire network) may be subject to small errors. Low-order polynomial expressions do not fit the velocity field well. The pattern of observed strain closely resembles that derived from independent geodetic observations made over a hundred-year time-scale. Significant geodetic strain is observed across the Gulf of Korinthos, even after the co-seismic displacement field of the Ms=6.2 1995 Egion earthquake has been removed by forward modelling. Geodetic strain is higher in the western than eastern Gulf, in contrast to the seismic strain which is similar throughout. Seismic strain matches geodetic strain in the east, but a significant deficit of seismic moment exists in the west which may represent a high earthquake hazard in the medium term. The Ms=6.6 1995 Grevena earthquake struck a previously seismically quiet region well covered by a recent triangulation / trilateration survey. Ninety-one points from this network were reoccupied with GPS immediately after the earthquake, and site displacements computed. To invert for the earthquake source parameters from the geodetic displacement field, a novel inversion scheme is used which combines the Monte-Carlo and simplex approaches. A priori parameters are not required, even though the inverse problem is strongly nonlinear. The resulting focal mechanism agrees well with the global CMT solution and locally observed aftershocks, but implies a significantly higher scalar moment than do seismological studies. A network for observing post-seismic deformation has been established, which in view of the low background seismicity seems likely to provide significant results.

Human Systems Integration Capstone / Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Current ejection seat certified aircrew weight ranges (136 to 213 lbs.), such as for the F/A-18, prohibited over one third (38%) of women and (8%) of men from accessing the naval aviation strike pipeline (carrierbased aviation) between 2008 and 2013. This is deleterious to the Naval Aviation Enterprise to restrict access of otherwise qualified and talented applicants to the strike aviation pipeline due to an outdated anthropometric survey based specification. The acceptable level of risk that was utilized by the Naval Aviation Systems Command was overly conservative and needs to be updated to align with current operational risk management principles, actual ejection seat performance mishap data and the naval aviation anthropometric population. This research is a deep exploration of all aspects of this issue and makes recommendations that can be used by Commander of Naval Air Forces in establishing an operational weight limit for all ejection seat aircraft.

This dissertation is a historically comparative study of adult mortality between Taiwan and the United States throughout the 20th century. The 20th century was characterized by the largest rise in life expectancy at birth and the most rapid decrease in mortality in recorded human history. This dissertation aims not only to examine and compare the trends and levels of life expectancy in Taiwan and the United States over an extended period of time, but also to evaluate the extent to which smoking behavior and obesity play an important role in the recent levels of adult mortality in the United States. I used logistic models of mortality to examine and compare the trends and levels of life expectancy in Taiwan from 1906 to 2008 and in the United States from 1933 to 2007. Second, I re-estimated life expectancy by introducing smoking-attributable mortality to further compare the levels of life expectancy between the two countries. Third, I estimated event history models to investigate whether and how smoking behavior and obesity are related to mortality in the United States in the 1990 to 2006 and the 2000 to 2006 periods. At the end of the 20th century, the level of life expectancy at birth for females in the U.S. was higher than in Taiwan, but they were close. In this century, however, the level of life expectancy at birth in Taiwan has increased to a higher level than in the U.S. The levels of male life expectancy at birth for the two countries are similar in this century, but there were significant differences in the 20th century. The great improvements in juvenile, background and senescent mortality rates in Taiwan may be used to explain this correspondence of life expectancy between the two countries today. Besides, higher smoking-attributed mortality can also serve as another possible reason for the stagnant levels of life expectancy in the U.S. Finally, smoking-related and obesity-related mortality have become progressively more important as predictors of adult mortality in the U.S. in past decades.

In this thesis, stochastic methods are utilized to improve a familiar comprehensive probabilistic model to obtain realistic estimates of the earthquake insurance premium rates in different seismic zones of Turkey. The model integrates the information on future earthquake threat with the information on expected earthquake damage to buildings. The quantification of the future earthquake threat is achieved by making use of the seismic hazard analysis techniques. Due to the uncertainties involved, the hazard that may occur at a site during future earthquakes has to be treated in a probabilistic manner. Accessibility of past earthquake data from a number of different data sources, encourages the consideration of every single earthquake report. Seismic zonation of active earthquake generating regions has been improved as recent contributions are made available. Finally, up-to-date data bases have been utilized to establish local attenuation relationships reflecting the expected earthquake wave propagation and its randomness more effectively. The damage that may occur to structures during future earthquakes involves various uncertainties and also has to be treated in a probabilistic manner. For this purpose, damage probability matrices (DPM), expressing what will happen to buildings, designed according to some particular set of requirements, during earthquakes of various intensities, are constructed from observational and estimated data. With the above considerations, in order to demonstrate the application of the improved probabilistic method, earthquake insurance premium rates are computed for reinforced concrete and masonry buildings constructed in different seismic zones of Turkey.