The goal of this dissertation research is to model risk in delivery, operation and maintenance phases of infrastructure asset management. More specifically, the two main objectives of this research are to quantify and measure financial risk in privatizing and operational risks in maintenance and rehabilitation of infrastructure facilities. To this end, a valuation procedure for valuing large-scale risky projects is proposed. This valuation approach is based on mean-risk portfolio optimization in which a risk-averse decision-maker seeks to maximize the expected return subject to downside risk. We show that, in complete markets, the value obtained from this approach is equal to the value obtained from the standard option pricing approach. Furthermore, we introduce Coherent Valuation Procedure (CVP) for valuing risky projects in partially complete markets. This approach leads to a lower degree of subjectivity as it only requires one parameter to incorporate user's risk preferences. Compared to the traditional discounted cash flow analysis, CVP displays a reasonable degree of sensitivity to the discount rate since only the risk-free rate is used to discount future cash flows. The application of this procedure on valuing a transportation public-private partnership is presented. %and demonstrate that the breakeven buying price of a risky project is equal to the value obtained from this valuation procedure. Secondly, a risk-based framework for prescribing optimal risk-based maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) policies for transportation infrastructure is presented. These policies guarantee a certain performance level across the network under a predefined level of risk. The long-term model is formulated in the Markov Decision Process framework with risk-averse actions and transitional probabilities describing the uncertainty in the deterioration process. Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) is used as the measure of risk. The steady-state risk-averse M&R policies are modeled assuming no budget restriction. To address the short-term resource allocation problem, two linear programming models are presented to generate network-level polices with different objectives. In the first model, decision-maker minimizes the total risk across the network, and in the second model, the highest risk to the network performance is minimized.

&quotNot Welcome" is a thesis containing an original dark genre screenplay called Acolytes and an exegesis called &quotNot Welcome": Writing Horror in Australia. The screenplay is about two boys, victims of years of bullying, who find a way to rid themselves of their bully for good, exchanging one problem for something much worse. But it's an elaborate and calculated lie. The truth is Acolytes is about the concealment of a crime and not the vengeance of a victim. Acolytes is intentionally moody, oppressive and obtuse--it has a true crime-scene ambience. The power of the story lies in its truth--the truth that it seeks to uncover and the truth of the style of its telling--and, just as is the case with real-life crime, the &quottruth" is often murky and far from clear-cut. The accompanying exegesis explores the domestic funding and production climate for dark genre projects. It argues that Australian genre scriptwriters and filmmakers have often faced hostile funding agencies and genre-timid producers. It examines the requirements of dark genre scriptwriters and filmmakers in bringing their work from page to screen. It argues that the onus is on Australian dark genre writers and filmmakers to think beyond funding agencies and institutionalised Australian producers to realise their projects.

This thesis investigates the social forces that shape and sustain community-based protest against proposed projects in the construction industry. It builds on current research which highlights the tendency for community concerns about proposed developments to escalate into long-term protests that have far-reaching implications for both the construction industry and the local community. A theoretical framework merges the facilitative role of movement networks, contagion theory and the cultural experience of activism to investigate their relationship with protest movement continuity. Three research propositions emerged from the model and are investigated within a grounded theory framework. The research method adopts a single case study of a mature protest movement and utilises a triangulation of methods that integrates qualitative and ethnographic approaches across two interrelated phases of data collection that continues to the point of theoretical saturation. The data is analysed in three ways: A thematic story telling approach is used to ground the data derived so as to identify patterns of influences on protest participation and their effect on movement continuity. Concept maps and network diagrams are also used to connect the themes and guide the use of stories to reveal influences on movement continuity. The research concludes by proposing a refined theoretical model of protest movement continuity against construction projects. The model also forms the basis for a grounded theory which consisted of three interrelated parts. The first part concludes that protest networks are deliberately complex and dynamic to cope with the transient nature of protest participation and promote movement continuity. The second part points to the contagious influence of network to generate two opposing network conditions that are both conducive and detrimental to movement continuity. The last part points to the importance of social relationships as shaping the context in which cultural meanings of activism are understood and have a direct effect on sustaining movement continuity.

This thesis investigates the social forces that shape and sustain community-based protest against proposed projects in the construction industry. It builds on current research which highlights the tendency for community concerns about proposed developments to escalate into long-term protests that have far-reaching implications for both the construction industry and the local community. A theoretical framework merges the facilitative role of movement networks, contagion theory and the cultural experience of activism to investigate their relationship with protest movement continuity. Three research propositions emerged from the model and are investigated within a grounded theory framework. The research method adopts a single case study of a mature protest movement and utilises a triangulation of methods that integrates qualitative and ethnographic approaches across two interrelated phases of data collection that continues to the point of theoretical saturation. The data is analysed in three ways: A thematic story telling approach is used to ground the data derived so as to identify patterns of influences on protest participation and their effect on movement continuity. Concept maps and network diagrams are also used to connect the themes and guide the use of stories to reveal influences on movement continuity. The research concludes by proposing a refined theoretical model of protest movement continuity against construction projects. The model also forms the basis for a grounded theory which consisted of three interrelated parts. The first part concludes that protest networks are deliberately complex and dynamic to cope with the transient nature of protest participation and promote movement continuity. The second part points to the contagious influence of network to generate two opposing network conditions that are both conducive and detrimental to movement continuity. The last part points to the importance of social relationships as shaping the context in which cultural meanings of activism are understood and have a direct effect on sustaining movement continuity.

Thesis (Ph.D) -- Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1987. / Typescript. Vita. Bibliography: leaves 607-634. Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 431-439). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR19858

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Mark Keil, committee chair; Arjan Raven, Detmar Straub, Arun Rai, committee members. Electronic text (144 p. : col. ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Feb. 4, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 138-144).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MIS (Information Science)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-121)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-400) Also available in print.