Thesis (MPsy(Specialisation))--University of South Australia, 2003.

Many physically-based models of surface and groundwater hydrology are constructed without the possibility of multiple stable states. For such a conceptualisation, at the cessation of a transient hydrological disturbance of any magnitude, the model will return to the original stable state and therefore will have an infinite resilience. Ecosystem resilience science propose a very different dynamic where, if the system has a positive feedback, disturbances may shift the system over a threshold where, upon cessation of the disturbance, the system will move to a different steady state. This dissertation brings together concepts from hydrology and ecosystem resilience science to highlight this often implicit assumption within hydrology. It tests the assumption that dry land water-limited catchments always have only one steady state (henceforth referred to as 'attractor'). Following a discussion of this implicit assumption within hydrology, approaches for rigorous testing that could result in its falsification are considered and that of numerical modelling is adopted. The aims of the research were to test this assumption by proposing a biophysically plausible hydrological model; utilise it to investigate the catchment attributes likely to result in multiple attractors; and to assess the model's validity by way of implementation and calibration. (For complete abstract open document.)

This research examines socio-cultural change and resilience resulting from holiday tourism and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel. The unique cultural attributes of the Pacific region differentiates it from many other generic sea, sand and sun travel destinations worldwide, providing the region with a competitive edge. This research recognises these essential socio-cultural attributes using Samoa as a case study offering various levels of tourist and VFR interactions. The thesis investigated four communities, their culture and the impacts from holiday tourists and VFR travellers. The research methodologies guiding this research offer an innovative and credible mechanism to assess the resilience of the socio-cultural fabric of a Pacific Island nation with growing holiday tourism and a thriving VFR travel sector. A social and cultural capital approach was used to understand communities and their networks in a dynamic and comprehensive way. A combination of participatory action research techniques and critical ethnographic methodologies were used to interact with respondents. Analysis of data used both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. Results of this research have significantly furthered discussion of the socio-cultural fabric of those communities studied in Samoa and how individual socio-cultural elements are influenced by holiday tourism and VFR travel. Based on the analysis of these holiday tourist and VFR traveller impacts, the results can guide planning and policy oriented benchmarks for improved socio-culturally sustainable tourism.

Masters Research - Master of Science / Recent flash floods and landslides in the Philippines have caused many fatalities, loss of livelihoods; destroyed infrastructures, damaged natural resources and displaced several communities. Investigation of five disaster cases of flash floods and landslides from 1991 to 2006 was undertaken to gain an understanding of the causes, behaviour, distribution and biophysical impacts of these recurrent natural hazards. Sustaining healthy and resilient communities and protecting the ecosystem from natural disasters is a key development goal. Therefore, communities at risk need to adequately prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impacts of these natural disasters. A theory model on community resilience called the Landslip-Disaster Quadrant Model was developed to examine the capacity for resilience and the vulnerability of threatened communities. Six building blocks comprise this Model. A community study of the February 17, 2006 landslides in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, was conducted to test and refine this Model. Major findings of the study have revealed that flash floods and landslides have been frequent due to changing climatic patterns and greater interaction of natural processes. Extreme weather conditions have resulted in intense rainfall that seeps through fractures and cracks in the ground. Rains saturate and loosen soil particles, weaken slope resistance, triggering landslides that formed natural dams. Failure of these natural dams or log jams caused flash floods and debris flows. The rapidity and destructiveness of these hazards were influenced by the angular position of sliding materials, slope resistance, type of cascading materials caught in the flow, river channel configuration, and human structures that obstruct and/or intensify overflow. These were the physical conditions of vulnerability to disasters in the five cases of natural disaster investigated. Rural livelihoods and the economic base of the local people in Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte, were limited and subsistent. Though the local people have a high literacy rate, they have inadequate understanding of the natural processes associated with landslides. Natural observations such as receding water levels in the river, fractures and cracks in the ground on the mountain, excessive rains and landslides in nearby communities could have been used as early warnings by the local people and authorities for safe evacuation. Many lives in Guinsaugon village could have thus been saved from the deadly landslides of 17 February 2006. Political interests have affected progress of resettlement housing and development projects that obliged many local people to extend the period spent living in the evacuation centres. However, the local people were expressive of their faith and hope to rise from the tragedy. These ‘bouncing back’ attitudes of the local people were indicative of their strong cultural values that formed the core of their coping capacity for natural disasters. The results of the community study tested and refined the Landslip-Disaster Quadrant Model. Among the six blocks for building a disaster-resilient community, cultural values and local norms ranked first. This is followed by ecological security, then livelihood sufficiency and economic base, and further by human health and wellness. The last two blocks were structural networks and institutional arrangements, and political will and priorities. This Model could form the framework for a Comprehensive Landslide and Flash Flood Disaster Risk Assessment in the Philippines. The community assessment toolkit developed in this study could be expanded further into policy and planning guidelines of the National Disaster Coordinating Council of the Philippines.

The impetus for this study grew from observations in clinical practice that many individuals survived all sorts of hardships with minimal distress, or with the ability to tolerate their distress, and move on with their lives in a positive manner. A review of the literature led to the conclusions that the research investigating resilience was making minimal inroads into understanding what made these people different, and that the richness of who they were was being lost in the scientific process. This dissatisfaction led to the decision to explore the construct from a phenomenological framework, and to try and discover the essential elements of resilience through analysis of the subjective experience of resilience. A qualitative study involving thirteen participants identified by their peers as resilient was undertaken and the underlying themes of their stories were analysed. This led to the development of a model of resilience that attempted to balance the need for parsimony with that of explanatory breadth, and which had the potential to tolerate the complexity and instability of the construct itself. The model developed identified three core elements that embraced the construct of resilience. These included the physiological capacity to be resilient, and from this basis the ability to be adaptive and the ability to maintain well-being emerge. Factors identified with these elements include individual reactivity to and recovery from adverse events, the ability to be effective and efficient in the management of adverse events, and the beliefs about the world and the self that promote well-being when exposed to adverse events. The model has a basis within neurobiology and is framed within the context of Dynamic Systems Theory. The theory itself is a culmination of clinical observations with what is known from within the current literature and the results of this study.

Abstract The resilience, or sustainability, of an environmental system depends on key factors remaining within critical thresholds. Current approaches to assessing the condition and trend of environmental systems rely on expert knowledge of system performance and subjective interpretation. Computer simulation models of natural resource systems offer a way to integrate system properties, and ecological theory and relationships, with long-term climate and rainfall information to simulate system performance within a consistent framework. Financial accounting methods, such as balance sheets and ratio analysis, have been developed to assess overall businesses viability and offer a potential tool for assessing the sustainability of natural systems, providing key accounting principles and assumptions can be reasonably met. This thesis explores the integration of accounting and ecological theory in a balance sheet framework for sustainability accounting using non-financial terms with a view to contributing to the sustainable management of natural resources within dynamic systems. A generic approach to constructing environmental balance sheets was developed and tested at a range of scales (field to catchment). Sensitivity analysis of the models was used to determine key factors and critical thresholds relating to system resilience. These values were then used to construct the balance sheets. The current ratio was then used to identify if the system was being managed sustainably. A current ratio (assets/liabilities) greater than 1.0, derived from the balance sheet, was shown to denote more resilient, and hence sustainable, systems. Case studies used were wheat cropping in the Maranoa area of Queensland, Australia, and the Bonogin Valley in the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia The same approach to constructing balance sheets worked across all scales from farm to catchment. . The approach was then used to develop a sustainability assessment of the Coomera catchment of the Gold Coast to consider how natural resource management and urbanisation is affecting catchment resilience. A series of models was used to develop the accounts: a grazing systems model – SGS; a cropping systems model - APSIM-sugar; and an existing catchment hydrology and water quality model - EMSS. The approach demonstrated that sugarcane cropping systems within the catchment were not likely to be sustainable without significant input of nitrogen, but that the grazing systems were. Furthermore, the overall catchment was likely to be sustainable (2002). This finding is consistent with an independent field-based assessment of the catchment conducted by the Healthy Waterways Partnership of South East Queensland. The urban development anticipated in the catchment by 2020, did not appear to have a significant affect as measured by long-term trends in flow frequency and water quality. The use of ratio analysis provided a dimensionless variable that related to the resilience of a parcel of land or catchment. These values were able to be spatially integrated, using an area weighted median, to provide an overall estimate of resilience of land use for a farm or a catchment. However, it was considered simpler to model the catchment of interest as a whole rather than to combine ratios from a series of catchment sub-models. The availability of appropriate comprehensive systems models may prove a limitation for application to all land uses especially native bushland systems. However, the approach developed in this thesis provides a robust and consistent framework for exploring system resilience and sustainability in a way that can augment existing approaches to natural resource assessments of condition and trend.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2007. / Vita. Appendix: leaves 173-189. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-203).

Dissertation (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / "December, 2007." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 03/21/2008) Advisor, James M. Diefendorff; Committee members, Robert G. Lord, Rebecca J. Erickson, Rosalie J. Hall, Aaron M. Schmidt; Department Chair, Paul E. Levy; Dean of the College, Ronald F. Levant; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--McGill University (Canada), 2004. / "Running head: Resilience and gambling behaviour in youth" Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2004. / Adviser: Donald Wertlieb. Submitted to the Dept. of Applied Child Development. Includes bibliographical references. Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;