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Thesis (MScAgric)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / The design of the optimum open pit slope angle is one of the major challenges during open pit mine planning, as it implies attaining the ideal balance between utilizing the maximum slope angle whilst achieving acceptable stability and safety standards as indicated by the mine. The aim of open pit mines should thus be to seek the steepest possible slope angle without compromising the safety of the personnel, equipment or ore reserves, utilizing both stability analyses as well as risk assessments. The typical open pit mine plan aims to achieve an acceptable balance between operational risks and geotechnical design considerations by analysing factors such as the slope stability design, the rock mass properties and existing structural geological conditions. These factors are used as inputs towards an optimum slope angle design which will be used in the final pit design and aims to provide maximum economic viability to the mine. The risk analysis methodology aims to improve traditional slope design methods and is used to evaluate risks and failure consequences in terms of economic impacts. The economic impact analysis is a useful method in comparing the performance of various mine plans and slope designs. The risk analysis methodology thus provides a valuable indication of optimum slope design configurations and as such can be a great asset to the mine design process. This research paper aims to identify the key risks used as input to an open-pit mine plan in a feasibility stage and to define an approach to minimize these risks in order to achieve maximum economic benefit. The effectiveness of this approach will be evaluated by means of a case study which will attempt to achieve an optimum balance between value and risk, and to compare the magnitude of the economic impact of an individual risk with the probability of occurrence of said risk. The case study will utilise a risk map in order to define years with higher economic impacts as well as defining critical pit areas causing these risks, so as to identify areas requiring further investigation which will assist the mine in evaluating mitigation strategies in order to reduce overall risk.

The thesis analyzes how conflict has politicized education in Gaza by exploring the many direct and indirect effects that both the internal and external conflicts have on education and detailing the parallel, mutually reinforcing development of education and Palestinian nationalism.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (PhD (Botany))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Plant Science / unrestricted

Due to close proximity of different civil engineering structures, the ultimate bearing capacity and failure pattern of adjoining footings/anchors are often influenced by their mutual interference. The present thesis is an attempt to examine the interference effects on the ultimate failure loads and the elastic settlements for a group of closely spaced strip footings and anchors. In this thesis, a new experimental setup has been proposed to examine the response of interfering strip footings and strip anchors subjected to vertical loads but without having any eccentricity. Through out the investigation, it has been assumed that the magnitudes of loads on all the footings/anchors at any stage of settlement remain exactly the same. Unlike the existing experimental works of the previous researchers reported in literature, in the proposed experimental setup, there is no need to use more than one footing/anchor. As a result a much smaller size of the tank, in which the soil sample needs to be prepared, is required. In the proposed setup, it has been attempted to satisfy the boundary conditions existing along the vertical planes of symmetry midway between any two adjoining footings/anchors. To satisfy the governing boundary conditions, along the planes of symmetry, the interface friction angle is kept as small as possible, with the employment of a very smooth high strength glass sheet, and the associated horizontal displacements are made equal to zero. For two interfering footings/anchors case, only single plane of symmetry on one side of the footing needs to be modeled. On the other hand, for an infinite number of multiple footings/anchors, two vertical planes of symmetry on both the sides of the footing need to be simulated in the experiments. The proposed experimental setup is noted to yield reasonably acceptable results both for the cases of interfering footings and interfering anchors. The magnitudes of ultimate failure loads for the interfering footings/anchors are expressed in terms of the variation of the efficiency factor ( ξγ) with respect to changes in the clear spacing(s) between the footings/anchors; wherein, an efficiency factor is defined as the ratio of the magnitude of the failure load for an intervening strip footing/anchor of a given width to that of an isolated strip footing/anchor having exactly the same width. From the experiments, the values of the efficiency factors are obtained for a group of two and an infinite number of multiple strip footings/anchors. The effect of two different widths of the footing/anchor on the magnitudes of the failure load is also studied. It is noted that for a group of two and infinite number of multiple footings, the magnitude of the ultimate failure load for an interfering footing becomes always greater than that for a single isolated footing. For the case of two footings, the value of ξγ becomes maximum corresponding to a certain critical s/B between two footings. At a given spacing, the value of ξγ is found to increase further with an increase in the value of φ. It is observed that, for a group of an infinite number of equally spaced multiple strip footings, the magnitude of ξγ increases continuously with a decrease in s/B; when the clear spacing between the footings approaches zero, the magnitude of ξγ tends to become infinity. The value of ξγ associated with a given s/B for the multiple footings case is found to become always greater than that for a two footing case. The effect of s/B on ξγ is found similar to that reported in theories in a qualitative sense. The value of ξγ at a given s/B associated for B = 4 cm both for two and multiple footings is found to become smaller as compared to that with B = 7 cm. In contrast to a group of interfering footings under compression, the magnitude of ξγ in the case of both two and multiple interfering anchors decreases continuously with a reduction in the value of s/B. For given values of s/B and embedment ratio ( λ = d/B ), the values of ξγ for the case of multiple anchors are found to be always lower than those for the case of two anchors; d = depth of the anchor. In comparison with the available theoretical values from the literature, the values of ξγ are found to be a little lower especially for smaller values of s/B. The comparison of the present experimental data with that reported from literature reveals that the interference of strip anchors will have relatively more reduction in the uplift resistance on account of interference as compared to a group of square and circular anchors; the present experimental data provides relatively lower values of ξγ as compared to the available experimental data (for square and circular footings). The value of s/B beyond which the response of anchors becomes that of an isolated anchor increases continuously with an increase in the value of λ. The magnitude of ξγ for given values of s/B and λ associated for B = 4 cm is found to become slightly greater as compared to that with B = 7 cm. Both for the cases of interfering footings and anchors, the ratio of the average ultimate pressure with the employment of the rough central plane (glass sheet glued with a sand paper) to that with the smooth central plane, is found to increase with (i) a decrease in the value of s/B, and (ii) an increase in the value of φ. The finite element analysis, based on a linear elastic soil-constitutive model, has also been performed for interfering footings and anchors to find the effect of interference on elastic settlements. The computations have revealed that for both the footings and anchors, a decrease in the spacing between the footings leads to a continuous increase in the magnitudes of the settlements. The increase in the settlement due to the interference becomes quite substantial for an infinite number of footings/anchors case as compared to two footings/anchors case. The effect of the Poisson’s ratio on the results is found to be practically insignificant.

This thesis will study the development of the Palestinian women's movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the Mandate period (1920) to the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada (2000). This work will attempt to outline the evolution of this movement and the impact of two factors that have significantly affected the form and course of its development; the first of which and the principal force is Palestinian Nationalism; the second is Islamism. / Nationalism and Islamism are presented here as two formations that functioned separately and in conjunction to present impediments to the ability of an independent Palestinian women's movement to develop and implement a social feminist agenda aimed at establishing gender equality and ensuring women's legal and political rights within Palestinian society.

No description available.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Telemetry recorders have historically been used as standalone systems with each user responsible for operation and data interpretation on that system. Utilizing the latest peerto- peer networking technologies, telemetry recorders can now be linked to provide instantaneous communication between systems. This fully distributed, network-based architecture can be used for command and control of multiple recorders, as well as message passing between them. A centralized server is no longer required, resulting in considerable logistical and cost savings. The peer-to-peer communication topology can efficiently connect telemetry recorder “islands of information”.