Thesis (Ph.D)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Member: Dr. Fayette Collier; Committee Member: Prof. Daniel Schrage; Committee Member: Prof. Dimitri N. Mavris; Committee Member: Prof. John Leonard; Committee Member: Prof. John-Paul Clarke. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2010. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed July 15, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-152).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Montana, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (laeves 329-339). Also available online.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Geoinformatics))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves iv-iv) Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.) in Resource Economics and Policy--University of Maine, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-95).

Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (June 26, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There is a general consensus that EIA is limited in its scope. The main concern in this regard is that EIA generally fails to handle cumulative impacts effectively, due to its focus on individual projects. Cumulative effects are changes to the environment that are caused by an action in combination with other past, present and future human actions. The evaluation of cumulative effects generally focuses on potential pervasive, regional environmental problems. Due to its strong focus on sustainable development, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), by definition, should address cumulative effects. EIAs in South Africa traditionally only considered the "footprint" or area covered by each project component. However, in recent years the cumulative nature of environmental impacts of human actions has increasingly become a visible concern to the South African public, which has led to the need to infuse cumulative effects concepts into environmental assessments. In theory, a SEA is aimed at improving the way in which cumulative effects are dealt with in environmental assessments. This raises the question of whether past and present South African SEA approaches have effectively addressed the issue of cumulative effects. This thesis provides a critical reappraisal of recent experience in SEA with particular reference to its application in South Africa. It is in this context, of the opportunities and constraints of current SEA application, that this study attempts to determine how best to infuse cumulative effects methodology and philosophy into the emerging South African SEA process. This study evaluates three SEA case studies undertaken in South African, in order to assess how effectively cumulative effects are addressed within the current South African SEA process. The analysis focuses on both innovative approaches used in each study, as well as the limitations and deficiencies of each approach. A generic framework was developed in order to provide broad guidelines for practitioners and reviewers. These guidelines focus on how best to infuse cumulative effects philosophy and methodology into the current SEA process. It is envisaged that this methodology will enhance the current SEA process, in order to ensure that environmental issues are placed on the same level as economic and social considerations in future decision making, to achieve sustainable development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.

A software system is represented by different software artefacts ranging from requirements specifications to source code. As the system evolves, artefacts are often modified at different rates and times resulting in inconsistencies, which in turn can hinder effective communication between stakeholders, and the understanding and maintenance of systems. The problem of the differential evolution of heterogeneous software artefacts has not been sufficiently addressed to date as current solutions focus on specific sets of artefacts and aspects of consistency management and are not fully automated. This thesis presents the concept of holistic artefact consistency management and a proof-of-concept framework, ACM, which aim to support the consistent evolution of heterogeneous software artefacts while minimising the impact on user choices and practices and maximising automation. The ACM framework incorporates traceability, change impact analysis, change detection, consistency checking and change propagation mechanisms and is designed to be extensible. The thesis describes the design, implementation and evaluation of the framework, and an approach to automate trace link creation using machine learning techniques. The framework evaluation uses six open source systems and suggests that managing the consistency of heterogeneous artefacts may be feasible in practical scenarios.