Since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami devastated coastal areas of several countries in South East Asia, there has been renewed interest in disaster recovery operations. Although governments and aid organizations have increasingly focused on improving living conditions and reducing vulnerability to future disaster events during the recovery period, there has been limited understanding of what effective disaster recovery entails, and a lack of empirical assessments of longer-term recovery initiatives. Researchers, governments and aid organizations alike have increasingly identified the need for a systematic, independent, and replicable framework and approach for monitoring, evaluating and measuring the longer-term relief and recovery operations of major disaster events. Within this context, the research contends that a conceptualization of effective disaster recovery, referred to as ‘resilient disaster recovery’, should be built upon the holistic concepts of vulnerability, resilience and sustainable livelihoods. Using the resilient disaster recovery framework, the research aimed to develop an evaluative strategy to holistically and critically assess disaster recovery efforts. Using a case study of the 2006 Yogyakarta, Indonesia earthquake event, the research examined one long-term recovery effort in order to develop and test the usefulness and applicability of the resilient disaster recovery conceptualization and assessment framework. The research results further contributed to disaster recovery knowledge and academic literature through a refined conceptualization of resilient disaster recovery and further understanding of recovery as a process. The research used qualitative research approaches to examine the opinions and experiences of impacted individuals, households, and communities, as well as key government, academic and humanitarian stakeholders, in order to understand their perceptions of the long-term recovery process. Using the resilient disaster recovery approach, the research found that the recovery programming after the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake contributed to reductions in visible manifestations of vulnerability, although the root causes of vulnerability were not addressed, and many villagers suffer from ongoing lack of access to assets and resources. While some aspects of resilience were improved, particularly through earthquake-resistant housing structures, resilience in other forms remained the same or decreased. Furthermore, livelihood initiatives did not appear to be successful due to a lack of a holistic approach that matched the skill and capital levels of impacted populations. Using the evidence from the 2006 Yogyakarta recovery effort, the research furthered knowledge and understanding of disaster recovery as a complex and highly dynamic process. The roles of a variety of actors and stakeholders were explored, particularly highlighting the role of civil society and the private sector in facilitating response and recovery. Furthermore, issues of conflict, the context and characteristics of place and scale, and the impact of disasters on income equality were explored. Through this research, an improved understanding of disaster resilient recovery and long-term recovery processes has been highlighted in order to facilitate improved and resilient recovery for future disaster events.

In this thesis, we present constructions of leakage-resilient cryptographic primitives, and we give black-box impossibility results for certain classes of constructions of pseudo-random number generators. The traditional approach for preventing side-channel attacks has been primarily hardware-based. Recently, there has been significant progress in developing algorithmic approaches for preventing such attacks. These algorithmic approaches involve modeling side-channel attacks as {\em leakage} on the internal state of a device; constructions secure against such leakage are {\em leakage-resilient}. We first consider the problem of storing a key and computing on it repeatedly in a leakage-resilient manner. For this purpose, we define a new primitive called a {\em key proxy}. Using a fully-homomorphic public-key encryption scheme, we construct a leakage-resilient key proxy. We work in the ``only computation leaks'' leakage model, tolerating a logarithmic number of bits of polynomial-time computable leakage per computation and an unbounded total amount of leakage. We next consider the problem of verifying that a message sent over a public channel has not been modified, in a setting where the sender and the receiver have previously shared a key, and where the adversary controls the public channel and is simultaneously mounting side-channel attacks on both parties. Using only the assumption that pseudo-random generators exist, we construct a leakage-resilient shared-private-key authenticated session protocol. This construction tolerates a logarithmic number of bits of polynomial-time computable leakage per computation, and an unbounded total amount of leakage. This leakage occurs on the entire state, input, and randomness of the party performing the computation. Finally, we consider the problem of constructing a large-stretch pseudo-random generator given a one-way permutation or given a smaller-stretch pseudo-random generator. The standard approach for doing this involves repeatedly composing the given object with itself. We provide evidence that this approach is necessary. Specifically, we consider three classes of constructions of pseudo-random generators from pseudo-random generators of smaller stretch or from one-way permutations, and for each class, we give a black-box impossibility result that demonstrates a contrast between the stretch that can be achieved by adaptive and non-adaptive black-box constructions.

Psykosocial motståndskraft (”resilience”) innebär att klara sig bra i samband med motgång. Det är viktigt att främja detta i unga år då utvecklingskaskader (kedjereaktioner) som följd av olika upplevelser kan påverka resten av livet. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur motståndskraft uppfattas och hur det främjas i det dagliga arbetet i förskolan. Sju intervjuer med förskolepersonal genomfördes och analyserades och resultatet tyder på att begreppet i sig inte är känt men att många delar av det appliceras. Resultatet visade att personalen uppfattar att motståndskraft berör barnets inre förmågor, faktorer i interaktion med omgivningen och förskolans specifika roll. Barnets inre förmågor kan sammanfattas i temat inre motivation, interaktionen med omgivningen i temat anknytning och förskolans speciella roll som temat ekologiskt system. Framtida forskning kan utökas med hjälp av resultatet, förskolor kan använda redovisade faktorer för mer strukturerat hälsoförebyggande arbete och hälsobetydelsen av små barngrupper får ytterligare stöd för beslutsfattare.

In this thesis, we present constructions of leakage-resilient cryptographic primitives, and we give black-box impossibility results for certain classes of constructions of pseudo-random number generators. The traditional approach for preventing side-channel attacks has been primarily hardware-based. Recently, there has been significant progress in developing algorithmic approaches for preventing such attacks. These algorithmic approaches involve modeling side-channel attacks as {\em leakage} on the internal state of a device; constructions secure against such leakage are {\em leakage-resilient}. We first consider the problem of storing a key and computing on it repeatedly in a leakage-resilient manner. For this purpose, we define a new primitive called a {\em key proxy}. Using a fully-homomorphic public-key encryption scheme, we construct a leakage-resilient key proxy. We work in the ``only computation leaks'' leakage model, tolerating a logarithmic number of bits of polynomial-time computable leakage per computation and an unbounded total amount of leakage. We next consider the problem of verifying that a message sent over a public channel has not been modified, in a setting where the sender and the receiver have previously shared a key, and where the adversary controls the public channel and is simultaneously mounting side-channel attacks on both parties. Using only the assumption that pseudo-random generators exist, we construct a leakage-resilient shared-private-key authenticated session protocol. This construction tolerates a logarithmic number of bits of polynomial-time computable leakage per computation, and an unbounded total amount of leakage. This leakage occurs on the entire state, input, and randomness of the party performing the computation. Finally, we consider the problem of constructing a large-stretch pseudo-random generator given a one-way permutation or given a smaller-stretch pseudo-random generator. The standard approach for doing this involves repeatedly composing the given object with itself. We provide evidence that this approach is necessary. Specifically, we consider three classes of constructions of pseudo-random generators from pseudo-random generators of smaller stretch or from one-way permutations, and for each class, we give a black-box impossibility result that demonstrates a contrast between the stretch that can be achieved by adaptive and non-adaptive black-box constructions.

In a context of rapid urbanization and increasingly standardized built environments, urbanism must find new methods of creating appropriate conditions for the variability of contemporary urban life. The city, understood as a system of interconnected processes in constant change, offers a relational way of thinking about urban design. This thesis explores the concept of Relational Urbanism through a strategic design approach that engages the complexity of the site to create variability in the built environment by relating built form to landscape elements. This relational approach has particular potential in post-industrial sites, where challenging existing conditions and processes of remediation resist conventional methods of redevelopment. The thesis focuses on the Toronto Port Lands as a testing ground for this design approach, drawing on the site's industrial heritage to develop a landscape framework and a set of relational rules that will guide the emergence of a diverse urban environment able to change over time. A series of design strategies—remediation parks, urban delta, adapted industry, and differentiated fabric—rethink the challenges of the site as opportunities for public benefit, creating a variegated landscape for built form to respond to. In contrast to a singular static master plan, this method favours multiple flexible strategies that can be deployed incrementally, breaking down the scale of development and allowing it to be realized by a wide variety of stakeholders. Through this approach the thesis seeks to enable the city to intentionally but subtly guide its urban landscape toward diversity and allow its citizens to participate in its continued adaptation.

Inherent in their living and working conditions, Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFWs) are exposed to a multitude of environmental and psychosocial stressors that make them susceptible to adverse health outcomes. Utilizing a resilience framework, the current study examined both the physical and psychological health functioning of MSFWs in Georgia, a state heavily reliant on farm worker labor where relatively few research studies with MSFWs have been conducted to date. Based on a sample of 120 Latino, male, MSFWs in South Georgia, results indicated that approximately 1 out of 3 farm workers were at risk for iron-deficiency anemia. Similar to other psychological health studies conducted with MSFWs located in the Eastern U.S., the prevalence rate of depression in the current sample was elevated. MSFW stress was found to be a risk factor for psychological health and positive well-being and accurate farm worker expectations were found to be assets associated with better psychological health outcomes. Farm worker expectations was also found to be a protective factor for physical health such that having accurate expectations buffered the relationship between MSFW stress and adverse biomedical health. Results show the usefulness of the resilience framework, and highlight the importance of establishing prevention, intervention, and policy efforts for MSFWs that aim to increase assets and minimize risk in this population.

Protected areas are considered to be the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation strategies and are valued sources of human well-being and ecosystem services. Yet they are not immune to the unprecedented impacts being felt worldwide. As an example, increased human activity, including development, transport of invasive species, and contributions to climate change, are transforming protected areas within the Laurentian Great Lakes into new and novel ecosystems. It is in this context of uncertainty that I explored the practice of managing for resilience. Canada’s first national marine conservation area, Fathom Five National Marine Park in Lake Huron, functioned as the study area. Besides profound and complex ecosystem change, Fathom Five is also experiencing governance challenges in the form of tangled responsibilities and issues of legitimacy. The resilience-based approach recommended elements that strengthened the capacity of the park to cope with and recover from disturbance and maintain its defining structures, functions, and feedbacks. This included a reduction of vulnerabilities (e.g., limit exposure to coastal fragmentation, manage disturbance regimes, and maintain functional and response diversity), an increase in adaptability (e.g., need to foster social learning, innovation, and improved governance structures), and an ability to navigate change (e.g., better express desired state, identify thresholds, and influence transformations), within established management practices. More specifically, methods to make spatial planning and monitoring more operational and resilience-based, were developed. For spatial planning, the decision-support tool Marxan with Zones was utilized and demonstrated how themes of representivity, replication, and connectivity could be applied in a resilience-based zoning context. For monitoring, a multivariate distance-based control chart method was developed to detect a decrease in resilience of the parks coastal wetland fish communities. Although an increase in variability was observed, a regime shift was not reported during the years investigated (2005-2012). In summary, the thesis provided an original contribution to science by examining the uncertainties and complexities facing a freshwater protected area and reframing practical conservation solutions through a resilience lens.

The student demographics in American universities have been changing in recent years and the result is a rapidly increasing enrollment of international students. In particular, the Indian international student population has grown to be the second largest, with over 100,000 students enrolling at post-secondary educational institutions across the nation each year (Institute of International Education, 2010). However, research on the effects of migration on international students is relatively devoid of critical explorations on the resilient responses by Indian international students to the effects of acculturation. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of eight Indian international graduate students at a mid-western American university. The participants' descriptions of their psychological, physical and behavioral adjustments in the United States provided rich information. The data was analyzed using the theoretical underpinnings of the research that included Van Manen's (1997) lived existentials, ecological factors of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1986), and protective and risk factors associated with resilience (Harvey, 2007; Luther, 2006). Several primary and sub-themes emerged from a thick analysis of the data, which proved to shed light on the lived experiences of the participants.<br> Participants in the study typically faced challenges in adjusting to cultural differences, building relationships with domestic students, and adapting to academic expectations. However, protective factors including their positive attitudes and supportive relationships with their families, professors, and other Indian students helped them in responding resiliently to challenges related to cross-cultural transitions. In addition, hypotheses were generated and implications for education, research, and practice of counseling were discussed. / School of Education; / Counselor Education and Supervision (ExCES) / PhD; / Dissertation;

Stämmer det att ju högre resilience (återhämtningsförmåga) en individ har och ju mera av positiva känslor, desto större livsmening har hon också? Resilience är att vid psykologisk stress tillfälligt kunna gå ifrån sin vanliga nivå för självkontroll och när stressmomentet försvunnit återgå dit igen. En enkätundersökning har gjorts med 39 deltagare där variablerna resilience, positiva känslor och livsmening undersökts. Resultatet visar att både resilience och positiva känslor är positivt relaterade till livsmening. Full mediering visas för positiva känslor vilket innebär att de är en av flera möjliga mekanismer i processen mellan resilience och livsmening. Fler tänkbara mekanismer att undersöka skulle kunna vara hopp och mänskligt stöd och frågeställningen skulle även kunna testas i experiment.

Water is essential to sustaining aquatic environments and is also a resource upon which many human-sectors depend. During times of reduced supply, competition or conflict may arise regarding its distribution due to its importance to local economies and its life giving benefits. The Ontario Low Water Response (OLWR) Plan is designed to deal with how water might be allocated under situations of reduced supply. When forced with data from the Coupled Global Climate Model 1 (CGCM1), the Guelph All Weather Storm Event Runoff (GAWSER) hydrologic model projects scenarios of reduced flows for the Grand River watershed, an area within the Province of Ontario. A level III declaration, which marks the highest stage of water emergency has never before been declared in the Province of Ontario, meaning there is uncertainty regarding how OLWR might operate. Using one scenario of climate change, this study explores the resiliency of the OLWR mechanism to operate under the demands of a changing climate and a growing population through interviews. Results show that the mechanism is not resilient enough to operate under conditions of reduced flow due to ambiguity in the mechanism and the tendency for humans to trump environmental uses of water, leading to detrimental effects on the fishery. Recommendations from this study suggest that ambiguities in the mechanism be revisited and clarified with a shift towards a proactive approach in order for environmental integrity to be upheld under scenarios of reduced flow.