<p>Recreational beaches of the Great Lakes play a critical role in the quality of life for beach goers and contribute to the economic and environmental health of the Great Lakes region. Over the past decade, concerned local residents, municipalities, and public beach goers have observed the deteriorating beach quality along the shores of the Great Lakes. Numerous problems exist at these beaches including: high levels of <em>E.coli</em>, encroachment of invasive and non-native vegetation, iron staining, loss of sand. However, the more pervasive problem appears to be increased wet conditions at beaches that use to be dry. This study was undertaken to investigate the physical and hydrological factors that control wet and dry beaches, in order to determine why these beaches exist. Combined field, laboratory, and modelling methodologies were used to characterize four beach sites and calibrate beach models along southern Georgian Bay in Tiny Township, ON. The results of this research indicate that there are three interconnected factors that influence wet and dry beaches, including: (1) texture of a beach, (2) depth to the water table, and (3) elevation of the ground surface. Texture is the primary factor that controls the moisture conditions at a beach even though all beaches were classified as sands. This is a consequence of the fact that fine grained sands have significantly higher capillary rise and retain higher moisture contents above the water table compared to coarse grained sands. Depth to the water table influences the moisture conditions at a beach through its association with the relative position of the top of the capillary rise within respect to the surface of the beach. Ground surface elevation influences the depth of sand above the water table at a beach; lower and flatter surface elevations have the water table (and capillary rise) closer to the beach surface than at beaches with steeper elevations. In summary, wet beaches have high moisture contents at and near the surface of a beach (> 10 %), shallow water tables (~ < 50 cm), and flat ground surface elevations. Dry beaches have low moisture contents at and near the surface of a beach (< 10 %), deep water tables (~ > 50 cm), and steep ground surface elevations. Using the numerical model HYDRUS-2D, four calibrated beach models provide a framework for beach managers to gain insights into beach quality issues through scenario testing. Beaches with shallow water tables and flat surface elevations (either natural or human-induced) are at greater risk of becoming wet under high lake level scenarios than beaches with steeper surfaces (dry beaches). Heavy precipitation events are temporary and do not convert dry beaches into wet beaches and high evaporation rates do not convert wet beaches into dry beaches; conversion of beaches is mainly influenced by beach surface alterations (e.g. bulldozing and removing sand dunes). The conclusion of this study is that hydrological factors are primary controls on the quality of the beaches and the associated problems along the shores of the Great Lakes.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

yes / This paper presents field measurements in which dye solute was injected into coastal sand to investigate contaminant advection in intertidal beach sand. The measurements show the pathways of a contaminated plume in the unsaturated zone during both the flood and ebb tides. A prescribed amount of dye tracer solution was directly injected through the topsoil, with average porosity 0.3521±0.01, at predetermined locations of the River Mersey’s outer estuarial beach during ebb-tide. The injected dye was monitored, sampled and photographed over several tidal cycles. The distinctive features of the plume (full two dimensional cross-sections), sediments and water-table depth were sampled in-situ, close to the injection point (differing from previous contaminant monitoring tests in aquifers). The advective movement is attributed to tidal impact which is different from contaminant transport in aquifers. The experimental results show that plumes have significantly large spatial variability, diverging upwards and converging downwards, with a conical geometric shape which is different from the usual spherical/elliptical shape reported in literature. The mean vertical motion of the plume reaches three times the top-width within ten tidal cycles, exceeding the narrow bottom-width by a factor of order 2. The observed transport features of the plume within the beach sand have significant relevance to saltwater intrusion, surface water and groundwater quality. The field observations are unique and can serve as a valuable benchmark database for relevant numerical studies. / China Ministry of Science and Technology 973 program (2014CB745001), Special Program of future development in Shenzhen (201411201645511650) and Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Coastal Ocean Dynamic and Environment（ZDSY20130402163735964).

Predicting sediment transport at sandy beaches is a significant challenge in civil engineering owing to the variability in hydrodynamic, morphological, and geotechnical properties within a site and across multiple sites. Additionally, there are difficulties in measuring in-situ properties, and challenges in identifying and quantifying the different relevant driving and resisting forces. These challenges are further exacerbated in the intertidal zone where the addition of infiltration-exfiltration, wave run-up and run-down, bore collapse, cyclic emergence and submergence of sediments, interactions between standing waves and incident bores, and other processes must be considered. Among these many processes, pore pressure gradients within sandy beach sediments affect sediment transport by reducing the sediment's effective stress to zero (this process is called liquefaction). Despite the known importance of these pressure gradients with respect to sediment transport, there has been little field evidence of the role that these pore pressure gradients have on sediment transport, how they relate to the hydrodynamic properties, and their inclusion into predictive sediment transport equations. This study is based on field measurements of hydrodynamic and geotechnical properties, as well as pore pressure gradients during storm and non-storm conditions at sandy beaches in the intertidal zone. From the analysis of these field measurements, it was found that (1) liquefying pressure gradients are likely to develop in sediments that are rapidly inundated during storm conditions; (2) the magnitude of pore pressure gradients is related to the asymmetry of the pressure gradient and can occur with shoreward-directed near bed velocities; and (3) during non-storm conditions, pressure gradients that often do not exceed liquefaction criteria occurred more (less) frequently during a time period where erosion occurred in large (small) quantities, indicating that small non-liquefying pore pressure gradients may facilitate sediment transport. The results of this study demonstrate that current methods of scour calculations must include effects of pore pressure gradients to reduce error. Additionally, from this work it was found that sediment transport can be directed shoreward under momentary liquefaction. Finally, the results of this study show that sediment pore pressure gradients are related to wave skewness, spatial group steepness, and temporal group steepness which may aid modelling of pore pressure gradients. / Doctor of Philosophy / The transport of sediment particles (in this case, sand grains at beaches) is difficult to predict because of the many different governing processes that can be hard to measure, may be hard to relate to erosion or sediment accumulation specifically, and the variability in sediment and flow properties (grain size, fluid velocity, and others) at a specific location and across different locations. Storms, like hurricanes, tropical storms, and tsunamis, can drastically change the expected water properties (like water depth, wave height, and wave period), and the effects of water pressure within the sand bed. When a wave moves across the sand it causes a change in the water pressure that is within the sand. This water pressure is not the same throughout the sand with depth. When the gradient, or the difference between the water pressure at two different vertical locations, is large enough, the sand behaves like a fluid (like quicksand) and becomes easier to move, this process is called liquefaction. Even though previous work has shown that these pressure gradients (and the resulting liquefaction) is important for sediment transport, there have been few field measurements demonstrating their impact on sediment transport and how these gradients (and the resulting liquefaction) relate to wave and sand properties. This study presents field measurements of pressure gradients, wave and sediment properties, and sediment transport events during both storm and non-storm conditions. From these field measurements, it was shown that (1) during an extreme storm event, pressure gradients that liquefy the sediment are likely to occur on sediments that are not normally subjected to waves; (2) liquefying pressure gradients can occur when waves arrive at the beach, which may cause sediment to be moved shoreward; and (3) during non-storm conditions, pressure gradients that do not liquefy the sand occurred frequently during a sediment transport event, suggesting that these smaller pressure gradients may contribute to sediment transport by reducing the effective weight of the sediment. This work can be used to further understand the behavior of sediment pore pressure gradients, their relation to hydrodynamic properties, and how they influence sediment transport allowing for better predictions of sediment transport, beach nourishment calculations, and the design of coastal structures.

Public schools need to enhance teacher job satisfaction which should improve teacher retention, teacher performance, and student achievement. This was a qualitative study of those factors which teachers with high and low job satisfaction perceived affected how they felt about their jobs. A sample of 200 tenured Virginia Beach teachers was randomly selected sent the Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (TJSQ). Eighty-four of these teachers who agreed to be interviewed were rated on performance by their principals. Eight teachers, who placed at the top the ranked list of TJSQ scores and who were rated at least above average by their principals, were selected for interviews. Five teachers, who placed at the bottom of the list of TJSQ scores and who were rated average at best by their principals. were also selected for interviews. The teachers in the study said they liked student success best and paperwork least. Respondents said the principal, coworkers, students, materials, autonomy, home life, parents, personality and participatory decision-making all affected job satisfaction. The principal was ranked most important. Job satisfiers were tabulated across questions. The most frequently identified intrinsic factor was student success. The extrinsic factors of working conditions, principal support and coworker support were identified. Intrinsic dissatisfiers included lack of teacher achievement, lack of recognition and lack of student success. Extrinsic dissatisfiers were poor working conditions and unpleasant student relationships. Concerning demographics, the teachers with the top 30 job satisfaction scores were older, more female, more minority, more elementary, more experienced and about equally educated than the teachers with the lowest 30 job satisfaction scores. In general, there was little difference between the responses of the high job satisfaction group and the low job satisfaction group perhaps because of the manner in which they were selected. However, teachers with low job satisfaction in this study were slightly more concerned with recognition, coworker support, working conditions, salary, student support, parent support and input into decision making than the high job Satisfaction group. / Ed. D.

In recent decades, coastal tourism has grown significantly bringing enormous economic benefits to host communities, and causing many environmental and social impacts to the coastal environment. Beach resort development faces problems due to an inability on the part of stakeholders to make sound decisions about sustainable design due, in part, to the complexity of the sustainability issues and the lack of a comprehensive decision-making tool to assist them. In Egypt, design and planning regulations have not changed for decades, resulting in non-sustainable beach resort development. This study provides a "decision framework," a conceptual "Sustainable Design Model," which shifts the focus of stakeholders from the application of traditional physical carrying capacity procedures to a comprehensive approach linking sustainability indicators and carrying capacities. This approach includes an array of acceptable capacities based on the ecological, social, psychological, physical, economic, and managerial capacity thresholds of a site. This framework assists stakeholders in making rational decisions about what is to be built, where it is located, and how to build it. To test the model, a survey was conducted at 10 beach resort destinations (5 American, 5 Egyptian) to measure the difference in perceptions between stakeholders concerning sustainability indicators and carrying capacities. The instrument was determined valid and reliable using a test/retest procedure. A total of 276 responses were obtained for data analysis. Statistical analyses included frequency distribution, t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), factor analysis, and a stepwise multiple regression analysis. Sample demographic information was also collected. Results revealed a strong link between sustainability indicators and carrying capacity thresholds. While both Egyptian and American respondents recognized the importance of sensitive environmental developments, there were significant differences due to differences in culture, environment, regulations, and priorities. The American sample placed greater importance on the ecological indicators, while the Egyptian sample placed greater importance on the social, psychological, and managerial indicators. The American sample conveyed a positive attitude toward government regulations, design, and management efforts to incorporate sustainability principles into the built environment, while the Egyptian respondents conveyed a more negative attitude. As a result of this study, future Egyptian policy may be better informed of the gap between the theoretical concepts of sustainability and real world coastal development implementation. / Ph. D.

During the summers of 1988 and 1989, nests of 528 loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), 27 green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), and 1 leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) were monitored on Wabasso Beach in Indian River County, Florida. Two hundred and forty four of the loggerhead and 2 of the green sea turtle nests were marked during night surveys as the females laid their clutches, permitting exact clutch counts and carapace measurements on the nesting females. Each marked nest was inspected daily for signs of disturbance and hatching. After incubation (70 days), study nests were excavated and inventoried to determine hatchling emergence success. Parametric multiple regressions, nonparametric multiple regressions, and logistic regressions were used to determine the effects of several measured variables on clutch sizes and incubation times; and nesting, hatchling emergence success, and predation. Excluding the last 2 weeks of the nesting season, nesting was positively correlated with ocean temperatures (P< 0.05), but not with human beach-side development (P> 0.05). Nesting loggerheads on the study area had an average carapace length of 89.8 cm (S.E.=0.31), and a mean clutch size of 112 eggs (S.E.=1.07). Clutches required an average of 53.9 days (S.E.=0.21) to incubate during 1988, with a hatchling emergence success of 57%. During 1989, the mean incubation time and hatchling emergence success was 51.5 days (S.E.=0.21) and 44%, respectively. Over the 2 study years, the average green turtle nest had 118 eggs, took 54.6 days to incubate, and had a hatchling emergence success of 40%. During 1988, 4.6% of the loggerhead nests were lost to beach erosion or alteration (deposition of sand on nests by the surf). This loss was 22% during 1989 for loggerheads, and 30% over both years for green turtles. The difference in loggerhead losses over the 2 years was due to 2 late-season hurricanes which affected the area during 1989. Predation on loggerhead nests was 16% and 8% during 1988 and 1989, respectively. In both years, predation was positively correlated with human beach-side development (P<0.05); during 1989, predation also was positively correlated with distance of the nest from the beach dune (P< 0.05). Clutch size and carapace size of nesting females were positively correlated (P< 0.05). Incubation time was negatively correlated with egg laying date, and hatchling emergence success was strongly affected by the late summer storms of 1989. The study area produced an estimated 70,469 loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings per year (8,808 hatchlings/km), and 535 green sea turtle hatchlings per year (66 hatchlings/km). The number of loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings produced per nest was adversely affected by beach-side development. / Master of Science

Santa Monica Bay and its vast beaches are important Los Angeles icons, while also providing significant ecosystem services to over millions of recreational visitors annually. Contaminated runoff from numerous watersheds surrounding the Bay, especially the 87% urbanized Ballona Creek Watershed, have historically resulted in poor water quality along areas of the Bay shoreline. Decades of monitoring for fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) along the Bay’s shoreline has been associated with NPDES wastewater discharge and stormwater programs. Many projects have been implemented throughout the watersheds (e.g. sewer improvements, biofiltration systems, low-flow diversions (LFDs)) to lessen flows of runoff from contaminating surf zone recreational waters. Despite decades of monitoring, there has been no long-term assessment of trends in shoreline FIB, especially in response to implementation of projects to improve water quality. The goal of this study was to assemble 30 years of monitoring data (1988-2017) for E. coli and enterococci to assess trends along the entire shoreline of Santa Monica Bay. Data were analyzed by calculating rolling 30-day geometric means, and comparing means by geographic subdivision, between wet and dry weather, and over time. Resulting trends for both E. coli and enterococci were: 1) concentrations peaked around 2005 when many stations shifted to sampling points where runoff mixed directly with surf zone water; 2) after 2005, concentrations fell to present levels, especially at beaches where LFDs were implemented; 3) concentrations were extremely variable during the 2016-17 wet season; 4) the north and central areas of the Bay, impacted by runoff from the Ballona Creek and Malibu Creek Watersheds, had greater concentrations relative to the south area; and 5) dry weather concentrations were steadily low, whereas wet weather displayed a higher degree of variability and may present a more significant challenge to meet water quality standards going forward. Implementation of LFDs and other best management practices to restrict polluted runoff from flowing into the surf zones of the Bay’s beaches most likely improved water quality throughout the Bay.

No / Although military sites have long been the subject of geophysical investigation, those associated with recent military campaigns are noticeably rare. In fact, although such techniques are increasingly used to identify the unwanted legacy of modern warfare, such as unexploded ordnances or mass burials, they have not been used to investigate the archaeology of such conflict. The survey here attempts to identify the archaeology of one military site (Puits d'Herode) that was part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall and to identify the key elements associated with its D-Day defences. Magnetic gradiometry, twin-probe resistance and ground-penetrating radar were used at this site and, as a result of the nature of the buried archaeology, the magnetic technique proved most valuable. Trenches and bunkers previously known from aerial photographs were located accurately and a track believed to relate to the post-D-Day advance of the Allied forces across Puits d'Herode was also identified. The use of geophysical data in the investigation of this site has provided a new avenue to examine previously difficult topics such as the quality of intelligence available at the time of the conflict and the level and accuracy of shelling; although these may seem unlikely targets for archaeological geophysics, they are important to military historians for whom eye witness accounts are becoming increasingly scarce.

Denna kandidatuppsats undersöker de olika diskurser angående det övernaturliga som närvarar i Eden Robinsons roman Monkey Beach (2000) utifrån ett postkolonialt perspektiv. Det teoretiska ramverket består av Jo-Ann Episkenews indigenous storytelling, samt Michail Bachtins dialogicitetsbegrepp, där heteroglossi fungerar som utgångspunkt. Dessa har använts för att analysera hur Robinson använder sig av karaktärer för att gestalta olika epistemologier, och hur dessa relaterar till synen på det övernaturliga i romanen. Uppsatsens slutsats är att Monkey Beach är polyfon i sin gestaltning av de olika perspektiven på det övernaturliga; dessa perspektiv utgör olika diskurser, vilket gestaltas genom karaktärerna. Romanen utspelar sig inte i ett autonomt fiktivt universum; den fungerar som en motdiskurs till tidigare diskurser om urfolk i Kanada, vilket ger den både en avkoloniserande och kunskapsspridande funktion då den är skriven av en urfolksförfattare. / This undergraduate dissertation examines the various discourses surrounding the supernatural present in Eden Robinson’s novel Monkey Beach (2000) from a postcolonial perspective. The theoretical framework consists of Jo-Ann Episkenew’s Indigenous Storytelling, as well as Michail Bachtin’s concept of dialogism, with heteroglossia as its basis. These have been applied to the text to analyse how Robinson utilises characters to depict different epistemologies, and how they relate to the portrayal of the supernatural in the novel. The conclusion of this dissertation is that Monkey Beach is polyphonic in its portrayal of the various perspectives of the supernatural; these perspectives constitute different discourses, which are depicted through the characters. The novel does not take place in an autonomous fictional universe; it functions as a counter-discourse to previous discourses about Indigenous peoples in Canada, which gives it a decolonising and knowledge-disseminating function as it is written by an Indigenous author.

This thesis offers a preliminary argument for materiality as the primary medium through which landscape architecture is experienced. An original theory, Transformative Materiality, posits that landscape experience may be heightened, making people more aware of and engaged with their surroundings, if design encourages the changing of materials over time through temporal landscape processes (such as erosion and deposition). Resulting landscape phenomena may translate into passive education about the effects of naturalistic material transformation. And any gained experiential knowledge of the landscape, might, in turn, become a source of meaningful, personal connection to the landscape, potentially inspiring appreciation and stewardship. The theoretical development and argumentation for Transformative Materiality is preceded by its application in the final thesis design project, to provide a basis for common reference. The Beach Outfalls Challenge competition serves to provide a site and problem: the Mississippi commercial beach system, and stormwater management through the immediate beach environment. Three materials, sand, wind, and water, are studied in relation to landscape processes that are purposefully employed to encourage change in the landscape’s material form over time. The final design is a landscape technology that harnesses material processes in order to perform environmental services of cleaning stormwater and creating new habitat, while allowing such processes to diversify material form for a range of phenomena and consequent opportunities for experiential education that may lead to a holistic understanding of the landscape as a dynamic, responsive system. / Master of Landscape Architecture / One may observe and learn how nature works, by noticing its transformations over time. Seeing a rock smoothed into a pebble by rushing river water, or finding a fallen tree being broken down by insects. Noticing weeds pop up from cracks in the sidewalk, or seeing a whole forest turn shades of red in the Fall. These experiences offer a passive, informal education about what nature is, what it can do, and how it works. They may be the initial experiences that spark one’s curiosity, and eventually lead to a deeper connection, investigation, or stewardship of their natural environment. Seeing nature transform itself over time is the basis for a new design theory, called Transformative Materiality. With this theory, design is driven primarily by the materials in a site (rocks, soils, water, plants, etc.) and how they may interact through natural processes in the landscape. Natural processes, such as erosion, deposition, and succession allow each material to transform over time. Visitors may connect each process with its visible effects on landscape materials over time, affording a passive, informal education about nature through direct experience. The designed project, on a beach in Mississippi, uses stormwater runoff from urban areas to flow over sand, across the beach surface. Water flow to the ocean is aided by processes of sand accumulation and dune formation, which help contain the spread of water. Wooden pilings encourage processes of whirling and sand carving, to intentionally create deeper areas of water flow and collection. Introduced water helps irrigate new plant communities, which stabilize dunes, filter water, and create new insect and bird habitats. A minimalistic design framework encourages each process to work together constructively, and visitors experience a continually evolving progression of landscape transformation over time.