Water waves generated by wind and ships; ebb tidal currents; water level fluctuations; and dredging impact sediment transport in shallow water of the lower Columbia River. Observations were made over a one-year period after sand dredged from the navigation channel was placed at three study sites in the Puget Island region, 46°15'N 123°25'W, Oregon and Washington. Sediment composition is fine to medium grained, low density dacitic volcanics with small percentages of pumice, heavy minerals, and basalt.

Beach sand acts as a buffer to wave energy, protecting the shoreline from erosion. Estimates of the quantity and distribution of beach sand in littoral cells of the PNW are critical to the understanding and prediction of shoreline erosion or accretion. This study was initiated in order to: 1) document the distribution of sand in littoral cells of the Pacific Northwest; 2) determine the factors which have brought about these present distributions; and 3) address the relationship of beach sand distribution to shoreline stability.

Since the beginning of time, men and women have been separated by the "division of labor." Men were hunters and defenders and the women nurturers, bearing the responsibility of the raising of the children and homemaking. By the time of the Greeks, women were afforded great respect and treated with great dignity. They were looked upon as the pillars of morality and tradition. In 1765, women had been legally declared non-persons in William Blackstone’s Commentaries on English Law. Further reinforcement of this belief was put forth by Max Weber and Sigmund Freud who both felt women had no place in organizations and business. Women wanted recognition of their "personhood" and from the first women’s rights convention in 1848, demanding and finally obtaining the vote in 1920, through to the Civil Rights Movement in the 60's and the women’s movement which grew out of it, women have been making strong statements for equality and job opportunities. Just how successful women have been in their demands for acceptance in the business world is examined in this dissertation.

I would like to understand what kinds of connections exist between musical rhythm and poetic and linguistic rhythm, particularly the phenomenon of accent, so I investigated accent in art songs, examining twelve songs in an attempt to further understand how and if the accents and patterns found in poetry correlate to those found in songs based on this poetry. This study examines how the patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables in Lieder by Amy Beach, Richard Strauss, and Camille Saint-Saëns correlate with musical rhythmic and accent patterns in the resulting music. I systematically determined what kinds of accents were present, where they were present, and how they were related. I tracked nine different types of musical accents: agogic, contour, dynamic, articulation, metric, pitch, phrasing, structural, and textural. I then tracked the linguistic accents in the poems themselves, with the categories of meter, individual word stresses (if different from the meter), rhyme scheme, internal rhymes, and cadences (ends of sentences and questions). I then compared the accents found in the music to the accents found in the poetry. I then compared the correlation of linguistic and musical accents through graphic representation of the values I found. I found significant correlation between musical and linguistic accents in the twelve different pieces I studied. These results suggest that, for at least these three composers, the text does in fact influence the accent patterns of the music. For the songs of Beach and Strauss, there is a visual pattern in the graphs, which matches the meter of the text. The linguistic and musical accent patterns in both Beach and Strauss songs tended to be regularly alternating in a binary fashion, in keeping with the iambic meter. For Saint-Saëns, there was overall close correlation as well. The main difference between graphs for Saint-Saëns and the others seems to be the lack of a pattern in the relative accent strengths, which can be found in both the English and German graphs. French poetry does not have an iambic pattern to it; correspondingly the music doesn't show the regular binary alteration of accents. This pattern or lack thereof is part of the correlation that all of the pieces share between the music and the language, and the lack of pattern seems to demonstrate a particularity in the music in the case of French. Though showing how accents in music and text correlate in the songs of English-, German-, and French-speaking composers, this thesis does not fully determine how and if musical and linguistic accents correlate in music composers other than Amy Beach, Richard Strauss, and Camille Saint-Saëns.

ABSTRACT Beach and nearshore surveys are conducted in a variety of ways, the most commonly used being the level-and-transit method; because it is inexpensive, time conducive and highly accurate. Specifically, beach surveys are conducted to better understand cross-shore, long-shore sediment transport processes, as well as to quantify volume changes, which are used to evaluate beach performance. In this study, a section of the beach on Sand Key, FL was surveyed using rod-and-transit. In addition to the commonly used linear data analysis, a non-linear analysis was conducted using NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines). Survey data was collected within a short time window to ensure minimal environmental changes associated with waves and anthropological factors. Beach profiles were surveyed using two spatial resolutions, including 1) a typical variable resolution determined by the rodman based on observed morphology changes, and 2) a uniform, high resolution of 25 centimeters per point. The results indicate that variable resolution survey with careful observation by the rodman provided adequate accuracy as compared to the very high-resolution survey. The goal of this study is to create a realistic surface between the beach profiles that are spaced relatively far apart. The commonly used contouring method (a linear method) may create mismatch among major morphology units, .e.g., bar crest, if they have different elevations alongshore. Here a non-linear method is developed by 1) identifying major morphological units, in this case dune top, berm crest, trough bottom, and bar crest 2) linking the units using a cubic spline, and 3) generating a surface using a NURBS sweep2 function. Bisector profiles are sliced from the surface generated using linear and non-linear methods, and compared with surveyed profiles at the same location. The profiles generated using the non-linear method matched more closely to the measured profile than that from the linear method. The non-linear NURBS surface resulted in a consistently greater beach volume between the surveyed profiles than the linear method of volume calculation.

The purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of the physical and social aspects of rip currents in ocean areas that will lead to better forecasts, better governmental policies in beach areas, and ultimately to save lives. A rip current is a nearshore circulation in which breaking waves run up onto the beach then retreat rapidly in deeper channels back toward the sea. Rip currents pose a significant threat to beachgoers and can pull even the strongest swimmers out to sea. The primary factors associated with rip current formation on unarmored beaches are variations in the local beach bathymetry, wind-generated longshore waves of varying height, and lower tidal stages. The rationale for this study is highlighted when rip current deaths are put in context with deaths from other weather related deaths. The average number of rip current deaths per year in the United States is 46 and in the year 2010 rip currents were responsible for 64 deaths which was higher than the deaths associated with lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes and the cold winter during the year. The methodology followed for this study includes a review of demographics from over 500 rip current drowning reports along the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States from 1994-2012. This research indicates that tourists are often victims, and rescuers can become the victims. For each state or sub-state area where rip current drownings are prevalent, an analysis of social aspects, beach areas, and associated ocean and weather patterns was conducted using averaged wind and pressure fields over wave generation areas, buoy data, and tide data. It is important to understand the evolution of these drowning events and seek solutions to mitigate the problem.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-199).

This thesis examines narrative articulations in the films Bend It Like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach, and American Chai as a complicated conversation in relation to bicultural-identity construction in the Indian diaspora. Unpacking the way desi identities are managed in/as a quantum (third) space – one that is continuously shifting and deferred – the films exemplify how "desi" is a heterogeneous cultural "group" without a homeland from which to speak or to return. The narratives of these films are considered cultural translations that expose inter-generational culture-clashes in the spaces between Indian and Western cultures. Screenplay pedagogy was used as a methodology to (re)read analysis of the films, revealing the ways that different movies employ and reinscribe themes of the multicultural pastoral, the carnivalesque, and melodrama, respectively. This thesis concludes by opening up some of the places from which individuals enunciate their desi identities, including the possibilities for (self)reflection.

Esta tesis se dedica en un estudio de estabilidad no lineal de la morfodinàmica de la zona de rompientes de playas de arena. El modelo numérico MORFO55 resuelve las ecuaciones de aguas someras no lineales para la hidrodinámica y actualiza la topografía a partir del transporte de sedimento. En primer lugar, se aplica en el caso de playas complejas longitudinalmente no uniformes con objeto de probar sus distintas formulaciones. En secundo lugar, se usa para estudiar la generación de estructuras rítmicas en playas longitudinalmente uniformes. Entre estos patrones se distinguen las barras transversales y oblicuas, las barras crescenticas y los sistemas de barras/surcos (ridges/runnels). La hipótesis de que emergen a partir de inestabilidades internas del acoplamiento entre la topografía y la hidrodinámica se investiga. Los estudios previos de modelización numérica se limitaban a las etapas iniciales de la generación de las barras. En particular, mostraban que las barras transversales y oblicuas pueden formarse en playas planas mientras que las barras crecenticas aparecen en playas con barra. La formación de los sistemas de barras/surcos se explica con modelos conceptuales de la observación mediante satélite según los cuales emergerán a partir de la deformación de la barra intermareal. Esta tesis estudia el régimen no lineal de la evolución de todos estos sistemas. Particularmente se obtiene un estado 'nal de equilibrio. Los resultados generales coinciden cualitativamente con las barras observadas en la naturaleza. Se da una interpretación física de la formación, de la evolución y de la saturación del crecimiento de las barras. / This thesis performs a nonlinear stability study of the surf zone morphodynamics of sandy beaches. To this end the MORFO55 model based on a wave and depth averaged nonlinear shallow water equations solver with wave driver, sediment transport and bed updating is presented. It is first applied to complex longitudinally non-uniform beaches in order to test different model formulations. Second, it is applied to study the generation of surf zone rhythmic features on alongshore uniform beaches. Shore-attached transverse or oblique bars, crescentic bars and ridge and runnel systems are well known examples of such features. The hypothesis that they emerge by self organisation of the coupling between topography, waves and currents is here tested. In absence of shore-parallel bars, the initial formation of transverse and oblique bars had been shown by previous modelling studies of linear stability analysis but is now extended to the finite amplitude regime. In most of barred beaches, crescentic bars and ridge and runnel systems appear. Conceptual models based on field observations suggest that ridges and runnels could emerge by the deformation of the alongshore intertidal bar intercepted by crescentic bars. Up to now, only the formation of crescentic bars had numerically succeeded with linear and non linear models. This study shows that a dynamical equilibrium state of each of these rhythmic bar systems may be described with a numerical model. General results are in qualitative agreement with the bar systems observed in nature. A physical explanation for their formation, their evolution and the saturation of their growth is given.

<p>Scientists expect temperatures on Earth to get substantially warmer over the course of the 21st century, causing storm systems to intensify and sea-level rise to accelerate--these changes will likely have dramatic impacts on how the coastlines of tomorrow will evolve. Humans are also playing an increasingly important role in shaping Earth's coastal systems. Coastal scientists have only a general understanding of how these three factors--humans, storms, and sea-level rise--will alter the evolution of coastlines over the coming century, however. I conduct numerical modeling experiments to shed light on the relative importance of these factors on the evolution of coastline geomorphology.</p><p>In a series of experiments using a numerical model of large-scale (1 to 100's km) and long-term (years to centuries) coastline evolution that results from gradients in alongshore sediment transport, I explore how the patterns and rates of shoreline erosion and accretion are affected by shifts in 'wave climate' (the mix of influences on alongshore sediment transport of waves approaching from different directions) induced by intensified storm systems and the direct manipulation of the shoreline system by humans through beach nourishment (periodically placing sand on an eroding beach). I use a cuspate-cape coastline, similar to the Outer Banks, North and South Carolina, USA, as an important case study in my experiments. I observe that moderate shifts in the wave climate can alter the patterns of shoreline erosion and accretion, potentially increasing migration rates by several times that which we see today, and nearly an order-of-magnitude larger than sea-level rise-related erosion alone. I also find that under possible wave climate futures, beach nourishment may also induce shoreline change on the same order of magnitude as does sea-level rise.</p><p>The decision humans make whether or not to nourish their beach often depends upon a favorable economic outcome in the endeavor. In further experiments, I couple a cost-benefit economic model of human decision making to the numerical model of coastline evolution and test a hypothetical scenario where two communities (one 'rich' and one 'poor') nourish their beaches in tandem, under different sets of economic and wave climate parameters. I observe that two adjacent communities can benefit substantially from each other's nourishment activity, and these effects persist even if the two communities are separated by several tens of kilometers.</p><p>In a separate effort, I employ techniques from dynamic capital theory coupled to a physically-realistic model of coastline evolution to find the optimum time a community should wait between beach nourishment episodes ('rotation length') to maximize the utility to beach-front property owners. In a series of experiments, I explore the sensitivity of the rotation length to economic parameters, including the discount rate, the fixed and variable costs of beach nourishment, and the benefits from beach nourishment, and physical parameters including the background erosion rate and the exponential rate at which both the cross-shore profile and the plan-view coastline shape re-adjusts following a beach nourishment episode ('decay rate' of nourishment sand). Some results I obtained were expected: if property values, the hedonic value of beach width, the baseline retreat rate, the fixed cost of beach nourishment, and the discount rate increase, then the rotation length of nourishment decreases. Some results I obtained, however, were unexpected: the rotation length of nourishment can either increase or decrease when the decay rate of nourishment sand varies versus the discount rate and when the variable costs of beach nourishment increase.</p> / Dissertation